18. Wishful + Warnings

Part 2/2 for the double update! Go back and read chapter 17 if you haven't yet! 🧡

Three days later, my heart still couldn't decide if it wanted to be happy because of the conversation with Jayce on Sunday night, or if it wanted to get all muddled and tangled up in thinking about Tom Jeffers, Alexei Solis, Layla Wright and the fact that soccer tryouts were coming up on Friday. As was cheerleading tryouts. Layla hadn't let me forget.

I'm not sure if she was intentionally operating under the ideology of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer," but it sure seemed like she was. It didn't matter how many times I said I wasn't going to fucking try out for her squad. She still cornered me multiple times this week to tell me I should try out, and each time she gave me increasingly weirder shit. From Pom Pom pens and spirit ribbons that I was supposed to wear in my hair or something, to coupons for manicures and pedicures, to most recently, a literal eagle egg that I don't even want to know how she got her hands on. If the Eagles are supposed to be our mascot, you'd think she would protect them, not literally murder a fetus of one. This just further proves that she's a completely cold-blooded sadist.

And Jayce is still dating her, so that's cool and stuff.

I get that he's using her to further his dream, but I still think it's wrong, even if she is a gargoyle. Not to mention, it fucking sucks knowing that any thought or fantasy I have about him is about another girl's boyfriend.

Jayce and I haven't seen each other much this week, other than after school when we have conditioning for soccer and can see each other from across the field. Every day, he's given me one of those hot head nod things guys do, along with a little wave and a smirk. I hate to admit that every time, it's made me have to fight off a smile.

He hadn't talked to me about this photoshoot he supposedly wants to do, but it's not like I didn't have a shitload of other things to occupy my time.

Between AP classes, soccer conditioning and multiple bookings for Party Princess this week, I'd somehow managed to also spend time with Presley, who'd been shockingly great at not bringing up Jayce.

It was 11pm on Wednesday night and I had just finished my homework after conditioning and a short hospital visit dressed as Belle. I had an AP Calculus test tomorrow that I was not particularly worried about, but still wanted to make sure I was well-prepared for. It had been a long ass day.

I ran downstairs in my fuzzy socks, volleyball shorts and big t-shirt to make a cup of chamomile tea before tucking myself into bed. The house was dim and quiet, as I'm sure mom was tweaked out in her room and Haven was out with his friends. Or maybe he was already asleep, since he's been waking up so early for his runs. I don't know. We hadn't spoken much since the meeting with Jeffers on Sunday.

I stand on my tiptoes to reach for the tea leaves when I hear a knock on the front door.

The fuck?

My heart jolts with anxiety. Who the hell is knocking on my front door at 11pm? I cower behind the kitchen entryway, which is only about 10 feet from the door, terrified to move or breathe.

They knock louder, harder.

I wish I had my fucking phone. I'd be dialing 911 right about now. I feel like I can't breathe as I start imagining who could possibly be on the other side of the slab of plywood.

"Fallon!" A suppressed but shrill voice shouts from the other side of the door. "Open up! I know you're in there, you whore! I'm freezing my tits off out here!"

I hear a callous cackle that I'd recognize anywhere.

Fuck.

It's Layla.

Even though I hate her, relief washes over me and I breathe in deeply, grateful that I'm not about to be murdered. I step out from behind the wall and unlock the door, swinging it open to glare into Layla freakishly blue eyes.

"Thank God, fucking finally," she mutters as she shoves past me, the softness of her white fuzzy coat making it slightly less annoying.

"Come in, why don't you?" I spit at her sarcastically. "What the hell do you want? How do you even know where I live?"

She spins around and smiles while her wide, slightly-creepy eyes stay trained on me, "I have my resources, honey."

"You mean you broke into your uncle's computer and found my address?" Her uncle is the principal of Goldcrest High School, annoyingly enough.

"I'm here to negotiate," She ignores my hypothesis completely.

"Negotiate?"

She rolls her eyes and steps towards me, her heeled, white Manolo ankle boots clicking on the aged wood floor as her buttery blonde hair waves behind her. "It means, 'to confer with another so as to arrive at the settlement of a matter,'" she smirks sassily.

"I know what it means you soulless home-invader."

"Good. Let's begin. For starters," she cocks her head to the right. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my boyfriend?" She asks through a smile.

I look at her like she's an idiot and I have no idea what she's talking about. I don't want her to know I've been feeling guilty about this very topic for the past three days.

"I'm not doing anything with your boyfriend. I haven't talked to him all week," I reply. That's not technically a lie. It just depends on if you view the first day of the week as Sunday or Monday.

"I'm about to offer you a very fair agreement, Fallon, and I do hope that you'll consider my generosity as a symbol of my hope in our future friendship," she hasn't stopped smiling. Who the fuck is she, the damn Cheshire Cat?

"You literally sound insane, you know that, right?" I inform her dryly.

She ignores my comment. "Here's my proposal. You join the cheer team and in return, I'll turn a blind eye whenever you want to dry hump your infected genitalia on my boyfriend."

