Chapter 1
Having a moderately famous boyfriend isn’t as exciting as I once thought it would be. The good parts outweigh the bad parts by far—like how just last week my boyfriend Jace did a radio interview and gave a shout out to me, his “adorable girlfriend” on air. But lately the bad parts about dating a professional motocross racer are happening more frequently.
I frown as I read the text on my cell phone.
Jace: Um…sorry babe but I have some more slightly bad news.
Slightly being Jace’s keyword for when his job has gotten in the way of our relationship again. The first few times he texted me about having bad news, I freaked, thinking he wanted to break up or that something horrible had happened to him. Nope, the first incident was just “bad” in that he had to push our dinner date back two hours thanks to him needing to teach a last-minute motocross lesson.
I let out a long sigh and stare at my phone screen, reading the text again and then scrolling up to read over his previous texts from today. I don’t feel like replying right away because my emotions would get to me and I’d just say something rude, or something bitchy and it would ruin both of our moods. Jace Adams is moderately famous after all and by some freaking miracle he chose me to be his girlfriend and I’ll be damned if I’m going to screw it up by whining every time his fame gets in the way of seeing me.
But I really want to whine right now.
My head hits my pillow as I stare up at the white ceiling above my bed. Only a few minutes have passed but Jace texts me again.
Jace: Call me when you’re free. I love you!
The front door opens and I hear Mom and her new boyfriend teasing each other about who’s chicken parmesan recipe is better. It is so weird that Mom has a boyfriend now. I can’t remember her ever having a boyfriend, not in my entire seventeen years. But she’s happy now so I’m happy for her. Plus her boyfriend takes up all of her free time, leaving more time for me to stay up late on the phone or go out of town to visit my boyfriend. She used to care about these things but now she’s too distracted.
Jace answers on the first ring. “Hey there beautiful.”
“Don’t ‘hey there beautiful’ me,” I say with a smile. “You’re about to give me some bad news again, aren’t you?”
“Um…have I told you how much I love you lately?”
“Every day.”
There’s a shuffling on the other end of the line as if he’s opening and closing his dresser drawers. “The good news is that I’ ve been asked to help out on Team Yamaha’s pit crew, which is one step closer to getting me back into professional motocross,” he says. The excitement in his voice radiates through the phone. Jace had to stop racing professionally when he got himself fired for starting a fight with another racer a year ago. Since then he’s been teaching motocross lessons at a local Texas motocross track. It sucks for him but it’s good for me because professional racers travel all around the country. Teaching lessons allows Jace to stay in Mixon which is just forty-five minutes away from where I live.
“What’s the bad news?” I ask even though I don’t want to. I’d like to pretend that all news is good news and that the sinking feeling in my stomach is only there because I’m hungry not because my heart is breaking into pieces that each long for my boyfriend.
Jace’s voice sounds as sad as I feel. “Well, it’s going to put me on the road for six months. I’m still gonna try to see you as much as possible, but the races are every weekend so I don’t know how we’ll work around your school schedule. But even if I have to see you at night, I’ll still come down there.”
I’m silent for a moment as once again, I think about how all my problems would be solved if I just dropped out of high school and got my GED. But my mother and boyfriend straight up refuse to let me make that decision. “Okay well, do what you have to
Having a moderately famous boyfriend isn’t as exciting as I once thought it would be. The good parts outweigh the bad parts by far—like how just last week my boyfriend Jace did a radio interview and gave a shout out to me, his “adorable girlfriend” on air. But lately the bad parts about dating a professional motocross racer are happening more frequently.
I frown as I read the text on my cell phone.
Jace: Um…sorry babe but I have some more slightly bad news.
Slightly being Jace’s keyword for when his job has gotten in the way of our relationship again. The first few times he texted me about having bad news, I freaked, thinking he wanted to break up or that something horrible had happened to him. Nope, the first incident was just “bad” in that he had to push our dinner date back two hours thanks to him needing to teach a last-minute motocross lesson.
I let out a long sigh and stare at my phone screen, reading the text again and then scrolling up to read over his previous texts from today. I don’t feel like replying right away because my emotions would get to me and I’d just say something rude, or something bitchy and it would ruin both of our moods. Jace Adams is moderately famous after all and by some freaking miracle he chose me to be his girlfriend and I’ll be damned if I’m going to screw it up by whining every time his fame gets in the way of seeing me.
But I really want to whine right now.
My head hits my pillow as I stare up at the white ceiling above my bed. Only a few minutes have passed but Jace texts me again.
Jace: Call me when you’re free. I love you!
The front door opens and I hear Mom and her new boyfriend teasing each other about who’s chicken parmesan recipe is better. It is so weird that Mom has a boyfriend now. I can’t remember her ever having a boyfriend, not in my entire seventeen years. But she’s happy now so I’m happy for her. Plus her boyfriend takes up all of her free time, leaving more time for me to stay up late on the phone or go out of town to visit my boyfriend. She used to care about these things but now she’s too distracted.
Jace answers on the first ring. “Hey there beautiful.”
“Don’t ‘hey there beautiful’ me,” I say with a smile. “You’re about to give me some bad news again, aren’t you?”
“Um…have I told you how much I love you lately?”
“Every day.”
There’s a shuffling on the other end of the line as if he’s opening and closing his dresser drawers. “The good news is that I’ ve been asked to help out on Team Yamaha’s pit crew, which is one step closer to getting me back into professional motocross,” he says. The excitement in his voice radiates through the phone. Jace had to stop racing professionally when he got himself fired for starting a fight with another racer a year ago. Since then he’s been teaching motocross lessons at a local Texas motocross track. It sucks for him but it’s good for me because professional racers travel all around the country. Teaching lessons allows Jace to stay in Mixon which is just forty-five minutes away from where I live.
“What’s the bad news?” I ask even though I don’t want to. I’d like to pretend that all news is good news and that the sinking feeling in my stomach is only there because I’m hungry not because my heart is breaking into pieces that each long for my boyfriend.
Jace’s voice sounds as sad as I feel. “Well, it’s going to put me on the road for six months. I’m still gonna try to see you as much as possible, but the races are every weekend so I don’t know how we’ll work around your school schedule. But even if I have to see you at night, I’ll still come down there.”
I’m silent for a moment as once again, I think about how all my problems would be solved if I just dropped out of high school and got my GED. But my mother and boyfriend straight up refuse to let me make that decision. “Okay well, do what you have to
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