(Grace POV)
I walked from the dorms to the main patio, hoping to find Anthony there. The patio was covered in a modern asymmetrical awning but was plain concrete with off white synthetic wood tables. There were bushes outlining the area and made the patio look less devoid of life.
Technically I wasn't allowed to be here, but if anyone but the principal caught me here there would be no problems.
I stood there, shivering in the breeze, it was the beginning of the school year, September, so it wasn't too cold but occasionally there was a heavy breeze.
I peered into my oversized tote, but couldn't see anything due to the rapidly ceasing light. I grabbed my phone out of the outside, zippered pocket and turned on the flashlight, easily accessible with iOS 7. I found my compounded, faux leather jacket and shrugged it on.
It brought me no comfort, the jacket was thin and would only heat up after minutes of wear, but at least it blocked me from the wind.
I pulled out my beanie and slipped it on. Fashionable but useful, I covered my ears and looked cute.
I checked my phone, there was pretty much no light outside and the principal would be coming around to do his rounds. We didn't have to be in our dorms until 10 but we couldn't be loitering around, we could leave campus as a sophomore.
Finally Anthony showed up, looking freshly showered and sheepish, at least in this light, which was practically none. "
Um, what took you so long?" I demanded, "Do you see this outfit? This is not an, 'OMG, I'm gonna wear a beanie and leather jacket outfit!' this is an, 'OMG, my boyfriend's late and it's kind of cold!' outfit." I exploded.
"Geez, you're so touchy today. Is it that time of the month?" He asked cheekily.
My eyes blazed, "For your information it is not, 'that time of the month'" I lowered my voice, "I was just really cold, okay?" I said, hoping he could hear the pleading in my voice.
"Ok, sorry, I was at the gym, I got carried away, you know how I get." I nodded, understanding his problem. "So can we go now?" He inquired.
"Sure, yeah, where are we going?" I asked.
"Just to the diner down the street, I couldn't get someone to drive us." He said, sounding truly disappointed.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go, we have to be back by 10!" I said, trying to cheer him up.
It worked, a smile broke out on his chiseled face. I walked over and linked my hand with his, looking up at him and kissing his cheek. We walked along, hand in hand, him towering over me by 6 inches, standing at 6'.
"You know, it always annoyed me that you were taller, not that I want to be taller than you I just don't like being so short. You make me feel short." I pouted, "I think we should break up, the height difference is just something I can't look past." I said sincerely.
"You're not serious!" He exclaimed. I nodded, showing how sincere I was. "After dating for almost a whole year? And you're breaking up with me over a height difference. Honestly I never thought you were this shallow!" He took his hand from mine, running it through his messy curls.
I rolled my eyes. Surprised he fell for it so easily. "I was joking, I won't go there again, obviously breaking up is a sore point for you, sorry. I didn't know it would affect you so much." I said, trying to see whether he was mad or not.
"Ha!" He laughed, the short outburst surprising me, "You fell for it too, I guess my acting classes are finally paying off, huh?"
I shook my head with silent laughter, "Yep, they are!" I finally looked away from his chocolate orbs to look at the bright lights coming towards us.
Anthony picked up the pace, walking a bit faster, eager not to waste our precious time as it was already 7:30. I struggled to keep up in my heels, silently cursing myself for not thinking of wearing more comfortable shoes.
When we finally trudged into the quaint diner at the edge of the blaring light of the town, we were hit with a pleasant scent of hot cocoa.
"I'm paying." I announced, hoping he wouldn't argue with me.
"I already told you, it's my month to pay for dates." He spat back.
"But, we never go on dates during my month, you always have stuff to do. Plus I have a ton of money to blow from my birthday, I might as well spend it on something worthwhile." I argued, knowing he would give in.
His shoulders fell and his face loosened, knowing I had won this battle. I smiled triumphantly, leaning up to kiss him.
We walked up to the worn down podium, smiling at the 60-something year old waitress. "Hey Andy, hey Grace! Your regular table and regular food?" She asked.
"Our regular table but I want to try something different." I stated, looking at Anthony for confirmation.
I saw the answer I had been hoping for in his facial expression, I never got how people saw emotion in other people's eyes, eyes were expressionless, what happened around them was what matter.
We went to our table, not hidden in the shadows but not in the light, it was a small corner table with an amber casing over the bulb.
Instead of ordering my normal chocolate chip pancakes I decided to actually order a dinner food and went with the baked and fried chicken dish but got my raspberry lemonade , Anthony, as usual got his bacon burger and cookies & cream milkshake.
While we waited we started up a conversation, "So, how's Ginna?" Ginna was his sister who had cerebral palsy, she could speak but she couldn't walk, she was a lot of fun though.
