State of Grace (Complete)

Revenge

 Chris' arm is fully healed by the middle of the winter, but we still walk slowly together to and from school, making sure to avoid any patches of ice. Neither of us wants to have a repeat performance if Chris falls again. Audra still hasn't forgiven me for yelling at her when Chris was injured, so when she has her birthday party in February, which she decides will be a skating party, she doesn't invite me.

"Are you going to go Audra's party?" Melody asks me at lunch recess at the beginning of February. We are huddled against the school watching some of the kids build snow forts.

"No, she didn't invite me. In fact she invited Chris and Ian in front of me, then made a comment that it was only for the bigger grade four's and since I was only nine, maybe I shouldn't hang out with the ten year olds."

"I won't go if you don't want me to." Melody says. While the thought is nice, I don't really want to make Audra angry, especially since my hair has totally grown back and looks nice again.

"No, you go if you want. I won't mind."

"Maybe we could do something instead, like go to the movies or something."

"Only if you really don't want to go."

"Grace, I don't know how to skate and I don't want to look silly."

Chris overhears us on his way by, "I'm not going either, if it's Audra's party you're talking about. I can't. Unless I wear a big arm brace, I can't skate incase I fall, so I'm not going. Besides, she was really mean to you Grace. I don't understand why you were friends with her in the first place."

"I don't know, but I don't want you taking sides. I don't want to be in the middle of a fight. Don't go if you don't want to, but tell her the arm excuse."

"Fine, but I think you're being too nice about this, Grace."

Melody cuts in,"Chris, we were going to go to a movie, you could come with us if you want."

"That sounds great!"

In the end, Ian turns down Audra's invitation, too, as a show of solidarity. "No one is mean to Grace," is what he tells me, so the four of us go to the movies instead, Maggie driving us.

To Audra, it's like a line has been drawn, and things aren't great for the rest of the school year. She makes a point of trying to trip me or tease me about things, but I refuse to engage her in a fight. I try ignoring her, so she flicks me when she walks by. I try avoiding her, but she seeks me out. In gym class she makes sure I'm picked last.

"Grace, you have to do something," Ian tells me on the way home. "I can't take you getting bruises and me not being able to do anything about it. I just want to punch her."

"Yeah, Grace, it's not fair. We can't hit her, she's a girl, but you can."

"I understand, but could you imagine what my mom would do to me if I got into a fight?" My mom's been pretty good lately, and I don't want cause her to stay in her bed again.

"Could you at least tell on her, then?" Chris suggests.

"No, there's no way, I can't rat her out. I just have to think of a way to get to her without getting caught."

An idea comes to me when we are walking in the forest, heading to the meadow. "Can you guys help me catch spiders? Or at least find some baby spider eggs?" I'm not a huge fan of spiders, but I'm not scared of them. Audra is terrified of them though, and because it's spring, the eggs are getting close to hatching.

"Gracie, I love the way your mind works!" Ian grins evilly while Chris runs off to get me a container from the treehouse.

For the next three hours we search. We look in crooks and crannies and folded leaves and under logs. And we are successful. By my estimate, I've got eight egg sacs, if I'm right, that should be over a thousand baby spiders, which will hatch when it's slightly warmer, like in Audra's desk and coat pocket. We store the spiders overnight in the treehouse, and sneak back out there in the morning right before school. A few of the sacs actually have some movement, and the baby spiders are ready. I carefully place the jar in the outer pocket of my bag, then we walk to school.

When we are a few houses away from the playground, Ian stops me. "Gracie, give them to me. I don't want you getting caught. I know what will happen to you. If I get caught it's no big deal, it's just the bad twin messing up again."

"No Ian, you aren't getting in any more trouble."

"Nope, I'm not," he agrees, but then states, "because I'm not getting caught. I'm just saying that if I do get caught, I can handle it. My mom won't disown me or treat me badly, especially if I tell her the truth, I'm doing it to protect you. So let me do this."

"Ian, let us both do this, not just you," Chris breaks in. "I owe Gracie big time. I PUKED on her and she was okay with it."

"Fine, I can't fight you both," I give in to them. "Her desk is the one with the purple binder on top, right by the door." I hand them the jar and we go to the yard.

Chris walks right up to the teacher on duty, rubbing his arm where the break was. "I really need to go to the bathroom, is it okay if I go in for a minute?"

"Sure, but hurry up, Chris," and the twins fly into action.

"Okay class, get your math out." Mrs Johnson directs us. I reach into my desk, as does everyone else, and suddenly screams pierce the room. Audra is freaking out and has jumped out of her chair, knocking it to the ground.

"Spiders!" Audra manages to say. The heat has worked, and at least one egg sac has hatched and there are tiny baby spiders all over her math book. A few of the people sitting by her have jumped out of their chairs, too, pushing their desks away from Audra's.

"Settle down, please. What's the problem?"

"Spiders, Mrs Johnson, they're all over," Monica manages to spit out.

Mrs. Johnson walks closer to inspect the book on the floor. It has a bunch of baby spiders crawling all over it, plus there are at least another twenty or thirty on the floor around it.

"Audra, I'm afraid we're going to have to dump your desk," Mrs. Johnson tells her.

"Why?"

"The spiders might be in all your stuff. It looks like eggs have hatched. Max, can you go get the custodian?"

"Sure," Max gets up and wanders out into the hall. I know that Max can't stand Audra either, so I am sure he's going to take his time.

Mrs. Johnson kicks Audra's math book to the side, then tips out Audra's desk. Her pencil case is open and spills on the floor, and her books all fall to the ground. Everything is crawling with spiders. "Oh my goodness, Audra. This isn't good. Myles, could you grab some paper towels?"

He comes back clutching the roll.

"Okay class, I need volunteers. Anyone who isn't afraid of spiders please take some paper towel and get smashing."

It takes Max ten minutes to come back with Mr. Hartman, the custodian. He has a can of Raid and some cleaner. "Looks like a nest or two hatched," he tells us. There's a surprise.

It takes at least half an hour to get the mess cleaned up, but we all know there are still spiders crawling around, because it's impossible to get them all. When we're finally done, it's time for recess. In the hall, there are baby spiders on Audra's coat as well.

"Oh Audra, maybe your parents need to call in an exterminator at your house. Obviously you brought the spiders with you when you took your math homework home," Mrs Johnson says, spraying down Audra's jacket with the Raid that Mr. Hartman left behind. "Time to go out!" she says firmly, obviously a bit upset by the spiders, too.

"No way!" Audra refuses to put on her jacket. Honestly, I wouldn't either. "Please can I go to the library instead?"

"Just for today, Audra, but otherwise it's outside."

As I walk by Audra, I want to let her know that this was revenge and it will get worse if her keeps up her campaign to pick on me. "You know, there's lots of spiders in the woods by my house. I wonder if they know where your bedroom is? Because I do..."

Audra leaves me alone after that.