24. SELF-CONCEITED

Everyone has lied, at least once in their life. And usually that lie is to protect one's self. A lie can start from who ate the cookies, to who committed the murder. Everything that didn't really happen in reality is a lie, and most times, reality sucks.

Jayce gritted her teeth, "Milton," she said under her breath.

Ashton gave out a sigh of anger, "I'll talk it out with them,"

"It's like you've just met your disgusting family for the first time." Jayce said to him.

He furrowed in return, "What?"

"They don't talk it out, they do it out," she said, "If their choice is that, then there's no negotiating. They get away with everything they do,"

"We still can try. If we don't, the school goes bankrupt,"

"And I'm aware of that," she stated, "We'll hold a meeting for the richest people around the area in and out of Syville, and we'll persuade them to fund our school,"

"What if they won't agree at all? Persuading the extravagant rich isn't easy, especially for this boarding school that's highly expensive to fund," Harrison said.

"Then we go to plan B,"

"What's plan B?" Ashton asked.

"Something I hope I wouldn't have to ask for if the rich people we invite are stupid," she said, "And we have to move quick, so we'll start giving out the notice now,"

"Through the internet, and to their personal emails, whoever you have and I'll give you some of the people I know who are extravagantly rich," Ashton said.

"We'll prepare a small show, persuading them to fund our school, by the end of this week," Jayce suggested.

"Who's persuading?" Harrison asked.

"Us,"

Ashton flinched, he didn't sign up for it, "Us?"

"Us," Jayce stated back, "I'll prepare the script, and the show, and you both prepare the guests,"

She knew she had no right to be mad about her feelings, since she also had lied to Ashton more than he had, but this time was the last time they were going to work together. She had thought about ending it, and confronting him right after the show.

"We need performances as well to persuade them more. The rich only get lured in when they see something amusing,"

"I'll sort that out," Harrison said, "I can ask some people from the music department, and I'll prepare a talk about the school's achievements and you both will continue,"

"I'll play a tune on the piano if that's what you shall ask," Ashton offered.

"And I'll pull up some dance and choir performances as well," Jayce continued.

Ashton nodded, agreeing to everything that was said. He had no right to feel bad for himself, he lied to her too.

It was going to fall down.

~~~

Back in the dormitory, Jaxon, who was now all alone, went into Ashton's room, wanting to find out what was in that vault.

He in fact had not known that Ashton's mind was all clouded with Jayce in it, and therefore his guesses definitely weren't that the code was her birthday.

Although, he wouldn't have guessed at first.

"What the actual hell is the code?" he cursed under his breath, and he wasn't stupid. He wasn't stupid enough to not have known or have a guess of the code, "It can't be her birthday, right?"

The answer to that question was obvious. Yes.

The vault opened at Jaxon's disbelief, but as he looked inside, there was nothing but an expensive watch. And Ashton did not like watches.

"Kind of strange why would he want to keep a watch guarded when he doesn't even care," he said to himself, "But the code..."

Why make the code her birthday? Is she somehow significant towards him, or does he think that it's a code nobody would guess if they tried to open this vault? He thought hard for the sake of curiosity. Is Ashton Walker in love, or is Ashton Walker keeping a secret?

"The watch," Jaxon realized, "This isn't what's in the vault before, he replaced the object with it. That means the object which was here before, it's with him."

~~~

"Finally you called," Dave said on the phone.

"I'm in a bit of a messy situation," Jayce remarked.

She was now back in her dorm, after having a bath, and now sitting on the bed, waiting for her hair to dry.

"Messy situation? Why? Ashton found out you're lying? He hurt you? Is he threatening to kill you?" her dad was going wild on the phone, asking questions that Jayce never wanted him to ever say again in the future.

"No, no," she dryly laughed it off, "I need an address,"

"Of?"

"The Walkers,"

There was no way she was asking the address from Ashton, all he would say is 'No, you aren't going there' and there was also no way Jayce was listening to him, but there was also no way that he wasn't going to block her from doing it at all.

There was a sigh heard in the call, "And what do you need that for?"

