Saving Grace

Fifty Seven

Grace has been working on a huge research paper for school most of the day, as it's due tomorrow and she was barely halfway done with it this morning. Then, she started a new book, and she sat there and read the whole thing as she couldn't put it down. It wasn't very long, anyway. It only took her a couple hours, give or take.

She also talked to Harley, as he finally texted her back this morning. Last night was the Homecoming dance at his school — which was apparently too early to have a Homecoming dance, though Grace wouldn't know.

All Harley texted was, 'Hold on. I'll call you.'

And when he did, he detailed his whole night at the dance: He went last minute with his group of friends, as he didn't work up the courage to ask out Hannah to the dance. But she went with friends too, and he saw her sitting by herself on the wall, trying to get her heels off. One of his friends pushed him to walk over to her, so he did. The next thing he knew, they were talking as if they'd been close friends for years. And when a slow song came on, he asked her to dance.

"And she said yes," Harley said excitedly. "I just... I never thought she'd actually say yes."

"I told you so!" Grace replied. "So, did you ask her out on a date?"

"We're going to see a movie this weekend." He proceeded to tell her about this movie, then asked for her advice on what he should do during the date. "You know, seeing as your love life is better than mine right now."

"It is not-!"

"You've got Spider-Man sneaking onto your balcony, Primrose. And he's, like, in love with you at this point."

"Well, I haven't heard from him in a while, so I don't think so." Grace sighed. "He's gone completely MIA." She was worried about him, hoping nothing had happened.

"You think he's okay?" Harley asked.

"Most likely. I'm probably just sitting here worrying for no reason. He's on a school trip for Decathlon, so he's probably just busy."

"So what you're saying is, he's nerd?"

"You say that as if you aren't one too."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair, Primrose."

She rolled her eyes. "Will you ever stop calling me that?"

"You should know by now that the answer is no," he replied with a laugh.

They hung up soon after, as Harley had to go eat dinner, and now, Grace is finally venturing out of her room. She grabs and snack from the kitchen and turns on the TV, finding that the news is on.

"The elevator in the Washington Monument terrifyingly broke today, which would have seriously injured a group of students from Midtown High's Decathlon team had Queens' resident hero Spider-Man not been there to save the day..."

Immediately, Grace grabs her phone and calls Peter, wanting to know the full story (especially before her dad finds out so that she can explain everything to him). It takes Peter a few anxious moments to answer, but he finally picks up.

"Hello?"

"Are you okay?" Grace asks, worry filling her voice. She winces at how she must sound to him right now.

"You heard about the Washington Monument, didn't you?" he asks gently.

"Yeah, it's on the news right now. What happened?"

Peter sighs, trying to figure out where to start the story and how much to tell her, seeing as he told her he would leave all this alone. She's already worried about him — he can hear it in her voice — and he's still on the bus home. And while some of his classmates are asleep (including Ned, who's snoring beside him), he could still be heard. "Well... after the tournament — which we won, by the way — we went to the Washington Monument. MJ and I stayed on the ground while everybody else went up. Then I guess some machinery blew or something because there was a small explosion. The top of the monument crumbled a little bit; we could see it from outside. So... Spider-Man showed up and managed to get inside through one of the windows and held the elevator up long enough for everyone to get out. Ned almost fell, though, but, uh, Spider-Man saved him. So we're all good. Oh, and I stopped at the gift shop and got you that postcard."

Grace laughs a little, relieved. "Peter, I don't think the postcard was a big priority considering the circumstances."

"Well, I'm a man of my word."

Grace laughs again, already starting to calm, though it almost scares her how much she was afraid that something had happened to him.

It scares how her how afraid she is to lose him, especially considering he's almost in the same line of work as her father — and the rest of her broken family. She sighs a little. "So, how was the rest of the trip?"

"Oh, uh, it was, uh, it was good. Didn't really, um, do all that much..." Peter trails off. Then, he thinks of something he can actually mention. "Oh, and Ned told me he almost kissed Liz. In the pool."

Grace isn't quite sure how to respond to that. "Well, that's... good?"

"Yeah, Liz decided we should all sneak down to the pool the night before the tournament, boost the team's morale. I didn't go, though."

"Why not?"

"Just... didn't want to, I guess. Pools have never really been my thing..." Peter berates himself for saying something that stupid, but Grace just laughs.

"The Great Gatsby really scarred you for life, didn't it?"

Peter laughs too. "Yeah, I guess it did."

Then, Grace sighs. "Well, it sounds like it was a pretty fun trip."

"Yeah, it kinda was," Peter replies. He thinks about how, had he not been doing Spider-Man stuff, he would've been at the pool with Liz and Ned. How he would've helped his team win the tournament. How the Washington Monument incident never would've happened. And when he thinks about all this, he pictures Grace there too. Splashing each other in the pool, walking around, holding hands, going up in the elevator in the monument, going to the gift shop together. He sighs. "I... I wish you were there."

"I wish I was too," she says sadly. What she wouldn't give to really be able to go out and see it all, especially with him there.

Peter thinks for a moment, now filled with an overwhelming desire to just see her. "I mean... we're almost home. And I have that postcard to give you..."

A smile breaks out on Grace's face. "I think Happy is fairly busy right now... And my balcony is looking pretty empty..."

Peter smiles too. "I'll text you when I'm about to head over."

"I'll be here."