School.
After two weeks of freedom, it was time to go back.
But it was a new year and I was excited.
Today I planned on getting Jace back.
“You have this look of determination on your face that I love right now” Essence said laughing as she leaned on the locker next to me.
“I am very determined today” I said laughing right along with her.
“Let me add that you look pretty smoking too” she said winking.
I wore a pair of tight light blue skinny jeans, a white shirt, a green anorak jacket, a pair of black riding boots with my hair in its naturally wavy do
“Thanks Ess. I feel so confident it’s not even funny” I said. “And remember not to say anything to Peter!”
She pulled an imaginary zipper across her lips. “My lips are sealed”.
The warning bell rang and I knew I had to get to first period. My teacher was pretty cranky.
“I’ll see you at lunch” I told her before we split into opposite directions of the school.
I really wished we had class together.
I didn’t have lunch until after fourth period and I felt like I was dying.
I felt like the day was dragging on purpose to torture me.
Jace usually came up to my locker before classes started and made it impossible to not bump into him but not today.
I had not seen him at all.
Not even Taylor or Peter.
I really hoped they were in school so that my plan would be a success.
Pulling out my phone, I sent Essence a quick text.
Do you know if they’re in school?
She replied quickly.
Yeah, I saw all three of them before 3rd.
I felt a little envious that she saw them already and I didn’t. It made me feel like they were avoiding me.
Once in fourth period, I couldn’t for the life of me pay attention to what the teacher was saying. I just wanted to get to lunch so that I could see Jace and tell him how I felt.
Once the bell rang, I was the first one out of there and to my locker.
“I have been waiting for this!” Essence said excitedly.
After closing my locker, we headed into the cafeteria to the lunch line.
“Yeah it’s a new year but packing lunch still seems like a good idea” she said as we wrinkled our faces at the food.
“It will never change” I said shaking my head.
“I swear they hate us. This is probably worse than prison” she said grabbing a slice of pizza.
“Or maybe equally as bad” I said grabbing my usual slice of pizza, an apple, and a juice box.
As we headed to our regular table, I sat down and took a deep breath.
I was starting to get a little nervous.
We were pretty early to the cafeteria as people started making their way in and it began to get louder.
Then I spotted him.
His blonde hair looking messy on his head giving him this sexy look and I started getting excited.
I was finally about to make him mine.
He was laughing along with Peter and Taylor and I turned back to face Essence.
“I feel so nervous right now! I feel like I’m about to ask him on a first date or something” I said.
“It’s because you’re in love” she said teasing me as she clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes.
“Shut up!” I said throwing a pepperoni her way.
“Hey guys” Kristen said giving me sympathetic smile.
“Hey Kristen” I said letting her know that I wasn’t in a shitty mood. “I’m sorry about all last week. I was being a total bitch and I know you didn’t need that after the conversation we had. I wasn’t a very good friend and I’m sorry” I told her.
She gave me a smile. “Don’t even worry about it. It’s cool”.
I waited a few more minutes for the guys to show up, but it never happened.
“What the hell” I said looking up at Kristen and Essence whose eyes seemed to be popping out of their sockets. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh no” was all Kristen said.
Following their gaze, my heart dropped.
My heart literally fell out of my ass, onto the floor and started to crawl to the trashcan.
Jace, Peter, and Taylor were sitting at their old table where all the other pack members were.
Jace had his arms and lips around another girl.
And that girl just happened to be Claire.
I felt the tears sliding down my cheek and I needed to get out of here before it got worse.
“Why?” I whispered to myself.
“Shit” Kristen mumbled. “Since you rejected him, he thinks he needs to find a new mate and Claire was his pick”.
Claire.
Of all people he had to pick Claire.
The girl who cheated on him.
The girl who hated my guts and I’m pretty sure I hated hers just as much.
The girl that he told me I didn’t have to worry about.
She was sitting there with her tongue down his throat and I knew she was enjoying every minute of it.
Picking up my bag, I stood and quickly made my way out of the cafeteria.
Essence wasn’t too far behind me as we headed into the parking lot and into my car.
I slammed the door shut and put my forehead against the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry Spence. I definitely didn’t see that one coming” she said from the passenger seat as she rubbed my back.
“Me neither” I said through the tears. “My plan was a complete fail”.
