~A Once and Again Series~

The Way We Are

Thanks for reading, as always. Oh, and Netty, the episode in which Eli and Grace kissed was the first episode of season two, "Wake up little Susie". But, of course it was all only in Lily's head, as it turned out to be a daydream of hers and didn't actually happen! Sucks much.

Chapter 14//That Worn Path

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"Eli!"

Jessie looked up at the sound of her mother's anger-filled voice with surprise. Eli looked up also, but much more slowly. He kind of already suspected what his mother was upset about.

Karen took a second to collect her thoughts and then sent Jessie away to her room so she could talk to Eli alone.

Jessie went reluctantly, throwing a somber glance over her shoulder at her brother.

[[Jessie - It seems like my mom is always mad at Eli nowadays.]]

Karen paced a bit and then looked directly at Eli, "The school called. Apparently, you've been skipping classes."

Busted. Eli acknowledged his mother's statement with a short nod.

"Eli!" Karen moaned. "It's important that you keep your grades up this year. You can't just not... go to your classes."

"It was only a couple classes," Eli downplayed it.

Karen frowned, putting her hands on her hips. She rattled off what the school had told her on the phone, "You missed all of Monday. Most of Tuesday. Half of Wednesday and Thursday and one class on Friday.... and you say that's 'only a couple of classes'??"

Busted again.

[[Eli - God, it's not that big of a deal. I'm almost 18. So, I don't go to some lame classes, so what?]]

Karen waited for Eli to say something, anything. But he was silent, knowing any words he said would just piss off his mother even more. Karen sighed, "You, me and your father are going to have to sit down and have a long conversation about your future."

Karen, too angry to speak anymore, headed off towards the kitchen. Eli frowned.

[[Eli - It's my life.]]

* * *

"E," Rick said sternly when Eli and Jessie came through the door after being dropped off by Karen.

"I know, I know," Eli said angrily.

"You can't just be skipping classes," Rick said. He sighed.

Jessie looked at the two of them sadly and then scooted past them and up the stairs.

[[Jessie - And when my mom's mad at Eli... my dad's mad at Eli..... And then I get mad at Eli. I mean, why can't he just go to school like the rest of us? Why does he have to cause problems? He knew that skipping school would cause trouble, but he did it anyways. ]]

"Your mother and I are going to have to decide what to do about you," Rick continued.

Eli glared at his father and then said through clenched teeth, "Why can't I decide what to do about myself??"

Rick folded his arms across his chest, and glanced away. He looked back at Eli sadly, "Well, you haven't been doing such a great job of that, lately, have you?"

"Maybe I'm making the choices I WANT to make. Maybe this is how I want to live my life. But, you know what? It doesn't really matter because it is MY life. Mine. Not yours or Mom's. Mine. So, just let me make my own decisions," Eli spat out at his father.

Rick started to collect a comeback, but the front door opened and Lily and her girls were entering.

"Brr... it's cold out there," Lily commented, not picking up on the tension between Rick and Eli.

Grace noticed it, though, and her eyes fell sadly on Eli's face.

Eli looked away from Grace's eyes... he didn't want her pity.

"I'm making my lasagna," Lily said happily, moving past the two men.

"Oh, goodie!" Zoe cried, following her mother.

Eli plucked his coat from the coat rack he had just hung it up on.

"Where are you going?" Rick demanded.

"Out," Eli said fiercely. He looked at Grace briefly, and then stormed past her and out the door.

Rick made an audible noise of frustration.

* * *

"Jessie, telephone for you!" Lily called later that night, after supper. Grace, Jessie and Zoe were all seated on the couch watching 'A Wonderful Life' for the first time that holiday season. It was one of Zoe's favorites, though, so Grace suspected they would watch it at least 5 more times before the Christmas season was over.

Jessie jumped up from the couch cheerfully, as she always did now that she had a friend in Katie. Grace could see that Katie meant a lot to Jessie. And it made Grace feel a little bad that she and Eli had been so clueless about Jessie at the beginning of the year. Jessie had said she felt invisible around the two of them when they were a couple. Because they had been so wrapped up in each other.... well, not so much anymore.

Grace didn't know what was going on in Eli's head anymore. She had been shocked when she had heard Rick mentioning to Lily that Eli had started skipping school. Grace hadn't known that. Eli had always driven them to school when they both were at the house and not at their other parents. And he had always been there at the end of the day to drive them home. He had never let on that he hadn't been going to his classes. And now Grace wondered what he had been doing in the in-between time.

Jessie came back and plopped down in her seat on the couch. She had a funny little smile on her face. Like she wasn't sure if she should be happy or not. Grace waited for Jessie to say something, but she just stared at the TV.

"So?" Grace asked finally.

Jessie looked over at her. "What?"

"Why are you so... happy?" Grace said for lack of a better word.

Jessie shrugged, and then burst into a smile, "I kind of got asked out on a date."

"You did??" Grace was surprised. But it made sense. Lately when she saw Jessie at school she was always surrounded by girls and guys. She had become quite popular.

Zoe shushed them, her eyes intent on the movie.

Jessie nodded and whispered, "With Tad! I can't believe he asked me out. Well, actually he asked Katie to ask me..."

"And you said 'yes'?" Grace asked.

