Small Choices lead to Big Changes; Big Changes lead to Big Choices

(Post seperater xDD)

A Few Days Later:
New Years Eve

Wynn and Gracie were sitting on the couch in the living room of Amanda and Cole's house. The two of them were happily giggling and babbling about something as they glanced between Paramore's performance in Time Square and the large array of chips and drinks that were splayed out about on the table.

Wynn wore the necklace she'd gotten from Alex for Christmas. She hadn't taken it off since she'd opened it unless she absolutely had to. The only times she had removed it were when she had showered, slept, and to put in--next to the picture of herself and Alex--a picture of Gracie and Jack. Now, along with the necklace, she wore a pair of silver heart earings that her mother had ironically gotten her for Christmas, a red sweater, white jeans (that she was trying not to stain with cheese dip), and socks (since she didn't like wearing her shoes in the house). Her hair was picked up in a swishy pony tail: she smiled, nodding to what Gracie had to say. "I know, right?"

Gracie nodded, opening her mouth to smile and say something, when she started to cough into her elbow. She held up her other hand, coughing hard for a moment. She'd gotten a cold recently, which she wasn't really enjoying; a cold right after Christmas, while they were still on break? Yuck. She coughed away, making Wynn worry for a moment.

But then she had recovered, and she smiled weakly, taking a deep breath. "Fine, sorry." She thought a moment, and then lied, "Choked on a chip." She gave Wynn's cautious expression a convincing nod, picking up her water and taking a sip. "See? I'm okay now."

Wynn sighed. "Alright...." she murmured, frowning slightly. She redirected her eyes to the TV, though made sure to keep her peripherals on Grace.

-----

Travis stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fixing the sweater thing that Cole had given him yesterday morning. Cole had said it would make him look nice; Travis thought it made him look like a dork. Cole, however, insisted that it was the kind of thing people wore to fancy dinner parties. Along with the slacks and shiny brown shoes that Travis had donned.

Three days earlier, he had formally proposed to Sarah after some encouragement from Bo. Of course, she had said yes; he had hoped she would, though a large part of him knew he would. It was kind of a "No duh!" situation, being she was pregnant with their baby. But he had still been nervous, and rightfully so. He had talked to his father ironically moments before, and ended up mentioning that he was proposing. His father had been quite happy, (and still in the dark about Sarah being pregnant) and had insisted that they meet his new fiance tonight, at the New Years party they were hosting.

Travis was far from thrilled that they had to attend. He really didn't want to bring Sarah to meet his parents, because, well, they were his parents. He had been one of those teenagers who'd been through extreme angst and acted out before he met her, and he didn't want stories of that to get out some how. Because, although he'd been bad-boyish around Sarah, he hadn't dare to pull anything stupid. Plus, his parents had said there were going to may of his father's rich coworkers there. Travis really, really did not want to be looked down upon by snooty rich people who could probably by his apartment with how much they made in one hour.

He sighed softly, picking up a comb and running it through his hair.

Jack and Alex wern't downstairs yet; for they were still upstairs in Alex' room talking about something. Jack was wearing a sweatshirt that had their school mascot on it and his baseball number on the back. Ever since he had started dating Gracie, and had dropped some sports, he had finally settled with three sports, all different seasons. He was playing baseball now, and would try out for the other two teams once they came around. Along with the sweatshirt, he was wearing jeans and socks.

"You seriously STILL havn't asked her out?" He called softly towards the bathroom, where Alex was picking at his hair.

"No, I havn't, thank you very much. I don't even think she knows I like her, or likes me back" Alex was wearing a long sleeved light blue shirt that clung to his skinny frame in a few places and black skinny jeans. The color in his hair tips had faded, and were now replaces with white and blue ones for the Holiday season.

"Dude, she like, is relunctant to take that locket you gave her off" Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"You know what, you worry about yourself and your love life and I'll worry about mine" After finally getting done with picking at his hair, which had to be right, Alex walked out of the bathroom and into his room "Now, common, lets get downstairs loverboy!" he called over his shoulder, running down the steps, Jack following afterwards.

