A/N

We got #1 in Jaya!

I'd like to thank my family, my friends, Jaya itself for being made, etc.

I needed that ego boost after some recent failures, so keep it up y'all 😉

Also aah I'm gonna have to split this chapter up. Sorry folks, you're getting prom next chapter, but that also means that you're getting a bigger prom segment and an epilogue, so...

Onto the story!

🕹🕹🕹

🎮𝕁𝕒𝕪🎮

"Kids these days..." Edna says, flipping the pancake over in the pan. "Just what a video game can do to ya."

As she shakes her head, Ed chuckles, patting my shoulder. "Leave them alone, hun. We don't even know how these things work."

"I don't have to know how they work to assume," she shoots back, and I'm not sure if she's still joking.

As their banter goes back and forth, all while Edna serves us pancakes, I refuse to look at anyone else.

I still haven't really processed the fact that my Nya is the pretty girl I kept seeing, nevertheless the fact that I kissed her.

Well, on the cheek, but you know... Same thing.

That being said, the fact that she wasn't next to me when I woke up only confirmed the fact that I messed up tremendously. I mean, who the heck falls asleep on a girl they (kinda) just met?

I mean, it's still better than Edna finding us in the morning... Or even worse, Skylor.

I look at the redhead next to me, not daring to look at Nya. She has already dived into her pancakes, not participating in the conversation at all.

I noticed her gazing at me from the corner of her eye. Once we make eye contact, she smirks.

She knows.

"You okay?" Nya says to me.

I play with my fork, looking at my food nervously. "Yeah... Just thinking about the whole 'running away' thing..."

"Do you want us to take ya back, son?" Ed tells me, but I shake my head.

"I'm not staying with him anymore. I just need to get back my stuff. He sort of... confiscated it when I told him."

"You aren't supposed to tell someone you're running away," Skylor says, rolling her eyes.

"It was in the heat of the moment..."

"So, your dad doesn't know where you are?"

I shake my head again.

"You'd think he'd at least check the place of your freaking caretakers," she says. "No offense."

"None taken, hun," Edna says. "We can come with you if you'd like."

"No, no, it's fine. Besides, dad will just blame you for everything like he always does..."

"Blame her for making you less spoiled? Because it doesn't sound like he contributed much to me."

Upon hearing Nya's voice, I can't help but smile.

"So... you don't think I'm spoiled?"

"I said less spoiled. And a great hugger." When she smirks at me as well, I can't help but blush.

Hey, it's better than nothing, I guess.

I tap my fingers awkwardly on the table, putting away my plate. "So... now that the rain has stopped, wanna go home with my motorcycle?"

What comes next is a mix of yes and no, the girls glaring at each other when their respective answers come out.

"Kai would kill me if I let you ride on a motorcycle," Skylor tells her not-so-calmly.

"Jay knows how to drive," she says with an innocent smile on her face.

"He's been inside a limo since he was a baby!"

I... don't have anything to say about that, really.

"Our Jay knows a fair share about motorcycles," Ed comes to my defense. "Don't worry about him, he's a safe driver."

"I'm not," Nya jokes under her breath, only to be lightly punched by Skylor. "Oh, come on," she says. "I'll go with Jay to get his things and then I'll be back to help you get ready for prom."

Skylor doesn't look impressed.

"Oh, come on, I'll help you find something that matches your r..."

"My... what?"

Nya bites her tongue and smiles. "Hair."

Despite her suspicions, Skylor simply nods, giving me a strict glance in the end.

Great.

"So... you girls are having a prom at your school?" Edna looks at them both, an almost mischievous smile on her face as she turns me.

Oh no.

"Yeah," Skylor says, then points at us. "These two are going together."

I can tell how much we both want to punch her, but we don't get to as Edna's face lights up.

"Jay, ya never told us about that," Ed says, proud of my... 'achievement'.

"See, I predicted it Ed. She's just our Jay's type!" we hear her whisper excitedly to him, but of course, the others overhear.

