Chapter 4
Jace glanced up from his test, bouncing his pencil on its eraser. One more short answer question stared back at him, teasing him. It wasn't that he didn't know how to answer the questions, they were child's play, but the cramping in his hand wouldn't subside. He allowed his left hand to rest for a moment, setting down his pencil and massaging it. Then, in a surge of adrenaline, he spat out three sentences, answering the last question. He rose from his seat, grabbed his backpack, and hurried to the front of the classroom and placed his test on the teacher's desk. He pushed out of the room and stepped into the hallway.
Jace took a deep breath, relaxing with the thought that he was done for now. It was Friday and that test was the last thing he had to do for the week. The test had been in two parts, the first part was multiple choice and was given on Wednesday. The second part was two essays and four short answer questions, these questions focused on the different themes of A Clockwork Orange. Jace wasn't vexed by the test, literature was easy for him. Math and Science wasn't exactly his forte though.
Jace waited, leaning against the wall behind him. Then in a sudden wave, the door to the classroom down the hall burst open and a rush of students surged out.
"Jace Tempal!" Possibly the tallest boy that Jace had ever met, rushed down the hall toward the seventeen year old. The boy had messy red hair and a lollipop stick jutting out from the corner of his mouth. He looped a lazy arm over Jace's shoulders, a group of six boys and one girl following him. Samson Bollinger was the tallest and most recognizable within the group, he was the person Jace would look for in a crowd if he got lost. Samson is silly most of the time, and clumsy the other half of the time. He, much like the rest of the group, loved to joke around. "It feels like ages since I've seen you."
"You literally saw me this morning," Jace replied. He had to tilt his head up slightly to look at Samson, but at this point was no longer bothered by the fact.
"Yes, but an hour is an eternity without you, Jace Tempal." The girl walked to the front of Jace, and pretended to swoon. She had pulled her bushy, brown hair back into a ponytail, Jace noticed, seeing that she tried to contain the madness today instead of letting it roam wild. Kayla Howley was short, and her temper matched her height. She also joked a lot, and was a fairly recent addition to their friend group.
"Likely story Kayla, you're not even into guys," Jace teased, causing Kayla to laugh.
"I'm sorry that girls are a lot prettier and smell a lot better."
"All we're trying to say is that we missed you buddy." Lawrence Skelly ruffled Jace's hair with his hand, forcing Jace to bow his head at the same time. Lawrence was a troublemaker, much like Jace was, but his hair is a platinum blonde and he stood out far more easily than Jace did. He wears knockoff polo shirts most of the time, paying more attention to how the ladies think of him than he probably should.
"Well, pardon me for majoring in English and not general education." Jace shook his head, fixing his hair in the process.
"Yes, and I think it's honorable that we are hanging out with such a huge nerd." Kayla punched Jace in the arm, walking backwards so she could face her friends.
Jace playfully stuck his tongue out at the girl, pulling himself out from under Samson's arm.
"Hey guys, I have some important news to announce," Mike proclaimed, rushing to the front so he could be seen. "I spotted Nate's future boyfriend in my psych class today." Mike Banks and Nate Kylosov were Jace's first friends from primary school and this made them inherently close. Mike has dark hair, shaved relatively close to his head while Nate has light brown hair that was cut neatly. Mike wore pressed button downs and khaki's to class, while Nate normally wore baggy sweatshirts and jeans. And the two could only be closer if they were Siamese twins. Over the years Jace had become the third wheel of this bestfriends group, but wasn't bothered by it and simply made more friends as the time went by.
The group made a collective ooh as they turned back to see Nate blushing furiously behind them. "Mike," Nate squeaked. He jammed his hands into his sweatshirt pocket, glancing around furiously.
"Oh come on mate, we all know that you're in love with that Kamdon fellow, the next step is admitting it to yourself."
Jones, Oliver, and Brandon, the Cormack triplets, all gathered around Nate, giving him these reassuring nudges and compliments. The triplets were all identical and at times, even though Jace had known them for three years now, he couldn't tell them apart. They don't mind it though, gladly wearing the same exact outfits to trick people every once and a while. They enjoyed trading classes or allowing one triplet to play hooky while the others covered for him. In a sense, Jace was slightly jealous of the closeness that they share, not in an overwhelming angry jealousy, but more of a longing for what they have. Sure, Jace has his foster brothers, and some of them he is fairly close with but not in the way that the triplets have.
"I'd prefer to suffer in silence, if you don't mind," Nate retorted. He pointedly looked at Mike, clearly uncomfortable. So Mike, the good friend that he is, dropped the topic.
"Oh look, it's Cynthia Parker ," Kayla muttered, giggling profusely as she staring at the other girl who seemed to be waiting for someone by the door. "She's probably going to confess to Jace." Kayla squinted more examining Cynthia. "Oh look, she even dressed up for it."
