Coming Home (Jace Norman fanfiction) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 15

I wake up the next morning. My hair is really gross from being smushed up against my pillow all night. The crying probably didn't help either. Sam's still asleep, so I quietly walk past her bed, into the bathroom. I take a quick, 10 minute shower. I climb out and blow dry my hair, I'll finish with it later. I gently clean my face. Then I do my make up, and finish with braiding my hair. I walk out of the bathroom, and see that Sam still hasn't gotten out of bed, we need to leave in half an hour. I walk over to where her head is. She's sound asleep. But I can see her ipad clutched firmly in her hands. I'm positive that it wasn't there when I went to sleep at 1. I gently poke her.
"Hey Sam. We have to leave in half an hour." I keep poking her, until she finally wakes up with a start.
"Oh my gosh. What time is!" She exclaims, throwing off her blankets, grabbing a pile of clothes off her chair and dashing into the bathroom.
"Good morning to you too." I mumble quietly to myself. Trying not to laugh. I notice Sam's ipad sitting on her bed. I need to know what she's doing. The curiosity is bugging me too much. I grab it, and unlock it. I can hear the shower start up, so I at least have 15 minutes. It's a fan instagram account that's open. But I don't recognize it. I realize it's a Henry Danger one. It looks like Sam had posted a picture of herself awhile back, and now people are all commenting, asking if she was the one with Jace and Sean. There doesn't appear to be any hate. Lucky her. Just then, my phone starts ringing on my nightstand. I put the iPad back how I found it, and hurry over to phone. Who is calling me this early in the morning! It's Jace. Oh my gosh. What does he want? I mean I'm excited. But also nervous, especially after last night. I answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Oh my god. Katie, I am so sorry!" He exclaims. I instantly feel happy, he wasn't upset with me yesterday. At least, that's what it looks like now. I decide to play dumb.
"What do you mean?"
"I just saw all the comments and stuff on Instagram! I swear I had no idea! And I totally blew you off last night. I feel terrible." I can tell he's telling the truth. He really had no idea until this morning.
"Um. Yeah. No, it's cool. it was just a lot to handle last night."
"After I got home yesterday, I ended up needing to run a bunch of errands with my mom. I was just so tired." He explains, he seems really upset.
"It's fine. I get it, you're busy." I say, purposefully leaving any emotion out of my voice. So it comes off as flat. I don't sound angry, just not happy either.
"I'm so sorry." He apologizes again. I don't know what to say. I'm not going to say it's okay again. Cause to be honest, it's really not. I'm not mad at him, far from it actually. But yesterday still has me shaken up. An awkward silence falls over our conversation. A minute passes, and neither of us have dared speak. It's just the sounds of us breathing.
"Listen," he says finally, breaking the silence. "I still feel like I need to make it up to you. Can we hang out after you're done at school today? We can go to Starbucks or something." I consider his offer, either come home to my video game obsessed, lunatic younger brother, and share the time I plan to spend in my room, with my sister, who will likely be on the Internet the whole time, or got to Starbucks with Jace?
"Ok, let me ask." I reply.
"Sweet!"He says excitedly. I'm taken aback, he really wants to hang out with me that much? I didn't think anyone, much less him, would want to hang with me.
"I'll ask in a bit and text you the answer, ok?"
"Yeah sure, no problem. Oh yeah, and don't worry about a ride" he says, before hanging up. I sit down on my bed. My still damp braid resting against my neck. I'm kind of freaking out on the inside. I'm still a little upset about everything, not at him, just with you know, yesterday. But this has seriously made my day! Hopefully this will let me forget about all the instagram crap. I look down at my phone, clutched in my hand. I stare at it, the temptation is too much. I open my instagram. I have a few more notifications, but nothing hateful. Just some more people asking who I am, and also shipping us. I can't help but laugh when I see the shipping ones. I decide to like one of them, just for fun. I also go to check the photos of me, since I'm tagged in another one. It's from a Henry Danger fan account. It's the same picture I had posted. I read the caption;
"Ok guys, just because there's one photo of Jace hanging out with her, doesn't mean anything, they're clearly friends. And even still, we shouldn't hate on her, she seems like just a normal, nice person! Please show her some love! 😊❤️"
I'm smiling, I can feel my eyes watering. This girl, or guy maybe I guess, doesn't even know me, but they said all these nice things about me. I like the photo, and I know I need to comment.
