A Girl Like Gracie Read online

  “What charms?” I ask.

  “Exactly,” Noah says.

  Alfie walks over to me and puts a hand on each shoulder. “If he hits on you, makes you uncomfortable in any way or even breathes in your direction, tell me and I will take care of him for you.”

  I smile at his protectiveness. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” he asks. “I talked to Mom while you were gone, you know. She said you were too busy studying to have a boyfriend, and that you were never interested in guys.”

  I look behind Alfie to see Jace and Elliot both talking, but Noah is watching us. This is an embarrassing conversation to be had with an audience.

  “Alfie, I was interested in guys,” I say. “I just wasn’t sure what I wanted in life. I figured I would come to college in America. I didn’t want to date a guy or get attached to anybody, you know? Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. I know taekwondo. I took lessons for three years.”

  “Impressive,” Alfie says, then lowers his voice. “So you weren’t planning on living in Korea forever?”

  I shake my head. “I wanted to go to college with you.”

  He smiles at my comment and backs away. “We will go together. Somebody has to make sure you don’t date a loser.” He then pats Noah on the back. “Like Noah here. You’re way too good for him.”

  “I’m not going to argue with that,” Noah says.

  The basement door opens again, and about four kids from school walk down. Three girls and one guy. I recognize them, but I don’t know their names. They’re one of the ones that don’t talk to me. Alfie goes to talk to one of the girls, so I stand there awkwardly, just watching everybody else interact. It was easier in Korea, because I started high school with everybody else. We all made friends the first few weeks. But here, the relationships have already been formed and I’m an outsider. I don’t fit in. I’m just the weird girl that sometimes speaks Korean and bows to people.

  “Have you met Gracie?” Noah asks a blonde girl that came up to him. She twists her hair around her finger as she looks at me.

  “No, I haven’t,” she says.

  “This is Lola,” Noah tells me. “Lola, this is Gracie. She is Alfie’s sister.”

  She looks shocked at the use of the word sister, but she doesn’t ask questions like everybody else has.

  “Gracie is awesome. She actually corrected our math teacher last week when he did a problem wrong,” Noah says. “It was epic. She’s pretty much the queen of math class now. Even our teacher is scared of her.”

  I just shrug. “The advanced math class is a joke in our school. I did harder stuff than this my freshman year in Seoul.”

  The girl’s mouth falls open. “Are you kidding? We go to one of the hardest schools in our state.”

  “Like you’d know,” Noah says, rolling his eyes. “Her dad paid for the school to get a new gym so the teachers wouldn’t fail her.”

  Lola just shrugs, not denying it. One of her friends calls to her, so she leaves Noah and me standing there. At least I’m not alone. The basement starts to fill with even more kids.

  “What do you think of Bayside Academy so far?” Noah asks me, as I watch the crowd in front of us.

  “Not a lot of people talk to me,” I say. “So I haven’t made any friends. People probably think I’m weird.”

  “It’s the whole bowing thing,” he says. “And the chopsticks. But they’re all just jealous they can’t use chopsticks as good as you can.”

  I laugh. “Well I’m jealous I can’t use a fork as good as them.”

  Maybe not.

  I hate standing out, but I think I hate forks even more than I hate standing out.

  “I like you, Gracie James,” Noah says.

  “Thanks. I think.”

  “We still on for tomorrow?” he asks, in a quiet voice.

  “Yeah,” I answer. “By the way, how formal is this wedding?”

  “Um… well my dad is Charles Pennington,” he says.

  I run the name through my head to see if I can recognize it. It takes a few minutes, but it comes to me.

  Charles Pennington is a rock legend. I only know this because Alfie was obsessed with him when we were kids. He decided he was going to learn to play the guitar like him. He quit after three lessons, but it’s because of Alfie that I started playing the piano. My parents signed me up for lessons, but I loved it and wanted to keep going.

  “What does one wear to the wedding of a rock star?” I ask.

