Basketball season had officially started. Tonight's game was the official season opener and people were really excited for it. Preston wasn't playing because he was still trying to rest up before the football finals next week.

I however was still on full cheer duty for the night. I thought It wasn't that cold in the gym so I wore my short sleeved uniform with tape on my wrists to hide the bruise. It was fading too slow for my liking and I still hadn't told anyone about it.

In fact, Preston and I hadn't been talking since Wednesday and as much as I never thought I would admit it, I missed him. It felt weird not having him around. Very weird.

When I entered the gym, I saw him standing next to some other guys on the basketball team talking while they warmed up. He was wearing his huge cream sweater which I had now decided was my favorite thing in his closet. I sighed and turned on my heal to go to the locker room to freshen up before the game.

No sooner had I entered the locker room, than I saw something glowing from my bag. Sighing, I took out Ivy's diary and read what it had to say:

Would You Rather....
5) Tell Preston what happened or lose him as a friend forever?

"Oh come on Ivy, this is just getting ridiculous!" I exclaimed and shut the diary to put it back in my bag.

"What's ridiculous is you not telling him. He warned you about Bucky, it's the least you could do to tell him that you two went out with each other and it was a disaster," Ivy, who had just appeared replied sternly.

"I can't okay....." I finally admitted, " I'm not ready to see the disappointed look in his face when I tell him that I went out with Bucky...... I don't want to hurt him more,"

"What's hurting him is saying nothing and making him think HE did something wrong," she explained

I guess she was right in a twisted way. He had to know at some point.

Coming up with a plan, I took off my hoodie and made sure my wrists were covered by the tape so no one would see the bruise. Then I walked out of the locker room without another word and walked right up to him. Better not give myself any chance to second guess this decision.

"Hey Preston," I said cheerfully and he looked at me with surprise evident on his face.

"Daisy James, hey," he said then turned away from his friends to focus on me, "did you need something?"

"No actually..... I just.... I thought I'd come and talk to you," I said and involuntarily shivered. I had spent all week so far in long sleeves that I hadn't realized how cold it was. I should have worn my long-sleeved uniform.

"Oh..... okay," he said then kept quiet to let me talk. And me being the idiot I am, had nothing to say. Well that not true, I had a lot to say but for some reason, wasn't saying it. "It cold in here, why aren't you wearing something to keep you warm before the game actually starts?"

"Uh yeah, I left my hoodie at home by accident," I said, eying the sweater and all the warm comfort it had to offer.

"Oh...... bummer," he said and shoved his hands further into the sweater pockets. I slapped his arm and he chuckled, "what? You want me to give you this one too? Hell no, it's my warmest one,"

"So you'd rather let me freeze to death right in front of you?"

"I'd rather teach you a lesson on how to dress for certain weather." He said arrogantly and I couldn't help but smile, I had missed him. It had been well over a week since we actually talked. Well with everything about Riley and then my party and now Bucky. It felt good to just be us again.

"Preston," I whined and he opened up his zipper.

"Okay fine, let's share it," he opened up his sweater and motioned for me to move closer, "come on in,"

Oh my. That was probably going to be the closest we've ever gotten to each other but I didn't care. I needed warmth and comfort and he was the embodiment of those two words. Again, before I could second guess myself, I wrapped my arms around his torso and placed my head on his chest. I felt him let out a deep breath before wrapping his arms and the sweater around us both.

It was even warmer than I expected. Honestly, I wouldn't leave this position for the world. And we're not even a couple so that's saying something.

"Preston, I have to tell you something," I said even though my voice was muffled by the sweater, "but promise me you won't get sad or mad or anything like that,"

"I can't promise you anything. If you think it'll make me sad then it probably will,"

"Okay um....... I know you wanted me to stay away from Bucky but I went to see him. He took me to the movies,"

He was quiet for a few seconds and I looked up to see his reaction but his face was blank. His eyes swarmed with sadness and anger and something else. Jealousy perhaps? No that was absurd. However he felt, he was good at masking it, "when?" Was all he asked.

