This chapter is dedicated to MysterGirl4 for the amazing banner!
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I gaped at the two figures in front of me as if they were from another planet. But they weren't aliens. They're my parents.

I didn't know what to say. Oh, hi mom and dad! It's interesting seeing you here! Oh me? No big deal. I was just in a fire around a month ago that could've ended my life but did you visit me in the hospital? Nope. What's going on in my life? You know, nothing much. My ex-boyfriend cheated on me so I tried to get revenge on him by using Jace but he had other plans in mind.

Yeah, I don't think that's going to cut it.

Luckily, Dillon took over by standing up and clenching his jaw. "Get out of here," He seethed. "We don't want or need you!"

"Dillon, we own this house," My father pointed out.

"Then we'll move out! I'm eighteen. I can afford my own place. Peyton and I have been living on our own so we definitely know how to handle ourselves. We don't need anyone holding us back like you two."

"Calm down, honey," My mother said to him but it had to affect. "We're here now so let's just—"

"The only reason you're here now is because of the fire! Peyton finally stood up to you, you waited until your movie was done, and just now you're here. I don't think you guys are winning the 'Parents of the Year' award any time soon."

My parents' eyes went to me unconsciously huddled against Jace who was rubbing my back soothingly. I seriously didn't even notice that I had moved to him let alone let him touch me. I knew they noted the tears and the burns but didn't comment on them. Instead, my mom gave me a fake, little smile, "Hey, sweetie. How're you feeling?"

As I stared at my mother, I realized that I despised her. I'm the reason they left and they're acting like they haven't done anything wrong. We might share the same genes but we're definitely not a true family.

"Well?" I whispered. "Aren't you going to leave? This is the exact reason why you didn't stay. You can't handle me whenever I'm like this. By all means, just go."

"Peyton, we're not leaving. Our next movie isn't scheduled for a while—"

"We don't need people pretending that they want to be around us. Dillon and I are perfectly fine without you two—"

"Perfectly fine?" My mother stared at me. "You were in a fire, Peyton! I heard that Jace pulled you out. At least your boyfriend was around when your brother wasn't—"

"Boyfriend?" I gave my mother a heartless laugh. "That truly shows how much you two have been around. Let me lay it down for you two: Our relationship was fake. We only did that because I wanted to get revenge on Sean. People found out, thought I was a whore, Dillon and everyone else hated me for the longest time, and then I got into the fire. That's what's going on." Well, for the most part. I admit that I took out some key elements but that hardly matters now.

My mom pursed her to lips at Jace and I. Obviously in our position all wrapped up with each other didn't help prove the fact that we weren't together. "We aren't going anywhere. Your father and I took your message on the phone very seriously... We agree with you about us not being great parents. I promise that we'll be around more if you let us into your lives again."

I bit my lip as I stared at Dillon. Out of the two of us, he definitely held the grudges. He just stood there with the angriest look that I've ever seen on him and his arms were crossed so this time I took over. "I don't forgive you," I told my parents. "But if you're serious about this, then stay. But don't think that things are going to be perfect. That's only my opinion too, Dillon needs his out there as well."

All eyes turned to my brother who stared at me. I saw the anger at our parents in his eyes but also the pain of them not being around. He finally sighed and sat back down next to me. "Fine, you can stay but don't act like you own the place."

The room visibly relaxed so my dad put on a lazy smile. "We're going to go to bed," His brown eyes went to me. "Are you going to be okay, honey?"

"I'll be fine..." I mumbled and pulled the covers down revealing my huge cast. I heard my mother gasp when the burns and broken leg came into view but I ignored it and shifted out of Jace's embrace to hold my arms out to Dillon. "Take me to the bathroom?"

My dad stepped forward, "Oh, I've got it—"

Dillon glared at him so he backed up. "I'll get her."

My brother carried me to the bathroom then left me to do my thing. After I was done, I stood up on one wobbly leg and scooted over to where I gripped the counter. I opened the door and called to my brother.

"I can get you," Jace smiled and since Dillon was nowhere in sight, I let Jace carry me off to my room and deposit me on my bed.

