♡ Jessica Woods ♡

There was an idiom saying; When it rains, it pours.

And right now it was so relatable to my current life. It has been two days since I got blamed for someone's fault and undoubtedly playing the role of a scapegoat. And when there were so many people fighting for their justice, I don't think either God or anyone would pay attention to the unfair action that happened to me.

But what hurt me the most was, when my closed ones too suddenly started to ignore me. Still Louise and Alex were barely talking with me, though the two of them haven't brought up the Jace's topic atleast once in the past two days.

I was an awkward introvert and I had a handful of friends in my whole seventeen-year-life and when they stopped talking to me, I felt disheartened. For the past two days, Louise didn't have breakfast with me as she suddenly decided to spend some more time with Ryan. I wasn't complaining though.

On the other hand, I was grounded and neither I could go anywhere nor could I use my phone. And my hair started to fall severely and over and above all, I've got my period yesterday. Yeah, screw my life.

But I decided not to think about anything and cry my eyes out like usual. Because it was like giving punishment to myself for something I didn't do. The more I think about it, the more my heart breaks into pieces.

I've been stuffing my face with dark chocolate and having a movie marathon to distract myself. As strange as it may sound, I was watching horror film series instead of romantic movie series.

I paused the movie when I heard a knock on my door. The door slowly opened and Alex poked his head in. "Jessie?"

"Come on in." I nodded my head and he nodded in return before approaching me. He sat on the bed next to me with an unreadable expression which replaced into an amused look when he glanced at my laptop screen.

"Tired of sappy movies huh?" he teased and I smiled faintly back.

"What brings you here?" I asked and he let out a soft sigh, glancing around.

"Well, Georgia woke up. Finally." he muttered and I gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"That's great."

He looked at me with creased forehead, obviously at my lack of enthusiasm, but his expression changed when his gaze turned towards the thing I was holding on.

"Er.. are you eating dark chocolate?" he asked, pointing to it and I looked down at the dark chocolate before nodding.

"Yeah. You want a bite?" I offered but he shook his head quickly.

"No, no. Thanks though." he said and I smiled again, fidgeting with the chocolate bar. I noticed he was studying my face cautiously before shaking his head in discouragement.

"Jessie, do you want me talk to mom?" he asked and I frowned.

"For what?"

"Uh, y'know, if you explain her properly what really happened, maybe she'd forgive you." he replied and I snorted.

"Come on, Alex. If you came here to talk about this then-"

"I came here to talk about Georgia but you seemed oddly incurious about her so I changed the subject." he admitted, cutting me off and I stared at him for a second or two before sighing defeatedly.

"Alright. Tell me how she is." I asked, sitting properly and he rolled his eyes but responded me anyways.

"She's better now and she's going home today."

"Really? So you agreed to be the Prince Charming?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Nah. Because there was no point after she told me that she couldn't participate in the play." he stated and I nodded in approval. "But.. I admitted that I like her."

"You admitted what?" I exclaimed and he cleared his throat, scratching his eyebrow with his thumb.

"Uh, I know you heard me clearly but I repeat again as we both are super exhausted to have a tiff. " he rambled. "I told her I like her and she replied that the feeling is mutual."

My lips widened into a genuine grin as I leaned forward, ruffling his hair. "Oh My God! I'm really happy for you, little man."

He smiled back, clearing his throat again.

"Well.. I met Jace too." he told quietly and the smile on my face instantly vanished away. I don't want to think about him.

"Oh." was all I said.

"He looked somehow guilty." he said and I nodded slowly, glancing at my painted nails.

"Oh."

Alex sighed exaggeratedly and got up from the bed, slowly approaching the door. When I was about to turn my attention back to the laptop, he called me out.

"Jessie.."

"Hmm?" I looked up at him and he was giving me a faint smile, gripping the door knob.

"Fight for the fairytale; it does exist."

I blinked my eyes twice, swallowing the lump on my throat and when he disappeared out of my sight, I bit the dark chocolate wondering what he meant by it. But before my mind could go back to Jace's thoughts, I quickly resumed the movie.
----

The weekends were over and the first thing I was glad about was, that Jace drew a veil over this matter or else I would've gotten detetion and being called as bully by everyone.

