The next couple of weeks flew by quicker than I ever thought possible. I spent as much time as I could training my body to get faster, stronger, better, until I felt I was close to being able to take on Colton again.

It's amazing what fourteen straight days of training can do for you.

Of course all that time I spent training had it's downsides.

Jordan's path and mine rarely crossed. I was out before he woke up and when I got home, he was gone too. A couple of times he had left a note saying he was going over to hang out with Danni.

That, I was happy for.

If he was hanging out more with Danni, then hopefully he wouldn't be too mad when I up and left for California today.

Today.

Shit.

I totally forgot Tony and I were supposed to be leaving for California for a few days.

Quickly I grabbed my suitcase and started throwing clothes in, figuring whatever I didn't pack, I could just buy there.

Dialing Tony, I put my phone on speaker.

"Yo wassup? You almost ready?" His voice held the same energetic tone as always.

"About that, what time is our flight again? I totally spaced and forgot to pack so I'm throwing everything together right now." I continued tossing stuff into and around my bag.

"You and your poor time management skills," he mumbled from the other end, "We need to leave in half an hour. I'm swinging by and I'll help you finish pack okay?" Then he hung up, not even giving me time to respond.

Well okay then. 

I hurriedly got all my toiletries from the bathroom and threw them on my bed before spinning on my heel to grab a Ziploc bag to throw them all in.

Mentally, I went down the checklist of things I would need in my head.

Clothes for three days. Check.

Pajamas. Check.

Shoes. Check.

Tooth brush and tooth paste. Check.

Everything seemed right. All I had to do now was organize it in my suitcase and I was good to go.

The front door slammed shut and my heart started to race.

Could Jordan be home already?

No, his shift started an hour ago. There's no way he could already be home.

"Yo Daytona. Where are you?" Tony's voice rang out through the apartment and I let out a sigh of relief.

I guess I never locked the door when Jordan left.

"My room!" I pulled open the door so he could easily find his way in. "I'm actually almost done now, but I guess it's good you're here. Now we can just go together to the airport."

He walked in, a suitcase of his own in tow.

I finished putting the last few things into my suitcase and zipped it up.

"There's one more thing I need to do and then I'm ready to go." I grabbed the notepad on my nightstand and wrote on it:

'Jordan,

Don't come after me.

Love, Day'

I grabbed his gray sweatshirt and black Adidas joggers that I had worn when we first got here and folded them up, placing them on my bed with the note on top.

"What's that?" Tony asked, trying to peer around my shoulder to see what I wrote.

"None of your concern. Now let's go." I shoved him through the door way and gave one last look to my bedroom.

We were only here for a few months, but in those months, this place had become my home.

I was going to miss it.

Turning back around, I shut the door softly behind me, leaving the new life I had created for myself behind.

I let my mind go blank while we drove to the airport and even dealing with TSA my mind was numb.

But the moment we stepped on that plane, I hardened all my edges and let all the loss and hurt I had experienced the past few months fester in my heart.

Colton was going die, whether or not I made it out didn't matter.

