When I got home, it was after 9 o'clock.

Tyler met me at the door concerned, "Why aren't you with the Johnsons?"

"I don't think I'm going to be working for them anymore," I explained.

"Why?" He asked cautiously, "did that no good son of a bitch touch you?"

"No," I replied, maybe a bit too quickly., "I have to call Ms. Johnson in the morning and tell her I'm quitting."

"But why?" Tyler pushed.

"Jace and I had a fight it's not that big of a deal," I assured him.

"If it's not a big deal then why'd you leave?" Tyler pointed out.

"Ok, maybe it was kind of a big deal, but it doesn't matter, I'm here now." I sighed, realizing he was close to getting the truth out of me. "Let's just have a movie night."

"Sure." Tyler agreed happily. Sometimes having a brother with a short attention span was nice.

I opened my phone and drafted a quick text to Lily as Tyler made popcorn.

'.'

She replied almost immediately. '

'.'

'?' Lily replied and I stifled a laugh. Tyler shot me a glance and I flashed a thumbs up sign back.

'

'!' She texted back.

'

.'

''

After I sent that, I looked over at Tyler who was on Tinder, "Tyler West, you're too young to be on Tinder," I scolded him.

"You've been spending way too much time watching those kids Lex," Tyler said and poked my stomach knowing that I'm ticklish.

"STOP IT YOURE SO ANNOYING," I exclaimed and slapped his arm away.

"Ya know ya love me," Tyler smirked and went back to swiping left.

!'

Seeing Lily say that too made my stomach flip.

"Ugh," I said out loud and put my phone down, ignoring her last text, "So what are we watching?"

"It's up to you," Tyler said putting his phone down.

"How bout The Avengers?" I suggested.

"Okay sounds good," Tyler agreed and then got up to get the remote.

We rented the movie and by the time it was finished, it was past midnight, "We should get to bed, we have school in the morning."

"Okay mom," Tyler remarked sarcastically.

"Haha," I mocked and grabbed his arm and pulled him off the couch.

...

The next morning Tyler and I drove to school together.

I couldn't help but worry, and hope that Jace was able to get Hal and Cal to school okay.

We pulled in the parking lot, and I found a spot right next to the entrance, which was lucky because we were about to be late.

"Come on Ty," I said and ran into the building and to my first class.

...

As I was walking to lunch, I crossed paths with Cal. I stopped and so did he, "hey," I said hesitantly, "did you guys get here okay this morning?"

"No Jace was moping around in his bed all morning so I had to get Hal ready and force him to get up so we could get here on time," Cal said sullenly.

"What do you mean moping around?'" I asked.

"I think he's confused," Cal said looking off, "He had finally stopped going to the Bridge and now he thinks he needs to go back to his old ways."

"Wait, Jace went back to The Bridge?" I asked shocked.

"He did last night." Cal mumbled.

"Oh my gosh, Cal are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"I didn't freak out if that's what you're asking, I had to take care of Hallie." Cal said softly.

"Oh Cal, I'm so sorry." I apologized. "This is all my fault."

"It's not your fault that you and Jace are in love with each other," Cal explained.

"No we're not" I said under my breath. Are we?

"Well he is, I think." Cal said and then walked away, but before he turned the corner he looked over his shoulder and said quietly so that I couldn't hear him, but I could read the words, "just think about it."

Sadly, that's exactly what I did. I spent the rest of the day thinking about what Cal said.

And as soon as the last bell rang , I rushed home and called Ms. Johnson.

"Hello Ms. Johnson," I greeted.

"Hello Alexis," Ms. Johnson said in a weary voice.

"I'm calling because I think I'm going to have to resign," I muttered.

The line was silent for a second, "Why?"

"Because when you hired me, you said I passed two tests. I didn't fall head over heels Jace and the kids all liked me," I explained, "now it's the opposite, I think that I- really like Jace and lets just say I'm not the kid's favorite person right now."

"Alexis, yes, those were some of the reasons I hired you, but not all of them. From what the kids have told me, you are very responsible, you stay with them and help them when most girls your age would usually go out to parties," Ms.Johnson said, "if you want to resign, I understand, but in my opinion, though it's probably biased, you shouldn't do that to these kids, they need you."

At this point a few tears began to fall, "I... I just don't know what to do. I've been trying to ignore it, but I really care about Jace, more than I would like to."

"That's okay dear, Cal has told me that Jace has been home more lately, and something tells me you're the cause of that," she urged.

"Everyone keeps telling me that," I whispered.

"Then it must be true," Ms.Johnson said and I could imagine the smirk on her face.

"I... I guess you're right," I stuttered, "But I just don't know if I can go back after how I left them, I feel awful."

"Alexis, of course they'll forgive you, she urged, "if you go back, it'll prove to them that you care."

"Okay, I'll go back, thanks for the pep talk," I laughed.

"No problem dear, now go watch my babies!!" And then she hung up.

I took a deep breath and processed what just happened... I guess I'm going back.

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