-Jay's POV-
"I don't know," I sighed, answering Russ' question.
"I mean, I knew he wasn't the NICEST person around, but this is low."
"He was probably in it for the money," I mumbled.
"Does he NEED it?"
"I don't know. If he does, he didn't mention having money problems to me."
"Well, Josh is out now. And it's thanks to your dad defending him," he said. "How's Summer?"
"You mean how is she handling it?"
"Does she know?"
"Of course she does. She's not taking it well, as one would imagine. Her abusive ex just got out of prison, god knows how he got in and no one really cares how he did, and she's worried about Grace."
"Does Grace know?"
"She knows about him. She doesn't know his name or what he looks like, though. We didn't feel like she had to know."
"Yeah, you have the restraining order on him, don't you?"
"Me and Summer do. Grace doesn't. Hell, he and Emma stayed away for three years before Grace was born. We thought we wouldn't have to get one for her because they didn't even know she existed," I said. Russ sighed.
"Do you think he's going to come here?"
"After twenty years of staying away? Hopefully not," I answered honestly.
-Owen's POV-
Just a quick question here, why isn't homework illegal? Better yet, why isn't school illegal? I hate english class. Just hate it. And now, the teacher was giving us homework. I swear, who gives homework with a topic of acronyms to sophomores? It's just......she should be teaching third grade! Oh wait, I have an acronym for school. S-C-H-O-O-L, Seven Crappy Hours Of Owen's Life! I wonder if I would lose points if I actually put that on my homework. The bell rang and I burst out of that class room, not bothering to listen to when the homework was due. I'd get it in.......eventually. If I feel like it, maybe.
"Owen!" I heard my name being called down the hall and I looked to see Leslie waving her hands in the air at me like a mad woman. She ran to me, raven black hair flying out behind her.
"What's up?" I asked her.
"Not much," she huffed. "Have you seen your cousin? I can't find her anywhere."
"You're her best friend, aren't you supposed to know these things?" I teased. She pursed her lips at me.
"And you're her cousin. You have blood connections, you should know."
"Fine," I sighed. I put my hand up to my forehead and acted like it was a sattelite. "Tracking Grace. Cousin instincts tell me that she's giggling her butt off by Douce Bag's locker."
"How do you know all that?" she asked me, truly shocked.
"She's right there," I said, pointing down the hall at a giggly Grace and Douche Bag.
"Oh, she's with HIM."
"I really don't like him at all. You should call him a douche for me."
"Why? I always call him one behind his back. And sometimes to his face because I've got the best friends with his girlfriend privilage."
"He forgot her birthday."
"WHAT?!"
"He forgot it."
"Oh, hell no!"
"Yep. But she doesn't want us to say anything because it'll make him feel bad."
"Oh please, we all know that that boy does not feel bad for forgetting her birthday."
"You're telling me."
"Oh, well. I gotta go tell her happy birthday. See ya kid," she ruffled my hair and walked toward Grace. Kid? I thought. Kid? I was only two years younger than her and Grace, I AM NOT a kid! I huffed. The nerve of some people.
-Grace's POV-
"Happy birthday!" a cheery Leslie said from behind me.
"Thank you!" I embraced her.
"Ah, can't believe you've joined the ranks of us seventeen year olds," she teased.
"You just turned seventeen last month, you're not that much older."
"Yeah, but I'm still older than you."
"I'm older than both of you, so ha!" Danny cut in.
"Older than me by what? A month?" Leslie said.
"Two months," Danny said, holding up two fingers.
"Yeah, whatever douche bag. Least I didn't forget her birthday," Leslie slipped. When she realized what she said, her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes were wide open.
"I see you've been hanging around my cousin recently," I said.
"I'ma go now," she said quickly, turning into the first hall we came across.
"Why do all your friends think I'm a douche bag?" Danny asked me. I laughed nervously.
"I don't know," I lied. I knew why, I just didn't want him to know. It's not just Leslie and Owen who noticed that he was a little bit of a douche bag sometimes. I noticed it too. I noticed how he wasn't really.....I don't know how to put it into words. He seems like he's........forced to go out with me instead of wanting to go out with me on his own. I mean, he forgot my birthday for crying out loud! We've been going out for a year and two months and he forgot my birthday! And I've seen him around my friends when I'm not around. He's not the nicest person there is. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea why we've been going out this long. My parents seemed to like him, but my cousin and friends obviously didn't. I was torn and confused between their feelings and my own.