Jessie nodded. Zoe shushed them again. Jessie smiled to herself and turned back to the TV. Grace looked back at the black and white image on the television, and suddenly decided she didn't really want to be watching this movie anyways. She got up from the couch, and exited the living room.

* * *

"Did you see the good review in the school paper?" Cynthia asked, coming over to Grace.

"Really?" Grace asked.

"Yup, it came out yesterday. They said a lot of good things about the play," Cynthia showed the article to Grace.

Grace skimmed it, and her eyes notched onto her own name. She read what the author had said about her:

...Cynthia McCormick (junior) was outstanding, as usual, as the trying to break away from her parents character, Ronda. Grace Manning (sophomore) was impressive as the poor heartbroken Cilia. She played Cilia with a strong energy. The kiss between Cilia and Milos- played by Travis Woodsman (junior)- was so electric, that the audience felt Cilia's ache when Milos chose Ronda over her. But of course Ronda was so well-played by McCormick, that we weren't sure which girl Milos should be with. All in all...

"Hey!" Travis said, coming up behind them.

Grace turned and smiled warmly at him. She held up the paper, "Did you read what they wrote about us?"

Travis nodded with a teasing smile, "Our kiss was 'electric'."

Grace smiled shyly and folded the paper back up. She handed it back to Cynthia.

[[Grace - That last performace... that last kiss between Travis and I... it made me wonder. I'm not exactly sure what I'm feeling anymore... *shy smile* but that kiss was nice...]]

"So, well, I'm having a bit of a party. Just a small thing, mostly for people that worked on the play," Travis said, giving them a smile. "And... of course, I need my leading ladies to be there."

"Of course then we'll be there," Cynthia agreed.

"Yes, of course," Grace added. She smiled up at Travis.

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Grace was deciding between her black shirt and her red shirt when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She scooted to the window and looked down, trying to see if it was Cynthia. But, then again, Cynthia had said she'd come pick Grace up for the party at 7:30, and it was now only 7:00.

The figure that got out of the car was definitely not Cynthia. Grace squinted and saw... it was Tad. Here for his date with Jessie. Grace moved away from the window and looked back at her choices of wardrobe. But, now, neither of them looked that good.

[[Grace - I guess I was surprised that Jessie was going on a date with Tad... or that she'd be going on a date at all, I guess. She's so young. Yeah, she's a freshman, I guess... and I was a freshman when Eli and I started dating, but... I dunno. I guess, I was just surprised.]]

Grace crossed the room to her closet and began shuffling through her clothes again. Her hand landed on a lacy long-sleeved black dress that her mother had convinced Grace to buy. Grace had worn it once, to appease her mother. It was pretty, but it just wasn't Grace's type of clothing.

Grace heard footsteps sounding on the stairs, and she opened her door a bit and looked out. Jessie, all decked out in a pretty pink ruffled shirt and slim black pants smiled in surprise at Grace's sudden appearance in the doorway.

"I forgot my purse!" Jessie explained with a smile. She continued past Grace and went up her attic stairs.

Grace ducked back into her room, closing the door behind her. She looked at the black dress.

[[Grace - *shrugs* Why not?]]

Grace plucked the dress off the closet rack.

* * *

"You look nice," Lily commented as Grace came into the kitchen a little while later.

"Thanks," Grace said. She looked down at herself and straightened the dress' hem.

"You missed meeting Tad," Lily said with a smile, "He's such a nice boy."

Those wouldn't be the exact words Grace would describe him as. Guys like Tad didn't become popular by being 'nice boys'. "I know Tad," Grace said to her mother, "I go to the same school, remember?"

"Of course," Lily said, waving a hand. She began straightening up the kitchen table.

Grace remembered why she had come down here anyways, and poured herself a glass of apple juice. She was sipping it as Eli entered.

Eli froze for half a second as he looked at Grace. Grace in her pretty dress. Grace with her hair down up in that fancy way she sometimes wore, but not often. Grace with makeup on.

Grace lowered her eyes away from his, even though she didn't think there was any reason she should feel guility.

[[Grace - It's just a party... with friends. And... Eli and I are broken up.]]

Eli continued walking, and brushed by Grace to get to the fridge. If Grace had been looking up, she would of realized that Eli was having a hard time looking at her too.

A car honked in the driveway.

"That's Cynthia," Grace said, relieved. She pulled her coat off the kitchen chair and quickly made her exit, not looking at Eli.

* * *

Grace looked up at the house sullenly. Cynthia nudged her and they continued walking up the path towards Travis' house.

"Do I look okay?" Grace asked nervously.

Cynthia nodded in assurance. But, since when did Grace start caring how she looked?

Grace followed Cynthia up the porch steps and her eyebrows raised in surprise as Cynthia opened the front door without knocking. Cynthia caught Grace's surprised look and shrugged, "I practically live at Travis' house. He doesn't care if I knock or not."

Grace nodded, and they entered. Cynthia led Grace expertly through the house and down to the nicely furnished basement, where the music was floating up from.

Grace looked around. There were quite a few people there, some of them she didn't recognize, but most were indeed from the play. Grace's eyes searched through the crowd and finally landed on Travis. He was saying something to a group of three people. His tanned face was lit up with a wide smile, showing off his white teeth. He raised a hand and brushed his long blond hair back behind his ears.

Grace smiled.

[[Grace - I don't know anything anymore...]]

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