A/N: Soooo basically this is the 50th chapter of the whole book. I was going to do like a flashback recap type of thing, but I'd think it'd be A LOT more interesting and A LOT more dramatic if it was told from one of the character's point of view instead of mine...
So, here's chapter 50!! **Disclaimer the boys are spending Christmas with their families in reality, but for the sake of this chapter they're spending Christmas together in California**
Deja:
Two weeks. Two long weeks of Zach avoiding me because Peyton didn't like me. We took first in State Championships and the season was officially over. Zach showed up with the rest of the boys to support. He had Daniel give me roses which I immediately threw away because 1st, I don't like roses and 2nd, I don't like Zach Herron. Jayden visited his parents and told them he'd come back when his brother no longer lived in the house. I felt kind of sad that Jayden would move out in a few months because that's when his brother was getting married and then he'd officially be out of the house.
It was Christmas morning. Jayden was still sleeping which gave me time to wrap his Christmas present and his Scholarship Acceptance letter thing from UCLA, his dream college. I smiled brightly at the letter which his mom had already opened. I carefully resealed it with some glue and hid it inside the UCLA blanket that I got him. I put it in the box along with the gift card to KFC that I got him. I smiled and quietly wrapped the present. I wrote his name on it and ran downstairs to place it under the fake Christmas tree. This was my first Christmas with a fake Christmas tree. I cried when my dad bought it from Walmart because I was so used to going to a place that sold Christmas Trees and getting a fresh cut tree for the house.
I walked back upstairs.
"Merry Christmas!" Jayden yelled jumping on top of me. I struggled to hold his weight. I laughed because he hugged me the way Koala's hug trees.
"Merry Christmas," I said as he kissed my cheek. He got off of me. "Now, let's go make pancakes!"
"Pancakes!" He yelled. I ran down the stairs and he ran after me. I laughed as he slid on the kitchen floor and fell over hitting his side on the counter.
I tried to hold back my laugh, but I couldn't.
"Babe..." He groaned. "I fell."
"I can see that," I said laughing. I helped him and he held his side.
I got out all of the stuff to make pancakes and started making them while he continued to ice his side and set the table for breakfast. My dad, Brianna, and Bridget walked downstairs.
"Merry Christmas!" My dad yelled running into the living room and sitting down. We all gathered in the living room. I sat next to Jayden. We both helped grab people's presents and hand it to them.
When we all had our presents we began unwrapping them. Then, we went in a row to say what we got. Bridget got new clothes and a new phone of course which she immediately began bragging about. I just rolled my eyes. I opened my gifts.
I got a new laptop from my dad, Why Don't We merch from the guys. I opened my gift from Jayden which was wrapped tightly.
"Did you wrap this yourself?" I asked. He laughed.
"No, my mom did." I smiled and unwrapped it. The box was huge, but it was filled with tissue paper. At the bottom was a little collage of all of my pictures with him. It was framed nicely so I could hang it up. "Chloe helped me."
I laughed. "Thanks, babe."
"You called me babe!" I smiled and shook my head. "Do it again."
"Nope." He pouted. Jayden was the last one to open his presents. He got a laptop from my dad which he was pretty excited about and dirty looks from Bridget. He appreciated the thought from Bridget. I smiled and handed him mine.
"I thought you said you weren't going to get me anything," He said grabbing the gift.
"I'd be a bad person if I didn't," I said. He unwrapped the box and pulled out the envelope with the gift card in it.
"KFC?!" I smiled and he hugged me before grabbing the blanket out. I smiled. "A UCLA blanket?"
"You're not done unwrapping it," I said. My dad, Brianna, and Bridget all watched as he unfolded the blanket. The letter fell out and he picked it up. He looked up at me and then down at the letter. He opened it and handed it to me.
"You want me to read it?" I asked.
"Yeah, there are big words," He said. I smiled as he kissed my cheek. I read the letter out loud.
"Dear Jayden,
CONGRATULATIONS! On behalf of the faculty and staff of University of California, Los Angeles, it is with great pleasure that I inform you of your admission to UCLA as a member of the Class of 2018. You were selected from an extraordinarily accomplished and academically talented group of applicants. You and your classmates are truly outstanding in your accomplishments, talents, interests, and potential. This is a particularly exciting time to be a student at UCLA and have the opportunity to work with a faculty renowned for their excellence in teaching and also for their exceptional scholarship and research. I hope this early acceptance to UCLA will enable you to pursue the secondary school experience without the additional demands of the college admissions process. It is our expectation that you stay fully engaged in your studies and other pursuits for the remainder of your secondary school career. Under the early decision agreement, you are required to withdraw applications at all other colleges and refrain from initiating any new ones. Please confirm your intent to enroll no later than January 18th, 2018. Again, congratulations on your acceptance and please let me know if we can be of any help between now and next September. We look forward to welcoming you in the fall and working with you during the exciting four years ahead. Sincerely, Lucy Henderson," I said.
