fool's gold // chance & mc

CHAPTER 18

"give me a sec, i gotta take this. it's my momma." chance whispers to me before retrieving his ringing phone. i nod and bite my lip, realizing that now would be a perfect time to talk to michael.

"what did he say?" i ask aloud and he turns to me in confusion. "hm?" he raises a brow.

"you know what i'm talking about." i sigh. he locks eyes with me and points over to where he was talking to jackson not so long ago as if he's asking me if that's who i'm referring to. i nod immediately and he furrows his brows. "i know him." he states nonchalantly and my jaw drops. there's no way.

"what, how?" i question and he crosses his arms. "we went to the same middle school in cleveland." he says. my jaw closes slightly even though i'm still in utter shock and i remember that jackson had moved here freshman year of high school...from cleveland.

"you guys are friends?" i question. he opens his mouth to respond but i'm in way too much shock right now to stop the questions and curiosity from flowing. "i know almost all of his friends from before and now and he's never mentioned you." i add on and he shakes his head and gestures for me to stop talking.

"i said that i knew him. not that we're friends or have ever been friends." he shoots back and i furrow my brows.

"wait then h-" i'm about to ask another of the many questions i have in mind before i am once again cut off. i swear if i had a dollar for every time i've been cut off or interrupted this past week i could buy the entire fucking boy band production.

"yo conor, i texted tim asking why we had practice today and he had no damn clue what i was talking about." miles' voice erupts from beside michael and i hadn't even noticed him and the other two had come out from the bathroom. michael shifts slightly on the bench and shrugs.

"guess i got confused or something." he mumbles and harshly crunches down a bottle on the ground with his shoe.

"um, yeah i guess you did." miles retorts with a questionable look on his face. "either way i'm still gonna head on out. this hair won't condition itself." he smirks before whipping his hair back and forth a couple times. pretty sure he added in the hair humor partially because it's miles, duh, but also because the mood pretty much had drifted into kind of an awkward one these last few minutes.

"i'll join you." michael immediately responds not hesitating to stand up from the bench. i follow suit since i obviously wasn't finished drilling michael with questions about how the hell him and jackson knew each other. Him knowing anything about me could completely throw a wrench in my entire plan. Specifically, him knowing anything about me and jackson.

before I have the opportunity to draw his attention back and ask him to wait up, chance returns and wraps his arms around me from behind.

"leaving without me?" he playfully asks and I mentally curse as i watch michael practically bolt away from me with miles. mikey and jay give us a quick goodbye before following straight behind the other two.

"of course not," i smile and try to hide my current discomfort. i release myself from his grasp and turn around to give him a quick and light peck on the cheek. "although we should head back, it is getting kind of late." i tell him and he looks down at his watch.

"yeah, i guess so. i have practice either way so i should head on back." he states and i recall how there was never actually practice in the first place.

"You don't have practice. Michael had just gotten confused." I inform him and he scoffs and shakes his head.

"Right, whatever." He sighs and I decide against questioning the casual eye roll not wanting to get into any minimal drama. "You need a lift home?" He asks me right after the quick silence and I shake my head.

"No, thanks. Izzy, Amara, and I share a dorm at UCLA so Izzy can take me." I reply and he gives me a puzzled look.

"Wait, isn't Amara 15 just like Brady?" He asks and I chuckle.

"Yeah, but we just let her stay with us. Surprisingly enough, the board hasn't told us anything against it." I explain and he nods in understanding.

"Cool cool. Well, then I guess you'll have to let me give you a ride somewhere another time." He jokes and takes a strand of my long hair, playing around with it in his fingers.

"Soon enough." I smile and take his hand. "I'm gonna go now, the girls are probably waiting."

He nods and walks me back over to Izzy and Amara who are saying their final goodbyes to Drew and Brady. Of course, Drew and Izzy are sealing their evening with a long, hot kiss since neither of them have any regard for PDA whatsoever. Though I'm not judging anyone for that after the little stunt I pulled earlier. Amara and Brady, on the other hand, say their own goodbyes with the shy and cheesy little laughs here and there. At this point, I can't even tell which one of them is blushing more or smiling broader. I actually don't think they've even kissed at least once yet but considering Amara hasn't had her first kiss, it has to be a very special moment for her like she's always hoped for.

"I had an amazing time," Chance turns to me and takes both of my small and frail hands in his large ones.

"That makes two of us," I respond and he grins while slowly leaning towards me. Since I can obviously tell where this is going, I compliment his actions and lean in as well until our lips meet once again. It's a slow and sweet kiss that lasts a couple seconds before we break apart. With that, I give him and the other two guys one last smile and wave and before the girls and I walk away. We reach the car in no less than 5 minutes and quickly take our seats inside.

"Well shit," Izzy sighs happily and leans against the window while she bites her lip softly.

"I don't think I've ever loved life this much, wow." Amara chimes with a sheepish grin on her face as she slowly begins to lie down on the backseat of the car.

"The power of love, chicas." I lean back in my seat, proud of the successfully fulfilled day I had. I'm about to internally cheer on how well the plan is coming out before I remember the annoying and unsettling fact that Michael and Jackson know each other which could cause the entire downfall of it all. One little lie or slip up from my mouth could cause it all to come crashing down. I need to get ahold of Michael asap and find out whatever it is that he knows about Jackson, and potentially me as well. "It's a beautifully toxic thing. " I sigh.