“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.”
~Shauna Niequist
A whole week passed by, and it was Friday.
Grace had been completely occupied by her new friend Ryan, but Shawn never left her mind.
He was nowhere to be seen and no one felt his absence, except for the one who slowly became saddened by this fact.
He missed a whole week of classes, he missed a whole week that he could've used to finish his art project.
She missed him, so, so much.
She walked into her homeroom, her teacher repeating her usual greeting.
"Good morning class, I'm glad to see you're all here." Her eyes didn't even roam around the heads of her pupils, mainly because she was tired of it.
Everyday was the same thing over and over again.
But they weren't all present, were they?
Grace instinctively turned her head 'round to look at Shawn's seat, like she had been doing for the past week.
Deep, intimidating chestnut brown eyes met hers, releasing a herd of butterflies loose in her stomach.
A shy, happy grin rose her cheeks high in the air.
She really wasn't expecting him to be there, and she definitely wasn't expecting him to be looking right at her.
A sharp-edged smirk was sent her way.
Of course she missed him. The feeling was, mutual.
The bell rang, but Grace didn't head for the door. Her attention was on the male, standing slowly at the back of the class.
She made her way through her peers, moving and shoving them out of her way.
Move!
She got to him and halted right in front of him, but his eyes were over her head.
He was looking at someone else, and somewhere deep inside Grace, she knew it was Ken.
She turned to glare at Ken, who backed away and left immediately their eyes met.
"You missed me?" His voice came out low and dangerous, dangerous in way that sent pleasant tremors down her spine.
She turned around again, their proximity to each other was a distance as close to none.
"Nope!" She declared loudly, inhailing his scent as her new oxygen.
"Sure." He smiled a ghost of a smile, turning her around and leading her to the class that they were already late for.
They walked close to each other, their upper arms brushing against the other.
They entered the class room, finding everyone doing as they pleased.
Mr Sentinel was late, which rarely ever happened.
Grace and Shawn sat beside each other, without getting attention from anyone at all.
"I'm sure you were bored without me." Grace sat beside Shawn, an involentary bitter tone behind her words.
Shawn grimaced at Grace's tone, feeling guilty for leaving Grace without even much of a goodbye.
After the kiss he had bolted away, he even left his hoodie at her place.
He realised that he shouldn't have done that, and it disturbed him to think that she might have been hurt by his actions.
Attachments, attachments did that to people.
He didn't know why he cared so much, or why he even bothered with the girl.
But he cared, and somehow she became his responsibility- his top priority.
Mr Sentinel rushed into the class room, his tie crooked and his hair was a wild mess.
That wasn't just ordinary bed hair, no it wasn't. He prayed that his students wouldn't notice, but they did, they definitely did.
Smirks carved on the lips of his pupils, dammit.
"Not a peep from any of you." He glared at the mischievous devils.
Why did they all look at him like that, like he was one of them?
He sighed then placed his office bag on his table, running his fingers through his unruly hair. "Do whatever you want, you little devils."
The class roared with excitement, students turning to their friends to begin their meaningless chatter.
"Thanks for the car, by the way. It was sweet of you." She smiled at him, instantly changing the tense atmosphere between them.
"I'm not sweet." He spared her a brief smile, that eventually turned into a smirk.
"No, definitely not." She rolled her eyes at him. "What abouy your art project? We're going there now y'know and it's due today."
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it." He placed his index finger on her forehead, staring into her obsidian onyx orbs.
They continued to talk about nonsesense, while most of their conversation was them just arguing about things that none really cared about.
The bell rang, swarms of students buzzing out of their class rooms.
Shawn took his bag along with Grace's bag, being gentlemanly to the princess that stared wide-eyed at him.
"Close your mouth and walk with me." He smirked, the girl having her mouth slightly agape.
She then scurried his way, hooking his elbow with hers and placing her hand on his lower arm.
The two young teens got into the class room and sat on their seats, Shawn remembering to go to the storeroom to fetch his painting.
He brought it back out and placed it on his canvas stand.
