This cover on the top is awesome! It's made by @forcade and I love it!!!!!!!!! It's one of the best I've ever received and I'm in love with it! Tell me what you think about it in the comments below! Thank you once again @forcade! It's awesome!!!!!

On with the story!!!

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It had been three days and I kept my distance from Jace. It was all a little too weird.. me admitting that I could trust Jace.

Like what the hell? I barely knew the guy and here I was, telling myself that I trusted him. But.. in a way it was right, he told me his story, it was only fair that I at least trust him in return. If he could trust me, I don't see why I couldn't.

Okay, that's it. I'm going to go crazy if I don't stop thinking about him now.

"Dylan, you want to play a game on the laptop?" I asked suddenly.

"What did you say?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Do. You. Want. To. Play. A. Game. On. The. Laptop?" I asked emphasizing each and every word.

He looked at me as if I had grown another head.

"What?" I asked frustrated. He was staring at me for a whole five minutes now as I was an alien. Oh, come on! I just asked a simple question! And I'm bored!

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Goodness, so you can talk," I muttered rolling my eyes.

"Yes, I can. I was just surprised for some time," he said shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah," I said waving him off.

"Hey, do you mind if I call Jace over? He's one of my closest friends who lives nearby," he asked.

Great! Just the person I was trying to take my mind off!

"Dylan, I-" I protested.

"Thanks! I love you so much!" he said giving me a quick hug and dashing off. My jaw dropped open.

Hey! I don't remember telling him to actually call Jace over! I never even said yes!

"Dylan, wait!" I called out and ran after him. However, it was too late. The damage was done when I saw Dylan muttering a quick 'thank you' and excitedly coming next to me.

I sent him a death glare.

"I'm not going to talk to you for the rest of the day. Go play with your closest friend 'Jace'," I told him air quoting his name dramatically. I narrowed my eyes at him, sending him a last glare as he stood there with a smirk on before turning back on my heels and slamming our bedroom's door behind me.

As soon as I was in there alone, door shut, I sighed heavily.

Maybe this was exactly what I needed. Some space. Some time to think about all that's happened.

Hugging myself tightly, I made my way over to the sill where a window was situated and sat on it. I took out my phone from my pocket with its earphones still attached due to the last time I was listening to music in class and stuck them in my ears, relaxing as the wonderful sound of music reached my ears.

It was heavenly to sit by there, peacefully. No school, no dad, no Dylan, no Jace, no Aiden, and last but not least: no disguise.

I looked at the window and stared at the lonely buildings outside and immediately started pondering about my life. Something I now did on a daily basis- except, this was way peaceful.

I kept thinking about Jace, Dylan, dad, and my beloved mom. It had never seemed right to place the word 'deceased' right before her name and I never would. She was always alive to me and somehow around me, telling me that everything was going to be alright.

There was a knock at the door and I looked at it before rolling my eyes.

"Whoever you are, leave! I'm having some time alone!" I yelled not bothering to move from my place. I heard a chuckle, which I was unsure whom it came from, but soon after it left me alone- once again, for which I was glad.

"Thank the lords," I muttered before staring back at the buildings, all in different sizes. A few tall while the others, really short.

Seconds later, I was already thinking back again. Thinking. I seemed to be doing that a lot since I came into Chicago. I never used to think so much when I was back in Boston. But over here, I've done it countless times- especially before sleep.

I was really happy for dad, though. He had finally got a job! Which is a great start. Now that he has a job it'll really help to pay off our expenses and school charges. One thing I still hadn't understood was why he wanted us to go to a private school if we didn't have money.

Just as I was busy rambling in my head, another knock sounded at my door. I pulled my hair in frustration and glared at the door which was still being pounded by someone's fist outside.

If only I could see through with my eyes, I would have made sure that the person interrupting the precious time I had, he would have been dead. 

Yes, he. Think about it. The only possibilities of who could be outside me door were:

a) Dad.

b) Jace.

c) Dylan.

Conclusion: I'm the only girl in the household.

"Get out!" I yelled.

"Oh, but I am out! I just need to come in!" he sarcastically replied and I could practically hear the smirk while he said that.

"Go away, Jace! Leave me alone!" I yelled.

"You only have one option, Ashley!" he yelled back trying to make sure I'd get the message.

"And why is that?" I challenged still yelling due to my door being shut.

"Because you wouldn't want me to tell the school your real identity!" he yelled and my jaw dropped open.

"You're blackmailing me?" I asked incredulously.

"Seems like I am," he yelled back.

I didn't answer due to shock. He was just kidding wasn't he?

"Wait! How the hell did you even know our location? I never told you it!" I yelled as a realization hit me.

I unlocked the door, furiously, to get my answer, but accidentally slammed it on Jace's face in the process.

I had to fight back the urge to laugh as he held his nose and groaned.

"Ouch!" he screamed.

I bit my tongue to stop the smile from spreading onto my face. 

"Oops?" I questioned uncertainly.

He rolled his eyes.

"What? You were the one who told me to open the door--" I started off.