"Wow," I scoff in complete disbelief at the fact that I'm currently having this conversation. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The most fucked up thing about this is, she's still smiling like this is a totally normal conversation. As if she's 100 percent used to brokering deals that allow other girls to have their way with her boyfriend, as long as they do something for her.

Her smile stays on her face as she peers at me innocently, expectantly.

I continue when she doesn't take the bait. "First of all, I don't have enough time to join the damn cheer team," I cross my arms, not wanting to put up with this bullshit. "Second, the next time you want to come to my home and imply that I purposely got your boyfriend to cheat on you, you better get your fucking facts straight first. When that happened, I didn't even know you two were dating. So I have a better idea. Instead of continuing to waste my time, how about you go talk to your precious boyfriend about controlling his hormonal urges?" With that, I open the door for her, motioning for her to leave.

She stays glued to where she's standing, looking at me with a curious expression and a pink soft smile. "He's not going to break up with me, Fallon," her voice is arrogant and unimpressed. "See, as long as he's with me, he'll keep getting what he really wants. Not that you'd know anything about giving a man what he wants," she flicks her curled locks off her shoulder before continuing. "I know you're obsessed with him, I can see it all over you. It's rather pitiful, if I'm being honest. But, if my father taught me anything, it's that you can use any circumstance for your gain, if you can make the right deal. I suggest that you don't pass up this offer, because I'll only make it once. You don't want me as an enemy, Fallon."

"I don't know if you're hard of hearing, or if you're seriously dense enough to believe that I would actually say yes to something like that," I feel like there's smoke coming out of my ears as I step closer to her, wanting to get in her face and make her uncomfortable. "I know why Jayce is with you, and trust me sweetie, if I really wanted him, he would still dump you on your ass so fast, it would make your head spin. You and I have gone two whole years with barely any interaction at all. Let's keep on that trend for these last two years and then we never have to see each other again, hmm? Kindly fuck off now. Thanks."

She sighs like she's disappointed as she steps through the open doorway and onto the front porch. She turns around briefly, her hair and fuzzy white jacket rippling in the cool wind. "If that's really how you feel, Fallon. Just don't forget that I offered you this chance."

She steps off my porch and walks across the lawn, heading toward a sleek, red Ferrari.

What the hell was the point of that? She's fucking mental.

I want to throw 100 plates against a wall and watch them shatter into pieces. I don't know what she thought she was going to be accomplishing, showing up at my damn home at 11pm and trying - and failing, I might add - to intimidate me.

I'm a bit caught off guard that she suddenly seems to be so damn interested in me. Since our freshman year, pretty much the whole school knew that Layla wanted Jayce, but he'd never been one to date. He'd always been to much of a player. Before his current relationship status, anyway. That had never stopped her from flirting and annoying the fuck out of everyone about it.

The sad part is... Now, I'm positive that she's using him just as much as he's using her. Even pointless high school relationships should be based on something more than usury.

Grabbing my now significantly cooler tea, I dash upstairs before any more classmates can show up on my porch.

I check my phone to see that I have a text from Jayce that I received about 10 minutes ago, which was right around when I first went downstairs without my phone. I let out a sound of frustration as I read his message, plopping onto my fluffy white down comforter to respond.

I let out an annoyed sigh, furrowing my brows as I hastily mash the pixelated keyboard.

He doesn't reply for several minutes.

I throw my phone across my room, not only annoyed that Jayce is an absolutely shameless flirt even though he's in a relationship, but also that I sort of like it.

This damn boy, I swear. It doesn't matter how much I try to forget about him, he just keeps popping his curly-haired head back into my life.

I hear my phone ding and do everything I can to ignore it, but my determination lasts about 0.3 seconds before I'm up on my feet and dashing towards my phone.

I scoff and roll my eyes, feeling the familiar mixture of emotions that Jayce often causes within me. It's a blend of annoyance and disbelief coupled with curiosity and excitement.

I flip off my lights, crawl into bed and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to think about anything but Jayce's chocolatey locks, perfect lips and intoxicating scent.

~~~

I love you so much, ok ? 🧡 thank you again for 10k! I'm seriously so moved and beyond ecstatic :')

I know people have been getting a bit upset that I've been leaving you with cliff-hanger endings so I tried to not do that too much this time. 🤗

Also, I got curious, so I calculated (🤓) the number of chapters I've released so far (18) by the number of days since I published chapter 1 (22) and my publishing average has been 0.8 chapters a day 😱 which to me, that's pretty heckin good, especially considering I'm also working full time and trying to have some semblance of a social life. Anyway :)

What's been ya fave moment so far??

Stay tuned for more Jaylonnn, comin' atcha real soon ! Tap the ⭐️ if you wish it was already here!

♥️

So fun fact about my life hahaha, my husband streams on Twitch (part of his screen name is Broman), and sometimes he and his business partner will do streams of them in their office, talking strategy for their channel and everything... So basically, tonight he was doing push ups for every donation they got and someone said his push ups were looking like he was thrusting the floor, so he pretended to do it and one of his followers freaking made this and I laughed my ass off at it for like 3 hours hahahahah

Also J says thank you for reading 😘😘

This has been an extremely long end of chapter note 😂 if you're still with me, I love you & hope you have an amazing weekend ! 🧡