Falling Apart

Chapter 4

Chapter 4           

To my surprise, when I showed up at the library after school the next Monday, Jace was already there at our usual table. Although his feet were kicked up on the table and he was busy tapping away on his phone, once again, it was a step up from his ways before. I approached the seat across from him, tossing my books down on the table to receive his attention. Jace’s eyes quickly snapped up at me from the way I surprised him.

                “Wow, is Jace Wasson actually early, for once?” I asked sarcastically, clamping a hand over my mouth to add dramatization. I stared up at the clock that hung over the bookshelf behind us, letting out a gasp. “He’s actually here before our scheduled meeting time, as well? What’s gotten into the Lord?”

                Jace glared up at me, obviously no impressed by my teasing. “Okay, you can stop the sarcastic, smart ass attitude now.” Jace rolled his eyes. “Can’t you appreciate the fact that I’m actually here before you?”

                I laughed, pulling my chair out to take a seat. “Okay, fine.” I paused, Jace watching me as he waiting for my response. “You’re appreciated.”

                Jace gave me a bland stare, narrowing his eyes. “That’s it?” he asked, letting out a huff of air. “That’s pathetic. I should just start showing up whenever I want.”

                I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out. “What did you expect, Wasson?” I raised an eyebrow. “Would you like me to throw you a party the next time you’re two minutes early?”

                Jace finally gave up on me, letting out a smirk. He leaned back against his chair, slouching lazily. “That’d be nice, actually.”

                I snorted, shaking my head, but there was a slight smile that lingered on my face. “So, I gave you a week to copy down every single thing in my notebook.” I paused, reaching my hand out. “Where is it?”

                Jace gave me a challenging stare before smirking, like he did every so often. He reached over across the table, where he carelessly threw down his book bag. While keeping eye contact with me, he slowly unzipped his book bag, taking out two notebooks, mine and his. Mine was there in Jace’s hands in perfect condition, of course, but there was a notebook that almost looked brand new. “Here, your highness.” Jace mockingly said, handing over the two notebooks. “You can check my notebook if your amount of trust in me is really that low.”

                I take both notebooks to check, of course. I start flipping through Jace’s new notebook, noticing that he color coordinated every note- just like I did. I then looked closely and noticed that his handwriting was much similar to mine, identical if anything. Squinting closely at the notes, I realized that they weren’t handwritten. The notes were printed out. “You photocopied my notes?” I asked, my gaze snapping over to his.

                Jace shrugged. “Yeah, and? You never specifically told me how to copy your notes. You just told me to get them all in my notebook and I did.”

                I pursed my lips, the feeling of irritation that I had inside me slowly fading away. A small smile slipped across my face as Jace gave me a questioning look. “I’m glad you listened to me, then.” I commended. “We’re actually making progress here, for once.”

                Jace snorted, rolling his eyes. “You can never give me a proper compliment, can you?”

                I released a laugh before reaching over to the shelf behind me to get a calculus textbook. “I’m going to give you some problems from the textbook to start out with, just to see if you’ve really been studying my notes.” I muttered, already circling questions for Jace to answer. “If you don’t know it, then just-.”