Chapter 23

                “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you all. I’m assuming that everyone here enjoyed their break.” Mr. Richter said as class started the first day back from our week long break. “I hope that you all took the time to complete your packets because I’ve decided to count it as a test.”

                Immediately, half of the class exploded in a series of groans and complaints as Mr. Richter shook his head with disapproval at the amount of people who didn’t do their assignments. “Mr. Richter, can we have an extra day to do it?” a student asked from the back of the class.

                Mr. Richter snorted before shaking his head. “No. You all had enough time to complete this. Now for everyone who followed the instructions and did it, pass it up.”

                I took my packet out of my folder, passing it to the student who sat in front of me. My eyes suddenly wandered around the classroom as Mr. Richter went up and down the aisles to collect everyone’s assignments. I knew I shouldn’t have been, but my eyes were scanning the rows of students in search of Jace. I hadn’t seen him all day, and from the looks of it, he didn’t bother showing up to Calculus, either. I slumped back in my seat, crossing my arms. I was frustrated with myself for even caring enough to wonder where Jace was.

                After class, I would’ve normally made my way towards the cafeteria for lunch. But on this particular day, I didn’t feel like being overwhelmed with the scent of cafeteria food and loud chatters from the other students. I made a beeline for the library, but before I even got to step in, I was stopped when a hand was placed on my shoulder. Turning around, I stared up at Ryan, who gave me a crooked smile. “Hey,” he paused, removing his hand from my shoulder as he scratched the back of his neck, “can we talk?”

                I wasn’t mad at Ryan- not anymore, at least. Sure, I was angry at Ryan for the first few hours, but after I realized that he genuinely did try to warn me about Christiana’s outburst, I forgave him.

                I nodded, rather hesitantly, before following Ryan into an empty classroom that wasn’t used during this period. I sat on top of one of the desks, perching my elbows against my kneecaps as I stared at Ryan with an eyebrow raised. “What do you want to talk about?” I asked, cutting straight to the chase.

                Ryan seemed uneasy as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair. This was the first time that I’ve seen Ryan like this- well, not counting the time he was nervous about asking Julianne out, of course. Other than that, I’ve never seen Ryan this uncollected and stressed out before. When Ryan’s eyes met mine no more than a second later, I knew what Ryan wanted to talk about. The flash of regret and guilt in his eyes let me know right away. “Everly, I-.” he started off before I interrupted him.

                “You want to apologize.” I finished Ryan’s sentence.

                Ryan looked up at me, frowning all of the sudden. “How did you know?” he asked curiously. “Did Julianne tell you? I specifically told her not to.”

                I released a bitter laugh, shaking my head. “No, she didn’t tell me.” I said. “But, you have guilty tattooed on your forehead. It doesn’t take a genius to know why you want to talk to me all of the sudden.”

                Ryan sighed, staring at me with an honest apologetic look. “I am really sorry, Everly.”

                I gave Ryan a tight smile, nodding understandingly to let him know that he was forgiven. “It’s okay. I wasn’t mad at you for that long, anyways.”

                “But you’re still mad at Jace?” Ryan asked cautiously.

                My eyes immediately snapped up to meet Ryan’s as my heart skipped a beat just at the sound of his name, remembering how just a few days ago, we kissed. I stared at him sternly before narrowing my eyes to the wad of gum that was stuck behind the chair to the desk beside me. “Why can’t I be?” I muttered stubbornly.

                “I-I’m not saying that you don’t have the right to be mad!” Ryan immediately covered up, his cheeks turning pink. “You have every reason to be mad.”

                I sighed, clenching and unclenching my fists. “Yeah,” I mumbled under my breath, “sorry for snapping at you.”

                Ryan chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. Julianne does it all the time when I say something stupid.” I suppressed a laugh before Ryan continued. “I was only asking because Jace has been an absolute mess lately.”