"They cut off the funding for the boarding school,"

"And you want to negotiate with them? Jayce, you know that won't-"

"I know it won't work," she replied, "I just need it for something else. Give a little shame on them, they surely have not gotten a little speech for their tiny little brains,"

"No,"

"Why?"

"Jayce," he sighed, definitely making a palm-face expression, "You are asking your father to give you an address of a house who are filled with criminals with an infinite number of crimes they've committed altogether, and you're expecting me to say yes,"

"Yeah, pretty much sums it all up," she replied, not knowing what was so wrong about that.

"Do you have no fear?"

"If they kill me," she started, "Then you'll know who to catch. I'll give you the answer to Eric's case by this weekend,"

Dave bit his lip, rethinking his life choices, "Fine, then, I'll send it to you in a while,"

"Thanks, dad,"

"Stay safe,"

"You too,"

~~~

Ashton went back to the school building, and went to his locker. He put Jayce's pen in there, then closed it, changing the lock code to Jayce's dorm number.

He knew that either Jaxon or Jayce would've found out the vault's code in his dorm by now, and it was no way that he was making the code the same, nor was he hiding it in the same place.

He went back to his dorm to start on his work, all mad and fed up with his useless family. Milton Walker was forever in his death note.

He wanted to change his name to Ashton Harrison rather than to Ashton Walker at that moment.

"Hey, Jaxon," he said, seeing Jaxon watching some Twitch live stream he would have his eyes stuck in.

"Hey," he replied, eyes locked on his light hoodie with pockets that he was wearing for the run.

"I'm going to be busy, very busy, so you can just do whatever you want," he remarked.

"Why?" he asked, placing nachos in his mouth, and crunching them.

"Just something," he said, "I have a lot of things to do for student council and stuff," he pursed his lips, not being able to tell about what really happened, "You just...chill,"

"Okay," Jaxon shrugged in response and continued to watch the stream.

Ashton went inside his room, and locked it, immediately going to his vault and opening it. It seemed that the watch was never touched.

Earlier, Jaxon had put back the watch in the same position that he found it, and had cleaned off his fingerprints from the vault.

But Ashton wasn't the type to go undetailed. He noticed that the watch was quite touched, noticing that it was a little few degrees from where it was put, and the watch band seemed to be opened quite a bit.

He had to make this secret better. Jaxon knew that there was something else, definitely. He was smart enough to conclude that.

The only way that he could hide the pen was that it would move every now and then.

He couldn't let Jayce get into jail just because of a pen found in a crime scene.

But could he really trust her after finding out what her real intentions were?

~~~

It was already evening, and Ashton was still in front of his computer, giving out the invitations, and he was still in his hoodie, and Jaxon was now watching serials on Netflix.

He decided to have a break and took off his hoodie and went to the bathroom to take a warm bath.

And with the chance he saw, Jaxon sneaked into his room, and went through his hoodie, going through the pockets, finding anything that could've been the thing he was hiding.

Of course, there was nothing.

He moved it again, his mind concluded, What the hell is he hiding?

"Whatever you're hiding, Ashton, it must be more important than your life,"

~~~

Jayce arrived back at her dorm, with Amber, playing with her phone like usual.

"You look like crap," she remarked.

"Well, the Walkers aren't exactly the best family," the older twin replied.

"Ashton's family? What's wrong with them?"

"They cut off the funding for the boarding school,"

"Oh," Amber replied disappointedly, "Okay,"

Jayce flinched.

"What's more important is about Eric's murderer? What's taking you so long?" the younger twin complained.

"You should try investigating yourself if you find me slow. I'll give you all my money if you don't get killed and find the real killer," Jayce said emotionlessly, rather annoyed with her sister's statements.

"Well but you're taking far too long," Amber said, "Like can't you pace it out quicker?"

"Hopefully, Amber," she groaned, "I'll find an answer by the end of this week,"

"You better,"

"Even if I tell you who killed Eric," she started, "What are you going to do?"

"That stays my business," she replied.

"Kill him?"

"If it wasn't illegal, I would do it," Amber said.

"Illegal or not, you would still do it anyway," Jayce remarked.

"And you're going to scold me for it?"

"No," she replied, "Murdering a murderer doesn't sound like a crime to me. But make that your business and don't involve anyone else,"

Amber ignored her sister, she had only wanted things to go her way. Her vengeance made her think rather wildly, of all the things she wanted to do. All the revenge she could do, and the best part, was that Jayce agreed.

But Amber didn't truly understand what Jayce meant about how it was 'okay' to her. She just took her 'okay' as an agreement for everything she was about to do.

