“Is that why you're really here, Gracie? For a boy?” Dallas asks her.
“Do you or do you not always say Eastbrooke was where you had some of the best times of your lives?”
“We do,” Keatyn admits.
“That's why I'm considering it. End of story.”
“And it has nothing to do with whatever is going on with you and Brady?” Keatyn asks.
“Of course not. Brady and I were friends. Now, we're not. It’s as simple as that.”
“But—” Keatyn starts to say.
“Speaking of butts,” Gracie interrupts. “Check out number twelve’s.”
I laugh. For the first time since we arrived, I laugh. Gracie cracks me up. I've never met anyone who can so smoothly manipulate a conversation.
Actually, I take that back. I have. Gracie is a mini Keats.
“You sure you want to go to high school, Gracie?” I ask her. “A script came across my desk yesterday that made me immediately think of you.”
“I already told you, Riley. No cheesy romances for me.”
“This one isn't cheesy. It could be the next Titanic. A critically acclaimed box office hit. It’s a big sweeping love story—sort of a Romeo and Juliet type of thing. Period piece. Young princess whose father wants her to marry the prince of their neighboring country to bring them peace—but she is in love with a young soldier.”
“Sounds cool,” she says, noncommittally as she stands up to cheer. “I think I want to be a cheerleader. Go Cougars!”
“What? No!” Keatyn screeches. “You have to be on the dance team!”
“I thought you didn't think I should go to Eastbrooke?”
“If you decide to come here, you have to be on the dance team, Gracie. And you need to know they have a lot of rules here. I know you complain you don’t get to do as much as your sisters, but Mom and Tommy are pretty liberal.”
Dallas and I laugh out loud. “You’re one to talk, Keats. You always believed rules were for other people.”
And in that moment, I stop seeing just me and Ariela and start remembering everything else.
The friendships.
The laughter.
The pickup lines Dallas used.
Screwing around in the football locker room.
Dallas trying to guess the color of girls panties.
How our goal in life was to get laid.
The parties at The Cave.
The nights we spent chilling at our secret party place, Stockton’s.
The ceremony when the seven of us—me, Ariela, Maggie, Logan, Keatyn, Aiden, and Dallas—became Eastbrooke prefects.
When I threw a perfect deep pass to Aiden in the last few seconds of a rivalry game to seal our victory.
A little girl behind us taps Gracie on the shoulder and asks for her autograph. Gracie signs her program, takes a picture with her, and returns her attention to the game.
“I don't know much about football, but I can appreciate their uniforms,” she says as the quarterback throws the ball down the field to a wide-open teammate for the score.
Dallas nudges me and nods toward a cheerleader, who’s cheering more than the others. She’s also wearing the quarterback’s number on her cheek.
“Gracie, why is that guy texting you if he has a girlfriend?” Dallas asks.
“He doesn't have a girlfriend,” she says.
I point to the cheerleader. “I think maybe he does.”
Gracie narrows her eyes as Keatyn says, “Speaking of texting, I just texted Mom and she had no idea you were here.”
Gracie shrugs. “I told her I was going to a football game.”
“Yes, you just failed to mention that the football game was in Connecticut. How did you get here anyway?”
“Hitchhiked.”
Keatyn gives her the eye.
“Fine. I hitched a ride on The Summer Boys jet. I'm considering dating Jared. Or Dylan, depending.”
“Gracie, those boys are like twenty years old!”
“No, they’re not. Jared is nineteen, and Dylan just turned seventeen.”
“You're fourteen!”
“I’ll be fifteen in a month. So, basically, I already am. And that’s another reason why you should want me to come here, so I’ll date boys my own age. Although, the band is fun to party with and I never get carded when I'm with—” She slaps her hand over her mouth.
I whisper to Keatyn, “You know if you have a girl she’s going to be just like Gracie. Just like you.”
“No, she won’t. She’ll be smart and responsible like Aiden.”
I raise my eyebrow at her. Aiden was not adverse to partying and hooking up before he fell for Keatyn.
She shakes her head. “One step at a time. Mom and Tommy have had it so easy with the triplets. They never get in trouble.”
“That’s not true,” Gracie says. “The cleaning lady found cocaine in Ivery’s room.”
“What?!”
“Mom didn’t want to tell you once she found out you’re pregnant.”
“Shhh,” Keatyn says.
“It’s not like everyone can’t tell anyway. All they have to do is look at your stomach.”
Keatyn touches her stomach, which still looks flat to me.
“You know we don’t want people to know yet, Gracie.”