Free Bad Idea by Erica Yang Page B

to earn an experimental makeout. But on the
heels of her guilt came more anger. Was she not allowed to be sick
of this? Being out at a generally homophobic school was hard
enough. Did she also have to bear the responsibility for every
closeted queer person in the student body? Was she some sort of representative now?
    Part of her wanted to try to make things
right with Daisy, to convince her to stay and find out what she’d
needed to talk about. When she thought of what to say, though, she
just felt exhausted. She thought of her conversations with Iris,
who had never been able to define her sexuality and who had
apparently not taken Emmy seriously at all. Emmy couldn’t do any of
that anymore.
    “Yeah,” she muttered, agreeing to let Daisy
go. “Have a good rest of your break.”
    She turned the music on again and stared
after Daisy as she stumbled out of the art studio. Everything was
wrong. Emmy gave in to temptation and dashed her project to the
floor, but the sound of it shattering wasn’t as satisfying as she
had hoped. It seemed small and pathetic beside the sensation Iris
had left in her chest.
    * * * *

Chapter 9: Surprise Daisy
    Riva waited for Benton a few blocks from her
house. Her relationship with Daisy had proven convenient, because
she’d been able to tell her mother she was going to a party with
her popular new friend. Making excuses to see Benton would have
been a lot harder before Riva and Daisy had started hanging
out.
    She tugged nervously at her dress. She hadn’t
wanted to put on anything that would make her mother lecture her
about boys and alcohol, but she also hadn’t wanted to deal with any
more disappointment from Benton. Riva’s skirt reached her knee, but
she hoped her mother hadn’t noticed how filmy the fabric was and
that Benton wouldn’t complain about the nice-girl floral print.
    An engine roared and she jerked upright, but
it was just another car she didn’t recognize. Riva checked her
cell. Benton was fifteen minutes late, but he’d texted on the way
down to say he was having lunch in Orlando. He should have made it
to town by now. Unless he’d gotten in an accident?
    Her guts turned to ice. She flipped through
her messages. The other person she hadn’t heard from recently was
Daisy. Obviously, Jo was Daisy’s BFF, so they were probably busy
today, but Riva had sort of hoped that most recent beach trip would
lead to another invitation somewhere. They’d been getting along
really well, and there was something about spending time with Daisy
that was hard for Riva to explain. She felt cared about and
listened to in a way she hadn’t with anyone else, not even Casey.
It was sort of the way she’d always wanted to feel around
Benton.
    That last thought made Riva’s throat tighten
a little. There was something in it that made her uncomfortable.
Before she had a chance to spin it out, though, Benton’s familiar
silver Scion eased over to the curb beside her and the
passenger-side window rolled down.
    “Hey there, hot girl. Want to go for a
ride?”
    Riva grinned at the cheesy pickup line and
got in the car. She noticed Benton’s gaze on her thigh when her
skirt rode up, and she felt vastly reassured. He did think she was
hot. He did still want her.
    “Hey.” She grinned at him.
    He looked even better than she remembered,
his bright red hair contrasting with pale skin and green eyes. His
eyebrows, almost white, disappeared against his face and emphasized
the manly shape of his forehead and cheeks. He smelled like coconut
and lime, a sugary-seeming concoction that Riva knew could
intoxicate her completely. He’d filled out around his neck, but the
newfound bulk had also settled over his arms, which looked more
muscular than she recalled. She hoped he’d been spending time at
the gym to get ready for his visit with her. She liked to think he
cared for her enough to worry about whether she would be impressed
by him.
    Riva reached over the gearshift and poured
herself into