Shawn took a look at Grace's painting, finding the cutest mosquito- aside from Grace- that he had ever seen, painted by what smelt like coffee in the middle of an ace of spades.
"You hate coffee." He pointed out, failing at holding back his smile.
"No sugar, no milk. Just how you like it." She stared at the painting, smiling a thoughtful smile at it.
"Cute mosquito." He nodded his head, uncovering his painting to reveal his masterpiece.
"When am I not?" She snorted, a grin stretching out her smile.
"Okay class! Time to grade your paintings." Announced the abnormally loud and cheerful teacher.
She walked over to Grace, inspecting her painting with an open mind. "That's unique, wonderful. What's the inspiration behind your painting?"
"It's silly really. They are my nicknames, Mosquito and Ace." She grinned sheepishly, the teacher understanding immediately what her grin meant.
"Ah. Lucky you." She winked then moved over to Shawn who sat left from Grace. "Oh, now isn't that pretty."
Grace looked over at Shawn's painting, stunned by its artsy brilliance.
It was an angel against a red background, with skin of literal dripping honey. Waves of red silk covered her perfectly curved figure, although they looked as though they were about to slip off.
Her face was abstract and hair was voluptuous- a shimmering black, defying gravity with all it bouncy glory. Her wings were jet black and looked soft to the touch.
She laid on a white, fluffy cloud, looking at something that was in her hands. Her hands were cupped together, and in them was a beautiful black rose. The rose looked delicate and cearfully plucked, treated with absolute tenderness.
When did he get the time to do that? She asked herself.
"What could've inspired such a marvelous painting?" The teacher inquired from the young lad, briefly looking at Grace before turning back to the boy's painting.
"She's just been invaiding my thoughts. She's a nuisance, to say the least." His eyes were on Grace the whole time he spoke to the teacher, Grace staring back at him.
Is he talking about me?
She bit down hard on her lip, eyebrows arched as she sent him a questioning look.
"Aw, lovely. She sounds as annoying as a mosquito." The teacher said carelessly, both of them graded with an A+.
They truly painted something that inspired them, and that was the whole point behind their paintings.
Even she could tell that there was something going on between them.
"Is that supposed to be me?" She asked him, narrowing her perfectly rounded onyx eyes at him.
"In a sense, maybe." He had an unreadable expression on his face, and his shrug didn't help her in deciphering it.
Exactly what was going on in that mind of his?
"I guess you missed me more than I thought you did." She smirked at him, leaning back against her chair.
He lifted his shoulders and let them fall back to their original position- shrugging. "Believe what you want."
They bothed turned to face the front of the class, neither of them making anymore eye contact.
"Hey, do you speak Italian fluently?" The curious girl questioned, remembering his Italian heritage.
"What kind of Mafia Prince would I be if I didn't?" He smirked at her, giving her a quick side glance.
She nodded her head once, trapping her mind in a whirlwind of thoughts.
She looked absolutely cute when she was thinking- according to Shawn.
She did this thing, were she would completely stop blinking and would gently nibble on her bottom lip.
Those perfect red voluptuous lips. He wanted to taste them again, was that weird?
He admittedly missed the taste of blueberries, especially coming from her lips.
Which reminded him...
Break time, he pulled out a packet of blueberries, smiling as Grace's mouth began to water.
"Blueberries." She hummed with pleasure.
He smirked then handed her a blueberry, popping one into his mouth as well.
"Yum." She took it from him and tossed it into her mouth.
"You hate blueberries." She pointed out to him as they continued on their journey to the school's roof top.
"It's blue, and a berry. Just how you like it." He shrugged, with a playful look in his eyes.
They both snickered at this.
"How about we go for a walk after school?" He suggested as they laid on the school's roof, letting the cooling breeze caress their cheeks.
"Sure."
And so they did after school, side by side, and hoodies over their head.
"Where are we going?" She asked the Mafia Prince, peering into his distant brown eyes.
He gave his usual passive shrug, his eyes still ahead of him.
Grace didn't know where Shawn was taking her, or even if it was safe, but she really didn't need to know.
