"Oh look, she's just smiling by herself again."

Cal was pulled out of her daydreaming as Kenzie and Mark approached her at a table in the cafeteria. The three of them normally would sit on the little hill outside, but the fall weather was finally rolling in, and it was too cold and wet these days. Hopefully a spot in the cafeteria was temporary, though – it was far too noisy and crowded for Cal's liking.

"Creepy," Kenzie joked in response to Mark's previous statement.

"Oh, shut up," Cal said. The two of them sat across from her with their food trays, and Cal eyed them suspiciously. "Really? Cafeteria food?"

"We forgot our lunches," Mark replied, "And not everyone can live without ever eating like you."

"I eat, just not during lunch." Cal was used to eating in first period and then at home after school. For some reason, the normal lunchtime was when Cal was the least hungry. It probably stemmed from her time at her last school where she would leave campus at lunch with her ex to fool around. Some habits were hard to break.

"Well, whatever," Kenzie said. "Why are you in such high spirits this week? I'm getting whiplash from these mood swings."

She was likely referring to Cal's sour mood from last week. Cal normally had an easier time hiding her emotions, but when it came to Grace, it proved to be rather difficult. Or maybe Kenzie and Mark were just perceptive.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Cal said.

Kenzie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

Cal didn't feel comfortable explaining her relationship with Grace just yet. It was still new and kind of delicate. Besides, it was obvious that Grace was trying to hide it since she refused to eat lunch with Cal. Ugh...it would've been so nice to spend lunch with her...

Honestly, Cal was a bit worried that Grace would get spooked by the whole thing and run away. Anything that seemed too good was an object of suspicion for Cal. She thought about how her dad would probably tell her she needed to relax and enjoy it.

Cal wanted to make their relationship exclusive and official, but again, she was worried about how Grace would react. I mean, was she even into girls? She didn't seem to mind kissing, but the thought of Grace dumping her after it went any further than that – well, the prospect caused Cal's mouth to go dry.

Relax...Grace isn't the type to jump into something without thinking about it.

Absent-mindedly, Cal opened her phone to look at her texts to Grace. She hadn't heard much from her at all that Tuesday morning, and that alone was enough to put Cal a bit on edge. Since Saturday, she really hadn't seen the girl at all.

However, as Cal was moping about the whole situation, her phone lit up in her hand with a message from the girl in question.

Grace: Can we meet after school today?

Giddy with excitement, Cal typed her response and sent it a little too quickly.

Cal: Of course 😃 Where?

Several seconds passed and Cal's eyes were basically glued to her phone. She could feel Kenzie and Mark sparing glances at her as they had their own conversation.

Boy, Cal had it bad.

Grace: The hill behind the school.

Well, it seems like Cal would still be visiting her old lunch spot in the colder months after all. Cal replied with an affirmation to the meeting, a smile plastered on her face.

"What, did Grace text you?" Kenzie asked, bringing the blonde back to reality.

"Maybe~" Cal replied dodgedly.

Kenzie just gave her a lopsided smile. In spite of trying to keep her relationship with Grace a secret, Cal knew her friends could guess roughly what was going on. After all, they knew she'd been spending a lot of time with the honor student, and they knew the whole situation with Sarah had been resolved (though they didn't exactly know about Cal's role in all of it).

In spite of the many times Kenzie warned Cal about Grace, she seemed to trust that the transfer student was making the right decisions. Luckily, as much as Cal's two friends teased her, they didn't really pry. Probably figured that Cal would come to them when it was time.

--

Cal leaned against the tree on the top of the hill as she waited for Grace after school. The honor student had got caught up helping a teacher, so she was running a little late. Not that Cal minded – any time spent away from home was usually welcome anyway. Plus, she was just happy she'd get to see the object on her affections again.

The sound of a football being punted in the nearby sports field filled Cal's ears, and the chilly autumn breeze nipped at her skin. It was really starting to get cold...Halloween was only a couple days away, and Cal even wondered if it would snow. Not that she really did anything on the holiday regardless.

