Talent Exchange

Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Part 1

Grace's POV:

When I woke up the next morning, there was a sharp pain that shot up my spine. Groaning, I rolled onto my side in the sleeping bag and looked down at the now empty spot. Well, I couldn't exactly call it empty since there was an empty bowl lying in the spot in the same position my body previously was. I recollected the events of last night. Our impromptu fight came into mind- that was probably how the bloody bowl ended up pressing into my back. I sat up and rubbed my back so the pain would dull. The others were still unconscious in their make-shift beds. I got out of my sleeping back and stretched my limbs and rubbed all signs of fatigue out of my eyes. Looking around the room, I realised what a pig-sty we'd turned the living-room into last night. I heaved a deep sigh and started moving all the pieces of used crockery to the kitchen. There was quite a lot of it so I had to make more than one trip. I placed them on the counter near the sink so that one of us could come back to them and load them up into the dishwasher. Once I got back to the living room, I pulled open all the curtains and let some light in. From the floor I heard a couple of groans due to the rays of sunlight hitting my friends' faces.

"Close the bloody curtains!" Ali yelled rather loudly before burying her face deep into her pillow. I just snickered and responded with a simple "nope" before running up the stairs to my room. I paused at the foot of my bed only to realise that I'd already placed my toiletries in one of the three bathrooms. It was the one that Ali and I shared together while Cait and Lauren had another and Ms Larson had one all to herself. From my cupboard I picked out my clothes for the day and then the outfit I was going to wear for the party. Last night the girls, Ms Larson and I decided that we were going to tour parts of LA before heading out to the party. None of the others were really enthusiastic about this so when I dropped the word shopping in the conversation; they all automatically lit up about the idea of walking around California. Taking advantage of the fact that my friends were still downstairs laying on their lazy arses, I hopped into the shower and took my time getting clean. What felt like 2 minutes turned out to be half an hour but I came out of the bathroom feeling sparkly clean. I had taken my clothes with me to the bathroom so I just changed in there. My outfit consisted of a knotted t-shirt with writing on it. I paired it with a navy, red and green plaid shirt that I left with the buttons undone and high waisted denim shorts that were slightly faded purposefully. I didn't think there was any sense in fixing my hair that was still in its messy bun yet so I trudged down the stairs with my converse clad feet. I completely bypassed the living room and headed straight for the kitchen for breakfast. The other three were already there, still in their pyjamas, tucking into their preferred breakfast foods. Ali was tucking into a bowl of Krave cereal- with the hazelnut chocolate filling of course. Cait went for a more traditional breakfast of toast with Nutella spread over it and Lauren, being the strange child that she is; was eating waffles. God knows where she found them. From down the hallway, I could hear the shower running which meant that Ms Larson was I her bathroom. Casting one last glance at my friends, I sighed and approached the fridge to pull out a carton of orange juice. I removed a glass from one of the higher cupboards and poured the liquid in. I took an apple out of the fruit bowl as well as a couple granola bars before sitting at the dining room table. All the others were sitting on stools at the island bit. I just didn't feel like joining them since I headache that was starting to form into a migraine.

"Gracie! What are you doing all the way over there?" Lauren asked while lowering her glass over water from her lips. I raised an eyebrow at her from where I was sitting.

"Well, I'm not moving if that's what you're insinuating." Without even waiting for a response, I turned away and yet again focused on finishing my first meal of the day. I finished eating and took another gulp of my juice and emptied its contents. I grabbed the apple and the empty glass in my hands- I placed the latter by the sink and walked out of the kitchen without even leaving my friends an explanation as to where I was going. What I was actually going to do was explore the house. Since it was quite late when we arrived, I hadn't gotten a chance to discover much of what the house had to offer other than the bedrooms and the other daily rooms one would use. As I walked down a hall, I spotted a cream coloured door. My curiosity got the better of me and my hand automatically flew onto the doorknob. I slowly turned it and lightly pushed against the door to reveal one of my favourite things in the whole world- books. It was actually a study more than a library but one of the walls was entirely made up of shelves apart from a little crevice that was in form of a sofa with storage underneath it and a few smaller shelves on one of the three walls surrounding it. When I first entered the room, I immediately knew that it would be my new safe haven. My new-found sanctuary. In the centre of the room was a plush white rug. It covered most of the wooden space and was circular in shape. My apple was currently just a core so I threw it into the bin that sat in the corner of the room closest to the door. From downstairs, I heard my name be called so I grudgingly went back down. All three of my friends were already gathered in the kitchen now dressed appropriately for going out. Ms Larson was also there with sheets of paper in her hand. As I approached her, she handed me one. Glancing down at it, I realised that the words revealed an itinerary for the day. The list consisted of the sights we were going to see, plus the timings. Riley had already texted me the address and what time the party was going to start. She said to be there by 7:30 even though it was supposed to start at 7. I would never get the whole 'fashionably late thing'. It was a weird concept to grasp.