Chapter 80 Eighty one

Chapter 80 Eighty one
Jace was waiting for me right outside the classroom, one hand braced against the wall and his face set in a furious—yet somehow ridiculously endearing — scowl.

The moment he saw me, the scowl melted into a bright grin. He pushed off the wall and strode over quickly.

“What did Sharpman say?” The words tumbled out of him in a rush. “I was going to barge into the meeting myself, but Nicholas stopped me. Said I’d only make things worse for you.”

I rose onto my toes and leaned in closer, smiling. “You look really handsome when you’re worried about me.”

His brows furrowed for a second before he sighed, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. “I’m always worried about you, Thompson. It comes with the job of being your boyfriend, so I’m not complaining.” He tilted his head. “Now, what did Sharpman actually want?”

Before I could answer, he kept going. “I know I should’ve ignored Jackson’s call.” Jackson was at the apartment at dawn, dragging Jace out of the apartment while I was still groggy from sleep.  

“Coach wants us to prepare for a friendly match against another school this week, but honestly? Who cares about soccer when I’ve got my girlfriend right here?”

“Soccer?” I pursed my lips, fighting a laugh. “And he still wants you on the team? You’re easily the most unserious player they have. He might as well be setting you guys up to lose.”

Jace clutched his chest dramatically, pretending to stagger back. “That hurts, Thompson. I’d expect betrayal from anyone else, but not from my amazing girlfriend. You don’t believe in me at all?”

I shook my head, grinning. And pleased that he still called me amazing despite my lack of enthusiasm. “Nope. Not even a little. I’ve only seen you at practice a handful of times since we started talking. And before that, you literally admitted you were a truant.”

He sighed, accepting defeat with a dramatic slump of his shoulders. “Okay…you’re right.”

“But—” He raised a finger in a motivational-speech pose. “—you’re forgetting one very important detail. I’m a secret genius. I don’t need to attend every practice. That’s for people who weren’t born with natural talent.”

I rolled my eyes slowly. He was right, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. “Sure,” I drawled. “What day is the match again?”

“Why?” Jace threw his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close as he started leading me toward the classroom. “You want my jersey? I’ve got a few spares with my name on the back. I could even get a banner made so everyone knows you’re my favorite cheerleader.”

“Nope.” I stopped just outside the door so I could look straight at his face. “I want to know so I can make sure I don’t show up.”

“As long as you’re cheering me on, I don’t care where you are. However—” he flexed his arm, showing off his biceps, “—wouldn’t you like to see your boyfriend take down a couple of suckers? I’d dedicate my win to you.”

Okay, that was tempting. 

“So…” he nudged. “Do I have to go in there and threaten his other source of income and his job?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Nope. He wanted me to plan the winter party.”

“And let me guess,” Jace said dryly, “you said yes because I just so happen to have the most selfless girlfriend in the world, who doesn’t care that she’s being sided by a lazy adult.”

I lifted my shoulders, my hands facing up. “What was I supposed to say? No? You’re the kind of person who can turn down a request like that. Might I remind you that I’m on scholarship? Not one of the elites.”

Jace stepped closer, his hands framing my face. “I don’t care about any of that. And neither do Nicholas, Seraphine, or Jackson. And after what went down that night, you’ve gained quite the following from your fan page on the school blog.”

My brows dipped in the middle. “A fan page?” I hadn’t visited the blog in a while because I just didn’t want to see what Georgia and Regina had to say about me. 

I figured it was better not to go poking the bear after the gala night. Also, it was easier to pretend everything was fine when I didn’t walk into the hallway and fall face-first into an upright plate of something slimy and soggy. 

“Who created the fan page?” I asked. 

A shit-eating grin grew over his face. Jace pointed at himself. “Me.”

“You?”

He shrugged. “Why not? I’m your biggest fan. Well,” he pursed his lips, “…I’m sure Seraphine would argue that she deserves that spot, but while she’s not here, I’m claiming it. Besides, I’m also the president. She’s the vice president.”

President? 

Vice-president? 

“I have absolutely no idea what to say, except how did you two manage to keep it from me for so long?” I asked, baffled. 

“As I said, your biggest fans. Sometimes we get along just fine.”

“Grace!”

As if she’d heard her name from wherever she was, Seraphine came running down the hallway, her pigtails bouncing and the charms on them ringing like tiny bells. She skidded to a stop, pausing and bending over to catch her breath. 

She held up a hand, asking for a moment. 

“And sometimes, I think she’s really strange,” Jace mumbled. 

Sera’s head shot up. She glared at him. “I heard that.”

“I wanted you to,” Jace retorted. 

Her eyes narrowed like she was trying to vaporize him with the power of her stare, but I was quicker to step in when Jace rose to the challenge with a stare of his own, placing my hand over his eyes. 

“Did something happen?” I asked her. 

She folded her arms. “You’re asking me? You should’ve called me for backup the second she opened her mouth. I would’ve been there quicker than you could blink, slapping the shit out of her. But—” she gave me a thumbs-up and a big smile, “—you did exactly just that. I bet she’s going to be thinking about it when her ear keeps ringing for weeks.”