!@!

Sarah was infront of the dresser, applying last minute touches to her make-up. She was dressed in a dress that fell bellow her knees that was sleeveless. It was colored red, and at the end it had little snowflakes embroided into it. She had a scarf like piece of material drapped over her shoulders and around her wrists. In her ears were two little snowflake earings, and she had a snowflake necklace around her neck. She was wearing ballerina flats, which she thought were adorable. Ever since two years ago when she almost broke her ankle tripping in heels, she refused to wear them. If you looked closly to the dress, you could see that Sarah had abit of a baby bump in her tiny frame.

SHe had been estatic when Travis had proposed to her; and she was already planning her wedding. She wanted to have one just like she had described at the cabin. Small, with family friends and family, in a backyard or the park. Already, Sarah had asked the minister at the local church if he would do the wedding, and he had even offered to do it for free, much to Sarah's pleasure.

"Hey baby?" Sarah asked, walking into the bathroom door "This doesn't look to...showy, does it?" She asked, looking down at her dress and back up at him.

Travis glanced over at her. He smiled slightly, his eyes curiously examining her outfit before grazing back up towards her face. "You look beautiful, sweetie," he murmured, kissing her cheek lightly. "No, I don't think it's showy at all!" He paused, looking at himself in the mirror. He tried to fix his hair again, failing quite epically.

His eyes flipped over to her. "Can you help me?" he asked; it was his turn to question. "I really, really suck at combing my hair." He glared up at his brown hair, a pout on his lips. "It's evil, I tell you. Evil!"

--~--~--

Gracie started coughing again. Wynn crossed her arms, watching her. "You're not choking on a chip this time, I watched you! This was just spontaneous coughing!"

Gracie glared out of the corner of her glasses. She groped for her glass, tipping the cup to her mouth and swallowing a good amount of H20. Afterwords, she stopped coughing again, and relaxed. She did, however, look a tad bit winded. Her eyes flipped to Gracie. "I choked on backwash."

"There wasn't any backwash to choke on!" Wynn replied pointedly, smirking and crossing her arms once more.

"Yes there was. I just choked on it so fast that you didn't see--" She coughed. Her eyes went wide and she held her lips shut, causing her cheeks to puff out.

"Fail," Wynn murmured, frowning lightly. "Gracie, stay back, I don't want you to cough on me!" She held her fingers up in a cross.

"Okay. Thanks. It was a present from Amanda. She made it" Sarah smiled, twirling around lightly "I'm thinking about redoing my wardrobe. Or some of it. Alot of its..really...showy" Sarah sighed, as if embarresed by how..stupid she dressed at a younger age.

She sighed, shaking her head "Goodness.." She giggled, taking the comb and then some hairspray and going to work on it. After some work and alittle hairspray, she got it to look quite nice "There!" She said, kissing his cheek "You look very handsome"

!@!

"Wait, whats wrong?" Jack asked, a worried expression coming upon his face as he entered the room. Jack was always worring about Gracie when she got sick, but he tried not to show it TO much, for fear of suffocating her. He sat down next to Gracie, rubbing her back slightly "You still sick?"

"Heylooo" Alex mummered, slidding into the room and into a chair near Wynn, smiling shyly at her before popping a chip in his mouth.

"Stop," Gracie wheezed, shoving his hand away gently. She didn't like to be touched when she was coughing; she didn't know why, she just...didn't. After a short while, she managed to recover. Laying back, she sighed deeply. "Uhm, what's wrong? Sick? What?" She laughed. "I'm not sick, who said anything about being sick? Pssshtt, funny stuff...." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose slightly.

Wynn nodded her head in greeting to Alex, watching Gracie with a frown. "You're sick, moron," she replied bluntly. "Did you forget to take your meds today?"

Gracie's face lit up bright red, and she removed her glasses, cleaning them with the edge of her shirt. "You make me sound crazy," she replied in a grunt.

