Falling for Grace

AN: AYYYYYYY, I'M BACK. I'm so sorry for not updating in forever. First, I was so busy mapping out later chapters for encounters, second, i was really blocked with this one, and third, I was at debate camp for roughly two weeks so I couldn't update anyway. Also, I know you guys think that the kissing thing was too early, but I swear it's not going to be one fo those stories where the characters fall in love instantly, I swear there's more stuff planned. Anyway, leggo.

Phoebe

"What do you mean you kissed a random stranger?!" Toria yelled, so loud I thought my ear drums would burst. It'd been about an hour since that... thing happened, and I was refusing to admit to myself that I had let myself kiss some guy I just met on the street.

After the thing that happened, happened, I backed away instantly and ran away, as in I grabbed Molly, fixed my hat on my head, and went on my merry way without giving this guy- I think his name was Brett?- any explanation. I blamed it on the hormones, but maybe I was just crazy and wanted to cause trouble, or maybe I was just an idiot.

After I left that situation, I found Malcolm and practically begged him to take us home, ready to get to a place where there were no skateboarding guys that I could crash into, and no deep pools of eyes that I could get lost in. So now, here I was, sitting in the room Toria and I were going to share until we left Grandma's house, after taking the longest shower of my life and throwing on the first pajamas I could find. I was blowing raspberries and strumming random chords to one of Mom's more recent songs, trying to ignore Toria's disbelief.

"Toria! Can you be any louder? I don't want Mom or Dad to hear you yelling about how I kissed some guy! That'll just make this whole situation even worse." She glanced over at me with her huge honey eyes as she rolled a strand of her long auburn hair in between two fingers.

Toria had never really been good at using an "inside voice". When we were in third grade together, she was trying to help me cheat on a spelling test. I whisper asked her how to spell bridge, and she replied by loudly spelling it out in front of the entire class. That day, we found ourselves in detention, with Toria crying her eyes out, and me being absolutely pissed at her.

"Sorry, but I mean, it's kind of shocking. You're not the type of person to just fling around, and you've never even been with anyone before." I let out a breath and strummed harder, trying to keep my focus on the ceiling instead of on Toria.

"I know. I don't know what happened he just kind of crashed into me and then we were talking and he stole my hat and we just kept talking and I taught him how to play guitar but apparently he already knew how and then we kissed and it was just stupid and I don't understand how it happened it just did." I rambled on, not paying attention to how hard I was strumming until Toria gave me a look and warned me that I was about to break a string.

"Well did you get his name?" She asked curiously, as she flipped herself over on the bed and skimmed through the pages of the latest fashion magazine she could get her hands on. She was always into those types of things, but honestly I couldn't blame her. Toria had that easy going free spirit kind of vibe. She was one of those girls that liked to upcycle and looked to things such as horoscopes and zodiac signs to guide her life.

"Um, I think he said it was Brett." I mumbled quietly. She looked up at me and smirked, silently urging me to continue. I let out a breath ad relented, running my fingers through my still damp hair. "He was a skater guy, and he had this crooked grin and these dimples that I can't even begin to explain. And then his eyes were like a whole other universe, and he had this hair that just looked so soft and I wanted to touch it and he... What?" I asked after I realized that Toria was laughing in my face. I crossed my arms over my chest and pursed my lips.

"I'm sorry Phoebe, but I can't really relate considering the fact that I'm a lesbian. Everything you're saying about this guy is going in one ear and going out the other." She explained while laughing, and I just shook my head at her as her laughter increased. "Aw you look so adorable pouting, just like you used to when you were little! Maybe we can call Mom in here and let her take a picture so we can have a throw back."

"I'm so done with you, Toria, goodnight." And before I shut the lights off, I threw a pillow at her face, making sure it hit her square in the face before I closed my eyes and drowned out her protests.


The week droned on in a slow rate, with me, Toria, and our cousins hanging around the house most days, while Mom and Dad searched around for houses. Before we knew it, it was Sunday, and school was starting the next day. Mom and Dad had made me and Toria go shopping with them the entire weekend, picking out binders and school bags, and any other thing you could think of. After the very brief back to school shopping, our guest room was stocked up to the ceiling with pens and pencils. Now, it was six in the fucking morning, and I wanted to sleep for another thirty minutes, but Toria was too busy stressing over what she wanted to wear for the first day that she woke me up.

"Should I wear a sun dress?" She asked curiously as she sorted through the clothes in her bright purple suitcase. I yawned and turned to her, peering over my blankets and glaring at her for waking up this early. I mean who willingly woke up this early? It was inhumane, honestly.