Finally, she caught sight of the brunette appearing from one of the school's back exits, and Cal's heart started beating. Grace almost jogged over, and Cal was almost growing nervous at the prospect of meeting her crush again after a few days.

"Hey, sorry about that," Grace huffed, finally making it over to stand in front of Cal. Her cheeks were already turning a bit rosy from the cold.

Cal furiously fought off the urge to pull her into a hug. There were still other students around, after all. "Ah, no worries," she said, waving her hand dismissively.

There was a period of awkward silence, and Cal noted that Grace was acting kind of strange. Her eyes were downcast and she wasn't exactly being talkative.

"Uh...I was hoping we could go somewhere together," Grace finally said.

"What? Of course!" Cal replied, trying not to give away how surprised and excited she was. "Did you have something in mind?"

Grace blushed lightly. "Well, not really. I just suddenly felt like it..."

"Ah, well, let's see," Cal laughed nervously, trying to quickly think of something, as if Grace would get bored and leave if she didn't. It was too cold to do anything outside and it was still too early to eat, so... "Why don't we just walk around Main Street for a while?"

Grace smiled a little. "That sounds nice."

Main Street was just the center of town where there were a lot of cute little shops. People walked around there often, and there was a river running beside it that was busy in the summer. There might've been some pop-up shops or a little market since it was the Halloween season.

Out of instinct, Cal took Grace's hand to lead her to her car. But the moment she did it, she pulled away, as if she'd touched a hot stove.

"Oh, sorry!" Cal apologized, flustered. "I forgot we're still at school."

Grace appeared to be taken aback at first, but her face began to turn red, and she looked away shyly. Tentatively, she reached out and claimed Cal's hand once more. In response, Cal felt her own face warming up significantly.

"It's alright," Grace said, "there's hardly anyone around anyway."

Cal flashed her a wide smile, gripping her hand back. She excitedly hauled the smaller girl over to the parking lot, entwining their fingers once they were well enough away from the field. Once they were inside of Cal's car, the tall girl took a quick look around to see if anyone was nearby, and she leaned over to give Grace a quick kiss.

When she pulled away, Grace's expression amused Cal to no end – completely flustered.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

Cal felt herself getting giddy when she saw Grace's fussy side again. She'd been too quiet and normal today – it was starting to feel weird.

"It's just been a while," Cal replied, chuckling.

"Good God, you're ridiculous!"

Little did Grace know, Cal was holding herself back immensely. If she really was to be ridiculous, she'd do what she wanted to do and just start a full on make-out session. The strength of Cal's desire to touch the other girl was almost overwhelming.

They pulled out of the parking spot and headed on the main road. It only took a few minutes to get to Main Street, and luckily they were there early enough to get a parallel parking spot on the side of the road. It could get quite busy during the early evening hours.

Although she wanted to, Cal refrained from holding Grace's hand as they headed down the sidewalk. Halloween decorations colored the store fronts, putting the two girls in a more festive mood. They just took their time walking and looking, but Grace would often haul them into a clothing store or a candle store the moment she spotted one she liked.

Just looking around, Grace's attitude started to improve, and after a little while she was smiling and laughing rather openly. She must've needed something to take her mind off of whatever was bothering her – Cal was thrilled that she decided to do it with her over her friends.

After shopping around for a little while, Cal spotted a bowling alley at the end of the street. "Hey, wanna go?" she asked, nudging Grace and pointing to the building.

"Bowling?" she remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with bowling?" Cal asked. "Scared you'll lose?"

And that was plenty to get the honor student on the hook. "Yeah, right, you wish."

"Well, let's just go and see, princess." Cal pulled her along, smiling a bit too wide.

--

The sun was starting to go down and the two girls decide to eat at a local Italian restaurant. After the intense bowling match, they were rather hungry and needed to just sit and relax.

It was a close game, but Grace ended up winning in the end. Though, Cal may or may not have thrown it towards the end to see how happy the other girl would get. Really, she was competitive about the silliest of things, and that's one thing Cal kind of loved about her.

Sitting at a booth by the window in the restaurant, Grace immediately got lost in scanning the menu. Cal just watched her, amused by the way her eyebrow knit together when she was thinking.

