In An Heartbeat

2~The bus

"Come closer-, we could both share my umbrella"

Jace offered in a forced tone, his face anything but relaxed. I have been eyeing his umbrella since the moment he flew it up his head and I guessed that my envy stares were really getting to him.

"No, thanks. I can manage"

I uttered, and he gritted, turning his eyes to me, I was shaking like a fish that has just been thrown out of water and he chuckled.

"I can see that"

"Just come over here, okay", he said this time, in a less strained tone, and I, blinked, still standing my ground.

He wasn't offering out of an honest heart, if I took it, I would only inconvenient him.

I stud still and was surprised at what happened next, he pulled me by my waist with great force, hanging the umbrella over both our heads and I gasped.

" Next time, you do as I say. I have very little patience"

He muttered inside my ears and I blinked, hooked to a spot. His hands held me tightly by my waist, with no hint of him releasing me anytime soon.

My body was just an inch away from him and I could smell his spicy mint cologne, I could feel my heart skipping beats beneath my clothes.

I blinked, recovering from his spell, then I began to hit against his chest, trying to free myself from him but he only held tighter.

I sighed.

"And you say it's me who is checking you out. You look like the pervert to me"

"I asked you to come yourself but you refused. How else could I have gotten you under the shade?"

I rolled my eyes, "maybe simply by offering honestly "

He frowned, his face turning real serious, "who said I wasn't honest?"

He muttered holding my gaze and I blinked, wondering if I have read him wrongly.

Just as I was about to say something, the two girls beside us said something along the line of 'go get a room', and in instant, he removed his hands from my waist while I jumped out of his arms.

We stayed in that awkward silence for a while until the bus finally arrived and everyone rushed into it.

Everyone was hustling for a good seat, in that attempt, they were rushing like animals so Jace and I had to wait for everyone to go in before we could.

Unfortunately, when we entered, all the seats were occupied so we had to stand up. Jace held onto the rod in the middle, using his frame to shield me. He was tall and was towering over me, probably to prevent me from seeing the awkward faces that were on the bus with us.

Whatever his intentions were, I just know that I was feeling really nervous with him, over me like this.

The first part of the ride was fairly okay, as the bus was steady and easygoing. Jace returned to his thoughts, leaving me all alone again but I didn't mind as the silence was surprisingly comfortable.

Midway through the ride, the driver started to accelerate, and just like that, all the steadiness was gone. He took one sharp turn and I was sent slamming against Jace.

Crap

Jace held me by my waist, to keep me from falling or anything. He waited till the bus became balanced again before he let go.

I stared blankly at the floor, feeling his green eyes on me. I couldn't look at them cause I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Summing up all the courage I could get, I finally looked at him, casting him a flat smile. "Thank you"

He nodded, his green eyes having something in them that I could not decipher, he looked away and we were back to the earlier silence, just that this wasn't as comfortable as the first.

A moment after, a medium-sized woman wanted to pass. The bus was tight with barely any space left, I had to lean into Jace to create a little amount of space but it wasn't enough.

I leaned further into Jace, gradually until my boobs were all up on his chest. I looked up at his face, he seemed extremely uncomfortable. He had a face similar to when he had asked me to share his umbrella.

His expression wasn't relaxed, he had a frown on his face and I guessed that he was probably annoyed with the situation.

After what felt like forever, the woman passed through and I could finally stop leaning into Jace.

After that, it was a bit awkward between us as none of us uttered a word. We were just strangely quiet and I wasn't planning on breaking the silence.

The bus suddenly turned to the side again, I lost my balance and Jace instantly caught me on my waist, drawing me closer to him.

"Thank you"

I managed to mutter and he nodded, holding me protectively to keep steady.

This time, I didn't move away from him, the opposite, in fact, I drew closer to him. Allowing him to help me balance, as I haven't used the bus in a long time and if I didn't hold onto him, there was a high probability that I was going to fall down flat on the ground.

We stayed in this position for the remaining part of the ride and it was surprisingly very much comfortable in his arms.

I was getting the strange feeling of not wanting him to ever let go.

***

After the ride on the bus, we both got down at the school. The class was starting in less than twenty minutes, so I began running towards the class. I almost tripped but Jace was faster.