Jace elbowed Kayla, giving her a look. "Oh come on, you don't have to be so patronizing. Plus, I really don't think she likes me like that." Jace shrugged, continuing down the hallway, the door and Cynthia gradually growing closer and closer. "She's just a nice person."
"Nice person or not, she keeps glancing at you, so I'm assuming she wants to talk to you alone." Samson patted Jace on the shoulder. "We'll meet you outside."
The entirety of his eight friends walked past him, headed outside before him. Jones, Oliver, and Brandon all turned around simultaneously and gave him a solid thumbs up.
Jace squinted at them before continuing to walk, his hands in his pockets. He was skeptical of what his friends said but a part of him was waiting for Cynthia to call out his name and sure enough, she did.
"Jace?" She waved at him shyly, coming off of her resting spot on the wall. "You've got a minute?"
"Yeah, I'm done for the day." Jace stopped and faced her, casually watching her. She seemed nervous, fidgeting. She had a bright yellow paper in her hand and she pinched it tightly between her forefinger and her thumb. "What's up?"
"I um," her eyes skirted from him to her shoes. "I'm in a band and we're going to play tonight, at 9." She paused, gathering her courage once again. "I was, um, wondering if you wanted to come."
She presented the paper to him now, the flyer boasting of five bands playing in a park a fairly close to where Jace lived in Northwood. Jace gingerly took the paper, glancing over it before folding it and putting it his pocket.
"Yeah, sounds like fun." He tapped his finger on the paper inside of his pocket, thinking for a moment. He was curious to see if Bentley had ever been to a concert and decided that this was a perfect opportunity to get her out of his room and into the British night life. "Would it be alright if I brought some friends?"
Cynthia nodded eagerly, before glancing at her watch. "I've got to go, my next class is in a couple of minutes."
"Alright, um, I guess I'll see you tonight." Jace bid his goodbye and headed out the door to find his friends eagerly waiting for him.
"So," Mike asked, huddling deep in his jacket. It was steadily getting colder much to the expectations of many of the Brits. "What she want?"
Jace pulled the flyer from his pocket and showed it to them.
"A concert of garage bands? How boring," Kayla remarked.
Samson laughed, taking the paper from Jace and holding it close. "That's adorable, she wants you watch her play. You going to go?"
Jace smiled, snatching the paper back, tucking it into his pocket. "Yes I am, and I'm thinking of bringing a friend."
He started towards the nearby grocery store but the implications of what he just said was too much for his friends to bear. In a collective chorus of exclamations, the group all surged after him.
"What friend?" Nate asked, so surprised that he broke out of his normal shyness to excitedly ask this.
"A girl I met last Saturday."
"A girl?" Kayla feigned as if she were having a heart attack. "Does this mean- are you- are you finally over Alice?"
"Blasphemy," Jones yelled, working his way into the circle. "Jace will never give up on Alice, there's no way."
"Oh but it seems that he has," Oliver argued. He shivered finding the idea of Jace getting over Alice as impossible. It felt foreign.
"What's her name," Lawrence asked, silencing all the others, each waiting for Jace's answer.
Jace glanced between all of them and the little mischievous voice in his head started to creep in. "You'll just have to wait and see."
"Wait, you mean that I have to go to that," Kayla shrieked, gesturing toward Jace's pocket.
"You don't have to go." Jace shrugged.
"But if we want to meet this mystery girl, then we're going to have to." Kayla threw her hands toward the sky, cursing Jace.
Jace laughed at her insane antics. "And just to be clear: she and I are just friends."
"Doesn't mean you don't want to be more," Jones, Oliver, and Brendan all sung in unison.
Jace shook his head, slowly turning so that he was walking toward the grocery store. "I'll see you all tonight. And don't be late!"
His friends all protested loudly but then split off in their respected directions. "Hey wait up Jace!"
It was Lawrence. He jogged to catch up with Jace and strode next to his friend. "Where are you headed?"
"Mum wants me to grab some milk and bread on the way home." Jace readjusted the straps of his bag.
"Mind if I join?" Jace jokingly offered his arm and Lawrence, good humored fellow as he was, took it as the two headed down the street. "So are you really that daft?"
"What do you mean," Jace asked.
"Cynthia Parker really likes you." Lawrence sighed and raised an eyebrow at Jace. "And despite what Kayla says, Cynthia is sweet."
The two boys integrated into a small crowd of people headed in the same general direction. Jace glanced around and saw a mother and her two children, a man in a suit talking on a phone, an old woman meandering along with a walker, and a gentleman a few paces behind them with a hood pulled over his head.
Jace turned his attention back to Lawrence and grinned, clicking his tongue and turning his head to glance at his friend. "You fancy Cynthia?"
