rumour has it... {grace}

[JACKSON HIRSCH]

Something was up with Grace Holladay.

Jackson realized it right away, even if he was excited to see Aura again. He was going to take her best friend to see his favorite places sometime soon, and he couldn't be happier. But actually, he could have, if he knew what was wrong with his girlfriend.

Though Jackson tried to stay away from rumours and gossip, he could tell when things were going around and who they were about, and he could certainly tell what people were talking about when they were suddenly silent and glaring when he was nearby. He had yet to hear what they were saying, which was why he was completely stumped as to why Hollie was avoiding him.

He knew she was mad at him for some reason, because he knew full well that this was her passive-aggresive way of letting her anger out, by aoviding him as much as she could. When he did see her, she was distant and didn't say much. Jackson didn't want to bother her, maybe thinking it was something to do with her mom, but now he was almost sure it was something to do with him.

So that's why he was walking to her door, wanting to talk about things. Then school year was almost over, and he would be off to college at Barrie, and Grace would still be here. He couldn't go a summer like this, with just his words floating between them, so he had to find out what was wrong.

He was about to knock on the door when he saw Andie coming towards him. She awkwardly ducked and turned around, heading back to wherever she was coming from, but Jackson knew she saw him. Getting out his prepaid phone, he texted her. She wasn't even far enough away yet to get the TARDIS sound out of earshot.

1E90FF, 228B22

Hey what's going on? do you know something i don't?

you really don't know man everyone's talking about it it's pretty ridic if you ask me - AR

What are you talking about? did something happen to grace?

oh shit you really don't know okay because you're my best bro i'm going to tell you so you're not going in there blind or deaf or whatever - AR

What? tell me what???? :(

alright i totally don't think you'd actually do something like that but people keep saying you're cheating on grace with that new girl

.....................What? The idea was so ridiculous, Jackson couldn't believe-

dude i mean you totally twirl hugged her in front of everyone and say on a make-out bench but i mean i get it tht can be totally platonic but still

That's completely ridiculous, aura's my best friend from fairfield

what the fuck is fairfield

My hometown!!!

okay yeah chill man i totally believe you but i don't think grace does i'm pretty sure she saught advice from someone who shouldn't have been giving it idk who though

Who did you originally hear the rumour from?

carly barrett but that's only because of the gossip blog her and dan run and it was her post not dan's and it was also vague but also obvious if you knew who she was talking about

Ugh, Carly. It was so awkward between them, he almost couldn't bring himself to text her. But this was important, so he did.

Hey carly, did you spread a rumour about me and aura?

He waited a lot longer for a reply than he did with Andie. Jackson almost thought he wouldn't get one when suddenly:

Yes, I did! I'm very sorry. :c But I was only trying to help! You and Aurora seemed very friendly and I didn't want poor Grace to get hurt!

Well, she's pretty hurt now... she won't talk to me.

And that's my fault? You were the one getting so close to Aurora, darling, don't forget!

She was right, and he hated it.

Don't call me darling. i'm dealing with this here and now. next time, let me solve own problems, okay?

Sorry, darling, I was just trying to help! c;

Jackson put his phone in his pocket in frustration and knocked on the door, hoping and praying that Grace would answer and even let him in.

[/justify]

[GRACE HOLLADAY]

Grace Holladay was no relationship expert, but she could intuitively tell that her's was walking on thin ice. Talking to Silas Schmidt a few days ago had been a good thing for her; Grace had needed a different perspective on the situation. She was just a naive girl after all, and a guy could help her see from Jackson's point-of-view. Silas hadn't done much to reassure her, but at least she knew what might--

Oh what did Grace care, she was depressed and hurt. She was constantly praying for guidance, for a light to shine down and show her the way. Grace prayed that Jackson was just friends with the girl. Grace prayed that he had never thought of cheating and that he never would. Grace just kept praying and praying, but it was helping her feel any better. For all of her existence outside of living the missionary life, Grace had always gone to be comforted by Jackson. She could just run into his arms and vent and everything would be okay because Jackson. But what was Grace supposed to do when the problem was Jackson?

Grace still hadn't changed out of her pajamas that day; in fact, her comfy tshirt and boxer shorts felt amazing, thank you very much. When she woke up, Grace had pulled her hair down from the messy bun she slept in and now it fell down in messy waves around her face and shoulders. When Grace had crawled out of bed around 11:30, Andie was gone, probably off with Ozzie. It made Grace incredibly happy to know that Andie and Ozzie were still going strong, but also sad because, well, she wanted Jackson back. It was a melancholy feeling all together, and the normally optimistic Grace didn't enjoy it. Not too much later after getting out of her bed, Grace had warmed up some hot cocoa, turned the lights down, and put The Lion King in the DVD player. She sent a quick text out to Andie:

watching the lion king if you want to join me :)

It felt weird to attach the smiley face to the end of her text; Grace wasn't feeling happy and chipper, dang it! She was upset and needed her best friend. The hot chocolate wasn't comforting anymore, it was actually too hot. Grace suddenly didn't care about Mufasa showing Simba the pride lands. And honestly, her hair was bugging the crap out of her and she had the urge to just chop it all off, mostly because she knew Jackson loved her long hair. With an angry pink flush to her cheeks, Grace checked the calender on her phone and groaned. Yep, it was almost that time of the month. Mother Nature sure knew how to time things, didn't she? Burying her face into a pillow, Grace grumbled and moaned. "Uuuughughugh."

As she got up to put the mug in the sink, Grace heard a tentative knock at the door. Surely it wasn't Andie, because why would her roommate knock first? Setting the cup on the counter, Grace walked over to the door and slowly opened it.

Jackson.

Hurt and anger swam across Grace's face as she made to shut the door in his face, but couldn't help opening it back up. Tears sprang up fast and were then falling over onto Grace's pink cheeks. "Yeah?" She couldn't think of anything else to say, anything else to start the show off. Grace knew in the pit of her stomach that this was what everything had been boiling down to, and she was scared.

outfit

[JACKSON HIRSCH]

Jackson was scared, too. Not scared as if he was in the center of a horror flick, or if the harness on a roller coaster could have tightened one more level, or if he was up on stage in the middle of a crowd and forgot what he was going to say. With that last one, he would have been fine, as he could have thought of something to say. This was ten times more frightening than any of those options, or almost any other option.

So as he waited for the door to open, it took everything he had not to tremble and shake and collapse into sobs. Maybe it wasn't quite enough to have that sort of panic attack, but it felt like it. Seconds felt like minutes, like hours.

The relief that came with the slow opening of the door came over him, and he nearly opened his mouth to say something. But he was interrupted by the shutting of the door.

Jackson jumped back as if he had been smacked in the face, and his eyes watered as if he had been. He was 110% sure that her actually hitting him in the face with the door would have had the same effect. It might have been better, even.

If he wasn't sure something was wrong, he was sure now.

Seeing tears streaming down her cheeks made it worse, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to speak. "C-can we uh, can we talk?" he asked, his voice broken. He put his hand on the door gently, not wanting to force this conversation on her, but not wanting to avoid it any longer. "P-please?" he added, hoping maybe that would help.

If he could have fixed this with his stupid "don't be mad at me" smile then he would have. But he wasn't naive; he knew he couldn't solve everything by being cute, because not everyone could skate by with being a cute douchebag, and certainly not Jackson.

[/justify]