Saving Grace

Chapter Ten: The Underground Mess

Gracie managed to go to two full weeks of school before everything went to hell in a hand basket. It was going to happen eventually, she knew that, but she'd been ignorantly hoping things would settle down for a while longer than that. They were still trying to get used to not having Henry yell at them for being too loud all the time, or scold them for their excess use of curse words, and not having Preston trying to micromanage both of their lives. It was a strange feeling.

The Charles family had gone from five to four to two, in what felt like no time at all, and Gracie was terrified of losing Charlie too. As much as he needed her, she may have needed him even more. She'd been dodging Trent and the Underground at all costs while she spent full nights trying to catch up with her stupid schoolwork so she could graduate with Pi and Layton and finally make them proud. Her weekends had been spent hanging out with the guys and having bonding sessions with her little brother, trying to make up for all the others who'd abandoned him.

"I won't leave you too," she'd promised fervently after the first night he'd sneaked away from Clara's and woke up screaming with a terrible nightmare.

"But it felt so real!" he'd cried.

"It was just a dream, Murr, I'm not going anywhere," she had pleaded with him to understand as she let him cling to her and cry into her shirt. She cried with him, the same fears playing on her own mind as well.

Since then, they'd had regular days out and each took turns choosing what they did. If one good thing had come out of what happened, it was her relationship with her baby brother. For whatever reason, Gracie was actually starting to get used to Clara's fussing and complaining. It seemed that ever since their father died, the old woman had become more and more grandmotherly to the two of them. Almost like she cared about them. She'd even taken Gracie to get her cast off, and didn't even make her pay for the doctor's visit.

Dinners at her house were the strangest.

And it was during one of those dinners that Gracie's vile little blackmailer decided to make an unannounced appearance, much to her complete and utter dismay. She'd almost choked when she heard his voice, and she was pretty sure Charlie looked ready to kill.

"See! What'd I tell you? I knew you'd get at least a B plus!" Clara cried overdramatically, her eyes gleaming in a way that made Gracie slightly uncomfortable. What right did this woman have to be proud of her anyway? It should've been Henry in her place or Daphne, but she didn't say any of that.

Instead she nodded her head and said, "My History teacher was convinced I'd found a foolproof way to cheat. She even forced me to retake my test in front of the Principal. When I got most of the answers right, she almost had a conniption," Gracie chuckled, her gaze landing on Charlie who'd looked far happier than normal. "What are you so excited about, Murr?" she asked, redirecting the conversation from herself to her little brother.

His eyes sparkled and his face glowed. "If we win the next two track meets we'll be headed straight for the state championships. My coach is working us really hard lately. I've gotten a five and a half minute mile so far!"

"That's freaking awesome!" Gracie cried, almost slipping up and saying the "f-word", which Clara seemed to notice since she nodded her head like she'd done something correct.

Charlie smiled, ignoring the fact that she'd called him "Murr", which was one of the nicknames he despised the most, and said, "I know! I'm so excited!"

"So that's why you're so skinny lately," Gracie muttered with a smirk, poking at his nonexistent stomach with her fork.

"And the reason he eats so damn much," Clara chimed in, grinning at the two kids sitting at her dining table. Having never been married and with no thoughts of ever having children, Clara couldn't help but admit that it kind of felt nice to have to worry about more than just herself and her sheep dog, Polly.