❀ Dedicated to Bethraylene ❀

•

A/N • I just want to say this to clear any confusion.

1) The story is written in third person but...

2) It focuses on four people despite the several subplots.

• The four people are:

- Frank Johnson

- Jace Alexander Hamilton

- (occasionally) A mysterious person/ Mysterious people

- The beauteous blonde (this will happen shortly)

• I know the format of this book is very odd and uncommon because one chapter is about Johnson, the next is about Jace...etc, however that's how I want it to be.

• Like I said in the first chapter (before chapter one), all these subplots are several but necessary. It's all part of the plan.

• These subplots are written in different time periods - Jace's is more of what happened in the past before Johnson received the D.A.B case. Johnson is more of the present while the mysterious person/people is more into the future, after Johnson receives the D.A.B case.

• So all the subplots create the story line and the time frames. Important clues and a background of the four people are included within them.

And they are all linked! - I cannot stress this enough.

•

Sorry for the long A/N. I just realised that I needed to address this. But moving on...

Thank you for 1000 reads!! I'm freaking out right now :D

As a token of my gratitude, here is Wednesday's chapter :)

•

             “SO, HOW DID it go?” Madison asked Jace as soon as he had gotten out of class.

             She gave a small wave to the Biology teacher inside the class who had began looking over Jace's written test. The teacher nodded her head at her with a smile.

            It was half past four on a Thursday afternoon where the sun was still shining as bright as it was in the morning, despite a few fluffy white clouds obstructing it.

               Jace's test was scheduled for today and Madison patiently waited for him outside of class. She had pulled up a chair and brought a few fashion magazines and catalogues to keep her preoccupied.

             “It was alright,” Jace said, shrugging his shoulders. “I knew what the question was asking, if that counts,” He shook his head, a chuckle escaping his lips.

            “It does count. I know you are going to ace it. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for,” The tutor's lips lifted to give Jace a cheery smile, which he mirrored back. “How does coffee sound? My treat?”

            He glanced at his watch, a frown crossing his face. “I don't know. The big game is tomorrow and I really think I should be training with the team, plus—”

             Madison peered into his eyes, placing her small hand over his, intertwining their fingers together. “ Don't worry, we'll only be gone for fifteen minutes,” Her head rested on Jace's arm. “Please, Jace?”

            The teenager felt at war with himself. The game should be his top priority thus he should spend majority of his time practising with his team.

            But coffee sounded great...surely he could reach a compromise, right? “Well, if we're gone for only fifteen minutes—”

          “Splendid! Let's go,” She removed her head from the quarterback's shoulder but their fingers remained intertwined.

          Jace grabbed his bag on their way out of the school. As they reached the main exit of the building, Jace squeezed Madison's hand and after a few seconds, she squeezed back.

           No one could see them.

           Briefly, Madison pressed her lips on Jace's cheek, making his heart beat twice as fast as they approached Madison's car which was parked in an alleyway a few metres from the school building.

            When they were in the car, Jace returned the gesture Madison had done, only it wasn't her cheek that he pressed his lips on.

•

           “What'd you get Jace?” One of Jace's closest friends, Parker Andrews, asked him as soon as he walked into the boy's locker room.

            His question had made the whole room go silent as the other football players and the coach glanced up at Jace for an answer.

            In Jace's hand was the test he had done the evening before. His teammates were well aware of the fact that that test - those papers - were their key to success against their opponents whom they would be facing in some hours.

          To show their support, the school had allowed all the players to be excused from their classes today to practice. The school had built quite a reputation when it came to sports and they wanted to ensure it would stay that way.

           Jace had gone down to the teacher's lounge at eight in the morning, like he was instructed to do by his Biology teacher. There he received his test results and he headed straight for the boy's locker room.

           “Well?” The coach asked.

           All eyes were on him when he opened his mouth to speak. “Guys. We've been training for this match for the longest time. If we win this, we have a decent shot for the state championship,”

           “We've all trained hard...each and every one of us,” Jace surveyed the area. “And as your captain, I couldn't be more proud of you guys. This is the part where you are supposed to nod your head and—”

          “Enough with mushy speech, already,” Parker rolled his eyes. “If we wanted a poet to be our captain, we would have picked Jack,” His head sharply nodded to Parker and Jace's other close friend who was standing on Parker's left.