"I'm sorry you had to, uh, listen to that," I looked down and fingered one of my bandages. "And thanks for staying with me when I woke up..."

Jace smiled and sat down on my bed. "No problem, Pey. Anything you want, I'll do."

Can you reverse time so I never got into the fire? I don't think so.

Regardless, I gave him a little smile and snuggled into my covers but then froze when I felt him get up. "Wait!" I stared at him. "Can you... Can you stay?"

Jace stared at me in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "If you want to, I mean. It's just that I don't like the nightmares and being alone..."

He nodded and since he was already asleep before I woke everyone up, he just slipped into my bed without having to change. My bed was large and fit the two of us comfortably without being super close. I flipped over on my side so we both faced each other and smiled.

For a while we just stared at each other then he reached up and touched my cheek.

"Have I ever told you that I love your dimples?" To prove his point he poked both of them, which made me smile.

"You might've mentioned it a few hundred times."

"Well, I'll mention it a hundred more," He was quite for a few moments. "What do you like about me?"

"Nothing."

Jace rolled his eyes and a wide smile rose onto my face. "I'm serious. I compliment you all the time but I get nothing out of you. I know you've got to like something because..." He trailed off and bit back his words. I know we both knew that he was about to comment on my crush on him.

I just stared at him for a moment before reaching my hand up to run my fingers through his hair. "This," I muttered. "I love your hair. Happy now?"

He seemed to have frozen as soon as my fingers touched him. To be honest, I surprised myself by doing that. I should still be pissed off at him for lying to me but to be honest, he's been acting differently since I've woken up from the coma. He's more like that guy I knew before all the Kayla stuff. The guy that I fell for.

"What's on your mind, Jace?"

I removed my hand and it was as if he woke up. "Oh, nothing much. Just thinking about things."

"What sorts of things."

"Things about you."

This actually shocked me. "Like what?"

"Like when you went to my brother's grave even when I told you not to, homecoming, and your solo dance..."

My mind blanked. I completely forgot about my dance plus the message I said afterwards! I turned red then looked down, "Yeah, that probably sucked didn't it—"

"It was amazing. Everyone was so surprised that you could and did something like that. You're a whole different person out there when you're dancing."

"I wish I could dance now..."

"Soon. You just need to save your strength and get better before worrying about anything like that," He grinned and flicked my nose playfully.

After his words, everything was quiet between us but it wasn't awkward. My eyelids started to droop and I pulled the blankets closer to me.

"Thank you, Jace," I muttered as sleep started to get the best of me. "For staying with me."

"Anything for you, Peyton," He whispered and the last thing I felt before I fell into a dreamless sleep was Jace's fingers intertwining with mine.

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"Dillon! Slow down!"

In the grocery store my brother was wheeling me around while running which freaked me out. Tomorrow was school and our mom shooed us out of the house to get some food for her to make us dinner. Well, she kicked Dillon out. I made a fuss about leaving. To be honest, being stuck in the house 24/7 wasn't do me any help.

"Fine," He did so grudgingly. I held all the stuff for dinner on my lap while he was in control of my wheelchair. Some people gave me weird looks considering my burns and my broken leg but I tried to ignore them the best I could.

"What else do we need?"

"Uh..." He looked at the list our mom gave us. "Gouda cheese. Why the hell do they need Gouda cheese? Why can't they use something normal like cheddar? What is a Gouda anyways?"

I rolled my eyes at my brother as we went to where the cheese was all laid out. I picked up the one we needed and looked up at him. "Got it, let's go!"

He wheeled me to where the cash registers are but then stopped halfway there. I looked at him in confusion but he had a big, evil smile on his face.

"What are you—Ah!"

My brother pushed me away from him with all his might and I went wheeling down the aisle while followed casually. When someone stepped right in front of me, I slammed forward from the impact and immediately started apologizing.

"I'm so sorry!" I said while I adjusted the stuff in my lap. "It's my brother's fault. He pushed me and I—"

I looked up and saw the wide eyes of Kayla. We just stared at each other with our mouths gaping and didn't know what to say. Dillon walked up and saw who I was with then practically started pulling me away right there.

