Monthly Restart

CHAPTER SIX

“Wait, stop the car.” Daisy said while eyeing the drugstore a few meters away from them. “No. We have enough stop overs already.” Eric said, his eyes still focused on the road.

“Yes. Stop minding other people’s business.” Calvin seconded, causing for Daisy to look at them with a glare. “I’m not blind, guys.” She said before rolling her eyes, her finger now pointing at Eric’s knuckles.

“You have wounds because of punching them, right?” she said, her eyes mentally spread authority at the two stubborn people. “I bet they’re thick skinned. Besides, I saw you use your hand to defend yourself from that brass knuckle dude.”

Her finger then pointed at Calvin. “And you,” she started. “Your lip’s wounded and your back needs ice or cold compress to at least relieve the pain from the wood’s hit.” she said before rolling her eyes once again. “I didn’t watched for nothing.”

“So, none of you should complain and let me go to buy meds, okay?” she questioned, looking back and forth between the two. Knowing that she won’t give up, Eric stopped the car in front of the drugstore, making Daisy nod in satisfaction before going out.

Before closing the car’s door, she looked at the two who’s staring back at her. “None of you should get out, alright?” she asked, then her gaze focused on Calvin. “Especially you.” She glared before completely closing the door.

Without her, the silence between the two became thicker and colder. “Why the hell did I stopped the car?” Eric muttered, his grip on the steering wheel tightens. “I should’ve sped up when she told me to stop.”

“Stop questioning yourself when you already followed her.” Calvin replied, causing for their cold gazes to meet each other, both trying to show off their power. “You’re being a coward.”

“Shut up. You’re here because you followed her as well.” Eric said, their cold tones adding up the chill between the atmosphere created by their blank eyes that glares at each other. “You’re not the one to talk between us, excess baggage.”

Daisy, on the other hand, was already third on the line carrying a pack of band-aid, an ointment, a rubbing alcohol and two pieces of cold compress.

I wonder what happened with those two since the icebergs were alone. She thought, her eyes turning towards the car’s area, but she can’t see a thing due to the car being tinted. They better be alive when I came back.

Soon, she’s now the first one in the counter. Handing out the ones she’s going to buy, the cashier gave her a curious glance before punching the items. Done with everything, she placed it into the plastic bag and handed it to her with a smile.

“Thanks.” Daisy said with a smile. “And don’t worry. I didn’t went into a fight or anything.” She said, her sweet smile displayed, then she leaned towards the cashier, confusing the cashier who just gave her a small smile.

“It’s for them. Not for me.” She whispered, then she pulled back and gave her a smirk which made her awkwardly chuckle before giving her a nod.

Her face is epic. Daisy thought, stifling her laugh as she went out the drugstore, her blue and white sneakers tapping on the tiled floor.

 Looks like my outfit added the flavor. She thought, knowing that her grey knitted sweater with the sleeves folded up until her elbow, ripped jeans and her brown denim jacket that is tied on her hips definitely looked like a gangster one together with her messy bun hair and overall aura.

Reaching the car, her amused smile was replaced with a confused one when she saw them silent and acted like none of them existed. What’s with this dead atmosphere? She thought, looking at Eric who’s staring outside with his headphones on and Calvin who’s busy on his phone.

“I bought everything we need.” She said, breaking the silence. Hearing no response from the two, she heaved a sigh and tapped Eric’s shoulder. After he looked at her, she then moved and reach Calvin and wave her hand to disturb him.

Now with the both of them looking at her, Daisy pull the cold compresses out and gave it to Calvin. “Put it on the injured area of your back. It can help to numb it to somehow ease the pain.”

“I said I’m not in-”

“Then move forward so I’ll hit it to check it myself.” Daisy challenged. Hearing that, Calvin just shut his mouth and took the pair of ice compress, quietly putting it on his back before leaning to the chair to press it between his back and the chair.

With thing going according to her favor, she then took Eric’s knuckles to personally check it out. “An ointment will do.” She said, taking the ointment and skipping the rubbing alcohol she bought.

Putting a small amount on her fingertip, she then used it to apply it to the wounded area, causing him to hiss with the wound’s contact with the ointment. “Do you even know how to properly apply one?” he asked, his face now back to his normal blank expression.

“Shut up. It’s just a minor bruise.” Daisy scoffed, then continued to apply it to the small wounds that ganged up on his hand. Just how thick skinned are those gangsters? Did he even punch the wall of something?

Finishing it up by putting band-aids, she then faced Calvin whose eyes were closed while feeling the cold compress on his back. “Eric’s done. You’re next.” She said, releasing his hand then moved to the back by passing through the center.

After taking a seat beside him, she then faced Eric who’s staring at his treated hand. “You can drive now, Eric. Just slower than before so I can put the ointment on him.” She said, putting the ointment on her finger.

