It was hard for Grace to fall asleep that night. She tossed and turned for hours, thinking about the boy she thought was in the room across the hall. She felt the need to go to him, but she made sure to compose herself, staying right where she was. After everything the two had been through, she wasn't going to run back in his arms until he apologised.
When she finally did fall asleep, it was time to wake up around an hour later to meet Sheri before school.
After showering and getting ready, she enters Clay's room seeing her brother sitting on his bed and a vacant Justin which makes her heart feel heavy. She didn't think he would actually go through with it and leave.
"Where is he?" Grace questions painfully.
"He's gone." Is all Clay says, moving to wrap his arms around his sister. Grace grasps onto the back of Clay's hoodie tightly, pressing her head into his neck for comfort. Clay rubs small circles on her back, trying his hardest to make her feel slightly better.
They stand like that for a while, consoling each other the best they could before Grace pulls back, giving him a teary eyed smile. "We should get to Monet's. Sheri is probably waiting for us."
Clay nods and the finish getting ready. They then grab their school bags from their rooms before leaving the house to meet Sheri.
Monet's is only a few short streets away from them, making it easier to get there. Grace walks numbly, feeling nothing but the pensive sadness that Justin's absence is causing once again.
The Monet's bell rings loudly, alerting Sheri of the twins' presence. Her smile dims once she sees the far away look on Grace's face.
The two sit down in front of the dark skinned girl and Clay explains Justin's departure.
"Don't worry about it." Sheri says, placing her hand in Grace's small one. "He'll be back. He's sick as hell. He can't go to the city. He's got no money, no car."
"I'm just worried. The last time he left, I didn't see him for five months." Grace mutters, before shaking herself out of her thoughts. "Never mind about that right now, we actually wanted to talk to you about something else."
"What is it?"
"Can we trust you?" Clay speaks up.
"Always." Sheri states and Grace finds herself smiling at how quick her answer was.
Clay nods, breathing out a breath before reaching in his pocket and taking out the polaroid. He hesitates, just for a moment and then places it directly onto the table, showing Sheri.
"Do you have any idea where at school these might have been taken?" Clay asks.
"No," She shakes her head, looking at every detail on the photo. "I don't recognise it." She then looks at the other one, eyes widened. "Is that...?"
"Bryce." Grace and Clay answer simultaneously.
"Wow." Sheri breathes out, handing the polaroids back to the older Jensen.
***
Grace doesn't feel like going to school today, or do anything in particular. What she wanted to do was curl up on her bed and sleep until she knew that her boyfriend was safe.
"If I can even call him that anymore." Grace thinks to herself as she walks down the hallway to her first class which is geometry.
Class is boring as per usual. She drowns out the noise, focussing on her doodles in her notebook.
Time passes and Grace flinches as she hears the bell ring, signalling that it was time for lunch. Grace looks around, seeing most of the children in her class rushing out, eager to leave.
She slowly stands up, placing her notebook in her bag, along with her pencil case and leaves the room silently, and walking down the hall.
She enters the cafeteria and her eyes catch Jess sitting with her friend Nina and a bunch of other guys. Grace has only spoken to Nina once before when she stupidly forgot her school bag and desperately needed a pen.
Jess notices the girl watching them cautiously and waves her over with a smile. "Hey, Grace!"
"Hey, Jess, Nina." Grace greets politely, placing her bag down next to Jess and sitting down. She also nods at the other boys politely but pays no mind to them.
The two girls continue on with their conversation, talking about everything and nothing. Grace just stares numbly at the white wall with her chin in her hand.
Hearing Jessica gasp causes Grace's eyes to narrow and to look over at her friend in confusion. Following the curly girl's eye, she thickly swallows when seeing Justin Foley causally stroll in, bag on his shoulder, ignoring everyone's eyes on him.
To say he was surprised that Grace and Jess are friends would be a drastic understatement. He was sure the two girls envied each other and he didn't know if he liked it like that or not.
He would have to apologise to Grace, he knew that for a fact. But he also knew that he needed to make things right with Jessica first.
"Hey, Jess." He stutters awkwardly, walking up to the three girls. Jess is instantly up and out of her seat, staring at the boy she still loves. Even though she does still love him, she can never forgive him for what he did. "I missed you."
