Grace
Grace taps her fingers on her thigh, the blankets of her bed thrown around her as she anxiously watches the door. She inhales sharply when she hears the distinct sound of glass breaking down the hall, just outside her room and around the corner. She rolls her eyes, finding her own behaviour childish, here she is, scared because some bottle broke-but she knows deep down it's not that noise that scared her.
Her shaking hand reaches for her phone as she hears a loud musical laugh. "Hey." She speaks into the phone, her own voice surprising her, it sounded so scratchy, so harsh.
"What's wrong?" Ava immediately asks, knowing something isn't right.
Grace swallows her fears as she stands from her bed with a small creak of the bedsprings, slowly making her way to her bedroom door. "Nothing, it's just my mom's stupid boyfriend is back." She explains, creaking open her door to peer into the empty hallway. "Can I come stay there?"
"Yeah of course." Her best friend answers, no doubt showing in her voice, which calms Grace's growing nerves. "Be safe though okay? The streets are really dark."
Somehow, Grace manages to let out a small laugh at that, "You're four blocks from here Av, I'll be right there." She says, dropping her phone to her bed as she slips on a sweater, zipping it up and stuffing her hands in the pockets.
"Whatever, still." Ava speaks when she hears Grace's dramatic sigh against the phone again, telling her she's listening.
"Yeah, yeah. Bye." Cutting her worries short, Grace hangs up, opening the door again but this time slipping her thin figure through, making sure not to open it far enough that there would be a creak. She does as best she can to tiptoe past her mom and Will, cringing when she feels one of many uneven floorboards creak under her.
Almost instantly she hears her mother's cheerful voice call out, "Baby is that you?" Grace relaxes a bit, standing up straight as she approaches her. "Where are you going?"
"Just to Ava's." She replies shortly, glancing around her mom to see Will lounging on the couch he doesn't own, a cigarette between his lips and a beer in his hand. "I'll be back after school tomorrow." She tells her, not knowing whether she was even telling the truth.
Her mom, June, frowns but nods nonetheless. "Okay, Gracie, you know I love you." Grace simply hums a yes, walking past June's open arms and to the front door.
"See you later!" Will yells to her, making her lip slip between her teeth as she yells a reply, tying up her shoes as she does.
"See you, asshole!" She hears his loud laugh fill the house making her even more annoyed, without any more conversation, she slams the front door behind her, running a hand through her hair as she grabs her bike.
Grace hops on, not bothering with the helmet as it always just gives her a headache. The sky spits down on her which seems to fit her emotions in the current situation. She doesn't stop riding until she reaches Ava's house, ignoring stop signs and weaving around the few cars there are. She knows if Ava saw she'd throw a hissy fit, so she decides to simply just not tell her.
"Hi Grace." Sam says, his brown hair covering his eyes as he smiles up at her, holding open the door as she enters.
"Hey Sam." She tells him, undoing her shoes and dropping them onto the Morrison's shoe rack. "Where's your sister?" The boy simply points upwards and Grace takes that to mean in her room. She climbs the stairs two at a time, not knocking as she enters her friend's room.
Ava looks at her blankly, her hand which was previously scribbling in a pink notebook stopping and instead dropping the pencil. Her brown curls are tied into a low ponytail as she lay on her bed, writing, Grace assumes, notes for school. Pajama pants hugged her legs, paired with an oversized sweater Grace recognizes as her own.
"Hey." Ava says, sitting up and closing the book. Grace offers her a smile, walking the few steps of her carpeted floor to her bed and collapsing onto her flower patterned bed.
"You finish the English notes?" She asks, looking up at her best friend who shakes her head, laying the notebook on her bedside table before laying back down next to Grace.
"Will's back?" Ava asks, listening to Grace groan in agreement. Grace watches the clear dislike for that man in her friend's eyes. And even though she knows Ava doesn't hate anyone- It's one of her strict rules, never hate anyone because everyone deserves a chance- she still can confidently say that she's sure the girl hates Will, only because she knows Grace despises him for what he's doing to her poor mother. It's sweet, Grace thinks, because Ava's putting her above one of her silly rules that are so important to her. "What can I do?" She asks after a moment, rolling onto her side and poking her finger into Grace's side as she gives her a soft worried look, her teeth nervously chewing on her bottom lip.