"Um... I think-"

"Or maybe a skirt?"

"Well if you-"

"Or I could try these shorts and that cute blue shirt I have?"

"I don't-"

"Yeah, you're right, definitley a romper. Thanks, you honestly have the best ideas when it comes to clothes." She decided, tossing her hair over her shoulder and turning away from me. I stared at her in confusion for a split second more, before I shoved my face into my pillow and groaned. Just as I was about to slip back into sleep, the door bursted open and in came my dad.

"Rise and shine beauty queens, Mom's making breakfast in the kitchen." I groaned at Dad's somehow energized voice and tried to sink deeper into the bed. I heard Dad's deep chuckle and rolled my eyes, not caring that he couldn't see me. "Come on Feebs, your sister's one step ahead, it's time to get up."

"No."

"You need to pack up your soccer and swim gear."

"I'll do it later."

"Mom's making bacon." I jumped up from my bed and shoved Toria out of the way, rushing down the stairs and almost tripping over my own feet. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the first plate of bacon I could set my hands on before Toria came in behind me thirty seconds later, glaring at me and flipping me off while our parents were turned away.

"Morning Mom." I greeted sweetly, sitting down at the table and setting the plate of bacon in front of me. She glanced at me from over her shoulder before padding over to me and setting a kiss on my forehead.

"Morning Buttercup. Are my girls ready for school?" I scoffed while Toria crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well I would be, if sister dear wasn't hogging all the bacon."

"Well what can I say, if you had gotten down here first, you would've grabbed it first, beautiful." I responded with my signature sarcastic smile. Dad high fived me and I beamed at Toria as her jaw dropped and she grabbed a slice of toast.

"That's so unfair, you're in soccer, you have a six minute mile! There's no way I would've gotten down here before you!"

"Well then maybe you should've joined soccer a long long time ago. Then you would've gotten the bacon first." I pointed out in the most serious tone I could manage before I tossed her the smallest slice of bacon on the plate. She shook her head at me but caught the slice in her mouth as Mom and Dad laughed silently at us.

"Come on, Feebs, go get dressed, we need to go meet your new principal, and I need to set up the pool for try outs after school today, which you'll be at right after soccer try outs, right?" I mumbled a reply through my full mouth and then gave them a thumbs up as I rushed up the stairs and threw on the first articles of clothing I could find. After looking over myself and straightening out the random band t-shirt I'd thrown on, I fixed my cap on my head and laced up my scuffed up converse, running down the stairs as soon as I decided I looked decent.

"Alright, I'm ready." I shouted as I checked over my sports bag in Grandma's living room. My cleets and my goggles were sitting right next to each other, and really, it was a huge contradiction. I checked to make sure all my soccer gear and clothes were there, and then rechecked for my swimsuit and swim cap. I looked up once Dad clapped me on the back, and Toria said goodbye to Mom as she handed me my guitar case. So, I rushed to the car with my case in one hand and my sports bag in the other.

The ride there was uneventful, and was spent pulling my hair back into a ponytail, fixing my cap backwards on my head- like always-, and listening to Toria gush about how excited she was to be taking cosmetology this year. Once we finally got to school, and I marveled at the beauty of how the building was constructed, we headed inside to find every single person in the hallway wearing the same exact uniform. I panicked instantly, stopped in my tracks, and turned to Dad.

"You didn't tell me we had uniforms.."

"I wasn't aware, we didn't have them when I was in school." He admitted, steering Toria- who was practically blowing steam from her ears because of how mad she was- and I to the principal's office.

We walked into a plush room with walls that were coated in pink paint and an abundance of dolphin related objects. A slim, tall lady with dark eyes and even darker hair sat behind a huge desk that took up over half of the room.

Mrs. Venir, who's name I learned from staring at the plaque on her desk, was a lady who's pink lipstick was too bright for her face, and hair was too flat and plastered on her head. She wore heels that were ridiculously high to compensate for her incredibly short stature, and as if she didn't already have enough attention, she wore an orange suit that made her seem as if she got pulled out straight from the hippie genre.

"Good morning, what can I help you with?" She asked robotically, not once looking up from her computer. Dad cleared his throat and she looked up slowly, raising a sleek eyebrow. "Oh, you're the new gym teacher, yes?"

"Um, yes, but these are my daughters." She gave him a look that you'd read as: and I care because?

"Registration is over, we can't afford to accept any more students, our classes are more packed than a can of sardines." Mrs. Venir replied without providing any sort of emotion at all.

"No, my daughters are already registered, we just need to get checked in and get schedules so they can start the day." She looked up once again and gave a stiff nod.