“Come on! You can still talk to him. He thinks you don’t want him so all you have to do is go and talk to him still”.
“Yeah, whenever Claire isn’t up his ass. God, I feel like I really screwed this up. It’s my fault this time”.
………………………………
English.
I was dreading this class the most.
Of course I had this class with all three of the guys.
I made sure to sit way in the corner where I wouldn’t have to see Jace, Peter, or Taylor.
But when they walked in, and I couldn’t help but look up.
The three of them wouldn’t even look my way.
Did they hate me that much?
I told you they hate me
I sent the text to Essence quickly before Mrs. Parnell walked into the room.
I’m gonna txt Peter. They have no right to treat you like this
As I read this, Mrs. Parnell walked in with a huge smile on her face.
“Good afternoon class and welcome back from your Christmas break!” she said taking a seat on top of her desk. “I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and I would love to hear all about it. Anyone care to share?” she asked looking around the room.
I leaned my head against the desk and turned to face the window.
I didn’t really care what everyone else had been up to. I was too busy trying to fix my own problem.
I watched as a little snow began to fall and I was hoping that we would get a huge storm soon. I was ready to miss a few days of school again.
Some hot chocolate, Jinger, my bed, and some movies sounds like the plan this weekend.
Hopefully everything with Jace would be fixed.
I really didn’t want to lose him.
If it was going to hurt like this, what the hell was I going to do?
“Miss. Droid?” Mrs. Parnell said causing me to lift my head up. “Are you feeling okay? Do you need to head to the nurse?” she asked.
I mentally rolled my eyes. I didn’t need Jace to think that I was some wuss. “I’m fine” I said giving her my full attention.
“Okay then, well how was your break?” she asked me.
Why did she have to do that? What was I supposed to say? Oh it was awesome until Christmas day when I told Jace I couldn’t be his girlfriend because I’m too scared. And then I saw him making out with Claire at lunch and it shattered my heart into a million pieces.
Oh yeah that answer was perfect.
“It was awesome” I lied.
“I’m glad to hear that” she said standing up. “Well I have some news as well. I am pregnant” she said rubbing her head.
So that explains her good mood.
The class began to applaud for her, including myself.
That is pretty big news and since my mom is pregnant, I knew how happy Mrs. Parnell must be. My mom was glowing these days.
“Congrats dude” Steven Johnson said from the front of the class.
“Thank you everyone. And since we just got back from break, I am going to take it pretty easy on you all. I want you to think about the book you want to read for the next reading assignment. Since it’s almost the weekend, I won’t start anything new. Think of a book and tomorrow I will send around the clipboard so you can write it down” she said. “Alright, the rest of the time is yours” she said.
I decided that the nurse excuse seemed like a pretty good one.
I gathered my things and walked up to her desk. “Mrs. Parnell, I think I should take that offer and head to the nurse”.
She gave me a smile. “No problem Spencer” she said taking a writing pad out of her desk and writing me a pass. “See you tomorrow”.
Taking the pass and heading out of the school, I got into my car and made my way home making sure to shoot Essence a text so she wouldn’t freak out.
Six hours later, I was pacing my room debating on whether or not I should head over to Jace’s and explain what the hell was going on when I rejected him on Christmas.
He couldn’t be with Claire. I couldn’t accept that and I wouldn’t.
He had to be with me and I wanted to be with him.
Not thinking anymore, I grabbed my jacket, keys and headed downstairs to my car.
When I pulled up in front of his house, I didn’t know if I should go to the pack house or his actual house.
I decided on the pack house as I walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell.
I was very surprised that he answered the door.
“Hey” I said after we stared at one another for a long minute.
“Hey” he said.
“Can I come in?”
He stepped to the side and I walked in as he closed the door.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
He nodded and I followed him into the den.
I walked over to the window as he sat down at the table.
“There’s something that I need to say to you” I began as I gained a little bit of confidence.
“Look Spencer, I’m sorry you had to find out about me and Claire the way that you did but I really didn’t have any other choice” he said.
“I didn’t like seeing you kissing her at lunch. That hurt” I said softly.
“I don’t wanna be kissing her, I wanna be kissing you! But you rejected me”.
“Jace, I just needed… some time. I needed time to understand this and deal with it” I said.
Jace had a blank look and I could not read him. He was showing no emotion and I knew he didn’t want me to know how he was really feeling.
