Danger Level 10

ii

Grace sat in the grass and leaned back on Nick for comfort as she began to pull her lunch out of her bag. She was quick to unwrap her sandwich and take a large bite out of it, a moan of delight escaping her mouth as she chewed.

"You and your sister have an unhealthy obsession with food." Nick muttered as he began to eat some of her chips. "Technically it's not unhealthy because it's keeping us alive." Emily spoke up as she sat down to join them.

"Okay but the mass quantities is unhealthy." He argued and Emily smirked, "Fast metabolisms." She shot back. The two continued to go back and forth as Grace continued to eat her sandwich, tuning them out. Here eyes wandered towards where she saw Lia walking towards them with someone familiar beside her.

Goosebumps formed on her arms and her entire body locked up as she swallowed her food. Her eyes not leaving the two girls as they got closer. Nick felt Grace's sudden change in body language and looked down at her before his eyes followed her gaze. His thoughts raced back to the conversation they had during first period and he wrapped an arm around her in a comforting manner.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet Nicolette. Nicolette, that's Nick, Emily, and G-" Lia began but Nicolette interrupted her, "Grace. Yeah I know, she showed me around on my first day."

Emily gave a short awkward wave, Nick just smiled, and Grace nodded her head. She was unsure whether she should say something or not. Lia and Nicolette sat down, completing the small circle.

Lia turned to Nicolette and began talking to her, Nicolette would occasionally respond or just nod her head. Grace zoned out for the majority of the lunch time, just focusing on her food.

"Gracie are you okay, are you even listening?" Emily asked, looking at her sister with a concerned expression. Grace could feel her face heating up with a blush as she looked up, "Oh yeah I'm just tired, what were you saying?" She asked, a bit embarrassed that she had managed to tune them out for so long.

"They were talking about Nicolette joining us this weekend when we go to your dad's diner." Nick explained and Grace took a sip of her water. "Of course she can but it's up to her if she wants to go."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you guys then."

- * - * - * -

The weekend had came around quickly and Nicolette found herself not as nervous as she thought she would be. As she straightened her hair she thought back on the few times she had lunch with the small group of friends.

During the week Nicolette had formed her own conclusions about the group. They were a weird bunch. Emily was a bit rude at first but warmed up quickly to her, Nick was wickedly smart and always with Grace so she had come up with assumption that they were together, Lia was always happy and friendly but had quite the rebellious streak, and Grace, well she couldn't come to a conclusion about Grace because they never spoke so the only thing she had was that her and Nick were dating. She could understand why Grace wouldn't speak to her, she was rude on her first day here but Grace seemed like the type to put that aside and still push to be friends. The more she thought about it she realized she hadn't exactly apologized to Grace, that might be why she's reluctant to actually try.

Nicolette hissed when she burned her finger with the flat iron on the last section of hair, she had been so deep in thought she wasn't really paying attention. "Fuck ow ow ow." She unplugged the iron and set it on the counter carefully, quickly putting her finger in cold water.

Her phone went off and with her free hand she looked down to see it was a text from Lia.

(Italics is Lia, Bold Italics is Nicolette)

Hey I'm on my way with Emily, we'll be there in a few

Alright I'm almost done, see you in a few

In 15 minutes Lia had made it to her house and was now outside her house, honking the horn. Nicolette quickly made her way downstairs, making sure to dodge her mother and sister as she slid on her black ankle boots and rushed towards Lia's car.

Quickly climbing into the backseat, she buckled herself in and looked up to give a small smile to Emily and Lia.

"Nick and Grace should already be at the diner, they had to fill in for some people that were running a bit late." Lia explained before taking off towards the diner.

When they arrived, Emily led them to a circular booth in the corner of the diner where they all sat around the table. Grace was sat in front of Nicolette, her eyes looking everywhere but at Nicolette herself.

"Uh Grace?" Nicolette started off a bit shyly "I'm sorry about being rude when I first got here, I move kinda often so I was a bit angry.." She trailed off as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"It's alright, I get it. Emily and I were the new kids once so I guess I can understand where you were coming from." Grace finally looked at her and Nicolette smiled at her as their eyes met.

"I think that's like the first time you've actually spoke to her." Nick chuckled as he looked down at Grace and her eyes widened in realization, "Oh my gosh! He's right! I'm so sorry I didn't want to come off as mean or anything either." Grace began to ramble and Nicolette had to hold back her laughter as Nick stuffed a napkin in Grace's mouth and shushed her.

"I'm going to be honest. I didn't really have any intentions on making any friends when I moved here but I guess you guys are alright." Nicolette gave a playful grin as Lia began to get all dramatic at the word "guess".

They really were alright and she hoped she could trust them like she could her friends back in New York. But she always had the feeling she was being watched, she knew it was Grace because she had caught her several times staring. She couldn't help but ask herself if there was the possibility that she knew.