"Oh, last time I saw her she was great, her speech gets better and better every therapy lesson. She wanted me to tell her she got the message and she says yes." He repeated.
"YESSS!" I mouthed, fist pumping.
Anthony chuckled. "So what was the message?" He inquired.
"Oh, you know girl stuff..." I trailed off, knowing that he would be more curious than before.
"What kind of girl stuff?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, a feat I was never able to accomplish.
"Oh you know.." I giggled, twirling my hair around my finger, "Stuff..." I giggled again.
"Grace, you know the dumb blonde thing doesn't work, you're smart." He countered.
I smiled, officially changing the subject, "I know but I'm hoping it will work to someone else. Do you have a piece of gum?" I asked.
"No, why?"
"Oh, you know..." I flipped my wavy hair, "For like.." another flip, "Stuff..." Instead of giggling again I burst into full out laughter.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a pack of Trident Watermelon gum. I held it triumphantly like a statue for a few seconds, making Anthony laugh, then I examined the pack, the gum packet wasn't that nasty wet that gum gets in warm temperature and it wasn't ultra hard. I considered putting one in my mouth but the waitress, AKA Lauren, was coming with our drinks.
"Here you go, one cookies & cream milkshake and one raspberry lemonade with two extra cups!" Lauren said in a false perky voice.
"Thanks Laur!" I replied to the 19 year old waitress,
"We've gotta hang out more! When're you free?" I asked.
"Um... I think sometime on Saturday but lemme get back to you on that OK? When I come to pick up the bill? Is that alright?"
"Yeah, that's fine, thanks!" Starting to drink my pinkish red lemonade.
Anthony and I always split our drinks, not drink with two straws from the same cup but from different cups. Drinking from the same cup was kind of disgusting, not to mention that Anthony would drink much faster than me.
I got some of his milkshake and he got some of my lemonade, which seemed completely platonic but we weren't just dating, we were friends too.
We sat in silence for a while, enjoying our drinks, until the food came which was relatively soon because the diner tried not to have too much of a wait in between the drink and the food.
"Oh my goodness, this is so good, I mean the baked chicken isn't all dried out or really over fragranced and the fried chicken is just really good, not blah at all." I told my boyfriend.
"Well, you know how my burger tastes." Anthony replied.
"How come, whenever we go out you always seem to get the least healthy food on the menu?" I asked.
"Um... I like burgers?" His reply was more of a question.
"Do you, do you really?" I narrowed my eyes, "Because it doesn't sound that way!" I raised my voice to the maximum 'indoor' volume.
Anthony raised his head towards the ceiling in silent question, 'Why, why me?' I jokingly glared at him and he glared back until I broke eye contact, unable to hold in my laughter.
Dinner went on this way until we finished our meals, teasing each other and giving each other small pecks, on the cheek of course.
When I finally checked the time I saw it was 9:43. "Oh my goodness, we've gotta get out of here, it's almost curfew!"
Actually, the school gates closed at 10 but you had to be in your dorm and the lights off by 12 am.
I frantically combed through my tote bag to find my wallet, snapping at Anthony when he tapped my shoulder.
"What! Will you stop tapping me... oh" I blushed, noticing my red wallet in his hand, "Thanks!" I said, guilt evident on my face.
I took out the money and paid the bill, scrawling out my number for Lauren on the receipt. I grabbed Anthony's hand and half ran half walked out of the restaurant.
I paused for a moment to switch from the heels I was wearing to a pair of Toms I had in my purse.
"Man, your purse has everything!" Anthony exclaimed.
"Yeah, I always keep emergency stuff in here, I have a bra and underwear, a faux leather jacket, a thin long sleeve shirt, yoga pants, a hat and vans... oh and a hair brush and hair tie and all the other purse-y stuff." I explained, "You can never be too cautious." I said.
"Actually you can, like overprotective parents." Anthony argued.
"I meant in terms of what is in my bag." I rolled my eyes.
It was getting harder to see, I turned back to Anthony, I could barely see his lean silhouette, "Race you!" I shouted, taking off.
I had the head start but Anthony had the advantage of longer legs. I was on the track team, but of course I was a sprinter, my best was the 200m.
I failed, Anthony won, us both panting for a moment. I smiled at him and held out my arm.
"Good race, MaGargee." I said, through pants.
"The same to you, Taylor." I laughed, it was breathy, I still hadn't recovered.
"Well, I got to run, see you tomorrow?" I asked. "
Yeah, see you Grace." He leaned down to kiss me, and I pulled away quickly, not wanting to miss curfew.
I ran back to my room, seeing Piper was back from her date. Her hair curled with a plain blue v-neck long sleeve shirt and white capri's with red Toms.