Wynn chuckled, shrugging slightly. "Sorry," she said. "But it's true, did you?"

She nodded, and then started to cough again, stomping her foot lightly in frustration.

----~----

"She made it? That's so cool!" Travis said, eyes going wide. Then he gave her a flirty kind of half smile, murmuring, "I like the way you dress, baby. But if you wanna change it, that's okay, too." He could tell her motive for the sudden change; it was probably those stupid 'hormone' things that got her thinking, Well, now that I'm going to be a mother and going to be married, I better look my age instead of ten years younger. Travis understood that, but either way, he didn't care that much.

He watched her work in the mirror, thinking quietly to himself. He snorted, shrugging. "Wow, lookit that, you're a miracle worker," he murmured. He snorted softly, "I may look handsome, but tonight I feel like a dork." He smoothed his hand over his shirt, picking off a fuzzy.

Jack frowned slightly "You really need to go to the doctor..." He said, nodding "That cough could be something bad, or turn into it" Oh, Jack had no clue how right he was.

Alex sighed lightly at the nod. See, Alex had a usually pretty flirty attitude, but lately it had been dimmed down abit, because he thought that Gracie really did text Wynn telling her he liked her.

!@!

"Well, I mean, I'll keep some stuff" She said, nodding and thinking of the clothes in her closet "Just cause some of tha- I'm sorry. You probably don't wanna talk about clothes" She laughed, grinning.

"Well...dorks are hot" Sarah said, grinning and pecking him on the cheek before leaving into the other room.

Gracie waved her hand dismissively, finally getting her breath back. She sighed softly, sinking into the couch and fanning herself. Her coughing fit had been so violent that she'd nearly broke a sweat. She glanced up at Jack, murmuring, "I'm fine, Jack. My medicine just didn't kick in yet, that's all. It's just a little cold!" She smiled and nodded, replacing her glasses onto her face.

Wynn sighed. "You're a bad liar," she told Gracie, standing and leaving the room. She returned with the medicine bottle in her hands, reading out loud from the back: "This medicine may cause drowsiness in some cases." She glanced down at Gracie. "If you took the meds, they should've kicked in by now, and you should be sleepy."

And at that moment in time, Gracie pretended that cleaning her glasses again was the most interesting thing in the world.

-------

Travis snorted. "Yeah, I kinda don't, sorry...." He laughed now, watching her leave. "What? Ewe, that's icky, Sarah." He poked at his solid 'do and shrugged, flipping off the lights and following after her. He slipped into his black jacket and stuck his wallet in his back pocket, mumbling to himself. "Am I forgetting something? I feel like I'm forgetting something...."

"Keys, cell phone? I dunno" Sarah offered, putting a couple things like those two objects in her purse and slipping it over her shoulder. She took a deep breath "You read for this?"

!@!

"Yeah, she hasn't taken it for sure" Alex said after looking at Gracie for a moment. He knew something was wrong, because she was trying to hide it from everyone else, but he didn't say anything. He'd talk to his 'little sister' later.

"Grace, you need to take it..." Jack said, looking more worried then before now.

Sighing deeply through her nose and looking annoyed, she snatched the medicine bottle from Wynn. "Okay, sure," she replied, her voice thick with sarcasm. She unscrewed the top and upended the bottle; Wynn's eyes went wide and she moved to yelp, but suddenly she understood.

"It's empty?"

Gracie nodded, setting the bottle on the table with a scowl on her lips. "Yes, yes it is. Now leave me alone about it. I'm fine. Cole's gonna get me more tomorrow. Go watch TV like a normal kid." She got up, grumbling something about more chips, and ambled into the pantry.

Wynn sat cross legged in front of the coffee table on the floor, pursing her lips. "I feel bad now," she mumbled, shoving a handful of chips into her mouth.

-------

"Right, duh," Travis grunted, bounding back into the bedroom and grabbing both of those off of his dresser. He put the cellphone in his "secret" coat pocket, and the keys around his index finger. He spun them idly, trying to think of another reason to stall them.