Grace holds in a scoff as she watches the two exes interact. Jess' breath quickens as she looks at anywhere else but at the boy in front of her.
"Can we go somewhere else to talk, alone?" He then asks, even Grace had the compliment him on his courage.
"No." Jess states firmly.
"I think you should do this anywhere else but here." Grace speaks up helpfully, lifting herself off the seat to stand next to Justin, causing the two of them to look at her. She avoids Justin's eyes and glances at Jess, "Everyone's looking."
"I came back because I needed to apologise to you. It's mainly the reason I'm here... apart from for Grace." Justin admits lowly, gazing at his girlfriend for a mere moment before going back to the task at hand. "But I understand if it's too hard for you, and if you want me to go, I'll go. Forever, this time."
Grace shuts her eyes tight, gulping down the bile that she feels coming up her throat at the thought of Justin leaving for the third time and permanently.
"You said that before." Jess reminds him.
"I... I tried to go away. I tried to forget about Grace and about what I've done to you. I tried so fucking hard." Justin's eyes start to water while he begins to explain what he's been feeling for months. "But I can't stop thinking about it."
"Yeah, I think about you too." Jess swallows, although taking his sudden revelation to her as a romantic one. "About how I wish you were dead."
Justin takes a step back at the harsh verbal blow, nodding his head as he thickly swallows, understanding her point while feeling hurt from it. "I'm sorry." He whimpers, breaking Grace's heart further. "I didn't mean to hurt you more."
Justin then turns to Grace, grabbing her cheeks in his hands and placing a long and loving kiss on her forehead. She lets him, even though she hasn't fully forgiven him from the day before. And by the look in his eyes, he's aware.
After that, he steps away from her and turns around, tensing up as he meets the eyes of the boy who started all of his problems. "You." He almost growls, looking at the face of Bryce Walker.
The Walker boy doesn't say anything, he stares at Justin with a stoic expression on his face. Even if he was to say something to him, he wouldn't be able to as Justin suddenly collapses to the ground, falling under unconsciousness.
"Justin!" Grace shrieks, crouching down on the floor next to his unmoving body. She shakes him not so gently, not gaining a response.
Clay and Tony run to them, placing themselves down, the former beginning to panic, "We've got to get him back to our house."
"No, I can't do this anymore, okay?" Tony shakes his head. "I'm out."
"So, you're just going to abandon us when we need you, Tony?" Grace spits out cruelly. "I thought you were supposed to be the loyal one."
"We got to get him out of here." He sighs.
The trio begin to help Justin up, who is now gaining some consciousness back. He's able to help himself stand on his own two feet.
"Come on, J. You can do this." Grace encourages, helping to drag him out of the cafeteria while all eyes watch them depart.
***
Grace sniffs as she cuddles Justin, who is laying on top of Clay's bed. Not only five minutes of being home, Clay had left to go to court to listen to Zach testimony, so that left Grace to look after Justin.
"Don't you ever do that to me again, Justin." Grace warns him lightly, placing a hand in his cheek, stopping him from continuing to read the comic book.
Justin raises an eyebrow with a small grin, "What? The leaving or the fainting?"
A giggle escapes her mouth, "Both."
A sound of glass smashing downstairs results in Grace gasping, jumping up from her position to check Clay's window, seeing no one in sight.
Her body swings back to Justin, watching his fearful expression, "What do we do?" She rushes out desperately.
Justin instantly goes into protective mode, grabbing her hand and shoving them both into Clay's closet, just as the intruder opens the bedroom door. Grace is trapped, her front of her body pressed up against Justin as his hand places on her mouth, silencing her.
From the small gap in the doorway, Justin manages to see the intruder stumble his way around the room, looking for something. Seeing nothing in the draws, Justin watches as the man goes through his bag.
"Clay, are you home?" Matt Jensen's voice is heard from downstairs, startling the criminal and he quickly makes a head to the window, quickly getting out and running away.
As soon as he's gone, Justin rushes out of the closet by himself, and runs to the window, realising the man is long gone.