"Um....... Tuesday,"

"And how did it go?"

"Horribly," I snorted, "you were right. He's a piece of shit."

"Did he do anything to you? Say anything to you?" He said and I felt his grip on me tightened slightly, but not in a scary way, in a scared, hoping to protect me kind of way.

"No," I lied in a small voice, "he sent me a few weird messages from an unknown number after I blocked him but nothing to worry about,"

"Okay, I'm sure we can do something about that but don't worry,"

"Are....... are you going to tell me what exactly happened between you two?"

He sighed and looked down at me with a smile. A genuine smile this time and not a sad or sorry one, I could faint in this very moment and it would be worth it, "I will. Not right now but I will. I just don't want to talk about him tonight,"

"Okay....... I'm sorry about how I acted the other day. It wasn't right for me to yell at you, I was just really mad and confused and.."

"It's alright. I didn't appreciate it but it's alright," he said and I just nodded.

"Are we okay now?"

"We've always been okay Daisy James," he reassured me and that gave me a really warm feeling in my chest. Yeah, we were okay.

"Um.... hey guys," Willow said, causing me to turn to her. She had the most ridiculous smile on her face while Grace just looked at us with a raised eyebrow and her arms folded across her chest, "the game's about to start. We need to go Daisy,"

"Um sure," I tried to break away from Preston but he held on to me ."Preston I need to go cheer,"

"Are you sure you want to go? It's cold out there," he motioned to the sidelines where the cheerleaders were getting ready

"I'll try to be strong," I faked disappointed and he chuckled

"Don't screw up just because I'm not playing tonight," he said and let go of me. Part of me was sad but Willow quickly pulled me away from him so I didn't have time to really think about it.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Grace asked as I gathered up my Pom poms. She was feeling much better and she didn't use her crutches anymore but she wasn't cheering.

"No, why do you say that?"

"Maybe because you and Preston were just feeling each other up over there, like, a few seconds ago," Willow added with dramatic hand movements.

"We weren't feeling each other up we were just........ preserving body heat," I replied and shrugged it off. I could already feel myself starting to blush.

"Really? Because I know I saw you walk in with a hoodie and now all of a sudden it's gone?" Grace asked again.

Thankfully I didn't have to respond because the teams started coming in and the crowds started screaming so all our conversations were drowned out.

It wasn't like we were doing anything suspicious, it was just a friendly hug between two friends. That's it.

~~

"No, you're not going," Florian said as he stood by my bedroom door

"Why the hell not!" I responded furiously, he was being ridiculous. There was no reason why I couldn't go. HE was going, and so was everyone else.

"Because last time you went to the tracks you had a panic attack and made a very very bad friend. So excuse me for being a little worried about you," he folded his arms and blocked my path.

"But I'm better now, I've learnt how to better control my emotions and I'll have you guys with me the entire time," I tried to reason with him.

He was in a good mood after winning the basketball game last night but as soon as Braden brought up the race he turned into this huge overprotective bear of a person. I was not having any of it.

Sure, the races scared the shit out of me and gave me painful memories about Ivy's accident, but I could do it. I had to be there incase Preston did something stupid to Bucky. Again.

"The answer is still no," he said sternly, "you're not going. We'll tell you everything that happened when we get back,"

"Not going where?" Mum said as she appeared in the hallway. Florian stepped aside to let her in my room and she looked between us carefully.

"Florian doesn't want to go hang out at Preston's place," I lied. Yes, I'm lying a lot these days but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, "with the rest of the squad obviously,"

"Preston?" Her face lit up. She hadn't even met him properly but she was already the president of his fan club, "but why not? Did he do something to you? Are the two of you fighting?" She asked Florian.

"No mum," he said, "I just don't want Daisy to get hurt,"

Mum smiled softly, "I never thought I'd see the day when you would grow up and be protective of your sister. But she's growing into a young woman now. She needs to have these experiences to toughen her up a little,"

I'm pretty sure Mum thought Florian was referring to something more romantic between Preston and I. But anyway, it worked and I won the argument. I was going to the tracks.