~~~

Jayce finished writing the script around midnight, and she finished planning the sequence that Harrison had given her for the performances earlier.

Her dad had given her the address of the Walkers, and she would go to them the next day. Have a little speak of mind with them, to try and humble them.

A notification popped up on her phone, a text message from Ashton.

'hey' he said.

'hey' she replied.

'you've not slept?'

'barely, just finished with the script. it seems you've not slept either?'

'just finished giving out the invitations. prob more than 50 are coming'

'that's great news'

There was a small pause in the texting before Ashton continued.

'i apologize on behalf of my family'

'the only apology i'll accept is from their mouths themselves and not yours'

'i am still ashton walker'

'i dont rlly mind what your last name is. your family isnt the only walkers on the planet'

'and if we get married?' he asks out of the blue.

It was a sudden question, and they both doubted it would've happened.

'im keeping my name' she replied.

'then i'll take yours'

'you're gonna be ashton brooks?' she asked, and it felt quite like a comedy to her.

'i mean, i do sound pretty cool with that name'

'yeah sure, you can say that'

'you wanna go to the house tmrw after school? to work on this stuff tgthr, and i wanna spend time with you'

Jayce felt bitter, he still acted so sweet.

'i mean why not, but i have to go to my dad's first after school, i'll meet you there,'

'why? is he going to tell u smthg bout eric's case'

Of course, his main purpose had always been that and that only, Jayce thought.

'no, it's just he needs help with making smthg at his house. he's prob going to have dinner with his colleagues or smthg' she lied.

'oh' Ashton replied, 'then i'll just pick you up'

'no no, it's fine' she rejected, 'i'll just take a cab, it's closer to the house as it's from town hall'

'mhm okay then' he said, 'u should sleep now'

'u too'

'good night, and sweet dreams'

'night to u too'

Their conversation wasn't close to something true, everything was just bitter and dull, now that they knew.

~~~

The next day, Ashton left for school earlier, even earlier than Jayce would have.

And he immediately went to his locker, taking the pen again and placing it in his basketball practice bag.

He went to class, and stayed there after, playing his phone, and took a few naps until school actually started.

Jaxon went to his locker, a few minutes before class started, and couldn't open his locker.

Ashton worked faster than him, and that made him quite pissed about it.

"What in the world are you freaking hiding, Walker?" he cursed under his breath.

~~~

After school, where everything seemed normal, Jayce took a cab, as she texted Ashton, 'see you ltr' to meet at the house after she goes to the Walkers.

"Sir," she spoke to the taxi driver, "Can we go to the bank first?"

"Okay,"

She arrived at the bank, and put in the card, then pulled up loads of cash, putting it in her wallet. She went back to the cab, and gave the driver the address.

"Is this address near here?"

"It's quite far from town hall. Near the hills, at the end of Syville, far from the town and the school," the driver replied.

"That's what they would want to live. Away from the people," she said.

It took a while until they arrived at a magnificent gate, with a fountain that stood in front of it, and a mansion of black bricks, with plants that covered and crawled on the walls.

"Can you wait here for a while?" Jayce said to the taxi driver and he nodded. She then turned around to see the house.

The gates were locked, and there was no way she was going to beg them to open it. And so, she climbed over it, step by step, then jumped off at the other side.

"Big house, big walls, but can't make security efficient," she muttered, and went to the door, knocking on it.

There was no response, and she started banging on it.

The door creaked open, with Anita, having sloppy eyes. She definitely just woke up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she whined.

Jayce raised a brow and scoffed, then barged in the house without permission.

