Author's Note

Here's the second chapter of my story. This is probably the longest chapter I have even written and the longest I ever will write. You'll see Alia's true personality by the end.


Jace woke up in a room he'd never seen before. The walls were yellow, and there was a flowery bed spread on the bed he had been laying in. Basically, it was the image of springtime.

He couldn't remember much. He was breaking up with Isabela, and then poof, he wakes up in this girly room.

He knew he needed to get out of here as quick as possible. He wondered if people had been looking for him while he was gone. Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of questions he had. What happened to him, why is he here, where is he, who brought him here, how long has he been here for... the list kept going on and on.

There was a mirror by the bed. Jace picked up the mirror and looked at his reflection. There was a bandage wrapping around his head, and there were small scars on his face too. When he looked down at his hands there were small scars similar to the ones on his face. Another question; how did those get there?

Jace had to get out of there, so he made an attempt to get out of bed. How did that go? When sitting up, he went right back into unconsciousness for who knows how long.

...

Alia had a hard time keeping her parents and her brothers out of her room. One of the closest times was early in the morning.

After having a small breakfast of half a bagel, Alia's mom came downstairs. "Good morning Ally." "Mornin' mom." Alia said tiredly, not returning the formal greeting. "Get enough sleep last night?"

Alia wasn't going to tell her mom that she didn't sleep last night and was out in California. "Yes Mom."

"Well you don't look like it." Alia looked down at herself. She didn't change her clothes when she came back, so it was covered with sand, dirt, and grime.

"Uh..." "Don't 'uh' me young lady! Go upstairs and take a shower."

Alia went upstairs to go take a shower like her mother asked. When she was about to get to her room she froze. That boy was in her room and she had to get her clothes from in there. Alia went to her bedroom door and opened it, relieved to find a sleeping Jace in bed as opposed to an awake one. She did a few things in her room before grabbing her clothes and leaving.

Alia took a nice refreshing shower that made her more alert. She opened the door coming out from the bathroom and ran into some major trouble. Her mom was right by the door to Alia's room and was about to open it when Alia found her voice.

"Mom, wait!"

Alia's mom turned around to look at her, confused as to why she was calling her. "Yes, Ally? What would you like?"

"Where are you going?" Alia asked, already knowing the answer to this question. "Your room." "What are you doing over there?" "Cleaning it."

"Mom, I can clean my own room." Alia protested, trying to veer her away.

"It's okay, sweetie. I can clean your room for just one day."

"No!" she yelled a little too forcefully. "I mean," she said, her voice calm again, "I need to learn responsibility, and i feel good cleaning my room every day knowing that I can do it on my own and no one has to tell me to do so." Alia's mom blinked. She looked at her daughter, whom she had spent so much time lecturing to her so that that she would learn responsibility. In her mind, she was thinking Yes, I finally got through to her.

"Ok, Ally. I get it. You can get to clean your room." Alia gave a mental sigh of relief and thought to herself That was a close one.

For the rest of the day, Alia was always volunteering to go upstairs when her parents or her brothers needed something. If one of her brothers found out, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

One of them was barely 4, and he wouldn't tell on her. If he did, no one would believe him cause of his age.

The other was almost 10, and Alia could blackmail him easily. If he did tell, Alia would throw Jace out the window and pretend he wasn't there.

If her parents found out... Well she just hoped that never happened.

...

Jace regained consciousness at around sunset. He woke up thinking it was all a bad dream and he was back home in California. But when he took a brief look at his surroundings, he found that he was in that same room that he found himself in before.

The room was slightly different then what he had seen earlier. There were some more things, like a TV and a fan to keep him cool.

Jace found the TV remote right next to him on the bed. He turned the TV on. When he turned the TV on, the channel was set to Nickelodeon, and guess what show was on?

Jace chuckled to himself as he saw himself playing Henry in Henry Danger. The episode was one of his favorites, The Bucket Trap. He had a lot of fun filming that with his fellow co stars, Riele, Cooper, and Sean.

"I'm really good looking," Jace said to himself.

So Jace lay there watching Henry Danger and admiring how good of an actor he was. But then, most of it wasn't acting. It was simply reliving what had already happened.

He lay there watching for what felt like an hour, and found himself hungry. He wondered when was the last time he had something to eat. Looking back, he thought it was at the restaurant with Isabela.

