Song of the chapter: Hellevator by Stray Kids.

I didn't know why but my heart started to beat rapidly like I'd been caught doing something wrong.

"Let me go." I gritted out at the boy in front of me. Was it even correct to say he was in front of me when he was standing this close?

Since my hands were trapped, I couldn't even spare Jace a small wave as he stood there, wondering what was going on. A big smirk was plastered on Jam- no, Mr. Arrogant's face as he looked from Jace- who stood about a hundred feet away- to me, who was practically shoved into his chest.

"Ah, lover boy." He said, referring to Jace.

"You guys had quite a spat the other day. I think the tables are turned now. He's the one glaring at you now."

I recalled clearly how I'd been so mad at Jace when I discovered he was avoiding me but I didn't think my glare was as intense as this. Was it? Thinking about how angry I had been, it must have been more intense. If looks could kill, Jace could've gone up in flames at that time. I wished my glare was having an effect on this boy. If it was though, there was no sign of that.

"Let go of me." I said, exasperatedly. The last thing I wanted was for Jace to think I was in some kind of relationship with this idiot. We were standing so close to each other that anytime he looked down to speak, it seemed like we were kissing. I already decided what I was going to do if he didn't let go right that minute. His family jewels were at stake. Yeah, I said that.

"Don't even think of it." He shoved me away from him that I had to plant my feet to the ground to prevent me from falling on my butt.

"Hey man." Jace said warily as he approached us. Trust Jace to be polite even when it was obvious he wasn't a fan of someone.

"Hey." Jamie replied smugly.

Before going back in, he made sure to give me his signatory smirk- which was so annoying, making me tighten my hands into fists.

"Damn, I want to snap his neck!"

"For what? For making you have a crush on him?" Jace asked as he walked ahead of me and I ran to keep up with him. He couldn't be serious.

"What? That's absurd. I don't." I scoffed.

"Annie, you should've told me he was the new neighbor. It's not like I'd ship you to another country because of that." He said bitterly and I felt bad for making him look stupid, trying to figure out what Jamie was doing here.

"I won't complain if the country you had in mind is South Korea. I love that place." I tried to make light of the situation but apparently, it wasn't so funny to Jace.

"Imagine me telling you to keep away from someone and that person is your neighbor who you probably see every day."

"Come on, don't be mad, Jace." I put my hands out to hold his elbows as I added a bounce to my steps.

"I know for myself that he's a douche and if Nicole hadn't invited me over for dinner, I wouldn't have been there and then, dad had to make things worse by calling for me to stay over because he had work to do overnight at the office-"

It was only when Jace stopped in his tracks that I knew what I had rambled about. Way to go, girl. You just had to tell him that you slept over at his probable-enemy-judging-by-the-way-he-spoke-about-him-'s house.

After some seconds passed and my best friend was still speechless, I bit my bottom lip and widened my eyes innocently.

"Aren't you gonna say something?"

"Whatever. Just be careful." He miraculously shrugged the subject off, giving a silent sigh as I leapt unto the porch to twist the door knob. 

It was locked, meaning that dad hadn't gotten back home. Where had he put the keys? We either kept the keys beneath the doormat or in the big flower pot behind the house. Since I didn't find the keys under the doormat, I went around the house with Jace tailing me. He knew I always forgot my spare keys resulting in me checking the flower pot behind the house and so, he didn't ask any questions as I stuck my left hand in the pot. 

Feeling me way into the pot, there wasn't a sign of the key. I even went as far as moving the plant's stem apart to get a better look. When I still dint find it there, I threw my hands up in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Jace asked as I whipped out my phone to dial dad's number. I held a hand up to Jace to give me a minute as dad answered on first ring.

"Dad, where's the key?"

"Morning to you too, sweetheart." He said in a voice that sounded too sugary.

"Good morning dad." I grumbled.

"Where's the key?" I demanded again.

"What key?" He asked, feigning innocence.

"You know what I'm talking about dad. Don't make me repeat myself. I refuse to." I said, sounding fiercer.

There was a shuffle in the background and after a few seconds, he spoke again.

"Sorry darling. I had to leave the hall. There's a little commotion out there. You were saying?"

I sighed. "I said, 'You know what key I'm talking about.'"

I heard a pause on the other end and then, laughter. Shit! This wasn't the first time dad played this trick on me. There was no commotion there, he only said that to make me repeat myself, thereby, going against my words.

"Dad." I whined and I saw Jace smile from where he stood, facing me. He suspected that dad had played a trick on me at the way my voice sounded.

"Dad..." I whined again .

"Alright, alright. I have one of the keys with me." I kept quiet, silently urging him to go on.

"But I can't leave right now. I have so much work to do here to keep me probably until late afternoon. Everyone else is busy too. It'd be unfair to send Cassie over there when I could give her a few hours to get some sleep instead."

Cassie was dad's secretary and I got his point. They'd all stayed overnight and it wouldn't be fair to send them on irrelevant errands when they could be catching up on lost sleep instead.

"Besides, why do you need to get into the house? I thought we were clear about the conversation we had prior to your leaving the house."

I was about ready to scream into the phone if Jace hadn't made me loosen my tight grasp on it.