          The team shared a laugh, as Jack turned to Parker with a glare. “Shut up, Andrews,”

          Parker wasn't exactly wrong. Jack was a great speaker, whether he was smooth talking the lunch lady to add him more meatballs, or whether he was participating in a class debate.

          He inherited it from his father, the Prime Minister of the state who he made speeches almost all the time.

        “I'm just showing the love,” Parker sat threw a good arm over Jack's shoulder.

         Jack pushed him away. “I think Jace's speech has gotten to you,”

         “Andrews is right. Out with it, boy! We can't afford to waste time,” The coach said, folding his arms.

           “Now hold on, coach, I'm nearly finished, ” Jace assured him. “Where was I?”

           “I believe you were boring us to death,” Parker raised an eyebrow, mirroring the coach's position as he leaned on the lockers.

           Jace snapped his fingers. “Right. I'm proud of you guys as your captain. And as your captain, I can't let you down. I mean, what kind of a captain would I be?”

          “Like Parker said, you picked me to be your captain and as your captain, I cannot afford to abandon you just because of one measly test—”

           Parker impatiently walked up to Jace and snatched the paper from his hands. Ignoring Jace's glare, he said, “He got a B,”

           The team cheered and hooted enthusiastically. In unison, they threw their fists up in the air, while letting out a cry.

          “That's great news,” The coach gave Jace a half smile. “Now, moving on, the last person to come to the field is doing an extra ten laps around the field!”

            And with that, he left the room, leaving everyone climbing over each other to reach the exit.

•

            Under the sun, they performed drills and ran laps. When the sun was midway, they practised the actual game in two different teams, with the coach observing them from the sidelines and yelling out instructions.

              An hour to the game, they decided to take it down several notches. They had been training for a long time and they needed to recharge their batteries before their awaited game.

            Jack, Parker and Jace were able to reunite properly, since Jace hadn't seen them much ever since going for tuition after school.

            The three had become the greatest of friends ever since the year began. Parker and Jace had been companions ever since they were in diapers. They lived in the same neighbourhood, thus how they got to meet each other.

            Their mothers met at a book club that one of their neighbours was having and they hit off. Ever since then, their mothers would often hold play dates for Parker and Jace so that the boys would get accustomed to each other, while they would chat.

             They were a duo until Jack came along. Jack gained instant popularity due to his status as the Prime Minister's son. There were several rumors which claim that Jack's father transferred Jack to a public school instead of remaining in a private school because of electoral and political reasons.

             To seem ‘one with the people’.

             Unfortunately, due to his status as well, Parker would often pick on him when he first arrived. This all changed, however, when both Jace and Jack signed up for the drama club and they were partnered up to do an icebreaker exercise.

            It took a long time for Parker to warm up to Jack but he eventually did. He still picked on Jack though, but it was usually for laughs.

            The boys observed from the bleachers the cheerleaders - who had shown up after the footballers had finished with their rigorous training - in their red and white uniform and matching pompoms. They stood at the middle of the field, going over a routine they had been rehearsing.

             Occasionally, when they weren't looking at the cheerleaders, they were teasing each other, talking and laughing until finally, their opponent's bus pulled up in their parking lot.

              The coach called them to come down to the corner of the field so that they could use the bathroom, change their shoes or drink water before the match started.

             Students from their own school started to file in one by one and then in large groups to sit on their bleachers, talking amongst one another while waiting for the game to start.

              Jack tapped Jace's shoulder. “Hey Jace, look, ”

             Jace followed Jack's gaze to the bleachers where they landed on a blonde in a long-sleeved, dark green dress flowing down to her thighs paired knee-high black combat boots with equally long black socks underneath. Her hair was tied up into a bun but strands managed to escape her hair tie and rest on her face.

             Despite the sunglasses that covered her eyes and the fact that she was looking down as she read a book, Jace's heart began to beat faster because he knew who exactly it was.

              It was the beauteous blonde.

            She actually came to see him play...and she wasn't going to bail on him over their date.

           Jace's heart stopped beating when his eyes left Dawn and caught sight of another blonde.

            Oh no, he thought. So did Madison.

•

• Question: Teacher-student relationships...do you approve or disapprove?

(My answer: No. Just...no ಠ_ಠ)

• My IGCSE results are coming out tomorrow in the afternoon!! Wish me luck <3

• Next update: Friday :)