“I don’t need one. I’m fi- ow!” his words were stopped when Daisy purposely pressed his shoulder to put pressure on his back, causing him to glare at her. “What the hell?!”

Rolling her eyes, Daisy just silently leaned to him in order to put the ointment on his lip. “Will you shut up? You and Eric are acting tough yet it’s pretty obvious.” She said, making Eric look to them through the mirror.

“You expect me to drive when you’re looking like that?” he said, observing how Daisy’s too close to him and one wrong move might do something. “Finish what you’re doing with that bastard before we get going.”

“Fine. We’re already late anyway.” Daisy said, still focused on treating his wound. Satisfied, she pulled back and put the ointment back on the plastic bag. “I can’t put a band-aid on it so I’ll just let it be.”

With everything settled, Eric started to drive; this time, with a more comfortable silence unlike the one without Daisy. “I still question the fact that we were at school within 5 minutes because of your big bike.” She opened up.

“Cause it’s three times faster.” Eric said, then he looked ta wrist watch and saw that they’re already 20 minutes late. Knowing that, he sped up and made their supposed-to-be three minutes more drive into a two minute one.

With his exact calculation, Eric made them reach the school on 7:22 a.m. Parking at the usual area he called ‘his’, the three went out and saw that the grounds were almost deserving to be called a deserted area if the school staffs weren’t walking around.

“We can still catch up to the first subject.” Daisy said and was about to run when she saw then casually holding their bags. “What? You won’t try to go to the first class?” she asked, looking at the two who’s not in the mood of chasing time.

“I don’t care about classes.” Calvin said. “Me too. You’re the only one who does.” Eric added, causing her to roll her eyes.

“You think I’m going to show up late in the class alone?” she asked, looking at them with a smirk. “No way in hell.” and with that, she took their hands and ran, causing for the two to run along with her.

I won’t suffer embarrassment alone. She thought, her eyes still focused on the road. “Seriously? You call this run?” Eric mocked. “She’s a fragile girl, what do you expect?” Calvin added, causing for Daisy to stop and look at them.

“Oh? Then lead the way then, fast runners.” She said with a frown. Unexpecting anything, she just found herself being carried by Eric and her bag was tossed to Calvin. Then she saw the two looking at each other before agreeing with a nod, now running as if their lives depend on it.

“What the actual-”

“No cussing. Your mom forbids you, princess.” Eric said with a smirk. “You’re slow, Anderson. Is she too heavy for you?” Calvin asked, just a step or two away from them.

“Shut up. Your back’s injured so I made you do the lighter task.” Eric said, adding up speed. “You’re slow, Strauss. Are the bags too heavy for you?” he mocked, copying what he said.

“Put me down! I can run!” Daisy complained, but her protest fell on deaf ears and the two just made it a competition on who can reach the third floor first. Knowing that she won’t stand a chance, she just tightened her grip on his neck in order to not fall on the ground.

“-so that why people nowadays act like-” Sir Mav’s explanation was interrupted by the loud sound of the sliding door’s sudden opening and the appearance of three people, causing for murmurs and whispers to start.

With the two who’s breathing hard after running from the parking lot up until the building on the west and towards the room on the third floor, Eric put her down and the two of them leaned themselves on the wall.

“I win.” Calvin said, his hand blocking his lips as he breathed. “Are you blind? I won.” Eric said, using his uninjured hand to wipe the sweat on his chin.

“It’s a tie.” Daisy interrupted while taking her bag from Calvin. “The both of you stepped inside on the same time. I saw it.” She said, saying the safest words to get the fairest result real. “It’s a draw, okay? Now shut up and-”

She stopped speaking when she looked at the classroom, just noticing her classmates staring at them along with their professor. “I- sorry we’re late.” She said, giving Sir Maverick an apologetic look.

“Why are you three late?” their professor questioned. “We happened to pass by Calvin who’s in the middle of calling someone because his car broke in the middle of the road.” Daisy lied. “We decided to approach him and stayed with him until the help came. Then he hitched a ride with us.”

Please believe me. Daisy thought despite her smile. Come on lying skills, be helpful! “As the class representative, I believe that I have the power to question them.” Theia said with a sweet smile, he right hand raised to get their attention. “Right sir?”

“Go ahead, Miss Lee.” Sir Mav replied, making her nod and lower down her hand. “May I ask why the two of them have wounds? Why did Eric carried you all the way here and why is Calvin holding your bag?” she asked, a glint of evil smirk visible on her features.

I’ll burn you to crisp later. “Uh, it’s because they got into a fight when some gangsters trued to come to us and rob us so they got injured. None of them did anything wrong and it’s just plain self defense.”

