Part Two

After Christmas break Grace became friends with an outrageous rebel from school named

Carla. They became inseparable. Carla was a transfer student from Minnesota or something like

that. The rumor was that Carla had been in rehab but Grace was too chicken to ask her if it was

true. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. It wasn't so much that Grace had a crush on Carla it

was more like Grace used Carla to distract her from Jessie. Carla dropped in uninvited into

Grace's life just as Jessie had.

"Hey is this seat taken?" Carla asked as she approached the lunch table where Grace sat

waiting for her friends.

Grace was speechless when Carla said thanks and sat down before she even answered. Grace

had never seen this girl before and was taken aback at her audacity. Grace was about to give

Carla the boot so her friends could sit at the table but Carla beat her to it again.

"So, my name is Carla. What's yours?"

"Ah, Grace."

"You had to think about that one?" Carla laughed.

"No. You just kinda surprised me that's all. Why are you here?" Grace asked with attitude.

"Me," Carla smiled, "I'm new here. Just moved with my dad and step-mom."

"No, I meant why did you want to sit here, with me, I mean?" Grace said frustrated that this girl

cause her to lose her articulation skills.

Carla looked at her quizzically as she put a spoonful of macaroni and cheese into her mouth.

"You seemed like you wouldn't say no. You look nice." she shrugged.

Now it was Grace's turn to laugh. She thought of Jessie. "You're about the only person to ever

tell me that I look nice. I usually have to defend myself for my general existence." Grace started

to relax. This girl seemed okay.

"Well not with me Grace." Carla winked.

Grace's friends sat down at the table bewildered as to who this wild looking girl was. Grace

solved the mystery for them, "Everybody, this is Carla. Carla this is Sarah, Melissa and Liz."

"Nice to meet you," Carla said.

Carla was truly unbelievable and she earned every bit of gossip about her. Carla was the center

of attention wherever she went. Her ADD kept Grace on her toes, never knowing whether

Carla was going to buy something or steal it, scream at someone or compliment them or be

strong or vulnerable. She was pretty, but in an unusual way. Her shoulder length brown hair was

unruly most of the time. She wore t-shirts that were a size too small and low-top red Converse

with holes in them. Her and Grace were polar opposites but they understood each other

somehow, cared about each other. Carla lived in the richest part of town. Grace always thought

her house was really nice, but it was nothing like Carla's. Her house was more like a mansion,

with a two acre backyard and pristinely manicured lawns and garden. Carla and her family did

not seem to fit together. Grace only went to Carla's house once in the entire time she knew her.

Carla said her dad was never around and her step-mom hated her. They seemed alright to

Grace, but she knew that nothing was ever what it seemed.

"Mom, I need you to sign my permission slip for the ski trip. It's due today, and the deposit,"

Grace said as she raced through the kitchen with her backpack. Carla was going to pick her up

any minute.

"That's today," Lily responded half shocked, half dreading writing the check. "How much is the

deposit again?"

"Three hundred dollars Mom. I've told you like ten times already."

"No need to be nasty about it Grace. I've had a lot on my mind."

/Like how we're going to afford to eat for the next week, Lily says with a worried sigh."

"Sorry," Grace said in a low voice. She knew that things with her parents divorce caused some

financial problems. She remembered the missed mortgage payments and how her parents fought

about it. Jake and Lily tried to shield her and Zoe as much as possible but Grace was fifteen.

She knew exactly what was going on.

"Here you go," said Lily handing Grace the check. I hope it doesn't bounce, Lily thought.

"Thanks Mom. I really appreciate it."

"So is Jessie going on this ski trip?" Lily asked as she placed the checkbook back in her purse.

Grace's stomach turned over. She hadn't really thought about it. Jessie was athletic and she

liked to ski but Grace didn't think Jessie would want to go to something like that, with all those

other kids. Not to mention that Karen was somewhat of a Nazi when it came to Jessie,

especially recently. Besides her and Carla were planning a great weekend skiing. Grace was

looking forward to concentrating on something other than Jessie. If Jessie didn't go she would

be fine without Grace for a few days. If Jessie went then Grace could look after her, from a

distance, like she always did.

"I don't know if she's going Mom. Ask Rick if you want to know about Jessie." Grace

answered annoyed.

A car outside honked. "That's Carla. Gotta go," she said as she rushed out the front door.