On a side table next to Jace, there was a hand bell. By the hand bell was a note written in sloppy manuscript. Whoever wrote this clearly wrote in in a rush, he thought. After a while, Jace deciphered the sloppy handwriting, and the note said Ring the bell when you wake up. He looked at the bell for a while, debating whether to ring it or pretend he was still nearly dead.

Jace rang the bell.

...

Alia was eating her dinner when she heard the bell ring.

It started off like every dinner does; Alia's four year old brother, Hunter, was giving Alia's mom a hard time, her nearly 10 year old brother, Trevor, was eating a bite then spitting a bite, which results in a net gain of nothing, and Alia's dad was working while eating.

Alia was eating her food in peace, unlike the rest of her family. Her salad was the only thing that looked appetizing since Trevor was spitting up everything else, making her not want to eat it. He didn't eat salads in the first place.

Out of the midst of the chaos, the bell was heard ringing upstairs. Alia was actually kind of surprised it was ringing; she didn't expect him to wake up soon, or even wake up at all. Alia's mom frowned when she heard the bell.

"What's that?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Uh... that's my timer," Alia said, quickly making something up.

"Timer for what?" her dad asked, eyes still fixated on the screen of the laptop.

"The timer for... 24 hours! I wanted to see if I remembered throughout the 24 hours that I had a timer on. Looks like a forgot about it. I better go upstairs to turn it off." And with that, she stopped eating and ran upstairs.

...

A while had passed between the time that Jace rang the bell and that someone came in.

He was starting to think that there was no one in the house or whoever put the bell there wanted to annoy him. Well, annoy it did.

Just as he was about to ring it again he heard thumping coming from outside. A girl came in, sweaty and puffing.

The girl was pretty, he had to admit. Her wavy brown hair looks almost black. Those chocolate brown eyes were hard to miss and complimented her skin tone. She was clearly younger than him, about 12 or thirteen. She was relatively short, about 5'3", 5'4". She looked a little on the heavier side, but her clothes suited her form perfectly. Jace could see her almost being as attractive as Isabela.

Almost.

He had to get over Isabella, he thought in his mind. Half of his mind was thinking it was a mistake to break up with her. But the other side of his mind said that he had to, because he just couldn't be there for her. There was so much about him that she didn't know. And now she won't ever know.

The girl in front of Jace right now looked at him with concern on his face. The two looked at each other in silence, wondering who will speak first.

In the end the other girl was the first to talk.

"How are you, sleepyhead? I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake up." She joked with him. Jace was confused as to who she was and what she wanted with him. He though it was weird if a kidnapper joked with her victim before killing them... Or whatever she did with them.

"Uh.. I've been better." Jace replied, looking down at his body.

"Are you hungry?" the girl asked.

Boy, was he hungry. He hadn't eaten for who knows how long, and he felt like he might black out again any moment now. Jace mustered a nod and said "I sure am."

The girl nodded and headed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Once again, Jace was alone, and he sighed as he continued watching himself on TV.

...

Alia couldn't help but feel that there was something familiar about the boy that lay in her room.

Looking at him closely she saw that he was kinda cute. His blondish-brownish hair was tousled. Those brown eyes were deep holes she could see miles through. He had a sharp jawline and distinct facial features.

When he asked for some food, Alia realized she had to go downstairs where her parents and brothers were waiting for her to come back from turning off that so called timer. She couldn't get away from dinner without anyone noticing.

When she head downstairs, Trevor looked at her smugly and said, "Li, that took a lot of time to turn off one dumb timer."

Trevor liked getting his older sister in trouble on the occasions that she doesn't blackmail him.

Alia gave him a look that said I'll deal with you later.

"Yeah Ally, why did it take so long to turn off that timer?" her mom asked, next to her Hunter still messing with her.

"I couldn't find the timer," she stated simply. Her parents were giving her a skeptical look and Trevor was raising his eyebrows as if to say Oh really? "I'm also feeling very tired. Can I be excused to go sleep?"

"Sure Alia, you can sleep," her mom said, still looking at her weirdly.

Now the problem for Alia would be sneaking some food from the kitchen.

She waited in the formal dining area until the rest of her family went away from the island. At that point, she snuck into the open pantry door which was right by the dining room. She grabbed anything she could find, which happen to be some chips, cookies, crackers and a water bottle.

She hid them in her shirt and went through the dining room and the drawing room so no one would see her, then she tiptoed up the stairs to her room.

Alia turned the doorknob and opened the door.

...

Jace was watching his favorite episode when the girl came back.

