Chapter Twenty- Three

Saturday morning was nothing short of a shit show.

I was supposed to hang out with Dylan who caught a cold from Erika who caught it from Kayden who caught it from Destiny. All my friends were sick and that would've been fine if my parents were home then I could've hung out with them. But no, they went on a day trip to Washington D.C. without me. And all that would've been cool if Ashley wasn't too busy sticking her tongue down Darrell's throat to come hang out with me.

I definitely wasn't about to call Jace and ask to hang out two days in a row, especially since he told me his parents were coming home today. On days like this, I realize how little friends I have.

On this beautiful Saturday afternoon, I was lazing around the living room in short shorts and an oversized shirt with a pack of Oreos in my hand watching Starstruck

And the icing on top of the very lonely cake mother nature came early this month. I'm in excruciating pain that a heating pad and ginger ale hasn't fixed. Along with lonely, in pain, I'm also insanely irritated so when Brielle walked downstairs and shoved me on my way to the bathroom. I was two seconds away from dragging her ass down his hallway and throwing her outside with the stray rabid dogs.

"Watch it, bitch!" I snap, yanking her by the arm.

"Get the fuck outta the way, Princess." She sneers, taking her arm back. I growled at her as she walked away, metaphorical steam shooting out of my ears.

When I made it back to the couch, my phone was ringing. It was Jace. That's weird, he was supposed to be with his family.

"What's up, bitch?" I greeted him. He looked terrible like he ran five miles in thirty minutes of sleep. The bags under his eyes were larger than normal and he was as red as a tomato.

"My p-parents w-w-want to m-meet you." His sputtering, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you sweating so much?"

"R-r-running," He held up a finger as he downed half a bottle of water. He panted for a few minutes as I waited for him to continue. "Running is hard. Five miles on an hour of sleep is harder." His words are slurred but better than before.

"I thought you liked running," I teased, remembering what he said at the baseball game.

"Not on an hour of sleep!" I grinned. Finally, he sees how I struggled, running in gym class.

"Why only an hour?"

"I was thinking," His lips tugged upward.

"About what?"

"You." My heart jolted at his answer.

"What? Why?"

"Because you amaze me every time I see you." I raised an eyebrow at his words.

"Okay weirdo." I continued my movie just after Christopher Wild called Jessica amazing, but before he fucks everything up.

"So..." He trailed off.

"So, what?"

"My parents want to meet you?" I wasn't entirely keen about seeing the twin's mother again considering she thought I was a maid the first time. But I also couldn't just say no. It's their parents. I'm in their house every week it's only respectful that I meet them

"Of course, when?"

"Today." My eyes widened. I needed time. I wasn't ready, I looked a mess.

"You mean next week?"

"They leave Monday. It's now or never. You can say no, I'm not forcing you."

"NO!" I quickly responded. "I'll be there. Why do they want to meet me anyway?"

"It's not you exactly, but they want to meet the tutor that's getting Jasmine A's in math." I nodded, that makes sense. But that also means that she doesn't know it's the girl that she called a maid.

She doesn't know I'm-

This is going to be an interesting dinner.

__________________________

I arrived at the Kingston household at half-past six in the evening. I was dressing in my Sunday's best, a stylish but conservative navy blue dress and black flat. I even took the liberty of flat ironing my hair which I haven't done since sophomore year's homecoming dance. I looked good, but I miss my regular hair.

I rang the doorbell and was met with Jasper's sly grin.

"Let me guess: fairy godmother stopped by?" He joked, eyeing me up and down. "Nope, still a nun."

"And you're still a horrible human being and a pathetic waste of space. Good to know some things never change!" He scowled at me as I pushed past him and walked further into the house.

It wasn't quiet today, I heard pots and pans and sizzling coming from the kitchen and a woman yelling over all the noise. Jace told me earlier that Jasmine wasn't even going to be here, she was spending the weekend at her friend's house, leaving Jace and me for the wolves.

"Wait here," Jasper muttered, leaving me alone in the living room.

