Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 60th cycle. Now cycle 61!

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Lying & Trying"
Nora (AU!Beth) & Grace, Emily - Quinn/Finn, Hailey
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Her parents used to say Glee Club homework assignments had a way of playing out a trick of the fates. It would happen to them at times that they would get a partner or a song that prodded at something they'd either been ignoring or were too shy to face.

Then one afternoon, Nora had been paired with Grace.

This should have been cause for celebration between the best friends. But in the last few weeks, nothing had been so evident between them. Nora had her first proper girlfriend, and her relationship with Francesca had captured much of her time and attention. She didn't ignore her friends, but she had less time to spend with them. She might have simply brought Francesca into their circle, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, without giving reason to.

But then there was Grace, and she was getting more prone to having other engagements, too, which made that, by the time Mr. Schuester called their names that afternoon, they had barely shared a sustained conversation in over a week.

They looked to each other from across the room with that same sort of realization in their eyes. They were nervous to be alone with their best friend.

At the end of the period, they had walked down the hall together. "You can come over this afternoon, stay for dinner. We'll work on the assignment."

"Are you sure? What about you and…"

"Fran already knows," Nora told her.

"Right," Grace breathed. "Alright then."

They had left school together. Grace asked after Emily, and Nora revealed she was off preparing her own assignment, with Kelly.

"They've been spending a lot of time together," Grace commented, smiling to herself, and she looked up at the sound of Nora's laughter. "Think he knows?"

"That she won't shut up about how good and fun and sweet he is? He'd probably pass out if he did." Now it was Grace who laughed.

"Maybe we should do something about it," she put the idea out there, and mischief claimed Nora.

"Interfere? Us?"

"Because we never do that," Grace shook her head.

"Never ever," Nora 'agreed,' and they smirked, looking to one another. For a moment, you wouldn't have known there was ever something off between them a minute ago. The hand had been outstretched, and they didn't want to let it get away.

"How… How's it going, with you and Francesca?" Grace slowly asked. She didn't want to know, if she was going to be honest, but if she didn't ask it would seem like she didn't care. She did care, about Nora's happiness, always, even if that happiness tore her up inside.

Her head had been a battleground. For weeks she had been asking herself a very complicated simple question. It looked simple on the surface, but if she ever came closer to it she saw it wasn't just one question, and it wasn't simple at all.

There were things she knew, things she had no choice but to declare as self-evident. It had to matter that she cared so much whether or not Nora really did have feelings for her. When Emily had confirmed it, telling her just how long it had been going on, it had struck her hard. And then there was this entire thing with Nora and Francesca. She knew that seeing them in the hall that day had been one of the most painful things she had felt in her seventeen years of living.

It was just as they arrived at Nora's mother and stepfather's house that Grace noticed something. "Your bracelet…" she looked at Nora's arm when she reached up to put her key in the door. Nora looked down and touched her wrist.

"Oh, I… I didn't want to tell you, I… lost it. I was hoping I'd find it before I had to say… I'm still looking, I swear."

"No, it's fine," Grace looked to her own wrist, to the bracelet's twin. "It's just a bracelet…"

"Grace, I'm going to find it, I…" Nora reached out to her. "You know how much it means to me."

The bracelet was in the locked box she kept in the space under a loose board in her closet. No one knew about that box, not her family, or her friends. Inside she kept her most cherished possessions, including the bracelet Grace had made her.

She couldn't put it on, not now. She associated Grace so much with the multicolored strands. She never wore it when she went on a date, even if she knew she and Grace were no more than friends. When things had progressed the way they had with Francesca, she knew what it meant. But she still couldn't slip the bracelet back on to her arm. So she had placed it in the box, hoping Grace wouldn't notice.

They had been so distant from one another lately, Grace had not seen until now, and this made Nora sadder than she thought it would. She'd noticed Grace acting strange for some time, and at first she'd thought it was due to her missing her father and older brother, but it had been weeks now and she had only gotten worse. Had she told anyone why? Had she told Emily? Why wouldn't she tell her? Had she upset her in some way?

"Grace!" young Hailey Hudson came running up and into the redhead's arms.

"Hiya," Grace laughed, hugging her.

"What about me?" Nora played hurt, and her little sister's eyes turned up to her.

"I saw you this morning," Hailey pointed out, before turning back to Grace. "I finished the book you gave me," she announced.

"You did?" Grace beamed. "Did you like it?" Hailey nodded. "I might have another you'd like. I can bring it to you another day."

"Okay, thank you!" Hailey ran back up to the kitchen. "Mom, Nora and Grace are here!" she shouted.

"Grace, are we keeping you?" Quinn's voice flowed in from the kitchen and the girls chuckled.

"Yes, please!" Grace called back.

"One of these days, she's just going to keep you, period," Nora told her, leading her up to her room so they could get started on their Glee Club homework assignment.

"Should we have a dance to go with the song?" Grace asked as they looked for which song they would perform.

"Maybe. It'd be the logical thing for both of us," Nora smiled.

"Right. Us…" Grace breathed.

She'd lost her again, she could see it. For the rest of the afternoon, even as they worked on their number, Grace was distant again. And things still got stranger at dinner.

Grace was across from her, next to Hailey, and after seeing her little sister was staring at her, Nora got a look at her friend. She knew how Grace's face looked when she was trying to hide the fact she was crying or was on the verge of crying. She wanted to hold it back. Nora reached her foot under the table, tapping Grace's shoe. She wouldn't look up. Nora tried again, and she could see Grace resist. She wouldn't go and alert Quinn, Finn, or Hailey, but Nora knew as soon as dinner was over, she'd be gone.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!