That bastard was going down once and for all.

~~~~🌻~~~~

The plane ride took forever.

Seven hours to be exact.

Seven hours we were on a stupid plane filled with stupid people. We only had one layover however (which felt completely useless but whatever.)

When we exited the airport a little after midnight, the cool breeze greeted me like an old friend.

God I missed the weather here.

In Texas, it was always hot and humid. But here, the weather always stayed relatively the same.

I was, weirdly enough, happy to be back.

But, like always, my happiness had to be cut short.

In front of us, stood a man I thought I would never have to see again.

My first ever boyfriend.

The guy who tormented me for two years.

The one, the only, Chase Jensen.

His hair was still the same clean cut, brownish black that it was when he left. He was tall now too, I had to look up to him and I didn't like that. But all that aside, the thing that chilled my blood was his eyes.

The once wild and crazy light in his eyes had been reigned in, tamed. They were dangerous. They were the eyes of someone who had seen hell and instead of tucking their tail and running, he took the throne.

It had to be a coincidence. There was no way he could have known I was coming back today.

Nevermind that, when did he get back?

A million thoughts were rushing through my head and I realized I hadn't moved from my spot.

"Daytona? What're you doing, let's go." Tony grabbed my hand and started to pull me behind him.

Maybe it was a coincidence after all.

Maybe he was here for someone else.

Just as I thought we were going to pass him, Tony stopped.

"What are we doing?" I whispered, barely loud enough for Tony to hear.

"Daytona, this is Chase Jensen. A good family friend of ours. His aunt is business partners with my auntie, and you know how Asians are, everyone is family."

I stared blankly at him, not believing what I was hearing.

"They're here for the reunion too. He's our ride to my parents house. He's staying with us too."

Tony kept on explaining what was going on, thinking that was why I had this stupid blank look on my face.

This had to be some sick joke.

I could feel my hands start to tremble. Was it fear I felt? Or anger? I couldn't quite tell, I had no grasp on my own emotions or thoughts anymore.

And Chase just stood there with a stupid smirk on his face, watching, waiting for me to make the first move.

What was I supposed to do?

On one hand, I could tell Tony the truth. That he's my psycho ex and I wanted nothing to do with him. But if I told Tony that then things for sure would get awkward.

On the other, I could pretend I had never met him. Leaving the awkwardness to play out just between Chase and I.

Option two sounded better in the long run.

"Nice to meet you Chase. Like he said, I'm Daytona." I put as much cheer into my voice as I could manage. Maybe if I played the part well enough, he would think I had actually forgotten who he was.

And for a second, I could see confusion cross his face. My plan was working.

But then it was gone, and his smirk grew wider. He knew the game I was playing.

"Have we met before?" He asked. His voice held the same amount of cockiness it did three years ago.

His voice was the equivalent of nails on the chalkboard for me.

"I don't believe we have. But who knows. You see so many people in San Francisco, it's easy to forget someone."

Tony glanced between us. "Well, are we going or not. I don't want to keep Ma up anymore then need be, you know how she gets Chase." He led the way, despite not knowing where we were going.

I tried my best to keep walking next to him, but it seemed like every time I would catch up, he would pull ahead again.

Eventually I gave up and resigned myself to just following behind him.

That gave Chase the perfect opportunity to drop behind as well and walk next to me.

"I had no clue you were Tony's girl," he whispered.

I didn't answer. I wasn't really Tony's girl, but he didn't have to know that.

"And what's up with the whole pretending not to know me thing. If you're trying to play at something,"

"I'm not playing at anything," I snapped.

Tony stopped, turning around to look at us. "What're you guys whispering back there about?"

"Nothing," I shouted, not letting Chase get a chance to speak, "Just introducing ourselves more is all." With one last glare in Chase's direction, I jogged to catch back up with Tony.

"Well, here we are."

After walking for a bit, Chase stopped in front of a sleek black Cadillac Escalade.

There was no way this was his car.

Never in a million years would he be able to afford this type of car.

When he saw my aghast face, his smirk grew even larger.

That stupid cocky bastard.

Rolling my eyes, I just threw my suitcase in the trunk and sat in the backseat.

Still nothing from Jordan.

Maybe he wasn't home yet?

Or maybe he just doesn't care?

I shook that thought from my head. Even if he didn't care, that didn't matter to me.

Only one thing mattered right now.

"Earth to Daytona," Tony was snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"I'm sorry, what?" I zoned back into the conversation. Lost in thought again I guess.

"I was telling Chase, I'm pretty sure you lived here the same time he did. What high school did you say you went to again?"

Chase looked back at me in the rearview mirror.

"Clearwater." I mumbled.

"No way!" Chase exclaimed. "I went there too. We have to be around the same age too. Maybe we went to school together?"

Clenching my jaw I looked out the window.

I hated his guts.

"No. I don't think so." I pretended to be asleep for awhile, that way I didn't have to answer any more of there questions or look at Chase's stupid face. But sometime while pretending, I did fall asleep for real.

What woke me up was a dull thump and the feeling of warmth engulfing me.

"Where are we?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

When they opened fully, I was gazing up at Chase.

I pushed and hit his chest. "What are you doing. Let me go."

"Chill out," he whispered, "We're at Tony's parents house. You were asleep and Tony took your luggage so I carried you. That's all."

I stopped hitting him and looked around at my surroundings. We were at a house and up ahead of me, I could see Tony walking in carrying both of our suitcases.

"See. If you keep hitting me and creating a scene then everyone's gonna wake up."

Despite not wanting to listen to him, he had a point.

I settled down and let him finish carrying me into the house.

"How are sleeping arrangements going to work?" Chase whispered to Tony.

I watched as he just shrugged his shoulders. 

"Well don't you have your own room here? You used to live here after all."

"Oh yeah!"

I rolled my eyes at Tony's answer to Chase's question. How could he forget he had a room here?

"Well if that's the case, then Daytona and I will take the guest room." He started towards the room but stopped when Tony gave him a worried look. "I'm not going to steal your girl Zhang. Don't worry."

Tony looked at me for confirmation.

"I'll be fine Tony. If he tries something, you know I can handle him." On the inside however, I was seething.

After what happened the last time I was alone with Chase, I couldn't stand to be in the same room as him. But for Tony, I would make this work.

I could play nice.

After all, I did so for two years after Chase left.

Tony dropped off my suitcase in the guest room, mumbled a quick good night, and closed the door.

"Do not talk to me, or even look in my direction or I will rip your throat out. Got it?" I hissed towards where Chase stood.

There were two beds in the guest room. I took the one closer to the door.

"You got it Princess."

I rolled my eyes at him, at the nickname he used to call me, and climbed into bed (nevermind the fact I was still in the same clothes I had worn on the plane) and shut my eyes.

The lights clicked off and I could hear Chase getting into his bed as well.

This was going to be a long week indeed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, hey, hey.

Fun fact. I've had this chapter written for the past two weeks and only added 200 words today.

But whatever.

I entered TGGB in the Wattys today! I highly doubt I'll win, but it was worth a shot.

Question: in a few chapters should I do a Jordan POV? Or nah?

I low-key want too, but at the same time, I don't.

I'll leave it up to you guys.

Oh, also, if anyone has any information on Chinese family culture and stuff could you send it my way! I don't want to ask the part of my family that actually is Chinese because it would be to complicated explaining things.

Do you have a book you want to get our there but don't have a cover for it? I know i was literally in the same position a few months ago. But if you find yourself in the same position, check out CoversForfree20010.

Alright, this is me signing out. Peace.

Love, May C. ❤