(unedited)
You're inside of me,
You're messing up my everything,
But you don't care, you don't care.
Your misery was looking for some company,
And I was there,
I was there.
"Every High Has a Comedown" –Anarbor
"So," Vanessa said as she sat down beside me.
"So?" I prompted, raising an eyebrow when she didn't continue.
"Who are you going to the Winter Formal with?" she asked.
"Right now? No one," I told her. There were only three days until the dance, but honestly bigger things had been on my mind. Such as the fact that I would have to leave in a week and a half. And that exams were in a week. And that someone I talked to on a regular basis wanted to kill me.
You know, the usual high school stuff.
"What about Ashton?" Vanessa demanded, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I shrugged. "What about him?"
"You guys aren't going together?"
I shrugged again. "I don't think so, no."
"You don't think so?" she repeated.
"I haven't asked him, he hasn't asked me. You have to ask someone to go to a dance with you, don't you?" I wasn't completely oblivious to how the typical 'social custom' for asking someone to a dance with you went, though I had never been asked before, so I wasn't really sure if there was some special case where it could just be assumed.
Vanessa's jaw dropped. "Have you never been asked to a dance before?"
I shook my head.
She muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch, but before I could ask, Jacen and Skylar sat down at the table.
"What are you guys talking about?" Skylar asked.
"Elena's never been asked to a dance before," Vanessa answered before I could stop her by changing the subject.
I sighed. Note to self: Vanessa cannot keep a secret.
I hadn't specifically asked her to keep it a secret, but I remembered a time before where she had done the same thing after I told her Jacen had kissed me. It had ended up in a fist fight between Jacen and Ashton.
Jacen raised an eyebrow. "Well, we have to change that, don't we?"
I stared at him. "What?"
He stood up.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
The he climbed onto the table.
If he makes this an announcement to ask some guy to ask me I'm going to choke him.
"Hey, watch it!" Skylar exclaimed, pulling her lunch -a salad and yogurt- away from his feet before he ended up kicking both onto her.
"Hey!" Jacen yelled, effectively catching the attention of every person in the room. The cafeteria went silent as everybody turned to stare at him. "I have something important to say."
He turned to me.
I'm going to kill him.
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed up at him.
He ignored me, clearing his throat. "Elena Evans will you be my date to the Winter Formal?"
Then, everyone turned to stare at me.
What. The. Fuck.
So not what I expected, but not any better. What was I supposed to say? I wasn't sure if he was actually being serious, but everyone probably thought he was. They didn't know what we had been talking about and Jacen had a completely sincere expression on his face that I was almost a hundred percent sure was fake.
I didn't want to say yes if he was joking, I don't think I wanted to yes at all. I hadn't really been planning on going to the Winter Formal at all; I had more important things to do. Like pack and make sure I don't get killed before I run away to LA.
Jacen stepped down from the table, and then got down to one knee in front of me. "It would be an honor if I could accompany you."
The cafeteria filled with the sound of girls sighing and people whispering. "Don't leave him hanging!" Someone yelled. Jacen grinned, glancing up at me, a wicked glint in his eyes.
They can't actually believe he's serious.
Except they did.
And they were waiting for me to answer.
I still had no idea what to say.
Then luckily, I was saved from answering by the sound of footsteps. I glanced away from Jacen to see Ashton walking up.
Saved!
"What are you doing?" Ashton demanded, staring at Jacen who was still on one knee. He kind of looked like he was proposing minus the ring, so I didn't blame Ashton for his confusion.
Jacen glanced up at him, but didn't actually get up. "Asking Elena to the Winter Formal. You're interrupting my proposal."
Ashton raised an eyebrow. "If she's taking this long to answer, I think it's a no."
Well, that keeps things from getting awkward.
Though, it kind of already was, since the cafeteria was still quiet with everyone staring at us. It was, after all, the Elite. I don't think they had ever asked anyone to a dance before, not that I could remember. If they had, I don't think they had ever made it public like this. I had never heard anything about it and if they had asked someone, it would be, for sure, all over the school.
I had never been to a school dance before, so I wasn't sure who they ended up bringing, if they even attended the school dances, that is.
"You know, you're ruining a very special moment for Elena," Jacen said.
"Special because you're asking her?" Ashton asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jacen grinned, glanced at me quickly, then turned back to Ashton. "Special because I'm the first guy to ask her to a dance. Hopefully not the only first I'll get."
