a change of heart

No means no...

The Halstead smile, it's contagious, unique and captivating. Luckily it's the one thing that gets passed onto every generation, that's why Grace resembles her brothers so much. You don't have to take a double glance to know that she is related to jay, Will maybe, but definitely not jay. They're like twins but they're obviously not. Grace Halstead is 14 years old but she's not like a normal teenager, she doesn't come with the bratty attitude, or the sassy backchat, she's just simply gentle and caring in every sense.

Somehow she managed to gain all of her looks from jay, apart from the curly hair which she inherited from Will. She has long curly brown hair, emerald green eyes, lots of freckles and the funny thing was she's actually small, her height is fairly short compared to her brothers. She may have gained the notorious smile but she definitely missed out on the height, she stands at around 5 foot 2 inches and she's very athletic which would explain her envious muscles. She'll always give Jay and Will a run for their money when it comes to six packs and calf muscles, always.

A teenager with no backchat or attitude? You may be surprised at that statement, but she has her reasons. The thing is, she lived with her dad until she was 12, that's when he turned to drinking again and could barely look after himself let alone a 12 year old kid. Jay stepped up as the protective big brother he is and pulled her out of their childhood home, ever since then she has lived with jay in his nice family home, she always found it funny how he lived in a house with many many rooms in it when it was just him in the first place; Will lives with Natalie so he couldn't really offer much in that sense. This would explain why she doesn't give backchat, she's super grateful to have her two brothers so she never ever wants to disappoint them and make them mad.

"I'll be here to pick you up" jay smiled as she hopped out of the car ready for school, grace smiled and nodded, "alright, bye love you" she waved at him through the open car window. Jay smiled, "love you too" he nodded then drove off to go to work. She turned around and saw her group of friends waiting for her, it's fair to say she's a part of the popular group in her grade but she's one of the only nice kids in it, the only reason she mainly gets on with them all is because they all have the same sense of humour and hobbies.

The group confidently strolled into the hall to head towards their lockers which were all in a line along one wall, it's a fair sized group. There's grace of course, 6 other girls and 5 boys, they all got along fairly well, but of course there are some who are closer than others. Grace is the only one who doesn't flash people judgemental stares as they walk into the hall and people respect her for that, she was known as the kind popular girl, not the snobby girl. The group got their belongings out of their lockers and happily strolled into their first class which was biology, how fun...

As the bell rang for lunch the girls who were in maths got up and met the rest of the 'gang' in the hallway, "I swear to god if it's gooey snot for lunch again I'm gonna cry" Amelia whined, they all laughed but grace playfully shook her head, "ams, there's people out there who would happily eat the gooey snot, I think we should all be a bit more thankful" she laughed. The group and mumbled in agreement as Amelia sighed, "well if they want mine they're more then welcome to have it" she folded her arms. Grace smiled slightly at her over exaggeration, typical Amelia.

You may be wondering, popular girls? They must be cheerleaders right? Well if you thought that then you'd be correct, they're all cheerleaders for the schools football team, and no it's not just chanting rhymes on the sideline, they actually fly and do stunts as well as tumbling and dancing; a bit typical, but oh well, it's fun! Grace is a part of the dance squad and a part of the cheer team since she can successfully do both. She's more or less dance captain and she's a flyer on the cheer team, they rehearse every Monday and Friday after school in the schools gym for the football games more or less every other weekend.

"Did you guys hear about chads party tomorrow night?" Lola squealed. They all nodded, "who's even going?" Amelia huffed. Lukas shrugged, "everyone" he smirked. They all laughed in unison, "We're all going, G what about you? you coming?" Lola turned her attention to grace. Grace shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I'd have to ask my brothers first" she smiled. Tyler huffed, "you have to ask your brothers?" He laughed, a few of the girls who had a crush on him laughed too. Grace looked him dead in the eyes, "yeah, and I'm fine with that" she rolled her eyes. They all shut up since they know who her brother is, no no no, not the doctor... the cop, they were a little scared to say anything about him in front of her face since she would probably snitch on them because they're all scared of getting in trouble.

Just like jay promised, he was sat waiting outside of her school for her to come running out at 3:05pm when she was finally let out. "Good day at school?" He smiled as she slid into the passenger seat and put her back on the floor, she smiled back, "yeah, it was alright" she nodded. Jay smiled and started the car to drive her home since he needed to get back to the district. "Jayyyyy..." she hummed as they drove along the road, he turned his head slightly and nodded while keeping his eyes on the road so she took that as her sign to continue talking. "Chads having a party tomorrow night, please can I..." she started to ask politely but jay cut her off, "No" he spoke back rather bluntly.

Grace smiled slightly, "okay" she nodded and looked back out to the road, the quiet murmur of the radio drowned out the silence so it wasn't awkward. Jay furrowed his brows together, "that's it? You're not gonna put up a debate?" He was confused. Grace shook her head, "when do I ever argue with you? Besides, No means no..." she smiled. Jay smiled back since he knows she's a good kid, "I know, I know" he nodded. Sometimes she makes it hard for him when it comes to being strict since she's always so nice and understanding about it all, but at the same time he knows she's just grateful for having him and Will around instead of their dad, even he know just how bad he could've acted when he was actually alive.

"I'll be back around 7 ish" jay smiled as she hopped out the car, "okie dokie" she nodded and wandered off to the front door, jay smiled as he watched her trudge off, he really doesn't know how she's so perfect, in his eyes anyways... He drove off knowing she was safe and got back to work. Once grace was inside she put her bag on the couch and wandered into the kitchen for a snack and something to drink, of course she grabbed some apple juice because duh, it's life! She also climbed up onto the counter to get into the fruit cupboard because duh, shes a short stack! She pulled out a bag of dried mango since it's her favourite and climbed back down so she was on earth level. She had a quite bit of homework to be getting on with so she wandered back over to the couch and sat down, she managed to ignore her phone and flew through her homework, and before she knew it, it was now 6:30pm.

She knew jay was probably doing some hardcore stuff at work so she took it upon herself to make him some pasta since that's all she knew how to make really. She was just about finished when she heard the keys jangling around in the door, he's home, finally! She placed the pasta into two bowls since she hadn't gotten anything to eat for dinner either and slid them onto the counter, "what smells so good?" Jay walked around the corner and smiled. Grace smiled, "I cooked pasta. I can't make anything else so..." she pointed to the plates with a smile. Jay smiled, "looks good to me, champ" he nodded, she loves that nickname. Everyone she cares about uses it, her two brothers, hailey, the unit, the ED staff. She loves it. The pair sat down and ate as they talked about their day, "so how are you?" Grace smiled, she always likes to check up on her brothers and their work friends since she knows how strenuous their jobs can get.

"I'm good champ, you?" He smiled, grace smiled back and ate her last bit of pasta, "never better" she grinned and slid off the stool. Jay laughed at her humour, god she really is sunshine, she grabbed both of their plates and put them in the sink, she even washed them too. The pair sat down on the couch to watch the hawks game recap before the next one in a week or two, "are you not mad?" Jay spoke quietly as she rested her head against his leg, grace frowned, "about what?" She spoke sweetly. Jay smiled, "that I said no?" He looked down at her. Grace smiled even though he couldn't see her face, "why would I be mad? I know you only do it to keep me safe, plus Will would've said no too" she giggled. Jay smiled, "you're a good kid, never change G" he smiled. Grace nodded but gasped when something happened on TV, jay looked up and laughed. She's like an old man trapped in a child's body, it's pretty funny.