The World Beyond Us

f i v e

My back is pressed against the brick wall of the school's gymnasium.

"I thought you were pissed off last night." Hudson says heavily.

He has a bad habit of trying to hold conversations while making out. He's the only guy I know to kiss you and casually talk about the weather at the same time.

"I was, but that was yesterday." I walk my fingers down his back.

"What were you doing in that storage closet this morning?" He kisses my neck.

"Why?" I open my eyes to look at him.

"It's just a question. Besides, I saw Jace come out of there too." He says.

"We were talking-" I begin.

"About?" Hudson snaps.

Keegan didn't take me hanging out with Jace too lightly, neither did CJ or Violet. What makes me think, of all people, Hudson will?

"An English project." I blurt.

"In the storage room?" Hudson frowns. "You guys were talking about an English project in a storage unit?"

"Wynter!" Jace dashes around the corner. "Did you forget? Albany said there was a mandatory meeting for that English project."

I blink in surprise. "What?"

"Don't play dumb, Wynter, you suck at it." Jace smirks. " 4.8, remember." He winks.

Hudson glances at the both of us. "So the project is real?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I decide to go along with Jace.

"Are you calling her a liar, Deckland?" Jace glares at Hudson.

"No. I'm not calling my girlfriend a liar. Something's just off." He looks at me.

I walk up to Hudson. "Nothing's off. You're looking for wrongs where everything is right." Then I kiss him reassuringly.

Jace clears his throat. "Albany is waiting guys. Time never stopped in the name of love...or whatever you'd label this." He mutters the last bit.

"Say that again, jackass-" Hudson hisses.

"Hey!" I press my hands to Hudson's chest to stop him from doing anything stupid, then I drag Jace around the corner.

"Explain." I demand.

"A simple thank you Jace, you're my hero, would definitely suffice." Jace snickers.

"I'd rather choke on broccoli." I shake my head. "Seriously though, how did you-"

"I overheard you. Friends back up each other's lies." Jace shrugs.

I almost tell him that we are not friends, but he did help me out of that last twist.

New friends just might be what I need right now.

"Thanks." I say instead.

"Welcome." He smiles. "So I've been thinking about what you said last night, and I know how to get you off the hamster wheel."

"I highly doubt it." I scoff.

"And yet you continue to listen to me." Although I'm looking forward, I can feel him glance at me.

"Humor me then."

"You're life is pretty even, in the dullest sense of the word-" Jace begins.

"Hey!" I elbow him. "What's your point?"

"Point being, you just need to do something wild, preferably illegal. Illegal things are always more fun-"

"Jace, going to jail isn't going too fix anything. If anything it's make matters much worst-"

"That's not what I'm saying, Wynnie." He shoves his hands in his pocket.

"Well that's what usually happens when you do illegal thing." I bluntly explain.

Jace grabs my wrist, pulling me to a stop. He leans down until his lips are leveled with my ear. "Only if you get caught." He whispers.

His words tingle right down my spine. I glance at him. "Fine." I smirk. "I'll play your criminally insane game, but only when I'm ready."

Jace smiles. "Whenever you're ready then." Then he disappears into one of the school buildings.

Jace, from what I've observed, doesn't have many friends. Not in the sense that he is lonely. Jace has many friends. He just doesn't have any friends. He's social and fairly amicable, but he hardly sticks close to one person for long, meaning he doesn't confide in many.

An impressionable drifter, surely that's a harsh combination. A person who will impact you in an insane way only to quickly sever the relation.

I wonder if being around Jace is an emotionally smart decision. That moment in the storage room quickly surfaces in my mind. The way I wanted him to kiss me when I should not have.

I'm not up for an emotional roller coaster.