Selling My Soul for His Aston Martin.

The Only Exception. (11)

pic of nate----->

this chappie's sort of emotional 

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Drew and Nate held bags of ice to their eyes, while Kalee and Will were on the couch, talking. I shook my head at Drew and Nate. "You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves."

"He started it." Drew grumbled.

"No, you were the one shaking her."

"Not uh."

"Uh huh."

"Not uh."

"Uh--"

"Be quiet." I snapped. I was not in the mood. My head hurt, they had given each other black eyes, and my phone was buzzing with texts such as these. Of course, from Lindsay:

HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD ME!?!

WAT KIND OF BEST FRIEND AR U? HUH?

jamie you answer these texts right now

have you felt his abs

oh god. YOU KNOW WILL TAYLOR

does he mention me?

"Yes," I thought when I read the last one. "You're the 'crazy stalker girl'."

I flipped open the phone, not really knowing why i bothered reading them. I pushed 'Read' and read:

you have three seconds to answer me

Then:

friendship over

I hurriedly texted back,

why?

Four seconds later....

her: because

me: because why

her: because

me: Argh. you know what lindsay, i have no time for this

her: fine

me: fine

her: enjoy your little superstar friend and forget about the small hick town you came from. your dad hates you right now

I closed the text.

The phone rang. I looked at the callers id and recognized it faintly. I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Jamie?" A deep voice said.

"Who is this?"

"It's me, remember." He cleared his throat. "You're ex...Quinn."

"Quinn? Why are you calling?"

"I was just wondering. Could you get your boyfriend to send me an autograph? I'd make a killing--" I hung up on him, shaking my head. I remember him. He was a douche. On our anniversary, he tried to make me pay for the dinner.

I received several more calls like this, but I had to keep the phone on in case my dad called. I was pacing when the phone rang again. I looked at the caller id and hit the green button immediately. "Dad?"

"Don't bother. Don't even bother coming back."

"What?"

"I see, Jamie. You need more excitement in your life. You can't be held down by your old man anymore." He laughed a dry, unfamiliar laugh. Nothing was funny. My gut clenched.

"Dad, wait that's not--"

"Live your life. I'll call every once in a while, but other than that, I'll keep out."

"Wait." I said desperately. "Wait, that's not me, daddy. I'm not--"

"I love you."

Click.

"I'm not mom." I wanted to say. I stood there, frozen, feeling like I was going to be sick. I set my jaw.

I flipped the phone shut and threw it to the ground, walking semi-calmly over to where some steel toe boots were and sliding them onto my feet, then walked back to where my Cingular phone was.

And then I stomped on it. Repeatedly. I imagined that right then, I was stomping on those stupid paparazzi, and the stupid car that made me agree to this in the first place, and my stupid mother who shouldn't have left me to make these idiotic decisions alone, and especially, Lindsay's big, stupid, jealous, dyed blonde head.

I hopped on it. I obliterated it. I took out my anger on that hardwood, polished floor and my poor, poor cellphone that had stuck with me for the past five years.

Someone hugged me. Will.

"Hon, I think you should stop now."

I girtted my teeth and broke out of his grasp, walking over to the bedroom door and ignoring the call of, "Jamie!" from Nate, I walked into his room. It was messy, clothes strewn all over the place. I picked up a dirty shirt and took off my own, putting the shirt on, then some oversized pants with boxers. I got a stretchy bracelet from around my wrist and tied my hair into a ponytail at the top of my head.

"Jamie, what are you doing?" Will asked. I didn't answer, walking over to where a cap was and putting it on, tucking loose strands of hair in. I also put on some sunglasses that were on the lampshade, and, wearing those same, oversized, boots I clomped right past Will to the hotel door. Drew grabbed my arm. "Jamie, wait--"

"Drew, unless you want another black eye and your balls removed, I suggest you let me go." I said it in a low, deadly voice, one that I hadn't used since my dad tried to kill himself when my mother left. His eyes widened and he let me go. I strode out the the door.

Walking out of the hotel, I saw paparazzi everywhere in the bushes. They didn't recognize me. I stiffly walked past and kept walking to a sports shop that I had seen earlier that day when I was running. I walked into the cool airconditioning and looked around for the baseball bats.

I bought a heavy titanium bat, shiny and new. The guy at the counter eyed me suspiciously, but didn't say anything as he gave me my change back, along with a receipt. I nodded at him and walked back to where the paparazzi were, holding the bat tightly in my hand. I looked around for a minute before I finally found where the vans were parked.

I admired the windshields, the shiny hubcaps, the dent less outside despite the fact that they chased innocent celebrities down with the valor of lions on gazelles.

And then, with a roar, I raised the bat and and smashed the windshields in. I made dents, hitting the cars so hard, my teeth chattered. I destroyed the video cameras on top. I gave the bloody cars all I had.

"Jamie, I'm gonna need you to put the bat down."

I was so outraged I didn't even notice the crowd that had formed, or the flashing of the cameras. Will had his hands in front of him, looking at me like he completely understood.

He couldn't possibly understand.

There were sirens in the distance.

I stopped. He slowly walked toward me, ignoring the cameras, and grabbed the bat carefully, softly prying my fingers from the handle.

He had the bat away from me. I collapsed a little into his arms while he hugged me. "It's okay, you'll be fine. I promise, everything's--"

"Police! Freeze!"

I turned around. There were cops around us.

"Put down the weapon sir."

"Sure." Will dropped the bat and kicked it away from himself, still holding onto with one arm.

"Now release the girl so we can arrest her."

Now, I'm pretty sure that wasn't standard procedure...

"Fine. As long as I can come."

"But you didn't do anything."

I one swift movement he grabbed the bat and and swung, breaking the side rearview mirror off the truck. He put the bat down, grinning while throwing a lazy arm over my shoulder.

"There. Now I did."  

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