"Names?"

"Phoebe and Toria Jackson." She typed something in her computer and after five seconds, the printer buzzed to life, producing two pieces of paper. She snatched the papers from the printer bottom and handed each of us one. Toria and I traded schedules after finding the opposite names on the page we were holding. She dug in her desk and produced two lanyards, two school guides, and one lanyard holding a key, which she promptly handed to my dad while shoving the other objects in our direction.

"That's your key to the gym, the swim center, and the storage units where we keep equipment. Those are your guides and lanyards for ID'S. We'll get you uniforms, and after we get those, we'll print the ID'S." And then she walked off, and I guess she wanted us to follow her because she paused at the door and looked back at us. Toria and I rushed off, looking back at Dad with helpless faces. I bit the inside of my cheek and let out a breath. I already had a bad feeling about Goode. Mrs. Venir led us to a small dusty room, unlocked the door, glanced at us briefly, and then handed us each a black clothing bag.

"Shoe size?"

"We're both an eight." Toria answered as I stood there not wanting to assess the situation. She shoved a shoe box at each of us and looked us up and down, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Hats or head coverings of any type are not accepted, shirts with logos, jeans, and especially those disgustingly scruffed up shoes, are prohibited. This will be the uniform you wear everyday, we'll send you home with four more of the same so you'll have one for everyday of the week. You're responsible for taking care of these uniforms, and wearing them to school everyday, all the time. Aliese! Aliese, come show these girls the bathroom so they can change! Aliese!"

As we stood there with stunned faces, a girl with the blondest blonde hair you could have before it was considered white ran through the door wearing the supposed school uniform. Her eyes were deep and dark, clashing with her fair complexion and incredibly light hair.

"Yes?" The girl asked through pants, and a pang of sympathy ran through me.

"Go show these girls the bathroom so they can get in dresscode." No please or thank you, just orders that had to be followed. Aliese nodded curtly, glanced at us briefly, and then motioned for us to follow her. As we were walking out, Toria leaned over to me and whispered, she's hot, in my ear, and I turned to her and gave her a pointed look. She laughed silently as we reached a maroon door which she pushed open quietly.

"Okay, so is this lady as horrible as she seems?" I blurted out as soon as I got in a stall and opened the clothing bag. I cringed at the sight and let out a breath as I slipped the white collared shirt over my head.

"No." Aliese answered quietly, and I let out a breath. "She's way worse." Nope, nope, forget about that, all the breath was sucked out of my body. I groaned as I slipped on the skirt and opened the shoe box.

"Oh hell no. I refuse. I'd rather unenroll from this school than wear these death traps." I answered, shuffling out of the stall with the shoe box in hand. I wrinkled my nose as I stared at the gray and maroon plad skirt that brushed against my knees and fixed the collar of my shirt.

"You have to wear them, they're required." Aliese pointed out sounding more confident than before. I turned to find Toria clad in the same outfit, slipping the maroon knee socks onto her feet. After ten minutes of arguing with Toria, I slipped the socks on and stepped into the black strapped school heels provided by this already huge ass hell hole we moved to New York for.

Now let me be absolutely clear. I never wore heels. I wore my converse so much, I practically lived in them. The first and last time I wore heels, it was because I was the flower girl at Cousin Travis and Cousin Katie's wedding, and that was when I was seven. I refused to ever wear heels again after that day.

"I look like a freaking barbie doll, why the hell do we have to wear this?" I almost screamed as Toria braided her hair back calmly, staring into the mirror with determination.

"Mrs. Venir says it's to keep us safe." Aliese answered quietly as Toria tied the end of her braid.

"Well you certainly make this outfit work." Toria muttered under her breath, and for the second time that day, I shot her a look. Aliese looked up confused and Toria smiled sweetly. I rolled my eyes and stuffed my cap in my backpack, running a hand through my hair. I headed for the door, but before I could even place a hand on it, Aliese stopped me, and in the quietest voice I'd ever heard, informed me that I still wasn't in dresscode.

"How am I not in dresscode?" She scratched the back of her neck and twirled a small curled strand of hair with her finger.

"Mrs. Venir requires all females to pull their hair back, no one's hair is allowed to be down." I stared at her like she was insane and she nodded at me as if trying to assure me that no, she was in fact not shitting with me. I angrily pulled my hair up and tied my ponytail, my bangs falling into my eyes in the process.

"This is such bullshit." I muttered angrily, grabbing my bags and pushing my way out the door before I could get a response from either girl. I marched back to the room with Mrs. Venir and bursted through the door. She looked up at me and clapped.