"--but I didn't tell you to slam it on my face!" he defended.

I took a deep breath in. I knew that if anyone was to stop this fight, it was me.

"Where's Dylan?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"In the living room. He's too engrossed in his game to tell that I left or that we were literally having a shouting match a few seconds ago." 

"Typical Dylan," I muttered.

"So yeah," he shrugged.

"And?" I asking waiting for him to continue.

"And what?" he asked.

I was getting annoyed with this guy more and more by the second.

"Why did you come to me?" I asked.

"I was bored?" he told me.

That was when I lost it.

"You were bored? You were bored, so you came to me?" I asked raising my eyebrow at him.

"Yeah?" he said looking a bit unsure because he knew that I was going to burst out any second now. For a guy to know me for a very little time, he knew me a lot.

"And what did you expect me to do because you were bored? Dance with you or sing a song to make you feel better?" I snapped glaring at him. Did he disturb me because of this absurd reason?

"Actually--" he was about to reason but I cut him in between as I remembered another thing.

"And how do you even know where I live? I don't remember telling you anything," I accused, with an eyebrow raised suspiciously and shook my head.

"Dylan kind of told me--"

"Dylan doesn't even know what the name of this place is!" I threw my hands up in frustration.

"Yes, he does!" he protested.

I was about to say something but he held up a finger to tell me to wait for a second.

"Dylan!" he called out.

"Dylan!" he called out once again as he had received no response the first time.

"Oh, god damn these kids and their video games," he mumbled before storming off to go personally invite Dylan into our argument.

"What?" Dylan asked annoyed as Jace brought him just outside my room where I was standing, in front of me.

"Dylan, did you tell him our address?" I asked sweetly.

He sucked in his breath but then turned red. "I-I-I, maybe?" he asked scratching the back of his neck as Jace crossed his arms and gave me an 'I-told-you-so' look.

"How do you even know what this place is called?" I asked disbelievingly.

"I've got friends?" he told me in a 'duh' tone.

I rolled my eyes before taking a step back, entering my room and shutting the door in their faces again.

I went back to the sill and went back to my old world when the door opened and in came the one and only Jace.

"What do you want?" I asked tiredly.

"Nothing. Just thought that both you and I could use some company," he told me and sat on the opposite side of me on the sill.

"Don't you have better things to do?" I asked, really tired of all the bickering.

"No, and I'm not here to disturb you. I'm here to listen. I know how hard it is to keep all those thoughts in your head and suffer with them. I've been through that, remember? You don't have to keep it all in," he comforted taking my hand in his.

"They're just too personal," I told him.

"And I'll wait. I'll wait for you to trust me," he told me.

If only he knew that I started trusting him the day he told me all about himself. The day I knew that he wouldn't expose my secret for the pleasure of it...

"Jace, I-I do think I trust you," I said, my voice shaking a bit as I told him the truth.

He smiled. "Then can you tell me what's going on in that tiny brain of yours?" he asked.

I faked a gasp. "My brain's not tiny! Even if it was, the amount of thoughts I can carry in it sure is impressive," I joked and cracked a smile.

He laughed lightly and rolled his eyes.

This was exactly when I knew I could tell him. So I did. I told him everything that's been going on in my head, from my mother up to dad's new job-- I even told him about Uncle Ben.

"Wow," he managed to get out once I was done.

I nodded my head sadly.

"Your life's messed up," he told me with wide eyes.

"No shit," I said sarcastically and managed to laugh a bit and he did too.

He was right. It felt much better to get that off my chest and laugh a bit.

Suddenly he turned serious once again.

"I'm really sorry about your mother," he said sincerely.

I just pressed my lips tight against each other looking anywhere but at him.

"Umm... Ashley? I really have to say something. Like now, like right now," he told me nervously, fiddling with his hands every now and then.

I gave him a nod of my head waiting for him to continue.

"Listen, I'm never quite this nervous around people and this is a first. So don't make fun-"

"To the point, Jace," I interrupted.

"Right. The point is that I-I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really-"

"Jace," I warned.

"-Like you," he finally finished.

I almost choked on my spit.

"What?" I asked with wide eyes.

"I. Like. You," he made clearer without any hesitations this time.

The next thing that happened was unpredictable.

"Well, Jace, I think I'm falling for you as well," I told him before I could stop myself.

He grinned so wide as soon as I said that and hugged me so tight that I thought I would almost die from the lack of oxygen I was being able to get into my lungs.

The worst part of all of that was that whatever I said about falling for Jace was actually true...

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Voila! Update for all of you ;)

Whoever is reading this- no matter if I know you or not- I love you a lot. Thank you for reading this chapter and I certainly hope you liked it!

Achievements:

-#2 in action!

-46.2K reads!

I know I've said this before but thank you, thank you, thank you for everything! And as much as I hate to say this but this book will be ending in the next few chapters :(

IKR! THIS BOOK WILL BE ENDING SOON!!!! CAN U BELIEVE IT?!?

Anyways.. not going to waste much time from your life and I'm going to end this note right here.

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~Pakhi <3