I got into the Computer Science class and sat down on my allocated place. And as expected, Jace arrived shortly after. But I pretended not to notice him as I took my textbook out and opened a random page before reading it.

He sat beside Grace and it didn't surprise me as he was sitting beside her on C.S period lately. Grace sneaked a glance at me over her shoulder and smirked victoriously while Jace was chuckling at something Roger was saying.

He's moving on, I guess.

I let out a soft sigh and placed my bag on the adjacent chair before focusing my attention on the book that was opened widely, on my table.
----

I got into the library to check out whether the new edition of encyclopedia was available. I was about to approach the librarian but as soon as I got in, my eyes met Jace who was talking with the librarian in a friendly manner.

My body stiffened and I wanted to turn and run away from here but I couldn't as if I was glued to the spot.

Jace nodded his head at the librarian nonchalantly and turned around which made him notice my presence. He pursed his lips into a thin line, averting his gaze promptly as he walked past me, spinning the notepad with his forefinger like I was an invisible figure.

It was hard when someone special started to ignore you but it was even harder when you have to pretend that you didn't care.

I held my books to my chest, breathing deeply and approached the librarian who was casting a welcoming smile at me.
----

During lunch, I was sitting under the bleachers all alone and eating my cheeseburger peacefully.

Sometimes enjoying your own company was all you needed.

Most of the students were wandering around the basketball court aimlessly but I didn't find any familiar faces until I felt a presence standing next to me. I looked up and my eyes narrowed when I saw Natasha who was cautiously sitting beside me as if she never sat under the bleachers.

"Hey wallflower!"

I rolled my eyes and stared ahead, completely ignoring her.

"So.. you asked what you did to me that day. Do you wanna know the answer now?" I heard she ask cheerfully and I took a huge bite on my burger without responding anything.

"Well.. eventhough you're not replying to me, I'm gonna tell you the answer anyways." she chuckled. "The Answer is Jace. You were almost going to take my Jace away from me."

And this time I looked at her, frowning. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"There were so many times I warned you to stay far away from him but you didn't listen to me and I don't know what you did, but he somehow fell for you." she huffed, waving her hands in the air. "Until you came into his life, I was the one for him. I was his first bestie, I was his first kiss, I was the first one he ever shared his life story with-"

"You're his first kiss?" I asked a little surprisingly, cutting her rant off.

"Yeah." she replied and raised her eyebrow. "Why? did you think you're his first kiss?"

"Nope." I shook my head, munching the lettuce with a blank expression on my face as if I didn't bother about it.

"Well, but then he did everything to you what he did to me and he almost forgot me and stopped spending time with me."

"But how is this my fault? It's his choice. Maybe he would've thought I'm so fun to hangout with." I stated, shrugging and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself okay? He forgot me because we didn't get much time to spend together as you stole the precious time of us. And you're the whole reason for it." she hissed and I sighed exaggeratedly.

"Whatever you say, Natasha."

"Hey-"

"Tash, what are you doing here?" a familiar voice interrupted and we both looked up in unison and saw Samuel towering over us. When his eyes met mine, I quickly looked away.

"Uh, just having a chit-chat with her as she was being alone." she stated and I resisted the urge of rolling my eyes.

"Well, Ryan has bought a huge cheese lasagna. C'mon let's go." he told, extending his hand and she squealed holding his hand.

"You want some too, badass?" Samuel asked mockingly and I faked-smile at him.

"Thankyou for thinking of me too, playboy. But that doesn't mean I can simply say yes." I retorted and he raised his brows in mock-surprise.

"Woah, woah, I guess you're pissed off."

"No shit, Sherlock." I deadpanned and he chuckled deeply before looking at Natasha.

"She looks attractive when she's being sassy. Don't you think?" Samuel asked her and I rolled my eyes, turning my gaze the other side.

"Let's go Sam." Natasha sighed and when I didn't hear any sound after that, I realized they had gone.
----

The next day, after school we had a prefects' meeting and that's when I saw Jace which seemed like forever.

