Chapter 7: JACE

"Mom how're you feeling?" I removed the washcloth from her forehead and checked her temperature again. She looked and sounded like hell.

"Son, I told you to stop worrying about me, Marisa could've taken care of me just fine."

"Yeah and dad would've had my ass. It's time for your next dose open up." My mom had come down with the flu two hours after dad left to go out of town.

It was supposed to be a busy weekend for me, but I had to put some things on hold to take care of her or like I said, my dad would've ripped me one.

It's just the three of us and we're pretty close not to mention whenever dad leaves on business he always reminds me that I'm the man of the house and mom is my first priority.

I was a little bummed about missing the first day of school but not much, there wasn't going to be much going on there today anyway, and dad was due back tonight.

"Didn't you say you were supposed to practice with your new wide receiver today? I know you needed to do that, it's all you've been talking about for weeks."

"Mom quit it would ya, I met Jared on Saturday, he's cool and if he can do half the things coach says then one missed practice isn't going to make a difference.

I went in earlier to talk to coach while you were asleep, he understands.

Besides, I'd rather be here taking care of my favorite girl." I kissed her forehead and gave her some medicine before making sure she was well covered up.

"You want one of those coma inducing books you read or the TV on or something?"

"No, the medicine knocks me out so I'll be out in a minute."

"Fine, I'll stay until you are." I sat on the edge of the bed with her and held her hand while she got settled. It's the same thing she did for me when I was little so I know how comforting it is.

We're not the Cleavers or anything that trite, but both my parents have always instilled a certain set of values in me.

I guess it's because I'm an only child and they were afraid that I might turn out like some of the offspring of their peers.

Mom's always regaling me with tales of some of the other kids in the neighborhood who happen to be some of my classmates, and her biggest fear seems to be me turning into a little asshole, influenced by daddy's money.

That's not really my style though, so she doesn't have anything to worry about there. That's the reason I'd broken things off with Mandy after a year of dating.

She was the hottest girl in school yeah, and her dad was almost as rich as mine, but the girl was missing something.

I'd tried to overlook her shortcomings in the beginning, what seventeen year old wouldn't if the sex is that good? But in the end it just wasn't worth it.

As dad likes to say, 'you're known by the company you keep.' If I was still dipping my wick in that well then people might start to think I was a stuck up asshole who only cared about my newest car or whatever the latest in thing was. I was too old for that shit.

My focus this year is the game, not that it hadn't been before, but now I was being scouted seriously and I had made up my mind that this is what I wanted to do.

I had a lot of opportunities before me. As the son of one of the leading studio heads in Hollywood, there wasn't much I couldn't set my sights on.

But I never knew what it was I really wanted to do until now. And now with the new wide receiver who has taken the nation by storm coming to join us, I had no doubt that we would do great things on the field this year.

Mom fell asleep five minutes later and I headed downstairs to toss the ball with my dog Jasper.

My mind wasn't on anything in particular. I'd just turned seventeen and was looking forward to my last couple years of high school. I was doing pretty good in all my classes, so I was looking forward to cruising it.

Dad got me the new Phantom Drophead Coupe for my birthday in the summer, and I was itching to take it out and put it through its paces, but that was about it. Pretty lame when you think about it, but I'd grown pretty jaded.

My school wasn't your normal high school by any standards. There were starlets and new up and coming leading men attending, not to mention the off spring of some of Hollywood's elite.

With dad being who he is, I'd grown accustomed to being brown nosed since I was able to walk, that too had grown old. I had been feeling restless for the past year or so; that had added to the fuel that led to the breakup.

Mandy and girls like her were starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. And since all the others pretty much tried to emulate her in one way or the other, I was pretty much out of luck.

I guess I'd just have to go cruising for some new skins since I hated going without pussy for more than a couple weeks at least.

I was already coming up on two months and something was about to blow. That's another thing, I broke up with Mandy during summer break so no one really knew we were through.

It would be the first time since I was fifteen that I didn't have a steady girlfriend. I can't go out like that, it's part of the whole high school experience after all.

"Thanks for taking care of your mother for me son." I pulled my throw and looked over my shoulder.

"Dad you're back."

"Yeah I cut my trip short, couldn't leave my best girl here to die." He rolled his eyes and we shared a laugh.

Mom was always dying, if she stubbed her toe it was a national emergency; but this time she had really been sick.

"She's really sick this time dad, I almost took her to the hospital."

"Yeah well I'm here now son so take a load off. Sorry you had to miss your first day back, I'll make it up to you."

"Nah, it's nothing. So how did everything go?"

"It went good, only had to knock a few heads together, nothing new there. You sure you don't want to follow in the family's footsteps?"

"I'll think about it when I'm thirty five and ready to retire."

"It'll keep." He grinned and went back inside. Dad was third generation Hollywood. My great grandfather had started the studio back in the day with silent movies.

Now we owned the leading movie studio in Hollywood. That's where dad met mom. She was a young starlet looking to get her name up there in bright lights.

Dad took one look at her and decided he had a better role for her to play. She did a few movies before she got pregnant with me and they got married. She was all of eighteen at the time and dad was twenty-five.