Chapter5:The Problem With Jace Donovan
1123 Words
By Friday morning, the entire school thought Jace Donovan wanted me.
Which would’ve been easier to ignore if he’d stop looking at me like he actually did.
I slammed my locker shut harder than necessary after hearing my name whispered for the sixth time in ten minutes.
“Careful,” Kiara warned beside me. “At this rate, you’re gonna start breaking school property.”
“I’m already close to breaking people.”
“That’s the spirit.”
I pulled my history book from my bag while trying very hard not to think about yesterday’s practice.
Specifically:
the rain, his hands on my waist, and the way the entire world had gone weirdly quiet when Mason joked about us kissing.
Because the worst part?
Jace hadn’t denied it immediately.
Kiara watched my face carefully. “You’re spiraling.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Dangerous activity.”
Before I could answer, loud laughter echoed down the hallway.
A group of girls stood near the stairwell staring directly at me.
One of them held up her phone intentionally.
“Oh look,” she said loudly. “It’s the coach chaser.”
My stomach dropped.
Kiara immediately stiffened beside me. “Ignore them.”
Another girl smirked. “Careful, Naomi. Jace already has a girlfriend.”
Heat crawled painfully up my neck.
The old humiliation hit fast it was sharp and familiar.
I hated how quickly my body remembered embarrassment.
Kiara stepped forward instantly. “You girls are weirdly obsessed.”
“We’re just protecting Elena,” one of them replied innocently.
I grabbed Kiara’s wrist before she could escalate things. “Leave it.”
“But—”
“Leave it.”
The girls laughed softly as they walked away.
Not because they won.
Because they knew it bothered me.
That was the problem with rumors.
Even when they weren’t true anymore, they still found ways to stain you.
The rest of the morning passed badly.
People stared more openly now.
Whispers followed me through class.
Someone had even edited photos of Jace and me together onto Blackwater’s gossip page.
One caption read:
How long before Elena snaps?
By lunch, I’d officially had enough of humanity.
I escaped to the back stairwell near the gym where hardly anybody went during free periods. Quiet finally settled around me as I sat on the steps scrolling mindlessly through college recruitment emails.
Three unread messages.
That should’ve made me happy.
Instead, all I felt was pressure.
Because one wrong move, one more scandal, and everything could disappear again.
“You hide a lot.”
I looked up sharply.
Jace stood at the top of the stairs holding a sports drink loosely in one hand.
Of course he did.
“I was enjoying the silence,” I muttered.
“Then Kiara told me where you were.”
“Traitor.”
“She said you looked homicidal.”
“Accurate.”
Jace walked down the steps slowly before sitting beside me without asking permission.
He sat too close to me.
For a minute neither of us spoke. The silence felt strangely easy this time.
“I heard about the hallway thing,” he said eventually.
I stared ahead. “Congratulations.”
His jaw tightened slightly. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Pretend it doesn’t bother you.”
Something about his voice cracked through my defenses harder than it should’ve.
I laughed quietly instead. “You think this is new for me?”
Jace looked at me carefully not in a judging or mocking way. Just watching.
“That video,” he said slowly, “did you ever tell anyone your side?”
The question hit like a slap instantly my walls went back up.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because people already decided who I was.”
“And?”
“And nothing.” I stood abruptly before the conversation could become dangerous. “I’m going to practice.”
Jace grabbed my wrist lightly before I could walk away.
Not hard but enough to stop me.
My pulse stumbled immediately.
“You don’t always have to fight alone,” he said quietly.
God.
That was worse than flirting because I could handle flirting.
Kindness? That was dangerous.
I pulled my wrist free carefully. “You barely even like me.”
His eyes held mine for one heavy second.
“That’s the problem.”
Before I could ask what that meant, voices echoed nearby.
Jace stepped back instantly.
The distance hit harder than it should have.
Mason appeared first through the stairwell doors, immediately looking suspicious.
“There you are,” he said to Jace before noticing me. “Oh.”
“Oh?” I repeated.
“This is starting to feel illegal somehow.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “Relax.”
Mason crossed his arms dramatically. “Brother, you disappeared for twenty minutes and I find you alone in a stairwell with Naomi Blake. What exactly am I supposed to think?”
“That we were talking?”
“No one believes that.”
Unfortunately, he had a point.
Because something shifted lately whenever Jace and I were alone.
The air felt heavier like the space between us kept shrinking every day.
Mason looked between us again before groaning loudly. “Yeah, Elena’s gonna kill somebody.”
My stomach twisted instantly. Elena.
Jace’s expression darkened slightly. “Leave her out of this.”
Mason raised both hands defensively. “I’m just saying this whole thing is getting messy.”
That word messy settled uncomfortably in my chest because deep down I knew he was right.
The second practice started later that afternoon, and things somehow got worse.
Because Coach Daniels announced relay pair drills again.
The team groaned collectively.
“Blake and Donovan first,” Coach ordered.
Mason muttered, “Ah yes. My weekly nightmare.”
I stepped into position beside Jace while the rest of the team watched way too carefully.
“You ready?” he asked quietly.
“No.”
A tiny smile tugged briefly at his mouth.
Then the whistle blew.
We ran really fast. Perfectly matched strides pounding against the track.
For one terrifying second, everything clicked between us effortlessly.
The timing, the rhythm, the movement it felt natural.
The baton exchange landed smoothly in my palm and instinctively I looked back toward him—
Jace was already staring at me like he was seeing inside of me he stared like he was attracted to me. That made my heartbeat trip over itself.
Coach’s whistle cut sharply through the air.
“Again!” he shouted.
But neither of us moved immediately.
Because somehow, somewhere between hatred and tension and stolen moments—
This had stopped being harmless.
And we both knew it.
- Writer