"Hey all!" Jace cleared his throat, looking around.

I glanced at Louise who was standing beside me and when she noticed I was looking at her she mouthed, "What?"

I shook my head and averted my gaze back to Jace. He was muttering something to Oliver and Gabriella before turning his attention towards us again.

"So guys, the main reason we've gathered here is, The Talent Show that's gonna be held in a couple of days," he began without even sparing glances at my direction. "Most of the prefects including me, are participating in the talent show so we couldn't be able to do the duties. So those who do not participate in any events, please raise your hand." he commanded and when most of the prefects raised their hands, I too lifted my hand up along with Louise.

"Well, well. Hands down! So these guys please write your names-" his eyes met mine for a brief moment and after that I couldn't be able to listen attentively at what he had said. I swallowed the lump in my throat and bit my lower lip hardly.

Life is unpredictable; So is Jace.

"Alright guys! Speed up!" Jace clapped his hands twice and everyone split apart and one group approached Oliver while the other approached Gabriella.

"What are you staring at?" the deep masculine voice startled me and I jumped a little, stepping back.

"J-Jace?"

"Go and give your name to Gabby." Jace instructed and I furrowed my brows.

"Uh, why?"

He gave me a flat look, shaking his head in disbelief. "No paying attention huh?"

"Well-"

"Alright. Gabby!" Jace called out and Gabriella paused her conversation with one of the prefects and waved at Jace.

"Yeah?"

"Advise her what to do." he told Gabriella referring to me and she averted her gaze to me for a split second before nodding at Jace.

"Got it!"

He nodded in return and walked past me, running his fingers through his hair without sparing me a second glance. But somehow I was glad that he talked to me atleast for a few moments.

I slowly approached Louise who was standing in a line with a bored expression on her face and when she acknowledged my presence, she smiled, letting me stand infront of her. A couple of seconds later, we both wrote our names on Gabriella's notepad and made our way to the parking lot.
----

The seconds turned to minutes; the minutes turned to hours and the hours turned to days but nobody knew how mentally exhausted I was.

Today I got my phone back as my mom finally realized that she grounded her own seventeen-year-old daughter for a lame reason.

The next second I got my phone, I unlocked it and noticed I've received a couple of texts and calls which weren't much important. I tapped Whatsapp and scrolled through it until I found Jace's name.

I noticed his profile picture has been replaced with the most adorable picture which was one of the childhood photos of Jace and Georgia. I zoomed in the photo in every angle and admired it like it was a rare piece of art.

Then I tapped the textbox and started typing eventhough he was offline right now.

'Hey Jace! How are you doing?'

I read it twice and instead of pressing the send button, I let out a loud sigh, erasing the whole phrase and threw the phone under my pillow before lying on my back and staring at the ceiling.

I really do miss him and I really wanted to let him know but at the same time I didn't want to embarrass myself either.

How the hell could he easily move on as if nothing happened? Like we haven't shared any memories at all? Like he never stole my first kiss nor pinky promised me that he wouldn't make me cry?

Gosh! I knew I was an overthinking mess. But he was making it worse.

I thought he liked me; but when I was about to confirm it, he left me just-like-that and ended our love story before it could even begin.

He walked out of my life before I could even let him in the little circle of my obscure life. He abandoned me just like Samuel did but when Jace did something to me, it would have a strong effect on it. Whether it was showing affection or causing unbearable pain.

I brushed the tears away, recalling each and every moments we shared. I was missing his deep voice; his chuckles; his crinkled smiles; his charm and all in all, I was missing his whole presence.

I let out a heavy sigh, sitting up properly.

I couldn't unlove him and even if I could, I didn't want to.

I wanted Jace. I really wanted my Jace back. I wanted him to trust me. I wanted him to love me as much as I love him.
---

It's been quite a while since I've ridden a bike. I peddled the bike a bit slowly, admiring the broad and pleasant streets. My blonde hair was swaying in the air and eventhough I was wearing a hoodie, I could feel the cool evening breeze caressing my skin. I didn't know why I was excited; Either because I was hanging out after a long time or visiting Jace's house to meet Georgia.

