As they entered the house, they saw Grace sitting on the living room's sofa, watching television. She turned toward them and greeted them.
"Welcome back, you two. How was the party?"
"Tiring."
"It was great, me and my friends enjoyed it a lot."
She looked between them before focusing on Benjamin.
"That's nice. I was waiting for you to come back since I had something to tell you, Ben. Tomorrow, I will go bowling with my friends in the evening and we will eat out at the same time so I won't need any dinner."
"Alright, no problem. I hope you will have fun with your friends."
Benjamin was thinking about what to cook for the next dinner and took some time to realize that this was a good opportunity for him to spend some time with Grace.
"Oh, actually, can I join you? It's been a long time since we did anything together, hasn't it?"
Nova intervened.
"Wait. Grace, are those friends girls or boys?"
"They're... girls."
"Then you shouldn't go, Ben. Sending a high school freshman into a group of college girls is the same as sending fresh meat to a group of starving wolfs! You never know what sort of things they could do to you!"
There was a moment of silence, where the three of them realized the deep truth of her comparison. Benjamin thought it could be a good chance to make fun of Nova.
"Things they could do to me? Like what?"
"Anything! Like, they could grope you, follow you to the toilet or even spike your drink!"
"You realize that Grace would be there too, right? Or what, she would look at them groping me without doing anything? Or perhaps even cooperate with them? Is that what you mean?"
Now Grace was also looking at Nova with a frown.
"No! I didn't mean that! It's just... inappropriate for a teenager boy to hang out with college girls!"
"It will be fine, you always worry too much, Nova."
Nova seemed very unhappy with his answer, but seeing that she wouldn't be able to convince him, she left angrily for the second floor while shouting.
"Whatever! You can go and get raped for all I care!"
Benjamin and Grace watched her leave, before Benjamin turned back to his sister with an innocent smile, asking.
"So, Grace, are you going to cooperate with your friends to grope me and do unspeakable stuff to me in the toilet?"
"No!"
Grace scowled at his stupid joke and Benjamin burst into laughter. However, she had always been soft on him, both in this world and the previous one. She soon forgot her annoyance and told him.
"Wait for a second, Ben. I still need to ask my friends if they are ok with you coming."
She took her phone out and made two calls one after the other. Judging by Grace's bits of their conversations, it seemed it was no problem for either of her two friends, which she confirmed herself as soon as the second call ended.
"They both agreed, very... enthusiastically. They said they looked forward to meeting you. Huh... but don't worry, they're good people and I will be there too. And... I am happy that you are coming, too."
She smiled joyfully and couldn't help patting him on the head a little, before climbing the stairs in turn. Benjamin followed her up and they each went to their respective room, after wishing a good night to each other.
The following day was spent as usual, with little to no change to the now established routine. During class recess, Benjamin and his classmates talked about the previous day's party, exchanging impressions and opinions. The three friends noticed that the girls were now much more easily approaching their group and their gaze had changed a little bit. Among the usual lust, there was now interest toward the three of them mixed in. It seemed that the party had a great effect to make everyone feel closer to each other. Of course, the three boys were no fools and were not oblivious to the change, since they also felt closer to the girls themselves.
When it was time to leave school, Benjamin noticed Grace's figure at the school's entrance, waiting for him. Her long brown hair was let down freely on her back and her brown eyes were scanning the students leaving the school premise. She was wearing a simple white dress, which suited her well. He said goodbye to his friends and headed toward her.
"Good afternoon, Grace. You even came to get me all the way from school. That's nice of you."
"Hi, Ben. Yes, we need to take the train and the station is closer to your school. Going back home would be somewhat of a detour and we need to head there now to be on time."
"Alright."
After a bit of walking, they reached the station and Grace bought two round-trip tickets for them, giving one to him. They waited for the train to arrive, boarded it, and spent the next forty-five minutes chatting until they reached their destination. This stop was where the closest bowling alley to their house was located. Benjamin had come here a couple of times before but not more than that, since it wasn't that close of a place, compared to closer entertainment options. The bowling alley was popular, though, which was why they needed to arrive on time to make use of their reservation, or their spot would soon get assigned to other people.
The two of them walked until they reached the place and entered the building. It was fairly large, with around thirty lanes in total. People were everywhere, either playing on the lanes, taking a break at the bar, or changing into bowling shoes. Grace looked around to see if her friends had arrived already but it seemed they were the first to come. They decided to wait for them close to the entrance so that they could spot them easily when they entered. The wait wasn't long and mere minutes after, Grace started to wave her arm at two arriving girls, who saw her and started to head toward them.