Chapter 238 Chapter Two Hundred And Thirty Eight

Chapter 238 Chapter Two Hundred And Thirty Eight


Jace's POV

I was standing by my locker with Marcus and the guys, only half-listening to whatever bullshit they were talking about, when Marcus suddenly smacked my arm.

"See that, Jace? They're making you prom king."

"What are you talking about?" I didn't even bother looking up from my phone.

Marcus pointed to the hallway wall, where some nauseatingly sparkly poster had been hung up overnight. "That. Check it out."

I glanced over and sure enough, there it was, one of those obnoxious glittery signs announcing prom court nominations. The header read "VOTE FOR YOUR PROM ROYALTY!" in letters that looked like they'd been bedazzled by someone with way too much time on their hands. Below that were two columns: "King Nominees" and "Queen Nominees."

My name was on the guys' list, along with Noah's, which was fucking ridiculous since he was currently laid up in a hospital bed, Marcus', and some kid I didn't recognize. Probably a transfer or one of those try-hard juniors.

On the girls' side, there were only two names: Lena at the top, and Allison at the bottom.

Nobody else. Probably because no other girl at Westbrook was stupid enough to compete if Allison was involved. Except Lena, apparently. But then again, Lena had been going head-to-head with Allison since she took over as cheer captain, so this was just another battleground.

I grunted. "Who the hell was in charge of this?"

To me, the whole thing was embarrassing and juvenile, like they were dragging me into their silly high school politics when I had actual shit to deal with.

Marcus shrugged. "Probably the media team? Student council, maybe? Why? Afraid you're gonna lose?" He smirked at me, trying to get me riled up like he always did.

I wasn't taking the bait. "In your dreams, asshole."

But in my head, I wasn't looking forward to whatever inconvenience this whole prom politics circus was going to bring. More drama. More drama that I definitely didn't need right now, not with everything else going on, my father suddenly showing up, Martin being confused as hell, trying to actually pass my classes for once.

Unless...

I was obviously going to take Lena.

And then I caught myself smiling without meaning to. Because that bastard Noah was rotting away in a hospital somewhere, and he would never be back to bother me and Lena ever again. He'd tried to hurt her, and now he was gone. Problem solved.

And aside from my unbelievable luck that my grim reaper of a father had traveled all the way from Singapore specifically to end me, and yet somehow I'd emerged unscathed, now everyone also knew that Lena and I were together. No more sneaking around in hallways like some kind of dirty secret. No more pretending we weren't into each other when everyone could see it anyway.

And I was sure that soon the old man would disappear again, just like Noah had disappeared. He'd get bored of playing father, or some "urgent business matter" would come up, and he'd be gone. Martin would stop chasing empty hope and wouldn't end up heartbroken. Everything would go back to normal.

Aside from a few minor hiccups, Lena's friends hating me, the whole academic probation thing, everything was going perfectly.

Life didn't get any better than this.

"What are you smiling about?" Marcus was staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

I realized I had, in fact, been smiling like an idiot. I stopped immediately. "You saw me coming into school today. What do you think I'm smiling about?"

Marcus grinned and slapped me on the back. "You followed my advice and got the girl. You lucky bastard."

"No." I shoved him off. "This had nothing to do with you, asshole. I told you I was done following your advice a long time ago. This was all me, and a shit ton of luck, and I intend to keep it that way."

Marcus clutched his chest in mock offense. "Is that any way to talk to your best friend? The guy who told you to stop being a pussy and just tell her how you feel?"

"That advice almost got me shipped off to military school, so yeah, fuck your advice."

"Whatever, man. So is this why you're actually going to write a test today? You, Jace Dawson, voluntarily taking a makeup exam?"

"Better believe it." I checked my phone, still had twenty minutes before I needed to head to Mr. Reeves' office. "She wants me to do great at school, so I'm going to do great at school. Or at least not fail spectacularly."

Marcus shook his head, making a disgusted face. "Is this what having a girlfriend does to a guy? Fucking hell, it's like talking to another nerd. Next thing you know, you'll be joining the debate team."

"Yeah, well, this nerd's gonna beat your ass at practice today." I shut my locker. "Hope you've been working on your footwork, because I'm feeling generous enough to absolutely destroy you on the field."

Marcus was about to respond when Devon literally popped out of someone's open locker like a fucking lunatic, causing both of us to jump.

"Jesus Christ!" I nearly punched him on instinct.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, you psycho!" Marcus clutched his chest.

But Devon just kept going like what he'd done was perfectly normal. "That's what it does to a dude, yeah. I remember when I used to date that workshop girl back in freshman year. Emily? No, wait, Emma. Anyway, "

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I was still trying to get my heart rate back to normal.

"She used to love fixing cars and stuff with Mr. Patterson during workshop class," Devon continued, completely ignoring us. "I just thought that was so hot, you know? Like, she had grease on her hands and everything. So I asked her out, and you wouldn't believe what she made me do. We recreated that scene from, "

"Shut up, dude." Marcus cut him off. "No one wants to hear your fake workshop girl story for the tenth time. You're not Ryan Gosling in Drive, and there was definitely no hot Emma Stone lookalike bent over the hood of a car making out with your scrawny ass. Stop being so fucking weird."

I didn't wait around to watch them bicker. "See you losers later. I've got a test to take."

I found myself headed back toward Mr. Reeves' office because I'd just remembered that if anyone was going to give me the makeup test, it would be the history teacher. He must've just forgotten to mention when and where I should show up.

I was rounding the corner to the administrative wing when I saw Allison leaving Mr. Reeves' office first. She spotted me immediately and had the audacity to wink and blow me a kiss.

I ignored her completely, my attention already shifting to,

Lena.

She followed Allison out of the office not long after, but something was wrong. Very wrong. She had this empty, shadowed look in her eyes that I'd never seen before, not even when Noah had her pinned against the wall, not even when my father was threatening to destroy her family.

Our eyes met, and for a second she just stood there in the middle of the hallway, looking completely lost. Like someone had reached inside her chest and ripped out everything that made her her.

I crossed the distance between us in three strides, grabbing her by the shoulders. "What happened?"

She didn't answer. She just stared at me, her eyes glassy and unfocused.

"Lena." I gave her a gentle shake. "Princess, talk to me. What the hell happened in there?"