Falling From Grace (Grace Series)

by S. L. Naeole

  Graham’s posture changed then. His back straightened, and he pushed his shoulders back. I’d seen it a million times after he’d threaten to beat someone up for picking on me and they gave up. It was his peacock pose. “That’s nothing new. I’ve been saying the same thing forever.”

  Lark rolled her eyes. What’s with you humans and your constant use of the term forever, as if you can comprehend it and all it entails?

  I could tell by the way the tone of her thoughts became dark that she was on the verge of anger. I grabbed Graham’s arm and yanked him back into a stride, wanting to get into the car as quickly as possible. Lark’s temper was unpredictable. She didn’t just run your plain old hot and cold. She was celestially hot and cold. Solar winds hot, and dark side of the moon cold.

  I get your point! Stop with the stupid metaphors already. I feel like you’re describing some astrology project.

  Graham started walking quickly, and I followed, keeping my eye on Lark, hoping she wouldn’t ask the question out loud again. Heaven knew all she had to do was look in our heads to find out the answer. Why ask when our verbal answers might not add up to what our minds were thinking? Wasn’t that counterproductive?

  That’s just it. How else am I to judge the integrity of a person if what comes out of their mouths isn’t the same as what comes from their minds? You’ve placed a lot of trust in Graham, despite what he’s done to you. I’ve seen how it’s affected you. I can see the scars that your eyes cannot see, but can feel. She wore a grim line on her face that contradicted the softening of her translucent eyes.

  And, I also see how much my brother cares for you. If Graham hurts you again, I fear for his safety. You don’t understand how deeply my kind feels when we form an attachment to someone, Grace. It’s like one of these trees here. Deep, long roots that dig and wrap themselves firmly into the soil; you humans become our soil. We grow because of you, we thrive because of you. If something poisons that soil, it poisons us. But, unlike these trees, we fight back.

  My eyes blinked twice, understanding what she meant. Only, instead of roots, I saw a single ribbon.

  I saw Lark’s head nod. She saw the ribbon in my mind, too.

  We were in Graham’s Buick and turning left onto Hopewell Drive before Graham finally spoke. “Some people call Grace a freak because they don’t understand how she could have survived the car wreck that killed her mom; no one has been able to explain it and I don’t think anyone ever will. Others call her a freak because she’s half-white, half-Korean. Now some people call her a freak because she survived the hit and run.

  “No matter what their reasons, the truth is that Grace is called a freak because she’s different, and you can’t explain what makes her different. She just is.”

  I stared at him. It seemed like it hurt him to say those words, like they burned his throat to utter them. I watched as he rubbed the bottom of his eye with his thumb, and then wiped his thumb on his jeans, a dark, thin line forming where his finger touched the fabric. I bit my lip at the obvious difficulty he had with talking about how other people thought of me; He had been one of those people just a month ago, and he didn’t like that.

  “But if Grace is a freak, then so am I. I’m a jock who hangs around freaks instead of cheerleaders,” he snorted.

  From the back seat, Lark laughed. “Don’t forget that now you’re chauffeuring blind people, too. You’re more of a freak than Grace is.”

  Graham nodded, his humor having returned. “That’s true. I’m bringing down your stock, Grace. You’ll never be homecoming queen now.”

  I joined in their amusement, the dark mood lifting from Lark, and the sadness from Graham seeming to fade away, if only for a moment.

  It was amazing what truth could do for someone. Lark had heard nothing but pure honesty from Graham’s mouth, the truth as we all knew it, mind reader and humans alike, and that had changed the way she viewed him now. I could see it by the way her eyes seemed a little less opaque; it was as if the fog of bitterness and anger that she kept around her—like some kind of shield from the dishonesty of people—had lifted just a bit.

  I honestly thought he’d lie to me. He surprised me. Nothing surprises me. I might end up not liking it later, but for now, it’s amusing.

  My eyebrows raised in shock. Graham had taken Lark by surprise? You can read minds, even the minds of those who can see the future, and you were surprised by Graham?

