Forge Of Grace

V

At the moment Jennifer was in English class, the only class with none of her friends.

She was very happy about everything that happened last night and her mind was going nuts.

Billy had asked if she was free tonight but Robin had invited her to the Drive-In with him and his uncle.

Billy Showalter.

Her best friend.

This guy hadn't ever made her feel small or weird.

Meeting in the sixth grade, the two 12 year olds at the time had clicked instantly.

Billy was scared of her, everyone was, but when her knuckles were bleeding from a fight he gave her some of his gauze wraps.

Although he was so awkward, she was very grateful for him and the two have been inseparable ever since then.

flashback

Jennifer walks up to the front steps of the house and knocks gently.

Billy Showalter opens the door. "Jenni? What're you doing here? Are you okay"

"my- um my parents are fighting can I... can I stay here for the night?" She asked feeling bad for intruding in on billy's night, but she didn't have anywhere else to go.

Robin was with his uncle, Finney had a baseball tryout, and so was Bruce.

"Oh yeah of course!" he said without any hesitation.

Her face lit up

"Oh Gosh thank you so much billy!" She smiled at him as he led her into the house.

"JJ, you're always welcome here... I'm starting to think my mom likes you better than me..." He said playfully as both of them laughed.

End of Flashback

"Ms. Jones!" Her teacher snapped at her, taking her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Mrs. Henderson?" She said in a "i don't give a fuck" tone.

"I asked you a question... Do you think that the author displayed the protagonists' feelings well in the scene or do you believe it could have been portrayed better?" Her teacher asked not knowing that JJ would respond.

"Yes I do, considering the protagonist doesn't talk about his feelings too much it did display his feelings in a good way matching the character" She said feeling lucky that Griffin made her read this book last year because he thought she'd like it.

Griffin was right, it was a good book.

"Oh... thank you Ms. Jones, but please... no spacing out during my class"

"Sorry m'am" She said before going back to her thoughts.

Her mind slowly drifted to Griffin.

The small 12 year old was nothing, but a sweet kid and they had grown close over the course of their year and a half long friendship.

They had met a while ago when people were picking on Griffin and JJ being the- well, being JJ stood up for him.

They had already landed a few punches on him, but once they heard Jennifer Jones yelling at them to knock it off and to pick on someone their own size?

Boy she'd never seen anyone run so fast.

Griffin thanked her and she helped him get cleaned up at her place.

From there on out she always looked out for him and created a close bond between them.

Big sister - little brother

The school day finally ended with her not seeing Robin once.

Then she found out that Robin went home early, she assumed his uncle was here and took him out of school for some fun.

She was right.

She couldn't wait to go home, lay in her bed, eat food, but she dreaded the fact that her father would be home.

She arrived home quietly and noticed her father was nowhere to be seen.

He probably went to the store to get more beer, while her mother worked another late shift.

She ran upstairs to her room and started on her homework and after a while her stomach growled.

This was her excuse to go out to the grab and go, and get some snacks.

Nobody is here to stop her, not like they'd care anyways.

She was almost certain that if she were to go missing and unexpectedly die, nobody would care.

But then again, she has Griffin, Bruce, Vance, Finney, Billy, and especially Robin who'd care.

She got her shoes on and grabbed some money from her secret stash between her bedding and bed frame and walked out the door.

On her way there she had the feeling that she was being watched.

As if a set of eyes were following her, but after looking around and seeing there was nothing, her worries settled.

If only she knew... how wrong she was.