Grace

5. A Request

The next day was Tuesday, and school was a nightmare. Jordan got a lot of weird looks due to his swollen nose and at least five separate people asked him about his finger. He also had to wear his hoodie pulled low over his face in order to avoid being recognized by Dylan. The older boy had taken to swaggering around with two other guys almost as big as himself, and they had made it their personal mission to make Jordan's life miserable. Today after gym class Jordan had tried to take a drink of water from his canteen and found that someone had put salt in it. Unfortunately he was so thirsty that he had downed almost half the bottle before gagging. Then after Chemistry, Dylan had slapped him on the back for no reason and walked off. For the next two hours Jordan sensed the girls whispering and pointing at him behind his back, and several random guys kicked him in the shins as they passed him in the halls. It wasn't until the lunch line that Ian peeled the "Kick Me" sign off the back of his shirt. Stupid pranks, both of them, but annoyingly effective.

By the time he sat down to lunch with Adam and Ian, he was wishing he had never set eyes on Grace or her backpack. His mouth still tasted slightly like the Dead Sea and his shins were peppered with bruises. He was beginning to feel like a human punching bag.

He was in the middle of trying to drown his woes in a pickle-free hamburger when he realized that both his friends were staring at him. Or more accurately, staring just behind him.

"What?" he mumbled, his mouth full.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" said a girl's voice. Jordan turned to see Grace standing expectantly by their table. She wore a pink blouse and denim skirt, and she was holding her infamous blue backpack by the top strap in both hands. She looked rather sweet, but Jordan was so annoyed with her that he didn't notice. Unfortunately, his two friends most definitely did.

"Absolutely, yes ma'am," gabbled Ian, even though she had spoken to Jordan. He got this way around girls. He shot Jordan a panicked look, like Who the heck is this?! As for Adam, he was busy rearranging his expression into what he obviously thought a lady-charmer's would look like. In reality, he resembled a starving puppy.

Jordan shrugged, swallowing his hamburger. He didn't know what Grace wanted. Truth to be told, he really didn't want any thing more to do with her.

"Thanks... and you don't have to call me ma'am." Grace smiled at Ian and slid onto the metal bench besides Jordan. Ian blushed and ducked his head, pushing his glasses farther up onto his freckled nose. He forgot how to speak for the rest of the conversation.

"Anyway," said Grace in her business-like manner, "I'm taking art classes at the community college and my assignment is to draw a portrait of a teenager, from real life. I was wondering if you would like to be my model for the next week or so."

"Oh, um, why me?" asked Jordan, "Could you draw one of your friends instead?" He gestured to the table in front of them, filled with girls.

Grace shrugged. "Our teacher wants us to draw a picture of the opposite gender. She says it helps us get outside of our comfort zones. I guess she's right. I mean, I'm way more used to drawing girls."

"Jordan will make a great picture," Adam interrupted, giving him a shove. "He has such a pretty face." He winked at Grace, obviously hoping to make her laugh.

"Shut up," Jordan told him.

"There's this thing called artistic license," said Grace, "I don't have to make your nose look all beat-up, although the shape is absolutely fascinating." She smiled, barely noticing Adam.

"Uh, when would we meet?" asked Jordan. Maybe she would give him a time he was unavailable at and he would have an excuse to say no. As it was, he had a swollen nose, a broken finger, and one of the worst bullies in school hating his guts. He didn't need any more trouble.

"It would just be for forty-five minutes or so after school," answered Grace. "Any longer than that and the light will change too much. I thought we could meet at TowneLakePark by the community center- do you know where that is?"

Jordan nodded. He and Caleb used to go there and feed the ducks. Or rather, they used to go there and try to hit the ducks with rocks thrown from slingshots. Caleb was so sure they could kill one and eat it for dinner.

Ah, good times. With a slight pang he wondered where Caleb was now.

"So how about it?" asked Grace, bringing him back to the moment.

He shook his head. "I have soc-" he stopped, remembering that he was banned from soccer for two months. Dang it. There really was no reason for him to refuse her request.

Maybe he would do it... the park was nice this time of year and he could run laps around the duck pond when Grace had finished drawing him. It would give him something to do after school and keep him from moping around his house wishing he was at soccer.

But she was a girl! He would have to sit still with a girl for forty-five minutes. Plus she was weirdly Christian. She seemed to attract trouble. And what if she turned out to be one of those Evangelizing types and tried to convert him or something? He wanted none of that.

Adam and Ian were looking at him like he was crazy. Jordan had no doubt that they would jump at this opportunity to spend time with a girl if they were in his place. Adam nudged him again. "Dude, say yes," he whispered.

"Yeah, he'll do it," Adam told Grace loudly. "He busted his finger and he's banned from sports."

"Well, he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to," said Grace, noticing Jordan's reluctance. "I'll find someone else. It's just, I don't know many other guys here-"

"You can know me," said Adam quickly. Grace gave him a weird look.

"Um... and I was going to say, I'll pay you in cookies," she told Jordan, "Homemade."

That did it. All of Jordan's reasonable reasons for refusing suddenly vanished. He hadn't had homemade cookies since before his parents got divorced. Besides, now he kind of felt responsible for keeping Adam away from Grace... Any moment now he would ask her if she wanted to go to the movies with him, and Jordan didn't want to subject anyone to that.

"Okay, sign me up," he said.