Grace's P.O.V

It's Saturday night and I'm getting ready for Ashton's and I date. We're going eat out. I'm almost done curling my hair at my vanity when my door opens. I look through my mirror and it's my mother sticking her head out with a toothy smile, "I'm just letting you know Ashton is here. Oh my, you look beautiful." She steps in closing the door behind her. She walks over to my bed and sits on the edge.

I finish the last few pieces and turned off my curling iron. I turned around and gave my mother a smile, "Thanks mama. Not as beautiful as you are." She cackles and stands up walking towards me. I get up as well in my outfit. She gives me a hug and places a sweet kiss on my forehead. I look up at my mother, "Oh Grace, you're father would've been so happy for you. He would've loved Ashton." I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat to hold back the tears.

I start to say something but then she pulls away from me, "Ashton's waiting. Let's not keep him waiting any longer." She smiles as she opens my door. I nod, "I'll be down in a minute. Need some shoes." I point at my feet wiggling my toes. She chuckles, "Okay. Don't make him wait any longer." She points. I nod. And like that she left my room. I sigh and walked over to my full length mirror.

I check out my outfit. I'm wearing a teal button up dress with half sleeves and the collar fixed right also with white stockings to cover my legs from the cool air. My make up is light. Mascara, blush, and nude lips. Satisfied with my outfit I walk over to my closet to find some shoes to match. My scope through my shoes and my eyes land on my white flats. I grab them and slipped them on. I grab my white sweater and put it on.

Looking at myself once more I walk out my room. I walk down the stairs to meet Ashton and my mother. Ashton gets up from the couch. I check him out real quick. His hair is slicked back with a single curl falling on his forehead, as he's wearing a long sleeve navy blue button shirt that's tucked in black slacks that hug his hips the right way as, he wears black loafers with black socks.

A smile forms on his lips when he sees me looking at him. He gives me a wink and I give him a small smile. I walk over to my mother who is sitting in her rocking chair. I bend down and left a kiss on her cheek, "Bye mom. I'll be home at midnight." She smiles, "Alright. You two have fun." I nod. I walk towards Ashton and grabbed his hand. We walk out of my warm house and enter the February cool air.

The door closes behind Ashton. Ashton let's go of my hand and puts his arm around my shoulder to keep me warm as we made our way to his car. He opens the passenger door. I smile up at him and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, "Thank you." I get in as he gives me a wink. He closes my door and jogs in front of his car. He opens his door and gets in. He closes his door and starts the car putting the heater on full blast to warm us up.

He looks over at me and reaches out for me. He pulls me close to him, "Better?" He whispers in my ear, bringing his right arm over my shoulders to keep me warm. I look up at him and I nod. He places a kiss on my forehead and puts his car into drive. And we are off.

Ashton's P.O.V

We arrived at Nott's Corner. It's their local Cajun restaurant. I park the car and got out holding out my hand for Grace to take. She takes it and gets out of my car. I close the door behind her as she intertwines our fingers. I smile down at her. Her brown eyes make contact with my green ones. Her eyes sparkle even in the night. She looks so beautiful in her teal dress.

"You look beautiful. As always." I tell her, as we make our way to the building. She smiles at my words, "Thank you. Navy is your color." She plays with the hem of my sleeve. "Thank you." I say, opening the door for her. She smiles at me and when her eyes left mine her smile fades. She's frozen in place.

I look at the source and it's Tom with his family. She told me what Tom did for her at school. Then word got out to his father and he wasn't too happy. I bring Grace close to me as I look at Mr. Walker. I look at Mrs. Walker she looks terrified for us. My eyes go back to Mr. Walker, "So you're the wog who hurt my son?"

I balled my hands into a fist at his racist term to me. Then I feel Grace's hand my balled up hand. I relaxed at her touch and uncalled my fists. I clear my throat, "Yes I am. I apologize for my mistake. He's forgiven me." Mr. Walker shakes his head in disbelief. Then his eyes shot to Grace. I step in from of her, "Leave her out of this. If you're going to have a problem it's going to be with me."

He chuckles with an ugly smile on his face, "I'll keep that in mind. Let's go." They walk past us and went to their vehicle. I look at them and Tom turns around, 'I'm sorry.' He mouthed. I gave him a shrug. He turns back around and followed his father.

I grab Grace's hand and looked at her. Her eyes are set on the Walker family, "Hey. Forget about him. Let's go enjoy our date." I smile down at her. Her eyes finally land on mine.