He caught me by my arms with a smirk on his face, "Easy there"

"Why are you running anyways?"

"We have chemistry" I uttered, increasing my speed.

"So?", he muttered, trying to keep up with me.

I eyed him a little, he must be one smart ass to say that.

Of cause, he was. Have almost forgotten that he and Miles led the class.

They were the geniuses when it came to chemistry.

It was no secret that Mr. Muffins deducted points from the score of whoever happened to be late to his class. I'm pretty sure Jace was aware of that, he probably didn't care cause his scores were perfect.

I, on the other hand, have been struggling with chemistry since forever. It was my weakest point so above all my effort, failure still prevailed.

My grade was already really low, if I was to come late to Mr. Muffins' class, he was sure to deduct some points from my score and I doubt my score would be remaining anything by then.

"Not everyone has a perfect grade like you"

I stated out and just then did Jace realize what I meant by my earlier statement.

His green eyes widened, probably remembering that Mr muffins scolded me all the time because I never passed his paper.

Miles has done all he can to help me, but I was still not pulling through. The only niceness I was receiving from Mr muffins' end, if there was at all, was the fact that he knew Miles and I was friends.

"Oh-, I-I'm sorry. I d-didn't realize that-"

"It's okay"

I cut him, more sharply than I intended. He was bothering me, I needed to get to that class early and I was not ready to listen to anything that he had to say now.

He was selfish to say that but I honestly didn't mind, everyone was.

When I turned my eyes to him, he had an apologetic gaze on, as though he had done something terribly wrong.

I had to stop a little to handle that. "Christ, I'm serious. It's okay"

His green eyes widened, surprised to see me staring at him, he blinked, a full smile slowly spreading on his lips.

"Crap, Jane, you're very confusing"

I rolled my eyes, "You call me confusing? Have you seen yourself?"

He chuckled, a silly smile hanging on his pink lips. My eyes drew to it, getting distracted by it for a second. I snapped out of my trance, looking him over for the last time.

He was relaxed, he had hands dipped lazily into his pockets and I envied how comfortable he was even though they were having chemistry.

Only if I wasn't failing to, then I might stay a little longer and chat with him.

I shook my head, wondering why in the world I would think that.

I began running again but this time, Jace did not try to keep up with me, he just stayed hooked to his position, the silly smile he was wearing still hanging there.

He yelled, "don't trip ten times before getting to class"

"I'll try"

I shouted back and he chuckled, watching my back as I accelerated into the darkness.

***

When I got to the class, I sat down at a random seat, at about the middle of the class. The seat beside me was occupied by some girl

I didn't know her.

She looked up at me, a large smile spreading on her lip. "Someone is here", she uttered and my eyes shut open.

I didn't see any sign of a soul being here.

I frowned, looking at her " who?"

"You", she muttered and I blinked, looking her over.

She was one weird girl, she had a very bright red hair, freckles, and a dimple.

Weird combinations if you asked me, but it somehow manage to work out well for her.

She was beautiful, to say the least, but her appearance wasn't what I was worried about.

It was her sanity.

I hope I wasn't about to sit with some mental crazy girl

She chuckled, probably at the face I was wearing right now. " Mira"

"Jane", I muttered, settling myself slowly beside her.

After some seconds, Jace walked into the class, our eyes locked and he winked at me.

I shook my head, returning to preparing for the chemistry class, but was distracted again, when Jace came to sit down on the role next to mine.

I blinked, eyeing him strangely. "Why are you sitting here? You always sit at the back"

"To keep an eye on you"

He uttered and I rolled my eyes, "you say I'm the one checking you out. Yet, it doesn't look so to me"

"You-"

Jace began but stopped mid-sentence when I diverted my attention away from him to someone else.

Miles just walked in.

I blinked, tight-lipped, he looked at me, trying to hold my gaze but I looked away.

He looked really tired like he could use a good two hours of sleep. I wondered what he was thinking about to get him so worked up.

After all, he was the one who ended our relationship. He couldn't possibly be thinking about me.

I didn't want to speak with him right now. I was still annoyed so I didn't bother to look in his direction or who he was going to sit with.

Mr muffins entered, and the class started.