down bad || jj maybank

chapter three

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'everything comes out, teenage petulance.'

hurricane agatha was fast approaching on kildare island, forcing all the residents to abandon their summers plans for storm prep. since her family had plenty of staff hired to prepare for the storm, gracie decided to go see if any of her friends needed a helping hand.

after having breakfast, she got into her red volkswagen beetle convertible and drove down to the cut, with the top down of course. she decided to check in at pope's first, so she drove to heyward's while listening to blondie.

when she arrived, she spotted pope leaning against a wall.

"hey pope!" she smiled, as she got out of her car.

"hi gracie!" pope replied, walking towards her.

"is your dad here?" she asked.

"no, he went to get more sandbags, he should be back soon though." he said.

"oh okay." gracie replied. "what are you doing?"

"i'm waiting for him to get back, what are you doing?" pope said, sarcastically.

"same thing." gracie laughed.

the pair chatted for a while, mostly about colleges and pope's goal of getting a merit scholarship. finally, heyward's truck pulled in, filled with sandbags. he got out of the truck and was about to get his son's attention, when he noticed gracie standing there. his face lit up a little and a small smile pulled at his lips. she often had that effect on people.

"gracie! what can we for you?" heyward asked.

"nothing actually. i was wondering if you needed help with storm prep?" gracie replied, with a hopeful smile on her face.

"sure, could you check if the windows are all secure? just give the bars a good pull." heyward suggested.

"sure thing." gracie smiled, skipping off to the nearest window.

"thank you, sweetie!" heyward yelled after her.

she began pulling on the metal cages over the windows, to make sure they were secured. in the mean time, pope and heyward began unloading the sandbags from the truck. she found one that was loose and tied her bracelet on it so she wouldn't forget which one it was.

"gracie, help me!" pope suddenly yelled, from behind her. she turned around to see him practically wrestling with a sandbag, trying not to drop it. she quickly ran over and helped him grab it.

"you don't wanna drop that on your foot, huh?" she laughed.

she ended up just taking the sandbag from him so that he could have a break, while heyward laughed a little.

"how can you lift that and i can't?" pope asked.

"i go to the gym with topper and rafe." gracie replied, while pope rolled his eyes playfully.

"of course you do." he sighed.

"don't be embarrassed sweetie, i'm sure you're great at lots of other things!" gracie joked, making heyward laugh, while pope pretended to sulk against the wall.