  I had discovered her weakness, and she didn’t like it. But I did. I thoroughly enjoyed my moment, laughing loudly, without caring a bit if in that moment, I really did look like a freak. I didn’t know when I’d get another opportunity, as sharp and quick witted as she was, not to mention the fact that she could probably re-break my leg and arm in less time than it took me to get half a blink out.

  It looked like I’d get a reprieve when she leaned back into her seat, her arms folded across her chest, a slow smile creeping across her face. She was amused, too!

  I looked out of the window and realized that we were pulling into the parking lot of the shopping center. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in this mall.”

  “I don’t think you’ve ever been in any mall.” Graham snorted.

  I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him—it felt much better to punch him in the arm instead. The “ouch” that followed was very satisfying.

  When we pulled up to the curb fronting the mall, I saw that Lark had a small, pink cell phone pressed to her ear. As soon as the car had stopped, she was outside.

  “I’ll see you tonight, Grace. Thank you, Graham, for the ride—I’ll see you in school on Monday! ‘Ciao!” She walked very quickly towards the entrance, practicing great restraint not to just blur into nothingness with the speed she was so used to. If you didn’t know it, you’d never have guessed she was blind.

  The mall was far behind us when Graham finally asked the question I knew had plagued him as soon as he’d heard Lark mention seeing me later this evening.

  “I’m going to a wedding with Robert and his family,” I answered, my tone making it clear that I wasn’t interested in arguing about it.

  I saw the muscles in his neck tighten a bit as he stuck his jaw out, the idea of my going out with Robert obviously not sitting well with him. Well, he could suck on rocks for all I care. It was my first official date with Robert, and nothing was going to ruin it.

  Except for the dress. I groaned. Loudly.

  “What’s the matter? Realized I was still here?” Graham pouted. He actually pouted!

  “I told Robert he could buy me a dress for the wedding.”

  It was Graham’s turn to laugh this time. “You’re letting him buy you a dress?”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Yes,” I answered, indignantly.

  “You’re not afraid that he’ll get you something that’ll make you look—well let’s face it, a lot of stuff will—make you look twelve?”

  My lips did funny things as I pondered his question. “I told him no ruffles. Ugh—I don’t know anything about dresses—I’ve never shopped for a dress, and all I know about them is that ruffles are hideous. Oh my God, what did I do? He’s going to buy me something that looks like it belongs on a twelve year-old, isn’t he?” The feeling of panic bubbled up underneath my skin as we pulled up in front of our house.

  I looked at the watch on my wrist and realized that it was nearly twelve-thirty. I needed to eat something for lunch, and I also needed to lie down and try and calm my nerves. Graham helped me out of the car and walked with me to the front door. I saw that Janice’s SUV—which had been gone when we had left—was now back in its spot in the driveway.

  “Well, that’s a nice distraction,” I muttered. I could focus on how the doctor’s appointment went, instead of the impending doom of wearing a dress.

  Graham eyed me suspiciously. “You’re actually going to wear it, aren’t you?”

  I nodded my head. It was either that or attend the wedding in jeans and my Jack Skellington shirt.
<
br />   “I think you’ll look beautiful,” was his reply.

  Surprise covered my face as I looked at him. “The last time you saw me in a dress was over ten years ago! How would you know whether or not I’d look ‘beautiful’, as if that were even a possibility?”

  “You forget that yesterday, you were wearing a skirt, and a skirt is, I think, half a dress; you looked beautiful in it, so I’m gonna bet that if you looked beautiful in half a dress, you’ll look twice as beautiful in a whole one,” Graham said emphatically, his head nodding with every other word.

  My chest felt warm as several feelings all piled in together to fill up my heart. They were all trying to get my attention, but the one I ignored was the melancholy that seemed ready to shout “Why now?”

  I grabbed his hand and pulled him in for an awkward hug. His tall, athletic frame against my thin, moderately short one, hampered by stiff, plastered limbs made for an odd pairing, but we managed to make the embrace work. “Thank you, Graham. You really are a good friend.”

