Coming Home (Jace Norman fanfiction) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 13

Sam and I walk in the front door, both of us kick off our shoes. It's about 7:30 in the evening. My mom's gone to work, since we didn't end up needing a ride home. Dad's probably working in the office, since he works from home. And I can tell by the noises coming from the living room, that my brother's playing his video games.
"So, did you have fun?" I ask my sister.
"Yeah it was fun. It was really cool we got to meet Sean though." She smiles at me. She isn't as into the show as I am, but she still likes to watch it with me from time to time.
"Yeah, it was." I reply.
"You swear you had no idea he was going to be there?" She asks me, as we walk up the stairs. Sean's her favorite, so it was actually cooler for her then she's letting on. I'm surprised she didn't ask for an autograph. But she probably has her reasons, so I don't ask.
"I swear!" I laugh. I get to our room first. I grab the handle and open the door. My ipad is sitting on my bed, lit up with instagram notifications. It's a bunch of comments on my photo with Jace, mostly from Ashtyn and Lilian. I check my phone, there's a bunch of text notifications from them, as well as the instagram notifications. I turn to look at Sam, since we never really finished our conversation. But she's already on her iPad, completely engaged in whatever she's doing. I quickly check her account before I open my texts. I don't even bother to check my own Instagram notifications. I'm disappointed by what I see. The second picture Sam posted, of her posing for dance, got even more hate on it then her selfie, there's also more people tagging her, with mean messages. I find one though, with a nice message, asking people to follow her. I like the photo. Cause it makes me happy to see that someone who doesn't even know her, is sticking up for her. I walk over to Sam's bed. She has instagram open, reading through her notifications. I can see she's trying not to cry. But as soon as I sit down, she closes everything.
"Everything ok?" I ask her, playing dumb.
"Yeah, everything's cool." She sniffles. I hug her, I don't know what else to do.
"You can let go of me..." Sam says, looking at me with disdain. I know she's actually not mad at me, she just hates hugs. I smile and walk back over to my bed. I actually feel so sad on the inside, but I'm just going to hide it. One thing I'm ashamed to admit is, I have a hard time showing, and telling people I'm upset. It's like I can't let people inside that part of me, because that's when I feel the most vulnerable. Like, as if people knew I was sad, they would think of me differently, judge me. And that's something I can never deal with. I try to brush away the thoughts by distracting myself. I open my messages, I see that Lilian, has created an iMessage chat without the boys. Clearly before Ashtyn saw my picture.

L: did you see Katie's instagram pic!?

A: no why?

A few minutes later, she sends another message.

A: OMG KATIE YOU NEED TO TEXT US.

L: Katie, we know you're there!!

An hour passes, before Ashtyn texts again.

A: it's been an hour. Where is she!?

K: hey, what's up guys? I'm here 😊

L: DONT YOU DARE PLAY DUMB WITH US

K: well....
K: hello to u too! 😝

A: U need to start explaining

K: k fine, you guys got skype? Add me katie_sparklez99

L: K

A: kk

I open Skype, I have two new friend requests, obviously from Ashtyn and Lilian. But also a message from Karly, telling me to call her asap. I'm torn, because I haven't spoken to her in awhile. But I also feel like I owe Ash and Lil an explanation. It's really hard to keep up with Karly, since she doesn't have a phone. I decide I better call Karly first. The message was only sent 7 minutes ago, and the green symbol is on her profile, indicating she's still online. I hit the call button. It rings for awhile, before she finally picks up.
"Hey! Guess what?" She says, not even giving me the chance to answer. I giggle.
"What?" I ask, grinning at her. She holds something up, bringing it into focus of the camera. Its a new iphone.
"OMG, congrats! Finally!" I squeal. I smile at her.
"Yeah. I just got it yesterday!" She exclaims. She's beaming.
"What's your number?" I ask. She won't have mine, since I got a new one after we moved. She tells it to me, while I type it into my phone. I send her a quick text, ignoring the ones from Ashtyn, and Lilian, asking what's taking me so long.

Katie: heyyy!

Karly: hi!

Katie: it's so cool you got a phone!

