Maybe it was Alex telling Jace to move on that made him really stop talking to me. It's been weeks. I can't even remember the last time we made eye contact.
It's not as hard as I thought it would be – as long as I don't think about him or see him. Everything's just easy if you cut it out of your mind though.
"Yas," Max whispers and I look up. He's leaning back in his chair, holding onto my table and I'm resisting the urge to kick the chair leg and make him fall. "What did you write for the first two questions?" He whispers.
"As if i'd tell you."
"Me? Your brother? So who would you tell? George who sits in the corner?"
"Probably."
"Tell me. Do you want me to fail this class?"
An arm comes around me and Wes rests his chin on my shoulder. "Stop distracting her, Max. You'll only learn if you do it yourself."
I smile. "Exactly. I'm glad someone is responsible."
He doesn't say anything else and when I look back at Max he's smiling, then I catch on to what's happening.
"Hey!" I push Wes off of me. "You're looking at my work."
"I'd never!"
"Assholes," I mumble while Max just looks amused to still have his bestie on his side.
"I was just admiring your fabulous handwriting," he slips his hand on top of mine on the desk. "Since everything you do is perfect."
Awww. "Go away. Never forgiving you for that betrayal."
Wes leans in and kisses my cheek. "Never?" He then kisses the side of my mouth, then turns my head and kisses my lips. "Still not forgiving me?"
"Get a fuckin' room, weirdos," Max says.
"Will you three pay attention?" Mrs. Lee finally snaps. She waits until Wesley has slowly pulled away from me then goes back to writing on the board.
I walk to my next class alone with my earphones in, blasting some good old Adele into my ears and getting all in my feels. The song gets even more emotional when I set eyes on Jace.
I mean, I don't care. It's only sad cause he's an old friend. But it's not really that sad. I don't care.
The way he walks is so... interesting. That's a weird thing to say, but I can't keep my eyes off of the way he moves. It's like... addicting.
I'm gonna need to pass him. Where will I look? Where will he look? Should I say hi?
Everything happens so fast and in a split second, my foot is stuck behind something and i'm falling onto the floor.
I pull my earphones out and look up at the two guys laughing, looking down on me. The assholes tripped me up. What is wrong with people these days?
The knee that I landed on stings but all I can think about right now is how embarrassing this is. Everyone stares and laughs, but some have the decency to at least try and hide their laughter.
"What you gonna do, princess? Get your big brothers to fight your battles?" One of them laughs. "Don't cry. You think she's gonna cry?"
I grab the stuff that fell out of my bag and shove it back in and gather up my earphones. Someone stands in front of me. My eyes trail up to find Jace's face. He holds out a hand to help me up but I don't take it.
When i'm up, I look at the boys, then Jace who's silent with a straight face. "I can fight my own battles and I don't know what made you think otherwise. Is it the fact that i'm a girl? And I bet that pushing me down just made you feel so much bigger. I bet you'll go home to your father and tell him that his son isn't a disappointment, because he made a girl fall. I bet you're just so proud of that. Congratulations. I hope a pat on the back will be worth making yourself look like a real fucking dickhead."
My heart races with anger as I walk past Jace, hitting him with my shoulder on the way and get as far from those guys as I can. There are tears in my eyes and I try hard not to let them fall. I'm a pretty strong person, but even things like two big, tall guys tripping me up in front of everyone is enough to break me.
I decide not to go to my next class. I think I deserve a break after that, and I don't want to risk someone seeing me upset. Exiting the building, I start walking towards and parking lot exit with no idea where i'm going.
I hate boys. I hate boys. I hate boys. I hate boys. I hate boys. I hate boys. I hate boys.
Who do they think they are? What kind of person tries to make someone else feel shit just so they can look cool and like a real hard man or whatever. Assholes.
As if things couldn't get any worse, the sketchy dark blue car starts driving down the street I'm walking along. I tell myself that i'm just paranoid, but that's obviously not the case as the car stops and the door opens.
"Get in," he says. The man. The man who tried to kill me then ended up being killed himself, the man I saw outside my house and thought I was seeing things. He's here, and fuck, i've never been so disappointed to see someone alive.
"You've been following me." I state the obvious while walking backwards.
"Get in the fucking car," he walks after me and when he reaches out to grab me, I start running, not looking back to see if he's following.
I can't even tell if i'm running fast or not but I don't stop until I turn a corner and find a familiar car driving through the street.
Getting into the passenger side, I yell at him to drive.
"What's going on?" Jace asks and moves the car forward.
"The guy," I breath heavy, "He's here."
"What, the guy-"
I nod. There's no sign of the navy car and Jace drives in the other direction from where he was.
"Where are you going?"
"Police station."
"But- No, I can't."
"You can and you need to. That freak needs locked up."
I watch his stone cold face stare ahead and begin to feel like some of his rage is aimed at me. "Are you sure you want to take me? Go back to school and-"
"Are you seriously saying that right now?"
"Well, Jace, we haven't been talking and you've looked pretty happy without me. It's clear you don't give a shit anymore, what, with you completely ignoring what happened at school with those jerks." I dont really care about him not standing up for me but it's not something he ever used to do.
He presses his lips together. "I would have beat them up but we're not friends."
Ohhh my god. "Are you really being this petty? We're not friends so why are you bothering right now? We're not friends so why did u even get in your car and follow me?"
"It's too painful to be here with me, is that why you don't want me to take you?"
"No, it's too annoying."
He doesn't speak.