“Spencer, you can’t keep doing this to me” he finally said after a long moment of silence. “I don’t think you get what it does to me when you ask for time or space apart from me. You’re my mate and being away from you is hell. I can’t live with being away from you” he said.
I knew that now and that is why I was ready.
“I don’t know what else I can do to prove myself to you” he said. “I have tried so hard and you keep shooting me down. Look, I don’t want you to think you have to do something because of me. If you don’t want this then I don’t want to push you” he said.
Of course I wanted to be with him. My own trust issues were messing with how I really felt. I needed to let him know how I felt and I needed to do it now.
“Okay Jace look-”
“Hey baby!” Claire said coming into the den.
Of course she would enter the room when I was about to pour my heart out.
“Uh, hey Claire” he said never taking his eyes off of me.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked with fake concern.
When was this chick going to learn to beat it?
I stood there and waited for Jace to get rid of her.
“No. You’re not interrupting anything. What’s up?” he asked.
My body stiffened.
What?
What did he just say?
“I was wondering if you could help me with a little problem that I’m having… in your bedroom” she said with a seductive look.
Was she seriously doing this while I stood right here?
“What’s the problem?” he asked her in a flirty tone.
She began twirling her blonde hair. “Well I lost something… and I was hoping you could help me find it”.
She had to be kidding.
“Yeah. I can help. Just let me finish up with Spencer” he said.
Finish up?
“I’ll leave you two alone” Claire said.
“No” Jace said holding his hand up. “It will only take a minute”.
My heart shattered in my chest for the second time in my life. The second time I was afraid of.
The second time after Justin.
I knew I needed to leave. I would not let him and Claire see me cry.
Especially not Claire.
“So what were you saying Spencer?” Jace asked.
“I wanted to talk to you in private” I said.
“I’m sure what you have to say doesn’t need privacy” he said with pain in his voice
He still thought I was against being with him but I wasn’t. I was ready to give him my all. Why was he doing this?
“I would rather Claire not be here” I said getting angry.
“Well if you don’t wanna say it in front of me then you should leave” Claire said.
WHAT?! She had to be smoking.
I looked at Jace to tell her off but he just stood there.
Was he really doing this?
Looking between him and Claire I knew that I stood no chance. Claire was beautiful and she was willing to give Jace what he wanted.
I looked back into his eyes and felt the feelings that I always felt but this time something was different. I didn’t feel wanted.
He shrugged his shoulders and I knew it was time to go.
Quickly grabbing my jacket, I headed for the door and left them to find her … whatever the hell they planned on looking for.
…………………………………………………
How I managed to drive to school, park, and walk to my locker the next day was beyond me. Going to bed last night was a challenge so being in school was a shock.
I did everything I could to avoid Jace throughout the morning but it was lunch time and I couldn’t bear to be around him.
Even if he was sitting at a completely different table now.
Standing at my locker, I was trying to come up with a way to ditch school. Something I had never done before.
“Hey Spence. Where have you been?” Essence asked.
As soon as I looked at her, she stopped smiling. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
Once she asked me, I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned away from her and made a run for it.
“What the hell happened?” Essence asked following me into the bathroom.
I sat on the ground and let the tears fall.
“I knew it was too good to be true! I knew he wanted Claire this whole time. Why did I think that he wanted me?” I said as the tears came out harder and my vision became blurry. Putting my head in my hands, I just let them fall.
“What do you mean?” Essence asked.
The tears prevented me from talking so Essence joined me on the floor and rested her head on my shoulder. “I know you may not want to talk about it right now but calm down. Don’t let anyone get you so upset”.
We sat there for a few more minutes as the tears began to slow up.
“I feel like a worthless piece of crap. Why do I do this to myself?” I said banging my hand down on the cold tile floor.
“Spencer please don’t say that. You are the most beautiful person I know. Both inside and out”.
“No Essence. I don’t deserve someone like Jace. I don’t deserve him! I give my heart and it ends up coming back to me with footprints on it” I sobbed. “He deserves Claire. She’s beautiful and I won’t live up to his expectations!”.
Essence began crying next to me. “Spencer. Please stop saying this. You are a diamond baby girl and I wish you would stop treating yourself like a rock”.
………………………………………………..
Jace POV
It was the end of the school day and I was so ready to head home.