A/N: I just looked up college acceptance letters and got all the info from there. I have no idea what these look like😂
"Does that mean... I got accepted?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yes!" He yelled causing Bridget to squeal a little bit. I laughed as he jumped on me and kissed my cheek. "I got in, babe!"
"I know!" I laughed.
"And it's all because of you..."
"No, it's because of you. I just helped you get your grades up and keep you motivated with your homework. But you haven't asked me for help on your homework in over a month and you've managed to still pass your tests and keep your grades up without my help. You did it all by yourself," I said. He smiled and kissed my cheek again. "Congrats."
He just smiled cheekily and stared at the letter.
"Congratulations, Jayden," My dad said. Bridget just stared at her new phone and Brianna played with the new necklace that my dad got her.
"Thank you, Mr. Johnson," He said. I smiled and lied my head on his shoulder. He looked down at me and smile.
"Have you talked to your parents?" My dad asked.
"Yeah," Jayden said. "Uh... my brother will be getting married in February and as soon as he gets married, I'm out of here." He smiled. I pouted and held onto his hand.
"Did you wish your parents a Merry Christmas?"
"Yeah, I called them this morning, but I think I might go and stop by later today and drop off the Christmas presents that I got for them."
"Jayden, you can stay here as long as you need to and as long as you'd like," My dad said. I smiled and looked up at him.
"Thank you for letting me stay. And thank you for your offer, but I'll only be here for another two months." Bridget looked up and rolled her eyes.
"Who's hungry?!" I yelled. Jayden smiled and we all made our way to the dining room to get breakfast. I sat next to Jayden. I laughed as he tried to make a smiley face on my pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream.
I smiled and took his pancake. I made two little stick figures out of chocolate chips.
"Who's that?" He asked.
"Me and you," I said.
"Awe! That's cute! But I'm hungry so..." He took a bite out of the pancake ruining my masterpiece.
"My masterpiece deserved better!" I laughed. "It could've been in a museum next to the Mona Lisa!"
"It's going to be in the museum... in my stomach," He said continuing to eat his pancakes. I smiled and took a bite out of my pancake which looked like a mountain of sugar.
...
Jayden and I drove to his parent's house.
"Do you think they'll like their presents?" He asked. "This is the first year that I was actually able to buy them something," He said.
"The matching Christmas sweaters and Christmas mugs that you bought for them are perfect," I said. He smiled and kissed my forehead.
We got out of the car. He held the gifts as I knocked on the front door. The older, less cute version of Jayden opened the door. Jayden rolled his eyes. It was his brother Aaron.
Aaron just walked off and we walked inside.
"Jayden! Deja!" His mom smiled immediately running over and hugging both of us.
"Merry Christmas, mom."
His dad walked into the room and greeted both of us. The four of us sat in the living room as his parent's opened the gifts. They smiled brightly and immediately put on their sweater and made hot chocolate in their mugs. I smiled and tried picturing my parents being that happy on a Christmas day, but I couldn't.
"Is baby Noah here?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's in the back with his mom," Jayden's mom said.
"You wanna come?" I asked Jayden while getting up.
"I'll be back there in a little bit." I nodded and walked towards the kitchen.
"Deja!" Naomi smiled and hugged me. She held Noah in her arms. Aaron, his fiance Angelica, and Cole were all around the table together.
"Can I hold him?" I asked.
"Yeah, sit down." I sat down across from her and she handed me him. He was a lot bigger than the last time I saw him which was on a snap video from Jayden.
"Hey, Noah," I said. I smiled.
"Deja, this is Aaron, my little brother," Naomi said gesturing to the devil himself.
"Hi, nice to meet you," I said.
"Nice to meet you too," He said. Angelica sat quietly next to him. "Who are you?"
"I'm Deja, Jayden's girlfriend," I said as nicely as possible.
"Oh... you're Deja!"
"Yeah..."
"Sorry, I just pictured you differently... I didn't think you were... brown," He said.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"I thought Jayden was dating a white girl," he said.
"Aaron," Naomi warned.
"What's wrong with not being white?" I asked.
"Nothing... I just... I didn't think anyone in my family would date... girls like you."
I had never been so offended or so angry in my life. I wanted to jump on him and just attack him.
