Inferno Part 3

~100~ I'm Not Giving Up On Your Dream

I accidentally made this chapter WAY too long. Halfway through, I changed the direction of how it was going, and I liked it. Sooo....you get a two for one with this one 😘

Josie's POV

I woke up way too late to straighten my hair. Man I hope Aiden doesn't get upset with me. I'm going to try super hard to wake up earlier tomorrow.

I get myself ready, and go downstairs with a pit in my stomach. Mason is sitting with Drew, cutting up his waffle.

He looks up at me, and then back down to the syrup covered waffle on the plate. I sit down across from Drew and he gives me his signature dazzling grin.

"You feeling better? You missed all the fun yesterday. Uncle Liam tripped on some lights that Nolan hadn't put away, and fell on his bottom. It was super funny, cause he said a really bad word and Gramma swatted him. What does young ears mean?" He asks, looking up at his dad.

Mason smirks "It means that there were little kids around."

"I have young ears?"

He grins and kisses one of Drew's ears. "You have perfect ears, Little Dude. Hurry up and eat so you're not late."

He looks at me and loses his smile. "You too,"
He says darkly.

"Not hungry"

He nods as he grabs his stuff. "Ok. Let's just go then."

He kisses Sasha, who is still tying to fix her hair, kisses Drew, and leaves without looking at me.

Once we're in the car, I wish more than anything that Sasha could have taken me. It's awkward, and I can almost feel his anger radiating off of him.

Once we've been driving for several minutes, Mason clears his throat. "You need to get your application to Juilliard sent in this week. Tonight you're doing your essays."

"I'm not going to apply," I say, looking out the window.

Without a word, Mason pulls over the car. When I look at him, his face is contorted into so much anger, I think about getting out and walking to school.

"Come again?"

"I don't want to go. I want to stay here."

"SINCE WHEN?!?!?"

"I haven't wanted to go for a long time."

"BULLSHIT! You talked about it in September. You are NOT giving up on Juilliard because of this guy.
You ARE applying."

"No, I'm not. I don't want to go. Plus, I would think you'd be relieved. I know it costs a ton of money."

"When the hell have you EVER cared about how much money you're costing me?!?"

I look at him, and his hands are shaking. "If I have to write the damn essays for you, I will. If I have to forge your signatures for you, I will. You're at least applying, Jocelyn. This has been your dream since you've been 7."

"Yeah? Well I've woken up, and I've grown up."

He shakes his head as he looks over his shoulder and gets back on the road. "You haven't woken up," he mutters as he starts driving towards the school again.

We say nothing the rest of the way, and he doesn't even kiss me goodbye when we go our separate ways. He always kisses me goodbye.

I ignore that and go to my locker, hoping to see Aiden. As I'm about to give up, he shows up, grinning at me.

"You're alive!" He says as he kisses me softly.

I just smile at him and nod.

"Didn't wanna straighten your hair, huh?"