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          Rue had startled Grace when she came knocking on her window extremely early in the morning.  Maybe startled was an understatement.  Rue's knocking had actually nearly brought the girl to piss herself.

     Grace carefully reached for the wooden baseball bat she kept near her bed, taking into her chilly hands as she rose slowly from her bed, the sheets falling to reveal her matching pyjamas — black shorts and a black tank top with a tiny white bow in the middle.  Her hair in her bonnet, she cautiously approached her bedroom window with the bat, walking towards the steady knocking and contemplating her options.

     Using the bigger end of the bat, she gradually pushed the curtain back a tad, only a tad, to be met with a sweaty and rather disgusting looking Rue.  Sucking her teeth and dropping the bat to her side, replacing it with her own hand as she stepped closer to the window, she held the soft material back in her own hand as she angrily looked at the girl standing outside.  'What are you doing?' — she mouthed.

     Underneath the hardcore exterior that was Grace and her thick eyeliner and platform boots and usual plaid skirts and Linkin Park posters, she was actually just a kid with a big heart.  I think a part of Rue always knew that about her.

     Rue looked up at Grace, she hadn't seen her like this probably ever even though they've known each other since kindergarten.  'I'm sorry' — Rue mouthed back.  Taking in Rue's demeanour, seeing how the girl rocked back and forth on her feet on the grass outside.  She looked extremely tired, she had no clue that Rue had not been able to rest for a while now.  Sighing to herself, she leaned her bat up against her bedroom wall and returned to her window, sliding open the side quietly.

     "I really need to fucking pee."

     "That's it?" Grace raised her eyebrows at the curly-haired girl in front of her.  "You could've gone to your own house for that — uh, wait, why aren't you at your own house?"

     "Are those are your pyjamas?  You look like you're eight or something," Rue coughed quietly.

     "Why aren't you getting ready for school?" Grace deadpanned.

     "Listen, I'm kind of in a bind and I need to use your bathroom really quick," Rue asked, and got a tad more defensive when she saw Grace's face.  "I was out all night and I was on my way home, I promise.  I just... I just need to rest for a second."

     Grace kind of had an idea of what happened, but she convinced herself that she didn't want to know.  She stood there for a long time before groaning, rubbing her neck as she decided, "can you get through this window?"

     "I can try," Rue nodded and prepared herself to jump through, placing her black Converse on the wall to hoist herself up.  Grace grabbed her by the forearms and between the two, Rue reached Grace's bedroom, but not without awkward grunts and Rue hitting her leg on the steel.

     "Girl, you kinda stink," Grace stepped backwards.  "I'm sorry, but what the hell did you do last night?"

     "Partying with the devil," Rue muttered.

     "I can tell," Grace crossed her arms over her chest.  "And by the way, I would be getting up in like twenty to start getting ready for school," Grace crossed her arms over her chest.  "Not that it's any of your business what I wear."

     "I know.  I think your pjs are cute."

     "Thank you," Grace said.  "Does your mom know where you are?"

     "Uh, not really.  I'm telling the truth," Rue looked at her with big eyes.

     "I believe you are, just not the entire truth," Grace tilted her head.  "My bathroom is to your right but you can't close the door all the way on me.  I'm not dumb enough to wait for you to search through my medicine cabinet."

     "I'm not here for that, this isn't like that," Rue shook her head.  Maybe twelve hours ago, maybe any other day, but after the night that she just had, she decided Grace was right — she was always right, after all. 

     "Mhm," Grace yawned, leaving Rue to the bathroom, returning to her bed where she sat, facing the door where Rue sat on the other side.

     It seemed like Rue had been in the bathroom for ten years, time moving incredibly slow and each breath taken felt like the weight of the world as Grace waited for Rue to come out.  Eventually, she heard a toilet flush with the sound of her faucet turning on shortly after, but she barely noticed because of how much she was zoning out.  With the door creaking open, Rue stepped back out into the bigger room.  "Thank you," she meekly said.

     "You fucking relapsed," Grace noted.  "Right?" she pushed after noticing Rue's silence.  "Am I right to guess that?"

     Rue nodded, her eyes trailing to her carpeted floors.  She had never felt so vulnerable.  "Sure," she said quietly.

     "You relapsed and it nearly killed you, didn't it?"

     "I missed the part where that's any of your business," Rue muttered.

"You made it my business when you knocked on my window," Grace retorted.  After a moment, she sighed.  "What are you doing here, Ruby?"

     "Look, I... I had a long night, okay?  And I said some things I can't take back."

     Grace pressed her lips together as she listened to Rue, feeling the softness of her bed as she placed her palms down next to her.  She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the home she had created when she was relaxed under her comforter.  "That's usually what happens when you speak, words are more permanent than we usually realize."

     Rue nodded cautiously.  "I freaked my mom out."

     "More than usual?"

     Another slow nod.  "Yeah... I think so."

     "As long as you recognize it."

     It was quiet for a moment before Rue spoke up again.  "I should get going."

     "Sure, but I'm coming with you," Grace decided, rising from her bed again, walking over to a small clothing rack she kept near her real closet because she had so many clothes.  She pulled a soft black hoodie off a hanger as Rue kept talking.

     "You don't trust me," she stated.

     "No, but I want to," Grace nodded after slipping the hoodie over her head.  "Truthfully," she locked eyes with the other girl before grabbing a pair of soft joggers from the rack next.  "Can you please turn around?"

     Rue did so with only a second of hesitation.  "You're not as bad as everyone says you are," Rue said, her back to Grace as she slide her joggers on with ease.

     "People say I'm bad?"

     "I think people think you're really cool but you don't care.  And I know you do."

     "Yeah, because we're best fucking friends," Grace said, searching the floor of her bedroom for a pair of slides or flip flops.  "Sorry, that came out meaner than intended."

     "It's okay," Rue shrugged, her bottom lip poking out slightly.

     "No, it was very uncool of me."

     Rue's lips turned upward slightly.  "What are you gonna do about school?"

     "Screw that, you're more important than school," Grace said without thinking, grabbing her keys from her nightstand and pulling her phone off her nightstand.  "I'll drive you."

     "Careful, Gracie.  Your facade is slipping."

     "Tell anyone and you're dead.  Now, be dead fucking quiet when we get to the door, and follow my lead."

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rue 🤝 grace
partners in crime