𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍
—𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵—

𝙄𝙏 𝙁𝙀𝙇𝙏 𝙎𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙇𝙔 odd that Bailey had the day to herself, all the way up until four o'clock when she would have to face Daniel and Jax again. Hopefully by that time, the two of them would have already put their problems aside— at least for a few minutes to make an honest decision about her swimming efforts. If Bailey was being completely honest with herself, she didn't feel in the slightest bit nervous. In fact, she was overly prepared to see how well she would do; and if things went badly, like Jax said, she could always practice and do it again.

But it wouldn't take too long before the summer weather would be gone— maybe a month, perhaps. It was mid-September already, but the sun outside refused to give out so soon. The Dai girl aches for autumn to roll around, as it was her favorite season, and brought beautiful colors into nature. When the cooler weather rolled around, she knew that she would have a festive list of things to do; purchase some cinnamon bun-scented candles, go to a pumpkin patch, decorate for Halloween, bake fall cookies. Around that time, the brunette would be in the best mood. Her favorite things would come all at once, followed by Christmas; but unfortunately, since Miami was such a naturally warm place, she expected snow wouldn't be a part of the experience.

With a sigh, Bailey places her book bag on her bed, running her hand through her brown locks. Glancing around her newly decorated room, she tilts her head. It could use some more decoration— maybe some lights, or a photo collage. The next time she was out, she would have to find something of the sort. Her favorite books, one-hundred-and-something of them, were organized alphabetically by author on the shelf at the far corner of the room, but the rest of the wall was bare. Bailey definitely wanted to fill the wall up with pictures . . . so that's exactly what she'd do.

A knock on the front door pulls her out of her thoughts, bringing her nothing but confusion. Both of her parents had already left for work by now, and there was no expected company for today. Perhaps it was the neighbors. Bailey walks through the home, pausing at the door for a short moment, before opening it and revealing a guilty face.

Why was Jax Novoa at her home?

"What are you doing here?" She asks, staring up at his wary face, their eyes meeting almost immediately. "You should be at school."

"I think I should apologize," Jax releases a short sigh, his hand finding the back of his neck before giving her a weak smile. "Can I come in?"

"You think you need to apologize?" Bailey raises an eyebrow, before stepping back to give him some space to enter the cozy home. "Come on, I'll fix us some breakfast."

Of course this morning she hadn't bothered to grab anything before leaving for school— but it wasn't a surprise, especially based upon how she was dressed. It was noticeable that she had woken up late, but not that it mattered. Slipping off her shoes, she leads the tall boy into the large kitchen, gesturing for him to take a seat at the dining table while she gets out the required ingredients for French toast and bacon. Jax takes a seat, before turning to watch her.

"About earlier . . . I'm sorry. You were caught in the middle of something that was never meant to happen, and I can't apologize enough for it." As Bailey glances over to him, she finds the sincerity in his chocolate eyes, before giving a small nod.

"It's okay, I understand. The two of you want Emma, it's not that hard to see—" she pauses, taking a bowl from one of the shorter cabinets. The girl begins cracking a few eggs, before continuing. "But there are more civil ways to solve the problems that your differences cause. Calmer ways, other than fighting in the middle of a classroom."

"He was wrong, you know." Jax frowns, his hands falling to his lap as his eyes follow her every move. "I haven't convinced myself that you're Emma, nor would I ever try. You're so much different than her, and I think he's trying to ruin my friendship with you. Daniel would leave me with nothing if he had the chance, and he's trying with everything in him to do just that."

"Well, from what I've heard, Emma seems like a nice girl." Something pangs in Bailey's chest, just before she pushes the feeling away. "So I can understand why the two of you would have it out for each other. And if you want something, Jax, you should go for it."

"But things aren't like that with Emma." He states as she places a few pieces of bacon into a pan on the warm stove. "Not anymore, at least. I just wish Daniel would see that."

What he ached to say was that he had found someone else— someone that made him completely forget about everyone else in the world. But it was too soon to tell Bailey something of such big proportions, especially when she believed that he was utterly in love with the Alonso girl. Bailey was everything Jax Novoa was looking for in a girl, but he wasn't so sure if he would get to tell her anytime in the near future.

But he would wait; Bailey was certainly worth it.

Bailey shoots him a glance, wary of his pervious answer. "You sure don't act like you're over her— especially the way you reacted when Daniel was talking about her. You got pretty upset. I'm not sure if you noticed, but you looked fully prepared for a fight. . . fists out, and all."

"I didn't mean to," he shrugs. "Daniel is a firm believer that I'm out to destroy everyone I come into contact with. While Emma and I were together a couple years ago, she went through a phase. One that consisted of leather jackets and motorcycles and vandalism, so of course the whole situation was blamed on me by Daniel. We broke up not too long after that, and I got the blame for everything. I have to admit, I'm not the best influence, but I'm not like that."

"So why doesn't Emma defend you?" Bailey questions, taking her eyes away from her cooking for a few minutes, leaning against the counter to face Jax. "Then Daniel could leave you alone and everything would be fine."

"She and I aren't really on speaking terms at the moment," Jax says, his Australian accent thickly lacing his words. "I don't think Emma ever really forgave me for some things I did while we were together, and I don't really blame her. I wasn't that good of a person when I came here— which is why I took the fall for everything. I encouraged her to bring out her other sides, I guess you could say, which triggered everything. I feel terrible about it, but I've changed."

"There's always room for an apology," Bailey tells him. "I'm sure she'd understand if she's as great as the two of you say she is."

"Maybe I don't want to fix things with her anymore." He hesitates, gaging her reaction. "I don't want to forget how things were while we were together, but I've moved on, and it's time I focus on things better than someone who doesn't have faith in me."

The brunette takes a moment to think, before giving him an assuring grin. "You're right. Someone who can't see the greatness in you doesn't deserve your company at all. Besides, I'm here, and it doesn't get much better than that."

She winks, before turning back to retrieve the fully cooked bacon from the pan, followed by the toast. Jax chuckles at her antics, laughing a bit harder as she climbs onto the counter to pull a bottle of syrup from the top shelf. "Need a little help?"

"No thanks, I've got it," she says, placing a full plate in front of him, then cleaning her work space and turning off the stove. "I'm not really the greatest cook in the world, so try not to judge too hard. I did my best, and that's what matters."

Taking the silverware from her hand, he mutters a 'thank you' before giving her an award-winning smile and digging in. He hums after taking the first bite, earning a giggle from Bailey. After setting down glasses of orange juice for both of them, she, too, begins to eat.

"This is fantastic," he states, with absolute truth in his voice.

"Thanks," she replies. "So, since you've decided to skip school with me, what would you want to do for the rest of the day? We have quite a bit of time until we need to meet up with the swim team."

"We could go see a movie." Jax suggests, speaking between bites of bacon, "and then go out to lunch. I'll pay, of course. And with whatever time we have left over, I know this great spot at the park to take a walk."

"Well, I have no objections, other than the fact that I should probably change into some different clothes. I'd rather not go out looking like I just crawled out of a dumpster."

"You look perfect." The boy says, his beautiful eyes finding hers. "There's no need to change, you look beautiful the way you are."

Bailey whines at his comment, covering her pink-tinged cheeks as he laughs. "Ugh, quit. I'm going to go change into something more presentable, I'll be back in a few minutes."

As she leaves him sitting at the table with an empty plate, he leans back into the chair with the corner of his lips tugging upward. He couldn't deny his sudden feelings, nor did he want to. Could it be— could it really be?

Jax Novoa was falling in love with a girl . . . and it wasn't Emma Alonso.

_______