Ben rarely got to his math class on time but he got there extra early on Thursday to talk to Gracie. He ignored the dirty look Ashley shot him, but she wasn't one to be giving dirty looks. If Sam had his way, she'd probably be assigned another job in a few days. She and Gracie had never really connected anyway. Alex had been Gracie's favorite agent and the two of them were like sisters, though Alex knew when to knock it off and do her job. She asked to take some time off to be with her mother, who lived in Boston and was very ill. Gracie was scrambling to finish some last minute problems on the work she'd been given while she had been out. Ben stood over her for a moment, then sat down in the desk next to her. He glanced over and saw they had a sub but she was reading some raunchy romance novel with scantily clad people on the cover.

"Hey." Ben glanced at the clock now, seeing that it was getting close to when everyone would start pouring in. Most of the kids however were on the other side of the building and usually were late.

"Hi. So, I see you're out of prison." Gracie muttered. She may have not remembered what happened at the party but she had watched the news.

"I didn't go to prison. I got arrested."

"Same thing."

"No it's not."

"Yeah it is. What do you want?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. You only, just from what I hear, got me totally drunk then left your best friend to rape me."

"I didn't know okay?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm still pissed off at you. My parents won't even talk to me."

"You were the one drinking so don't play this one on me." Ben said.

"Who was giving them to me?" Gracie retorted.

"You could've said no. If I had known you were a closet drinker,"

"Well if I had known you were a closet pot addict,"

"That was low."

"Then don't start with me. I'm not in the mood."

"Gracie,"

"Do you blame me for being mad at you?" she asked, looking up. She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as she watched her boyfriend.

"Yes!"

Gracie sighed and sat up straight, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't do this," Ben muttered. "Don't even start."

"Then leave me alone. I'm not even kidding. I want nothing to do with you right now."

"Whatever. I came early to apologize to you."

"Oh well good job you did." Gracie snapped sarcastically.

"I hate when you act like this."

"You're beginning to sound a lot like my father and I think I said to leave me alone."

--------------------TWW---------------------

"I'm giving you guys back your essays now." Ms. Anderson said as she walked around the classroom. Gracie sighed and drew on her notebook. Her English teacher was possibly her least favorite teacher ever and they had been known to have frequent problems with each other. "Some of you did not do as well as I expected,"

She dropped a wad of paper onto Gracie's desk face down and she stared at it, not really sure if she wanted to turn it over or not. Another sigh escaped her lips and Gracie turned it over slightly. Unfortunately, the corner she had lifted was the corner with her grade. She made a protesting sound and Ms. Anderson turned around.

"If anyone," she looked at Gracie pointedly, "has a question about your grade, see me after class."

Gracie dropped her head onto her desk, an audible thud resulting from this. Ms. Anderson ignored her as the rest of the kids chatted animatedly with each other about their grades. She gave the kids the last ten minutes of the period and Gracie sat with a scowl on her face until the bell rang. Ashley was halfway out the door, then turned back, realizing Gracie was not with her. Ms. Anderson stared at the back of Gracie's head and tapped her foot against the floor for a second.

"Is there a problem Miss Seaborn?"

"Yeah." Gracie continued to sit there, not turning to face her teacher. "Until you came, I had every essay in the nineties and my grade average was fairly decent. But now I get grades like these and I haven't made High Honor Roll in two marking periods because of you."

"Because of me?"

"Yes. How much is this one worth?"

"Two test grades."

"Great."

"Maybe if you learned to write a little better, you'd have grades you're used to. Grace, I told you that I would not give you special treatment."

"I'm not asking for it. I don't need it. I've gone ten years getting good grades. All of a sudden you come along and everything is screwed up." she said, finally turning around. "How did I get a 62 on an essay? I came to you for extra help. You said it was fine. So obviously you either have a problem with me and want to ruin my scholastic career or you don't remember what you say during previous conversations."

"I grade a bit more rigorously than other teachers." Ms. Anderson said calmly. "When I took over for Mr. Wilkinson, I was excited to teach you. Not only were you the President's daughter, I had heard good things about you. You fail to exceed those expectations."

"None of my other teachers have a problem with me."

"Perhaps they just hand out your good grades."

Gracie gritted her teeth and ran a hand through her hair.

"I work hard for my grades. They are not just 'handed out' to me because my father's the President of the United States. I have to work at things just like every other kid. I worked hard on that essay. I've worked hard on everything that you've given us to work on since October. It's May and my grades have still gone down the tubes! I've come to you for extra help and I do what you tell me, yet it's still not good enough! I don't know what to do anymore!"

"Well, if you would like to keep mouthing off, we can discuss this more after school until three thirty." Ms. Anderson said. "You said yourself that you are just like every other kid. Then I shouldn't hold back to give you detention."

Gracie opened her mouth but closed it, shock written all over her face.

"I'll give you a pass to your next class." Ms. Anderson said, writing on a slip of paper. "Be here right after school."

Gracie just nodded, not wanting to get into deeper trouble.

"When do your parents have some free time?"

