~A Once and Again Series~

The Way We Are

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Chapter 26//Decisions to Make or Not Make

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"...Don't be scared to fly alone

Find a path that is your own

Love will open every door

It's in your hands

The world is yours

Don't hold back and always know

All the answers will unfold

What are you waiting for

Spread your wings and soar..."

Grace smiled as the song "Soar" played into her ears, but she wasn't really listening. Christina Aguilera's smooth voice was very calming though. It was good distraction music. Instead of working on typing the last of her research paper during her study hall, Grace was finding herself drifting away in thought. School would be over in less than a month, and Grace would be off... off on an amazing trip with Eli around the whole country.

"Grace?"

Grace slipped the headphones off her ears and turned away from the computer screen. Mr. Morris, the play director, smiled at her and Grace hoped her total lack of doing actual work wasn't obvious.

"How have you been?" Mr. Morris asked.

Grace shrugged, but with a smile, "Uh, good."

Mr. Morris studied Grace, "I was surprised when you didn't try out for the spring play."

"Oh..." Grace hadn't even given it any thought. "I've been busy, I guess."

"You are a great actress," Mr. Morris complimented her. He knew from her extraordinary performance in the fall play, just what Grace was capable of.

"Thanks," Grace said with a hint of an embarrassed smile.

"Well," Mr. Morris looked around the computer room, aware that he should really be letting Grace get back to her work. But he had one last thing to tell her, "Grace, I don't know if you've heard about the summer acting group?"

Grace shook her head 'no'.

"It's sponsored by the school," Mr. Morris explained, "Which means, yours truly is the acting coach/director. It's just a bunch of high school kids from all over the Chicago area who are interested in acting. We have acting work shops, and have gotten some big names in the past to come and offer advice and tips. And we put on a play, and the money that we earn through that goes to charity. It's a great experience for any young actors."

Grace considered this. It sounded awesome. Something she would totally want to do. Acting in the fall play had shown her that this was what she wanted to be doing with her life. Grace was surprised that she hadn't even thought about trying out for the spring play. Well, it was too late for that, but this summer thing....

[[Grace - Wait... summer thing. SUMMER! *groans* I can't! I can't do it. I'm going on tour with Eli! How could I have forgotten??]]

Mr. Morris was still talking, going over how good this acting group looked on college applications, and about the opportunity to meet other eager young actors. But, Grace began shaking her head.

"I can't do it," Grace said, surprised by how disappointed she was. Just a few minutes she had been lost in a daydream about how cool it would be to be going on the tour. And now... she didn't know how she felt. She still loved the idea of going on tour with Eli... but it was sad to have to pass up a great acting chance like this acting group.

"Oh," Mr. Morris sounded disappointed himself, "Well, I just wanted to tell you about it, because the play directors from all the Chicago schools nominate three students each for this opportunity, and you were one of my choices."

"I was?" Grace asked, surprised. "Even though I didn't even do the spring play?"

Mr. Morris nodded, "You have a great amount of talent, Grace. Just imagine how good you could be with the right training and practice."

Grace was flattered. But... she just couldn't say yes. It would mean giving up the tour. Grace couldn't do that.

Mr. Morris sensed her about to reject the offer, and said quickly, "Just think about it, Grace. Give me an answer before the last week of school. I think you'd be a great addition to the group." Mr. Morris pulled a pamphlet out of his bag and handed it to her. "Just look this over, and discuss it with your parents.... and get back to me."

Grace nodded numbly, and Mr. Morris walked away. Grace looked down at the paper in her hand, feeling very torn.

* * *

"Hey, Jess!"

Jessie turned, and smiled at the boy approaching her. "Hi Tad."

"I haven't talked to you in a while," Tad said as he leaned against the locker next to Jessie's. "I've missed it."