"You are so sweet! You don't even know me, yet you said all these nice things. I can honestly say, you made my day! Thank you so much! 💙 I'm actually surprised this photo is online, haha."
I added that last bit in hopes of maybe finding out who posted the picture originally. I go back to the person's profile page, and follow them. I mean, I'm into the show anyways, so why not? I close out of the app, just as Sam leaves the bathroom. She's dressed, and looks otherwise ready to go, except for one thing, her hair is literally, spiked upwards, as if she's gelled it.
"Hey Sam?" I say, she looks up from where she's standing. Next to her desk, packing school stuff.
"Yeah?" She looks at me, she seems kind of ticked off.
"Have you looked in a mirror recently?" I ask, scrunching up my face. Her face changes to that of concern.
"No. Why?" She asks. I keep my laughter well hidden.
"You might want to." She drops what she's doing, and runs back into the bathroom. I hear her yelp.
"Oh my god!"
"I'll meet you downstairs!" I call into the bathroom, grabbing my back pack, and heading out the bedroom door. I hurry downstairs, my brother is sitting at the table, eating cereal. I think it's frosted flakes. He actually has an obsession with them. Kind of like Sam, and Big Time Rush. I'm pretty sure the only reason he started eating them was because there was an orange tiger in the box. Orange is his favourite color. I don't actually think he still likes the cereal, I just think he's too stubborn to admit he doesn't want them anymore. Especially after he made such a big deal about them originally.
"Morning." He says, in between spoonfuls of cereal.
"Morning Callum." I reply, grabbing a pop tart package out of the cupboard. My mom actually hates that we have them, but if she doesn't buy them, she knows I'll go out and get some, so she just buys them to solve problems. My mom breezes into the kitchen.
"Morning sweeties!" She says. She's obviously really hyper today. I wonder why.
"Oh. Hey mom?" I say quickly, remembering I'm supposed to ask about Jace.
"Yes?" She turns around, from the counter, to look at me.
"Is it cool if I hang out with Jace after school today? I wouldn't need a ride anywhere or anything." I add quickly.
"Yes. I don't see why not." She replies.
"Okay. Thank you!" I exclaims. Shoot, I mentally punish myself for sounding so excited. I messed up there.
"Ouuuu. Katie has a boyfriend!" My brother says. Ugh. He's so annoying.
"We're just friends, Callum." I say to him, rolling my eyes.
"Yeah. Suuure!" My brother says.
"Callum. Leave your sister alone." My mom says without looking up from making some sort of food at the counter. My brother makes a face at her, and then goes back to eating his cereal. I grab my lunch bag, and stuff it in my backpack. Callum must have already packed his, because only Sam's lunch is still sitting on the table. Just then, Sam comes sprinting down the stairs, into the kitchen, vaulting over my brothers pile of video games sprawled all over the floor, like an Olympic hurdler.
"Ok. I'm ready to go!" She exclaims breathlessly. She's fixed her hair, so it now looks normal, but I don't think she realizes, her glasses are on upside down. My brother and my mom notice too, and we all start laughing. My dad walks in and sees it, so he too, starts laughing.
"What!" Sam exclaims, looking at me accusingly. I'm laughing so hard, I can barely breathe. She finally realizes, and starts to blush. "Oh. Whoops..." She says sheepishly. We're all still laughing.
"Alright guys, let head." My mom says. I give my dad a quick hug, grab my backpack, and head for the door. I pull on my shoes and open the door. I grab the front seat, since I beat my sister outside. My mom and siblings climb in, and we head for school.