White Rabbit

Chapter 39: Something Special

"Jace," I gain his attention, "when is your dad leaving for Tokyo?"

"Uh, Sunday," Jace says, "I think."

"Then we'll leave tomorrow so that we're a day ahead," I say and everyone nods in agreement.

"I'll go fill the others in," Reece says and walks off.

Tokyo, huh? That'll be interesting.

***

I walk out of the shower with a towel draped around my shoulders over top of my white t-shirt and my black and white zebra patterned shorts as I walk to my room to pack for the trip tomorrow, considering we'll be there for a week. I go into my room and grab a magenta suitcase with a black handle out from underneath the bed and place it on the bed, unzipping it and lifting the flap open. I walk towards my closet and open the doors, scanning my clothes and grabbing a few items before heading back over to my bed and placing them in the suitcase. I make sure to pack my jacket and my necklace with the other articles of clothing before zipping it shut. I grab a medium sized magenta bag from underneath my bed and place it next to my suitcase before opening it. As I walk over to grab a few books and other items, I hear a knock on my open door and I glance over to see Jace standing there.

"Hey," He says and I nod in acknowledgement, going over to place the books in my bag.

"Hi," I say as I sort my bag, "I was just getting things ready for tomorrow. You can come in if you want."

"You have a nice room," Jace says as he looks around and walks in further, still standing in the vicinity of the doorway.

"Thanks," I say and take a few occasional glances over at him, "what's up?"

"I just wanted to apologize again," Jace says and frowns slightly, "I should've told you sooner."

"It's fine," I wave it off and sigh, "really. Don't worry about it."

"Okay," Jace sighs and seems somewhat relieved, "I was just worried that you were still upset with me."

"No," I shake my head, "so, how did talking to Kazuki go whenever I left?"

"I can't stand him," Jace scowls and clenches his right hand into a fist, "I don't approve of the things he's done either. And look at the way he hurt Caliber."

"He was the only one who Caliber ever really admired and he let her down harder than anyone ever could," I start, "sure, there were other people who let her down-- her parents, her friends, but she looked up to Kazuki and he just left her to fall off the ledge he built her up to. I can relate to that. I was let down by many people, but most of all, I was let down by my mother. I always admired my mother, but then she ran away, and I didn't quite understand why at the time. I never hated her and I never could, and as I grew older I came to understand why she had to run away. I'm still upset that she did, but I want to find her, ya know?"

"Yeah," Jace says, "it's different whenever you admire somebody and they let you down compared to someone you view as equal to you letting you down. Not saying that people aren't all equal, but there are some relationships we value more than others and there are some people who we just can't live without, you know? I guess that's what I'm trying to say. It's harder whenever you trust the person and look up to them as if they're the light of your life. And it's even harder to watch someone who's so strong, so beautiful, so free, trust and admire someone only to be let down to fall by them. Because you know that they hardly ever trust anyone, let alone admire them. So, I feel like, that's something really special, when someone like that can admire someone, because that must mean the person is really, truly something to have someone like that look up to them. But they also must be truly stupid to let them down, because it's the worst mistake they'll ever make."

My breath hitches as I watch and listen to Jace as he has his hands shoved in his pockets and I find myself enamored with his words.

"Yeah," I breathe out, and somehow I feel like he's talking about me and it hits so close to my heart, possibly more than he'll ever know.

"Anyway," Jace smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck, "I'm gonna head back home. I took today off from work, in case you were wondering why I never left."

"Oh," I say and smile slightly, "And alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya," Jace gives a short wave before leaving my room and heading down the hall.

"It truly is something special," I say quietly to myself as I continue packing my stuff.