Grace Brooks rummaged through her school bag, making sure she had everything she would need for the day. Pencils, pens, paper, books, doodling paper, agriculture book... Grace took a look at the book in her hands. She was repeatedly made fun of for reading non-fiction instead of the new Percy Jackson series. It's not that she didn't like fantasy, in fact she loved it. It was the fact that those didn't provide information about farming and design. 

Deciding to bring the book anyway, it was a new day at a new school, Grace zipped up the cute backpack. It had snowflakes on the dark blue background, even a snowflake trinket hanging from the side. Gone were the days that she would wear backpacks of cartoon characters, she was in high school now.

"Honey, you'll be late to the bus!" Her mom called from downstairs. Sighing, Grace hollered back that she was coming. After grabbing her phone and some wireless headphones, Grace rushed downstairs to chow through her cereal.

"You know," She commented through half a mouthful of milk. "They are all about learning, but they use the worst way for us to learn."

"Is that so?" Her mom bustled through the kitchen, making sure that her younger brother had everything for his first day at kindergarten. "Perhaps you should write about it."

Grace downed the rest of her milk and let the plastic bowl hit the table with a clunk. "You're right, I should." She frowned as she washed the dishes. So lost in thought was she, that when she glanced at the time, she was horrified.

"Love you mom!" Grace hurriedly kissed her mom on the cheek and ran out the door, slinging the backpack over one shoulder. The crisp air of fall greeted her exposed skin, making her glad she had chosen a thicker long sleeve shirt over the tank tops the popular girls were sure to be wearing.

While Grace loved fashion, her outfit was simple and did not draw attention. Her top was a light pink that complimented her rosy cheeks, the fabric broken up occasionally by ruffles. Her jeans were nice and warm, tucked into her loose boots. All of these matched her soft brown eyes and long wavy hazel hair.

Despite what she had been told was natural beauty, she tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. Her looks usually made great bullying material. 

All of this was arbitrary if she didn't make it to the bus on time. Being late would bring tons of unwanted attention to her, so Grace booked it from her house. She had about a block to get to the stop and five minutes to get there and on the bus before it left. So she ran, hair flying behind her as she took strides as big as her short body would allow.

She skidded to a halt in front of the bus right as the last people were boarding. Straightening her backpack and her shoulders, Grace walked quickly into the bus heaving a breath of relief. When she looked around for a seat, the only one she could find was one in the back next to a strange boy who was looking out the window.

"Excuse me," Grace asked quietly, trying to get the boy's attention. To her surprise, he actually heard her quiet voice, his head swiveling to respond.

"Well hello there." He smiled, revealing cute dimples. "I suppose you came to ask if you could sit here?" When Grace nodded meekly he patted the spot next to him. "Be my guest, only if you promise to tell me your name." 

Grace caught onto the young man's behavior, it was only reasonable he wanted to know her name. "Only if you tell me yours." She heaved a sigh as she relaxed into the slightly uncomfortable bus seat. They had about half an hour to get the school from here.

"Well, to gain your trust, my name is Nick, Nick Henderson." He held out a hand for her to shake.

Surprised, Grace took it. "I'm Grace Brooks."

Nick's hazel eyes lit up at the name. "That's a really pretty name. I'm pretty sure I've heard your last name before... Do your parents work for Henderson Law Firm?"

Hugging her backpack closer to her chest, Grace thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do." It took a moment before she put two and two together. She sat up quicker than both she and Nick expected as he flinched and Grace scared herself. "Is your dad the CEO of the company?"

Grinning, Nick chuckled. "I wouldn't have this last name otherwise."

"I see," Grace replied, studying him. "You're the class clown."

Nick feigned being wounded. "Why would you think such a thing my lady? Jokes are such an essential part of life!"

Grace giggled at Nick's performance, only fueling him to go on further.

"If we lived in a monarchy, I would be highly respected for my jokes!" He raised one arm to his chest before settling back on the chair. Around them a few kids snickered but he paid them no mind.

"Do you ever take anything seriously?" Still giggling, Grace asked with a hand feebly covering her mouth.

"Of course!" Nick put his hands behind his head and crossed his legs in the classic relaxed pose. "But serious is soooo boring all of the time."

That's one way to put it, Grace thought to herself. She wished she had Nick's ability to be so chill about everything. Sometimes she stressed herself too much. She took another look at Nick's outfit and had a little laugh. "Do you ever get cold?"