With a heavy sigh, he returned to where Sarah was. "Honestly?" he replied with a weak smile. "No, not really. Thanks for asking, though." He put his arm around her. "You?" Silently he guided them towards and out of the door, shutting the lights off and locking the apartment behind them.

Alex almost got up to go after her, but instead flipped off the couch and crawled over by Wynn "Hey, its fine, you didn't know"

Jack frowned "I feel bad to.." He mumbled, scooting back into the couch and bringing his knees to his chest, watching the TV as another band came upon the stage.

!@!

"I guess" Sarah said, letting out a breath and nodding "Its gona be different though. Being at a...higher class party" She sighed slightly "But, I'm going to stick with it, and try not to embarres myself."

"Yeah, I know," he murmured, frowning deeply. "Hey, if you embarrass yourself, feel free to take me down with you, baby." Travis laughed. He kissed her cheek lovingly, opening the door for her as they left the apartment.

He was silent for a while, entertaining a few thoughts. Then, he spoke, "You know, my parents aren't that bad. They're just...I dunno, I guess all the money went to their heads. My mom was never really as...weird as she might seem now. She used to be pretty cool when I was a kid." He looked at the ground, pursing his lips and shaking his head.

{WAITDON'TLOOKIMNOTFINISHED! XD]

---

Wynn shrugged. "Eh, still." She glanced towards where Gracie had gone. "She's been acting weird lately. I'm worried about her still." Silently Wynn started to chew on her thumb, staring at the television, but not seeing what was on it.

Meanwhile, there was the sound of Gracie coughing again. Stubbornly she didn't do anything, just stood there in the pantry. After a moment her arm darted out and she shut the door, hoping that would deaden the sound.

It didn't.

{Kay, it's all good now....xD}

"I know" Alex said, sighing and crossing his legs "I think there is something she's not telling us, like something is really wrong" He made a face "Like...I dunno."

Jack sat up, listening, then walked into the kitchen and to the pantry, opening the door "Gracie..." he said quietly, still looking like he felt bad.

!@!

"Thats how my parents where. See...we wern't always poor. But then we went bankrupt...thats about the time my mom got sick and my dad was working like, all day and had an alchohal problem" She whispered most of this, speaking fast as if she was afraid of bursting into tears.

Gracie's face was bright reddish violet and she was doubled over, her hand clamped over her mouth tightly. After she coughed each time, there was a terrible gasping sound when she tried to catch her breath. It was sharp, and one could only imagine that she barely managed to get a silver of breath into her chest, which was rocking her in violent spasms.

Wynn rocked herself gently. "I know," she murmured. "I'm worried. I bet Cole knows what's wrong, and Amanda, too. We should ask them later."

------

Travis nodded. "I know how that is," he murmured softly. He glanced over at her and kissed her, stopping a moment. "Hey, don't cry," he whispered, frowning slightly. "It's okay now, right?" He put a hand on her stomach very lightly, almost hesitantly. "Everything's gonna be okay." He did this as if to say, 'That's not gonna happen with us, I promise.' He just couldn't get the words out, being his foot was in his mouth.

Sarah smiled when he kissed her, then shook her head "I know" She said, nodding "I know that would never happen. And that you'd never be like my father" She said, nodding and smiling up at him

!@!

Jack got down next to her, but he didn't know what to do, being that she had pushed his hand away last time he had touched her "I-I'll get you some water" He said, bolting up and coming back with a glass, holding it out to her, hands shaking.

"Yeah, I bet they know.." Alex said, biting his lip, then looked back at her. He carefully put and arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a half hug "I'm sure she'll be alright though" And then, as if realizing he was doing something, pulled away really quickly.

Wynn stiffened up when she was hugged, glancing over at him and arching an eyebrow. But then she paused, and wrapped her arms around him with a reassuring smile, as if to tell him that it was alright, she didn't bite. She laughed. "I'm huggable, Alex, I swear I won't poison your water supply just yet." Rolling her eyes, she pulled away and ate some more chips.

