daisy

Daisy started her morning with a bang - literally banging her head on the bunk bed above her. However, the top of her head wasn't the only area in pain as both of her hands stung excruciatingly underneath the make shift bandages Seth had made using paper towels.

The only bright side was that it reassured her the previous day wasn't a dream and that Seth really did help her after she bumped into him after her work. He didn't laugh at her for crying but instead fixed her sore hands and kissed them better. Daisy forced down a high pitched squeal as she relived the moment in her head repeatedly.

Unfortunately, she didn't see him for the rest of the day after he walked away from her cell. Owen was also extremely quiet, probably from being warned by Seth, but after a few minutes of her trying to get him to talk to her, he gave in and asked her questions about what happened.

Like she did at lunch, Daisy looked all around the canteen and the common room for Seth during dinner but again, he was no where to be found. She briefly wondered what he was doing but thought it would be best to not linger on the thought and instead focused on how sweet he was hours prior.

Now it was the next day and she was eager to see him. Unable to wait for Owen to wake up on his own, she stood on the first step of the ladder and tentatively reached out to shake his leg over the blanket. "O-Owen. Wake u- "

"I'm up!" He sat up abruptly, while Daisy giggled at his flustered state.

"I don't want to be late for b-breakfast." She told him as she jumped from the ladder so he could get down.

Owen raised an eyebrow at her excitement but didn't say anything. They didn't have to wait long before the cell opened and a horde of people walked past them. A wave of nerves washed over her like it did every time she was released into what felt like a pack of animals.

Preparing to step out, she went to toy with her sleeves for comfort but a hand grabbed hers instead. Owen held her hand in the palm his own and quickly walked out of the room towards the canteen, practically dragging her behind him.

Daisy looked at their joined hands and frowned, not liking the feeling. Honestly, it made her feel a little uncomfortable and gave her very different emotions to when Seth had held her hand.

She tried to pull away and made a noise to show her discomfort but her cellmate just held it tighter, not slowing down his steps at all. "Do you want to get lost again?" He shouted sarcastically so she could hear her through the noise.

Wincing at the pain in her injured hand when he gripped it harder, she whined again and tugged. "It hurts." She said, trying to pry his fingers away with her other hand by attempting to stick her small fingers through the gaps.

"We're here now anyway," he said quietly, while letting go of her hand and looking at its poorly bandaged state with a guilty look. "Sorry."

She forgave him and they proceeded to breakfast, where they were given the same meal as yesterday, porridge and fruit. Seeing Seth no where in sight, she tried not to feel too disappointed in his disappearance but ended up moping while she ate.

With the free time that they had left, they went to the common room and decided to play cards. Unfortunately, Daisy didn't know any card games so they just played snap over and over again. She was glad he wasn't a sore loser because he lost quite a lot of times.

Daisy felt that he was warming up to her and could even say he was her friend. He was definitely less cold to her than when she had first arrived.

She was shuffling the cards for the next round and laughing at a story Owen was telling her when she saw Levi and Nate walking over to them. Her eyes widened when she saw Seth behind them talking to Dave about something that appeared to be serious from the officer's frowning face and Seth's stoic one.

He looked exactly the same as he did every time she saw him but Daisy was still swarmed with butterflies in her stomach at the sight of him standing there. Everyone else forgotten, she didn't even realise she was staring until he looked in her direction and made eye contact with her.

Embarrassed, Daisy quickly looked away and stared hard at the cards in her hands, knowing a blush rose on her cheeks. Unable to resist temptation, she slowly looked up and released a sharp intake of breath because he was already staring at her with an amused smirk on his handsome face.

"Very subtle," Levi said with heavy sarcasm when he reached their table.

Daisy blushed harder and looked at her cards again. "H-hi." She said quietly, feeling extremely awkward.

"Don't embarrass her," Nate told Levi with a glare and then looked at her with a worried face. "You alright, sweetheart? You're going to pass out if that much blood is rushing to your face."

Gratefully, she nodded and said, "I'm fine."

"Sorry, cutie. So what are we playing?" Levi asked as he took a seat at the table with Nate doing the same.