My dad had some pack business that needed to be handled and I couldn’t wait to be involved with that.
I was also concerned about Spencer but I wasn’t going to keep pushing her. She was my mate but if she didn’t want to be with me then I wouldn’t make her. I needed her in my life so I would give her the space she needed.
“What’s going on with Claire man? Are you really going to make her your new mate?” Peter asked me with concern.
No one wanted Claire to be my mate because they had all fallen in love with Spencer.
So did I.
“Spencer wants nothing to do with me so I’m going to respect that. I don’t want to lose her but I can’t keep pushing her away by not giving her space” I explained. “Claire is in the picture because I need a mate to become Alpha”.
“Bro, I can’t live with you making Claire your mate. I couldn’t live with myself if let you make that mistake” Taylor said.
We were leaned up against my car waiting for Kristen so we could head to the pack house.
“I can’t live with that mistake but my dad knows best and a while ago he said the best thing to do is have a plan b and that’s what Claire is right now”.
“That was way before we even found our mates man! That was before he met Spencer” Peter frowned.
“Well I didn’t forget that he said it”.
They exchanged looks and I knew that they were mind linking each other.
As much as I knew they did not want this, I had to do what was best for the pack.
I needed a Luna.
“Have you talked to Essence today?” I asked Peter.
“No. I was going to ask Spencer if she had spoken to her but she wasn’t in English class”. Peter paused. “And they both weren’t in lunch come to think of it. Maybe they’re together” he said shrugging.
At that moment, Essence’s black mustang came flying down the parking lot, stopping in front of the three of us.
“What the hell?” Taylor said.
Essence got out of the car and you could smell the anger radiating off of her.
She was beyond pissed.
Stomping over to us, her eyes were red and so was her face. She had tear stains and she looked worn out. Her hair was thrown into a bun and she was wearing jeans and a huge hoodie that looked like it belonged to Peter.
A red alarm went off in my head and my wolf became on edge.
She stopped in front of us making me extremely nervous.
Peter stepped forward but didn’t make a move to touch her. “Babe, what’s wrong?”
Essence had a glare that was directed to me.
A tear slid down her cheek and the three of us became very confused.
What the hell was going on?
“She’s my best friend”. Her voice was strong yet weak. She sounded like she could break down at any moment.
“What do you mean?” Peter asked reaching his hand out to wipe her tears but Essence wasn’t having it.
Backing up, she put her hand up. “Please don’t touch me”.
Pain washed over Peter’s face hearing those words from his mate.
“Spencer is my best friend and you hurt her.” she said looking at me.
Tears were flowing down her cheek but she was still beyond mad.
“I don’t know what happened between you two last night but she’s destroyed and I’ve never seen her like this” Essence said breaking down. “She thinks she’s lesser than everyone and it’s all because of that stupid Claire and you let her. YOU LET HER BELIEVE THAT SHE WAS ALL THOSE NEGATIVE THINGS!” Essence screamed.
Peter pulled her into his arms as she began balling her eyes out.
My wolf began howling in pain.
“I didn’t know it would make her feel like that” I said softly.
Essence looked up at me from Peter’s arms looking less angry.
“Spencer has been through some shit with love and you made it ten times worse because she loves you. You proved her right and you were wrong about everything” she said gently pushing Peter away.
Once again, he looked pained.
“Where is she right now?” I asked as I began shaking.
“If you’re going to make it worse don’t bother asking me that” Essence said turning and walking back to her car.
“Essence, please!” I called out.
She stopped and spun back around. “Jace, don’t go unless you plan on being honest with her this time. Please” she said getting into her car and driving away.
Standing there, I felt like a complete ass. How could I let all of this happen?
“Dude, what are you gonna do?” Taylor asked.
Handing him my car keys, I took off. “You drive and when you get home tell my dad I had to handle this” I yelled over my shoulder.
My mate was important no matter what was going on. This needed to be fixed.
So I ran.
A/N: Okay guys!!!! That's all for tonight! I hope you all enjoyed both chapters and don't hate me for Jace being an idiot! we all make mistakes sometimes. Let's just hope he fixes it :O
This chapter goes out to Essence because she made me soooooo happy (though I wrote her this way HEHEHE!)
Comment and let me know what you think of this chapter!!!! and VOTE!!! :))