  “Washed up rock star,” Noah says, his voice a little bitter. “It’s his fifth wedding, so it’s not going to be super fancy. He’s marrying a model. It’s her second marriage, so neither of them are making a huge deal out of it.” He pauses. “Wear something you don’t mind being photographed in.”

  “Photographed?” I ask.

  “Paparazzi,” he says. “My dad needs to publicity. That pretty much why he’s marrying her. His band is doing some kind of reunion tour in a few months and he wants to get in the spotlight.”

  My face is warm, so I touch a hand to it. “Photographed,” I repeat. “Paparazzi. Aish! I haven’t even told Alfie that I’m going. We were supposed to keep it quiet.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle Alfie,” he says.

  “How will you handle him?” I ask.

  He just smiles. “Alfie owes me.”

  He doesn’t expand on his statement, but leaves me wondering.

  Why do I feel like my world has completely imploded?

  Oh, right. Because it has.

  Never Have I Ever.

  All of us get into a huge circle to play a game called Never Have I Ever. I’ve never played the game before, so Alfie is explaining the rules to me while everybody gets seated.

  “This is a drinking game, but we don’t use alcohol,” Alfie says. “We just use soda, but it’s still fun. Basically, somebody says something they’ve never done. Like I would say never have I ever worn a dress. And anybody who has worn a dress would have to take a drink. It’s a good way for you to get to know everybody.”

  An ice breaker game.

  “Are you guys playing this just for me?” I ask.

  Alfie nods. “It was Jace’s idea. But it’s a fun game.”

  Once everybody is sitting down, with a bottle of soda in front of them, Elliot starts the game off.

  “Never have I ever been to Korea,” Elliot says, grinning.

  Both Alfie and I take a drink, but we’re the only ones. The person to the left of him goes next.

  “Never have I ever broke my arm while trying to impress a girl,” the boy says.

  “You just had to bring that up, didn’t you,” Jace says, then takes a drink.

  “I want to hear the story behind this,” I tell him.

  “Later,” he says, then winks at me.

  The next girl goes. “Never have I ever flirted my way out of a speeding ticket.”

  A couple of the girls giggle while taking a drink.

  “Never have I ever shoplifted,” the girl next to her says.

  I’m surprised by the amount of people, guys and girls, who take a drink. All of the kids in this room comes from families who are well off. They have no reason to steal or shoplift anything.

  “Never have I ever fallen down because I was walking while texting,” Jace says.

  “Dude, seriously,” Alfie says, but takes a drink.

  I take a drink too, because that happened to me once. It was on a crowded sidewalk in Seoul. Everybody is constantly on their phones there and I ran face first into a guy who was texting. The guy never once even looked up from his phone and kept walking. Some older guy helped me up. It was humiliating. After that, I tried not to text and walk anymore.

  Alfie goes next.

  “Never have I ever cut my brothers hair while he was sleeping,” he says.

  “I was four,” I say, then take a drink.

  “It was so bad that I had to get a buzz cut,” he says.

  My turn is nex
t. I just say the first thing that comes in my head. “Never have I ever fallen in love at first sight.”

  A few people take a drink, Noah, who is sitting right beside me, included.

  “You’ve fallen in love at first sight?” I ask, feeling surprised.

  “He always falls in love at first sight,” Elliot says.

  “Falls out of love just as quickly,” Lola, the blonde girl from earlier, says.

  “Yeah, yeah. Let’s not talk about my love life,” Noah says. “Never have I ever been trapped in an elevator.”

  I take a drink and am the only one.

  “Seriously? You were trapped in an elevator?” Alfie asked. “When?”

  “In Tokyo. I went there a few times. But this time I went with my school,” I say. “The teacher sent me and this boy, Kim Jun Yeong, to get some supplies. And there was an earthquake. It knocked out power and we were stuck in that elevator for, like, twelve hours. Since it wasn’t life threatening, they weren’t as worried about getting us out. It was actually my teacher and some of the other students that rescued us.”

  “I’m jealous of that Kim-something kid,” Noah says.

  “Why?” I ask.