Me and Nya turn red while Skylor chokes on her food from laughter.

As she finally quiets down, Edna makes it even worse.

"Oh! We have to get some pictures before prom! Get the camera, sweetie."

But before Ed can stand up, I stop him. "No need to! I'll be sure to print you some when we get back though."

I can tell that they (especially Edna) aren't entirely satisfied by my answer, but they approve nonetheless.

I sigh in relief, knowing that I've escaped from the embarrassment for now.

"Hey, what's in there?" Skylor says.

As I hear Edna approaching the bookshelf, my blood runs cold.

"Oh, I can't seem to find it," she pouts. "Ed, have ya seen the baby album?"

"Haven't seen it, sweetheart." Ed takes a sip of coffee, winking at me.

I thank him quietly, but the girls' giggles don't make it all that better.

I sigh in defeat, hoping that the rest of the day will go smoothly.

🕹🕹🕹

I know that I promised to myself not to sound weird, but Nya holding onto my waist for like half an hour is a really nice feeling.

But not in a like, weird way. It's just comforting, I guess.

Which kinda tells me that I still have a crush on her (if it wasn't already obvious), even if she isn't the person I expected.

I certainly know that she's not exactly over the moon with who I am, but at the same time, her asking me to prom must mean something, right?

I'm not planning on telling her that I've never been to a prom before, but I guess it's obvious that I was homeschooled. Cole once told me that his prom involved a pool party, but he went to a private school, so... I'm lost.

The motorcycle slowly comes to a stop as Nya unwraps her arms from around me, leaving me more than disappointed. The tingling sensation is still present on my skin, yet I'm forced to ignore it as it is replaced with chills running down my spine.

"Woah..." Nya marvels at the garden as we both walk in. Luckily, I had some spare keys.

I wanted to cut a few flowers just for her, but I know how scary mum can be when I mess with them.

"Who's that?" Nya gestured at a large, bearded man in the distance.

Even though mum isn't here, I still know that Bolobo would cut my head off for touching his flowers.

"Oh, that's Bolobo, our gardener. He once walked into me while I was taking a bath."

Instead of laughing, Nya seems to blush at the image. "Fun," is all she says.

I take out my keys again and unlock the front door, making sure that no one else is in the house. As I pull Nya along, we quickly find our way up the stairs, luckily avoiding all of dad's employees.

When we get to the bedrooms, we make an awkward run for my room. When we finally step inside, I instantly start packing up my things.

I open up the closet and take out two suitcases, shoving all my clothes in one and leaving the other reserved for everything else.

I pack my headphones, chargers, laptop, collectible figure, whatever I could find.

In the middle of my hurried panic, Nya's voice calms me down.

"Why do you have these?"

I look at her curiously, seeing her investigate the high school and NSU textbooks on my shelf.

My face turns red as I pack them too, not knowing how to tell her.

"I kind of always wanted to go to NSU," I finally admit to her. "I've been studying these things in case dad lets me, but I think he'd be prouder if I did underwear modeling."

My joke goes over well as I receive the same response from Nya (that being a mix of chuckling and blushing), but her face softens soon enough.

"Well, you're no longer under your dad's roof, are you? And you already know all the material, so..."

"We're literally in my dad's house."

"You get the point," she says, approaching my bed. "Look, I'm just saying..."

Her voice trails off when she realises she's sat on something, and upon picking it up, her eyes widen.

"Maybe you should have this," she hands me the envelope.

There is no letter inside, only a check of three hundred thousand studs...

I quickly check the envelope again.

I should be sad that she left without even writing me a letter, but I guess it's better than nothing.

I sit on my bed, trying to gold back tears as I continuously fold and unfold the check.

Nya sits next to me, placing her arm around my shoulder. "You know... if the cheating happened, who knows what else she could've gone through," she tells me. "But... then again, how would I know?"

I remember how she'd let that slip once online, about her parents...

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, it's okay. Better to have no parents than whatever this mess is," she jokes, making me chuckle as well.

Yeah, I still love her.