Two weeks later the weekend ski trip finally arrived. Jessie wasn't going and Grace was

relieved. As usual Karen and Rick were at odds over the ski trip for Jessie. Rick was for it and

Karen was against it.

/"Par for the course" says Grace face front to the camera. "Jessie is their personal

pinball machine."/

Karen didn't think Jessie's eating was improving and after Jessie almost passed out a second

time, this time during gym glass, she was in a panic. Rick and Karen didn't trust Jessie enough to

feed herself properly for four days. Frankly, neither did Grace. But Grace wondered how Jessie

would ever get better if she couldn't learn to help herself.

Grace took the window seat next to Carla in the rear of the bus. She was excited about the ski

trip but she missed Jessie already. Rick, Jessie and Eli were supposed to come over for dinner

on Saturday and Grace was going to miss it. Zoe would be excited to have Jessie all to herself.

Grace shook her head and decided to not think about Jessie for the rest of the trip.

/Grace is sitting down on the stool with the camera only on her face. "Well, that's easier

said than done. All this obsessing about Jessie, and it is obsessing," she says with

conviction, "is unhealthy. I mean Jessie is never going to like me. I am a bitch to her half

the time and a pathetic Jessie groupie the other half." Grace pauses and looks seriously

into the camera. "I just want her to be happy. I just wish she could be happy with me."

Grace huffs in frustration at herself, "God, who am I kidding. Jessie isn't even gay."/

Grace turns to face Carla who is uncharacteristically silent reading a magazine waiting to depart.

Carla looks up and Grace gives her a goofy smile.

/Grace smiles and blushes into the camera, "I think it's safe to say that I have a serious

girl thing going on," Grace laughs./

Grace and Carla were discussing how many runs they hoped to make each morning. Eight

seemed like a realistic number. They were making dinner plans when Grace saw Rick's 1986

Toyota Land Cruiser pull up along side the bus and stop in front of it. Eli was two rows in front

of them with Coop. Did Eli forget something Grace wondered? Then she saw a blonde ponytail

swing around as the passenger door opened and she had her answer. She watched Jessie walk

around and pull her skis and overnight bag out of the SUV.

Grace didn't realize that she stopped talking in mid-sentence when she saw Rick's SUV pull up.

Carla was not in the dark about Grace's feelings towards Jessie. Carla wasn't gay, but she

wasn't an idiot either. You'd have to be pretty blind to love not to see how Grace felt about

Jessie. Carla wished she could feel that strongly about Eli. She cared about him, but she wasn't

in-love with him, certainly not like he was with her.

Carla thought that watching Grace with Jessie was like watching a first grade boy who liked a

first grade girl. He'd throw mud at her and break her crayons, but he'd be the first to clean her

up and get her new crayons. All of his attention, positive and negative, was on her. Grace did

the same thing.

Carla couldn't understand how no one else saw it, though she thought Zoe had a clue. Carla

thought Zoe was smart and underestimated, like her. Carla figured Eli would have caught on by

now. Then again Carla had Eli turned so upside down that he didn't know what was going on.

She was looking forward to some alone time with Eli this weekend away from parental

interruptions.

Carla pretended not to notice Grace's devotion to all things Jessie, which was like trying to

ignore the two hundred pound elephant in the room. But Carla managed because she cared

about Grace. She knew that Grace and Jessie would be in sync somewhere down the road. She

had seen Jessie's stare linger on Grace a little too long on a few occasions. She hoped Jessie

would come around soon. She wanted to bring it up but she figured when Grace was ready to

tell her she would.

"You were saying about dinner," Carla interrupted Grace's thoughts.

"Um, did you know Jessie was coming?" Grace asked oblivious to Carla's question. Carla

shook her head no. "Yeah, me neither." Grace sat silently thinking for a moment. "I hope they'll

be vegetarian stuff for her to eat at the lodge. I'll get her something from town if there's not,"

Grace said nodding her head not realizing that she was thinking out loud. She's got it bad Carla

thought.

"You want to go into town," Carla asked with a smile.

"Town? Why would we go into town?" Grace asked surprised.

"I'm not sure. You just said you were going into town."

"Oh." Grace blushed. "I guess, yeah, we can go into town if it looks cool. Maybe they'll be

good restaurants or shops or something," she tried to cover.

"Yeah, maybe," Carla said with her head back in her magazine, giving Grace some privacy as

she watched Jessie board the bus and sit next to her friends, Marni and Megan.