"Oh," Jessie said, surprised. She hadn't thought Tad cared that much about her. "Well, we're talking now, aren't we?" Jessie was in a good mood. Her father had seemed to back off about asking her about what he had seen. Her mother hadn't mentioned it either, although Jessie was sure her father had told her. And, Katie was... amazing! Jessie couldn't believe she could feel this way about someone else, especially another girl. But she did feel this way, and it felt good.

"Yeah, but it's not the same," Tad said, giving her a cheesy smile, "So, maybe we could get together one of these nights and... talk."

Jessie looked at Tad, suddenly realizing what had been missing from their relationship-- if you would call a couple of dates a relationship. But, what had been missing between them were the feelings... those feelings she now felt for Katie. Those feelings she had never been able to feel for Tad, no matter how cute or funny he was.

"So, what do you say?" Tad asked, his offer for a date hanging in the air.

The old Jessie would have grabbed it eagerly, glad for the attention of the popular boy. But, Jessie wasn't that Jessie anymore. She was going to make her decisions on her feelings... and her feelings were directing her towards Katie. "Oh, no, sorry Tad," Jessie said with a shrug, "I'm kind of seeing someone else."

Tad nodded, but Jessie could see the surprise on his face.

Katie, having arrived behind them just in time to hear Jessie's last statement, smiled as she tapped Jessie on the shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey!" Jessie said happily.

"I'll see you around," Tad said, the rejection not grooving with him too well.

Katie and Jessie watched him walk off. Then they turned to greet each other with identical smiles. Jessie, so touched by the love in Katie's eyes for her, had to shyly look away.

* * *

"Grace!" Eli said eagerly as the two met after school at their car.

"Hey," Grace said distracted, as Eli pulled her in for a kiss.

"Come on," Eli said with a grin, "I'm taking you somewhere secret."

"Secret?" Grace asked, interested. "Where?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret," Eli said with a silly grin, "But let's just say there's some people you should meet."

Now Grace was truly confused, "Who?"

Eli just shook his head, "Get in and you'll see soon enough."

Grace looked around the parking lot, "What about Jessie? And Zoe?"

Eli smiled, "Jessie is going home with Katie, and I've already asked your mother to pick up Zoe."

Grace, seeing the plans were already made, got in the car. She had been hoping she could just go home and think over this acting group thing. But, it looked like Eli had other plans.

[[Grace - *holding the pamphlet* It's a great opportunity. *defensively..* BUT, I'm not actually thinking of going. I have a great summer planned already. This tour with Eli is going to be great... *smiles weakly*...it is.]]

"We're here," Eli said as he pulled up in front of what looked like an abandoned bar out in the middle of nowhere.

Grace looked around, "I don't think it's open."

"It's not," Eli agreed, "It's been closed for a while now, but the band bought it and uses it for practice." He opened his door and got out of their car.

Grace began to get out the car and paused, "What band?"

Eli smiled, "Well, I was thinking, with you going on the tour with me... it was about time you met the band we'll be opening for. Delivery."

"Oh," Grace said, surprised and nervous. She had heard some of Delivery's CDs... they weren't big-time quite yet, but they were big.

"Come on," Eli said gently, taking her hand. He sensed her nervousness, "They're good guys."

Grace nodded and followed Eli over to the building's entrance.

* * *

"When can we go??" Zoe whined as she climbed up on Lily's bed with her. Lily looked over the paper she was reading as her daughter pouted at her.

Lily patiently explained to her daughter once again, "We'll go pick out a puppy the week after school gets out."

"Why not now?" Zoe asked.

Lily sighed under her breath, having said this all before, "Zoe, you know we want to wait till you're out of school before we get it... that way there'll always be someone at the house to watch it during the day."

Zoe wasn't exactly happy with Lily's responses and silently trumped out of the room. Lily rolled her eyes, tired of Zoe's selfish "I want it now!" attitude. Zoe was lucky they had caved in and allowed her to get a dog in the first place.

"Reading or thinking?" Rick asked, as he came into the room, undoing his tie.

