A/N: The character of Sage/Stage completely belongs to my dear sweet amazing friend aka broadway_crackers shes absolutely amazing and go follow her and read her works.

Also. For the love of god unless you're Stage PLEASE DON'T READ THIS!! I don't have the self confidence and it's taken a lot for me just to click publish.

Quick PSA (what does PSA stand for) actual Grace isn't actually seventeen. Actual Grace is fourteen but for the sake of this story she's now seventeen by author's magic*cue jazz hands*. Sage is actually thirteen but I'm making her eleven if you have a problem with author magic then I got these*points finger guns* :)

So uh yeah. Sage belongs to broadway_crackers and Cards belongs to me. Also if you haven't see/listened to the musicals Tuck Everlasting and Newsies I recommend you do. Tuck Everlasting first.

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A small creak from the floorboards alerted Sage that her best friend was there. She smiles slightly and looks over her shoulder to see her best friend, Grace, stood a couple of steps away from the chair she was sat in.

"Might I ask what you're doing?"Grace asks and looks over her shoulder.

"Just practicing my writing skills,"Sage replies. "Can you read it?"

Grace shook her head and looks at it curiously. She knew her friend had never been taught how to read and write until two months ago when she'd finished teaching her. "I wanna say it's something along the lines of a cat, a cabin and snow."

Sage laughs slightly and then abruptly stops once she remembers her grandmother was still home. "No. It's about a young girl finding freedom from her family but she did it by running away and she meets a boy that's immortal. They go on all kinds of adventures but the girl doesn't want to be immortal with him,"she smiles.

Her best friend shrugs it off. "It was bold of you to assume I could read it properly. It is also bold of you to assume I paid attention to your lessons."

"Seriously? You didn't pay attention?"she asks with a hint of annoyance in her tone. "I worked hard on those!"

"Yes and I worked hard trying to make sure I paid attention but I failed miserably."

"Why do we have such a weird friendship?"Sage sighs and mumbles a bit more under her breath.

Grace gives a shrug in return to her question. "Probably because you met me when you heard me whistling in a tree and followed it and got your whole family terrified and you've been banned from leaving your house or garden ever since even though it was two years ago."

"Well you do have a point."

"Thank you. So what'd you wanna do today?"she asks and flops onto her friend's bed. "Nice bed."

"I dunno. But do you know where my glasses are? I can't find them,"Sage asks.

"Oh right they're in my pocket somewhere,"she replies and digs around in her jacket pocket and throws them gently to Sage who fumbles around with them slightly and puts them on. "Clumsy."

"And you aren't? You fell out of a tree,"Sage deadpans.

"It had just rained,"Grace defends and props herself up on her elbows.

"Proves my point on how you should- no need to listen to me more often."

"That would never happen in a million years,"the older girl scoffs. "Besides I'm six years older and all the more wiser."

"One, that's not how it works. Two, you're only six years older! Two thousand, one hundred and ninety one days older!"Sage exclaims slightly louder. Grace immediately puts her finger to her lips and points towards the door. "Also I'm willing to bet you a shilling you didn't know how many days were in a year,"she adds in a more hushed whisper.

"Since when did you gamble?"

"You're a bad influence on me sometimes,"Sage replies with a slightly serious face.

"I know. So what'd you wanna do today?"Grace asks, ignoring Sage's look.

"Can we please go outside to the tree?"Sage begs.

Grace chuckles slightly. 'The tree' was where they first officially met and introduced themselves. It was a large oak tree not too far from Sage's house, still a considerable walk but still not too far for anyone to realise that Sage was gone either.

"Fine let's scram,"the older girl sighs and sits up properly. She balances Sage out as she hops about trying puts her shoes on. Grace then uses her bandana to hold her hair back and crawls across her friend's bed. "You wanna stuff some pillows under to make it look like you're sleeping?"

Sage nods and the girls gently stuff some under and pull the blanket over the pillows. Sage quickly switches off the lights and then follows Grace to the window.

Grace sits on the windowsill and swings her legs over and carefully climbs down the uneven bricks on the wall. She keeps a firm eye on Sage as she climbs down, making sure her friend doesn't get hurt.

Once they're both down she starts to walk towards their tree. A few moments of silence pass between them before Grace pipes up, "race you to the tree,"she smirks and starts to run off.

"No fair!"Sage whines and starts to run off behind her friend. "You're in trousers and a shirt!"she calls. Usually Sage would've been in similar clothes to Grace but Grace was the one who provided her with the trousers and shirt.

~~~~~ Time Skip. Brought to you by a sleep deprived author shh don't tell ~~~~~

Grace slows down as she reaches the majestic oak tree and starts to look through the hole in the roots for her spare clothes. She smiles as Sage arrives.

"Took you long enough."

"You had a head start!"

"No excuses,"Grace grins and starts to climb the tree to her usual height as her friend changes and tucks her usual clothes neatly into the hole. She's soon joined by Sage who sits beside her.

"Alright what'd you wanna do now?"she asks. It was late midday going on 3:37pm according to the made shift sundial the two had made which was often right.

"Kinda just wanna dangle here f it's good with you,"Sage shrugs. Grace spins around a few seconds after Sage and hooks her legs underneath the branch and leans backwards so she's upside down. "I'm sure this can't be good for our blood flow."

"Probably not but we've only got one life so let's live it whilst we can,"Sage shrugs. "Besides, I need a little bit of fun everyday instead of being stuck in my room being bored all day."

"Makes sense. So how's you grandma doing?"

"Not too bad,"Sage replies. "Still as strict as always though. Never lets me leave as per usual,"she sighs.

Since Sage's parents died Sage hadn't been allowed out. Even when the girls met she wasn't allowed out which resulted in serious trouble for both of them.

An hour or so passed by the girls and they were both sat up again. Grace lies down on the branch and takes in what her friend said.
"So you're telling me their random guy knocked on your door and asked to talk to you even though he's never met you?"she repeats and Sage nods in reply. Grace sighs and shakes her head. "People these days are crazy."

"Yeah. But they're no crazier than us."

"You have a point,"Grace replies and looks to the sundial. "Oh jeez you gotta get home. Your grandma is probably worried. It's five thirty. I think!"

Grace swiftly climbs down and is shortly followed by Sage. She lands on the floor and throws Sage her clothes before walking ahead slightly. She goes a few feet and then turns around as Sage was usually with her by then. It wasn't a surprise to find her best friend hoping around trying to put her shoes on.

She sniggers slightly and helps balance her friend out. "Come on dork. I'll race you and let you have a head start if you hurry up."

"Alright see you later!"Sage replies and immediately runs off towards her house. Grace chuckles slightly and waits a few seconds before sprinting off after Sage.

When she reaches the house, her friend is waiting for her. "What you waiting for? You can climb up yourself now,"Grace asks.

"I wanted to say this,"Sage replies. "I. Beat. You,"she says. "I beat you. I beat you. I beat you!"

Grace starts to laugh quietly, still remembering when Sage was too short to read the first climbable brick. She used to have to give the younger girl a boost. "Yeah yeah. See you later then?"

"Yeah see you later,"Sage replies and starts to climb the wall. She swings her legs over the windowsill once she reaches the top and watches her best friend run off back into the woods. She starts to remove her pillows from under the blanket and switches on the light.

I hope our everlasting friendship never ends Sage thinks to herself and goes back to her work.