"What the hell?" Matt screams from behind him, causing Grace to slam the closet door open to reveal herself. She freezes as she notices her dad holding a bat.
"Aah! It wasn't me!" Justin shrieks, holding his hands up in surrender. Grace steps in front of him protectively.
"Who the hell are you?" Matt questions loudly, still not releasing the bat. His eyes switch to his daughter, "Grace?"
"Dad, this is Justin... my boyfriend."
***
The silence in the living room is deafening. Waiting for Clay to come home is utterly painful. Grace sits on the couch next to Justin, avoiding her parent's deadly looks while Justin fiddles with his hands, waiting for time to pass. When Grace introduced Justin to her dad, he immediately picked up his phone to call Lainey.
To say that both parents were pissed would not be an exaggeration.
When Clay finally gets home, Grace lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that she won't be the only one getting yelled at today. Yes, Justin was staying there, but he was just an innocent bystander in all of this.
Clay enters the living room and all eyes go to him, "Oh, shit." He curses to himself with a loud sigh. He then walks over and slumps next to Grace in defeat.
"So, who would like to explain to us what is going on here?" Lainey speaks up from the silence, glancing at the three apologetic teenagers in front of her.
"Look, I was just trying to help Hannah's case." Clay begins to explain to her. "Grace didn't even know he was here until a couple of days ago."
"By hiding Justin here?" Lainey enquires, scoffing. "In the home of a lawyer whose firm is trying the case? Do you have any idea how that could look?"
Matt sighs, speaking to Lainey in a low tone, "It's not just appearances we're worried about."
"Matt, I'm an officer of the court. Justin failed to respond to his subpoena. He's in contempt." Lainey says aggressively.
Justin doesn't say anything, he stares at the table blankly. Grace grabs a hold of his hand that's next to hers, squeezing it and staying silent. The action doesn't go unnoticed by Matt and Lainey.
"I was hiding him here because I didn't have any other options, okay?" Clay defends his actions, lifting his hands in the air desperately.
"What about the option of coming to talk to us like we promised?" Matt asks.
"Can I just say that I did not agree to that." Grace speaks up for the first time, faltering at her parent's glares. "Okay, I'll shut up."
Justin thickly swallows before deciding to intervene, "I had nowhere to go. That's why he had no other options." He leans forward, taking his hand out of Grace's to explain further. "My mom is a junkie. And her boyfriend is... a dealer and not a very nice guy."
"More like a total asshole." Grace cuts in.
"I knew that he wouldn't take me back. Clay and Tony, they found me..." He continues, turning to glance at Clay, "...and saved me. He didn't tell you guys because I was too ashamed for anyone to know."
Lainey and Matt both look at the young boy in sadly but warmly.
It is then in that moment that Justin lets out a cough, Clay blurts out a lie hurriedly, "And he's sick with the flu, which is why we were waiting for him to testify."
"You can stay as long as you need, Justin." Lainey smiles at him kindly. "But I will need to report you being back to the lawyers. I'm sorry, it's the law."
Justin nods understandably, "That's okay. I understand. Thank you, Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Jensen."
Grace smiles, thinking that the situation is done with, but Lainey has other plans, turning to her. "Grace, I don't believe that you didn't know about this. You haven't been telling us things for a long time and you're not yourself anymore."
Grace begins chuckling humourlessly, "And what is myself exactly? You don't know me. You hardly speak one word to me each day and only focus on Clay, even he's noticed it."
"We don't only focus on—"
"Yes, you do!" She cries out, scoffing. "You do it all the damn time. Whenever I do anything remotely good, you're never proud of me and when I speak, you tell me to be quiet, so don't sit there and act like you know and love me because we both know that's a lie."
Justin looks at his girlfriend with pride, finding her bravery at standing up against her parents admiring. She knew what her relationship is like with her parents. She's told him all about it and he finds it sad how the parents can only focus and love one child.
Lainey looks down in sadness, trying to find a way to explain, "It's not like that, Grace, you're our daughter and we love you."
"Then why do you treat me like crap?" Grace demands of her, almost desperately.
"I've never experienced a love from a mother, my mother was always blunt and cruel, and I suppose after having a girl like she did, I thought that I would become the same, so I tried to ignore you rather that acknowledge it."