  “He was stuck on an elevator for twelve hours with a hot girl,” he says.

  I roll my eyes. “Kim Jun Yeong and I didn’t get along. We were the top two students and we constantly fought. After that we stopped fighting. We talked on the elevator and found out that we had a lot in common. He was cool. We still didn’t talk at school, but we also didn’t try to bully each other anymore.”

  “Huh,” Noah says. “Well, he’s an idiot.”

  The girl next to Noah, Lola, goes next. “Never have I ever sung karaoke in front of a crowd.”

  I take a drink, along with a few other people.

  “You sing karaoke?” Noah asks me.

  I nod. “Not American songs. But Korean ones. Me and my friends did it all the time when we lived in Seoul. When we didn’t have school on Saturday, that is what we would do. It was so fun.”

  “You have school on Saturday?” Lola asks, looking horrified.

  “Just every other Saturday,” I answer.

  “That’s awful,” another girl says. “When did you have time to go out on dates?”

  “We didn’t. I mean, when you’re in high school, you don’t exactly date,” I say. “I suppose some kids too, but we’re all worried about college. It’s hard to get good grades if you’re dating while everybody else is studying.”

  “Are you saying you’ve never been on a date?” Elliot asks.

  “Never,” I answer.

  “Does that mean you’ve never been kissed?” Noah asks, now looking happy.

  “Once. On a dare. Actually, it was the elevator boy. This was before the incident happened. We hated each other, but we had to follow through,” I say. “At the time I hated it, but I guess a first kiss could’ve been a lot worse.”

  The girl beside Lola goes next. “Never have I ever had a crush on my girlfriend’s parent.”

  Alfie takes a drink.

  I turn to him and gasp. “Seriously?”

  “I was fourteen. And her mom is seriously good looking,” Alfie says. “Give me a break.”

  I turn to the girl. “So you dated my brother?”

  “For, like, three weeks when we were fourteen. He broke up with me so he could date this other girl,” she says, in a teasing tone.

  “That was a long time ago. I’ve matured a lot since then,” Alfie says.

  My heart sinks as I realize I have missed out on so much of my brother’s life. Why did we both have to chose to live with different parents? We should have stuck together no matter what.

  “Never have I ever thrown up on a roller coaster,” the guy next to her, Hunter West, says next.

  Elliot takes a drink, and everybody starts laughing.

  “Why do I feel like there is a story behind this?” I ask.

  “All of us guys were there. West, Jace, Alfie, Noah and me,” Elliot says. “Jace and Alfie dared me to eat fifty chicken nuggets. Me, being the rebellious fifteen year old I was, didn’t turn down the challenge. I somehow managed to eat all the nuggets. I was stuffed, but I felt fine. We went on this crazy fast coaster afterwards, and I ended up puking about half way through one of the loops. The puke landed on the guy behind me who was infuriated. We had to run from the guy and hide. It was crazy.”

  “The moral of the stories is never eat fifty chicken nuggets before going on a roller coaster,” Jace says.

  We all laugh.

  The guy next to West, the last guy in the circle, goes next. “Next have I ever gone viral.”

  Noah is the only one to take a drink.

  “You’ve gone viral?” I ask him.

  Once again, everybody starts laughing.

  Noah just shakes his head, letting me know he’s not going to say a word.

  “Let’s just say that Noah on morphine is hilarious,” Alfie says.

  “Morphine?” I ask.

  “I broke my leg. Which is another very long story. But they gave me morphine and the hospital and I said some pretty hilarious stuff,” Noah says. “But you can never watch the video, because it would ruin the good impression you have of me.”

  “What good impression?” I ask.

  “Nobody tell her where to find it,” Noah says. “I have enough dirt on every single one of you that you should all be scared.”

  Nobody says a word.

  “Aw,” I say, pouting.

  “She’s even cute when she pouts,” Noah says.

  If I were in Korea, I would use egyo so I could watch the video, but I’m not sure that egyo works in America.

  “Oppppppa,” I say, pouting more.