I know this isn't appropriate, but I want to ask her so badly. Heck, even a hug would be good, but I just can't help but want her close.

I'm just glad that she's still as smart and witty as the time I met her.

"Dude, are you crazy?"

Our eyes widen as we look at the door, and my face immediately pales.

Dareth.

"You run away and then come back just to make out with some chick in your dad's house? That's bold, kid."

I want to slap that drink off his hands so badly, but I think that Nya will get to it first if I don't stop him.

"Will you please calm down, I'm trying to pack my things here!"

"You know that I care about you, kid, I'm doing this for your own good."

Before I could process his words, my father's shadow appeared in the room, making me gulp.

As he stepped inside, he opened the lights, not too bothered by Nya's presence.

"I thought we had come to an agreement," he says sternly.

I look at Nya, who gives me an encouraging nod. "You can't just lock away my things."

"I'm your parent."

"And I'm an adult!" I shoot back. "I'm moving out whether you like it or not."

The fact that his face showed no emotion... it broke me inside, but I wasn't about to reveal it.

"Very well. But your mother's money will run out eventually, and I don't see myself funding your streaming hobby anytime soon," he says. "You can't just rely on other people forever, Jason."

I look down in shame, but when Nya speaks, I freeze.

"His name's Jay," she says. "And you know, maybe he'd have a degree or two if you actually cared about his education instead of how good his abs look in a perfume commercial," she says. "Which they do!"

On the one hand, this is probably just a spontaneous thing from the rant, but on the other, please let this be true.

My dad instead knelt down with a smirk. "And who might you be, young lady?" he told her almost mockingly.

I really don't want to remember the fact that my dad's mistress was twenty-freaking-three, but I can't forget about it when he's that close to Nya.

I try to step between them, but Nya stops me.

"I'm the one that is telling you that you're a bad father," she says. "By not letting him go to college, you are not obeying to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which can also be a form of financial abuse if we take you controlling his funds into account."

Is it bad that I found that hot? Probably, considering the situation.

"Also, your own son's caretakers, the ones who raised him? They live in a junkyard," she continues. "You can afford three mansions and a statue of yourself but not a proper wage for your primary employees?"

"At least you found a smart one," Dareth tells me casually in the back, making me roll my eyes.

I don't know if I was hoping for a change, but my dad seems unaffected.

"I stand by what I said," he says. "If you ever need me, you'll know where to find me."

Nya grabs my suitcases as she drags me out of the room. "He won't," she hisses, pulling me along. "Let's go, Jay."

As we stomp down the stairs, not caring that the employees are noticing us, I take the moment to whisper in her ear.

"Thanks," I say to her, not realising that I've been holding back tears.

She smiles at me as we walk into the garden again. "So... should I pick you up for prom tomorrow?"

I unlock the front gate, chuckling. "If you want Ed and Edna taking pictures, then sure..." I say. "But I think I'll just pick you up."

"Whatever you say."

Speaking of pick-ups...

"So... want me to ride you home again?" I say as I see my motorcycle in the distance.

"She's not getting on that thing."

Nya looks away in embarrassment as I look inside the red car's window, seeing a young man with spiky hair glaring straight at me.

I notice that Skylor's in the passenger seat, making me raise an eyebrow.

"You told him?" Nya yells at her friend.

"I told him too," she points in the back, at which point the back window rolls down, revealing the same blond boy from the arcade.

"Nya's dating Fritz Donnegan's son!" he says mockingly and Nya just hides her face behind her hand.

"Whatever, I don't care how much money you have on car insurance, my sister's not getting on that motorbike," the young man tells me.

Upon hearing the word sister being uttered, my face goes pale. When I finally remembered what Nya had told me about her brother (him being a cop and all), my face paled.

"Yes sir," I say, and Nya just facepalms.

As she opens the car door, she gives me another awkward smile. This time, though, it's wider, allowing me to see her dimples.

Cute.

"See you tomorrow?" she says.

I rub the back of my neck, waving her goodbye. "Yep."