Gracie was alright by the time he had returned. She was gasping a little, but no longer coughing. Her hand was clamped over her mouth, and she refused to remove it. Her eyes slowly looked up at him; tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she just sat there. With her free hand, Gracie took the cup and set it on the floor. Then she started to rub at her face, trying to rub away the tears while keeping her mouth covered.

~~~~

"'Course not," Travis murmured with a shake of his head, opening her door for her and then getting into the driver's seat. He turned on the car, fiddling with the radio for a moment. Once he had the station he wanted, he leaned back, making sure his hair looked alright in the mirror.

"Y-Yeah. I know" Alex said, smiling slightly. He almost looked as if he was the happiest person in the world for a second. His eyes reverted to the TV, but he was still smiling as he watched whatever was happening in New York.

Jack frowned, kneeling down beside her and pulling her into a hug "Shh, Gracie, you'll be okay. Alright? We'll take you to a doctor tomarrow. I don't care if you don't want to, I'm telling Cole that we need to" He whispered, then kept whispering reasuring things to her.

!@!

Sarah got in and buckled, setting her purse in the space between the seats, then humming along to what was playing on the radio.

(FFW party?)

{}

Travis pulled the car to a stop in front of a large house. It wasn't a mansion, per say, but it was large and grand enough to make an apartment look like a shanty. The building had beautiful architecture and fine white details on the against the pale yellow paint. The lawn was trimmed to a firm rug of green, causing the gray stone path up to the door to stick out like a sore thumb.

But Travis was certain that wasn't the only thing sticking out like a sore thumb. He immediately felt all of the people who were outside--which were only a few, mind you--staring at the car curiously. He glanced over at Sarah with a sheepish expression. "Here goes nothing," he said to her quietly, kissing her cheek before parking in the driveway amongst a few others. He slowly turned the vehicle off, unbuckling his seat belt and going around to open her door for her.

-----

Gracie shook her head. She pulled away from him, staring up into his eyes for a moment. Slowly she pulled her hand from her mouth, and showed him; on her palm were a few splatters of crimson. The a similar color was smudged on her lips, and she felt tears turn a red streak next to the corner of her mouth pink. The tear carried the color down, and it sploshed onto her black jeans. "You can't tell," she whispered. "Please don't tell. It only just started doing that, I swear. Only two days ago. The doctors though I had whooping cough, but I guess I have it really bad or something, 'cause like, I guess my throat's bleeding, I dunno. Please, please don't tell. I don't want Cole to be upset." She sniffled, trying to stop crying.

Wynn giggled. "You're funny," she told him, watching him with an arched eyebrow. She shook her head, staring back at the television before looking back at the pantry and then him. "She stopped coughing. Bet they're making out or something. Yuck." She glanced at the television and then glanced back at him. "You ever made out with someone before?"

But Sarah had already beat him to it. She stepped out of the car, her purse slung over her shoulder. Looking around, she sighed. Could she feel more out of place? She looked around, seeing the people who were going in. My of the women had designer brand dresses, diamond jewlrey hung on their necks and wrists, and hair fixed so exact it looked painful.

!@!

"Gracie, I'm sorry, but I HAVE to tell somebody. This could lead to something really bad" He took her by her shoulders and made her look in him the eye "Gracie, if you are really sicka and don't get it treated...well...I dunno. But I can't let anything bad happen to you" He whispered, kissing her cheek

Alex shrugged "In seventh grade a couple of girls tried to kiss me...but I mean, I havn't made out with anyone. And those girls who did kiss me, I didn't even like that much" He shrugged again, looking over at her "It was quite funny actually."