Nick was wearing shorts and a t-shirt of all things, right in the middle of a fifty degree day. The ashamed look that flickered on his face for a split second told her everything she needed to know. "Me? Never." He adjusted the fabric slightly, showing that his hands were shaking ever so slightly.

"Sure...." Grace snickered and closed her eyes. It was going to be a while before they got to the school and she didn't really have anything else to say. The bus itself was slightly chilled, but Grace had a sweater around her waist that she laid on top of her lap. 

A few minutes later she heard the sound of teeth chattering next to her. She cracked open her left eye to see Nick holding all of his limbs close to his body, trying to not show that he was cold. "Here." Grace took the sweater off of her lap and handed it to him. Nick tried to protest, there were hearts embroidered into the maroon fabric, but Grace wouldn't have it. "You'll catch a cold this way. I'm not asking you to wear it, use it as a blanket."

"Thank you," Nick quietly said, for once not full of jokes. The sweater actually seemed to make a difference as the chattering stopped and he seemed to be slightly more comfortable. Although it was clear he was slightly embarrassed to be wearing a very girly sweater on his lap.

After trying and failing to sleep a little in the next few minutes, Grace gave up and pulled out her book about rare animals. She didn't notice that Nick had seen her pull out the book and squint at the pages.

"Do you need glasses?" He asked unexpectedly.

"Yeah..." Grace trailed off, not certain that she should tell him that her parents couldn't afford getting her glasses. After all, she could still function, just barely. Thankfully Nick seemed to catch onto what Grace was hinting at and changed the subject.

"I see you have a love for books."

"Books are amazing. They allow you to express yourself and show the world what you can do. You can imprint characters on someone, make readers hate or love a character." Grace trailed off dreamily.

Chuckling, Nick wrapped the sweater a little tighter around himself. "It sounds like you speak from an author's point of view."

"A little bit of both," Grace admitted, sticking a scrap piece of paper into her book to hold it's place. Even if you had bookmarks you used whatever came in hand. It was almost time to get off the bus anyway. After a pause of gathering her stuff, Grace asked a question that had been nagging her. "Are you nervous at all?" 

"Why the need to be nervous?" Nick replied. "No need to worry what people think of you."

"Is that why you chose to wear that?" Grace indicated his outfit.

"Well, no." Nick rubbed his neck with one hand and looked down. "I may have forgotten to wash my clothes."

Grace doubled over in laughter, tears coming to her eyes. Thankfully what might have been loud under normal circumstances was lost in the din of the bus. She looked out the window to see the triple floor high school come into view. There was a large gym as well as an unmarked building off to the side.

When the bus huffed to a stop, the doors opening to the chilly air, Grace waited to get up. Even though she was in the back of the bus, she would rather be one of the last people out. Nick didn't seem to mind, although it was clear he noticed her hesitation. 

When almost all of the people had left the bus, Grace finally got up and took the stairs, to trip on the curb. Arms flailing, Grace started heading straight for the ground with no save in sight. Right as she prepared for pain, she instead felt a soft tug on her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" A voice with a heavy Brooklyn accent asked her. Grace was pulled up to see another young man who was was overdressed for the occasion. She estimated that he had about four layers of clothing alone, as well as a scarf hung loose around his neck. His eyes were striking blue and his hair was blond at the tips but brown at the roots.

"Thank you, I think so." Grace extracted herself from the arms that had saved her. The young man held out a hand for her to shake.

"Names' Ryan, what's yours?"

Grace took the hand and shook it, the second time this day. "Grace and this is Nick." She pointed back at Nick who had just left the bus.

"Holy mackerel!" Ryan exclaimed. "Are you sane in the head?" It was clear that Nick was still cold, but he had still given back Grace her sweater. "It's got to be fifty out here." Ryan took off one of his layers, revealing a black long sleeve shirt. The sweater he handed nick was a lime green color. "It won't help your legs, but it will certainly keep your organs warm."

"It's oka-" Nick tried to decline.

"No, it's all good, I've got like a million at home. Keep it, seriously you look like you'll catch death." Ryan pushed the sweater into Nick's hands and wouldn't accept it back.

Nick pulled it over his own body, seeming to sigh in relief. Grace gave Ryan a look of graditude.

"Is everyone at high school this nice?" She was starting to think that maybe her nervousness was unfounded. It seemed as if Ryan was one in a million however, because before the bell even rung, she heard a dreaded voice.

"Oh look what the cat dragged in," A snooty voice grated across her ears. Nick and Ryan both glanced at each other in looks of confusion but Grace simply slumped a little as she turned around.

"Delilah."