Grace.

Chapter 35.

Whenever Ria was in a bad mood, I'd worry. I didn't want her to go back to being depressed again. I know, I know. It was out of my control. But I acted as though it was. I always made sure that I'd cheer her up or at least be her happy place. It was my mission. I hated seeing her laying on her bed for long hours with little to no sign of life in her. No, she wasn't dead or suicidal, but it seemed that way. Those days really scared me.
Little did I know that I'd be the one to take her back to that state.
I woke up a bit later than usual the following morning. Everyone else was already downstairs having breakfast. I hated being late for the most important meal of the day!
"There she is! My superhero!" Papá cheered.
"Our superhero," Mamá corrected.
"Good morning, everyone. Dad, we spoke about you calling me a superhero," I contended, politely, dishing up some yogurt.
"Querida, you are a superstar! A phenomenal young woman! A-"
"Don't say it! Please," I winced.
"A princess. I was going to say that."
Me and mamá laughed but Gloria kept a straight face, her focus on the bowl of food in front of her. She must've been tired from all the studying.
"Mamá?"
"Yes, mi amor?" She replied.
"Would you please buy me a dress?" I asked.
"What for?"
"Homecoming."
"Didn't you say you'd get a dress from me?" Ria finally spoke.
"I did but things have changed," I explained.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! You got a date?! Cariño, she got a date! I told you! Didn't I say? I knew it! I'm the happiest man in the world!"
Yeah, dad had his...moments.
"Why are you so excited?" I chuckled.
"I've dreamt of this moment. Who is he? What's his name? What's the four one-one?" He fished.
"Four...one-one? I don't know what that is, Papá. But anyway, his name is Ethan, and he's...a friend," I revealed.
"You're going to Homecoming with Ethan?" Ria quizzed.
"So, do you like him?" Dad cut in, a huge grin on his face.
"I do not. I- I don't. Ethan's a friend," I sighed.
"You know what? I need to call Marisol. She and her son, Miguel, need to come over for a visit," Mom said.
"What for?" Dad asked her.
"I honestly think he'd be perfect for Grace. He's intelligent, humble, and a very good-looking young man."
"What?!" Both Ria and I cried out.
"Raquel, are you serious?" Dad choked.
"Mija, I'm not forcing you. I just want you to know that you've got better options," she reasoned.
I took a deep breath in. I wasn't angry, I was...not in the mood to entertain that. I knew Miguel. He was probably in his third or final year in college. He was studying some fancy course, I don't remember what it was. Miguel Ortiz was very put together and very traditional. Simply put, Miguel Ortiz was not my type.
"I don't like Miguel in that way, Mamá. Even if you call them over, they'd end up hating you because I will not entertain him. Just so you know. I know what I want, okay? Trust me. I'm good," I calmly clarified.
"Thank god! Listen, mija, I fully support you. And this Ethan, he sounds like a nice boy. When are we meeting him?" Dad encouraged.
"What for?" The fork almost stabbed my tongue! Why'd he wanna meet Ethan?
"Do you honestly think I'd let you off at night with some boy I don't know?"
"I honestly don't think there's a need for that. I can show you guys his pictures! Ethan and I aren't like that. Him meeting you guys just doesn't sit right with me," I disagreed.
"Wow, you sure are making it a point to emphasize that Ethan is just a friend. Why? Is there someone else you've got your eye on?" Gloria quizzed.
I must've gulped so loudly. All eyes were on me, and dad's huge grin had made a comeback.
"That is it, Gloria! She's into someone. It makes so much sense now!" Dad added.
"W-what makes sense?" I fretted.
"You've practically been floating lately," he said.
"You're seeing things," I dismissed.
"Grace Nora Hills, you're my daughter, and I'm your father. No one knows you like I do. You're in love," he assumed.
Yes, I liked Edgar. But...I wouldn't say I was in love, yet. Let's just say I was leaving room for disappointment. It's not that I didn't trust him, I did. What I was most afraid of was how everyone else would react. They were never going to approve so easily.
"No, I am not," I lied. "Don't you need to have someone in your life in order to be in love with them? Guys, I'm still single," I chuckled.
And that's when Gloria dropped her spoon on the table and got up so abruptly, the chair almost fell over!
"Querida. Where are you off to? You haven't finished your food," Mom worried.
"I uh, I have to send an email to someone, urgently. I forgot to do it last night."
And with that, she rushed off. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It must've been Daniel. But what exactly, I wasn't sure.
It was a Thursday, and it was also my turn to host our session. My parents didn't know that my friends and I would drink alcohol up in my room whenever they came over. They'd kill me if they did! Gloria knew but she never allowed us to drink excessively. I also made sure to have the best snacks. Tasty but nutritional. They hated it, but thanked me later.
After a long miserable day, they arrived at my house for our session. The boys weren't there this time. Bebe was the last to arrive. She found the others in my room: Lucy was stretched out on top of my bed. Naomi was sitting on a cushion on the floor quiet and lost in her drink. Donna was setting up the rest of the stuff and I was downstairs preparing snacks. When I walked in with the food, Lucy jumped up from the bed and joined us on the floor.
"Grace and I had an interesting conversation the other day," Donna started, throwing a chip in her mouth.
"We did? I- about what?" I asked.
"College."
