Had To Be You

Keep it a secret | Ch: 6

What is going on? Why's everyone leaving me making me stand clueless? Earlier Hazel did that to me and now Liam. Although Liam's words were more interesting than Hazel's, unfortunately there's not enough time for me to think about what Liam said.

Hazel's words were more powerful and manipulating. I have to think of something to sort everything out.

As Leo starts approaching on his way home, Chloe tells him about the hangout in the evening. Leo's reaction isn't very clear though. He still agrees.

Chloe and I walk towards home and she can't stop talking about Jasper. Moving her hand while she's talking, jumping maybe once or twice. These gestures made it really clear how thrilled she's about getting together with Jasper.

I reach home and another thought strikes my brain.

My mum.

She must be ready with her ridiculous conversation about me having a boyfriend. Although I did tell her to not talk about the same thing over and over again before I left the house in the morning, she won't give up so easily. I know she can be so stubborn, especially when it's something she wants me to do.

As I walk towards the dining hall. I see her sitting on the chair with a cookie in her hand and scrolling her phone.

"I am back"

"Oh hey! I didn't notice you coming in. I was actually thinking about this new design for the fundraiser at your school."

My mum is an amazing designer. She has plenty of designs in her room, there's a whole cupboard filled with drawing books, papers, drawings, sketches, all kinds of designs for bags, curtains, cushions, bed sheets, pillow covers and other home decor stuff.

She has her own shop here in Swindon, it's more like a family thing. My great-grandma built this shop. And the infrastructure changed over time. My mum owns it now.

She has always been so excited about the fundraiser as it's the closest she gets to high school life.

I approach her to take one of the cookies that she's been eating.

"So how was school?" She asks

"Yeah it was good." I say, picking up a cookie and I go upstairs. After I take a few steps I look back thinking that she's gonna stop me and ask me about guys but to my surprise she didn't.

I lay down on the bed thinking about what I'm going to do. Jasper might even reveal to Chloe about our meeting which I am not sure is a good idea as Leo's going to be there and I happened to not mention anything clearly to him when he asked me about Jasper and Chloe, he might feel bad.

Leo has already been through so much last year. I don't want him to feel sidelined or left out anymore. It's just that I was not sure about Jasper and Chloe. But I guess when Jasper told her the truth it changed her mind . Also I know that Chloe already likes Jasper.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I Open my eyes and check my phone. It's 6:45.

I got up from the bed, squeezed my eyes, got changed and left for Jasper's place.

I open the door to step out of the house and find Steve standing there. All nervous and confused. He's often like that. "Is- Is Grace home?" He said, fiddling his finger. He may have a little bit of a crush on mum.

"Yep." I roll my lips to stop the laugh. "Grace! You've a visitor!" I yelled. She comes running, and smacks me on my arm. As I was making fun of this poor guy.

Steve is mum's assistant/ head of marketing and basically everything that she needs help with. He's a nice guy. I like him. Also cause he's funny looking, maybe. I don't know if I should say that. But he's like cute funny.

I'm gonna meet Chloe on the way as I didn't know the location neither did Chloe but we were going to go together. Leo is going to meet us at Jasper's place. Chloe calls Jasper as we reach his place.

I still haven't figured out what I'm gonna say to Chloe.

Telling her to stay away from Jasper would break her heart. Jasper and Chloe together is nothing but good news.

As we meet Leo at the gate, we go inside. Jasper's already at the gate to receive us. "Is your brother home?" asks Leo

"Nope. He left for a party. At his friend's place."

Leo and Chloe sit in the bedroom. I slightly signal Jasper to come out. We approach the kitchen. I tell Jasper everything Hazel said to me. I see his eyes filling with anger. I tell him not to do anything impulsive. We have to figure something out together.

After talking and discussing some strategies, gowd I feel like some kinda undercover FBI agent. And we kind of had a plan. I'm not sure how much it's going to work but we have to give it a try and we go back to the room. When planning how to throw Hazel off without hurting Chloe I also told Jasper that he had to come clean with Leo.

Leo And Jasper were on good terms last year until Hazel's behavior then why not clear things up with him as well. Jasper had to apologize to Leo and tell him the truth.

We go back inside. Jasper takes Leo separately to clear things out. When they come back Leo's face has a different reaction, a good one this time. It seems that they solved whatever tension was going on between them.

But now comes the crucial part. We're going to convince Chloe that Hazel was being paranoid and she threatened Jasper. That if Jasper doesn't leave Chloe she will do something bad to Chloe. While Jasper says these things to Chloe, I see the fear and utmost disappointment cover her face.

"I cannot take that chance. I am not always going to be with you. What if you're alone on the street somewhere and she does something to you. I don't trust that girl. She's crazy. She can stoop down to any level in order to get what she wants. In that case we have to keep it a secret."

I could tell by Chloe's expression that she's quite frightened.

"But I don't want to keep it a secret." she almost whispers "Both of us had been waiting for this for so long." Sadness filled her voice. I can't even imagine what she might feel like.

"I know. It breaks my heart too but only in school. My parents are away a lot. You can come by my house. We can spend time with each other but we have to keep this a secret in school."

Although it wasn't the happiest conversation. We still manage to move on to other subjects and have a good time together.

We had a good laugh, we played truth and dare, not to mention bitching about Hazel. That's my favorite part.

~*~*~*~*~*~

*8:45 I check my phone. We have to head back home now.

Everything ends on a good note. As I reach home. I see mum arranging dinner on the table.

Why the sudden change of mood? She was angry at me just this morning and the way our conversation went was not satisfactory, at least for her.

During dinner we talk about Jasper and Chloe.

"Well if that's the case I'm happy for Chloe."

That sentence is quite strange as she was just talking about me and Jasper last night and even this morning. Maybe she realized that she had to let me make some of my decisions on my own.

The dinner was amazing. Maybe because Mum was agreeing with me on something.

After dinner I go upstairs. I freshen up finally before bed. I come out from the washroom and I find my phone buzzing. It was an unknown number.

That's weird. Who's calling me at this hour? 

*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N

Thank you for being patient for this update :' ) college is such a pain in the @$$

The next chapter's dropping tomorrow! I really really really hope that you're enjoying the story. Thank you so much for sticking around, really appreciate it.

See y'll in the next chapter!