The Time Jerker was his favorite episode filming. He found it funny that Henry had to relive the same day three times. Sure, it was funny watching Henry in pain, but when he had done it himself? Not so fun.

The girl came back with something in her shirt which Jace guessed to be food. Jace was beginning to think that he would starve to death, which wasn't the way an actor should die.

"Here's some food," the girl said. "Sorry that I couldn't get anything besides junk food. It's not exactly easy sneaking food out from the kitchen." she said smiling.

She lay out the food out in front of Jace. Some chips, cookies, crackers and a water bottle. To Jace, the food looked so appealing because he was so hungry. He looked at the food then back at the girl.

The girl laughed. "Don't worry, I didn't poison it. Just eat and I'll tell you the story of how you ended up here."

Jace still looked at the food with doubt, but finally he opened a bag of chips and started eating it.

The girl stared at him as he ate everything that was in front of him. The food tasted great to Jace, but then, what wouldn't taste great if you were starving?

"So," Jace started, feeling energized after the food, "You owe me answers to multiple questions."

The girl sighed. "Yeah I guess I do. I'm Alia Collins, but you can call me Li." she said putting her hand out for Jace to shake it; a sort of gesture that says We're on good terms.

Jace reached out and shook her hand. "I'm Jace, Jace Norman." The girl, Li (even though he had just met her he decided to call her Li because Alia took a while to say), gasped, then looked between the TV, which was still on, and Jace multiple times and her eyes widened.

"That's why you looked so familiar!" Li exclaimed.

"Wait, didn't you know already? Isn't that why you kidnapped me?"

Li looked at him in disbelief. "Me, a thirteen year old girl, kidnap you, a famous actor on television? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

Jace felt bad for accusing her like that. "Listen, I'm sorry for accusing you of that. I've just got so many questions and I've got to get out of here. I can't even get out of bed!"

"Well I'd be happy to answer them, but first can you do me a favor?" Jace nodded. It was probably and autograph or a picture with him. "Can you try to keep quiet while you're in here? I have two brothers and my parents that live in this house with me, and if they found out you were in here.. well, you can say I'll be under house arrest for the rest of my life."

"Yeah sure thing," Jace whispered. "So, first question. Why am I here?"

Li sighed. "I found you walking around on a street, and there was a drunk truck driver coming along back, he was about to crash into you when I ran into the street and tried to get you to the side. The truck didn't hit you, but you bumped your head pretty hard on the road, and got a few scrapes." Li looked like she was hiding something, but Jace decided not to push her.

"So basically, you saved my life."

She shrugged. "If you think of it that way, then yes."

"So it's me that owes you, not the other way around."

"Depends on how you look at it. Anyways, next question." Li changed the topic, which Jace admired because if someone saves someone's life, the person would like to be viewed as a hero. Li was modest and just waved the topic away like an annoying fly.

"Okay. Next question: Where am I?"

"Uh.." She looked at the ground, "You're at my house. In Pennsylvania."

Jace couldn't believe it. How'd he get from that small town in California to this house in Pennsylvania? "Another question: How the hell did I get here?"

"That's not important," Li said quickly, trying to avoid the subject. Jace squinted his eyes at her.

"How long was I out for?"

Li took a while to consider it. "Eighteen hours have passed from the time you blacked out to the time you rang the bell."

Eighteen hours was a lot. He was up for maybe an hour before he rang the bell, another 10 minutes around midday, but almost 17 hours?

Li looked at him sheepishly. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I know you get this a lot, but you're a good actor. I love your role as Henry Hart in Henry Danger."

Jace was a tad bit surprised. She hadn't brought up the "omg he's so cute and hot and dreamy" figure, which was one he got a lot. When he was dating Isabela, he would reply "Thanks, but I'm already taken".

"And," she started, "I've gotta admit that you are kind of hot."

Jace knew it was coming and smiled. "Only 'kinda hot'?" He said innocently?

"Very hot." She blurted out, then covered her mouth. Typical for teenager girls once they see him.

"That's what I thought." Jace said, smiling at Li, whose face was flushed. "I have one last question."

"Yeah?" she said, her face still red.

"Why'd you save my life?"

Li contemplated this thought for a moment. "Because I saw someone in danger."

Jace could relate to that. His main role was about a boy who was a part time sidekick to a superhero.

"Thank you." Jace said softly.

"For what?"

"For saving my life."

"I was only at the right place at the right time."

"Still."

Jace looked at the clock in the room. It was almost ten.