Daisy ignored the ever growing list of nicknames people liked to give her and finished shuffling the cards, beginning to give equal amounts to everyone. "Snap." She told him.

"Brilliant." He grinned, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

They began to play whilst Daisy sneaked glances at Owen to see if he was okay. Clearly he wasn't as his hands trembled terribly so he didn't have a slight chance at winning.

"Y'know, Shaky. If you keep being all flirty with our little Daisy here, Seth's going to want to do something about it." Levi put his hands up and said, "but don't mind me. I'm just trying to save your life."

"O-Owen's not doing a-anything wrong and anyway, Seth wouldn't hurt him." Daisy told them, throwing a reassuring smile in her cellmate way.

Levi and Nate laughed loudly, gaining the attention of the other people in the room. "Oh, Daisy. You're delusional but don't worry. You're still cute." The blonde patted her head.

"M-maybe I sh-should just go." Owen was out of his seat before he even finished.

"I think it's probably best." Levi said with a sardonic smile.

The girl frowned at how horrible he was being and said to her friend, "you don't have to go."

He shook his head. "No it's ok. I w-was going to take a shower anyway."

Owen left, leaving Daisy with the other two inmates. She was reminded that she hadn't showered for a day and was worried about how she would clean herself in a place full of dangerous men. She assumed there wouldn't be private showers and the mere thought of having to expose herself in-front of strangers nearly gave her a panic attack. Daisy could hardly look at herself naked let alone have other people see her.

"What's with the face, sweetheart?" Nate asked her.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're sad about Shaky leaving?"

"N-no. It's not that. It's j-just... I'm scared about having a shower." She admitted, already starting to feel emotional as she thought about it.

"Do you not know how to or?..." Levi trailed off but jumped when Nate smacked him on the back of the head.

He turned to Daisy and said, "you'll be ok. Boss wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she nodded anyway, wanting to change the topic of conversation. Her smell wasn't disgusting yet so she decided she was going to put it off for as long as possible and then deal with the situation then.

"That reminds me," Levi began to say, running a hand through his blonde hair and then leaning towards her with a straight face. "You should keep a distance from Owen."

Her eyes widened at how serious he was being, clear from the use of Owen's real name and not the ridiculous and slightly insulting nickname he usually said. In the small amount of time she had known him, it was obvious that Levi was one to make jokes and probably never take a situation seriously.

"W-why?" She asked. Was he a killer too? Did he lie?

"I just don't trust that guy." He replied, making Nate roll his eyes.

"He's just paranoid."

"No I'm not. I have a gift for sensing these things." Levi said, flashing a cocky smile but turning serious once again. "Seriously though, Seth doesn't like him. So we can't. It's basic best friend code."

"Well, it d-doesn't matter. I don't want you guys t-to be m-mean to him anymore." Daisy tried to sound stern while she narrowed her eyes and pouted her lips but failed miserably as they just chuckled at her.

Deciding she wasn't going to sit with the people that scared her cellmate away, she stood up and walked away, resisting the urge to stomp her feet childishly as she did so. But as she wondered away, she realised she had no one else to talk to and nobody seemed all that approachable.

Seth had disappeared again, not even bothering to greet her before he left. She tried not to feel a little hurt and reasoned that he had many more important things to do than to talk to her.

Unfortunately, Daisy also couldn't see Dave but she did see a familiar prison officer standing by the wall. He was the blonde man that had escorted her into the prison.

Contemplating her very limited choices, she quickly decided that she'd be safest with him. She wasn't about to betray her friendship with Owen by sitting with his bullies, especially if they were going to continue to say bad things about him.

She slowly walked to the other side of the room but sped up when she noticed some people staring at her. The officer's facial expression remained neutral, not even acknowledging that she was there until she coughed nervously and his eyes flickered down to her.

