My Sugar-Coated Bad Boy Stepbrother

Chapter 3

Jessy's pov

It was 5 p.m., and the sun was still up in the sky, even though it wasn't that bright. It looked like it had started to set, and the clouds around it had a golden color. I wasn't feeling up to any party, but my mom wanted us there, so in order not to disappoint her, I was tagging along. I wore a black dress and packed my hair in my usual ponytail. I walked out of my room and met my mom all ready to go, and I must say she dressed to impress; she was wearing a red evening gown. She was really happy, and I must admit that she was happier than I have seen her these past months.

“Come on, the car is waiting," she said as we both went out of the house. She locked the door and got into the car with me. In a few minutes, we drove into a street; it was fancy, but what astonished me was when we stopped at the most magnificent building I had ever seen. It was huge and made up of mostly glass. I must say Mr. Bernard has great taste.

Music played in the background as colored lights flashed all around the place. The driver opened the door, and my mom came down first. I followed suit, but the moment I came out, someone caught my attention.

What the hell is Jace doing here? was the nagging thought that bugged me. He spotted me immediately when I came down but didn't say anything. My mom had left me, so I was all alone.

I tried navigating my way through the house, but it wasn't working when someone approached me from behind and said, "You lost, because this is the last place on earth that I ever thought that I would see you." I didn't want to reply to him, but I was too curious to know how he was here. “What are you doing here at Mr. Bernard's party?" I asked him, “The sky was touched by an angel, giving it this golden color, and my legs just moved me here." He answered, annoying me.

“The sky wasn't touched by any angels; it's just that at this time of day, orange and red light have a greater wavelength, so they penetrate deeper into the cloud, giving it a golden color," I explained, trying to teach him something. “Yeah, you don't disappoint; you might be slightly ugly, but your nerdy brain is still intact," he said. I was getting even angrier. “Did you just call me slightly ugly?" I asked, losing my cool, “It means you might be pretty, but still, there are..." I cut him short by throwing the nearest object that my hands could find towards him, and that was a flower vase. Near me, he dodged it, but the vase shattered.

“Uhhh, oh, Mr. Bernard loves that vase," he said, making me feel sorry as I tried picking up the pieces, and surprisingly, he joined me. “What do we do about the vase?" I asked frantically, “I don't know; you know, one day I saw this cartoon where saliva was used to gum a sinking ship, and it worked; maybe it'll work in this case." He said I just took it that he was mocking me. “Are you mocking me?" I asked, still annoyed. “No, I swear I'm not only trying to help; cross my heart," he said, crossing his chest and smiling mischievously. And I hit him. “Oh, that hurt, since when do ladies have man hands?" he said, laughing as I kept on hitting him. “Alright, alright, settle down; I can see you've already met," Mr. Bernard said.

Then he noticed the broken pieces of ceramics that we were trying to hide. "Im sure Jace that you are the one who broke my favorite vase; I am disappointed in you, son; that vase cost me a fortune." "Son?" I asked and starred at Jace, feeling guilty for breaking the vase. I was about to come clean. When Jace spoke up, “Sorry sir, it was an accident," he took the fall for what he didn't do. "I wanted to speak up, but he motioned for me to keep quiet. "Now what would be a fitting enough punishment for your shenanigans? “We came to celebrate; there's no need to punish anyone tonight," my mom pleaded with him. “Okay, fine, I'll let it go just this once," he said as my mom pulled him away from us and they left the two of us alone again. “Why did you do that?" I asked almost immediately, “I'm used to his bullshit; I don't want you to experience it too." He said, simply not looking at me, “Why didn't you tell me that he was your father?" “Once he gets involved, everything becomes complicated," he replied, as I didn't know what to say. Then I spotted someone else, Kimberly. She walked up to Jace; she starred at me, but from the way she was looking, I could tell she didn't like being with Jace. She pulled Jace close to herself and started stroking his hair, so I left. But I could feel that he was watching me with his eyes.

Bernards pov

“You know, Letty, I don't know what to do with that boy. The only thing he does is spend my money recklessly and cause me trouble. Do you know that he is going to flunk high school this year if he doesn't get his grades up?" I said, complaining. She just gave me the warmest smile I have ever seen, making my anger melt down before I even knew what was happening. “Children are unique in their own different ways; you've just got to learn how to connect with them, and they'll listen to you more frequently, although you can't force them to do what they don't want to do," she said, and I just smiled, staring straight into her eyes.

I wanna ask you something, but I'm not sure how you are going to take it, owing to the fact that you just got divorced. Today, you know what it's selfish; forget about it," I said. "Come on, say it; I won't get mad, I promise." "Well, you see, Letty, ever since we were in high school, I had always had a thing for you, but you've always liked Carl instead, so I kept my distance. I watched you marry the wrong guy, but I didn't say a word because I wanted you to be happy," she just kept starring at me eagerly. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I love you, Letty, and I have wasted all this time already, but I'm not willing to wait anymore. Letty, would you do me the honors"? I didn't finish my statement. I pulled out a ring from my pocket, and she just gasped.

“Bernard I just came out of that; I don't want to jump right in just yet." "Oh I understand," I said sadly. “You should see the look on your face; yes, I'm going to marry you!" She said as I happily slid the ring into her finger. “We should go tell everybody," I said. “How do you think our kids are going to take it?" "Don't worry, it'll be fine," he said.

We both walked up to the reception area—well, my living room. I took up a glass cup and hit it with a spoon to draw everyone's attention. “Attention everyone, I have a really important announcement to make. My dearest Leticia here has just agreed to be my..."

