Driven by Confidence, a Ross Lynch Fan Fiction

Chapter 8

I just realized I uploaded Chapter 9 without uploading chapter 8. I feel like an imbecile like wow. Please read this and reread chapter 9 after!! College is screwing with my mind!

Wednesday, we filmed a few scenes of the first episode. The few scenes included my character watching her house in flames, a few introductory scenes at the high school, and her walking into the home of the school's most popular guy for the first time. Thursday, we filmed a few more scenes, and Friday, we finished filming the first episode altogether.

Friday night, I had another date with Jace. We were discussing the date as we walked out of the studio together.

"So I was thinking for our date tonight," he started, "I want to make dinner for you. I can put a candle on the table and we could dress up..."

I had to remind myself that he was abusive. Keep all dates in public, Di.

"U-um..." I stuttered, "How about we go out to a restaurant instead? I'll pay."

This seemed to upset him, but he concealed it. "No." He leaned in as he opened my door and hissed, "My parents aren't home. You're gonna wear something nice. I'm gonna call the paparazzi and have them waiting outside my house. You're gonna drive up and tell them I'm cooking you a nice dinner like a perfect gentleman, and then we'll have some fun."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I nodded quickly. Behave. You can get through this. All you have to do is do what he says. He won't hurt you if you do what he says.

And thus began my first night in Hell.

-----

I did exactly as he had told me. I wore a sweet pink dress. It was flowy and came down to my knees. I wore white wedges and a white statement necklace. I wore only mascara and a thin line of eyeliner. As I got out of the car, I was bombarded by paparazzi. I hadn't even had one episode come out yet. Why were so many paparazzi interested in me?

Because I was giving the abusive Hollywood bad boy a chance. People were curious.

I smiled brightly. I tried to be happy and give off a joyous demeanor.

When attacked with questions, I responded, "Jace is a total gentleman. I have yet to see a bad side of him. Now, if you'll all excuse me, he just cooked me dinner, and I'm absolutely starving."

The cleared a path for me, and I knocked when I got up to the door. I turned back and flashed a charming smile as I waved to the paparazzi. Jace opened the door. He may be abusive, but damn, did he look good in slacks, a dress shirt, and a thin tie. He wrapped an arm around my waist and kept his other hand on the door. I hung my arms around his neck and tiptoed up to peck him on the lips. Before closing the door, we both waved back at the paparazzi.

"Excellent performance. You truly are an incredible actress."

This was the real Jace. He knew he was abusive. He knew I wasn't in this for publicity. He knew I had no way of getting out of this situation, and that was one hundred percent manipulative. He didn't have a mental problem; he was just waiting for us to be alone to drop the act.

Jace took my hand and led me to the dining room. He hadn't lied about the dinner, which for some reason surprised me.

We ate in silence until we were both finished.

I made the stupid decision to ask, "How long are we gonna keep this up?"

"What do you mean?"

"This 'relationship' that is supposed to fix your reputation. It has to end at some point. I mean, arent you gonna get tired of me?"

"This won't end."

"Don't you think it should?"

He slammed his fist down on the table, causing clattering of glass. I flinched.

"No. This doesn't end until I say so. End of discussion."

Discussion or lecture?

"What?!"

Did I say that out loud?

"That's it. My room. Now."

I could feel the tears form in my eyes as I stood and walked to his room, shoulders tense. I could hear him cleaning up the dishes behind me.

The tears were freely falling down my cheeks. I was too independent and confident for my own good. If I had just obeyed, whatever was about to happen wouldn't happen.

When I found his room, I sat on his bed and waited. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Rydel.

Is your date going well?

I began to text her back that it was, but the door swung open and hit the wall. Jace strode up to me and hit my phone from my hand.  I took a shaky breath and said, "If I don't text her back, she'll get suspicious. Just let me tell her everything is alright."

My hands were shaky and clammy. I was all sweaty and stuttery too.

He picked up my phone and handed it to me. "I want to see the text before you send it."

I showed him the positive text and then sent it. He grabbed my phone and put it in his back pocket.

Before I knew it, I was gasping for air. Jace had punched me in my already bruised stomach and knocked the wind out of me. As my lungs tried desperately to fill with air again, Jace punched me across the face. I fell off the bed from the impact. He took the opportunity to kick me in the stomach. I couldn't breathe. God, I couldn't breathe. This would be the end, wouldn't it? Why couldn't I breathe?

Jace pulled me up by my hair as I gasped for air. He threw me on the bed and slapped me across the face. After one final punch to my stomach, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door. I kept gasping and struggling for the air that wouldn't fill my lungs until I saw white speckles in my vision. When I knew my lungs weren't filling with air again, I tried to relax, but that only resulted in everything going black.