I was too afraid to move and go find Jace in case their mother saw. God, I really hoped he would appear soon.

All hope was lost when a middle-aged man sauntered down the stairs. I see where the twins got their eyes and their sharp jaws. He paused when he saw me sitting alone on the couch. His look of surprise morphed into confusion.

"Who are you?" His voice was unnecessarily deep like the twins but rougher. He raked a hand through his clean-cut gray hair.

"Scarlett, sir," That didn't help. I stood up straightening my dress and moved a few feet towards him. "I'm the tutor." He gasped in recognition.

"Oh-oh! It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for helping our little girl." I shook his outstretched hand, his grip strong.

"Your daughter does most of the work for me. She's very intelligent for someone her age. You've raised a wonderful girl, Mr. Kingston"

"Call me James." He said warmly. This isn't how I thought this would go at all. James is nice, maybe this dinner won't be so bad.

His phone dinged with a text before looking at me apologetically.

"Duty always calls. I'm sorry I'm going to miss dinner, but thank you again." I don't get to reply before he's out of the room again and I'm alone.

I was waiting for another ten minutes when Jace finally came downstairs. He didn't see me yet. His eyes were glued to his phone, eyebrows furrowed, and AirPods in. He was wearing a navy blue polo and jeans with a pair of black socks with mini ducks on them, coincidentally matching my dress.

"Cute socks." You would've thought he'd seen a ghost with how high he jumped. His eyes quickly found me and I waved.

"What happened to your hair?" Was the first thing he said to me. I self consciously touched it trying to pat down a part that may have frizzed in the outside humidity.

"Is there something sticking up?" I self consciously touched it trying to pat down a part that may have frizzed in the outside humidity.

"No, it's just straight." That way he said it didn't sound like a compliment.

"You don't want me showing up to dinner with frizzy hair."

"It wasn't frizzy. It was pretty and soft." He was pouting, staring at my straightened hair like it killed his puppy.

"Jace, who are you talking to? Is the girl here yet?" A familiar sharp tone that erupted shivers down my spine every time I heard it. She walked in a moment later and stared at me, eyebrows raised.

"Who is she?" She asked in a snide tone.

"I'm-"

"Get her out of here before our guest comes!" She snapped at Jace who has been silent this whole time.

"Ma'am you may be mistaken-"

"Why are you still here?"

"Can you just listen for two fucking seconds?" Jace barked, irritation etched into his face. "This is Scarlett." She was quiet for a second just gaping at me.

"You're Scarlett?" I nodded. Her straight face changed into a forced smile. "My deepest apologies. I didn't know." Obviously.

"It was no way you could've."

"Jace, make yourself useful for once and go show Scarlett to her seat." Jace nodded, wordlessly and I followed him into the dining room. It looks much different when textbooks aren't covering it. The glass table was breathtaking, topped with white embroidered tablecloths.

Jace showed me the seat next to the head of the table and he sat beside me. We were alone for a few minutes, passing the time by showing each other funny tik toks. Jasper showed up, irritated, and sat directly across from me. He didn't acknowledge us, but I noticed that Jace's posture stiffened as his mother walked into the room. She took her seat at the head of the table like a queen would. Her blonde hair was pinned up in a bun and she was wearing a remarkable pants suit.

I've learned three things while sitting at this table. One, rich people pick very uncomfortable chairs like damn haven't they ever heard of a cushion. Two, I found somebody I dislike in this house more than Jasper. Three, that person is their mother.

There are four people sitting at this table, two are having the time of their lives. Catching up, laughing, basically acting as you do at a nice dinner. The others are sitting awkwardly picking at their food while texting each other under the table. It's heartbreaking to see Jace sitting there trying to engage in the conversation with his family while they completely ignore him.

There's nothing I hate more than family dinners

Thanks for making this bearable

I was about to respond when Jace nudged me, everybody was staring at me.

"Excuse me, can you repeat the question?" I asked. The mother- Jaqueline- Jace told me, cleared her throat.

"What school do you attend, Scarlett?" I shift in my seat uncomfortably. Jasper was seated across from me with a shit-eating grin on his face, waiting for my response.