Alia looked at the clock. "My brothers are probably sleeping and my parents are out for a walk. Can I get you anything else?

"A water bottle would be nice."

"On it." And with that she hurried out the door.

...

Alia couldn't believe that of all the people she could have saved, she saved Jace Norman, her favorite actor and the main role on her favorite TV show.

When she had blurted out that he was very hot, Alia wanted to go jump off a cliff in embarrassment. Did she really even think that? Alia wasn't even sure if he was that hot.

Alia felt guilty lying to her favorite actor. She couldn't let him know what she could do, and what she actually did. Alia put the bandage over his head to make it seem like he bumped his head hard. As for the scars, Alia had to thank her makeup kit. It was great for faking scars and would eventually fade away if not rubbed.

She looked out the window of the front door. Her parents were outside taking a walk, and her brothers sound asleep in bed. Heading into the kitchen, she grabbed a plastic water bottle and some leftover spaghetti from dinner. She went back upstairs to give the food back to Jace.

She walked in and found Jace looking at the ceiling.

"Is this a bad time?" Alia asked.

He looked at Alia. "Nah, I was just thinking."

"I brought you some water and spaghetti."

"Thanks."

"When do you think I can go home? And how will I get home?"

Alia hadn't thought this far. "Do you think you can get up yet?"

Jace sat up in bed, and swung his legs over to get up. "Earlier I wasn't able to even sit up, but I think after the food I can stand up and walk."

"That's good. If you don't mind, I'm going to check the bandage on your head, okay?"

"Okay."

Alia unwrapped the bandage from Jace's head. She felt him wincing she took it off. The scar was still there, but it was now very faint.

"Look at yourself in this mirror," Alia said, handing him the mirror.

"I'm gonna have to put a lot of make up on if I'm still going to act." Jace muttered after seeing the scar on his face.

Alia looked out the window. Her parents were now back inside and probably sleeping.

"Do you think you can go for a walk outside?" Alia saw the expression on his face. "Oh no, don't think of it that way. Just for the sake of walking and getting exercise."

"Oh." Jace said. "Sure. Just can you point me to the bathroom first? It's not easy keeping things in your bladder for more than 12 hours at a time."

"The bathroom's right there," Alia said pointing to he bathroom from outside the door of her room.

Jace returned to her room a couple minutes later.

"Ready to go?" Alia asked him.

"Just about as ready I can get."

"Great." Alia grinned and head towards the window.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"We're climbing out of the window and down the tree."

"Ah, the Henry classic," Jace said, referring to Henry sneaking in from his window at night.

Alia smiled. "Yeah it is. Come on, let's go." She climbed out the window and down the tree, Jace following her.

For the first few minutes, they walked in silence.

Alia was the first to speak. "At this rate, you'd probably be able to go home tomorrow morning."

"But how am I going to get home? You didn't tell me how I got here, so how am I gonna know how to get back?"

Alia bit her lip. "Don't you have like a private jet or something?"

Jace laughed. "I'm an actor, not a celebrity."

"Same thing. Do you have any money on you?

Jace looked in his pocket. "Yeah I have about $300 in there."

"Cool. I can get you to an airport early tomorrow morning, and it'll probably be enough. If it isn't, I'll give you a contact to call and I'll come."

"Sounds good."

"So, uh, how's your relationship with Isabela Moner doing?" Alia asked, remembering the break up but didn't want to tell him. If he knew, than he'd probably think of her as a stalker.

Jace suddenly became very interested in the view while walking. "I broke up with her."

"WHAT?!" Alia said, acting very surprised. "Why?! She's pretty and attractive. What more could an actor want?"

"I just couldn't take it anymore. I was too busy working to spend time with her. It wouldn't have worked out."

"Aren't you both actors? Plus I don't think you guys have to work day and night on filming, do you? I wouldn't know. The only time I've ever acted was when we did Shakespeare in Language Arts. The acting was fun, the work behind it? Not so much." Alia realized she was blabbering and stopped to let Jace talk a bit.

"Yeah, we are both actors, but I feel... Overwhelmed with...uh.. All the work that goes into it. Doing the same thing over and over again... sometimes it's too much. As for your acting? I'd like to see that. You seem like you'd make a great actor."

Alia's face turned red but in the darkness of the night, she doubted he could see. "You know what's funny? My language arts teacher said almost the same thing."

"Maybe you should consider a career in acting."