The rest of our friends came over later on and mum was all too excited to open the door for Preston. Thank God dad wasn't home, I was not ready for what he had to say to him.

"Good afternoon Mrs James," Preston said politely. It always amazed me how he transformed into this proper, civilized person when dealing with adults. But he was raised rich, he probably had some fancy etiquette training or whatever .

"Preston, lovely to finally meet you," mum gushed, "but please, call me Beatrice or mama B or just Bee, whatever floats your boat,"

I face palmed myself, "mum stop it you're embarrassing me, come on guys let's go,"

"No no no, it's fine, it was lovely to meet you Aunt Beatrice," he said which made my mum smile even wider, oh he's good, "I don't know why she's in such a rush but I'll come by again soon because I'm dying to try some of your tuna salad I've heard so much about,"

"Oh....... you can swing by, come hang, chill out here anytime you want, the doors are always open for you," my mum said, obviously very flustered.

Preston nodded and walked back outside where the rest were already piling into Florian's car. Mum held me back and whispered in my ear, "oh I knew he was handsome but I didn't know he was handsome-handsome,"

I rolled my eyes and walked out just as Braden came up to my mum, "mama B, I don't believe we've been properly introduced either, I'm Braden. Soon to be member of your family because I believe Grace has every intention of proposing to me soon,"

He blew Grace a kiss and she gave him the middle finger. Mum laughed him off and said, "it's nice to meet you too Braden. But don't count on Grace though, she'll die before expressing  her feelings for anyone, even her own family,"

"Ah, so I see where Daisy gets it," he said then looked between me and Preston who was standing by his car holding the door open for me. I mouthed a 'what' but he didn't respond and instead looked at my mum again.

She smiled from ear to ear, "both of them sometimes need a little push in the right direction, that's all,"

"I think you and I, we need to start pushing a little harder in that case," he smiled at my mum and then they both looked at me. Weird.

I walked to Preston's car and he shut the door for me. I saw Braden and my mum make a pinky promise but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Knowing Braden, it was probably something completely crazy.

I shrugged it off as Preston started the car and we drove away, to the tracks it is. We were quiet for a little while before he cleared his throat.

"So here's the thing, I have an older brother," he said, and that took me by surprise, I mean, I had seen photos of him in his locker but he never talked about it so I didn't ask, "his name is Ryan, he's six years older than me and well.... he's lost. I don't mean like physically lost.... I mean... he's sort of lost his way.... if that makes any sense um.... ugh man I'm screwing this up,"

"Hey," I reached across the console and held his hand that was resting on the gear, "it's alright you don't have to be nervous. What ever it is that you want to tell me, you can just tell me,"

He took a deep breath, "okay. Um..... Ryan was always a prankster. He would get into trouble and just laugh about everything and my parents just brushed it off. When he was about my age though, it got worse, he got into some really dangerous, really bad stuff. He started hanging out with the wrong people and doing hard drugs. Like heroin and cocaine and that stuff. Eventually my parents found out and they cut him off from getting anymore money from them then they shipped him off to some rehab facility," he paused for a bit and I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Anyway, he escaped from rehab..... twice. And then they just kind of gave up on him and stopped caring. He called me a bunch of times and manipulated me into giving him money for his addiction. I was a kid okay, I didn't know any better so I practically gave him my whole allowance for months. I ended up cutting him off because I thought I was doing what was best for him and.... and he just fucked himself up even more. He went to some loan sharks and they gave him a bunch of money and he ran. They couldn't track him and neither could I,"

"Okay, thank you for sharing that with me," I said, not knowing what else to say. I didn't know why he was telling me this but I was going to listen anyway.

"Daisy James...... the people Ryan owes money are Bucky's family. And they're like...... the most powerful family on that side of town, but yeah....... that's it...... that's the whole story,"

I didn't know what to say. I was speechless as he nervously tapped on the steering wheel while looking over at me every few seconds to see my reaction.

"Do your parents know about this?" I asked stupidly, if they didn't know about his street racing, how the hell would they know about Bucky?

