Underage

[17] Movie Night Surprises

Underage

[17] Movie Night Surprises

"A two-hundred-dollar ticket?" Grace asks me.

We're in the kitchen. Grace is making way too much popcorn, but she laughed and waved away my concerns while saying there isn't such a thing. Soda has taken over my fridge and there are many bowls of chocolate littering my counter. When I called Grace last night, she was all for a movie night. Especially since she's not a fan of Bryson, who she dated junior year for a total of two weeks. It's safe to say, she doesn't want to go to his party.

Magnus is bouncing around the kitchen floor. He can smell the food that's out of reach. The pup keeps whining for food, even though I recently filled up his food bowl that he hasn't touched. Multiple times, I've had to tell Grace no when she goes to feed him.

"The cop saw us and thought we were up to no good. He was a Kinley cop, I didn't know him, but he clocked Ethan going sixty in a forty-five."

"How is he going to pay that off?"

"Ask for more hours probably. He worked this morning, he's getting Cooper now." I say. "Is Coop working?"

"He quit the store at the beginning of summer. He's living with his grandparents now, who have some money and set up a trust fund for him for college. He's been working since he was fifteen, he just wants a summer of fun."

"I guess that's what we all want."

"It's going to be okay," she says. "I know you think she'll ruin everything, but I think we're going to have a great summer."

"You think so?"

Grace nods and bends down to pick up Magnus. The pup licks at her face and then takes the piece of popcorn right out of her hand. I shake my head and grab a piece of chocolate for myself.

"You do know you can't punch her, right?" Grace asks me as she sets Magnus down onto the ground and then leans on the counter. Her eyes are holding mine, a sure sign she's telling the truth, or trying to make me listen to what she's saying.

"And why can't I hit her?"

My best friend shakes her head. "I didn't say you couldn't hit her. You're going to hit her. But I know you, and when you see her you're going to go straight for the eye or the nose. If you slap her, it'll leave less evidence of what you did. Without the evidence of a black eye or broken nose, Ethan will always believe your word over hers."

"This is why I love you."

"Well you're really going to love me when I tell you how we could get away with her murder. I have it all planned out. No one would even suspect us."

"I don't even want to know." I grab two of the bowls of chocolate and start bringing them into the living room and setting them down onto the table. Grace has lit a few candles that make the place smell like peaches.

"It may involve burning the body and disposing it in the ocean. I'm sure I could get someone to take us out on a boat."

"I'm sure you could," I say. "Will you grab the rest of the bowls for me?"

"You're that lazy?"

"I am, but you knew that."

Grace has become an extreme Disney movie watcher. So much so, that the small collection of VHS tapes her mother owned of the older ones has expanded. She has every Disney movie ever to have been made on tape. It took seven different thrift stores to find a working VHS machine so we could actually watch them.