Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine
"Okay but Jace," Devon said, having descended safely from the bleachers at some point. "Real talk. She's cute, right? You gonna take her out?"
I put my phone back in my pocket.
"I'll pass," I said, looking away from the crowd to instead stare at my watch. 8:25. I wasn't interested in getting into any more romantic entanglements; juggling between Lena and Allison was already drama enough.
Someone handed Emma a cup and she took it, swallowing the whole thing in one go, blinking back tears.
Soon enough the circle moved on. There were more dares and more laughter. The room getting warmer and looser with music playing faintly in the background. They all started to get more and more into it, a few people taking breaks to talk or make out, then coming right back for their turn.
I checked my watch. Eight forty-five. Fifteen minutes left.
"Oh look! The bottle finally landed on Jace.”
I looked up.
Alison was standing in the middle of the circle with the bottle in one hand, all her patience and plotting was finally paying off.
"I'm not interested," I said.
"I know." She tilted her head. "But why aren't you playing, Jace?"
"Because I don't want to."
"That's not really an answer, is it?”
"Well, it's the only answer you're getting, better get used to it.”
She looked around the circle slowly, making sure she had the room fully focused on her before she spoke.
"Is the great Jace Dawson," she said, pleasantly, clearly, and loud enough for every conversation in the gym to start paying real attention “scared of a little game?"
The murmuring started immediately. Conversations dropped off at the edges, people stopped drinking and gossiping so they would turn their heads and watch the drama unfold.
The crowd sensed something was going on, something was happening between the King and Queen, and whatever it was, they weren’t going to miss it.
"I'm not scared of anything," I said. "I just don't want to play."
"Because you think you're better than everyone here, is that it?"
"Alison…”
"No, I'm serious." She spread her hands. "Everyone's here, everyone's participating, everyone's having fun, and you're standing over there by yourself like you've got somewhere better to be." She paused. "It's a little rude, honestly."
Marcus added, "She's not wrong, man. This is supposed to be a party, but you’ve been standing against that wall all night, glaring at all of us like a serial killer. It's giving off a weird vibe."
“Thank you, Marcus” I retorted, “Thank you for your input, but no one asked for it.”
"Aww, don’t be mean to him. I think he just needs a little encouragement," Alison announced to the room, and the room, because it was always going to, responded. “Don’t you, sweetheart?”
She walked up to me slowly, her hips going this way and that, and then she stopped close, tilting her face up toward mine with a near irresistible smile.
I could see Tyler out of the corner of my eye, stewing with jealousy. I shot him a dirty look and he immediately startled and looked the other way.
"Jay Jay." She used her pet name for me, as though she wanted to remind everyone listening just how close we were to each other.
Her fingers found my chest, tracing a delicate path all the way down to my belt. "Come play with us. You used to love this."
Then she stepped back, turned to the room, and started clapping. “Cmon everyone, let’s give him some encouragement.” Then she started chanting, “ Jace! Jace! Jace! Jace! JACE!!!”
It was slow at first, until it started to get faster and then louder. Someone picked it up, then someone else did, and soon it was the whole gym.
Thirty-something high schoolers shouting my name and clapping in unison, the sound of it bouncing off the walls and the ceiling.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love that applause, I revel in having ordinary, talentless nobodies fall at my feet in awe of how much better I am than they are, but not that night.
It was bad enough that the party was on on school grounds so late in the evening, and any more of this screaming would only call even more attention to it.
What if someone was passing by? Or the noise drew the attention of people who lived close to the school, then they would do something stupid like call the fucking cops.
"Fine." I pushed off the bleachers. "Fuck. Just keep your voices down!”
They cheered anyway as I sat down in the circle with them, a few of the more braver football players thumping my back saying “Glad you could join us.”
Alison beamed like she'd won the lottery.
"I already know exactly what your dare is," she said, and held the bottle out to me.
"I bet you do," I muttered through gritted teeth. Whatever that dare was, I knew I would hate it.
"It's simple." She said it lightly, "Call Lena Hartwell and tell her to come here."
I immediately glared at her. “What?”
"I've been doing a little digging," she said pleasantly, "My father has an excellent Private investigator that I use whenever I need to find out something about someone.”
She continued, looking slowly around the circle for added shock value. “ And apparently our resident DUFF has been spending quite a bit of time at your house lately. Which I thought was interesting, given that you two have never exactly been close."
She looked at me steadily. "So. Call her over. Personall I’d love to see her and ask what’s going on between you too."
The circle was very quiet.
Marcus was looking at me with a confused expression.
"Jace." His voice had changed, now sounding a little offended. "You never mentioned that."
"Because there's nothing to mention." I held Alison's gaze. "I don't know where you heard that but whoever told you should double-check their sources."
"So she hasn't been at your house."
"I didn't say that."
"Then she has been."
"I didn’t say that either.”
Alison's smile didn't move. "Well then. If it's nothing, if she means nothing, if she's just some girl who has no connection to you whatsoever."
She gestured at my phone. "There should be no problem calling her over. Right? We just want to see her, the girls and I have some unfinished business, that’s all."
Unfinished business my ass.
I knew exactly what that meant. I'd watched Alison conduct “unfinished business” before, on other girls, and I knew exactly what it looked like and what it left behind.
It had driven one of them nearly to the point of suicide, and if her parents hadn’t been around to rush her to a hospital, the pills she drank probably would’ve killed her.
Whatever she was planning would scar Lena for life, and that was best case scenario.
The circle was watching me, waiting to see what I, the great Jace Dawson would do, even Marcus.
My phone was already in my hand, it would take zero effort to put the call through and show them I was still the same Jace who stood at the top of the food chain and handled business, fuck the consequences.
Especially after that last game, I needed something now that would improve my reputation and keep people from stepping out of their place to challenge my leadership.
But could I really do that to Lena? She didn’t deserve it, she had nothing to do with anything.
Would it be right if I played her like another disposable pawn in the game of Jace vs Alison? Was she worth risking the image it had taken me so long to build?
I made up my mind. There was only one clear decision.