"Oh, so much better. Now sit, let's take your ID picture." I opened my mouth to protest but she sat me down in the chair and I turned my head to the side and plastered on a smile as she snapped the picture. As soon as I saw the ID printing, I let my face fall and stood up, grabbing the ID and attaching it to my lanyard."Now, remember to always be in dresscode. A full set of dresscode do's and don'ts is listed in the school guide. You're all set to go to class." I grabbed my bags once again and leaned against the outside wall of the room as Toria shuffled inside to take her picture. Aliese stood next to me awkwardly before offering me a hand.

"I'm Aliese, but you probably already knew that." I took her hand and shook it quietly.

"I'm Phoebe, but I'm sure once you get a look at me you'll make the connection." I responded, and she stared at me for two seconds before her eyes widened.

"Your parents are Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson! I thought you guys lived in California, what gives?"

"Yup, that's me. Dad got a great job offer here, so we packed up and left. Mom said she could still get good publicity from here, so they didn't see a reason to not move."

"That sounds tough." She answered as Toria errupted from the room with her ID.

"Not really, we didn't really have anyone to miss in Cali. The only thing tough is this damn school." I answered as I pulled out my schedule. Aliese nodded and glanced at Toria.

"So if you're Phoebe, you must be Toria, right?" Toria nodded confused as we started walking down the hall and compared schedules.

"How do you know that?"

"Because when you got adopted, you were on the news and you were all the rave." And I can assure you there were rare times when sister dear blushed, and apparently this was one of them for some unknown reason.

"Um, what's your first class?" She asked no one in particular, so I looked at Aliese, signaling her to go first.

"Chem with Mrs. Higgins." Aliese said, and Toria informed us both she had that same class with her. Well damn, guess I was screwed since I had Stats with some teacher named Mr. Roth. We went our seperate ways and I tried to find my way to room A214. After fifteen minutes, I found the room and knocked on the door eyeing my schedule with curiosity. A full minute passed until the door was opened by a girl with a long purple streak running down her brown hair. She looked me up and down before shooting me a smile and holding the door open for me, eyeing my guitar case for a split second longer.

As soon as I stepped in the room I had a wave of nausea hit me. The teacher stopped projectile typing notes on the board long enough to look me up and down, stopping to stare me straight in the eyes with a questioning look. I don't know what he was looking for, but he was making me feel really fucking uncomfortable and I didn't know why. I watched as he hit a button on his computer and the lights in the room flashed on. He walked over to me slowly, adjusting his tie and not ripping his eyes away from mine.

"You are?"

"Um, new student." I shoved my schedule at him and swallowed quietly, messing with the strap of my sports bag. He looked over my schedule quietly and handed it back to me.

"You're a Jackson?" He whispered. The question caught me off guard, and I didn't exactly know why he was asking, but nevertheless I nodded as a look flashed across his face before he turned to the class. "Class this is Phoebe, new student, make her feel welcome, alright?" He turned to me. "You'll be sitting in front of Mrs. Jaylen." He informed, pointing to the girl with the purple streak in her hair. She raised an eyebrow at me and I already knew this girl and I were gonna get along by the mischevous smile she threw my way. Unfortunately though, I couldn't enjoy the fact that I was going to sit in front of someone who seemed chill because of the person sitting across from me.

The guy had been eyeing me since I walked in, and now that I got a good look at him, I could see why. I remembered those eyes, so deep and ever changing. Somehow, him being in his uniform with his tie loosely done and his shirt sleeves rolled up made him look even more troublesome. It was almost impossible for me to sit down without looking at him, but I managed to build a wall between us with my guitar case, backpack, and sports bag.

Mr. Roth droned on into a conversation that I really didn't care about because of the fact that I had taken stats the year before and was only taking it this year for an easy grade. Through the whole class, Brett never ripped his eyes away from me, so much that at one point, the girl behind me passed me a note that read: Seems like Mixed Eyes over there's really trying to get your attention, Gray Eyes- Kathryn, local smart ass and sarcasm expert. I wanted out, and right then. Problem was, I couldn't efficiently count down till the end of the class because I didn't know when the class ended.

So, to sum up my first week in New York, I was living with my grandma, kissed some guy who I was currently sitting next to, and had my entire personality stripped away when I had to change into a school uniform that I wasn't told I'd have to wear. I guess this was the first sign that optimism really wasn't for me.


AN: I know I know, not that great, but it was about time I uploaded, I promise next chapter will be better. Also, I've started pinpoints in this chapter towards plot points in the future. Lemme know your guesses. Alright, review for me please! Till next time- ShyGal