"Shh. It's all right. You did the right thing to come to me," said Father Abel gently stroking Daisy's head as she sobbed into his black cassock.
"I don't know what to do, Father. I cannot refuse Emily." sniffled Daisy.
Father Abel sighed.
"All right Daisy, here is what you can do. Continue to be friends with Aaron, and whenever Emily asks you for dirt on him, just tell her honestly what you observe. I'm sure Aaron has nothing that Emily will be able to use against him, but I will keep a close eye on everything and step in to protect you both. All right?" he told her.
Daisy dried her tears and stood up. "Thank you for listening Father," she said.
After she had left, Father Abel held his head in his hands.
With a sigh he dialed Ivan's number.
----
"Using global variables like that will give you a lot of trouble. It would be much more readable for you to use getter and setter functions inside the class," said Aaron as he pointed to a section of code Daisy was working on.
"Thanks, Aaron," said Daisy blushing as she corrected her mistake.
Later that day, Emily cornered her near the lockers. "Well?" Emily demanded, her arms crossed. "What dirt do you have on him?"
Daisy hesitated, clutching her books tightly. "He... he doesn't really talk to anyone else. Just me. His dad works at MIT, and his mom teaches English at the public school."
Emily's scowl deepened. "That's it? Ugh, you're useless. Keep digging," she snapped before storming off.
As the midterms loomed closer, Daisy found herself spending more time with Aaron, not because of Emily's demands, but because she genuinely enjoyed his company.
----
"Aaron! I can't believe I scored so high in computer science!" squealed Daisy.
"It was quite an improvement," said Aaron, his voice muffled as Daisy almost smothered him.
Daisy released him with a blush. "Let's celebrate! Where would you like to go?" she asked him, hanging on his arm.
"The school outfitters, I seem to need new uniforms," said Aaron.
"Oh," said Daisy, taken aback and about to disengage from his arm, but he pulled her closer. "Your blouse has ripped, come along," he whispered in her ear.
Daisy looked down in surprise, and sure enough, a button on her blouse had ripped. Her cheeks burned.
"OK," she said nervously, hiding behind Aaron as they walked down the corridor to the school outfitter's shop.
"Ah! Welcome, Mr. Zakhrov," greeted Sophia as Aaron and Daisy entered the uniform shop.
"U-um I need help," mumbled Daisy, stepping forward, showing Sophia her ripped blouse.
"Come along Ms. Eddington, Aaron was right to bring you straight here," said Sophia placing a comforting arm on Daisy.
"T-Thanks Aaron," said Daisy before she was led away by Sophia.
----
"Looks like you'll need a new bra," remarked Sophia as she observed the marks Daisy's bra strap had made in her soft white skin.
"Again?" sighed Daisy, before she let out a squeal of pain as Sophia massaged the impressions her bra had made in her skin.
"You know. If you feel like you're going through bras too quickly, you might want to consider an over-bust corset instead," said Sophia as she stitched new buttons on Daisy's blouse.
"Do people still wear corsets like that?" asked Daisy.
"Sure they do. All right, here is your altered blouse," said Sophia and helped Daisy back into her blouse.
----
"Were you able to fix Ms. Eddington's predicament Ms. Sophia?" asked Aaron as Sophia returned with Daisy in tow.
"Temporarily at least. Unfortunately, Ms. Eddington requires new undergarments as well," said Sophia as Daisy grew red with embarrassment.
"Well, I'm sure Emily would be able to assist you with that," said Aaron.
Hearing Emily's name, Daisy almost fell at Aaron's feet. "No! No! Please, I can't face her like this!" she wailed, tears spilling from her blue eyes.
"All right, I might have a solution," said Aaron, his eyes shining with resolve. He pulled out his phone and dialed Kate's number.
"Ms. Kate, my friend has a bit of a predicament, I cannot go into details over the phone, but can you come and pick us up?" he spoke into the receiver.
"Aaron is that you? My goodness your voice has changed quite a bit. All right I'll be there in 20 minutes," replied Kate's voice before the call cut off.
"Who is Ms. Kate?" asked Daisy curiously.
"She's Father Abel's classmate from college," replied Aaron.
20 minutes later, Kate pulled up in front of the school entrance in an Uber.
"Ms. Kate, this is Ms. Daisy Eddington, I shall let her explain her predicament." said Aaron.
"I-I need a new bra," whispered Daisy in Kate's ear.
Kate fought down a giggle. "Well, no need to be so nervous dear," she said, moving further into the Uber. However, Daisy still clung onto Aaron. "Can you come as well Aaron? I don't feel comfortable," said Daisy, blushing crimson.
"Very well," sighed Aaron and climbed into the Uber with Daisy.
----
Aaron gave Kate a questioning look as they entered Summer's Shoe Shop.
"What I'm about to show you is not meant to be public information. You both need to keep it a secret. OK?" said Kate in a business-like tone.
"Yes, Ms. Kate," replied Aaron.
Kate unlocked a red door at the back of the shop, and beckoned them inside.
"Wow," gasped Daisy as they entered the room. It was another section of the shop, but instead of shoes and boots, various pieces of lingerie and other strange clothing in exotic materials lined the walls.
"Come along Ms. Eddington, let's get you fitted," said Kate and steered Daisy into a fitting room behind a thick red curtain.
Aaron, left with nothing to do, decided to explore the various items in the shop.
He found himself being drawn towards a black leather overbust corset.
It looked beautiful on the plastic mannequin, with its soft supple leather, steel front fastenings and sweetheart neckline.
His thoughts inexplicably turned to Daisy as he ran his fingers over the corset's smooth leather.