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later? If there is a later?’ I asked that way too quickly.
    â€˜Wait wait wait. I need to have this in context. What’s happened?’ He gave me that what have you done? look.
    â€˜Oh nothing. Just this guy …’ My voice trailed off as I glanced up at him sheepishly.
    â€˜If we’re being secretive that’s up to you. Just make sure you remember what you’re worth.’ He smiled at me before turning into his street.

    Mum was driving me to work that night when she brought up the Easter thing again. Given my preoccupation, I hadn’t given it much thought, but was still keen on the idea of hitting up the beach for a few days if I had the opportunity.
    â€˜How badly do you want to go, Daisy?’ Mum tried to read my face. ‘Is it life or death?’
    â€˜No Mum. I don’t care if I go or not. Why?’ Now I tried to read her face.
    â€˜It’s just that, remember how I said yesterday we didn’t have the money for a family trip? Well, we don’t have the money for a ‘Daisy trip’, either,’ she said, looking apologetic. ‘Sorry, sweet.’ I didn’t realise things were so bad.
    â€˜It’s OK Mum. I’ll tell Roman tomorrow and he’ll understand,’ I reassured her. ‘Seriously, you guys need to kick one of the boys out. They eat everything and never put money into the bills or food.’ I was disappointed, but my parents came first and I would have other holiday chances.
    She nodded and smiled. ‘Have a good shift. See you in four hours.’ I kissed her on the cheek and walked into the golden arches, bracing myself for certain persecution.
    As soon as the manager on shift saw me, he burst out laughing.
    â€˜Nice one,’ Tom said.
    â€˜Not you, too,’ I moaned, covering my hair with my hands.
    He stopped me as I walked past him. ‘Hey, I have another job for you. Ronald is out getting cleaned and repainted. The kids will be sad if they can’t cuddle him tonight. How would you like to be Ronald instead?’ He grinned at me, eyes wide with amusement.
    I pursed my lips. Suck it up, Daisy, I told myself sternly. And so the ranga and Ronald jokes rolled on all night.
    Working at McDonald’s was fun. It was hard work for not enough pay, but the time went fast and working with Shane when he was on shift with me was highly entertaining. He was one of the managers of the store, but not full time. He said once he only needed enough money for surfing, then takeaway after surfing. On this alone he could survive quite happily. I told him he needed to get a life. Shane told me I needed to get a boyfriend.
    Tonight I ignored the pain from the hard cardboard cup trays and spent my time rewording witty sentences in my head ready for tomorrow’s clash. Deep down, I was disappointed my life had come to this; humiliation in front of my peers, not to mention the effects of open confrontation with a stranger, but I would do what was necessary to preserve justice. I nodded to myself in approval and kept folding.
    At 9 pm faithful Mum arrived to collect me. Twin Rocks was small enough that most important places were within fifteen to twenty minutes drive. That’s what we loved about the place; a beach city without the rat race and traffic hassles.
    At home I had a quick snack and climbed into bed with some music on. I slumped in exhaustion. Sometimes I hated having to work. It gave me enough pocket money for weekend activities and clothes shopping, but other than that it was a part of life I wasn’t ready to acknowledge yet. Not to mention I seemed to get behind on my assignments after working most of the night.
    I slept solidly and dreamt of fighting whole battalions of brown haired models until the sun rose to wake me for another day.

achael and I waited for him on the front steps of the school. Having her there helped heaps. I didn’t want to lose my nerve. When I saw him coming