Making sure to take a deep ragged inhale before answering, Grace tells her, "I don't know, I kinda just wanna go to sleep." A sadder look crosses over her friend's face so she quickly adds, "But a hug would help."
The look in Ava's eyes shows that she knows Grace is doing this more to comfort her, but still she wraps her arms around her, hugging Grace tightly and forcing her to take the given comfort, even if she says she doesn't need it. Grace smiles into her shoulder, rolling her eyes lovingly. Her friend was really something else.
---
Grace wakes up to a ringing noise and hard pokes being delivered to her shoulder. She groans, thinking there must be a bruise forming. "What?" She asks, refusing to open her eyes as the blaring noise continues.
"We're gonna be late, dummy." Ava tells her, her voice clear of any reminders of sleep. Grace wills her eyes to open, being met with Ava at the foot of the bed, fully dressed as she scrunches her damp hair with a towel.
"What is that noise?" She demands, resting back on her elbows, continuing to look blankly at Ava. Her friend was dressed in plain leggings and a large sweater that swallowed her figure in it.
"My dad tried to make pancakes." Ava says, throwing her towel across her room into her laundry bin. "He burned something, so the fire alarm went off." Grace sighs, finally rolling out of bed and heading straight for Ava's dresser. She pulls out clothes quickly, changing into them when Ava exits the room, descending down the stairs.
Minutes later, Grace follows in her forgotten footsteps, finding her in the kitchen waving towels around as she stands on a chair, while her dad's opening the windows and doors, trying to rid the house of the smoke that covered the ceiling. She hops down from her chair, grabbing her backpack off the floor before waving to her father, "We're going now, try not to burn down the house."
He said something back but before Grace can say goodbye, Ava's pulling her away, and rushing to put on her shoes as Grace takes her time, lacing up her converse with ease.
"Is that all you're gonna wear?" Ava questions, she crosses her arms and waits for Grace to finish tying her shoes. "It's still winter, you know."
"No, it's March, meaning most of the snow is already gone." Grace retorts, giving her best friend a challenging look.
Ava glares at her, but still leaves through the open door, making Grace close it behind them. She picks up her bike, and climbs on, clipping her helmet. Grace follows her lead, but watches Ava give her a worried look at her lack of helmet. "I haven't crashed in years." She informs her, before promptly peddling away.
---
Grace waits next to Ava's locker as her friend attempts the code several times, not sure exactly what the combination is. She's resting her head against the cold metal and looking up at the broken ceiling tiles, when she's interrupted by a deep voice.
"Hey." Her gaze drags down to the guy standing in front of her, Elijah Day, he was her upperclassmen since he's a senior and Grace is only a junior. His dreads were messy on his head falling into his eyes as he gave her his world famous smile. "Grace right?"
The girl in question smiles up at him, wondering how long exactly she had been waiting for her name to come out of his mouth. She rains in her joy, composing herself before nodding, "Yeah and you're Elijah."
He nods as if it was an actual question, as if everyone in the school didn't already know his name. He opens his mouth to speak but before he can Ava interrupts, making Grace glance over to her now, open locker, "We're supposed to meet Chloe and Tim for lunch." She states, look between the two.
Grace gives her a confused look because she already knows this, but her gaze shifts back to Elijah when he speaks, "And you're the junior in all my classes." He says, looking astonished. She nods, her blank expression not showing how truly proud of herself, for that fact, she is. Grace knows Ava doesn't like to brag about how accomplished she is, so she makes sure to boast enough for the two of them, telling anyone who'll listen about her friends accomplishments, which is probably how Eljiah knows about it. "Anyways, Grace, I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the trap this Friday."
Grace looks at him, considering pinching herself just to prove she isn't dreaming, but a hard bite of her lip convinces her. "I'd love to."
He nods, flashing her his teeth, "I'll see you there, nine good for you?" She nods immediately, and he walks away confidently, her eyes follow him, still smiling to herself.
"Wow I never thought he'd actually catch onto your signals." Ava says, showing her friend a wide support smile.
"Me either." Grace bites her lip again, and after once again proving to herself this is real she wakes herself out of this trance, slinging her arm over Ava's shoulder and walking in the direction of the lunch room.