This morning, I dropped Hallie off to the bus stop, and now Cal and I were driving to school. I was trying to find a parking spot at the front of the school when Cal exclaimed, "Ewww, what the heck is Jace doing!?" I looked out the car window to where Cal was pointing, and I saw Jace kissing a tall blonde girl.

"I don't even know," I said with a sigh as I parked the car. Sadly we would have to walk past him when we walk into the school. Cal and I did our best to pretend not to see him, but I thought I saw Jace smirk from the corner of my eye.

I rolled my eyes and went to homeroom. This was going to be a long day.

"Hey guys!!" I greeted Lily and Sebastian as I sat down at our usual seats at lunch.

"Hey lex, what's up?" Lily asked me.

"Nothing really" I stated, "what about you guys?"

"Ive been having to work double shifts." Sebastian sighed dramatically.

"You poor thing." Lily dead panned.

"Shut up Lillian." Sebastian muttered.

"Awwww is little Sebby getting angry?" Lily asked with a smirk.

"I'm not giving you tacos for free anymore." Sebastian joked with a smirk of his own.

Lily paled, "You know I was just messing with you right Seb?'

He jus smirked evilly.

•<>•<>•<>•

After I picked up Hal, I dropped Cal at the house and then took her to the grocery store with me. For dinner I decided I would make Chicken Parmesan, so I made sure to get all the stuff for that.

When Hal and I got home, I was shocked to see Jace helping Cal with his homework.

"Hey Lexi,"Cal greeted me, but Jace avoided eye contact as he continued to help Cal with his work. "Jace here is just helpin-" he was cut off by Jace's hand.

I walked into the kitchen and smiled to myself... Jace can try all he wants to be heartless, but really he's a sweetie pie.

"Hey Hal, do you wanna help me make dinner?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed happily. Hallie helped me cook dinner, and 45 minutes later we were done.

"JACE, CAL, ITS DINNER TIME!!" Haley screamed. A few seconds later Jace and cal walked into the dining room and sat down

"What do you guys think? Hal made this all by herself," I stated and winked at her.

"It's delicious,"Jace exclaimed "I never knew you were such an amazing chef." Hal giggled and then started eating her food.

Why was Jace being so nice?

After I did the dishes, I told Hallie to play with her dolls while I did my homework. Tonight's homework took me a really long time since I'm really struggling with calculus this semester, and my midterm is coming up in a week.

When it was 8:30, I took Hallie up to bed. We went upstairs and she insisted on me reading her a story.

"Hal, its late." I explained..

"Please Lexi." She begged and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"Fine.'' I sighed. "Once upon a time there was a girl. The End." I smiled..

"No! That's not a story." Hallie whined pouting, "It has to go like this...

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl who was very smart and beautiful."

"You already said beautiful Hallie, use a different word like pretty." I heard a voice speak. I looked up to see Cal and Jace in the doorway. They walked in and took seats on Hallie's fluffy rug.

"No! Beautiful is a better word!" Hallie exclaimed.

"But you can't use it twice." Cal stated, "Plus beautiful and pretty ARE the same thing."

"No they aren't!" Hallie screamed, "Lexi would you rather be called pretty or beautiful?" She asked.

"Beautiful." I replied with a shrug. It was true, but what girl wouldn't prefer beautiful?

"See?" Hallie asked with a glare at Cal.

"Anyway, the girl was very beautiful, but her family was very poor. Every day, she would go to the restaurant where she worked and make money to support her sisters, and brothers, and her dad who was in a wheelchair and couldn't work because he was sick. One day at the restaurant she was bringing out a platter of food when a mean boy from her school tripped her and she fell with the food right into the lap of a Prince. She also spilled the food on him. He thought she was the most beautiful girl ever, they had love at first sight and got married. Her family became royal and they lived happily ever after the end." Hallie told.

"That was dumb." Cal stated, "Love doesn't work like that... I would know." He haughtily informed and walked out to his room. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Wow Hallie, that story was really good!" I complimented.

When I was finished complimenting her, I looked up only to see Jace. The corners of his mouth were slightly lifted up, and it almost looked like he was... Smiling. "It really was such an amazing story Hallie."

I tucked Hallie in, turned off her light, and then walked out of the room to where Jace was now waiting. After a few seconds of silence, I finally asked, "Were you there the whole time?"

"No, but for most of it," he stated "I needed to tell you something, but you were busy so I just waited."

"What did you have to tell me?" I asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm.... Sorry for snapping at you yesterday. I promise I didn't go to the bridge. I just went to a field to play some soccer. It helps me relax."

What the heck... Jace Johnson just apologized to me.

"It's ok, I'm sorry for causing you to be late for practice, and I was being pretty rude to you too," I accepted, "But you can't walk out on us again. I had no clue where you were, and I already have to worry about two kids, I don't need to worry about a legal adult too."

"You were worried?" Jace asked smirking.

He was really starting to aggravate me, "Of course I was Jace! I thought you were going to a place where people had died! I couldnt tell anyone either because Cal would've heard me on the phone and you know what would've happened then. And now you have the audacity to be all cocky asking if I was worried? I was going freaking insane Jace! What if you would've died? What would I have told Cal and Hal? People make reckless decisions when they're upset. I can't believe you'd be so irresponsible!"

Jace grabbed my shoulders and shook me a bit, then he did something I never thought he would've done. He pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Alexis." He spoke. "I wasn't thinking. I'm never thinking." He chuckled quietly. "Probably why my dad left me." He stated darkly.

"Oh no you don't." I glared at him as I pulled away from his embrace. "Thank you for the apology, but not accepted. You don't get to turn this into a pity about you. You need to own up to your mistakes and just leave it be. This is not how an apology works." I stabbed him in the chest with my finger.

"Woah chill, Lexi. Calm down." He fumed.

"No Jace! Don't tell me to calm down." I screamed, "This is serious! You cannot do this."

"Lexi-"

"No Jace, come to talk to me when you're actually ready to apologize right. Everybody has ghosts, but you need to get over it." I crosse my arms over my chest.

"Excuse me?" Jace roared, "Do you want to just leave? This is my house and you won't speak to me like that."

"No Jace, i'm in control of these kids right now, and I will not leave them. If you have a problem you can just leave." I screamed at him.

"You know what? Maybe I will leave!" He screamed as he grabbed my shoulders and shoved me into the wall. I fell to the ground with the force of his push.

"Stop it!" Cal screamed at us. "You're scaring Hallie. You two are supposed to be responsible."

Hallie was in the doorway of her room. There were tears in her eyes, "Jacey, you're acting just like daddy."

Jace froze. His eyes hollowed, and he looked like something broke inside of him. He blinked and it was like what he'd just done registered with him. He looked horrified and disgusted with himself. He looked at me, and I saw his eyes looked broken. Then we saw Hallie open her mouth, and she delivered the final blow.

"I don't want you to be like daddy." She whimpered.