'til forever falls apart | gracie abrams

1 - i met you at the right time

˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊

"I can't believe I'm letting you drag me to this stupid game," Gracie groaned, grabbing her backpack out of her locker and swinging it over her shoulder, dramatically sighing as the weight of her books hit her back.

"It is not some stupid game! You never come to any of my games and this is the regional finals! I mean, come on, Gracie, finals! The Archer volleyball team has never made it to the regional finals ever in the history of the school and I plan to win it. This is junior year after all, we're gonna be seniors next year and I'm probably going to be captain of the team, so this is a big deal to me. You have to come!" Mia whined, tugging on Gracie's arm like a lost puppy.

"Alright, alright, calm down, I already agreed! I never said I wouldn't complain, though, so you're going to have to deal with it," Gracie rolled her eyes, slipping a strip of gum out of her jeans and unwrapping it before chewing on it, "I just don't understand the appeal of indoor sports. I mean, there's barely even any running in volleyball. It looks so fucking boring."

Mia gasped, not even pretending not to be offended by her friend's comment.

"I actually cannot believe you just said that to me. I'm going to have to rethink our entire friendship now," Mia drops Gracie's arm and turns her nose up, "The fact that you think that way just shows how much you don't understand my beloved sport. And you claim you love me."

"Uh-huh. Shouldn't you be getting changed? I mean, I know it's a home game but it's almost four, Mia. I thought your coach wanted you there by three fourty-five?" Gracie commented, checking the time on her phone.

"What? Give me that," Mia asked in disbelief, grabbing Gracie's arm to look at her phone screen, "Shit. Shit! Fuck, oh my god, I'm actually so fucking fucked, holy shit!"

Gracie laughed quietly to herself as her friend's slew of curses dissipated down the hallway.

Gracie dabbled in her own fair share of sports herself, but she had never gotten truly into them the way Mia had with volleyball. She had picked up soccer to stay fit and kill time mostly, then softball for one singular season because Dimi had begged and pleaded with her to fill in the empty spot on her team. If it weren't for the helmets that were actually an abomination to society, Gracie might've stuck around for one and a half seasons.

She found solace in other things, things that didn't involve as much sweating and egos so big they made her claustrophobic. She liked baking, journaling, songwriting, basically anything she could do alone without anyone else watching her. She valued quiet solitude and the time it provided her to reflect. Of course, she loved her friends, but she loved being lonely, too.

Begrudgingly, Gracie dragged her feet to the school gymnasium with her backpack heavy on her shoulders. The only way Mia could get Gracie to agree to go watch the game was promising that she could journal instead if she got bored. Gracie would never say it to Mia's face, but she had no plans to actually watch a single second of volleyball that evening.

"Hey, didn't think you'd show," Dimi waved Gracie over as soon as she saw the tall brunette shyly appear from the gymnasium doors.

"Well, Mia pretty much threatened to egg my house if I didn't so consider the fact that this is completely against my will," Gracie sighed, sitting down in the front row of the bleachers next to Dimi and throwing her bag down in front of her.

"See, if it was anybody else, I'd say that's an empty threat but we both know that Mia means it wholeheartedly," Dimi suggests.

"And hence, I am here."