I cautiously parked the bike on the front yard of Jace's house and got down from it, pushing the kickstand. I picked up the box which has been kept in the bike basket and made my way towards his house.

I knocked twice and waited for the door to open, licking my lips nervously. The door slowly opened revealing the cutest old lady who seemed really surprised by my presence.

"Oh dear! Is that you? Come on in! I missed you." she chirped, moving aside and the minute I got inside she pulled me into a hug which I returned gladly.

"I missed you too nanny." I smiled, pulling away.

"Well dear, Jace's not here right at the moment. Why don't-"

"No. I actually came here to meet Georgia." I stated which was not absolutely true as I felt a sudden pang in my heart when I realized he wasn't here now.

"Oh, okay. But she had her pills now and taking rest. Shall I wake her up?"

"Uh, no, no, no." I resisted instantly. "I just came to see how is she doing. Alex informed she's feeling better now."

"Who's Alex?" Nanny frowned.

"Uh, my brother. He's Georgia's closest-"

"Oh yeah. That lad.." she nodded in acknowledgement. "How forgetful I am!" she laughed awkwardly and I chuckled.

"That's okay nanny. Oh and by the way, I brought some chocolate chip cookies for y'all." I told extending the box and she awed at it before taking the box.

"Aw, honey. You made them?" she cooed, stroking it and I nodded.

"Yup."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you. I bet Gia and Jace would love it." she told and I sighed softly. As if.

"Glad to hear that."

"Alright then, sweetie. I'll go and make some special tea for you." she said, placing the box on the nearby table. "Make yourself at home." with that she headed towards kitchen and I smiled faintly, glancing around.

It's actually like my home.

I slowly made my way to the hallway and stood infront of the door which would lead me into Jace's room. I hope nanny wouldn't say anything if I wander Jace's room around without his permission.

I gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed open it. The moment I entered in, his intoxicated smell hit my nostrils and it was strange that I could feel him even when he wasn't here.

The room seemed a little messy today and being a little selfish person, I was planning to find something which was obviously owned by him and which I could be able to keep with me life long. Because, as we had come to the conclusion that I couldn't be able to have Jace forever, I was planning to steal his stuffs, like jacket or a dark chocolate, and make it mine.

When I approached his desk, a mini spiral notepad which was being used by Jace lately, caught my attention. I slowly picked it up, eyeing it carefully.

"What are you doin' here?"

I startled, dropping the notepad which fell on the desk with a loud thud. Holy Crap!

I turned around and locked my gaze with the cold blue eyes of Jace.

He was wearing a black leather jacket and crossing his arms over his chest which made his muscles flex. Eventhough he was trying to potray himself as an intimidating guy, he was still the softie to me. I missed him so badly.

He cleared his throat, interrupting my thoughts and I swallowed the lump in my throat before setting my gaze back on his face.

"Hi." I forced out a smile and he chewed his lips, giving me an unimpressed look.

"Uh, well, I came to give cookies to Georgia." I pointed over his shoulder and he glanced behind where I was pointing at and when he realized nothing was there he turned back to me, raising his eye brow.

"It's in the sitting room actually." I stated.

"Okay.. but I asked you what you're doing here." he emphasized, gesturing at his room and I bit my inner cheek, staring at the floor.

"Uhm.. well-"

"You would've opened that book if I hadn't come in, wouldn't you?" he questioned in a disbelief tone and I shook my head, looking up at him.

"No, no. I didn't mean to open it. I'm sorry okay. It's-"

"Fine." he cut me off sternly. "Buzz off now, will you?"

My lips slightly parted as I stared at him without blinking my eyes for a minute or two while he was doing the same with a blank look on his face.

"I'm not sure whether I'm totally right but I have no doubt when I admit you're wrong." I gritted my teeth and he had a slight frown on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." I retorted and he bit his lower lip as if he was in deep thought.

"Well, maybe I'm sorta wrong then."

"You are." I nodded curtly and he shrugged, tucking his hands in his jacket