Hellos

Sorry for frightening you guys but this book is far from over.

The new and advanced Arthur and Grace. And for those of you who are confused, it was fast-forwarded to senior year. There are going to be a lot of differences. Some of you might like it, some of won't, but we'll see.

Happy Reads 😘😘😘

P.S.: I like comments.

**~**

Please be happy and love yourself no matter how hard it may be.

You'll get there, don't give up.

**~**

"Hey, Grace!"

I smile at the petite brunette as I pass by. "Morning, Cass."

It's been a rollercoaster of a year and now I'm back at school, now a senior, and ready for anything. The year was great, my summer was even better and I intend on making senior year the best out of all three.

"Yo, Grace!" I look over at the group waving me over. "C'mere real quick!" Khalil is a senior like me and I met him a few months ago toward the end of the school year but we got closer over summer through mutual friends and colleagues. He's a tall black guy--a few inches taller than me really--and is one of the goofiest and fun people.

I make my way over to the group, giving a peppy, "Hi!"

I drape my arm over the girl standing next to me, Luise. Luise is a dirty blonde with big brown eyes and is on the cheerleading squad. She merely rolls her eyes at me, something she does when I stand next to her since she's much shorter than me. Still, she wraps an arm around my waist.

"You were at the party right?" Khalil says and I have to bite back a laugh because I know exactly what party this is about.

"You know good and well I was there. I was talking to you for like twenty minutes."

"Yeah, yeah." He waves me off. "Can you tell these fuckers I wasn't drunk."

My face twists in defiance. "But you were, though." I'm lying. I just feel like throwing him under the bus. He was one hundred percent sober when I was talking to him. They all laugh at him and I smile sheepishly as he stares at me, shaking his head in disappointment.

"I'm not even gon argue with none a y'all cause I know I wasn't drunk." He points his index finger to his chest while everybody else starts talking over him, telling him to stop lying.

With a chuckle, I tell them I have to get going and make my way to the school entrance after promising to see each other in classes and stuff. I weave through the crowd of people, receiving a few more greetings.

I make my way up the crowded stairway to the second floor. I'm meeting my friends at the fountain on the second floor where most people usually hang out before and between classes. My school was cool enough to install it last year before summer and now it's done and everyone loves it even though it's not huge. It's a mutual chill spot now.

"Bestfriend!"

Richard's crouching on the floor, throwing up the peace sign with both hands. Squealing a little, I bend my knees do this same with a large grin, ignoring the crowded hallway.

We always do this when we see each other. Richard's mixed, and when I say mixed, I mean mixed because I forget the details except that he's black, white, asian and other stuff. He's somewhere over six feet, light-skinned, and has a beautiful head of poofy curls that's dyed blond.

I hurry over to him and throw my arms around him in excitement, both of us rocking slightly.

"So..." I trail off with a smile, "you were at the party..." I pull my lips into my mouth to keep from laughing.

His head falls back and he lets out a groan and a laugh. That does it for me and I double over laughing before he even has the chance to say anything. I've been to a good amount of parties this past year but mostly over the summer. The last one was a week ago, where most of this year's senior class was at. Let's just say a lot of drama happened that night.

I try my best to sober up, wiping the tears pooling in my eyes before they run down my face and mess up my makeup. "Oh God." I sniffle, checking my appearance on my darkened phone screen.

Richard claps his hands together, looking up at the ceiling. "I almost smacked her, my nigga." That has me dying again. "Imagine, I was standing there minding my fuckin' business and this bitch came outa no-fucking-where rubbing her crusty ass all up on me-"

"I can't breathe," I wheeze. This is why I'm friends with him.

Carry Wallace is... a well-known (now) senior in the school for sleeping around, and apparently at the party, she thought it was a good idea to hit on Richard. Richard who has a girlfriend. A girlfriend he's very loyal to and will shut you down before you can say 'Wanna go somewhere', and that's what Carry asked him, not knowing Richard's ways at all.

"I swear to you, Grace, I was gonna smack her. I kept telling the little thirsty hoe I had a girlfriend- scratch that, I said no! But this bitch was like," he puts on a nasally voice, "'I don't care'- like, bitch! I fuckin care!" he exclaims.

The tears I've desperately tried to hold back start to run down my face while I struggle to get air in my lungs again. "S-Stop. Y-You're ruining my makeup."

"Nah but then Am came around and saw her." He chuckles. Richard's girlfriend, Amelia, is one of the nicest girls ever but anyone who's gotten on her nerves has seen the worst. She may be five feet but she doesn't play one bit. She's Hispanic with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and the cutest round face.

"Y'know how she has a tiny high pitched voice?"  That's true and it's adorable really. "I wanted to die when she started trying to shout, but I couldn't or she probably would've gotten mad at me." Richard starts cracking up, clutching his stomach and everything. "I knew it wasn't the time but when she started wavin her arms and shit I had to get her out of there." We shouldn't be laughing at his girlfriend but it's not my fault it's hilarious.

His hands shot above his head and he starts shaking them around the place while cursing in a high-pitched voice. I have to hold on to his arm to stop from falling over.

