Gracie

Chapter 26 - Zachary

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Liam's POV:

Monday morning soon arrived. Gracie's first day back at school. I knew Gracie couldn't wait. She loved being at school, it was her saviour while living with her parents. I also hoped being back at school she would resolve things with Zachary.

My alarm went off at 6:30am I went to get up and cook Gracie a nice healthy breakfast to get the day started. As I entered the kitchen I was greeted with a very smiley Gracie. She was dressed in her uniform waiting at the breakfast table.

"Morning dad!" She almost sang.

Pancakes, strawberries and a nice glass of fresh orange juice went down Gracie nicely. She was so excited to get back to school, she made it clear to me. She talked my head off over breakfast, I was glad to send her to grab her bag for a breather.

Niall was tagging along with us to school. He said he wanted to see Gracie at her happiest. We hadn't even pulled up and Gracie had the door open, Niall screamed

"DROP AND ROLL PRINCESS!"

"What, wait! No Gracie close the door, wait till I've stopped and turned the engine off"

She did as she was told and sat patiently waiting for me to park up. Okay I may have taken longer than needed, but the smile on Gracie's face was amazing, I loved it and wanted to just be in the presence of it for a little longer.

"Bye dad, see you at 5pm"

It was around 10 am, I was doing some laundry when the door bell buzzed. Running to the intercom I asked who it was, I was absolutely stunned when young Zachary spoke.

I buzzed him in immediately, obviously I was curious why he was out of school, but I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. I opened the door to Zachary and straight away Zachary shoved a box at me and said

"Give this to Gracie, she's safe now"

What the hell was he on about, I had no idea. He walked away hastily, so I placed the box down and ran after him, as I started to close the gap between us he gained more speed. I caught up with him, as I grabbed hold of his T-Shirt it ripped away from his body. What was revealed was shocking, it something I would not have expect to see on a 15 year old lad.

"GRACIE"

In bold writing tattooed on his left collarbone. The minute I saw it, Zachary's hard set face softened, it was like he almost became shy.

"Gracie meant the world to me, but I had to lose her, I had to because of him."

Before I could say anything he had turned on his heels and was running. I wanted to run after him, but I was to caught up in what he had previously said.

I headed back into the house, picking the box along the way. I placed it to the table. When I opened it I was amazed. It was full of many various items, from charm bracelets and necklaces (which clearly weren't cheap), to sentimental items like a Lion King mug. I remained seated in silence wondering what it all was.

Everything Zachary had said and the box of items ran though out my head all day until the front door opened and in waltz Niall, Zayn and a very happy Gracie. She ran up to me and jumped in to my arms like a little monkey.