I changed into my pajamas, and saw Piper in hers, Cherokee Eagles on hers and mine a plain navy blue with purple designs.
I asked, "Can you help me with History? I need to remember the dates."
"Sure!" She replied in her perky voice.
We studied until 11:30 and decided to get to bed. I realized that Piper was actually really nice and that she would be one of my friends if she wasn't a Pretty.
"How come there are the groups in the school?" I blurted out as the night dragged on.
Piper stiffened beside me, wrinkles appearing on smooth forehead. In a strained voice she replied, "It's getting late." She glanced at her watch, "We should get to bed, we need sleep too if we're going to ace the test, huh?" She laughed.
She seemed to look anywhere but me, her laughed seeming fake.
I trudged over to my bed, resting my head on the pillow, Piper turned out the lights.
"Look, Grace, I know none of this makes sense, it probably never will, all I'm going to say is to stay out of it. It's complicated, if they find out you're trying to figure it out then you will be put into The Uglies. All I'm going to tell you is that there's a lot more to us then it seems. Even Annabeth, she's really smart and she's had a hard past." She advised, "Annabeth will find out you're trying to find the answer before you know it. Especially if she doesn't like you, and trust me, she think's you're going to be trouble, I would lay down on the style radar for a while, just fit in, OK?" She responded.
I nodded, then I realized she couldn't see me, "Yeah, I understand." Piper was silent, I eventually fell asleep but I was wary of what the secret of the school was.
I woke up that morning with the question hanging over my head. I swore there was a question mark over my head.
I marched into my bathroom, not acknowledging Piper who was already wide awake and doing her weird yoga in the morning ritual.
I took a shower but just blow dried and brushed my hair, leaving it in it's natural waves. I put on a purple graphic tee and black sparkly ripped skinny jeans with red adidas high tops and red beats around my neck. I came out with a quizzical look on my face, wondering if this was 'normal' enough for Piper. Piper just shook her head and pulled me into my closet to change my clothes.
"You need to wear a plain tee shirt and plain blue jeans, do you have that?" She said while rifling through my closet, frowning at some articles while a small grin creeped on her face for others.
"Remind me after school to help you get your 'Annabeth approved outfit'" She said it like she didn't like Annabeth.
"Don't you like Annabeth? I thought you two were best friends." I said.
"We are. I doesn't mean I agree with everything she does, that's how I know what she approves of or not, if it wasn't for her I would wear jeans and high tops everyday." She stated.
I nodded showing I understood. I changed into the clothes she picked out for me. It was a bit more muted then normal but it was at least my style. Lastly she took my hair and fixed it into a fishtail braid over my shoulder.
I smiled at her and then left the room and building to get to school.
"Hey, you look different." Anthony commented, "More... hm... muted." He examined.
"Yeah, apparently I'm on Annabeth's 'radar', perks of having a pretty for a roommate. Especially one of Annabeth's best friends." I said.
"Ah... Yeah, I never thought the boys would be big about this pretty thing but Leo is all out with it. It's weird, like, I thought that was a girl thing." Anthony said.
I smacked his chest, "That's so sexist!" I shouted, my mouth open in surprise and my hand on my hips.
"Sexist but true." Anthony commented, trying to get me mad.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." I walked away from Anthony without looking back, trying to get to my extremely boring classes.
When I got back to the room at 3:10, Piper was already there and ready to go in sweatpants and an oversized sports tee.
"C'mon, we've got closets to clean!" She shouted good naturally. I smiled at her carefree manner and joined her in my closet.
She threw half my clothes into the middle of my closet, me arguing a few times about pieces of clothing I really loved like my indie band tee shirts and a few of my short, daring black dresses. She only let me keep my long dresses, plain t-shirts, unripped jeans, skirts, silver and gold jewelry and shorts.
"I'll be dressing you every morning!" She teased.
For the second time that day I found myself wondering how things would be different if Piper wasn't a Pretty, or a new thought, if I was a Pretty also.
Life would be different, that was for sure. Piper had to go, and I had to do homework but she promised when she came back we would talk.
"Like friends?" I asked, seeking confirmation.
"Like friends." She confirmed.
We smiled at each other, I think that was the moment when I became truly curious about The Pretties.
Why they were so remote, so isolated, so... different.
It wasn't arrogance, no unlike their name suggests, The Pretties never seemed like they thought they were better than us. It was almost like they never thought to communicate with 'The Halfways'.
We just never had occurred to them as people to actually talk to, more of just people who were there, they just coexisted with The Pretties.
They were all connected somehow. And that was the information I wanted to know. There was nothing in my way, nothing except a stupid school hierarchy system. But how would that affect my plans? That I was to find out.