"I-I'm gonna tell," I threaten through my laughter.

"Go right ahead. I already clowned her ass for it," he says, dead serious as he runs his hand over his jaw.

I gape at him. "You're kidding..."

He shakes his head. "I'm deadass. I teased her for a good two hours when I took her back to mines."

"What are you two laughing about?" Amelia stands next to us with her arms crossed and red lips pursed. She's wearing a yellow sundress with red flowers on it and a flower crown on her head, plus a pair of brown three-inch ankle boots. So cute.

Richard and I glance at each other before raising our arms above our heads, flailing them around. "Heeeeeeeeyyyyy."

She gives us a deadpan stare but I can tell by the twitch of her lips, she wants to laugh. "You guys aren't funny. That's not how I looked."

We break into another round of laughter, hands on our knees. After a minute we sober up and Richard pulls her into his side with a grin.

"See you in a minute," I say unable to get rid of my smile.

"Kay."

I make my way through a familiar pair of double doors and spot the rest of my friends sitting along the edge of the fountain.

A year ago there were two girls who took a video of me and... you know who. We're all friends now as ironic as that is. They're the main ones in my circle of friends. I found out they've been best friends forever and they both started going here in the middle of sophomore year. They helped me in my time of struggle and we've been friends ever since.

Kim is the one who did most of the recording that day. She's the one with the 'Idgad' attitude as they say. She's all kinds of petty and the one that will continuously walk past someone after finding out they don't like her. She's also the one who'll keep the fun going and kill for anyone she cares about. If necessary of course.

Kim is in a red crop top, showing off her navel piercing and a large flower tattoo on her side, with dark-washed jeans and red vans. Her nails were done in matte red and she was wearing bright, red lipstick. She doesn't wear much makeup but she's wearing it today, just not heavy. Her hair's in a neat, sleek, high ponytail, with her curls brushing her forehead lightly.

Then there's Maya, the one that laughed and had to drag Kim away. She's the quieter one. She's sweet and encouraging and knows how to stay completely calm in any situation. I've always admired her for that. I've never seen her get mad, but I've seen her annoyed and nothing good comes from that either.

She's wearing a grey summer dress, stopping mid-thigh, that's wrapped around her like saran-wrap, with some fancy sandals. Her short-cropped hair hangs above her shoulders in loose curls. And unlike the rest of us, she's just wearing lip gloss and still as gorgeous as ever.

John's sitting between them, laughing at something Kim is saying. John and I became friends almost halfway through junior year. I'd needed time away from him--a lot of people really--and he respected that. When we started acknowledging each other again, sure he tried to charm me but I made it clear nothing will ever happen between us again. He kind of dropped most of his old "friends" and he became a better person after that, which is the only reason he's still in my life at all.

"Hello!" I say enthusiastically.

Their mouths fall open when they look at me, making me grin in satisfaction.

"Daaaayuuuumm!" The girls say at the same time. John lets out a low whistle.

I smile and frame my face with my hands. "Yes, I know, I know."

"Grace, could you at least give us a warning," Kim scowls, "if you're gonna come here looking all sexy and shit."

"The damn truth," comes from behind me.

I roll my eyes and turn to Amelia. "You just saw me a minute ago."

"That doesn't mean you weren't fine as hell," she says with a shrug. Richard sits beside Kim and pulls Amelia to stand between his legs.

I beam at her. "Why, thank you." I did put a lot of thought into my first-day appearance so I'll take all the compliments I get.

I'm wearing an olive green loose crop top that's showing a little bit of my stomach, black jeans, and a pair of olive green tims. I straightened my hair that I dyed over the weekend. It was my natural dark brown before, now it's a black and platinum blond gradient that starts from the middle of my hair down to the tips.

My makeup was on point--can't be sure now since my laughing fest. Green is the theme if it's not obvious--olive green matte lipstick, the same color eye-shadow fading into a darker violet that's almost black, mascara plus my highlight was gold and God-worthy. I had my nails done last night in olive green, of course--props to my mom. I found that I have a fondness for the color along with burgundy, actually I knew about burgundy already.

(The green she's wearing and her nails)

I felt snug and confident as ever in my skin and I've never felt better. Not to mention I went to the gym constantly over the summer with my dad to get myself in better shape--more toned and healthy. Over the summer, I'd gotten a henna tattoo on my left hand, from my fingers to a little past my wrist. Of course, I asked my parents and my dad went with me 'to make sure I didn't do anything stupid' and he got another one for himself.

"Grace." John calls and I turn to him. "Were you crying..."

At that, my blank stare lands on Richard who just cheeses at me. Amelia giggles and hugs his head to her chest and he smiles even wider.

"That's what you get," she mocks and I stick my tongue out at her. She blows a kiss at me.

"Who's coming with?" They all know what I mean by that and all the girls are up and next to me in no time.

"Babe," Richard whines, "Grace can go to the bathroom by herself, c'mere."

Amelia smirks and flips him off. "And that's what you get."

We all laugh and chat as we maneuver the crowd to the nearest bathroom.

This year is gonna be great!