"Well, I'm sorry I don't fit your racially profiled bias. And I'm sorry that Jayden can choose for himself. I'm also sorry for you. I'm sorry that you could say something and offend someone who had no intention of being hurt. Sometimes, you should keep some things to yourself. Not everyone in the world is perfect," I said. Jayden walked into the kitchen and held onto my shoulders.
"Let's go," He whispered.
"Not everyone in the world is going to be white or smart. Some people aren't going to be as smart as you are and some people aren't going to be white like you. That's just the way life goes. You can't change the way a person was born and you are in no place to judge a person for who they are. I had no choice to be black. And Jayden had no choice to be born with dyslexia. It just happens. But you have the choice of keeping things to yourself, but you apparently aren't willing to swallow your pride and give up your arrogance just to spare someone's feelings."
He sat there in shock. I handed Noah back to Naomi.
"Jayden, I want to leave," I said turning to him. He stared at me with soft eyes.
"Let's go," He said.
We walked to the door and his mom and dad ran over to apologize for what Aaron said, but I told them it was fine and that I was easy at forgiving.
"Oh and jokes on you, Aaron! My mom is white!" I yelled before walking out of the house. I got into the car. Jayden laughed and followed me.
"You told him," He said.
"Yeah and I'm glad that I did," I said. He kissed my cheek.
"You're really cool for standing up to him like that."
"It wouldn't be right if I didn't."
I got a phone call from Jonah asking if Jayden and I could come over. It was an awkward phone call, but Jayden and I went anyways.
We walked through the front door. Peyton, Zach, and the rest of the guys were all sitting in the family room.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Those are your seats over there," Jonah said gesturing to two seats at the front of the room.
"Why are you dressed in a dress?" I asked.
"It's a judge gown," Jonah said.
We both sat down. Jonah sat from the front of the room in a little desk and a spinny chair.All the guys sat behind us, while we sat on one side of the room and Zach and Peyton sat on two chairs on the other side of the room.
Jonah:
"I, Jonah Marais Roth Frantzich, officially call this meeting to order," I said.
"Hold up," Deja said. I tapped the hammer we took from David's toolbox.
"Sit down," I said.
"You can't tell me what to-"
"Sit. Down." She sat back down.
"We are gathered here to-"
"It's not a wedding ceremony, Jonah," Jack said.
"We don't need your input, Irrelevant."
"My name is Jack."
"It's irrelevant now," I said continuing. "Anyways, we are gathered here today to settle a feud that has been going on for far too long. A feud that no one took any interest in until problems became a lot riskier and harsh. Zach and Deja's story."
Everyone in the room groaned.
"I don't want to be a part of this," Peyton said getting up.
"Sit down," I said. This girl honestly got on my nerves. "Let's start from the beginning. The day Deja moved to Los Angeles. Deja tell us about that day."
"Well, I moved here with my dad and the two witches who I'm forced to call my family. We moved in across the street from you guys. I've known Jonah since I was young, so when I saw him, I was excited! So, I ran out and met up with him and I immediately became friends with all of the boys. And I was in love with stupid Zach! But he wasn't in love with me, he was in love with Bridget-"
"I was always in love with you!" Zach yelled.
"No, you wanted Bridget! You wanted her beautiful blonde hair and her deep ocean blue eyes! You didn't want me! You wanted the prettier one! And Jack, my best friend, made me realize that a girl was a lot more than just her looks," Deja said. We all stared at her.
"I loved you, Deja... I told you that," Zach said.
"Yeah, you told me that you loved me and then you promised me you wouldn't lose feelings, then you went on tour and forgot all about the promise we made a few weeks after my first kiss. Which was with you. Do I regret letting you steal my first kiss? No. I don't. Because in the end, everything happens for a reason which is what you taught me."
"Deja, why do you hate Peyton?" I asked. Peyton looked up at me and I gave her a dirty look. SHe just rolled her eyes and continued to cling to Zach like she always does.
"Because," Deja said.
"Because of what?!" Zach asked. "See, this is the one thing that I hate about you! You never give full answers!"
"BECAUSE SHE CHEATED ON JAYDEN!" Deja yelled causing everyone in the group to gasp. Peyton flushed a dark shade of red.
"Is that true?" I asked Peyton and Jayden. They both nodded.
"What?" Zach looked at Peyton. "You told me that I was your second boyfriend..."
"And you told me that you were a regular dude from California. You forgot to mention the part where you dated my best friend and oh yeah, is in a boyband," Peyton said.
"But you cheated, that's the difference," Zach said.
