To Be Graceful Sequel: A Willow Falls Fanfiction

Chapter Eighteen: Daring, Hoping, and Having Fun

"Truth or dare?" Leo asks Rory, as soon as we finish ordering our meal. We are at the local diner now, spending the rest of the day together just as we used to before this time-traveling situation happened.

Rory contemplates before answering, "Truth."

Leo smirks, "Why is it that girls always pick truth?" I find myself shrugging, even though I know very well that the reason is because I find myself to be somewhat of a goody-two-shoes sometimes.

Tara points out, defending the rest of us. "I would like to point out that girls are usually more afraid of what a boy is going to give them as a dare, because you guys don't take into consideration that we could get in trouble."

"I literally heard no English in your words." David grins at her. Tara blushes, and replies, "Haha. Not funny."

"Anyways!" Leo grabs our attention again in a flash. "Back to Rory's truth..." he thinks for a moment before tilting his head in a devilish way. "Rory, have you ever gone skinny-dipping?"

I don't know what prompted Leo to say such a thing, because duh, of course she never went skinny-dipping! But then, Rory surprises us all by muttering an almost inaudible "yes" under her breath. My eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. "WHAT?!" We all cry out. Several other customers of the diner turn to see what the racket is about, so we try to quiet it down.

Rory goes red. "What?" she gets defensive. "It's not like I went with random strangers or anything! It's just that once when my parents and Sawyer and I went on our camping trip, my father told me that water is usually cool by day, but nice and warm at night. Who blames me for trying it out?" She shrugs like it's no big deal.

David slams his hand down on the table, making me jump. I eye him carefully. He says, "Guys, it's settled. We're all stuck here in the past until we figure out how to fix Grace, right? So how about tonight we all go to the nearest lake in the forest near Apple Grove and have us a skinny-dipping party!"

I see Leo, Tara and Rory all redden, and I feel my own cheeks burning. Um, how is he so okay with this idea? I ask him, "Ummm, you're sure this is a good idea?"

David laughs, "Yeah why not? We got to have some fun while we're doing this time-traveling this, am I right or am I right?"

Rory nods understandingly, but probably just because she's the only one out of all of us that has gone skinny-dipping before. I suddenly feel bare in my t-shirt and shorts, for some undetermined reason. I cross my arms over my chest.

Tara looks genuinely concerned about David's idea. "Don't you guys find that it's a little more advantageous to the boys since they only have to cover themselves from the hips down, while we girls have to hide in the water so that only our faces and necks are showing?" We all look at her weird, mostly surprised that she's talking this openly in the middle of a packed diner. Her eyes widen, looking at our faces. "What? Am I not allowed to question the rules of the anatomy of males and females?" That gets a laugh out of all of us.

Tara gives in. "FINE. We'll go later today. We might have to run home or something to get our stuff."

Leo asks, eyes shining and glinting, "Why do we need to get our stuff? That's the beauty of skinny-dipping; we don't need to get stuff, because the activity requires us to have a lack of stuff."

I pipe in, "Haha, funny. Not. But you know, you have a point, Leo. We shouldn't go home because we might run into our past selves. Not a good idea. But maybe we should stop by a beach supply store and grab some towels to dry ourselves after we're done."

David lights up, "Good good. I'm glad we've got this conversation over with, because the food is here." And sure enough, our waitress comes back holding several plates of pancakes for us. Yum. David is right. We should have fun with the time that we have to spare. Because when this is over, things go back to normal. We need to have fun now, because when things go back to normal, it means that Leo is going to be in Chicago and he's not going to be coming back.

A/N: it has been so long since I've written here. So sorry to those of you who have been anticipating another chapter for a long time. And so thank you for waiting for me! I love you all! Let me know how you liked this chapter, because I had some fun writing it. I'll try my best with the next chapter to post it as soon as possible, though I know that's going to be difficult considering that I'm past my Willow Falls phase. I mean, I'm fifteen now. But I still make the effort to write a chapter for you guys once in a while, and that's what counts!

If you have any suggestions of what I should write for the following chapters, let me know in the comments. Now I have to go study for an oral presentation.. in French... *unenthusiastic yay*

Until next time, remember to vote, comment and keep on reading and writing!