"What about college?" Lucy chewed.
"It's the first time in so many years that we'll be separated," I disclosed.
"Separated? We aren't separating. What are you talking about?" Lucy worried. She gave a nervous laugh and we all looked at her.
"Well, we aren't going to the same college, are we?" Naomi asked.
"If we were all going to study the same thing maybe," I added.
"What? So, wait, this is our last year together?" Lucy clarified.
"Yeah, Luce. What were you thinking?" Brooke asked.
"But how? What's this separation thing? We never separate!"
We suddenly realized that Lucy was actually being serious and us telling her that we won't be together next year wasn't sitting well with her.
"Wait, Lucy? Aren't you going to study business? I'm going into Science. Mimi is looking into going to Art school. Brooke-"
"Caleb and I are taking a gap year. We're planning on going out of town for a few months. Caleb's uncle lives in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. We'll probably go out to visit him. You know? Explore a bit."
"See? And Donny-"
"I'm working on it but I'm definitely going to be schooling next year."
"We all want different things, Lucy."
"And unfortunately we can't get these things if we stay together," Naomi added.
Lucy nodded her head, took a glass of wine and gulped it down.
"Are you okay? I mean it's a hard pill to swallow but that's why Grace and I spoke about how even though this is the case, we could still find time to be together," Donna declared.
"Yeah. Like having two sessions. Seeing each other after classes."
"On days when we don't have classes."
"I get it," Lucy said in a low voice. She lowered the glass and sighed. "It's just that I, you guys are all that I have."
Her words cut deep, like a sharp, cold breeze that tears through your clothing. The silence in the room grew louder by the second. None of us were expecting her to admit that. Her face was fixed on the floor and the rest of us kept staring at everything besides each other.
I was the one to break the awkward silence. I moved from where I was sitting and knelt in front of Lucy. I took both her hands in mine and Lucy's head shot up.
"Remember when we were eight and we decided to teach each other how to swim?" I reminded her.
A smile slowly broke across Lucy's face. "You teach me how to swim, and I'll teach you how to bake. That was the deal," she chuckled.
"Our deal. These ones weren't interested," I laughed.
Donna moved in closer too, "Or that one time I stole your bike," she giggled.
"And rode it straight into the damn bush!" Luce added, a frown on her face.
"Your tantrum was the icing on the cake," Bebe laughed as she moved in closer as well.
"But you know what?" Naomi began. "We would have never been as awesome as we are today if it wasn't for you."
"We've all played an important role in this friendship," she smiled.
"That's true," said Brooke.
"Can you guys believe it? It's been twelve years!" I exclaimed.
"Honestly the best twelve years of my life," Donna smiled to herself.
We all smiled and then motioned in together for a group hug. It felt so nice. I tried to hold back the tears but failed. Lucy and Mimi cried too. It felt like it was just yesterday when we all first met. A bunch of kids who were just playing around and met each other. From the first day till right now, for twelve years straight. That's a really long time. Can you imagine the hours, minutes and seconds we'd spent having each other in our lives?
Going from experiencing our first injuries together, to going through puberty together. Helping each other buy the right bras, getting the right sanitary pads for that time of the month. Developing feelings for other people. Falling in love. Discovering our true selves (Donna's sexuality), dealing with heartbreak, the thrill of losing their virginities, and not forgetting the fights, the tears, first time alcohol experience and the drugs.
It's been such an emotional roller coaster ride. One I wouldn't have chosen to be on with anyone other than those girls. I couldn't have done it with any other group. They were my girls. No matter what we went through, they were my girls.
We pulled away sniffing and giggling through the tears. After a while, we got back to drinking and after a few drinks we were laughing our lungs out from all the silly conversations we had. When I heard a car pull up in the front, I had to end the party. Quickly, we got rid of all the beer bottles before my mom came upstairs to my room.
"Brooke, don't talk too much. My mom will see that you're drunk," I begged.
We quietly went downstairs and my parents were in the kitchen. Dad was having a glass of water and mom was reading some letters.
"¡Buenas tardes!" I greeted.
Lucy tripped behind me and I quickly held her before she fell.
"Hola, oh! It's a full house!" Dad answered.
"We were just chilling up in my room. How are you guys?"
"Good afternoon, Dr. Hills." My friends greeted.
Dr. Hills was dad and Mrs. Hills was my mom. They didn't know how to greet both of them using the title 'Doctor'. I found it funny.
"Are you girls staying for dinner?" Mom asked them.
"No, no, Mrs. Hills. It's getting late. But we'd love to join some other day!" Mimi replied.
"Of course! We'd love to have all of you over. Do you guys have transport to go home?"
"Yes, Dr. Hills. Donna's going to take us," Lucy replied.
"Ah, okay. All right, you girls drive safely," Dad worried.
"They will, Papá. I'll see you guys tomorrow at school, okay?"
We hugged goodbye and they walked out. I had already done my chores so I decided to help my mom cook and get a few tips and tricks from her, so that Gloria would stop teasing me about being a bad cook. When I walked into the kitchen mom gave me a warm hug.
"What's that for?" I smiled.
"Do I need a reason to be affectionate with my kids? As a mother?"
"No. Which is why I'm here to help you cook. To show my affection for you," I winked.
Dad laughed, took his bag and walked out of the kitchen.