Daisy had planned to sleep in today. She made sure to wear her sleep mask to keep the pesky morning sun out of her eyes. If she was going to be woken up before 9 AM, it definitely wasn't going to be from the harsh light of a clear Sunday morning.
"Oh no you don't!"
Such as that. Daisy grimaced when she realized she was not unconscious like she wanted to be. She pretended that the verbal outburst she heard, or hopefully imagined, was just a residual remnant of an incoherent dream. She flipped her body to the side in her lovely queen sized bed with satin sheets, searching for a comfortable position that would quickly let her resume her interrupted slumber.
"Just where do you think you're going?!"
No. No no no. Hearing another voice was the inconvenient truth that confirmed to Daisy what she heard wasn't in her imagination. Knowing the personalities in her family, the oldest Waterflower sister knew what was going to come next. Daisy sightlessly reached for another pillow. She pressed it against her exposed ear.
"It's none of your business! Get out of my way!"
Daisy gritted her teeth. There was some irony that the youngest sister of the family would also be the loudest. As a testament to the volume just uttered, Daisy's pillows were doing a poor job of blocking out the noise.
The blond teenager immediately lifted herself upright. Her torso was now free from her satin sheets but her eyes were still in the comforting embrace of her sleep mask.
"Oh. My. Gosh." She hoarsely chanted, hoping someone would hear.
The verbal altercation below the Cerulean Gym residence had already ignited beyond comfortable noise levels. The volume of Daisy's protest wouldn't have carried her voice from her bedroom, through the hallways, the living room, and the stairwell even if no such conflict was occurring at the moment. So it was even more infuriating to Daisy that she could hear her sisters but they couldn't hear her.
Daisy ripped off her sleep mask and tossed her sheets off her nightgown. The sleep mask no longer blinded her but the bright radiance of the cloudless morning replaced its role as Daisy's blinder just fine. Daisy stumbled to her coat hanger where her bathrobe hung and secured it around her body. As soon as she put on her slippers, Daisy marched out of her bedroom and followed the trail of cacophony that lead to the downstairs lobby of the Cerulean Gym.
"Like, have you ladies have no respect for the sanctity of beauty sleep this early in the morning?!" yelled Daisy. The elder Sensational Sister stood on the final landing of the stairwell with her arms crossed. Her strained eyes and eyebrows reflected her own reluctance to get out of bed but also her frustration towards her younger sisters.
Daisy could see Violet and Lily defending the glass door that led out of the gym's lobby. Their arms were stretched outwards from their sides, as if they were the goalies of some important soccer tournament. In front of them was Misty, dressed in her yellow sports outfit and slinging her red sack bag over her shoulder. She looked ready to travel somewhere.
"Daisy, thank gosh you're here!" said Violet, "You've got to talk some sense into her before it's too late!"
"Yeah!" followed Lily, "It'll be like the worst thing ever if Misty bails on us right now."
"Hey!" Misty snapped back, "I've been holding the gym together since you three left! I deserve a break once in a while!"
"You can have your breaks!" Violet offered in an attempt to look reasonable, "But we have our schedules!"
"Yoga, Tai Chi, voice lessons, method acting coaching," Lily listed.
She wasn't quite finished listing the agenda of that week but Misty interrupted her, "Then cancel your appointments!"
The exchange devolved into a sonic spaghetti with the three parties vocalizing their conflicting interests. It wasn't long until Daisy had enough.
"Okay, so all of you like need a serious kick in the booty right now!" she sternly scolded. The spirited conversation, if one could call it that, quieted down.
"Because this," said Daisy, rapidly poking her index finger in the air towards the general direction of the three sisters, "Is not cool."
Lily, dismayed that the blame was being equally distributed among all involved, protested, "But Daisy! Misty knows that we have busy schedules and if she wanted us to cover for her, she should've-"
"Zip it, Lily!" Daisy commanded, "It's still my turn!"
Daisy pressed the sides of her temple using her two ring fingers. Aspirin sounded really good to her right now.
"Misty," broached Daisy, "I know you know that we know you work like super hard to make sure this place doesn't get the plug pulled."
Misty put herself in a defensive posture, gripping the straps of her sack bag on her left shoulder. "Mm hmm," Misty admitted.
"And I know that you know we let you bail on us for other trips before and we were like totally cool with it," Daisy reasoned.
Daisy saw Misty fidget a bit as soon as she finished her sentence. She knew her little sister understood where she was going with this.
"Uh, so, you asked us like two weeks ahead if you could go on those and we made sure to clear our calendars to cover for you. So why are you dropping this stuff on us, like, now?"
Daisy could see Misty breathing out. Her scowl was disarmed and the tension in her body language diminished. Misty walked to one of the cushioned benches in the gym lobby and sat herself down. She cradled her sack bag in her lap and continued caressingd the straps. There was an uncomfortable silence for several moments as Misty tried to find the most cryptic but truthful answer to Daisy's question.
Misty finally found it. "Because he's coming home," Misty calmly explained, still not making eye contact with anyone in the room.
Daisy couldn't quite understand who Misty was talking about. Her mind was still fuzzy having just emerged from a disturbed sleep. She did remember that yesterday was the finals of the Hoenn League Championships. Daisy wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for Misty making sure all the gym's flat screen televisions were tuned to all the sports channels.
Then it hit her.
"Who?" asked Lily before she was elbowed by Violet. Daisy could see Violet understood too. Lily apparently wasn't quite there yet.
Upon her realization, Daisy decided to make things easy for Misty. "You want head down to Pallet Town, don't you?" Daisy fished.
Misty closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes," she admitted, as if she lost a piece of her soul.
"And how long will you be gone?" Daisy tried to ascertain.
"I…" Misty deliberated, "I don't know. Maybe a week. Or two."
"A week!?" Lily contravened, "Or two?! Like, how can we- Ow!"
Violet elbowed her sister again.
"So like that long huh," Daisy observed, "So you're clueless when he's gonna get back."
Misty nodded.
"But you totally want to make sure you're there for him, huh?"
Misty turned her head to her side and closed her eyes. That was as far as she was going to go.
Daisy took a deep breath. It was too early. She wanted to be in bed. She was certain that her judgement wasn't exactly sound at the moment. But she was also certain that her little sister needed the graciousness that she desperately needed right now. She knew that her red-haired baby sister's heart was at stake.
She also knew that a headache and a lack of sleep also wasn't worth it.
"Misty," ordered Daisy, "Get out of here."
"What?" Misty asked incredulously, "Are you serious?"
"Huh, what?" shared both Lily and Violet.
"Yeah," responded Daisy, "Get out of here before these two airheads change my mind."
Misty's face brightened and gave Daisy a look of gratitude. She embraced her older sister. The blond Sensational Sister widened her eyes from the sudden act of affection but then her face transitioned into a look of compassion. These moments were rare for Daisy but she started understanding why. Misty's face was unable to contain her own excitement.
"I'll make it up to you guys when I get back!" Misty promised as soon as she disengaged, "I'll make sure to call every night to see if things are okay-"
"Just leave, Misty," Violet exasperated, shooing her out the door with the flicks her wrist.
Misty started scowling again. "Well fine, be that way," Misty contemptuously observed. She then resumed her smile and waved good bye as she crossed the threshold between the Cerulean Gym and City. The three Sensational Sisters followed her out and waited outside the gym as they watched their baby sister run into the bustling urban streets.
"We totally do crazy things for love, don't we," Daisy sighed to herself.
"What was that, Daisy?" asked Lily.
"I said I do crazy things for sleep," dissembled Daisy, "No thanks to you drama queens."