After hearing her mother's confession, Grace can at least find some sort of peace, knowing that it was not her fault after years of believing it was.
"But..." Lainey continues tearfully, "I would like a second chance and be that mother for you, properly this time, if you'll let me."
Grace is silent for a few moments, the rest of the family and Justin anticipating her response. "I guess I... can try and forgive you."
Lainey nods and brings the girl into a hug, which seems like the first time in forever for the both of them. Grace stills in her hold but inevitably places her arms around her, reciprocating the hug while everyone else smiles at the action.
"Now, who's hungry?" Matt questions with a clap, breaking the girls out of their hug.
"Me!" The three kids speak up together.
***
Grace enters Clay's room to wait for Justin, who's in the shower. As she walks in, Clay has his hands in his hair and he sighs loudly.
"How are you feeling, now that you know Zach and Hannah slept together?" She asks cautiously, not wanting to rile him up tonight. She's already gone through so many emotions, nervousness about her parents finding Justin, fear that they would send him away, sadness and anger about finally finding out why her mother and her were the way she was.
"I don't know." He answers honestly. "I just keep thinking... that if we were in Evergreen that summer, would it have been me?"
"It's not good to focus on the what if's. It didn't happen and you need to stop torturing yourself over the fact that it didn't and you couldn't help her." Grace counters, taking a seat on the bed.
The door opens again, Justin walking in and seeing their sad expressions, "I'm guessing that you're thinking about Zach."
"What? No." Clay is quick to respond.
"Yes." Grace corrects.
Justin chuckles, "I read that stupid blog."
Clay then sighs again, rushing out his words, "I have to tell hundreds of people tomorrow what I loved about Hannah, and all I can think about is how she lost her virginity to Zach." He pauses to let out a scoff, "I mean, Zach. And then, like, a month later, she hooked up with me, and then she freaked out. But she didn't freak out when she hooked up with Zach? I mean..."
"Well, that was a lot." Grace comments.
"What the fuck are you saying, Jensen?" Justin asks him, bewildered. He then takes a seat on the bed by his girlfriend. "I mean, do you know how many girls i've slept with? Like a lot."
"Thanks for admitting that you've been with practically the whole female population in Evergreen, Justin." Grace remarks, rolling her eyes. "Way to make a girl feel special."
"Sorry." Justin grins cheekily, planting a kiss on her cheek. "You can't blame me for my past play boy moves, baby. I guess you were my salvation."
"You're so corny." Grace laughs.
"Wait, you've slept together?" Clay booms out, catching the most important part of the conversation.
"No." Justin and Grace reply simultaneously, making Clay calm down and relax in his seat.
"Anyways, that classifies me as, like, a player or something and... my best friends used to think I was the fucking best." Justin adds, putting his socks on. "Hannah, she sleeps with one guy. She has a crush on another guy, being me, and she kisses a third, being you. And it's whatever, it's all fine, right? All of a sudden, she's a slut? All of a sudden, you don't know who she is?"
Understanding his point, Clay groans, leaning back into his chair.
"You're a dumbass." Justin states.
"I'm not a dumbass." Clay responds heatedly.
"You're dumb. You're an ass." Justin says slowly and then shrugs his shoulders with raised eyebrows. "Dumbass."
Meanwhile, Grace stares at the two with a sweet smile, finding their bromance utterly adorable.
"I'm not the dumbass who got locked out of the house today." Clay fires back, Grace and Justin looking at each other wearily.
"He didn't get locked out of the house, Clay. Someone broke in before dad came home. We couldn't see who it was though." Grace tells him.
"What the fuck?"
"I mean, who the fuck have you pissed off lately?" Justin questions dryly.
A lightbulb goes off in Grace's head. "Bryce. It has to be. You did confront him about him raping Hannah and plus... you did punch him."
"Did he leave anything, or did he take anything?"
Grace watches Justin as he aggressively takes everything out of his bag. She knows that the intruder has taken something just by his reaction.
Clay is too preoccupied in searching through his draws so Grace takes a step towards Justin, "What did he take?" She whispers.
"A gun." He gulps and Grace's eyes widen.