  “Of course I am. I know my talents.” He pulled back, forcing my release, and opened the front door for me.

  “Dad, Janice—I’m home!” I shouted. I stared at the little table that sat in the little hallway that was supposed to hold your keys, wallet—whatever it was one took when they had an active social life. I had nothing to place there, and that fact suddenly caught me off guard.

  “Graham, remind me the next time we’re near the mall that I need to get a purse,” I said to him as we walked into the living room. Dad was sitting in his recliner, reading a very thick book—it had babies on the cover. “What are you reading Dad?”

  He looked up over the pages and smiled at me. “Hey kiddo.” He nodded to Graham. “Hey Graham, there’re sandwiches in the kitchen.” He waited until Graham had left us alone before he continued, “This is supposed to be the best baby book on the market, and since it’s been so long since you’ve been in diapers, I thought I’d bone up on what to do. Did the weather hold up at the cemetery?”

  I nodded. “It was a nice day. The ground was a little wet, but it always is this time of year.” I sat down on the couch next to him, my face anxious for him to tell me how the appointment went. “So, where’s Janice? How’d the doctor’s visit go?”

  He looked at me, puzzled.

  I could have slapped myself. He hadn’t told me about the doctor’s appointment. Robert had, and not having much experience in the lying department left me at a loss for words to try and recover from the gaffe.

  “Did Janice tell you about the appointment? I thought she had wanted to keep it private, what with the worries she’s had and all. Oh well,” he looked at the page he had been reading, committing it to memory, and then put it down to focus on our conversation. “According to the obstetrician, the baby is doing very well. Janice is a little over thirteen weeks pregnant, and if she can make it three more weeks, then she’ll be past the most dangerous point. This book says that we can find out if it’s a boy or a girl by your birthday. Wouldn’t that be a great present?” He was beaming.

  I couldn’t help but smile back. “Not to mention cheap!” The fact that my birthday fell on Christmas had always meant dual purpose presents, so the idea that he was referring to it specifically as my birthday felt good.

  “So, tell me about your morning. What did you do besides visit Mom’s grave?”

  Did I have the courage to tell him? He’d find out sooner or later… “Well, Robert stopped by this morning—he brought over a flower for me to take to Mom’s grave—and he asked me to go with him to a wedding for a family friend—the flower was really beautiful.”

  Dad’s face held absolutely still, his expression frozen on his face. It was dismay. I didn’t even know if he had taken a breath in the last few minutes, he seemed so distracted by what I had told him. I was ready to shout out for Janice to call 911 when he sighed, his shoulders slumping, and started speaking again.

  “I guess I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, the two of you dating I mean.”

  I bit my lip, trying to figure out what exactly I could say to bring back the cheer he had had when reading about changing dirty diapers. Mostly though, I was trying to figure out how it was that he knew something like this would happen when I didn’t.

  “Is he going to pick you up, or are you going to be needing a ride to this wedding?”

  My hands were gripping my knees very tightly, the plaster against plaster on my right side making it a bit easier to try and not focus on the next bit of information I had to share. “Um, Dad—he’s coming to pick me up. He kind of has to, since he’s bringing my dress.”

  “He’s what?” Dad’s eyes grew wide with shock. “He’s bringing you a dress?”

  I nodded, “He’s buying it, actually, since I don’t own anything even remotely dress-like.”

  And then I saw it. Saw something that I didn’t expect to see on his face. He smiled. The corners of his eyes crinkled up, and in that moment, he looked very young. He was pleased, happy.

  “He’s actually getting you to wear a dress. Will wonders never cease.”

  I wanted to say that it was only because Robert was an angel, and had supernatural sway when it came to my reservations but I knew that wasn’t true; and even if it were, Dad would have laughed at me, and agreed without knowing that I was being serious.

  Instead, I simply shrugged my shoulders and threw his words back at him, “It was going to happen sooner or later.”

