The Bad Boy • Jonah Marais

Chapter 20

I wake up laying on Jonah's chest. So much for staying strong, I thought to myself coldly. As much as I wanted to just stay there laying next to him, he did cheat on me so I got up and went to the bathroom.

After ten minutes I go out and see Jonah waking up and seeing me, "Hi." He says to me

"Hi." I said swallowing my pride and sitting beside him. I watched how his relaxed figure slowly tensed when he remembers what happened last night. I bit my lip and looked at the ground, "So are you going to tell me why you're here?" I asked him as tears formed in my eyes.

He takes a deep breath, "My mom told me that we don't have the money to keep her alive and go through surgery and insurance isn't gonna pay for it." He says to me, his breath all shaky. "She told me this before homecoming, then I got a call from my dad during homecoming and that's when Amelia pressed herself against me."  My heart leaped, I knew I shouldn't believe him and get my hopes up but I do still have feelings for him. "Then I was going to chase after you and Tate but my parents called me to come home immediately."

Stay strong Ava, stay strong. I sucked up my need to hold him and blurted, "What happened?"

"Esther ran away last night." Jonah tells me. Esther is Jonah's sister who is a freshmen or a sophomore. She's a really quiet girl and doesn't say much so that's probably why I've never been formally introduced to her. I notice Jonah's hands shaking, "It took me so long but I found her, about to seriously take herself out. I brought her home and just couldn't stay."

"So you called me." I said to him remembering our call last night when I told him to fuck off.

He nods, "Yeah then I just sat in my car for hours, alone with my thoughts." He runs his hand through his messy hair, "I started driving and before I could process anything, I was knocking on your door."

I bit my lip, this was definitely a lot to take in. "I'm sorry Jonah." I said laying back.

"Don't be, I didn't pull Amelia off and if I were you, I would've told me off too." He says. "I'm sorry."

A tear rolls down my cheek, "Jonah I wish I could say it's okay but it's not." I said shaking my head. "From now on, we can't be anything. No secret getogethers, no coming to my house, just a safe friendly distance." I said.

"But Ava..." Jonah says on the verge of tears again.

I shook my head, "This," I gestured to me and him, "has to stop. You hurt Tate and putting her through anything like that again, she wouldn't be able to handle it and--"

"Lemme guess, Johnson." Jonah says rolling his eyes.

I shook my head, "At least Kenny doesn't go around kissing other girls!" I retorted and immediately regretted it after the night he just had.

He licked his lips, "Ava, I just don't wanna lose you. What we have, it's rare." He says taking my hands.

I shook my head, "Maybe one day Jo..." And I let go of his hands.

***END OF SEASON 1***