Oh my god.
Wham!
Before I could respond, or even really react, to Jacen's blatant sexual invitation, Ashton's fist slammed into Jacen's face.
Holy shit.
Skylar let out a whistle as she watched the guys scuffle around on the floor. It was pretty evenly matched, though Ashton seemed to be landing a couple more hits than Jacen. I wasn't really sure though, since they moved pretty quickly- one second Ashton looked like he had the upper hand, and then the next Jacen would be the one on top. Not to mention, they both seemed to be dodging most of the punches, so it was even harder to tell who was losing.
The people sitting close to us quickly got out of the way when they somehow got from on the floor, to throwing punches while standing up. There was a large circle gathered around the tables close to us now, watching Jacen and Ashton fight.
Skylar turned to me, eyebrow raised. "You're always starting fights, Elena. Tsk, tsk."
I choked on my own spit. "It's not like I wanted them to fight."
Vanessa leaned over, a wide grin on her face. "They just love you so much that they're both prepared to fight for you," she said teasingly.
"They get in fights because they hate each other, you guys know that," I protested, though Skylar only laughed and Vanessa shook her head, telling me they both chose to ignore my logic that made much more sense.
Jacen and Ashton were still going at each other.
Seriously?
I glanced at the clock on the far wall. There was still most of lunch left and it didn't look like they'd be stopping anytime soon. Not without someone stopping them, at least, and I had a feeling it might be a while before someone would do that. The cafeteria was supposed to be monitored by teachers, but it rarely was.
There weren't fights at Blaire Academy often, even though a lot of people hated each other. Everyone was a lot more subtle, sabotaging their enemy in the shadows and behind their back.
The only two people who might have actually broken up the fight were Keira and Nathan and both of them weren't here. Keira was still being held by the police, and I had no idea where Nathan was. Possibly with his girlfriend, but I had assumed that yesterday when in reality he had been at Kaden's with Detective Fallon.
I had a feeling if I wanted them to stop fighting, I'd have to do it myself.
I stepped closer to them, careful to avoid the flying fists. "Ashton! Jacen! Stop!"
"We're fighting for your hand, isn't that what girls usually want?" Jacen asked. He heard me, but didn't bother to stop, just continued throwing punches. I wasn't sure Ashton heard me, or if he did, he was possibly too busy dodging to respond.
Yelling did nothing. A couple people around them were chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' and everyone else was gasping or 'oooh' ing when there was a particularly bad hit. There was no way either of them would've heard me over everyone in the cafeteria. They probably wouldn't listen even if they did hear me, anyway.
So I tried the only other thing I could think of- I dove between them.
Ashton reacted immediately, grabbing me and turning so he was between Jacen and I even though it meant taking a punch to the temple. "Are you crazy?" he demanded, scowling down at me.
"You and Jacen are a lot crazier than I am," I replied, glaring at him.
Jacen stopped when he noticed Ashton's back to him. He stepped around Ashton and glanced at me, eyebrow raised. But instead of saying anything in response, he turned to everyone watching and cleared his throat. "Why don't you guys mind your own business?"
And just like that, the crowd dispersed.
People went back to their tables and aimless chatter filled the cafeteria. I noticed more than a couple people glancing our way, and whispering though, probably talking about the fight. That didn't surprise me, though. It was more annoying than anything else.
Ashton turned to Jacen. "What the fuck was that?"
Jacen raised his eyebrow. "You getting your ass whipped before Elena stopped me?"
Ashton scoffed. "Like you could do very much damage."
I stepped between them before they could go at each other again. "Seriously guys? Stop." Now that they had stopped, I got a bit of a clearer look at both of them. Ashton had a split lip and his nose had been bleeding, but it was trickling to a stop now. Jacen's eye was already starting to swell and he had a cut on his cheek.
They didn't look as bad as I thought they would from being in a fight for so long, so I guess they had dodged most of each other's punches.
"You guys are like five-year olds fighting over a toy on the playground," Skylar chimed in.
Vanessa giggled. "The toy being Elena."
I groaned and closed my eyes briefly, resisting the urge to find the closest hard surface and bang my head against it. "You guys are horrible."
