Daisy was in a pretty good mood, if she did say so herself. She’d finished a final and she felt quite confident about it and that was always a cause for celebration, so she treated herself to a blended ice beverage at the campus coffee shop—two pumps of chocolate syrup and some strawberries, and even allowed herself some whipped cream.

She had a bit of free time before she was supposed to meet with the editorial board for Social and go over the applications they had received for summer writers, so she started her way down one of her favourite paths on campus, an old cobblestone one lined with large, shady trees.

Daisy took a deep, deep breath of the warm springtime air, closing her eyes for just a moment, because the sunlight on her skin felt so wonderful and she knew her outfit (a slightly off-shoulder white top with navy blue stripes and a knee-length black skirt, with the best pair of wedges she found online) was wonderful and for once, she could just be.

And she nearly collided with someone in front of her as her eyes flew open.

Thankfully, Daisy was able to swerve out of the way.

“Pardon,” said Daisy, palms out to the girl in front of her. “I did not mean to—“ Her eyes widened in recognition and she got a flashback to a night nearly half a year ago, when she’d stumbled into the bathroom of some party she’d been at and found a girl sobbing there.

“Annette!” she said and took a step towards the girl, hand turned now, reaching for the side of Annette’s arm. “Is that you—oh do you remember me? Daisy? We met in New York City.”

She recalled briefly that Annette had said she was from Swynlake and Daisy had exclaimed that’s where her grandparents lived and where she went to uni and they had giggled about that—but that had been so long ago and Daisy did not know if Annette would recall. But she smiled brightly, tilting her head to the side.