Like Yesterday

3rd ♬

3rd ♬

I was awake all night, thinking how to avoid Jace Hamilton at all cost. So when the morning light caved in, I could still recall every tick of my bedside clock, which helpfully kept me wide awake.

After one useless effort of getting some decent sleep, I dragged myself out of bed. As I was getting ready for the day, Grandma and her little store oceans away came into mind. But it wasn't like she would pay me enough if I would watch the store for her, so I disregarded that idea.

I also thought about my different options, like working in a diner or something. The longer the working hours, the better. Even if I had to work for sixteen hours a day, I would do so, as long as I could avoid being seen by everyone at the beach. Working in the morning and coming home late sounded like one brilliant plan. If things could turn out that way, then I would have less time to hang around our house. And if that would happen, then the possibility of me seeing Jace would be less. So maybe avoiding him was possible, after all.

And as all those things trickled into my head, I opened my bag to get my purse. Something caught my attention. I had noticed the contract that had my signature on it.

I forgot.

Who would have thought that an odd contract would hold me back and never let me have the opportunity to at least hide myself? I held my head in between my hands, and suddenly felt a headache creeping in. I had no choice but to stay eight hours a day at the beach, meeting every single person in town, including him.

It was torture at its best.

Grabbing my phone, I caught a glimpse of my dusty old guitar behind my closet. I stared at it, and a string pulled my heart once more. Ever since that day, I never used it again. I thought about throwing it away, but I couldn't. That yellow, glitter-filled guitar was still holding a part of me that, at times, even I was reluctant to let go.

I closed my eyes, remembering the time when we first had a real conversation. It was two days after I'd found out that Mason had feelings for my other best friend, Claire. That was the day when I first talked to Jace Hamilton.

At that time, Claire was clueless. Yes, she was thoroughly uninformed about Mason's feelings. And I felt awkward being around them, thinking if I should just bolt out and leave them alone so that they could fall in love more easily.

And the fact that Claire and I shared the same passion of going after Jace Hamilton—shouting, I love you, Jace Hamilton! in every Midget Dreams' performance—it was more uncomfortable with Mason around.

And so that day, I was trying to assess the situation, thinking what I could do for the two, while standing at the other end of the hall and staring at them, who were several steps away. Then I heard a voice tell me, "Those two should be together."

When I turned to my right, toward that familiar voice, the world came to a stop—literally. After all, it was no other than Jace Hamilton, who was opening his locker to grab some books. And the catastrophic thing was, he was talking to me.

Of course, I tried to speak, but no words came out of my half-opened mouth. My inner self told me to say something and stop staring like a fool, but I couldn't help it.

"Are you a friend of them?" Jace threw me one brief glance, before closing his locker door. He was shining in front of me, and I had no choice but to just stand there, entirely dumbfounded.

When he met my eyes again, I instinctively darted my gaze everywhere, totally avoiding his. I remembered how he tried waving a hand in front of me, which forced me to let out a stiff nod, before he'd make a conclusion that I wasn't sane. He chuckled a bit in response, making the situation even more awkward.