"Have you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Travis shut the door behind her, putting his arm around her again. He paused, looking down at her. He could tell she felt out of place--maybe even inferior. Gently, he kissed her again, murmuring in her ear, "You're prettier than all of them." Hoping that statement made her feel at least a little bit better, he guided her along the paved driveway and stone path.

"Ah, Mr. Miller, good evening," said a man, smiling at Travis and waving as he approached.

"Oh! Hey, Kenneth." Travis replied in a relaxed way, shaking the guy's hand. "Kenneth, this is Sarah, my fiance, Sarah, this is Kenneth; Kenneth's a buddy a mine. Kinda was my Nanny when I was a kid."

Kenneth, who had to only been in his late thirties, maybe mid forties, at the most, snorted. "Way to make a guy feel loved, Travis."

-----

Gracie pulled away from him, still feeling those stupid tears on her face. She reached up and grabbed a napkin, cleaning away the blood and drying a few of the orbs of salty water. "You s-shouldn't be-be so serious about me, you're a k-k-kid," she stutter-sniffled, looking down at the tops of her knees. "I'll-I'll be okay, I promise, please, don't say anything, please, Jackie."

Wynn giggled, wiggling her eyebrows at his words and nudging his elbow. "Oooooooo!" She paused, blushing dark red. "Erm, yeah," she admitted, shrugging it off. "I had a few boyfriends before I came here, mind you." She stuck her tongue out at him and then laughed weakly. "None of them were good kissers, though, go figure."

"I-I know I shouldn't be" Jack sighed, looking away "I know I'm only fifteen. But...I dunno Grace. Ever since we were kids, I've just felt...bonded..." He coughed slightly into his arm "Like, that I need to protect you or something" He sighed "I must sound like a lunatic.."

"Ooooooo" Alex said, poking her and grinning "Soo, you know what a boy's tonsil's taste like, so to speak?" Ah, yup. He was definatly related to Bo.

!@!

That comment, whether he knew it or not, would keep Sarah beeming most of the evening.

Sarah smiled, waving a small wave with her hand "Its nice to meet you" She said, nodding politly (SP?) and looking around.

Kenneth smiled. "It's nice to meet you two, too!" he replied with a wink, giving her stomach a pointed look.

"Kenneth knows," Travis told Sarah quietly, shrugging. "And he hasn't told my parents yet, has he?"

"Travis, did you tell me not to say anything?"

Travis blanched. "Did I?"

Kenneth started laughing, grinning. His gray eyes sparkled, and he ruffled Travis's hair. "Yes, yes you did, genius."

"Oh," Travis relaxed. "So you didn't say anything,"

"Of course not. Scout's honor, remember?" He rolled his eyes, snorting softly. "Why don't you guys get inside? It's kind of chilly out here."

"What about you?"

"I'll be in in a bit." He tapped the side of his clipboard. "I'm the welcoming committee, remember?"

---~~---

"So to speak!" Wynn said with a laugh, beaming at him and giggling, shaking her head. "Apparently, I'm a good kisser, too...!" She wiggled her eyebrows, grinning at him curiously.

Gracie looked up at him. She smiled weakly, holding up her hand and showing him that he was only a little bit lunatic-like. "Not really," she murmured. "I mean, okay, a little, 'cause, well..." She looked down. "There are a lot prettier, nicer, better girls for you. Trust me, I know a few of my...acquaintances like you." She glanced up at him. Feeling another cough come on, she scrambled the cup of water, swallowing several large swigs to suffocate the wracking hacks. Amazingly, this worked; she didn't cough at all. The tickle feeling went away, and she relaxed.

Sarah was about to gasp, but when Travis told her she relaxed "Well, we both are happy to have met you" she said, her hands going to her stomach and her face lighting up happily, then she followed after Travis.

!@!

This just caused Alex to light up like a lightbulb on a Christmas tree. "O-Oh..We-well thats nice to k-know" He stuttered out, looking down at his hands then back up at the TV.

Jack sat back, watching her, seeming hurt "You're still going on about that? Gosh, why can't it get through to you that I love you, and no one else?" he made a face, scooting back some and looking down at the tile floor "It doesn't matter what you look like. I don't care what other girls look like either.."