  “Don’t use the on him,” Alfie says, bumping me with his elbow. “My mom used to always do that to our dad when she wanted something and he would agree every time. It’s called egyo, right?”

  I nod.

  “What’s egyo?” Noah asks.

  “It’s when a girl acts cute to get her way,” Alfie answers. “I know for a fact that Gracie is really good at it. She could always convince me to give her anything when we were kids.”

  I smile at the memory.

  “It doesn’t really work well on American guys,” Alfie tells me. “If any other girl besides you did it, I would call her whiney.”

  “That’s because they’re not Korean,” I say.

  “Well, either way, you’re not seeing the video,” Noah says. His voice is stern. “It’s embarrassing.”

  “Fine,” I say.

  But eventually, I will see it.

  Saturday, August 27

  It kind of is a big deal.

  Early on Saturday morning, I find Claire getting ready to head out.

  “Claire, I need your help,” I say, right before she walks out.

  She turns around and looks at me. “What’s going on?”

  “I um… Noah invited me to his father’s wedding,” I say.

  “Noah Pennington?” she asks.

  I nod.

  “You’re going to Charles Pennington’s wedding?”

  I nod again.

  “And it’s happening today?”

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Why are just just telling me now?” she asks.

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t think about it until now. But I’m kind of stressed about what I should wear or how I should fix my hair. I thought that maybe you could help me, if you’re not busy.”

  “I’ll cancel my plans,” she says. “This is much more important.”

  “Noah said it’s not a big deal,” I say. “It’s like his fifth wedding. I just am freaking out cause there will be paparazzi taking pictures, and I don’t want to look bad.”

  “Well, it kind of is a big deal,” Claire says, pulling her phone out of her purse. She dials a number. “I have an emergency and need to get in right away.”

  Emergency?

  Who is she talking to?

 
“That’s perfect,” she says to the person on the phone, and then ends the call. “We have to leave now.” Claire grabs my arm and pulls me out the front door towards her car.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Shopping,” she says. “You need a dress. And after, I’ll get you an appointment to get your hair fixed.”

  “You had to make an appointment to go shopping?” I ask.

  “Gracie, this isn’t just anybody’s wedding. It’s Charles Pennington. And you’re going as Noah Pennington’s date. You have to look good,” she says, getting in the driver’s seat of her car. I climb in the passenger seat.

  “Date? Who said anything about a date? I’m going with him as a favor. We’re friends,” I say.

  “Friends or not, you’re going with him to the wedding as a date,” she says. “I won’t have my stepdaughter looking bad.”

  “Okay,” I say, sitting back against the seat.

  I have a feeling this is going to be a long day.

  Friends.

  That afternoon, when Noah comes to pick me up, I am exhausted from my day with Claire. I feel like I tried on hundreds of dresses and shoes. But I do look pretty. At least I think I look pretty, which is all that matters.

  I told Noah to text me when he was on his way over, but instead, his arrival is told to me when Fredrick knocks on my door that afternoon.

  “Your date is here, Miss James,” he says.

  “Why does everybody keep calling him my date? He’s not my date,” I say.

  Fredrick just chuckles and walks away.

  “And don’t call me Miss James. It’s Gracie,” I yell after him.

  Wait.

  Did he just say Noah is here?

  I grab my heels and purse off the bed and take off running down the hallway. The absolute last thing I need is for Alfie to find out that I’m going with Noah to his dad’s wedding. Then Alfie will think it’s a date and everything will be a big mess.

  When I get close to the balcony, I slow down to a walk. I don’t want Noah to see me running and think I’m excited to see him or something. I’m just going with him today as a favor.

  And it’s definitely not a date.

  As I get to the top of the staircase, I look down and see Noah standing in the foyer. He’s wearing a very nice black suit, a white shirt and a black tie. He looks good… really good. His hair is fixed like it was the first time I met him, and I like it like that. Somehow, standing there, he looks more mature than he does when I see him at school. He looks up at me, and my stomach tightens in a weird way.