"I was in 7th grade. I didn't know what I was doing. We're all going to hide secrets from each other at some point," She said.
"How could you do that to Jayden?" Zach asked staring at her.
"Why does it matter now?"
"What if you cheat on me too?"
"Is that what you really think of me? I would never! I've changed, Zach. And if you want me to change, even more, I will. For you," she said. Deja just rolled her eyes. I banged the hammer on the table again.
"Deja, has Jayden ever hurt you the way Zach does?" I asked.
"Of course, not. We get into arguments, but he doesn't block me on social media or say he doesn't love me anymore like the night Zach started dating Bridget," Deja said glaring at Zach who just rolled his eyes.
"Jayden, has Deja ever hurt you the way Peyton did?" Peyton glared at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Yeah..." He said.
"What?!" Deja looked at him. Everyone in the room gasped.
"But it was Zach's fault," he said.
"WHAT?!" Zach yelled staring at him.
"You kissed my girlfriend! On Halloween! And caused us to fight!" Jayden said.
"Hey! Your girlfriend just happens to be extremely kissable!" Zach yelled.
"I know that!"
"You're just jealous because I hold her first kiss," Zach said with a smirk.
"I have nothing to be jealous of. Because I hold her heart which is the one thing you can't have," Jayden said adding a smirk.
They began arguing back and forth. I banged the hammer again.
"Settle down, gentlemen... and Zach," I said. Corbyn laughed at my joke. "Thanks, boo!"
"Anytime for you!" Corbyn said.
"Jack, would you please bring your seat forward to the witness box?" I asked.
Jack picked up his stool and set it next to my desk.
"Jack, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" I asked.
"I do," he said.
"Okay." He sat down on the stool.
"Jack, did you ever see Zach hurt Deja?" I asked.
"Yes, many times, sir," he said. I smiled at the sound of sir. Zach looked down at his fingers guiltily and then looked up and stared at Deja with soft, caring eyes but Deja was staring at Jayden.
"Were you aware that Deja had her first kiss with Zach?" I asked.
"Yes, sir. I was one of the first people that she told," he said.
"Were you aware of any beef happening between Peyton and Deja?"
"No, sir. I didn't know Peyton existed until Zach's first encounter with her. I also did not know Deja and Peyton knew each other until the day of my first date with Chloe."
"When was this date?" I asked.
"Tuesday, December 12th, 2017," He said. "I have the receipts to prove it."
"Can we get this over with, Jonah?" Deja asked.
"I have one last question..." I said.
"Make it quick," Deja said. I nodded.
"Every year on December 13th, you do not talk nor move. But you do open up to someone, even if it's just the littlest bit. December 13th of 2010, you opened up to me because I was there to catch you when you fell off the roof. And for the first time, you opened up to Zach which has nothing to do with why you spend December 13th like that. Why did you open up to him?"
Deja looked at Zach who was staring back at her. She looked at Jayden and then she looked up at me.
"Because he knows..." Deja said.
"KNOWS WHAT?!" Everyone in the room, including me yelled.
"He knows that everything happened for a reason. And he told me and taught me that after I fell off the roof like I did 10 years ago. The day before my mom died..." I gasped a little. "For the longest time, I blamed myself for my mom's death and I was angry at myself because I felt like I was a horrible kid so my mom died and God took her away from me because I was a bad daughter. But Zach told me that day that everything happens for a reason. And mom passed away for a reason and I know that because if she didn't, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to know all the people I know and love now."
We all sat in silence as tears slipped from Deja's eyes. Jayden wiped them away with his thumbs and kissed her forehead. Peyton looked over at them and rolled her eyes.
"Zach, Deja, what do you think is the best for the both of you?" I asked.
Zach and Deja looked over at each other and shook their heads meaning it was best if they just stayed away from each other and stay with the people who made them happy. But I couldn't help but know in my heart that Zach and Deja would be a lot happier with each other...
A/N: THIS ISN'T THE END! ZACH AND DEJA STILL HAVE A LOT AHEAD OF THEM. I JUST DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD START A SECOND BOOK BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THIS BOOK TO HAVE SO MANY CHAPTERS! BUT I MIGHT BUT SEQUELS ARE NEVER AS GOOD AS THE FIRST BOOK! SO I MOST LIKELY WILL KEEP THIS ONE AND KEEP WRITING UNTIL THEIR STORY ENDS WHICH I'M SAD TO SAY, MIGHT BE SOON. BY SOON I MEAN LIKE 50 MORE CHAPTERS😂 BUT ANYWAYS THIS IS NOT THE END, 'THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!'