Grace woke after a peaceful sleep. She glanced at Joan's clock and was startled to see it was already 10.30. She thought to herself about the fact she had already spent 18 hours at Joan's and had managed to completely avoid Luke, as he was studying at Friedman's last night. This morning would probably be the first encounter outside of school since they had broken up.

Joan's messy, unmade bed was empty, so Grace presumed she had gone downstairs. It was a bit strange she had gotten up after Joan; Grace was the early bird.

Grace wearily hobbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her ankle was still big and swollen. She was surprised to find that downstairs was completely empty. Where was every one? She was just about to exit the kitchen, when a voice said "Joan's at work."

Grace was quite startled, and was relieved to find it was only Kevin talking to her.
"Sorry what was that?" asked Grace.
"Joan got a call from Sammy, and he said he needed her help. Something to do with a rabbit called Heidi or something," explained Kevin.

"Oh OK, what about Luke? He's not here, is he?" asked Grace.
"Mum took Luke to the library. Mum is then going shopping, and dad got called out to somewhere. So I guess it's just you and me, hey," answered Kevin.

Grace laughed, "Yeah."

The two looked at each other for a while, not knowing what to say. Finally Kevin spoke up. "I have to go fix up my newspaper article. It's due tomorrow, so…" he trailed off.

"Ok, sure," replied Grace, "I'm just going to wait for Joan in the living room. When will she be home?"

"About 2pm, I think," said Kevin going off.

Grace went to the living room and sat down in front of the TV. She flicked through a couple programs, but couldn't find anything worthwhile. She sat watching some mindless program for a couple of minutes, and then realised she was still wearing her pajamas. She walked upstairs, and gathered up her clothes from the floor of Joan's room. She had a quick shower. She could hear Kevin's laptop clicking away in the next room. H e sure was a fast typer, she thought to herself. She hopped out of the shower feeling refreshed and clean; she hadn't had a shower since the night before last.

She then phoned her dad to tell him what she was doing. Her dad informed Grace that her suspicions were correct. Grace's mum was drunk last night. Grace always felt ashamed when her mother was mentioned. She wished it wasn't like it was, but it was, she couldn't change that.

She then went back down to the living room, settled down, and looked for something to do. When she couldn't find anything, she stood up on her tender ankle and had a look around.

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