"M-Markland." Jasper snorted and I cut my eyes to him as did everybody else albeit for a different reason.

"Jasper dear, what's so funny?" His mother's voice pissed me off to no end. Every time she spoke to Jace or me she was condescending and straight bitchy. But as soon as Jasper spoke she treated him like the angel that descended from heaven.

"I rode past one of those city schools yesterday mother. They were so unkempt and dirty." His eyes never left mine.

"Oh yes dear and the education is abysmal," Her eyes cut to Jace who was staring at his lap as he'd done for most of the dinner. "Jace I wished you appreciated the education we provided you like your brother."

"I appreciate it enough." He mumbled.

"You don't act like it."

"And I've met some of the students from those city schools. They are nothing short of stupid," Destiny really picked a winner here with this one. "They'll end up back on the streets in no time with the education they're receiving."

"Jasper, can you just shut up?" Jace snapped. Go, that's my best friend!

"Jace Matthew Kingston, do not speak to your brother like that," Her calm voice made the hair on my arm stand up. "Continue sweetie." She watched Jasper adoringly. It makes me wonder what she sees in him that they don't see in Jace.

"I'm just stating facts. It's proven their test scores are significantly lower than ours and the unemployment rate is higher."

Come on Jace. You can do this. Defend my honor.

"That's not their fault," Wait what. "They didn't choose to go to those schools. It's just where they got put because of their low-income neighborhoods."

"Maybe some of them chose to be in those schools," I added even though they weren't wrong. The education is at no way the level of Elkridge or Riverside, but it wasn't terrible. I've been going to a city school all my life and I haven't turned out too bad.

But it still wasn't right. They think that just because you don't live in the county or go to a rich fancy private school then you don't get a quality education. Then you're lesser than what they are. And Jace just went along with them. Jace believes them.

"And don't get me started on those horrible girls. Dressing like hookers walking through the halls. Don't they have any respect for themselves?" She added. Jasper laughed. Jace didn't.

"It's a shame, really. The disgraces to society that those urban neighborhoods produce."

"They aren't all bad." I tried to say but was overshadowed by Jasper's giant ego radiating asshole energy from across the table.

We locked eyes and he had the nerve to wink. He lived to see me squirm, waited for me to snap, and expose myself so he can watch the shitshow unfold. He thinks I'm weak, but I'm unbreakable. So I sat and listened to the rest of their conversation as they bashed my neighborhood, my school, my friends. Me.

Jace added his two cents here and there mostly telling them to calm down, but not once did he refute what they said. And why would he? This is how he was raised. He may not be as bad as they are but he isn't exempt.

I can't believe I was so stupid to think I could trust him. It's one thing to not care about race, but it's another thing not to care about class, wealth, status. Three things that I don't have a lot of. At least not enough to make his parents accept me, nevertheless him.

And Jasper. Fucking Jasper. How can he say that when he knows about his own girlfriend? He knows the city he's bashing is where his girlfriend was raised. Where she lives. She's my best friend for fucks sake. If you bash me you're bashing her.

Does he even love her?

Wait.

It's none of your business. Destiny's made that pretty damn clear, not that I was keen on defending her honor after she said those heinous things about me. This was her own battle. Mistakes she needs to learn from. I'm sick of trying to protect her when she doesn't give two shits about me. Obviously.

Destiny's on her own. If she has a shit boyfriend then that's her business.

I tuned out the conversion, not wanting to say something I regret in a fit of anger. But I learned something from sitting here listening to Jace's family bitch about everything that he hasn't done in his life. It made me appreciate the love my family gives me. Because it seems to me that Jace's family doesn't love him enough. They treat him like an outsider who's banging on the doors begging to be let in.

This must've been what he was talking about when I asked if he ever felt like he didn't belong. I'm such a bitch.

I tuned into the conversation long enough to hear Jace's mother criticize the way he ate his fucking pasta. His face turned red and he ended up not eating anything at all.