"No, those guys know not to mess with my dad but that doesn't stop Bucky from messing with me. He's just an asshole like that,"

I was speechless again. I didn't want him to think I was judging him so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"I wasn't completely honest with you yesterday when I told you about my date with Bucky," I said and fiddled with the sleeve of my cardigan, "I left out some...... details,"

"Oh, I don't think I want to know what you guys did. It's not my business anyway,"

I smacked his arm and he chuckled, "not like that. It was um..... a bit more serious," I finally pulled my sleeve up and showed him my wrist which still had fading red finger marks on it. He glanced over at it quickly before turning his attention back to the road and parking the car off to the side.

"What are you...."

"What the fuck Daisy James! Why would you keep something like this to yourself?!" He exclaimed and held my hand softly, examining the bruise and tracing his fingers over it.

"It's fine really," I said and tried to pull away my hand but he held it before I could. He looked up at my face with concern evident in his eyes and he studied me thoroughly.

"Did he do anything else? Did he hit you?" He held my cheek and then checked my neck for more bruises, "damn it, no wonder you were acting so weird! I should have known,"

"You couldn't have known. And besides, it was my fault anyway,"

"No it wasn't. Don't say that. He put his hands on you and that is not your fault in any way,"

I looked down to hide my blush and he quickly backed away from me and started the car again, "well then. Bucky has a lot to explain tonight,"

"You aren't going to do anything stupid right?" I asked nervously, I did not want this to go badly. We didn't need that right now.

"Define stupid?" He said driving with determination and his eyes laser focused on the road ahead

"You know, like punching him like you did the other night,"

"Do you not want me to hit him for messing with you?"

"Of course I want you to hit him. Hell, I want to hit him! But it's not right," I sighed, "besides all he did was force me to kiss him,"

"He did WHAT!" Preston stepped on the gas and gripped the steering wheel even tighter. Oh shit, I forgot to tell him that little detail.

"Preston," I said, a little out of breath, "please slow down, I understand you're mad but slow down,"

As I said this he slowed down and tried, unsuccessfully, to appear relaxed. "I'm sorry," he said, "I just have a whole lot of motivation for tonight's races,"

The way he said that sentence scared me. And I wasn't even his opponent tonight.

We got to the tracks and parked next to a bunch of other cars. The other guys had reached before us since we delayed on the way here.

Preston opened the door for me as usual but his eyes were focused on something else. He was looking for someone. Oh no, this is not going to end well.

"There you guys are, did you have to make out for so long? We were starting to miss you guys over here," Braden said when the rest caught up to us.

Florian thumped him upside the head to shut him up, "thank you," I said and then glared at Braden.

"Preston are you okay?" Willow asked and we all turned to Preston who was still scouting out the area.

"Yeah, I've never been better," he said and then walked away towards a group of people who I didn't know.

They all turned to look at me and I just shrugged. I was clueless too.

"Oh shit," Braden said under his breath when he saw where Preston was heading and then he ran after him. We all took that as our que to go too.

Preston came to a stop near the group of people and they separated to let him walk right up to the center of the crowd. And there Bucky was, seated on the hood at a sports car with a roll of marijuana between his fingers and Sawyer by his side. Oh, no wonder his race with Preston was so intense that other day.

Man I could really use some weed right about now.

"Kingsley, good to see you again," Bucky smiled.

"Buchanan," Preston said with a serious expression on his face, not giving a way any emotion.

"Oooh, using my government name, shit must be serious tonight," Bucky chuckled and so did a bunch of his other friends.

"I wanna race you," Preston said simply and then put his hands in his pockets. Where did that come from?

I walked up to him and stood next to him then whispered, "what are you doing?"

He looked down at me and I could see the anger in his eyes, he was hella pissed. Bucky stood up and walked towards us so Preston subtly pushed me behind him  and blocked Bucky from my view.

Bucky noticed this and smiled, "hey sweetheart. Didn't see you there. Did you have so much fun that you came back for me?"