Trust? Maybe.
They travelled on foot. Their school bags were in her car, the same car that they left at school.
They passed by resturants and other fast food joints, making her stomach rumble loudly in protest.
Shawn looked at her then stopped walking, making her stop too and give him a questioning look.
"Where do you want to eat?" His voice was dry, but not harsh or stern to the ears.
"What?" She jumped back a bit, embarrassed that he heard her stomach rumble.
"Let's try that place." He walked past her, his hands tucked in his pockets.
She turned and followed after him, head faced downward.
Grace's mind ran through every possible assumption of what Shawn's actions meant.
As they entered, Grace caught a glimpse of a passing shadow.
The outline of the figure looked vaguely familiar to her, someone she's met before-
"Ace." Shawn called to her, gently tugging on the sleeve of her hoodie. "What are you looking at?"
"It's- it's nothing." She shook her head, following him into the food joint.
They both ordered burgers, drinks and fries. Eventually going back for seconds when they were unsatisfied with their first meal.
After eating their bellies full, Shawn took her to the mall where she baught everything that caught her eye.
She was mad at him for making her do that, she didn't like being the only one that baught something.
She felt greedy, but she wasn't. Shawn was just spoiling her, unecessasrily spoiling her.
He bought her dresses, shoes, sweatpants, over-sized T-shirts and many other things that caught her eye.
She ended up picking out clothes for him too, he bought whatever she wanted- even if it was for him.
He also bought her a silver chained onyx tear drop pendant. "It looks good on you." He said before he bought it.
Shawn scolded himself for not going with the car due to how many things he had to carry, it wasn't really heavy but it was still a bother.
He was happy- She was happy, and that's what made everything worth it.
"Thanks Shawn, for- for everything." She smiled a sweet, small and genuine smile at him.
Said smile was sent back to her, the only difference was that his was cuter- in her opinion.
"Hn." He hummed in place of 'you're welcome'.
And in silence they walked back to their school grounds, the busy air around them being noise enough.
Her fingers curled around the black pearl that hung low on her chest.
Shawn was an awesome friend, that was for sure.
That didn't mean that she wasn't still troubled that his father was the reason her brother was behind bars.
"You know, your father's a jerk." She blurted out as they both just sat in the car, doing nothing but watch the time pass by.
He sat in the passenger's seat, his legs casually on the dash board.
"Why do you say that?" He looked her way, not at all ofended by what she had said.
"Do you know my brother's in jail because of him?" She turned in her seat so that she was facing him.
"Wait, your brother is Andre?" Grace's eyebrows shot up at the mention of her brother's name.
"Yes. How do you know him?" Asked the curious little mosquito.
"He was my brother's best friend. When he was sent to jail, my brother left and vowed never to accociate himself with my father. Huh, so you're a Grayson." Shawn anwered with bitter feelings, that were all directed towards his older brother.
"Darius was Andre's best friend? How come I didn't know about that?" Grace pouted, crossing her arms.
"You know my brother?" Shawn arched his eyebrow, surprised that the girl knew his brother's name.
"No, but I'm going to his party tomorrow." Shawn sighed, being reminded of things he didn't want to think about.
"As am I." He groaned while massaging his temples.
"You don't sound too happy about that." Grace pointed out, her thick black brow arched.
"I'm not really excited about seeing my brother again after a long seven years." Shawn admitted to her.
"And I'm not really ecxited about seeing your father, the man who couldn't even care to protect his son's bestfriend." She sat properly in her seat, glaring out of the windscreen.
"So I'm guessing that your father is the Agent that had been chasing my father since the dawn of time? For what, ten eons now? C'mon." A mocking smirk grew on his face.
"Hey! I pray my dad gets enough proof to put your disgusting father behind bars!" Grace barked fiercely, making the boy's eyes widen slightly.
In the end their meeting was a bittersweet event. Their families were rivals, and yet there they were comfortable with the other's presence.
Rival families with children that were friends, fathers that were bitter to each other while their children were sweet to each other.
"And I hope your father spends eons more trying."