"You know we're still on a skype call, right?" Karly says, giggling.
"Oh yeah. Whoops." I giggle with her. "Listen, I'm really sorry, but I have to go, there's some stuff I have to get done for tomorrow." I say to her, pouting.
"Okaaay! Bye!" She waves, as she disconnects. I couldn't help but notice the disappointed look on her face. I'm supposed to be her best friend, and she just got her first phone. I feel incredibly guilty lying to her, but I owe Ashtyn and Lilian an explanation. I realize it's getting harder to balance my old friends with my new ones, I don't want to focus on that though. I know it's only going to upset me more then I already am, with the Sam situation. I push the thoughts out of my mind, and I add Lil and Ash on Skype. Then I call them. They both answer almost immediately.
"Ok, spill!" Lilian exclaims.
"Yeah!" Ashtyn adds. I tell them everything, like the whole story, from the beginning. But the whole time, I can feel the guilt and sadness eating at me.
"That's so cool!" Lilian says when I'm done. It's only a voice call, and I can't see their faces. So I'm not exactly sure how they're reacting.
"Yeah." Ashtyn says, agreeing with Lilian. I don't say anything, and awkward silence ensues.
"Katie, you okay?" Ashtyn asks. I didn't even realize I was being so obvious.
"Yeah." I reply. I just met them, I don't need to bother them with my problems. Even if it feels like I've known them for forever, since they seem to know me so well.
"You sure?" Lilian asks. She seems genuinely concerned.
"I'm sure." I reassure her, even though I'm really not. I don't know why this is bugging me so much. Today was a pretty good day. Except for what's happened since we got home, of course.
"Ok." Lilian says. I can tell from her tone, that she doesn't believe me. But she's trying to hide it from me.
"K bye!" I say, hanging up before either of them have a chance to reply. I have a pit in the bottom of my stomach. These two situations, that have absolutely nothing in common, aren't even that bad, or truly affecting me, but I feel terrible and sick to my stomach. I lie back on my bed, I pick up my giant stuffed bear and hug it. Sam is sitting quietly on her bed, curled up with her ipad. Completely oblivious of me. I'm okay with that though. I don't exactly want anyone to notice me right now. I open my instagram. I have like a million notifications, I don't know why, I have like 50 followers. I check them. I can't believe it, I guess one of my friends reposted my picture, and tagged Jace and Sean. And whoever reposted it, must not have had their account on private, so now, the whole thing has blown up. All his fans are going crazy, reposting, commenting, asking who Sam and I are. I check Ashtyn and Lilian's accounts, as well as Jace and Sean's. None of them reposted it. I feel like a stalker, trying to find who reposted it. But none of the people are my followers. I guess whoever posted it, has deleted it now. I'm tagged in like 15 pictures, all of them reposts. I'm glad my account is on private, so they can't see my photos. I'm not on Facebook, so it's not like they can stalk me there, and I barely use my Twitter, so who cares. But there's soooo many comments. Sam wasn't tagged, so I'm sure she knows nothing about this. Along with the comments asking who we are, there's a bunch shipping Jace and I, a few saying I'm lucky to have met them, and then the hate. There's so much hate. There's even some people saying I should back off, cause Jace is theirs, or they're going to kill me, or that I should kill myself. Any happiness I had left after the incident with Karly, and also the situation with Sam, is instantly crushed. I feel empty. I was bullied before, because most people are, but never to this extreme. I want to cry, but I can't. I don't want Sam to see me cry, and ask what's wrong. I hug my bear tighter, my eyes are beginning to tear up. I hold them back with the small amount of strength I have left. I text Jace. Maybe he's seen this. Even if he hasn't, he told me to text him, and he was so supportive with Sam, even though we had barely started talking again. So I'm sure he'll have something to say that will make me feel better.

K: hey

He doesn't reply until a few minutes later, leaving me staring at the ceiling waiting, still fighting back my tears. My phone chimes, and the screen, that had locked, lights up. I hurriedly grab my phone. I stare at the message, without unlocking it.

J: srry can't talk rn ttyt
J: pls don't reply :p

I feel my heart sink, I don't know what to do. I can't talk to anyone, Karly will want to know why I'm texting her now, after I hung up on her. Ashtyn and Lilian will know for sure I lied to them, and I still don't want to bother them with my problems. I tried texting Jace, but that clearly didn't work. Thinking about it only makes the pain worse. I look over to see Sam has gone to sleep. I can't hold it back any longer, I burst out crying, I can feel the tears run down my cheeks, it's not a very comforting feeling. I hug my teddy bear, and cry myself to sleep.