Jace

{30}

"Jacelyn Rae!" There was a shout from the paddock marked off in the back of the hotel from where we hide the buses. A chain link fence separated the paddock from the fans and a thick dark green cloth covered the chain links to provide some privacy.

"Get your face out of the fence!" Zayn continued his scolding. I turned my head wondering if I heard him right. I did. Her face was shoved up against the chain links to make an impression through the cloth. The fans had been screaming like wild but I didn't think much of it. Now I knew it was because she was so close to them.

"Peek-a-boo!" she sang as she found a hole in the cloth and looked through it. The fans went insane.

"Jacelyn!" I called, leaning back over my chair with my phone in my hands.

"Oh-kay!" she cried. "Ok I'm coming." Sauntering over, she plopped down in a plastic chair that happened to be empty amongst our circle.

"Heard it's suppose to rain tonight," Louis said. We had played an outdoor arena in the same city last night and managed to avoid bad weather.

I nodded. "Good thing we don't play tonight." Jace was oddly quiet.

"Are you sick or something?" Niall asked. "You're not talking and interrupting anyone."

She frowned and threw a gummy bear at him from her stash on the table. But she didn't respond.

"I heard there's a dance tonight." Madison perked up as soon as the word 'dance' left Harry's lips.

"A dance? What kind?"

"A semi-formal. It's the owner of the hotel's birthday and they're holding a dance in his honor. Wanna go-"

"We have to go!!" She leaped from her seat and jumped around. "Its like a prom! Right? Right!! I wanna go to the prom I never had! Katherine! We need to get dresses! Jace! Shoooes!!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Zayn laughed. "You need a date to go to "prom"."

She stopped her excited jumping.

"So.. Madison Desii would you like to go to fake prom with me?"

She squealed and started to jump around again. "Hell yeah I do!"

"Looks like Perrie has some competition," Niall teased.

Zayn rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Niall.

"Kat you up for prom tonight?" Harry asked, chucking one of Jace's gummy bears at her to get her attention.

A small smile creeped up onto Katherine's lips and she nodded. "Yeah alright."

"Jacelyn?" I asked, extending my hand in mock formalness.

She hesitated. She actually hesitated before taking it and saying "Sure." What was happening? Was she getting tired of me? Was she still mad at me for telling her what Jaden said to me?

Amidst my internal panic, Niall huffed. "Well fine! Louis wanna go to the dance with me?"

Lou stifled a laughed and then pretended to be overwhelmed with joy, holding one hand over his mouth as he gasped and then clasping them both over his heart. "Niall this is all moving so fast! Yes!"

We laughed and rolled our eyes but Jace seemed...less jolly than normal. Something wasn't right with her.

*

"Ready for lunch?" Paul rallied us inside and we all sat around a large table as the waiters served us delicious food of every variety.

"Ew!" Harry exclaimed when he witnessed Jace dip her pepperoni pizza into Ranch dressing. "You're weird!"

"Paaaul! Harry called me weird!"

He looked at her plate and then back up at her with a grimace. "You're eating your pizza with Ranch. You are weird."

"It's good!" She exclaimed as we all began to chuckle. "We do it all the time in America."

"No, we don't," Katherine shook her head and looked equally disgusted.

"The ones of us who eat do." Madison's comment was slightly harsh, but was meant in good spirits and Kat was slowly picking on a Caesar Salad so she threw a piece of lettuce at the brown haired girl and laughed.

A hearty chatter remained passed around the table and everyone seemed in good spirits about the semi-formal dance tonight. Yet, shortly after Niall sneezed and managed to knock his entire plate to the floor, Jace excuses herself and dashed upstairs, using the laughter as cover. I didn't notice her absence at first and when I did, I was quickly distracted by a food fight.

When Niall had knocked his plate, it spilled somewhat onto Zayn's pants. Zayn exclaimed his displeasure in the act of picking up his roasted chicken breast and chucked it at Niall. The blonde ducked and it hit me square in the face. Slowly wiping warm, seasoned chicken juice from my face, I picked up my bowl of applesauce and dumped it on Louis who was beside himself with laughter. Before it could get much further, however, Paul stopped us and had the plates cleared. Harry and himself were the only ones unscathed.

"If you'll excuse me," Paul pushed back his chair and stood. "I have to use the restroom.

"I think I need to go change my pants," Zayn chuckled. "It looks as if I've wet myself!"

"With minestrone soup and grilled cheese..." Louis added.

Niall shrugged. "It's just food. You could've been saving it for later!"

Zayn started to stand from his own chair as well. "I'm going to go change-"

"No I uh.. I think it'd be best if you stayed down here." Paul had returned. But he looked as if he had seen a ghost. His face was pale, he seemed weary, frightened, stricken with grief, and a little confused. He looked sickly.

"Paul?" I asked. "Are you alright? Did you eat something bad?"

"I'm fine." He shook his head and took a couple deep breaths, making himself appear slightly better. "I just think it'd be better if we all stayed down here."