Lawrence laughed, almost mockingly giving Jace a look. "I have many more a fish to catch than Cynthia Parker, but for your sake I think that giving her a chance isn't a terrible idea. That is if this new friend of yours is really an unappealing option."
It was Jace's turn to laugh. "My friend isn't unappealing, not in the least. Is that why you joined me? To try and figure out more about my friend?"
"I really need to know if she's hot." Lawrence blurted out, chuckling at how ridiculous it sounded. "And I'm not interested in going tonight if I'm just going to be disappointed."
"I'm not going to tell you anything unless you come tonight." The two had reached the front of the store and headed in. "But I will give you a tiny bit of information."
"What is it?"
"She's a brunette and American."
Lawrence stopped in his tracks, forcing Jace to stop next to him. The turn of his head was overly dramatic, his eyes wide and body rigid. "Why aren't you two dating yet?"
"We've only known each other for a week, and it's-" Jace stopped, unsure how to proceed. How could he put this in a way that Lawrence would understand? It wasn't like Jace didn't find Bentley attractive, he found her rather pretty. But the way that she seemed almost self-contained and how he could clearly see that she didn't trust him yet was a strong indication that she didn't want any moves put on her. Not that Jace was particularly looking to put the moves on her. He felt that if Bentley were to trust him, they could be good friends. Oh, and the fact that she was a Genie didn't make the situation any easier to articulate.
"Are you nervous, Jacey ole boy?" Lawrence reached forward and grabbed a milk carton for Jace, handing it to his distracted friend.
Jace chuckled. "Sure, that's it."
This was when Jace noticed that the store was almost abandoned except for them and the hooded man from before.
Lawrence then guided Jace to the bakery and grabbed a loaf of bread, shoving it into Jace's arms. "You're an attractive lad, and quite charming when you want to be. All you have to do is sweep the gal off her feet with a few well-placed touches and well timed jokes and she'll be begging you to be her boyfriend. Simple as that." Lawrence glanced around and grabbed a package of donuts.
"I'm not buying those," Jace replied, gesturing at the donuts. "And it may be easy for you to make girls fall in love you but I'm not half the player you are."
"You're just saying that because you've been interested in one girl for the past three years. It's not healthy you know, you were fourteen when you started your infatuation." Lawrence wrapped a friendly arm over Jace's shoulder, walking him over to the register. He threw the donuts down with Jace's bread and milk, and though Jace didn't want to buy the donuts he couldn't help but admire how blasé Lawrence could be at times. "It's high time that you get some brunette, American action."
"This is the last time I'm buying you sweets, and what happens between me and my friend is going to be decided by us." Jace paid for the food, and gathered the items in a bag.
The hooded man seemed to be watching the two as they exited, causing Jace's stomach to turn a little. He brushed it off as paranoia and headed back to the bus stop with Lawrence.
"So are you coming tonight or not," Jace asked.
"Fine, I'll come see this little band concert but if your hot, American brunette is not there I'm revolting."
They arrived back at the bus station and stood side by side for a time. Jace, despite his better judgement, checked back toward the store. The hooded man was making his way from the store toward where the boys stood.
"Hey, is that guy in the hoody following us?" Jace nodded his head toward the man, and Lawrence discreetly checked.
"That's odd," he whispered. "You think we should say something?"
"Let's see if he gets on the bus and if he gets off before me. If he doesn't, we confront him." Jace feared that he was being too paranoid and he wasn't in the mood to start unnecessary trouble.
"Whatever suits you. How have you been enjoying that book I gave you?"
Jace tore his attention away from the man, and pulled Titus Andronicus from his waistband. "I'm reading it now. I like it a lot, it's interesting. It's not boring like Romeo and Juliet, strange enough to keep your attention."
"I've only seen the movie, and it's strange at the very least. And I mean strange. I recommend a go though. It isn't bad, just weird." Lawrence took a look to see how far Jace was into the book. "I saw that someone was giving away some books for free and I figured why not grab you one."
"I appreciate it, every new book is a new adventure." Jace glanced and saw the man standing a couple of feet away, waiting for the bus.
The bus pulled up and the boys filed on, sitting toward the middle of the bus. Jace kept an eye out for the man in his peripheral vision. He passed by and sat somewhere behind them. Jace didn't dare turning to look and make it obvious. He just kept his eyes forward.
He and Lawrence babbled on about various things as the bus drove. At every stop, Jace watched to see if the man had gotten off of the bus but never saw him. When they came to Northwood, Jace stood up ready to confront the man. But the hooded man was gone.
Bewildered, Jace did a double take but the man was still gone. Jace assumed that he must have missed him, even though he had been paying very close attention.
Jace fared Lawrence a hesitant goodbye, and reminded him to be there at nine o'clock. Lawrence reminded Jace to bring his friend along. Then Jace set off for home, trying to force himself to forget the man in the hoody and focus on the excitement of what the night had in store for him and Bentley.