Gracie

2

By the time they arrived at their school, both the girls were breathless from talking so much. Just as they stepped through the gates, the bell rang shrilly in the ear, causing both of them to wince slightly. As it was Friday, they both had an assembly in the hall, so they walked there together. Once inside the hall, they girls took a seat on the floor near the front, next a few of their other friends. They then waited for the teachers to begin the assembly.
"Ok, settle down everybody, please." The principal announced as she stepped up onto the stage. After everyone had stopped talking, she continued.
"Ok, we have some exciting news for you all. Next week we are going to be having a school ball. It will be held on Friday night, in three weeks, from 6 o'clock until 9. Everyone may dress up if they want, and the cost is fifteen dollars - as we will be providing drinks and a meal." Once she stopped, everyone began chattering excitedly. Gracie and Lacey looked at each other and grinned at each other.
"Oh yay! I love dances. This is going to be so much fun!" Lacey said, clapping her hands with a small squeal of excitement.
"I know! I hope my step dad lets me go though. You know how he is." Gracie replied, frowning slightly. Lacey's smile faltered as well, but it was back as bright as ever again after a few seconds.
"Yeah. I'm sure he will though, you'r mum will have to let you go!" Gracie smiled at her.
"Ok that's enough. I know you're all excited. Now we just have a few other announcements and then we'll let you all go to class." The principal said, clearing her throat. But by then not many people were listening. The girls both sat dreaming about the dance, and occasionally whispering to each other. By the time they were at their first class, Gracie was feeling quite confident that her mother would let her go to the dance.
The rest of the day went by in a blur for the two girls, and when the bell rang, signalling the end of school, they had decided that Lacey should go to Gracie's house to plan what they would be wearing to the ball.
"I don't know what I'm going to wear! I think I need to buy a new dress. I saw two gorgeous new ones at the dress shop down the road, for both of us. Hopefully our parents will buy us one!"
They continued talking until they reached Gracie's house, and then walked into the kitchen to get some food. Gracie's mum was I the kitchen baking. She looked up when Seth heard then, a smile on her face.
"Hello girls. How was your day? I have a cake in the oven that's nearly ready if you want some."
"It was good thanks. Yes please!" Gracie replied.
"And mum, today at school they told us that we're having a ball at school next Friday. Do you think I would be able to go? Everyone is going to be there and it would be so much fun. Please, please?" Gracie asked, practically begging her. Her mother smiled at her, but there was also a tinge of sympathy in the smile.
"I would definitely let you go darling, but your father was going to take us all down the coast for the isn't I'm sorry. You would have to ask him but I don't think he would want you not to come. He said he wants to spent some quality time with just the three of us."
"What? He not my father by the way, and I don't want to go! That's so unfair and that will be so boring! Why can't I just stay here, or go to Lacey's house for the weekend?" Gracie stomped her foot on the ground, and breathed out angrily. Just at the same moment that she breathed out, a strong breeze gusted in through the open window, causing the front door, which the girls had left open, to slam shut loudly, and the windows to rattle. Gracie looked up in surprise, wondering where the sudden wind had come from. There hadn't been a single gust of wind the whole time they had been walking home from school, and now, there was no more wind anymore. She shook her head, then looked back up at her mother, the frown reforming on her face once again.
"I don't want to go Mum! Why can't we just go another weekend! Why does it have to be this one?" Lacey was standing in the corner of the kitchen, looking slightly awkward and sympathetic for Gracie.
"I'm sorry darling, but I don't think we can. You can try asking you'r step father if you really want to, but I don't know." She said, laying emphasis on the words step father.
"Uh. Fine!" She said, and turned around to Lacey.
"Do you want to go to your house then, and I'll help you decide what to wear?"
"Oh, I don't really want to go if you won't be there. It won't be as much fun."
"No, you should go! You'll still have fun, you can just hang out with the other girls, or even Tom." Gracie said, raising her eyebrows when she mentioned a boy from school, Tom, who seemed to be talking to Lacey at school quite a lot recently. Lacey blushed and shook her head in embarrassment.
"Oh, ok. Only if you're sure you don't mind me going without you." Gracie nodded her head encouragingly, and then they both took a piece of cake, which Gracie's mum had just taken out of the oven, then walked down to Lacey's house.
Once they were in Lacey's room, they shut the door and Gracie dropped down onto Lacey's bed with a dramatic sigh.
" I can't believe I have to go camping with my evil step dad instead of going to the dance!"
"Aw, I'm sure it won't be that bad. But I wish you were coming with me too. You should still ask him I case though. Do you want to sleep over tonight?"
"Yeah that will be fun. I'll just go tell your mum to call mine. And, I'll ask him about it tomorrow." Gracie replied, then the girls spent the next hour ruffling through Lacey's closet searching for dresses, shoes and accessories. After they had decided on a complete outfit for Lacey, and had gone down to eat dinner, they lied down on Lacey's and talked into the late hours of the night.
When they woke up the next morning, exhausted from their late night, the girls took their time to get out of bed, but they finally got up around 9:30, influenced by the smell of pancakes cooking, drifting up to them from down stairs.