Jessy’s pov

I was still walking away from Jace and Kimberly when Mr. Bernard stood on top of his staircase. It was built in such a way that if you are up there, it overlooks everything else on the floor. He hit his cup to draw our attention, and he got it: “Attention everyone, I have a really important announcement to make. My dearest Leticia here has just agreed to be my wife." Mr. Bernard said everyone cheered them on, but I wasn't feeling good at all.

I ran away from the party, just wanting to be all alone to collect my thoughts. I had gotten a little but far from the house and just sat on the shade a tree provided, just being overwhelmed with thoughts.How could she do this to me?" was the dominant thought in my head as tears began to flow freely from my eyes. “Hey," a familiar voice said as I looked up. The first thing I saw was his tatoos. I hurriedly wiped my eyes and looked at him fully this time. “What? You wanna show me that Kimberly is more hot than I am again?" I said angrily. “You see, I'm used to people being angry at me, so I know when they are actually angry at something, or should I say someone else? Plus, I know how you feel.” “Don't tell me that; no one knows how I feel right now," I said. "My mom left us when I was twelve, and now she is happily married to a guy named Todd and has other kids, but she doesn't give a s**t about me," he said, and for the first time, I actually saw him as a real human being, not some demented jerk who cared for only himself. I kept on looking at him, "I'm going to flunk this year in high school and repeat it all over again. Dad doesn't think it bothers me, but it does." "Well, I could help you with that,I said"", offering “I’d love that, but I warn you, I'm not an easy student to teach," he said, and I laughed. “You might be angry, but listen to me, you've got to let all that anger go, or they are just going to end up eating you up," he said, and I just nodded.

He sat down beside me at the foot of the tree, staring at my glasses mischievously. “What?" I asked him, “Who wears geeky glasses to a party anyway? Can't you just take them off?" he said. “Well, I can take them off, but I am as blind as a bat without them." he just nodded. “Now that you've calmed down a bit, your mom was quite worried about you," he said as I stood up, dusted my gown, and headed back to go and meet her. But I noticed that Jace wasn't coming. “Are you coming?" “Nah, let me just grab a bit of fresh air first. I'll join you guys later," he said, and I left.

I got back to the party searching for my mom, as she was just sitting down with Mr. Bernard. I could tell from her countenance that she wasn't settled; something was troubling her, so I went to meet her. “Mom!" I called out when she saw me. She hurriedly left Bernard's side and rushed to me. “Honey, Im so sorry if I hurt you. I know it was just too sudden, but I love him too, and I think I always did all along." “mom I get it. Yes, I was upset that you moved on from dad quickly, but a good friend of mine helped me see that anger isn't always the best option," I said as she hugged me. “Thank you, baby," my mom said.

The next day after school, Steven was beside me, walking me home. When I told him everything that transpired the previous day, “Woah, that's a whole lot to take in," he said I may have skipped out some parts about Jace and me sitting under a tree; he may have misread what actually happened. A motorbike was parked right in front of us, and the rider took off his helmet. It was Jace. “Hey Jessy, hop on," he said. I immediately hopped on his bike.See you later, Steven," I said. He just waved at me. “You've got to hold on to me tight," he said. “Nah, I think I'm m good." I said, “Suit yourself," he said as he pressed the throttle and raised the bike up. I shrieked and grabbed onto Jace tightly, “What did you do that for?" I yelled at him playfully, “I told you to hold me tightly, but you refused. I didn't do anything; you just witnessed the consequences of not obeying instructions." He said that, and I laughed. He dropped me at my front door. “I'll see you in the evening," I said. “I'm counting on it," he said as I watched him drive off.

Jace's pov

It was 7:17 p.m. I was in my living room, scribbling down something in my notepad, when I heard the doorbell go off. “Just a minute!" I said as I put my pen behind my ear, then opened the door. “Hi," I said, “hey, can I come in?" She asked as I stepped aside and begged for her to go inside. “Alright, let's get right down to business, shall we?" she announced as she kept on arranging the heaps of books in front of me. “Since you take the same biology class as I do, I think we should start from here," she said, pointing to a page.

She started explaining some stuff about Darwin, but I wasn't paying attention. I mean, how could I? The more I stared at her face, the more I was just paying more attention to her brilliantly pink lips, which were doing the job of distracting me more and more. “Jace, Jace, can you hear me?" Jessy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. Are you listening to me?" She asked, "I was listening, but until, to some extent, I got distracted." "Distracted, your graduation is at stake here," she said, trying to lecture me, “you don't have to be too stuck up, you know." I said, "I'm not stuck up; I do know how to have fun." She said, "Prove it; I want to show you someplace, and if you are as fun as you say you are, you'd leave those boring books and come with me." I dared her, "Let's go then".".

I took her to the top of a clock tower. “We shouldn't be up here," she said. “Are you sure you aren't scared?" I said to taunt her, “not in the slightest," she said as we both got to the top. “Close your eyes," I said as she did. I moved her to the edge. “Open them," I commanded. “Woah, I can see the whole city from up here," she said excitedly as the wind was blowing colder than it used to be on the ground. “Woohoooo!!" She screamed as she opened her hand like the wings of a bird ready to take flight. I walked up to her and was standing just behind her. Then I interlocked my fingers with hers. I felt her slightly shudder in my touch. "What we’re doing isn't right; we are going to become siblings, you know," she said. "Yeah, I know, I said as I wasn't willing to let go, and she didn't let go of me either. She turned and faced me, took off her glasses, “I thought you couldn't see with." "Shhhh," she interrupted me as our faces kept on coming closer. "Are you sure you want this?" .......