Bile rose up in my throat and I felt sick to my stomach, "if you're talking about the time I puked on your shoes at my party then yes. I had a lot of fun doing that and I'd like to have a go at your face next," I said, surprising myself in the process.

Sawyer laughed and Bucky shot him an unimpressed look so he quickly shut up. Preston gave me a proud nod and I couldn't help but feel proud of myself too.

"Why do you want to race me Kingsley?" Bucky turned his attention away from me once more, "you've avoided me for so long. What's changed?"

Preston looked down at me then back at him, "you put your hands on my friend,"

I felt my heart swell with joy. He wanted to do this for me. Sure, the whole 'friend' title took away from the moment but what ever.

"Wait a minute, what!" I heard Grace and Florian say at the same time. Oh I wasn't going to hear the end of this.

Bucky clicked his tongue, "love will be the death of you. But alright, I'll race you," he smirked then added, "for twenty thousand dollars,"

My eyes widened, "excuse me?"

"Bucky, you know I don't have that kind of money. And neither do you. So we both can't make that bet," Preston argued, "Ryan owes you that money. Not me so don't make this about him,"

"Oh well I tried! Since you and your snobby family are HIDING that scumbag of a brother of yours, I thought I could get the money out of you. But since you don't want to...... then there's no race," he turned his back and started walking back to his previous spot.

"Come on let's go," I said and tried to open up the fist that Preston was making, "it's not worth it,"

He finally opened his palm and held my hand, "it's not worth it, but YOU are," he whispered before letting go of my hand and walking away.

I don't know if it was the softness of his words or just the anger I felt toward Bucky that made me do what I did next. But I did it anyway.

I walked up to Bucky and tapped his shoulder, "look, I understand that you're scared of getting your ass beat because you've probably been raised with the insane notion that you're the best at everything. But that's nothing to be ashamed of, Preston is better than you and it's okay. It's okay to be second best to him,"

Bucky looked down at me and smiled intimidatingly. Normally I would be shitting bricks at this point, but in that moment, I wasn't really thinking, "you have some nerve donchya? If anyone should be scared it should be you. You don't know me. And you certainly dont know what I'm capable of. Now run back to him and keep him safe. You don't want him anywhere near me,"

"Scared? Me? Why would I be scared of a coward with a small dick?" I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "yeah, I felt it...... well barely felt it actually, when you kissed me the other day,"

That was a lie. But one way to get boys to do what you want is to poke the fire and highlight their insecurities. And I seemed to have found Bucky's because when the people around us laughed, he turned bright red and got in my face.

"What did you just say to me?" He seethed

"Oh right, I forgot you're a Neanderthal with two functioning brain cells that are working overtime just by talking to me for this long," I said with a faked confident smile, "I said what I said. That's actually the reason I didn't want to continue our date that night. I'd rather drink bleach than have the obviously disappointing sex that you offered me,"

He looked at me with his mouth hanging open while a few people around us snickered. "You're something else aren't you," and he pushed past me and walked towards Preston who was talking to Chad, the race organizer.

"Kingsley!" He shouted and Preston turned around and immediately noticed that I was walking behind Bucky.

"Yes Buchanan," he said while holding out his hand for me.

I took his hand and stood next to him, "you good? I thought you were behind me," he whispered to me and I just gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Your bitch has a big mouth you know that?" Bucky sneered and shot me a dirty look.

"I've always known that about you, Buchanan. I'm happy you're finally acknowledging your flaws," Preston smirked as he said that. I can't lie, it earned a chuckle out of me but I hid it, not wanting to fan the flames. Braden and Willow however had no problem laughing at Bucky.

His cheeks turned red again and he got in Preston's face. Preston quickly pushed me behind him again, "you know what! Get in your fucking car and meet me at the starting line! I don't even care how much you put on the line! I'm going to fucking embarrass you tonight!"

"You're on," Preston smirked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: another cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed this chapter more than the last one. Yes, Daisy is dumb, but don't worry she'll redeem herself soon. Keep reading and thank you so much for all those who've been here since the beginning.

~Undercover Unicorn ~