                My heart clenched, once again. I closed my eyes momentarily, drumming my fingers against the wooden surface of the desk. I wanted to badly to tell myself that Jace deserved this. He deserved the consequences after hurting me so much. However, why was my heart hurting?

                “Why are you telling me this?” I asked, gritting my teeth.

                “Jace really likes you.” Ryan admitted. “Trust me, Jace didn’t tell you that he was back with Christiana for a reason. He would never try to intentionally hurt you. I can’t tell you the reason because that’s between you and him, but if you would just go talk to him-.”

                “Ryan,” I sighed, shaking my head, “I can’t talk to Jace. I appreciate you trying to help; you’re a great friend for that, but I can’t.”

                Ryan frowned. “Why not?”

                Just as I was about to choke up from Ryan’s abrupt question, the bell rang.  A wash of relief came over me as I quickly gave Ryan a shaky smile. “I-I’ve got to go to class now.” I stammered from speaking so quickly to avoid any more questions from him. “I’ll talk to you later!”

                “Everly!” Ryan called out at me as I hurried down the hall.

*

                The last person who I would ever expect to show up at my doorstep was none other than the infamous Christiana Collins. One could only imagine the expression of shock and horror that registered across my face when I opened the door to find her on the other side of it.

                “Hi, Everly.” Christiana greeted, a smile appearing on her glossy pink lips. “Do you have a second? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

                In return to Christiana’s greeting, I gave her a tight smile before opening the front door wider to allow her to enter. Before closing the door behind me, I took in a deep breath of air to prepare myself for whatever Christiana came here to say to me. Whatever it was, it must’ve been important because why else would Christiana come across town just to say hi to me? “Do you want anything to drink?” I asked as she made her way towards the kitchen, sitting herself down on a stool.

                “No thanks, I’m fine.” She assured. “This is only going to take a few minutes.”

                I smiled uneasily as I took a seat on the stool across from her. Biting down on my lower lip nervously, I drummed my fingers against the countertop. “So, what do you need to talk to me about?” I asked, cutting to the chase. “Is it about your father and my mother?”

                Christiana flipped her long, blonde hair to one side before shaking her head. “No, it’s nothing regarding our parents.” She paused as she stared down to examine her freshly manicured fingertips. “I’m actually here to talk about Jace.”

                I immediately stiffened uncomfortably as I released a forced laugh. Out of all people, Christiana was the one person who I didn’t want to talk to about Jace. Images of the two together, kissing on top of the stairwell just as the New Year began, were still fresh in my mind. “Do you really want to talk about him?” I tried to convert the subject. “Can’t we talk about something else? I mean, look at your shirt! It’s really nice. What material is that? Where did you get it from? I really want something like-.”

                “Wow,” Christiana suddenly cut me off, grinning, “Jace was right. You do ramble a lot in uncomfortable situations.”

                My eyes widened. Jace talks about me to Christiana?

                “I-I’m sorry.” I stammered, not knowing what else to say.

                “Don’t be.” Christiana shrugged. “You know, I recognized you when you first met me at that New Year’s party.”

                I raised an eyebrow before frowning. If Christiana really did recognize me, then why did she act like it was the first time she met me? “You did?” I asked cautiously.

                Christiana nodded. “Yeah, did. I know you recognized me, too.”

                I gulped nervously, tons of unanswered questions suddenly filling my mind. “Why didn’t you say anything, then?” I asked first.

                Christiana sighed, pursing her glossy pink lips. “You know, I could ask you the same question, but I came here to you the answers.” She paused, taking her time to release an exhausted breath from her lips. “I’ll get that once I explain everything, okay?”

                I hesitated, suddenly wondering why the hell I was giving me trust to, out of all people, Christiana Collins. I stared back at Christiana reluctantly, finally coming to the conclusion that since Ryan wasn’t willing to tell me what was going on and I couldn’t stand to be within a twenty feet radius from Jace, she was the only one that could give me the answers that I so, desperately needed. With an unsteady breath, I nodded. “Okay.” I agreed.