  Graham came out of the kitchen then, his hand wrapped around a massive submarine sandwich, his mouth full of food. And still, he managed to spout out a question.

  “Did she tell you about the dress?”

  I threw my hands up. “Really, is this as momentous an occasion as you two are making it out to be?”

  The looks on their faces echoed the answer that my conscience had started screaming before the question had even left my lips. Yes, this was a momentous occasion. I was going on my first date, and I was doing it in a dress of all things. There wasn’t anything more momentous that that. Not in the life of your average teenager. Unless, of course, you weren’t average, and that first date happened to be with an angel…who could fly…and read minds.

  PREPARATION

  Graham had insisted on waiting for Robert to arrive. Dad seemed to think this was a great idea, and the two of them had no problem sitting on the sofa and watching one guy related movie after another for the next few hours while I tried to figure out what exactly I had to do to get ready.

  I took a long shower, scrubbing my skin until it glowed red from all the friction. I shaved my left leg and my armpits, and even borrowed a pair of tweezers from Janice to trim the stray strands of hair that floated above my eyes. My eyebrows, thank goodness, were the only things on my face that I believe are perfect. No need for zealous plucking or shaping. They had just the right arch, thickness, and length, and I cannot believe I just said that.

  In my boxers and tank top, I sat on my bed, waiting. I smelled like a fruit salad, having allowed Janice to drench me in some of her pastel body lotions and sprays. She even gave me a tube of lip gloss that, she said, “would look good with anything because it’s sheer.” I’d take her word for it because that was as far ahead as I’d allow her to get.

  I knew I’d have to wear a little bit of makeup, but I just wasn’t sure to what degree. That dress was becoming more and more of an irritant to me and it was mainly because I wouldn’t know what it would look like until it was here. What color would it be? What length? I certainly hoped it wasn’t short. I didn’t want my casts to be the focus of conversation, and unfortunately, as useless as they were, I simply couldn’t remove them either. Only two weeks had gone by since the accident and by all accounts, I shouldn’t even be out of bed, much less walking around without crutches.

  Robert’s healing ability had saved my life, but it had also made me one big fraud as well, and that was weighing on my conscience.

  I looked at the clock
on my dresser and scowled. It felt like the clock was teasing me; I had no doubt that if it could, the numbers would scroll backwards, drawing out the tension for as long as possible in the hopes that I’d explode from being wound too tight. My fingers began a tapping rhythm against my leg, my impatience rapping out a beat that grew faster as each minute ticked by.

  I had my window open, willing the sound of a motorcycle, car, bus—anything to announce Robert’s arrival. I was beginning to feel the twinges of doubt that he’d even show up when I heard the doorbell ring. I rushed to the window to see if there was another vehicle outside, but I saw nothing.

  “Stupid solicitors,” I mumbled. I stared at my fingernails, deciding whether or not it would be acceptable to start chewing on them when I heard Dad call my name. I looked at the clock on my dresser. Five o’clock, on the nose. Of course he’d arrive exactly on time, just as he’d said.

  Trying to look as uninterested and as calm as possible, I descended down the stairs and walked into the living room. Three male figures were standing there forming a triangle of male aggression. Graham had his arms folded against his chest, while Dad had one hand braced across his abdomen and the other was rubbing his chin, as though he were contemplating something of dire importance.

  The apex of this unusual triad was a beautiful creature dressed all in black, his face serene, as though the tension that seemed to choke even me had no effect on him. He was holding up a garment bag in one hand, a large, separate store bag in the other. He knew I was coming down before I had even taken a single step out of my bedroom door, knew that I had been excited, knew that I was trying to keep all of my emotions reigned in. And he liked it.

  “Hello, Grace.”

  My cheeks hurt, I was smiling so widely. “You’re on time.”

  “I told you I’d be here at five. I hope you didn’t doubt me,” he said, smiling back.

  Dad’s cough and Graham’s grunt reminded me that they were still in the room. “Is that the dress?”