8. Jace
JACE
“Ithought you were supposed to be doing homework?” my dad questions as I scramble to switch back to the tab with my history project’s research on it before he can see who’s profile I was looking at.
“I am,” I lie, trying to slow my heart rate down.
“Do your fucking homework or I turn off the internet, got it? Good luck researching then. You’d have to use a goddamn book like I did. So fucking easy for kids these days,” my dad mutters before slamming the door to the home office.
Fuck. Of course he walks in right when I had decided to take a little brain break and check Facebook. I don’t know why I’m still dumb enough to let my guard down when I know he has a habit of walking in without knocking.
Once I’m sure he’s gone, I click back to the other tab—the one I’ve been staring at for the last fifteen minutes.
It’s been months and Kieran still hasn’t accepted my friend request. He thinks he’s so special, refusing to accept.
Or decline. Just letting it sit there. It’s distracting as hell, and it’s been on my mind every single time I see him and Danny laughing in the hall.
I still can’t believe they actually became friends after we locked him in the shed.
Are they just friends? Or are they dating?
None of my friends seem to care, and I can’t look online because Danny won’t accept my friend request either.
Locking him in there didn’t seem to bother him.
Once again. He’s always completely unbothered, and it’s impossible to get a rise out of him.
I haven’t been able to think of anything big to attempt since then, so I’ve stuck to what I was doing before: shoving him into lockers, tripping him when I can get away with it, calling him Sparkles, and trying to get him alone so I can get in his face to threaten him.
He irritates me to the point I can’t stop thinking about him.
Why does he have to be so… him?
Every time I think about the unanswered request, I get even more annoyed.
I know he uses his account because his friend Olivia added me.
I accepted, of course, because it’s what you’re supposed to do on Facebook.
And now I can see even more photos of Kieran.
There are albums on there of them doing makeup and other girly shit I definitely haven’t gone back and looked at.
There are also tons of photos with her, him, and Danny too.
The three of them must just be the best of friends. How annoying.
For some reason, it’s worse that he’s ignored the request than if he had just denied it, because then I could move on. Yes or no; it’s easy. I could forget about it. But it still says pending, and surely if he’d declined, the website would give me the option to send another, right?
Maybe I should cancel my request and send another one so he sees it? Maybe he forgot. Because if he’s just pretending it doesn’t exist… That’s a power move I didn’t expect from him.
I hate being ignored, and once again, it’s like he knows exactly how to push my buttons and piss me off.
Kieran is dutifully watching the teacher drone on and on about polynomials, but this is easy, and I don’t need to listen to the lesson to understand something so simple.
Technically, my teachers have been recommending me for advanced and honors classes for years, but my dad says the same thing whenever I ask: “It’ll take away from baseball. You don’t need to be smart to go pro. Just stay eligible.”
Great advice from him as always.
He seems to forget I still need good grades to get into college.
Not that he cares about college; he thinks I’m bound for the MLB as soon as I graduate high school, but I’m not as sure.
You’d think he’d be more practical about my future and encourage college seeing as how his future in the pros didn’t work out according to his plan.
Even with his lack of support, school isn't something I need to work that hard at. He’ll yell at me to study when I’m home, then refuse to acknowledge how smart I am.
He acts like I’m a dumb jock and has never once been proud of me for my report card or even the elite schools who’ve been recruiting me because of my grades and athletic abilities.
I want to go to college, but since it isn’t in his plans for me, I haven’t been able to seriously consider any of the schools that’ve been asking me to come for a visit.
When the bell rings, I close my notebook and sling my bag over my shoulder, pausing at my desk until Kieran stands to leave, too, so I can fall into step beside him.
He doesn’t acknowledge me, so I say the first thing I can think of to get a rise out of him.
“Hey, Sparkles, you too good to come to a baseball game?”
“Do you really know everyone who comes to your games or are you just that obsessed with me?” he snorts. I hate how he always manages to twist what I say around and make it seem like I give a shit about him.
I clearly don’t. How can he not tell that? How is he still so confident after everything I’ve done to try to get him to fall in line? Any other student would have given up that first week. Or after tripping him in the cafeteria. Or after the gym uniform swap. Or trapping him in a fucking shed.
But not Kieran.
He was gone by the time I got back to let him out after the pep rally.
I hoped he might finally listen to me, but he came back that next Monday in even more makeup than before, adding bright eyeshadow.
It was so obnoxious. I wanted to punch the smug look off his face when he saw me glaring during class, but that’s not something I could risk.
“I’m not obsessed with you,” I scoff. “I just figured you’d want to show off your makeup to as many people as you can. Isn’t that your whole thing? You want everyone to look at you.”
“I think you’ve got that covered. You always seem to be looking enough for everyone.”
“Shut the fuck up.” I seethe as I shove him into the alcove of a closed classroom door. I swear to God, if anyone heard him say shit like that to me and it got back to my dad… Nope, I’d rather not even think about it.
His eyes go wide the way they always do when I put my hands on him.
“Can’t you just leave me alone, Jace? Jesus.
” His voice catches, full of nerves, and yet, somehow, he also sounds exhausted by this interaction.
But he made this personal a long time ago by repeatedly ignoring my advice and warnings, so no, I can’t leave him alone.
And I don’t buy that he even wants me to.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I taunt, unable to help myself as I try to regain control of this conversation.
