Chapter 134 Chapter One Hundred And Thirty Four
LENA'S POV
Sunday morning arrived with one singular mission: to catch up on every piece of schoolwork that I'd been neglecting while my life fell apart around me.
After I’d made up with Noah and he’d showered me with enough apologies to fill up a book, he finally let me go around 5am.
“I have to go out to handle a few things, so you probably won’t find me around the house today. But I’ll be back in time for school on Monday. Is that okay, sweetheart?” He’d asked.
“Of course,” I whispered in the darkness, settling comfortably into his arms while we cuddled on his bed, blinking lazily, “Take your time. I’ll be here.”
“I’m really sorry about yesterday. I was such an asshole to you. Can you forgive me?” He’d asked softly. “Please forget that ever happened, okay?”
“Forget whatever happened?” I asked, humouring him.
“That’s my girl.” He responded, softly ruffling my hair. “Thank you.”
A little while after saying that, I left his room and went over to my own.
Though in truth it wasn’t easy to forget it at all, in fact I suspected that phone conversation would echo in my head over and over for at least a month.
But I decided not to push about what I’d heard him say on the phone. He would tell me in his own time, when he was comfortable… probably.
There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for it.
In the meantime, I had to trust him, just like I always did. He’d never once given me a reason to believe he had any ulterior motives, other than the regular plan we’d shaken hands on. Kissed on, actually...
“Stop thinking about kissing,” I told myself. “Think about the giant pile of work you have to do.”
I barricaded myself in my room and started my search.
“No time to waste,” I whispered, getting on all fours to inspect the floor of my room, turning things over as I went. “Where is it?”
Eventually, I found what I was looking for, “There you are.” I pulled out my old glasses case from where it had fallen down the side of my bed.
Then I ditched my contacts to wear the glasses instead, the same chunky black rickety frames that I'd worn all through high school.
That was before Noah convinced me they made me look like a librarian and I would look so much better without them.
He wasn’t wrong, as usual.
But sometimes the contacts got a little uncomfortable and today I needed comfort over vanity, and so I pulled on the baggiest sweatpants I owned along with an oversized hoodie that had belonged to my dad.
There was something about wearing his clothes that made me feel closer to him, like I got to keep a small piece of my father and he wasn’t fully gone, even though he couldn’t be with me to help figure out my life.
It felt right.
“Anyway, now that I’m comfortable. Full nerd mode, activated.”
I picked up a giant pile of books and spread them across my work table.
Wow, that was a lot.
“Oh no.” There were so many books piled on the table that they started to fall to the floor, so I had to scramble to pick them up.
I sorted them into two piles, done and undone. The undone pile might as well have been the Tower of Babel with how high it was, towering over the sad, tiny done pile.
I took a deep breath, struck an action pose with my fists on my hips like some kind of academic superhero, and declared to my empty room: "Let's do this."
But I also had to get in some last-minute cheer practice so I would be in peak performance in time for school tomorrow.
And so, because I was such a smart girl, practically Einstein, I decided I would dance and do homework at the same time.
But only the reading bits because at least then I wouldn’t have to write and dance, which would be significantly harder.
I tapped myself on the back, “I should get a Novel Prize for coming up with that.”
I put on some music, Hot To Go by Chapel Royal because it had the perfect upbeat tempo.
I spun around, grabbed my first textbook, and dove in.
Two hours later, I was deep in the zone, looking like an absolute mess.
I was sweating buckets and my hair was sticking out all over as I did my moves with a book in one hand, somehow managing to catch a paragraph or two.
“Time to get into the final bit. You can do this, Lena. I know you can.” I encouraged myself, putting on my game face.
I stood up to stretch, “One two three, the big somersault then you lad with the splits and then… jazz hands”
I ran on top of my bed and attempted a somersault across it, and it was going well until—
"Holy shit."
“Ah!!” I crashed to the floor with an undignified yelp, landing awkwardly on my butt. “Sweet suffering Jesus, that hurt!”
Jace stood in my doorway, one shoulder leaning against the frame, and he was laughing so hard he had to brace himself to stay upright.
"Go away. I didn't say you could come in!" I scrambled to my feet, my glasses askew, picking bits of paper out of my hair.
"You didn't lock your door," he said between laughs, walking right into my room like he owned the place.
He looked around at the chaos; books were scattered everywhere, papers were scattered, and my phone was playing some high-pitched upbeat study music.
It only just dawned on me how weird all this was and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. I never expected anyone to barge in.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Jace asked, still laughing his head off, “Are you having a manic episode?”
"Stop laughing at me, I was working. Which you would know about if you ever did it sometime." I adjusted my glasses and tried to regain some of my dignity.
"Ouch." He pressed a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "I'm wounded."
"Good. Now leave. I'm busy. Plus Noah is outside doing whatever and I don’t think I want him coming back to find you in here with me.”
Jace’s face fell and his eyes narrowed, “If he doesn’t like me going where I want in my own house, he’s more than welcome to fuck off back to his.”
“Seriously, this is the last day I have to finish all of this, okay?, I can’t have you distracting me like I know you will.”
He ignored me completely, picking up one of my textbooks and flipping through it with exaggerated interest. "Calculus. Thrilling stuff. That must be why you have so much energy so early in the morning, a nerd in her natural element.”
"Jace—"
"You know what would make this more fun?" He looked up, grinning. "If I helped."
"Absolutely not."
"Come on, princess. I'm great at math. In fact, I may have invented one or two formulas myself during exams." He grinned, winking at me with a sly smirk.
"Nice try, I bet you didn’t know the actual formulas so you had to guess your way out of an F. Besides, you were only five marks away from flunking math last semester, your mom gave me your file, so scram."
"Actually, no. I know all the shortcuts, they’re better than the actual formulas because… well… they just are. Don’t you want me to show them to you?” He offered, his eyes twinkling with mischief.