"Hey," Jacen said, raising his arms in a pretty insincere 'I surrender' motion. "I was just asking Elena to the Winter Formal when some asshole decided to interrupt."
Ashton turned to glare at him. "So you ask. You don't go all High School Musical on her."
"I don't know what's weirder," Skylar whispered to me. "The fact that Jacen's read Twilight or that Ashton's seen High School Musical."
"Why do you care if I ask her in front of the school?" Jacen demanded.
"Because it was clearly making her uncomfortable!" Ashton retorted.
Jacen rolled his eyes. "I think Elle can speak for herself."
Oh no, here we go again.
"Guys! Stop, seriously." I stepped between them again, shoving them apart before they could start throwing punches. "I can take care of myself," I said, turning to Ashton.
He gave me a flat look.
I spun to look at Jacen who was grinning. "And wipe that smirk off your face, you were out of line. I would've punched you if Ashton hadn't."
He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you were into that kind of stuff Elena."
I stepped back to keep an eye on both of them, just in case. Jacen seemed dead set on provoking Ashton as much as he could and Ashton wasn't really trying to keep calm. "Stop being a douche," I told Jacen.
He stared at me for a long moment. I returned it with a glare, but his stare wasn't the challenging kind. It was more like he was thinking about something that involved me, and a little bit examining, making me feel uncomfortable.
"What?" I asked, resisting the slight urge to fidget.
"Did I take your first kiss?"
I blinked at the sudden change of subject. "What? No." Not really. Before I had come to live with Raine and Kaden, when I was eleven, a guy in my fifth grade class had been dared to kiss me. It had been short and awkward and he had smelled like sweat and tasted even worse. But it had been a kiss, so Jacen hadn't gotten my first.
"Middle school dares don't count," Jacen said flatly, as if he had read my mind.
I glared at him. "I wouldn't say yours did either, then."
Jacen ignored me, turning to Ashton with an arrogant smirk. "I'm winning."
Ashton didn't reply.
Not with words, at least.
Wham!
Jacen's head snapped back as Ashton's fist slammed into his chin.
Not again.
Before Jacen could retaliate, I jumped between them again and pushed Ashton back. Ashton gave me a harsh look. "You shouldn't jump in the middle of fights."
"You shouldn't get into fights," I replied. Ashton's expression hardened, and his eyes shifted to focus on something behind me. I turned to look at Jacen, but he only gave me an innocent expression. Ashton looked ready to go at him again, so before he could, I grabbed his arm and started dragging him out of the cafeteria.
Or at least, I tried.
It was a little difficult considering he wasn't willingly moving and was a lot taller, bigger and heavier than I was. "Come on, we're going before you guys break each other's face," I said, tugging on his arm to try and get him to stop glaring at Jacen.
Ashton snorted. "Like I'd let him get anywhere close to that," he replied. But he let me pull him away from Jacen. Once we were out of the cafeteria, he visibly relaxed. We turned down a hall away from the cafeteria, but didn't go much farther than that.
I glanced at him. "He was trying to provoke you, you know."
"I know," he said, frowning. "I wasn't going to-" He stopped and dragged a hand through his hair. He stared down at the ground for a moment, then looked up at me. "Fuck, I really shouldn't have done that, right?"
"Well, you kind of played into Jacen's hand," I told him, but before I even finished he was shaking his head.
"No, not Jacen. Shit. I fucked up," he muttered, but it didn't sound like he was talking to me anymore. He grimaced. "I'm sorry, Elena."
Then he turned and walked away.
What the hell just happened? I thought as I watched him disappear around the corner. He has to stop doing that. First with the kiss and now with this. Ashton was annoyingly indecisive.
Slow, mocking applause filled the hallway. I turned around to see Jacen leaning against the wall behind me, hands tucked in his pockets and an amused expression on his face.
"How long have you been around eavesdropping?" I asked, even though I could guess the answer- from somewhere around the beginning. He had probably heard everything, judging by the annoying, arrogant quirk of his mouth.
He ignored my question, pushing off the wall and stepping closer. "Congratulations, Elle," he said. "You have just signed your own death warrant."
I stared at him. It wasn't a surprise anymore, Ashton had confirmed it, and it wasn't like this was the first time Jacen had brought it up, but the way he said it- so mockingly- like he was certain it was going to happen and would laugh about it. Maybe he would.
I never knew with Jacen Winston.