"You'll take me to the cops, then home, then we won't talk again. Deal?"
"Fine," he says hesitantly.
I look down at my shaking hands and blink over and over again to get rid of the tears in my eyes. Im scared. What will I say to the cops? I can barely remember what he looks like. Will I tell them what Jax did on the pier?
"You know what? It's not fine. I came after you cause I was worried. I didn't make they dickheads suffer because I'm stubborn, even though I wanted to so bad. And I've not been happy, Yasmin. I've been miserable. What you said fuckin' hurts, but you know what? You know why i'm being petty? Because I don't believe you. I don't believe that all of a sudden you cut me out because of what happened two years ago."
I squeeze my eyes shut when I speak. "You're right."
"About what?"
"It's not because of that."
"Then what? Why did you do it?"
"... Because Wes wanted me to."
The car comes to a sudden stop on the side of the road. I look at Jace who's staring ahead, thinking.
"Are you fucking-" He starts punching the steering wheel, then opens the door and gets out.
I get out too and he starts pacing back and forth. "Don't be mad-"
"Don't be mad? Don't be mad?"
Oh Jesus.
"Who the hell does he think he is? Why were you even so fucking stupid? Why did you do that for him? For a little fucking asshole that doesn't deserve you?" He kicks a trash can and it falls down. Some people across the road look at us, scowling.
"Just get back in the car, Jace."
"Do I really mean that little that you'll just toss me away like a peace of fucking meat over that little fucking-"
"Stop it! You'd do the same. If you had a girlfriend who you really cared about, you'd do anything to stay with them."
"No, I wouldn't. I can't think of a single person-" He walks close to me and puts two hands on either side of my face. "Except you."
My breath hitches as I feel his against my face. He moves in closer and I look down. "Jace..."
He freezes and I don't bother looking back up into his eyes. It wouldn't help with me trying to block all feelings he gives me. Even just thinking things about Jace, I feel like i'm betraying Wesley.
"We're always finding ourselves in this position," he mumbles and drops his hands from my face.
"You're always there just after shit happens." I avoid his eyes and look at his lips, which straight away I realise was a mistake. "We should go – being out here is creeping me out. He could be watching us."
"Not possible. He'd have seen me and been like I have no chance against that guy." Jace smiles and I wonder how his mood manages to change so suddenly. I look past him at the road, paranoia hitting me. "Smile, kiddo, so I don't feel like an ass for making a joke about it."
"I wanna see my Dad," I mumble and my voice cracks. Jace's face falls.
He nods, "We can go. After you've talked to the cops."
+++
"Daddy," I cry into my father's chest, not caring that i'm giving up my hard girl facade in front of Jace. His jump suit smells like rubber and bleach and puts a picture in my head of him in a cell.
"How are you, mija? I see you've brought a friend."
"How's it goin' man?" Jace says with a smirk when I step back from Dad.
"Good as can be," he pats Jace's shoulder hard and we all take a seat. "You two come to tell me something?" Dad says, giving us a suspicious look. "Don't think just cause i'm in here I can't stop you two-"
"No, Dad. Never," I shake my head. "I need to-"
"Never?" Jace questions and Dad and I look at him for a moment.
"What's wrong with never?" Dad says.
Jace looks at the table and narrows his eyes. "Nothing."
Dad snorts. "My Yasy, got the boys falling all over her."
"Dad," I shake my head, embarrassed while he looks amused. That mischievous smile reminding me of Valentino.
"What? I'm not falling all over her," Jace defends.
Dad leans across the table, his face going hard. "Why? What's wrong with her?" I know he's joking but anyone who didn't would be crapping their pants. Dad can be damn scary.
"Stop. You're makin' me fuckin' uncomfortable."
"Language," Dad hisses, glancing at me before smiling. He looks back at me and his smile fades. "Qué pasa, mija?"
"We were just... We were with the cops there. I told them about the guy who was trying to... kill me."
"You told-" He pauses and nods. "That was the right thing to do."
"He followed her today. I found her when she was running," Jace blurts out. Dad's eyes widen and he reaches across and takes my hand.
He looks around the room, "I need to get out of here. Where was Jax? He's supposed to be watching out for you."
"Alex said he's not been answerin' any of his texts these past few days. I don't wanna be around him anyway, after what happened. He didn't even look back after he-"
"Yasmin, he's doing whatever he needs to to keep you safe. What did you tell the cops?"
"Nothing about Jax. I only told them about what happened today, and what he looks like and his car..."
"Good." His thumb strokes the top of my hand. "I can't let anything happen to you."
"Nothing will," Jace says. "I'll look after her."
My lips part when Jace's eyes meet mine. I wonder how he can be so breathtaking in every move he makes. I already hate his future wife.
"Or maybe her boyfriend can," Dad says, shit stirring. He's so annoying. Every time I brought home a guy he'd scare him off by calling him the wrong name and saying 'it's nice to see you again'. Those relationships didn't last long.
"Sure he can, if he makes time in his day to stop being a pussy."
"Oh get over yourself," I glare at Jace and he glares back.
"Wes has always seemed like a nice guy," Dad says with a smile. "Why don't you like him?"
"I just don't."
"Because you're jealous?"
For fuck sake.
"Why don't we leave, Yasmin?"
Dad shakes his head and laughs while Jace and I stare at him, annoyed, with a new found amount of tension between us.
+++
Teaser: the haters of Wes will enjoy the next chapter...................
what do you think will happen?
vote, comment, follow
ly
-e