JACE
“Jace, this is totally unnecessary and a little awkward, if you ask me,” Sam pouts as I drop her off at her first class.
“Sorry, but your protection is my number one priority, so until then, have a fun first hour and I'll see you in an hour,” I grin, waving to my little sister as she sulks into her classroom. Yesterday's events have me a little on edge, and I know I'm overreacting by doing this to her, but I can't handle seeing her hurt like she was over the weekend. I need to come up with a plan to get Cody as far away from this town as I can, but until then, I'm keeping her in my sight as much as possible.
I walk quickly to my forensics psychology class so I can make it there just a smidgen before the bell rings. Paying attention in class is going to be extremely difficult today as my mind is buzzing with ideas and anxieties. Heck, I haven't even texted Tiana since like yesterday night. She probably feels forgotten, which is exactly what I don't want.
Curse Cody and his messed up life for messing up mine.
I survive my first three hours but only barely. When the bell rings, I rush out to meet up with my bros. Sam is safe in the hands of Young so I need to have a very deep meeting with my group, the ones who put trouble to the definition it has.
“Look who finally showed,” Kasen snorts as I jog over to the bleachers we hang out on. “It's been a while, pretty boy.”
“Knock it off, Kasen, I'm not in the mood for this,” I roll my eyes and fling my backpack to the side of the bleachers. “What's new? Anything?”
“Well, first of all, apparently I'm not the only one who fancies your sister,” Kasen leans in and whispers in my ear. “Calvin has been hiding that from you for a while, I guess.”
I stop. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, but that's just minor detail.”
“Minor detail? It's bad enough keeping one of you off her, but two? That's just asking for trouble.”
“Don't worry, Jace, I'm not going to do anything to her. I realized this weekend how much you really actually care for her and I'm going to back off now, but Calvin doesn't know what going on, so restraining him is going to be quite a bit harder.”
“It's okay, Sam has a boyfriend anyway,” I say, biting my lip. I still have a little bit of a thing against Jake, but I know he makes her happy, so I have to just let it go. I don't want to cause the poor girl anymore grief than she already has.
“Oh, so they're official now?” Kasen asks, making a face.
“Pretty much, yep,” I shudder.
“Calvin is going to throw a fit. Oh well. At least he has people like Victoria to help him get through it,” Kasen says, looking over at where Calvin is heavily making out with a girl.
“Again? Oh my heck, will she ever learn?”
“Doubt it.”
“Her loss,” I shrug.
“Literally.”
“Yeah. Alright, bro, we need to figure out what we're going to do about my brother, but I just don't know what we could do to get rid of him.”
“Well, first thing is first, we need to spy on him a lot and find out what he's really up to because if Sam says he's drug dealing, chances are he's really actually dealing out drugs.”
“True, yes, but how should we do it? I can't just do that while acting casual.”
“Jace, you're the bad boy of freaking Oakland High School. Put your brain together.”
“I'm trying,” I sigh, plopping down on the bleachers in exasperation. “The thing is that I don't think we can actually get much out of him without getting people involved to get information out of him. Drug dealers are really secretive. We need to catch him at just the right time which is when he's drunk and we need someone to get him aggravated.”
“You're not going to like what I'm thinking, bro.”
“What?”
“Sam. We need him to assault Sam again. It sounds like she got plenty of information out of him when he was about to kill her.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Jace, you can't just say no. Sometimes things have to be dangerous before they get better. We'll be on standby so that if he starts hurting her, we can either protect her or get evidence.”
“Kasen, you don't understand. She could have gotten killed and he can easily do it again.”
“Well do you want to resolve this or not?”
“Ugh, yes,” I pout.
“Then pull up your bad boy pants and let's get going with this.”
Sam is going to hate me.
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SAMANTHA
“That should be enough, Jake,” I say, patting his face. We are at lunch and I'm recovering from a heaving kissing session while he's grinning like an idiot.
“No, not yet,” he makes kissy lips and pecks my nose, making me giggle. He is way too handsome for his own good.
“Yes, I'm hungry,” I say, digging around in my backpack to find my lunch.
“Honey, I am your lunch,” he says so seriously that I stop in my tracks and send him a look.
“I think Cody did some damage to your head yesterday,” I say, gently brushing the quarter-sized bruise right below his eye. Luckily Jake was the only one Cody managed to get last night, but it's still a pretty nasty bruise and it formed so fast.
“So you're saying that your beautiful face is just a dream?” he says in a dazed tone.
“No, I'm saying most people don't eat their lovers for lunch,” I laugh, patting the other side of his face and coming in for another quick peck before I continue to pull out my food.
“Well, I do and you're looking pretty tasty, darling,” he winks, making me laugh out loud.
“You're nuts,” I shake my head and take a monster sized bite from my sandwich. “Now you, sir, need to tell me why you and Jace are suddenly friends, because last time I checked, you two were pure enemies.”
“We just both came to an agreement, I guess,” he acts like it's not big deal but I feel like he's making a big deal into a completely different thing.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, really.”
“And what was that agreement?”
“We both had the same goals in mind,” he says. I nudge him to keep going and he sighs. “We both want you to be happy.”
I smile and put a hand to my heart. “Aw, really? You guys. I love you both so much.”
He pauses. “Do you love me enough to be my girlfriend?”
“What?!”
“Sam, I know it's been only a short time, but-”
My heart thumps in my chest heavily. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Jake? You want to date a sorry loser like me?”
He frowns ad I can tell I've hurt him. “Sam, you are far from a sorry loser. In fact, you are the only girl I've found that isn't a sorry loser. You are a beautiful girl and I would love very much to call you my girlfriend. I know your friends aren't going to like me, but I just really want to have you.”
“Jake, I'd be honored,” I giggle and grab him into a big bear hug. My heart flutters like the wings of a sparkly pixie fairy and I laugh into his chest, where his arms are now squishing me to him.
“This is the best day of my life,” he grins and his hand comes up to hold my head. My chin is rested on his shoulder and I'm pretty sure we're both probably the happiest kids right now, that is, unless someone won the lottery. Actually, I'm pretty sure we're both happier than someone who just won the lottery.
“Mine too, Jakey,” I say in a little kid voice. He laughs at me and we release each other from the crushing hug and just simply embrace. I can't help but pull his head down to kiss him again and he kisses me back eagerly.
“Well, isn't this just a sight to see.”
Crap.
“Since when are they dating?” Kasen asks, all disgusted.
“Since now,” I say with pride in my voice. His jaw drops and he stands there baffled while Jace casually walks up to us, looking quite normal.
“Grow up, Kasen,” Jace smirks, looking behind him as Kasen recovers from the shock. Jake looks like he's about to burst out laughing and I feel rather awkward. It's not easy being the middle woman.
“What's up, McFarland?” Jake smiles, holding his fist out to Jace for a fist bump. To my surprise, Jace bumps it and shrugs as if they're best friends. This is still freaking me out.
“Not much. We just need to discuss a little something with the two of you.”
“Which is?”
“We have an idea to uncover Cody's secrets and we need your help.”
Where's my protecting angel when I need them?
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A/N: Well, sadly I'm in school again so updates will happen maybe once or twice a month. Sorry for the incovenience :/. I hope you enjoy! :)
-Kelly