A Touch of Grace

[ chapter seventeen: the initiation ]

Phoenix texted me a few minutes before six and asked if I was still coming over, to which I responded positively, telling him I'd be there in a few moments. I grabbed my Chemistry stuff and my phone, leaving my bedroom to go downstairs. My sister, who was the only other person home, was on the couch eating chips. "Where are you going?"

"Phoenix's house," I told her and she made a noise, earning a look from me. "What?"

"How do you plan on bringing it up to Leo?" she asked me, "Considering you took my advice the other day."

I sighed and stared at her. "Look, I still don't know what I'm going to do. I'll tell Leo when I'm good and ready."

My sister looked at her wrist, tapping an imaginary watch. "The time is ticking."

"'The time is ticking,' shut up," I snapped.

I left the house, walking to Phoenix's house with my things. I knocked, though I probably could've just walked in. Brooke answered the door and I immediately remembered the candy I owed her. Before I could tell her I'd get it tomorrow, she smiled. "Thanks for the candy, Grace."

Phoenix was approaching the door and nodded, so I smiled in response. "Thanks for not telling your mom."

She closed the door behind me and Phoenix looked at me. "We're going to have to work on it in my room; Pipers in the living room with her boyfriend," Phoenix informed me with disgust in his tone.

"So what's my job?" Brooke piped.

"Okay, so you're going to sit in the living room and watch them. And if they do anything they're not supposed to, just shout for me," Phoenix whispered to her.

"You got it," Brooke nodded as she entered the living room, dropping on the couch between the couple. Piper glared at her younger sister while Phoenix snorted.

"They're cute," I told him as we headed up the stairs.

"They are not cute," Phoenix retorted. "They're way too young to be dating."

"Yeah, I agree, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they're cute," I replied. "You just don't think so because she's your little sister."

"She's going to get hurt," Phoenix told me. "Boys are mean."

"Don't I know?" I muttered.

"He's going to leave her for a girl he thinks is prettier and she's going to cry for a week," Phoenix explained. "And guess who's going to have to comfort her?"

"You?" I asked him.

"No, because that's not my job. But the point of the matter is that she's not emotionally ready for a relationship," Phoenix explained as he pushed the door to his bedroom open, allowing me to enter.

"Well, we live and we learn. And maybe, if her heart does get broken, she'll wait until she's older to start dating. Besides, this isn't a serious relationship. It's middle school stuff," I told her. "We all start somewhere. She could be like me and not have a boyfriend until she's seventeen."

He opened his mouth to say something before narrowing his eyes. "Seventeen?" he asked and I shrugged in response. "Who's this boyfriend going to be?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out once I'm seventeen, won't we?" I responded.

"You know, you're hard to read," Phoenix told me as I sat on his bed.

"I don't believe so," I replied. "But you know what's hard to read?"

"What?" he asked me.

"This work," I responded as I held up my packet.

"Right," he nodded as he looked at his bed. "May I?"