"So yeah, I should keep going around in these same stinky clothes I wore yesterday?" Or rather, should I go about naked for the rest of the day because I was starting to get so uncomfortable in these clothes. I heard dad sigh on the other end.

"Before you entertain the idea of walking around naked because of how uncomfortable you are, you should go get the spare key I gave to Mrs. McLane." These was one of the reasons I was glad that dad knew me so well.

"When did you give the key to Nicole?" I asked out of curiosity because I knew he couldn't have given her the keys when I was over there. I had been in the house until late at night and dad couldn't have been home by then unless-

"Dad, you gave her the keys even before you spoke to me. I can't believe this!" I exclaimed.

"I'd love to chat with you some more, sweetheart but I have to go. Take care of yourself. Be safe." He rambled before hanging up.

"That man is going to get an earful by the time he gets back."

Jace only gave a laugh at my statement. He was usually a witness to the banters between dad and I.

Though none of it had anything to do with the other, when Jace's phone rang, I remembered that this morning when Nicole was leaving, she'd said they weren't going to be back until afternoon. 4-5 hours sounded like a short time but when the word, 'wait' preceded it, it was going to feel like a life sentence. I hated waiting on people that's why I also always acted impatient and out of impulse.

"Could this day get any worse?"

Shit! I'd said that out loud before I realized I shouldn't have. More than worse things happened whenever someone said that in movies.

I stomped my foot in frustration and just as I moved to join Jace where he had moved forward to take his call, I slipped on a patch of fresh mud and landed on my butt. Here we go! I groaned at the impact. How did that even get there?

"Why does my day have to go on like this?"

My hands had mud all over and my butt- Oh, my butt was on fire. The pain was real and I tried to move my legs. Jace was already by my side and he looked concerned. He handed me a handkerchief from his pocket.

"I should just go retrieve the keys from dad."

When I said that, Jace's concerned expression vanished and was quickly replaced by laughter.

"That's absurd. Your dad's office is like thirty minutes away by car."

I threw him a glare making him stifle his laughter with his fists.

"If there was a super-hero named 'mud-woman', you should be her."

I picked up a little rock beside me on the floor and tossed it at him.

"What? At least I didn't call you a villain." He whined.

Remembering the call he'd put on hold, he glanced at me and spoke to whoever was on the phone.

"I'll be there soon."

Shooting me a pleading look, he hung up.

"I have to go but I can't leave you like this." I was busy wiping mud off my hands with the handkerchief he'd offered earlier. He probably knew my butt was in pain so he didn't help me up. Instead, he squatted down to my level.

"I have to meet up with Cole. He's my ride to football practice. We can drop you off at Amy's."

Cole was on the same football team as Jace and he was the most obnoxious of them all. Jace was nice enough to suggest dropping me off at his sister's but leaving here with the way I looked was a no-no for me. I wasn't the most popular girl around here but I also wasn't the kind of girl to walk around town looking dirty and stinky. About ten minutes ago, with a little persuasion, I could've agreed to Jace's offer but this mud villain refuses.

"Don't wanna get mud all over the cool guy's new porshe." I mocked. Cole always referred to himself as cool at every instance he got.

"Thanks anyway. I guess I should go ask that guy-" I sighed, pointing at the McLanes.

"If he has the key or if he knows where she could've put it." I thought of the possibility of Nicole handing the keys to him in case of a situation like this. I mean, she saw me in the same clothes since last night. Damn, I felt so filthy.

Jace frowned. "Cole won't mind."

"We both know that's bullshit." I retorted.

"Alright. Alright. On your feet. Move along." He helped me up and I grumbled at the pain that shot down my feet.

When he made to follow me, I paused in my steps. "You have somewhere to be. You should go."

He hesitated and I shot him a stern look. "Jace."

"Fine. But make sure to give me a call, okay?"

"Aye, aye captain." I joked, in spite of myself.

He laughed and I waved him off before giving a loud sigh as I made my way over to the house next door.

**                     **                          **

The first thing I noticed when I let myself in was how quiet it was. The curtains were drawn in and I wondered if Jamie was home. Perhaps, he'd left at the same time Jace and I did? But what made me advance upstairs was the thought that the front door hadn't been locked so someone must've been home.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I walked down the hall until I got to the door to Jamie's room. Knocking on the door, I had a sense of déjà vu. Last night, I was here. Who knew I was going to be here anytime soon.

After a couple of knocks and there was still no answer, I took a deep breath and twisted the knob. The same time I stepped in the room was the same time Jamie stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel around his waist.

A/N:

Hi...Bye. XD

Ps: I fell ill but I had to type this out to keep to the posting pattern. So, I'm just gonna go back to sleeping all day. Definitely not. I'll start typing the next chapter ASAP. I personally don't think the writing style in the chapter is that great but it might be that I'm just seeing things.

So, uhm...*coughs awkwardly* On to the next chapter, loves! *winks*

Lots of love,

Hanie. (I shouldn't blow you kisses so you won't get the flu.😑😂)
QOTC : Don't you just love Annie's dad? And Jace? And Jamie? And me?
Okay, delete that last part. I'm dizzy.😷😪😂