                A satisfied smile appeared across Christiana’s lips as she sank back into her seat comfortably. “Okay, so I’ll start by stating what you already know. I’m pretty sure Jace told you that he and I have a past together. Even though I made a mistake that ended our relationship, Jace and I still care about each other, a lot. He looks out for me and I look out for him.”

                An unfamiliar feeling of jealousy stirred inside my stomach as I pressed my lips together in a thin line impatiently. “What does this have to do with anything?” I snapped.

                Christiana’s lips twitched upwards slightly, amused to see that she brought out a reaction from me- an ugly one. “I’m getting there.” Christiana assured, not bothering to hide the fact that she was smirking. “Since Jace and I are close, we do each other favors sometimes. So, at the night of the New Year’s party, my dad had a lot of potential business partners there- including Jace’s parents. My father really wants the Wasson’s to fund his company in expanding overseas, but they wouldn’t sign the contract unless Jace was still dating me.”

                Christiana didn’t have to finish her explanation to me because the rest was obvious.

                Jace was only pretending to date her that night so that his parents would sign a contract with George’s company. The entire speech that Christiana gave on top of the grand staircase, minutes before the New Year began, was a complete charade.

                I felt a heavy pit in my stomach as realization dawned upon me. I said some pretty terrible things to Jace all while none of this was actually real- it was all for show.

                God, I wanted to throw up.

                “You seem like a smart girl, Everly. I’m pretty sure you’ve figured out the rest to yourself.” Christiana said. I nodded slowly, but it didn’t remove the heavy weight being pressed against my shoulders. If anything, I felt worst- I felt awful. “This is going to sound bad, but I need to request something from you.” Christiana continued.

                I lifted an eyebrow, not expecting that Christiana needed something from me. I frowned, nodding slowly in agreement. Christiana took the time out of her day to tell me the truth, so why not do her a favor? “Yeah, sure. What is it?”

                Christiana seemed uneasy, her eyes refusing to stare into mine as she concentrated on her nails. “I need you to stay away from Jace.”

                Wait, what?

                My eyes bugged in shock at her blunt tone, and I studied her expression carefully to see if she was actually serious. Not long ago, Christiana just openly admitted that she and Jace weren’t actually dating, so why was she telling me to stay away from him? Did she still have feelings for Jace?

                “Excuse me?” I asked, genuinely confused.

                Christiana sighed. “I don’t want to be a bitch, but I can’t have you ruining my father’s business deal with the Wasson’s. If they find out that Jace and I aren’t really dating, my father’s company is over. I can’t have you risk that.”

                I felt my heart plummeting as my lips parted slowly with disbelief.

                Was Christiana actually forbidding me from seeing Jace?

                “I-I can’t do that.” I stuttered. “I’m sorry, Christiana. Jace means too much to me and I-.”

                Christiana cut me off, looking desperate. “Look, I hate to pull this card, but your mom is dating my father. Who knows, if they get married, you and I are going to be sisters.” She paused, making me feel guilty. “Please, Everly, do this not just for me, but for my father.”

                Christiana’s reasoning really struck my heart.

                My mother was really in love with George, and the chances of them getting married were incredibly high- which meant the chances of Christiana becoming my step-sister was high, too. I couldn’t turn her down. I couldn’t be the reason why the Collins’ Company went downhill.

                I couldn’t be selfish.

                I couldn’t put my needs ahead if it was going to mess with a family’s company.

                “Fine.” I whispered, painstakingly. “I’ll stay away from Jace.”

~

I posted a new story that'll be continued on actively after this one is finished. It's called His Mystery Girl, so if you have the time, please check out the first posted chapter! Feedback would be appreciated, so thank you!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Falling Apart. My updates might be a little bit slower because school has started up again. But, I promise to update as much as I can! I'm trying to write whenever I have free time. Thank you for being patient!