"Hey!" Anita yelled.

The house was of black matte, with expensive furniture placed around the house.

"Who the hell is it?" a familiar voice spoke from the stairs. Milton.

"Me, Jayce," she replied.

They all definitely had just woken up.

A room from the first floor opens, with Leo coming out. And Howard and Kiara appeared behind Milton in the staircase.

"Oh," Milton scoffed, "Have you come here to beg to not cut your school funds? Sorry, but I don't think we can help you,"

"Oh," Jayce scoffed back, "Begging isn't what I do," she walked over to the living room, and sat on the thousand-dollar sofa.

"Then what the hell have you come here for?" Anita asked, annoyed.

"To bully you," she replied, "Or like to criticize you. Bullying a bully doesn't make you a bad person, am I right, Anita?"

"Leave our house this instant," Howard yelled from the staircase, then began to walk over to the living room.

"The only thing I like about you," Jayce said, "Is that death is near you. Your gray hair quite gives it away,"

Howard stood there, unable to speak.

"What in the world do you want?" Kiara shrieked, "If you are just here to bully our family, better on leave,"

"That's the only reason I'm here, though,"

"Does Ashton know you're here?" Milton asked.

"Even if you do call him, he'd take my side," Jayce responded, "Okay, now, let's get to the exciting part: humbling you all."

She took out her wallet, and took out a thick stack of 100-dollar bills. She placed the stack on the table in front of her.

"This was all your worth before you made a scene in the police station," she said.

"And how much exactly is that?"

"$10000,"

Jayce took 10 notes off, "This was your worth after fighting Ashton in the police station. $9000,"

Anita clicked her tongue, "Is that our self-worth?"

"It's basically you all. In one stack of money. Your self-worth, your dignity, your intelligence, your sanity, all of what makes a human in here," Jayce replied.

She looked back at the stack of money, then took away twenty more, making it $7000.

"Did you just minus $2000 of our worth?" Milton complained.

"That is all on you," Jayce said, "For questioning and criticizing Ashton and his mental health,"

"He had always been a crybaby anyway," he scowled.

"And you aren't?" she glared back at him, swiping another twenty, "That's for you, disturbing me and Ashton. We're at $5000 now,"

"It's not a surprise that you and Ashton are dating. You both are just in pain," Kiara scolded.

The entire family felt calm, not disturbed by whatever Jayce was playing.

"Whatever you're doing here," Anita said, "It's not bullying or criticizing us, by the way,"

Jayce didn't listen, she was busy counting the notes, then swiped off a thicker number of bills, "That's $4000, for cutting off our funding,"

"And the $1000, we didn't do anything else to you," Milton said, "$1000 is still quite large for our worth, isn't it?"

"This $1000," Jayce took in her hands, slapping it on her palm, then stood up, "This is the amount of worth you have in the eyes of the citizens of Syville," she said approaching Milton, "What would happen when they find out that you've cut off the funding for the school?"

Milton clenched his jaw.

"Maybe you all don't know, or maybe you all pretend not to know, but the only reason why everyone lets you live in Syville is because you fund the school," Jayce explained, "What do you think their reaction will be once they find out that you've stopped the funding?" she gave off a sly smile, glaring at everyone in the room.

Jayce threw the $1000 in her hand into the air, and the bills fluttered around before reaching the ground.

"You'd all be pooh," she gave a small action in her hands, in the meaning of disappearing.

Anita's face tensed, "Are you threatening us right now?"

"Why? Scared?"

"N-No one even knows that we cut off the funding," Milton said, his stuttering starting.

Jayce took out her phone, and began typing something. She then showed it to the Walkers.

A text that was not sent yet, to the school community, saying: 'the walkers have cut off all the funding for our school'

"It takes one click on the send button and they'd be off racing to tell their parents," she gave off a poker face, placing her finger above the send button, "It's your luck if you'd still have a place to live here,"

Kiara gulped, and everyone held their breaths.

Anita was about to grab Jayce's phone when she put it up high, and yes, she was much much taller than her.

"Spare the shame," she grinned, as her finger clicked on the send button.