She shrugged. "My parents wouldn't be so enthusiastic about that." Alia looked up. They had circled the loop twice, and was approaching the house. "I think we've had enough. Let's head back."

Jace and Alia went to the back of the house where the tree was. Alia started to head up the tree. She looked down and saw Jace staring up at the tree.

Alia sighed and climbed down. "What happened, kid?" It was odd that she referred to him as kid, seeing that he was three or so years older than him. "Does pretty little actor boy need someone to carry him up a tree?" Alia said mockingly. She was only now beginning to show who she really was.

"No," Jace said with a bit of hurt in his voice, "I can do it myself."

"If you say so, actor boy."

"I don't like your attitude."

"Deal with it, actor boy."

Both climbed up the tree into Alia's room.

"You might want to get an hour or two of sleep," Alia said. "We're leaving for the airport at 4am if I'm gonna get home without my parents knowing."

"Okay. You get some sleep yourself."

"I sorta can't. You're in my bed."

"Sorry. Where did you sleep last night?"

"I didn't."

"Didn't want?"

"Didn't sleep. I haven't slept in more than 24 hours."

"Aren't you tired?"

"No," she said sarcastically. "I'm not tired at all."

"Really?" Jace asked, probably not picking up on the sarcasm.

"Of course not! I'm as tired as hell."

"Well take your bed back then."

"I can't. Pretty little actor boy needs his beauty sleep, doesn't he?"

"Can you please not call me that?"

"Go to sleep, actor boy."

...

Jace woke up to a screaming Alia at 3:30.

"WAKE UP JACE! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!"

"Li, stop it. You're going to wake up the rest of the house."

"It's three in the morning and their doors are all closed. They're not going to wake up." Alia said with no doubt in her voice.

"If you say so."

"Get ready. I took the liberty of sewing some of my dad's old clothes into something that may fit you." She held up a plaid shirt and a pair of jeans. They looked store bought; that's how good she sewed them.

"This is what Henry Hart wears, not what Jace Norman wears."

"Cause pretty actor boy needs to wear designer clothing, right?"

"No!"

"Well, if you're gonna play Henry Hart, you gotta look like him too."

"Why?"

"Cause I said so. Here's a toothbrush. Don't worry, no one's ever used it. We keep a bunch of spares in the house. Toothpaste's in the right cabinet."

"Thanks." Jace grumbled.

When Jace was out from the bathroom, he found Li by the window ready to leave.

She held a piece of paper in her hand. "Here's my email address. Do you have an iPhone or some other apple device?"

"I used to have an iPhone. Now it's probably a pile of metal in the middle of the road. But don't worry; I'm getting another one very soon."

"Of course you are. You and the other actor people treat these phones like they're worth a dollar. 'Oh no, I broke my phone for the fifth time today!' 'Don't worry, we'll get you another one from the store.'" Alia mocked.

"It's not like that." Jace protested.

"It sure is. Anyways, if you get another iPhone or other Apple device, than you can iMessage or FaceTime this email and you'll find me. Use it if you ever need anything. Or someone to talk to."

"Why can't I just call you on a number?"

"Cause I don't have a phone, you dimwit. I'm not one of you pretty actor folk who can get a phone just like that." and she snapped her fingers.

"I'm telling you," Jace said, "it's not like that. And I just realized, you can't drive, so how am I going to get to the airport?"

"I'll walk you to the bus station, where they will take you to the airport." Li said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'll stop somewhere and buy you breakfast. Sounds good?"

Jace nodded.

Alia grinned. "Good. Now let's get going." and with that she climbed out the window and down the tree. Jace followed in pursuit.

Li bought Jace a sandwich from a 24 hour McDonalds near the station.

Jace's bus had arrived right on time. As he went to board the bus, he looked at Alia.

"Thanks for saving my life," he said casually like it was no big deal.

Alia blinked. "Thanks for causing me so much trouble actor boy." she said. "Remember to email or message me if you need anything."

"I will. Nice knowing you Alia."

"Back at ya, actor boy."

Jace had to smile at that, and saw Li watching him until the bus finally drove away.

That girl had some serious problems, but he couldn't help but think that she was a girl that he'd like to be friends with.


Was it okay? It would make my day if you were to review on this story, cause I wanna know how crappy a writer I am. Please point out my weaknesses cause my friends always tell me "it's good" when it's really not. Did you like the formatting of his chapter? It may be the only chapter in the story like that. I'm free to suggestions on the formatting.

Did you see how Alia changed from the beginning to the end? She's starting to show her true self.