"This is so delicious! Thank you so much!" Gracie exclaimed to Lacey's mum, her mouth half full of pancakes. Lacey's mum smiled.
"Aw, that's alright darling." The girls were both silent for the next few minutes, devouring at least 10 pancakes between the two of them.
When they were both done, bellies feeling ready to burst, they leant back in their chairs, which squeaked slightly in protest from their extra weight.
"Thanks so much Mum! They were delicious!" Lacey said to her Mum. Then she turned to Gracie.
"Let's go up to my room." Both of the girls walked up into her room. Lacey looked at the dress they had chosen and sighed.
"I don't know about this dress. I really want to get that one from the shop down the road! What do you think?" Gracie tilted her head and looked at the dress, biting her lip thoughtfully.
"Hmm. I'm not sure. How about we ask your Mum if we could go down to the shops and have a look?" Lacey smiled and clapped her hands excitedly.
"Yes! That such a good idea! I love shopping! Come on, let's go ask her!" They both stood up and raced downstairs.
"Mu-um, well there's this dress at the shops 'round the corner, and I really want to try it on, because I really need a new dress for the ball. Could we maybe go there and have a look please?" Lacey asked, clasping her hands together, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes. Her Mum smiled and shook her head ruefully.
"Oh alright. You can go. Do you just want to ride you'r bikes down there?"
"Thank you so much Mum! Yes that's fine."
"Ok. I'll just give you a bit of money incase you want to get something to eat while you're down there. And if you do decide you want the dress, I'll go down tomorrow and buy it for you."
"Yay! Thank you so much!" Then, both of them hurriedly got changed, then raced outside to the garage. Gracie borrowed Lacey's Mum's bike, and then they both rode of to the shops.
They then spent the next hour or so looking at dresses, and then eating ice-cream. By the time they had decided on a dress for Lacey, their fingers were sticky with ice-cream, hair ruffled from the wind, and were walking back to Lacey's house, it was around lunch time, according to the grumbling in their stomachs.
"That was so much fun! I hope Mum has something good for lunch!" Lacey said, and Gracie nodded her head in agreement. As it turned out, when they arrived home they weren't disappointed by what was spread out on the table. There was a selection of salads, hot chips, cold meats, cheese and crackers, and not to mention the desserts. By the time the girls had eaten their full, there was hardly a crumb left on their plates.
"I don't think I can eat another thing for a week!" Gracie exclaimed, leaning back in her chair slightly.
"Well, I'm sure that will change by dinner time." Lacey's Mum replied with a laugh.
"I was just on the phone to your Mum and she said that she'll be here in about half an hour to pick you up Gracie."
"Ok thanks." Both the girls then returned to Lacey's room.
"So, tell me about Tom." Gracie said, raising her eyebrow and grinning at Lacey, who blushed like a tomato.
"Uh, what? No-o. He doesn't even like me Gracie!" She said, giving Gracie a little shove in the shoulder.
"Sure he doesn't! He totally loves you! He's always trying to talk to you, and he's always watching you when your not looking, and not in a creepy way!"
"That's not true!" Lacey tried to argue, but Gracie covered her mouth with her hand.
"Lacey. He. Likes. You. Ok, don't try and deny it. But the question is, do you like him?" She grinned evilly. Lacey looked down at her lap defeatedly, ears turning redder by the second.
"No-o." Gracie sighed dramatically at Lacey's answer.
"Lacey Rose Matthews, you have a crush on Tom! I knew it! He better ask you to the ball, or I swear I'll smack him on the back of the head!" She grinned triumphantly, and Lacey smiled shyly.
"So how long have you liked him for? And how come you never told me?"
"Well, I don't know. I wasn't even that sure that I really liked him myself." Lacey replied. Gracie laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Wow. This is your first real crush since Matt." Gracie said after a moment, mentioning a boy Lacey used to like in grade 3, until he had tried to kiss her in the playground at school. Now it was Lacey's turn to roll her eyes.
"Oh, don't even talk about him. I never want to talk to him again." Matt had moved away shortly after the kissing incident, much to Lacey's relief.
The girls then lied down their backs on Lacey's bed silently for a few minutes. Then, breaking the companionable silence, Lacey said,
"So Gracie, now that you know I like Tom, you have to tell me who you like." She said, a mischievous grin forming on her face. Gracie's face however, turned several shades darker that the pink wallpaper coving the walls of Lacey's bedroom.
"What? No one. All the boys at our school are disgusting. No offence, you and Tom are cute, but everyone else is gross."
"Liar! You so like someone! If you don't tell me who, I swear..." But, luckily for Gracie, she was saved from finding out whatever it was that Lacey was going to do to her, by the sound of Lacey's mum calling out to them.
"Girls. Gracie your mum's here to pick you up."
"Ok. Thanks, we're coming down now." Lacey shouted back, then turned back to look Gracie sternly in the eye, pouting her lips.
"Gracie, you are going to tell me who you like on Monday, or else!"
"But, I seriously don't like..." But Lacey stopped her mid sentence by placing her hand over her mouth.
"Yes. You do. Now come on, let's go downstairs." Gracie rolled her eyes and stood up with a sigh. They then said goodbye and Gracie left with her mother, noticing Lacey's meaningful look as she left.