I muttered oh oh before slowly turning to Jace with a sheepish smile. “It slipped my mind. It happened so fast. I still haven’t processed it,” I muttered. 

“It’s all over the school’s blog. It’s gone even beyond that,” Sera chimed in before I could do damage control, thrusting her phone at our faces. I saw the number of views at the bottom, and my jaw dropped. 

“Hundred thousand?” I croaked?  

It happened less than thirty minutes ago. How did thousands of people see it so fast? And who was taking the video?  

I was too pissed to notice anybody else, and I stormed off in a fit of anger and satisfaction before my palm stopped vibrating, so I wouldn’t have noticed even if a small crowd had gathered. 

“Regina?” Jace’s voice hardened. The teasing look in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold glint. “Where is she?”

“Gone,” Seraphine supplied cheerfully. I rolled my eyes with a defeated sigh because I didn’t have a roll of tape on hand that I could shut her mouth with. “There’s a video of her getting into a car, holding her cheek. Good riddance to the both of them,” she added, bouncing on the soles of her platform boots and huffing loudly to make her point. 

Jace wasn’t listening to her. 

I could tell from how quiet he was and the tension radiating in waves off him that he was…livid. “I handled it,” I whispered. “I promise. If I felt like I couldn’t, I would’ve called you or Seraphine. I had to stand up for myself this time, and it felt really good.”

I nodded slowly as his brows slightly furrowed, his eyes seeking reassurance in mine. I gave him a tiny smile. “I don’t want to brag because I would be endorsing violence, but I don’t regret it. I might’ve done it twice if once wasn’t enough.”

He took my right hand, his thumb pressing into my palm in gentle, circular motions. Jace sighed as his gaze lifted. “Does it hurt?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“Good,” he nodded, bringing my hand to his lips and tracing my fingers with kisses. “That’s all that matters.”

“The two of you fancy the beach? Jackson and I are headed there later this evening. Jackson’s coming—I’m inviting someone from my fashion club. A girl named Sophie.”

Sophie. 

We’d been friends for approximately a month when I first came to Beacon High, before she decided that she didn’t want to be friends with the scholarship student. Some of it was Regina’s fault because she had forced Sophie to take a side. 

But I still felt a little apprehensive about pairing Nicholas with her. I cared about him enough—as a friend- to stand by and do nothing if there was a chance he could get hurt again. 

I did enough to him. 

“She wants to apologize,” Seraphine told me. “She actually asked—a month back- if I could speak to you, but I told her I was going to rip her face out if she came within five meters of you.”

Jace leaned closer, his lips brushing my ear and his arm around my waist—which was very distracting from what he was whispering. “I take back what I said. She’s definitely your biggest fan. But we should put her on time-out, in case she attacks me next.”

“I heard that,” Seraphine said, hands planted on her hips. “And I’d gladly tear you apart, but Grace likes you too much, so you get a pass. Whatever.” She flicked her ponytail. “Are you guys coming or not?”

“Sure,” I said. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to be.”

Jace got a text before he could respond. “I think we might have a problem. Coach wants us on the field. We have to practice so, according to Nicholas’s words, we don’t disgrace him on that day.”

Seraphine groaned. “I thought it was a friendly match? And you guys spent all morning practicing.”

“Yup. But he thinks we’ve been slacking. Why don’t you guys come watch us?” He winked at me. “I’ll take off my shirt just for you.”

“Nope.” Sera pulled me over to her side before I could respond. “We don’t want to see sweaty, grunting boys.”

Well…the sweaty part I wasn’t interested in, but the appeal of Jace softly grunting…yeah I could definitely get on that train. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion where Seraphine was concerned. “We’ll head to the beach on our own. It’ll be a girls’ hangout. You guys are welcome to join when you’re done.”

I reached out to Jace like we were Jack and Rose, our fingertips merely brushing before Seraphine dragged me away, my sneakers squeaking down the hallway. 

“How do we get out of school?” I asked her. I’d only left thrice—twice with Nicholas and once with Jace when he took me to the lake house. And each time, the security guard had simply keyed in the access code and let us through. 

I wasn’t sure how Sera and I were going to get out. 

“Trust me,” she said confidently. 



I didn’t have any doubts—okay, maybe a little—but all she had to do was smile and wave and we were let through.  

She turned to me with a grin. “See? I told you I had it handled. My mom’s pretty familiar around here when she gets into one of her moods. Sometimes I think she takes it out on them because she can’t stick the middle finger to my father.”

I did not want to ask her what she meant by that, because I knew the situation with her parents was a touchy issue. She’d talked about it once—her dad dipping out of the marriage and having a kid. Her mom raising someone who would take over her company instead of being a mom. 

“Did you pack the bikini?” She asked. 

I nodded. “Yup.” it was a tiny tiny thing that I was still skeptical about. 

“Okay!” She pumped her fist in the air and I did the same. “It’s time to get wet and have some fun!”