"I don't know."

The teacher looked up at Gracie, who sighed.

"I'm not even kidding. I could say two and then a war will suddenly pop up. Their schedules are unpredictable."

--------------------TWW-----------------

"Hey Seaborn."

'Can this day get any worse? Like honestly, what the hell have I done wrong in my life?' Gracie thought as she heard a female voice behind her.

"What's going on Karen?" she muttered, still going through her locker.

"I hear you had a little fun at Rick's the other night."

"Yeah it was a blast."

"I always knew there was something about you. So uh... are you and Ben over?"

"Why? You want him?"

"Is he available?"

Gracie shut her locker and looked over at the taller brunette.

"No. We're still dating."

"I heard you got into a huge fight."

"A lot of people fight. My parents fight. They're still together. Fighting is a part of life." Gracie said. She leaned down and grabbed her backpack. "I'm late for class."

"Oh we can't have that now." Karen said in a babyish voice. "I still can't figure out what Ben sees in you."

"Neither do I."

"At least you admit you have nothing to offer."

"I dunno. I'd say I have a lot more to offer than you."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"A brain."

"You haven't displayed having one in the past few days." Karen said, tapping Gracie on the head lightly.

"Don't touch me."

"Right. That's like... a federal crime right?"

"Not quite but you're getting there."

"What are you gonna do Gracie? Get Daddy to sic his guards on me?"

--------------------------TWW--------------------

"Sam," Ainsley grabbed his arm, holding him back from entering Gracie's room. "Don't even think about going in there and begin screaming at her."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you haven't talked to her in days and now everything has built up and you're going to go in there and explode... like a volcano."

Sam blinked a couple of times, then turned towards the door again.

"Honey, wait."

"No!"

"Sam, I know how you are in general and I know how you are towards her when you're mad at her. You are going to ruin her life right now. It'll probably only last for a few days but you have to remember that she will be around for the next few days and it will be a very uncomfortable few days." Ainsley said quickly, holding his hand tightly. "Okay? I understand that you're mad at her and I understand that this week has been very strange and not at all how she acts."

"Ainsley,"

"I know what you're going to say but she— you know, I never liked that Karen girl. Alw—"

"AINSLEY!"

"I'm just saying."

"She punched some girl. And don't even get me started about what she did over the weekend." Sam said. "We've never had problems with her before,"

Gracie's door opened and she stood there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I can hear you. You're only standing in my hallway. Maybe if you guys want to talk about what a rotten kid I am, you should go somewhere else."

She went to shut her door but Sam quickly moved so he held it open.

"Actually, it's not your hallway. It's my hallway. Last time I checked, we were the parents, not you and could talk about you where ever we wanted."

"You know,"

"No, I don't know so if you would care to... enlighten us on the sudden change of attitude,"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why are you staring at me like I've suddenly grown a few more heads? Or are you always going around punching people?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"Grace,"

"What does it matter?"

"Because I would like to know. Can we come in, instead of standing out here like a pair of idiots?"

"No, you may not." and with that, Gracie shut the door.

"Well, I think she just told you off." Ainsley said.

"You realize, that again, we'll have to ground her." Sam said as they began to walk down the hallway.

"No."

"Yes."

"No, we're not."

"Ainsley,"

"See, I knew this was going to happen!"

"What?"

"She has been such a good kid her whole life that we've skirted this issue but now this past year we've had to punish her. This is where you and I differ honey."

"How do you differ with me on punishing her for getting suspended from school?"

"Because, you know that this is only going on because of Saturday night and you know that she was upset when she saw Ben today. She was upset already and that 62 or whatever it was on the essay upset her even more, not to mention the fact that she's already having problems with whatever that woman who calls you 24/7 name is, and Karen has always been a really nasty girl to begin with."

"Okay. While you were doing all of that, I went back to the 'skirting issues' part. What do you mean?"

"Oh don't play that with me. You know damn well what I mean."

"I think I do but I just want to hear it from your mouth." Sam said.

"This is why I was skeptic about marrying you!"

"You didn't seem pretty skeptic when I asked if you'd marry me."

"Sam, you were already down on one knee for about ten minutes. I have a degree from Harvard. I kinda figured out what you were doing. I had time to wonder."

"You still said yes."

"That's not the point!"

"It is the point because you're standing right there with that very expensive diamond ring on your finger. THREE very expensive diamond rings might I add."

"I have two."

Sam went silent, mentally kicking himself. The third ring would be given to her in a matter of weeks for their anniversary. He had let it slip.

"Well that isn't the point. Why were you skeptic?"

"Because I knew that the day I said I do, I'd be stuck with you for life and that scared me."

"Wh—"

"Shush. I'm not done. I knew that we were going to be having a lot of disagreements over the years and this is one of many. Gracie had been such a good kid and I was like, 'yay we won't have to argue about punishing her.'"

"We've punished her before."

"I know but this is different. Sam, she could've died."

"Exactly and it's her fault!"

Ainsley sighed and walked into their room, leaving Sam in the hallway.