"C-can I stand with y-you?" She asked him shyly. When he didn't respond, Daisy was about to walk away to sulk but then saw him give a small, barely noticeable nod, making her entire face light up.

~~~

After breakfast, they had more free time but were sent back to their cells so Daisy continued to play snap with Owen. She was quickly becoming bored of prison life. The strict routines and the same grey walls were constantly deflating her mood.

Although, she would prefer being bored than being stabbed any day of the week.

"I wonder what lunch will be." She pondered out loud.

Owen frowned, "probably the same as yesterday." He manoeuvred them through the crowd, though this time not holding her hand and instead making her grab onto his top.

"Rice and beans," Daisy mumbled, staring sadly into Owen's back. Then, he suddenly stopped walking, causing her bump into him and nearly knock her down to the ground if it wasn't for her tight grip. She rubbed her nose, "oww. Wh-why'd you stop?"

"Angel."

She peaked around her cellmate and immediately a smile took over her face seeing Seth. Although he didn't look as happy to see her as he was glaring at Owen. "S-Seth."

He looked at her with his eyes softening, "Angel, come here."

Her cheeks burned with his eyes on focused on her, despite the loud room they were in. She didn't hesitate to hurry towards his outstretched hand and take it in her tiny one. "I missed y-you," she whispered her confession to him without thinking, while looking at his thumb rubbing circles onto her fingers. That was the only area not covered in his makeshift paper towel bandage.

"You're too cute." He murmured and using his other hand to caress her cheek.

Daisy blushed but her eyebrows knitted together when she saw his skin at the corner of her eye. She took his hand and looked at the bruised red knuckles with concern. "You're h-hurt. How did this happen?" She asked worriedly.

"Nothing happened." He lied, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her to the long queue, both having long forgotten about Owen who had ran away a while ago.

"W-were you doing bad things again? Is that why you h-haven't been around?" She persisted, hoping he wouldn't get angry at her for interrogating him on something he clearly didn't want to talk about. Daisy couldn't help it. She was curious.

He was about to answer but was stopped when she gasped. Behind Seth, she saw a prison officer limp into the room all battered and bruised. It was the same prison officer in charge of her job sector, the one she had told Seth about.

"D-did you do that?" She asked after seeing he turn around and scowl at the wounded man.

"Yes." His answer was clipped so Daisy was afraid he was mad at her but luckily, his arm around her didn't loosen. If anything, it tightened and pulled her closer to him. "They only put me in isolation for the night though. Are you afraid of me now?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"N-no." Noticing his sceptical look she quietly added, "I f-feel safe w-w-with you." Embarrassed by her admission and stuttering, she stared down at her shoes and kicked the ground lightly.

After gaining some bravery, she bashfully looked up at him through her thick eyelashes and saw him already giving her a rare smile. However, it disappeared when footsteps came towards them.

Dave came up to them and said, "Daisy, your job has changed."

Shocked, she asked, "really?"

"Yeah. You're going to work in the kitchen and Mrs Patel will supervise you. You start after lunch."

"W-why?" She was glad to be cooking but was slightly confused as to why she wasn't moving bricks anymore. She thought she had done a good job.

Dave glanced at Seth and said, "I think you should ask him." He walked away to his post at the canteen entrance.

Daisy grinned at her crush, holding herself back from hugging him tightly and possibly freaking him out. "You did this?"

He shrugged.

"How?"

Seth didn't respond, probably thinking of what to say, but then asked, "did you ask your friend about me?" Puzzled, she nodded. "Then you should have your answer."

Tapping her chin, "b-because you're a gang leader?" He nodded, making her mouth drop open as she breathed out, "woah."

"That's why people are scared of me." He added, "that and because of why I'm here."

"Why are you here?" She asked.

He chuckled humourlessly. "I think that's enough truth for one day." He said, effectively ending their conversation.

~~~

Thank you for reading!

I can't apologise enough for the long wait. I've just had a lot of exams since going back to school and there was Christmas too but anyway, enough excuses. I'll try to update more often.

It currently 00:24 and I've got an exam tomorrow morning. I am doing some serious procrastinating. Though, I'm hoping by uploading now instead of waiting for tomorrow, I'll get extra karma.

Also, I get very nervous about repeating myself so if you've read and thought that I've repeated some words or phrases too often, please do tell. I'd appreciate it a lot a lot.

WORD COUNT: 2654

Much love <3

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