Lily blinked and set down the newspaper, "Both, I guess. How was work?"

Rick shrugged, "The same old." He slipped off his shoes and pushed them into the closet and then he climbed up next to Lily on the bed.

They cuddled together, just enjoying being in each other arms.

"I was thinking April for a girl," Lily said.

Rick smiled, thinking over the name. But he had too much on his mind already. He opened his mouth, meaning to comment on the name choice for the baby, but instead found himself saying, "I saw Jessie kissing her friend."

Lily, surprised by his outburst, said, "Oh?"

Rick pulled away, so he could look at Lily's face, "That's what I've been keeping from you. I talked to Karen about it, and we both decided the best way to deal with it was by not bringing it up. We don't want to upset Jessie."

Lily was confused. She was missing something here.

Rick saw the expression on Lily's face and added, "The friend Jessie was kissing was... Katie."

"Oh," Lily said. Her eyebrows raised, "Oh."

Rick nodded, "I'm beginning to think I should say something to Jessie about it, though... what do you think?"

Lily shrugged, "I don't know. Jessie probably doesn't WANT to talk about it... but as her father, maybe you should talk to her about it."

Rick nodded, that had been what he was thinking, too.

* * *

"Hey, Eli!" The first guy that noticed them in the doorway called out.

Eli waved and stepped inside, Grace right behind them.

"Are you psyched for the tour, man?" The guy asked excitedly. He had short buzzed blond hair and wore all black.

"Definitely," Eli said with a grin of his own. He pulled Grace next to him, "This is the girl I've been telling you about."

The guy came closer and smiled, "So, you're the girlfriend, Grace?"

Grace nodded.

"I'm Dirk Smithson," The guy said, holding out his hand.

Grace shook it, "Hi."

"The rest of the guys are around here somewhere," Dirk said with an eye roll, "Probably all in the back room smoking or something. I'll go round them up... I'm sure they'd want to meet you," Dirk said with a wink at Grace.

Grace watched as Dirk headed off down a small hallway. "He seems nice," Grace said to Eli.

"They're all nice," Eli assured her. He leaned down to give her a kiss.

"Ugh, no PDAs, please!" A female voice cried out.

Grace twisted her head around in surprise. A pretty petite girl, with long black hair drawn up in a ponytail was looking at the two of them.

"Hey, get used to it," Eli joked, his arm still around Grace. He smiled at the girl, clearly he knew her.

The girl finally broke into a smile, her dark red lips curving upwards. She was even more beautiful when she was smiling... in fact she was almost stunning. Grace felt her gut reacting jealousy towards her. Grace had thought she had gotten over acting jealous over girls in Eli's life... but guess not.

"Grace, this is Amy Lee," Eli introduced her, "Amy, this is my girlfriend, Grace Manning."

Amy nodded, "Right, I kind of figured that when you had your tongue down her throat." She walked closer to them, and now Grace saw that Amy had a silver eyebrow barbell piercing and a matching silver lip ring piercing. Amy, being dressed in a tight black tank top and slim black pants, matched Dirk's own all-black outfit. She looked like she was....

"Are you part of the band?" Grace asked.

Amy nodded.

"Amy's the lead vocalist," Eli explained, "And she can play some heavy guitar."

Grace bit her lip, "But, I thought the lead vocalist was a guy."

Amy laughed, "E! I can't believe you haven't played her any of our new stuff!" She smiled friendly at Grace, "Yeah, Dirk used to do the singing and lead guitar, but I joined the band a few months ago, and we decided to make me be the lead singer instead."

"Oh," Grace said. She didn't like this feeling of jealousy she had. So what if Amy was pretty, and played guitar and wore black and had piercings...? She wasn't Grace, and that was who Eli was with, right? And Grace would be with Eli during the whole tour, so it wasn't like anything was going to happen... Because Grace would be there, right by Eli's side, right?

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