Page 7 of Totally Shipped
She turns, sweat on her brow and upper lip. Not unusual, but the sheen of her skin is tinged green.
“What’s going…” I’m interrupted as Daisy leans over and vomits on my feet.
I pull her hair back, out of her face, but I’m too late. Bits of half-digested coconut are hanging in globs from the strands. She straightens up and wipes a hand across her mouth.
“Sorry,” she whispers.
“What happened?”
“I puked on your feet.”
“Not that. Why’d you get sick?” She sways, and I take her by the shoulders. “Lean on me a minute.”
“I’m fine.” Her voice wobbles.
“Yeah, you look it,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I told you to take someone with you.”
The sight of her doubled over and puking gets my blood boiling again. If those assholes are all going to fuck her, the least they can do is take care of her properly.
“Your feet are a mess,” she says, quietly.
My frown deepens. I don’t care about my feet. I want to know if Daisy is ill. “Do you think it’s something you ate?”
“I’m probably just dehydrated.”
Yeah, it could be that. “Can you walk?”
She straightens up. “Of course—honestly I’m fine now.”
“Then let's go and get clean, for the love of god.”
When she looks up at me, I see tears in her eyes. And even though there is vomit in her ratty hair, and she’s covered in scratches and bites (both bug and human), she still looks so goddamn beautiful.
Fuck my life.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers again.
Fuck it. I scoop her up into my arms and walk the remaining path to the pool. It’s just easier.
???
Daisy and I swim in silence, both probably very relieved to get clean. There is an air of awkwardness. The two of us don’t hang out alone very much.
I keep it that way on purpose.
Eventually Daisy swims over to me to ask a question. “I keep thinking over and over, how to make some normalcy for Keyara. What do you think about starting up some school lessons for her?”
School?
“What kind of thing are you thinking of?”
“Regular school stuff. Leander can teach math—he’s really good at that. I could do reading and writing. We already use the charcoal sticks on aluminum for drawing.”
I think for a minute.
School lessons could make a good structure for Key. As long as we keep survival as first priority, not spelling bees.
“OK—sounds good. Thanks for thinking of it, Daisy. I want to do whatever Nikau and Nanda would do, but I’m no parent. I’m sure I’m fucking up all over the place.”