"I'm sorry about dinner." Jace was the first to speak in the time we've been out here.

The worst dinner of the century ended fifteen minutes ago and we were lying side to side on the hammock. The sun was going down as we watched the sky change in hues of orange and pink. My favorite time of day.

The left side of my body was pressed up against his right, but instead of feeling awkward or uncomfortable, it was the opposite. The chilly night breeze sending goosebumps down my arms, but I had Jace's warmth radiating off of him like a heater.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said that last week."

"No, don't apologize. You're right," He shifts his body to face me while I'm still looking at the sky. "There are people in this world who have so much more going on and I'm just some white kid whining about... whatever." I sat up, almost knocking him out of the hammock.

"It's not whatever. You're going through shit. I was insensitive to assume that you weren't."

"Don't worry about it. I deserved it."

What he said at dinner was still plaguing the back of my mind and I couldn't settle my mind until I found out what he truly thought without the smoke and mirrors. But I didn't ask... I never do. I was afraid to hear his answer because if he said what I thought he would then, I would've been right all along. And the boy I've come to know would become a figment of my imagination as I learned that he liked the fantasy of me better than the reality.

And I stayed quiet. We avoided the topic of dinner all together and focused on stupid stuff like who was our childhood celebrity crush.

Mine: Justin Bieber.

Jace: Rachel McAdams

Neither of us was surprised. I noticed he talked about Rachel in the swimsuit during the Notebook a little too many times. And I once spent a whole Saturday at his house singing around the kitchen as Justin Bieber hits played from the speakers. He laughed at me as he was making a cheesecake (it was delicious by the way), but I did manage to convince him to sing Baby with me because that's the only song he knew. Jasmine came downstairs when One Less Lonely Girl started playing and we did an amazing rendition that Jace reviewed as horrendous and called both of us tone death. Personally, I think he was jealous.

My phone rang in the middle of our conversation about what book got us into reading.

Mine: Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell (series)

Jace: I Funny by James Patterson (series)

I picked it up and my eyes shot to the heavens when I realized it was my mother. Maybe, she's not mad. Then again, when has she ever called me when she wasn't mad. If it was to check in she would usually text, but never call.

I answer my hands shaking. "Hey, Momma."

"Scarlett Johnson. Where on God's green earth are you at this time of night?" She was anything but pleased or happy or any emotion that isn't pissed.

"I'm at a friend's house. I didn't know it was-" I checked the time. It was only 10, my curfew was at 12. "With all due respect, my curfew isn't for another two hours."

"Are you talking back?" ABORT! ABORT MISSION! "You will be home whenever I say or do you want to end up like your sister?"

That's her famous line. Brielle's story is like a famous caution tale in our family, around the church, basically with whoever knows her. Watch out or you'll end up a disappointment just like Brielle Johnson.

"No, ma'am. I'll be home soon." She doesn't answer before she hangs up. I turned to see Jace, he looked concerned.

"Did you get in trouble?" I shook my head.

"No, just usual overbearing motherly worry." I stand up, stretching out. I take a glimpse at the now dark sky, colors gone, replaced by the bright glow of the stars. I looked back down and Jace had appeared next to me.

"Hey, before you go. Can I tell you something?" His voice shook. I was scared about what he was going to say.

"Sure, what is it?" I searched his face looking for any emotion other than nervous. But there was nothing, hinting to what he might say.

"I-"

"Hey, dickwad!" Our eyes snapped up to Jasper who stood at the doorway. "Be careful, what you tell this girl or you just might wake up in the morning with all your shit gone." My eyes flashed with anger, but if I was angry Jace was fuming.

"What did you just say?" His voice was venom, spitting his words onto Jasper's skin like it'll melt him away. But it didn't so he stood, shirtless, sweatpants hanging lowly on his waist with a permanent smirk etched onto his skin.

"Be careful, little bro. You're messing with a gold digger."

Jace left me standing there and walked out of earshot to Jasper. I saw it, the way his fist and jaw clenched. He moved closer and closer. Jasper whispered something in his ear and before I knew it he went over the edge.