"Hey," he said, waving a hand in front of my face.
"Huh?" I said, still a little out of it.
"You okay? You zoned out for a minute," he informed me.
"Oh, yeah...I'm fine," I assured him.
"Okay," he said, turning forward again. I rolled my eyes. VERY concerned, isn't he? We walked to class, his class I should say since it was only two doors down from my own and he didn't ever want to walk ALL the way down there and come ALL the way back, and once we reached his class he hugged me and said he would catch me later. I liked him better when he was the way he was this morning. He was NEVER like that, he was always like this. The non-romantic, unconcerned, douche bag of a boyfriend I had. I walked myself to class and sat down in the back, with my fingers crossed hoping that SHE wasn't coming today. No such luck, I thought as Aurora walked into the class room. She saw me and smiled her million dollar smiled and strutted over to sit in the desk right next to mine.
"Hey Grace," she greeted sweetly.
"Hey Aurora," I returned her greeting.
"So how are you?" she asked.
"Good, I guess. How about you?" I asked her, not interested in her answer.
"I'm great," she said cheerfully. If you're wondering what's so bad about her and you're thinking 'hey, she's not so bad. she seems really sweet,' then wait for it. It's yet to come.
"Great."
"So, I heard something REALLY interesting this morning," she said.
"What did you hear?"
"Your boyfriend forgot your birthday," she smirked.
"It's not that important," I said.
"Oh no, it's not. At least that's what the desperate girl says," she sang.
"I'm not desperate," I snapped.
"That's why you're going out with left overs," she said. Left overs. A guy some other girl already went out with more than once. For example, Aurora's best friend, Keely, went out with Danny on and off a total of three times in middle school. Therefore, he was a left over.
"You know what, Aurora?"
"What?" she challenged, raising an eyebrow. I sighed. I couldn't be mean to save my life.
"Leave me alone," I mumbled.
-Summer's POV-
"I seriously am really mad at him right now," I vented out.
"I bet you are," Kari said, stirring her tea. We were at the Taylor Cafe (AN: probably not a real cafe in Marshall) eating lunch and we were discussing the fact that Josh was out of prison thanks to Jay's dad coming to his defense.
"I mean, why would he DO that? He knows what Josh did to me and what he was probably going to do to Jay," I said.
"Uh, Sum? If you recall, I think it was Jay and Jimmy who got the most of him," Kari smiled. I sighed.
"Yeah, you're right," I said. "But still. He knows we wanted him away from us and he STILL tried to help get him out. And he did it. He got him out."
"What are you going to do?"
"Honestly, I have no idea."
"Did Jay talk to his dad?"
"God, I don't know. If he has, he hasn't let me know yet. He'll probably tell me when he gets home and when Grace isn't around."
"You haven't told her that he's here."
"We only told her about what he did. No names mentioned and we didn't show or describe him to her. We didn't want him apart of our lives much less did we want him apart of her life. As far as he knows, Grace doesn't exist and I would like to keep it that way."
"Do you think you should tell her?"
"I don't want to tell her. Especially today on her birthday and everything. Jay and I were just hoping that he doesn't come here."
"What makes you so sure that he's not?" she asked. I took a sip of my coffee and sighed.
"He stayed away for twenty years. Twenty years, Kar. I would really LOVE to know what his reason for coming back would be."
"Good point," she said, taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.
"Have you talked to Annie lately?"
"No, I haven't talked to her in a while. You?"
"No, not since Grace started school."
"I heard that her and Austin were adopting, though. I guess their kid is supposed to be Grace's age."
"Really? Who'd you hear that from?"
"Remember Ben?"
"Who the hell is Ben?"
"Wow, I guess you really didn't care too much for Austin. Ben was, well is, one of Austin's best friends. Tommy works with him and he said something about it at work."
"Congrats to Annie and Austin, then," I said carelessly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now, you gotta wonder who Annie and Austin's kid is. And you also gotta wonder who Danny's mom is. I bet you ALL think you know, but let's all remember that nothing is ever as it seems.
Tee hee, I sound like a fortune cookie! Lol. Comment and vote please peoples!
<3 Nikky~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~