"And you know, I warned you," he continued. His tone was still a taunt, like an evil teacher who enjoyed lecturing and insulting a student in front of the entire class. Though, at the same time, he sounded angry, like a sincere angry, but I wasn't sure about what. "And you could've chosen to be gone before anything happens-"
I will be gone before anything can happen, I thought. But I didn't tell him that, of course. I wasn't allowed to and even if I chose to ignore Kaden's rule, Jacen wouldn't be the first person I'd tell anyway. "Why do you even care so much?" I cut in before he finished his lecture.
His head snapped up as he turned to look at me. "What?"
"Why do you care?" I repeated. "We're not close. At all." Call me mean, but I didn't think it was really just out of the goodness of his heart. Several times when he had warned me, he had said it mockingly, almost like a joke. But he had mentioned it too much, brought it up to often for it to be a joke.
"Why do I care?" He shook his head. "I care because I'll be the one who has to kill you."
I froze. "What?"
Before he could answer, the bell for fifth period rang. Jacen glanced down the hall towards the cafeteria, where people would definitely start coming from. "We shouldn't talk about this here."
I crossed my arms and gave him a harsh look. I agreed with him, of course, but I wasn't going to let him say something like that, then just run away.
He turned to me and smiled at my expression, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was cruel, and bitter, sending shivers down my spine. "Fancy ditching the rest of the day with me?"
♡ the trouble with love ♡
It took some convincing.
I wasn't entirely stupid, and I didn't have a death wish, contrary to what some -most- people I knew seemed to believe. Jacen had just admitted that he was going to kill me. I wasn't really sure if he was actually being serious or just playing a very cruel joke, but I wasn't going to take any chances.
I refused to get in a car with him, or go anywhere we might be even close to completely alone.
We finally agreed on Kit's Corner, a café about twenty minutes away. It wasn't the closest cafe, but Kit's Corner was in the downtown area of Sydcot, one of Hampton Hill's neighboring towns. There'd be people, but not anyone who would interrupt and/or spread any rumors about seeing us together.
The café wasn't too full -mostly just workers and a couple people on their laptop- but there was enough people that Jacen wouldn't be able to try anything. There was only a little bit of a line when we stepped up to order. It was one-thirty, so the lunch rush had probably passed, which was a good thing wanted people to be around, but not so many people that we wouldn't be able to talk.
"Cherry chocolate smoothie, please," I said, stepping up to the counter.
The lady nodded and entered it into her machine. "Is that everything?"
I opened my mouth to say yes, but before I could speak, Jacen cut in. "Large coffee and a chicken club sandwich please."
I glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" he asked, returning me look. "I didn't have lunch because I was too busy fighting Ashton for your hand."
I shook my head. That hadn't been what I meant, but it didn't really matter.
"And your total comes to eleven thirty-five," the lady said.
I reached for my wallet to pay, but before I could, Jacen stopped me. "Now what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you pay?"
"A modern one?" I offered, rolling my eyes.
He ignored me, handing a twenty dollar bill to the lady. "Keep the change," he said, flashing her a charming smile.
"Thank you," she replied, returning his smile with a polite one. "Your order will be ready at the end."
"You know," Jacen said as we walked past the people sitting on barstools at the counter. "You never answered me."
I glanced at him. "What?"
"About the Winter Formal," he replied.
I groaned. "Does it matter?"
"Is that a no?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"I thought you were joking," I told him.
"So it's a no, then?" It was a confirmation more than a dejected last attempt. He didn't sound offended or upset or anything, simply amused, as usual.
I sighed. "I don't think I'm even going, okay?"
"Large coffee, chicken club sub and chocolate-cherry smoothie!" The man making the orders behind the counter called. We grabbed our order, then found a quieter part of the shop, in the far corner.
"Why do you have to kill me?" I asked quietly as soon as we sat down.
Jacen didn't respond, instead he poured a sugar and half a thing of cream into his coffee and stirred it slowly. He even unwrapped his sub before looking up at me. "You really don't beat around the bush do you?"
I gave him a flat look. "Well life is short and mine will possibly be shorter thanks to you so talk."
He didn't.
He took a bite of his sub and chewed annoyingly slow. On purpose.
I glared at him.
"What?" he said after swallowing. "I'm hungry."
