Things seemed to be changing between Grace and Cal ever since the sleepover. It was to be expected, after all, since they opened up to each other about different parts of their personal lives. Not to mention almost kissi-

No. That didn't happen. They're no way that's what it was. Grace was probably half-asleep, imagining a mood that wasn't there. Sure, Cal was a lesbian, and Grace didn't exactly hate her anymore, but there was nothing like that between them.

Regardless, Cal had turned into something like Grace's new henchwoman (or at least, that's how Grace thought of it) in her quest to knock Dana down a peg. Dana hadn't really stopped harassing the two of them – she kept being all over Cal whenever Grace was around and would even have the nerve to invite the tall girl out alone.

Not to mention her continued antics in always trying to one-up Grace. Pretending to be a teacher's pet, joining a bunch of clubs, becoming a star volleyball player after just joining the team. Not to mention how beautiful she was – even Grace could admit that.

Now with the whole school it was like, Dana this, Dana that. Every day in class Grace wanted to rip someone's head off for mentioning her. What's worse is that Dana was pretending that she was Grace's friend, so people were starting to act like Grace was Dana's lackey.

As if! Everyone had completely forgot about Dana after she left freshman year. Meanwhile, Grace had three years of being, like, the queen of the school.

Jeanette and Megan were scared of Dana and couldn't find anything on her, so Grace had to look to Cal for assistance, since Dana seemed to have taken an interest in her anyway.

Honestly, deep inside Grace was kind of grateful that Dana decided to show up out of nowhere. Sure, she made the honor student nervous, but she gave Grace and Cal an excuse to keep talking to each other. After all, their tutoring sessions had come to an end, and they didn't have too many other excuses to continue talking to each other.

But now they met even more often. Sometimes Dana would drag them along with her to lunch. Sometimes Cal would ask Grace to help her with some homework (that she actually seemed to understand just find). And sometimes Grace would call an emergency "Dana meeting". They even texted each other pretty often, Grace abandoning the claim that she would block Cal.

A couple of weeks passed like this and Grace started to notice more and more "symptoms" of what must be some horrible disease. Heart racing, butterflies in the stomach, dryness of the mouth, thinking of the other person, wanting to be physically near the other person all the time...

Obviously, Grace had heard of these symptoms before, but she'd never felt them prior to meeting Cal, and she was surprised at how they had just become a part of her daily existence. Even refusing to put a name to them, these feelings were almost comfortable now.

--

Grace's phone vibrated on her desk, startling her a bit as she daydreamt in homeroom. She couldn't help the small twinge of giddiness when Cal's name popped up on the screen.

Cal: Doing anything fun for Halloween?

Grace: Probably not

Grace: It's on a weekday after all

Cal: Let's go trick or treating 😃

Grace: How old are you?

Cal: You're never too old to trick or treat!!

Cal: What about a haunted house?

Grace: Those things stress me out.

Cal: You mean you're scared of them?

Grace: The only thing I'm scared of is imagining your tall 17-year-old ass going around a neighborhood asking for candy.

"Whatcha smiling about?"

Grace nearly leaped out of her seat when someone suddenly spoke beside her. Dana was sitting in the desk right next to her, leaning over. When the fuck did she get there?!

"Dana? Why are you here?"

Dana flashed her disgusting pearly white smile. "What do you mean? This is my homeroom, of course."

"Since when?" Grace racked her brain, certain that she would've recalled something as relevant as her arch nemesis being in the same homeroom as her. 

"I usually just ditch or go to another homeroom class." 

Ah, that makes sense. She is an idiot after all. 

"Are you busy texting your girlfriend?" Dana asked deviously, changing the subject.

"G-girlfriend?" Grace stammered. "Did you get hit in the head with a volleyball?"

Dana's stupid smile widened. "Oh, come on. You're hanging out with Cal all the time now, and you make the nastiest face when I show her some skinship."

Grace was trying her best to fight off the red that was coloring her cheeks. "Okay, if you're not going to go back to your class then I'll just leave."

As Grace started to get up, Dana grabbed her wrist.

"I figured there's something I should tell you," Dana said, her voice becoming slightly more serious.

"What?" Grace asked, confused.

"Well...you know Sarah?" Dana began.

Grace was a bit taken off guard by the sudden mention of the girl's name. She hadn't had to deal with her in weeks. "Yeah, of course. What about her?"

"I think she's planning something," Dana stated. "She came up to me and started asking a bunch of weird questions about you."

Grace groaned. "It's always something. I just can't get that bitch off my back."

"I can't believe she's still bothering you after all this time," Dana remarked.

"Yeah...me neither."

---

Grace decided it was better to deal with this whole Sarah situation sooner or later. After school she searched around for the girl but was having trouble locating her.

Any texts Grace sent Cal were suddenly being ignored as well. It made Grace worried, though it could just be that the transfer student was busy. At least, she hoped.

Finally, Grace sighed, taking a trip to the bathroom. Maybe I'll just go home for today.

But fortune seemed to find her as she ran into the very person she was looking for on the way in.

"O-oh, h-hi Grace," the spectacled girl stammered, trying to slip around the brunette. But Grace blocked her path, shoving her lightly back into the bathroom.

"What are you up to?" Grace demanded. "I heard you've been snooping around for information about me."

"N-nothing! I haven't been doing that!"

Sarah backed up until she was up against one of the sinks, Grace approaching to trap her there. She was getting really tired of this girl. She'd been messing around with her since freshman year, trying to get her grades to drop, trying to get her in trouble with the teachers, even trying to turn Cal against her.

"Bullshit!" Grace snapped. "Why can't you just leave me alone? Stop pretending to be some innocent, bullied victim and just get off my case!"

Sarah's face turned serious, surprising Grace a little. "...No. I can't forgive you. You're single-handedly ruining my life."

Sarah shoved Grace backwards roughly.

"Everyone deserves to know that you're a backstabbing bitch," Sarah continued. "Even that transfer student. She's a lot dumber than she looks, hanging out with someone like you."

Grace gritted her teeth. "Just leave her and Dana out of this. Your problem is with me."

"Sure, but you don't respond to anything I do to you directly," Sarah growled. "None of the teachers will listen to me about you, so they've started hating me! But you've gotten really close with Cal, and so I saw that as an opportunity."

Grace felt her blood begin to boil. "Why are you so desperate, bitch?"

"What, did talking about that girl make you mad?" Sarah smiled devilishly. "I've never seen you date anyone or even take an interest in them. It's too bad that transfer student will never love a pathetic bitch like you, lesbian or not."

Something snapped in Grace, and before she could stop herself, her palm was meeting the side of Sarah's cheek. The sound of the slap resonated throughout the bathroom. Blood boiling, Grace reached forward, grabbing the smaller girl by the collar and shoving her into the wall behind her.

"I don't care what you have to say," Grace growled. "But stay the fuck away from me or you'll regret it. I'm beyond tired of you!"

"Hey, what the fuck's going on?"

Grace jumped at the familiar voice and turned to see none other than Cal standing there, her face shocked by the sight in front of her.

Fuck...just my luck.

-------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: 

Edit: I had to change the part about Dana being in a different homeroom so that it fits better with events that occur later in the story. I guess I somehow missed that detail during initial editing.

Sorry if this caused any confusion! It shouldn't at this point in the story.

-Tera