The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter sixteen.

I hadn't had that much fun in a long time and I wanted to keep it to myself just a little bit longer, I knew Gwen would probably slap me if she found out that I missed the one exciting thing in my life. I regretted it, but I knew I wasn't ready for anything to go any further with Jace; I knew we weren't suited for each other. I accepted that, but was I ready to face Jace after last night? I couldn't sleep, my mind was racing and Jace's face kept popping into my mind.

That day at school, I tried to avoid Jace and I knew why, but I knew that it wasn't for the right reason. "You seem a bit off today." Gwen said as we just came out of Biology. The corridors were full of people already rushing around frantically.

"How so?" I asked, not exactly wanting to bring up the unwanted topic.

Gwen sighed and raised her eyebrows at me. "What happened with Jace?" I knew she wasn't going to give up, she kept bugging me about it since Math which was three periods ago.

We reached our lockers and as I opened it up with the key, Jace caught my eye and he was casually walking our way with Seth. Gwen nudged me, I glared at her and my stomach began to go crazy with butterflies, dragonflies and even fireflies. I opened my locker, pretending not to notice.

I placed my Biology books into my locker and grabbed my History textbook for our next class. I slammed my locker door shut and placed the lock on it. Jace was standing beside me, I jumped and I could've had a heart attack. "Hey, Avery."

He was standing beside Seth and Jace was wearing casual clothes as usual. Gwen closed her locker and stood beside me. "H-Hey Jace." I didn't know why I stuttered, I guess I was nervous just in case he brought up Friday night.

The second bell rang and I froze because we all had History, except for Seth. Gwen and I began walking towards the class and Jace followed as Seth went in the other direction. Every student piled into their classes as we reached our History class. Everyone was already seated and Gwen and I took our usual seats. I honestly thought Jace was going to sit at the back, alone so he could play on his phone the entire lesson. Boy, I was wrong. He took the empty seat next to me so I was in between Gwen and Jace. I didn't know what to do, I was freaking out inside and I could see Gwen smirking.

Our History teacher, Mr. Taylor, shushed the class and we were all silent. "We're going to watch a documentary." I mentally jumped for joy as we didn't have to do any work and maybe I could fall asleep again, but, Jace was beside me and I wasn't going to let him watch me sleep. Mr. Taylor played the documentary and I was trying to concentrate. Okay, I wasn't concentrating at all but I needed to get my mind off the fact that Jace O'Conners was sitting next to me in History.

I kept tapping my finger on the desk, waiting for the time to fly by. After watching ten minutes of the documentary, Jace leaned over. "Hey, I'm having a party at my house tonight. You should come."

I blinked a few times and I could see Gwen smile from the corner of my eye. "A party?"

"Yes, a party. At my house. You know, the one across the street from yours?" He whispered with a smile.

I laughed quietly. "Yes, I know the one," I told him in a whisper, "but I don't go to parties." I knew parties involved drinking, dancing, socializing and honestly, I'd rather binge watch Netflix.

"Why not?" He whispered, sounding shocked. "Everyone at our school will be there and I'm pretty sure Gwen will be there too."

"Oh, I'm going to be there," Gwen butted in, "I need a drink after this week."

I rolled my eyes. I had never been to a party before, ever. I didn't intend on starting now. I mean, socializing with people I barely knew wasn't exactly my idea of a fun Friday night. My instant answer was a no, even if it was Jace. "I think I'm going to pass. I have a date." I leaned back in my chair and kept my eyes focussed on the screen in front of us.