Grace

Chapter 33

Though the next few days passed quickly, we passed though them slowly in the heavy lethargy that was apparently normal to the days that seemed to float around between Christmas and New Year. I never had any idea what day it was, barely ever knew what time it was either. All I knew was that I'd probably never tire of snowball fights. We did a buffet dinner for New Year and the guards joined us once again. We were still tackling the left over meet from Christmas. Then, on the sixth of January on the day I'd normally be back at school by now, my camera crew arrived.

I kept looking out of the window for them for the ten minutes before they arrived. We didn't really speak to each other that much when they were filming, but I was excited to have them back for the day. If anything it had been slightly odd not having them around. I hadn't got to the stage where I tried to talk to them only to find them not there, but they were good people.

In the end, Ben sat on me so that I had to stay where I was. Then when they arrived he didn't let me up to answer the door. Dad got it and gestured them into the lounge we were in.

"What on earth?" Jessica asked when she came in.

"She kept getting up to look out the window," Ben said calmly and looked away from the TV. "It was driving me nuts."

"And now that they're here you can get off me, can't you?"

"I'm kind of comfy actually."

"No, you're comfortable. I'm not as apparently comfy as I might be. Get off!" I said and jabbed him in the side right where he was ticklish.

He leapt up and I used the opportunity to get up as well and walked over to give Jessica, Tony and David a hug. They were all in smarter clothes than usual and Jessica had even done her hair up a little. I didn't really get why, but whatever.

"Sorry about that," I said looking over to Ben. "Come on in, want a cuppa or anything before we start properly?"

"We only just had breakfast," Jessica said.

"Ok, well, we're just watching the last ten minutes of Carry On something or other," I said and sat back next to Ben. "We fell asleep watching it last night."

"She's never seen them before," Ben said and looked away from the TV for a moment. "It's tragic."

We fell into quietude for the last few minutes of the film and then I reached for my now cold croissant.

"So, what's going off here for today?" Jessica asked.

"I'm getting some shelving units delivered somewhere between now and five in the evening," I rolled my eyes at the inconvenience of the timings we'd been given. It was half eight in the morning. "But as soon as they get here I want to put them up. Then I can put my music collection away. Before then... dancing, I really should get started on my art homework and um... Ben?"

"I can do essays or something whilst you're painting."

"It's going to be pretty boring until the shelves arrive," I apologised.

"Not to worry," Tony said. "There's plenty of scenery to keep us entertained."

"Grace!" this morning's guard Ashley called and ducked his head in to the room. "Van's here. Oh hey, guys," he said to Jessica, Tony and David. "It's not going to get safely down the slope though so we're going to have to unload it up there and walk everything down." He looked a little uneasy. "The drive's an ice rink though."

"This could be fun," I said doubtfully. I was imagining a trip to the hospital. "Good job Mum's a doctor."

"Telling me," Dave said. "I nearly killed myself getting down it."