The look on Rory, Tara, David and Connor's faces when they see Leo for the first time in a while was absolutely priceless. They wear shocked expressions, then rearrange them into wide smiles, then rearrange them again into looks of worry when they see that I've abandoned my crutches in attempt to stay closer to Leo on the way here. Rory practically squeals out, "Amanda, what are you doing?? Walking around without your crutches! What's wrong with them that you had to have Leo pretty much carry you here!" It was more of an exclamation than a question. I can feel myself blush fiercely in return. She shakes her head sadly, but I'm getting mixed reactions from her because she also has a faint smile on her face.
Tara and David, on the other hand, are gushing at the fact that Leo is here again in Willow Falls. Tara rushes up to him, embraces him in a bear hug, and tells him, "Omigosh, you're really here. I mean, technically we're all here, just in the past, but you know what I mean. Wait, do you know what I mean? Did Amanda tell you what's happening?"
Leo, whom still has my arm thrown over his shoulder so that I don't fall to the ground, answers with a smile. He turns to me as he answers her, "I managed to figure out this morning where I was, or rather when I was (considering we are in the past), but Amanda here filled me in on everything else."
Tara lets out a small sigh of relief. "That's great! I was hoping so; I didn't want to waste time here explaining to you what happened. But now that we're here, I'm not sure what Grace wants us to do."
I pipe in. "I messaged her with the notebook she gave us; she said that our mission is to make sure that past Grace doesn't conjure the incorrect spell, or that she doesn't say the spell at all."
David asks, "And is past Grace going to be saying the spell today?"
I nod, "Yeah, that's what she told me in the notebook, and since we don't know how many tries we have at this, I suggest we leave to go to the Collectibles shop now so that we can stop her."
Rory nods, face gone serious. "Alright. And we want to make sure that we have a place to go to in the evening when we need a place to sleep. I don't suggest Amanda's house, because that is where past Tara, Amanda and I are having our sleepover, and maybe not Leo's house, because that would be empty without furniture—"
Leo cuts her off. "That's not true. Remember how we always used to have extra air mattresses for when you all sleep over?" We all nod in response. "Well, we didn't want to issue to bring them along with us to Chicago, so we left them in the basement cold room for the new residents to deal with when they arrive, which is not for the next few weeks." I notice how everyone, including myself, kind of cringes at the thought of new people coming to live in the Fitzpatrick household. I try to brush the bad taste it's leaving in my mouth away, but my mind keeps thinking about another family eating in Leo's dining room, someone other than Mrs. Fitzpatrick cooking in the kitchen and little unknown children running around playing in the backyard. I don't like thinking about it, even though it's inevitable.
I suddenly call out, "Okay perfect. We have a place to go when we finish with our day. What I suggest is that we leave now, because we're wasting precious past Grace stopping time by standing here!"
And with that, we all walk out the door in a rush, Leo and I going out last. Leo helps me out the door, and as he does, he whispers into my ear, "I love it when you delegate the group." It sends trickles of chills up my spine. I smile. Up front, I see that Rory, Tara and David are losing us, with the slow pace that we're going. I turn to tell Leo that we should hurry up, but before I can utter a word, he leans forward into me and crashes his lips onto mine. Beautiful. I missed this.
A/N: you guys are inspiring me to write more; isn't this amazing?! :D
I hope you liked this chapter, even if it was a little short. I promise that the next chapter will be soon, and that the group will finally see past Grace performing the faulty spell. Will they be able to fix their troubles? I sound like I'm self-advertising lol :p
Anyways, any suggestions? Leave them in the comments!
Remember to vote, comment and keep on reading and writing!
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To Be Graceful Sequel: A Willow Falls Fanfiction
FanfictionA continuation to my first story: To Be Graceful. From Amanda's POV. All characters are created by Wendy Mass.