“And they wanted to see who’s faster between the two of them in terms of running. They said I can’t keep up with them so they decided to divide the task of carrying me and holding my bag.” She answered with a believable smile.

Hearing her explanation, Sir Mav nodded understandingly. “That must be a hard experience for the three of you.” He said, sympathetically looking at them. “You two did a good job in protecting her.”

With that said, teasing remarks were started to thrown at them. “Now, now settle down everyone.” Sir Maverick said while chuckling. “Let the three rest.” He said, his smirk saying that he’s also in favor of teasing the three newcomers.

Daisy looked at the two and gave them a nod, then three of them silently went on their seats. “How’s your morning, miss Daisy?” Theia teased, earning her a glare. “I’m really going to burn you to crisp later.” She threatened.

Unfazed with it, Theia just chuckled and faced the front. “As I was saying, weak communication is the reason why people nowadays act like strangers to others, because they’re thinking that the only thing that matters is themselves and those people that is close to them.” Sir Mav said, repeating the words he said before.

“And that’s the reason why the pair up activity is our week’s main agenda. We need to maintain a close relationship to people around us.” He said, looking at them with a smile.

“Yes, we’ll still put gaps and reasonable distances to people and classify them accordingly. But that doesn’t mean you’ll shut everyone down when they seemed unreliable.” He added, his hand gesturing to all of them. “And to make it possible, knowing the person first is the beginning of creating a better communication.”

Taking their silence as his cue, Sir Maverik clapped his hands twice. “Now class, face your partners and do your essay. If you’re already done with it even if Friday’s not up yet, give it to me and I’ll check whether it’s enough or not.”

“Remember: pass it to me with your partners. No one will pass it alone or fabricate the words, personality or deduce their characteristics. Because if I found out that it’s fake, your grades will go downhill.” He sternly warned. “You can now begin.” He said with a sweet smile.

After his signal, the class changed the chair arrangements and made it face their partners, just like what they did yesterday to try out the pairings. “Tell me what happened okay?” Theia said before turning her chair to face Nathan.

“There’s nothing I need to tell you.” Daisy scoffed, turning her chair to properly face the two who also moved their chairs to create a small triangle.

“Don’t bother them too much, Theia.” Nathan said with a smirk. “If they won’t spill the secrets yet, let it become bigger so it will be sweeter to hear in the future.” He teased, earning him a glare from the three affected people and for Theia to grin.

“Whatever.” Daisy muttered, taking her pen and paper out. Checking if anyone’s paying attention to them, Calvin looked around. Seeing that they’re all busy either focusing on the essay or teasing each other, he faced Daisy.

“Why did you lied?” he asked, stopping her from writing anything on the paper. “What do you mean?” she asked with a brow raised.

“You could’ve made me receive a 2-week school off and a red slip for violating the school rules.” He stated. “I just said the safest reason.” She said with a shrug. “It saved the three of us so why bother?”

“If you want to get punished then you should’ve told her sooner before she lied.” Eric stated, making the two of them glare at each other once again, making Daisy look at them with bored eyes.

“Can’t you two ice bergs just try to get along or something?” she asked, her pen tapping on her paper. “We can’t do anything at this point.”

“What do you want us to write in our essay? Daisy is unfortunate to be with two ice bergs who can’t do anything but to oppose each other?” she sarcastically asked. “Great. We’ll definitely get an A+ because of that.” She said before rolling her eyes.

Hearing no response, Daisy stopped tapping her pen and lowered it down, looking at them with blank eyes. “You know what? I’ll just trust my observation skills and do it by myself.”

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July 30:

Hey diary,

I really, really, really can’t stand those two ice guys anymore. They’re acting like they don’t know each other and just glares at each other whenever they’re talking because of their weird characteristic where they don’t, I repeat, DON’T agree with each other.

Tomorrow’s Friday already. I did the essay by myself and I nearly make it my essay about my hatred with their personalities. But thinking back, the two of them were cool when they’re fighting those gangsters or goons or whatever that suspiciously aims at Calvin. If I didn’t tried to check it out, maybe I missed the thrill of seeing them fight.

Okay, I admit, they look cool back then. So maybe, JUST MAYBE, it’s not wrong for me to include this in my essay: Eric Anderson and Calvin Straus weren’t as cold and unapproachable as what people sees on their first glance. They know the value of teaming up whenever they see that it’s the best choice, they know how to care and they know when they need to stop.

I hope it’s gonna be an A+ for us. And by the way, I created a group chat for the three of us. I know those two won’t give me their numbers so I just added them online. It’s because I need some, yes, just a very small some, real details about them so I bugged them almost all night to answer all my questions (it’s a miracle they didn’t went offline in the middle of it, though).

PS: I’m still planning on roasting Theia alive.

-Daisy