I leaned back in my seat, still glaring at him. "The fact that you're so casual about this makes me almost certain you're joking."
He shrugged. "If you want to believe I'm lying, go ahead."
"If you weren't, why would you tell me?" I demanded. "I could turn you over to the police."
He took a long sip from his coffee, despite the fact that I could still see a little bit of steam floating from the top. "I could just do it before they took me in."
"You make it sound easy," I said quietly, staring at him. This was a mess. I still wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, he sounded so casual, like we were talking about buying a pet goldfish instead of murder.
He glanced at me. "It would be easy."
"How would you-" I stopped. "You've tried before. You tried to drown me, didn't you? And the Jet-Ski accident-" I shook my head. He had known all about it, and he had been so, so obvious that I had almost ruled him out because of it. "But you saved me then. Wh-Why would you save me?"
"Those weren't tries, Elena," he replied. "They were warnings."
"Warnings, my ass! I would've drowned the first time!" I wanted to slap him and tell him to be serious. It was messing with my head, how casually and openly he was talking about something this big after keeping it secret for so long.
He scoffed. "You wouldn't have died. I was in the room. If you hadn't gotten yourself out, I would've pulled you out."
"I could tell everything to police and get you arrested," I threatened, my mind spinning dizzily. I was trying to process everything, but I didn't want to show any weakness. It seemed too easy, that he would tell me everything now. He had to be playing some kind of game. "Then there, problem solved."
"And how would you prove it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He took a bite of his sub, chewing thoughtfully as he watched me. "Besides," he continued after gulping it down. "You'd still end up dead. They'd just find someone else to do it."
Someone else? They? How many people were in on this? How many people were all working together to- I wasn't even sure what their goal could've been. Kill me? Yeah, but it had to be something bigger, considering Olivia had gone through the same thing. Get back at Ashton? For what? What had he done that had made him so many enemies who would come up with such an elaborate scheme?
"Sounds like you know all about this," I said, instead of voicing my thoughts and asking the hundreds of questions swirling around me head. I attempted to match my tone to his, casual, mocking. "Like you've done it all before."
His expression hardened and for first time since we walked into the café he looked serious. "I didn't kill Olivia."
"So I'm just supposed to take your word for it?" I demanded. I couldn't keep up with him. I wasn't sure who was worse, him or Ashton. Ashton switched so suddenly, but Jacen didn't make any sense.
When we had entered the café, he had been his typical self- annoying, arrogant, amused, joking and asking about the dance. Then when we had sat down to actually talk, he was cruel, mocking, but casual like he couldn't care less about the conversation. And now he seemed cold, angry, but actually serious.
He glared at me. "Believe what you want."
"Were you behind it all?" I asked. I had always suspected that Jacen was part of it, but I had never really considered the idea that he was behind everything. He had been too obvious, and he had never really tried to make himself look innocent.
But it still didn't make sense. Maybe he was doing it as revenge against Ashton, because of Olivia, but then who had started the game in the first place? Who had killed her? Were there two of them? That idea wouldn't be so surprising, but working separately? That was what he made it sound like.
And why would he be telling me all of this all of a sudden now?
"The game, Skylar, Vanessa?" I tried when he didn't respond.
"Vanessa?" he repeated. He narrowed his eyes at me. "What happened to her?"
I stared at him. "She was in the hospital, remember?"
"You and Ashton lied when you said she cut herself on her locker." He glared at me. "What really happened?"
So he didn't know about Vanessa, but he hadn't denied Skylar or the game. I didn't know if it was because he was responsible or because he had been distracted by Vanessa, though. "Someone put a razor blade in her locker."
If it hadn't been Jacen, then who could it have been? Just a random attack? On Vanessa? That seemed a little coincidental that it would happen when this whole shit storm was going on. There was someone else, there had to be, but what would they be trying to pull?
Jacen muttered something under his breath too quiet for me to hear, but I had a feeling it was important. "What?" I asked.
He raised his head and glared at me. "Nothing. I have to go." He stood up abruptly, almost knocking the table over.
"Go?" I repeated. "Go where?"
He grabbed his things, tossing his coffee and half-eaten sub in the garbage. "There's someone I need to talk to."
-- ♡ --
Teaser: "Please don't do this."
QotC: What do you think about Jacen now?
Oh, and which is weirder- Jacen reading Twilight or Ashton watching High School Musical?