At this point, I think I might be addicted to getting a rise out of him, even if he makes it hard to do sometimes.
If he won’t do what I’ve asked—and he won’t even accept my stupid friend request online—then I’ll continue to point out how irritating he is face-to-face when he can’t ignore me.
“Come on, everyone comes to the baseball games. We’re probably the best team on the East Coast this year.
Where’s your school spirit? Or is it because you don’t have any friends? ”
“I have friends,” he assures me, sounding offended.
“You have two friends,” I correct. “And I bet Danny and Olivia would love to come to one of the games.”
He huffs, finally fully looking up at me, and for a moment, I forget the pissed off glare he’s aiming my way as our gazes meet, and his captivating blue eyes steal my full attention.
“How do you know who I’m friends with?” he demands, drawing my focus instead to his pouty lips. They really do look like they belong on a girl, with how full and shiny they are.
“I’ve seen you and Danny hanging out at school together,” I finally answer. “And Olivia’s always posting pictures with you two, but I never see anyone else do that. So, they must be your only friends. I would know for sure if you ever accepted my friend request,” I mutter under my breath.
Or maybe it wasn’t as quiet as I intended, because when he responds, he’s way more upset than I’m expecting. He’s usually so frustratingly calm. “Why would I accept your request? We hate each other!” he insists, practically yelling now.
“It’s just Facebook,” I dismiss. “I’m pretty sure I’m friends with everyone else in our grade.” Except Danny. And you.
“You harass me every day! If you think I’d give you more access to my life, then you’re dumber than I’ve been giving you credit for.” He scoffs before storming off toward the front exit of the school.
“Ugh, what did you say this time?” a girl asks behind me, and I turn to see Olivia looking at me expectantly.
I’ve known Olivia since she moved here, but we’ve never really interacted before.
She’s actually gotten very pretty. Her warm brown eyes are nothing like Kieran’s, but the makeup looks similar and it looks great on her.
See, that makes sense to me: makeup on an attractive girl. No confusion with her.
“We were actually talking about you,” I answer excitedly, flashing her my most charming smile.
That clearly isn’t what she’s expecting, and her whole face scrunches up in confusion.
“I was asking Kieran if you might want to come to one of my games?” I bite my lip as I wait for her answer and catch her gaze dropping to look at my mouth. Does Kieran’s friend like me?
Now that could be a fun way to mess with him without getting into any actual trouble.
“No. Why would I come to one of your games?” she asks hesitantly.
Alright, I understand Kieran hating me, but does Olivia hate me too? Has she really let him poison her opinion of me so drastically? Plenty of people think I’m a great guy. I’m basically the most popular person in our grade, so she should be excited to talk to me.
“Because I asked you to?” What other reason does she need?
“You’re mean to my friend,” she points out.
“Kieran dresses like that because he wants attention. I’m just giving him what he wants,” I counter.
“That’s not true,” she insists, rolling her eyes at me as she crosses her arms. But she does it in a way that sort of pushes her boobs up, like there’s a chance she wants me to think she’s attractive, even if she’s mad.
Maybe all hope isn’t lost for my new idea.
“If he ever showed up without makeup, I’d have no reason to talk to him,” I say in a gentle tone. “I’ve told him that, and he continues to taunt me by wearing it. It looks really pretty on you, though.”
“Oh, um… really?” she asks, looking away as her cheeks darken.
“Yeah,” I confirm with a chuckle. “I’d love to hangout sometime,” I add, stepping a little closer to her as people move around us to try to leave the school. She’s at least half a foot shorter than I am, and the hesitance in her expression is obvious as she tilts her head back to look up at me.
The more I think about it, the more spending time with Olivia sounds like it could be a really good thing.
A lot of guys on the team have girlfriends, and my dad’s been asking me if any of the girls who come to the games are there for me.
You’d think he’d consider dating a distraction, but he’s also obsessed with image, and to him, being popular isn’t enough—I also need a pretty girl on my arm to fit his stereotypical idea of what my life should look like.
And I don’t want him to think there’s a reason I don’t have a girlfriend.
Not that there is a reason. I just haven’t thought about it much until right now.
Baseball takes up so much of my time, and at school, I’m usually with my friends or distracted by whatever weird crap Sparkles is wearing.
This could be perfect.
Olivia is beautiful, and I would love to have someone consistent to hook up with.
It’s not like I’m at parties every weekend with my baseball schedule and my dad’s need to control my life.
Plus having a girlfriend would probably help me avoid getting in any kind of trouble.
She seems nice, and maybe if we were dating, she could get Kieran to tone down his obnoxious girly shit too.
Then I wouldn’t need to keep harassing him about it.
Win-win.
Olivia hasn’t answered me yet, so I decide to just go for it. “Maybe we could even go on a date?” I suggest. “I promise I’m not the villain Kieran’s probably made me out to be.” I offer her a crooked smile and shrug, hoping I’ve done enough to win her over.
Finally, her annoyance melts away entirely. “You want to take me on a date?”
“Of course,” I confirm easily. “We don’t have a game this Friday, so maybe we could go to a movie or get dinner?”
She doesn’t answer right away, looking around at the people walking past us. After what feels like a way longer pause than necessary—where I start to worry she might actually turn me down—she takes a deep breath and finally offers me a soft smile.
“Okay, Friday works for me.”
“Perfect.”