"Wait!" Kayla cried then realized what she said and straightened up. "I, uh, I'm happy that you're okay, Peyton."

If my mouth could open any wider it would've. "Thanks..." I muttered and shuffled around with my jacket. Just being around her made me feel self-conscious about how I looked.

"When are you going back to school?"

"Hopefully tomorrow. I've already missed too much work and I really want to go back."

She gave me a little smile and adjusted her weight awkwardly. "Look," She said. "We need to talk. I have a lot of explaining to do about thing... Maybe sometime when we're alone?" She glanced over at Dillon for a millisecond before turning back to me.

"Uh, yeah... S-sure."

She smiled again, "Good. Well, I have to get going. I have a lot of things to get. I'm really glad that you're okay, Peyton."

My brother and I exchanged a confused look as she walked away. Was she just faking it or was she actually being real? I'm thinking the latter on this one. Not even the best actor or actress in the world could've lied like that.

We paid for our food and drove back home in silence. That was fine with me because my mind was questioning everything that Kayla said to me. What does she want to talk about? Why was she so nice?

When it's dark and Dillon and I come home together, there's a usually a dark house to come back too. This time was different with our parents there. Light streamed from the windows and I could see my mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table, talking to each other. As soon as Dillon opened the garage, they got up with smiles as we pulled into it.

I opened my car door but my father was already there with my second, home wheelchair by his side. I smiled at him and he lifted me into it while my mother stood at the house door.

"Did you get all the ingredients?"

"Yep!" Dillon said and shook the bag as evidence. They helped me into the house and we all helped with dinner like old times.

After all the food was eaten my family helped me upstairs so I could get ready from school tomorrow. After a long discussion, they were finally letting me go. I got my backpack all sorted, my clothes—which involved sweats and a loose shirt because I couldn't wear anything else without hurting—all ready to go, and my alarm set.

After that I just stared around at everything else. What could I do that didn't involve going to bed? I heard something coming from Dillon's room so I wheeled myself out of mine and went down the hallway to open his door.

"Hey Dill—" I took in the scene before me. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know that you had someone over. I'll come by later." I turned to go back to my room but a voice stopped me.

"Peyton?"

I turned my head to see Alyssa with a smile towards me. The last time I saw her was the day after I woke up in the hospital. Her dark hair was in waves down her back and she was basically all wrapped up with my brother.

"Hi," I grinned at her. "How's it going?"

"Good. How're you? It's nice to see you out of that hospital room. Are you coming back to school soon?"

I nodded, "Tomorrow."

"Great! If you need anything there, you have my number. When do you think you'll be able to dance again? We have a competition coming up soon and it'll be horrible if you can't participate—"

"I will!" I blurt out then turned a little red. "I just... I'll be fine."

"Peyton..." My brother warned.

"No, I'll be perfect in time for the competition. I'll come to all the practices, even if I can't dance, just to learn them all. I have to compete in this."

"Okay but don't strain yourself because of this. We'd rather have you in a wheelchair and feeling good than dancing and hurting yourself."

"I'll be fine," I repeated. "Well, I'm just going to leave you two so you could make out," I started wheeling myself out while they yelled their objections at me. Obviously they both really like each other but are too stubborn to admit it. I just smirked to myself and got up on my bed to go to bed early.

I had my pajamas on and since it was pretty cold in my house, I pulled the blankets to cover my entire body except for my head. School is tomorrow. How different is everything going to be now?

I thought about all the people who have made my life hell before the Dance Bash. Do they still hate me? Even Kayla acted different around me. Could it be that Jace had something to do with it?

Jace!

He's just so confusing. I thought about this time a few nights ago when he said something completely confusing to me when he thought I was asleep. Those words have run through my head ever since he told me. What did he mean?

Then I got it. That time when Dillon was getting food and Sean had just left. I blurted out a question without even thinking and he responded with 'I don't know.'

"At the hospital. When I was both unconscious and not you'd stay there almost as long as Dillon. Why?"

When he thought I was asleep, he said his answer.

"It's because you're you."

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Does anyone want Jace and Peyton to be together in the end?

It won't change how it's going to be but I'm just wondering. Does anyone still despise him? How about Dillon?