She nods with a small smile on her face, "Yeah. I'm starving." She giggles bringing her free hand to her stomach. I laugh and pulled her inside with me following behind her. We picked our table. Our night finally started.

~~~~

After two hours of us just talking and having fun the restaurant is closing. I grab Grace's sweater and helped her put it on. She looks back at me, "Thank you." She smiles. I held out my hand and she takes it. I place a kiss on the top of her head as we walk to the door. We walk out of the building and my car isn't alone. I stop and looked at the cars.

The driver doors open revealing Mr. Walker and a man I never met. I hear Grace gasp, "Mr. Schlesinger." I look down at her and horror is written all over her face. I look back up at the two men who have weapons in their hands. Mr. Walker is holding crowbar and Mr. Schlesinger a wooden bat. I squeeze Grace's hand letting her know everything will be okay.

"Good evening gentlemen." I say, keeping it casual. They chuckle at me playing with their weapons. "Shut up wog. You're the reason why my son is changing. He used to hate n*ggas more than me and then now I'm hearing he stood up for her." He said in pure disgust. She steps behind me. My eyes narrow at Mr. Walker, "How is that a bad thing Mr. Walker?"

He points at Grace, "Because she's a n*gga just like her father. And her mother. Don't get me started on that n*gger lover." That's when I let go of Grace and marched towards the laughing men. I swung back my arm and punched Mr. Walker in the jaw. Then I hear Grace scream. I look back at her and Mr. Schlesinger is charging after Grace with the bat in the air waiting to be swing, "Don't tou-" I was interrupted with a pain in my ribs.

I fall onto the ground gasping for air as the blow took all the air out of my lungs. A few more blows come to me on my back and legs. I look up and Grace is on the ground in a ball shielding herself from Mr. Schlesinger's blows.

"Stop!" I yell at the man. But he doesn't. I turn before Mr. Walker wacks me again with the crowbar. I finally grab the metal tool and yanked it out of his grip. I swing and got him in his jaw. He falls to the ground holding his face.

I get up struggling to make it to her. I get pushed down and I drop the crowbar. He turns me over and starts wailing on me. I give him a few punches as well but I'm becoming weak. I then hear tires screeching to a stop.

Mr. Walker and I look over and it's some teenagers. A boy and two girls. One of the girls look darker than the rest. The boy goes to the trunk and grabs a wooden bat. He runs towards Mr. Walker and I as the girls go towards Grace.

The boy swings, knocking Mr. Walker off of me. I get on top of Mr. Walker and I have him a few good blows to the face. I look at the bloody face man. I grab him by his shirt, "Don't ever come around me or Grace again." I spit in his face.

He gets up and walks to his car, "She's next. And then you." He points to Grace and then me. I shoo him away as he drives off. The boy and I go over to help the girls with Mr. Schlesinger.

I pull him away and gave his face a good punch. He falls to the ground looking up at me with shocked written on his face, "Get out of here!" He gets up and runs to his car. He starts up his vehicle and drives away. I hear a sob. I turn around and the strangers are hovering over Grace to make sure she's okay. I walk over to her and got on my knees in to hover over her.

Alligator tears are streaming down her face and she hugs my legs baring her face into my knee. My heart breaks. I couldn't protect her. It's my fault she's hurt. I help her up and she wraps her arm around me. I look up at the strangers who are huddled together to keep warm from the cold night. I look at one of the girls and she darker than her friends.

She gives me soft smile and a nod. She's like Grace. Biracial. After Grace calms down she pulls away from me. I cup her face to wipe away the tears. "How bad did he hurt you?" I ask.

She looks up at me with glassy eyes, "Not too bad. They got here before he could do too much damage. I was just scared for you. Mr. Walker was-" She chokes. I shush her and pulled her back to calm her down. She pulls away and looks at the strangers.

"Thank you." She tells them. They smile, "No problem." The girl who was the same color as Grace says. Grace gets up and I follow. She walks over to them and gave them a hug. They hug her back. I walk to them as well, "Thank you so much for the help. What are your names?" They look from each other to see who would go first. Then the boy speaks, "I'm Brock Duhon." I examine him. He's a good 5'6 with short brown hair with glasses. He has thin lips with brown eyes. He's Caucasian.

Then the girl who's Grace's color speaks up, "Felicia Robinson." I look at her. She's a little bigger than her friends but she's beautiful. She's a good 5'5. Has big dark brown eyes with full lips with her hair in a high ponytail.

Then it was the other girl who is Caucasian, "And I'm Shelby Campo." She's the tallest of them all. She's a good 5'7 with medium length dirty blonde hair. She has brown eyes just like her friends.

All in all they a good looking group.

Grace smiles at them, "I'm Grace Thompson." I smile, "And I'm Ashton Irwin." They look at me with wide eyes. I chuckle at their reaction. "Oh my! You're from Australia. I've always wanted to visit there." Felicia says, with excitement in her voice. I smile, "It's beautiful there." She nods, "I can about imagine."

Grace and I got to know Brock, Shelby, and Felicia. They live in town but go to a private school so that's why Grace never saw them around school. After awhile they left and Grace and I are in my car. I start her up to warm up the car.

Grace scoots towards me and rests her head on my shoulder. She sighs, "I love you." She grabs my hand and intertwine our fingers. I smile down at her. I placed a kiss on her head, "I love you, too." I put my car in drive and start to head to her house.