"You like Italian food, don't you?" Cal asked.

Grace peeked at her over the menu questioningly. "Yeah, I guess so. It's my favorite type of food, anyway."

"It's definitely good."

"What's yours?"

"Hm?"

"Your favorite food?"

"Ah...probably Mexican or Indian," Cal replied. "I like spicy food a lot."

Grace stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ew, I hate spicy food."

"Loser," Cal joked.

Cal was so engrossed in the other girl that when the waitress came around, she realized she hadn't decided on what to order, so she just went with the first thing she peeked down at in a visible rush. And don't even think she didn't see Grace quietly giggling at her from across the table.

Once their food arrived, the atmosphere had been calm long enough that Grace's mood was starting to dampen again. She became much more quiet, and when she talked, she had this meek voice that was unlike her usual confident noisiness.

Was she not enjoying herself? Was she having second thoughts about their relationship? All these thoughts swirled around in Cal's head. But there was really no use in sitting there wondering what the answer was. It was about time to just ask.

"Is something bothering you, Grace?" Cal asked, breaking the silence.

Grace paused from taking a bite of her pasta, then placed her fork down on her bowl. She seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

"Does it seem like something's bothering me?" she asked, but it almost sounded like the question wasn't directed at Cal specifically.

"Yeah, you've been weirdly quiet all day," Cal replied, offering a dry laugh. But none of this was particularly humorous to Cal. With Grace's reaction, she knew now that there was definitely something going on.

Grace let out a shaky sigh, and suddenly, she got that look on her face that seemed familiar to Cal. It was similar to the one she was wearing that night at the party, but obviously less intense. Immediately on edge, Cal stood and walked around to the other side of the booth, scooting in beside her. Grace watched her, confused.

"What are you-"

She was cut off by Cal lacing their fingers together and holding her in a serious stare. Luckily, the restaurant wasn't busy, and they were in a rather secluded part of it. Even so, it wasn't like Cal really cared about that right now.

"Grace, what happened?" Cal asked, her expression serious.

Grace couldn't ignore this cool sense of confidence and concern that the tall girl was offering her. She pursed her lips, then looked away, squeezing Cal's hand.

"Will's been contacting me again," Grace said finally.

Cal's breath caught in her throat at the name. How could she forget about this situation? So many things had been happening that this predicament, the most important one, fell to the wayside. Cal suddenly felt ashamed that she assumed Grace's mood had anything to do with her. This was a serious issue, and here Cal was just thinking of herself.

"That's not good at all," Cal remarked, not sure of what else to say. Then a memory of something she once told Grace re-surfaced. "Wait a minute – did you never tell your dad about this?"

Grace tensed, and that was all the answer Cal needed.

"Grace, look at me."

Hesitantly, the honor student did. Her blue eyes, almost as pale as ice, bore into Cal's, sending a message of fear and insecurity. The look simultaneously broke Cal's heart and ignited it into a protective state.

"Grace, you know I'm here for you," Cal began. "If you ever need me to come around because you feel unsafe, I'll come running. If you ever need to talk, I'll be listening. But I can't be there 100% of the time. So you need to tell your dad so you can be safe in your own home."

Grace swallowed, looking like she was trying her best to hold back tears. "I know."

Cal's gaze softened. "Are you scared?"

"Yes."

"I can be there with you to talk to him, if it makes it any easier." Cal offered. Perhaps Grace's father wouldn't mind if she was just presented as a close friend.

Not that it mattered anyway – any good father would be far more preoccupied by the danger of his daughter being stalked.

Grace paused for a little, thinking. "I don't know."

"Is your dad home tonight?" Cal questioned.

"Yes."

"What if I drove you home and waited out in the car while you told him," Cal offered, trying to think of a solution that made Grace the most comfortable. "Then you could come back out or stay in – at least the thought of me being there might help?"

"I think...I could do that." Grace nodded slowly at the proposition. She sighed, and to Cal's surprised, slumped her head down onto Cal's shoulder. "I just know I have to do it."

"Yes," Cal agreed, stroking her hair lightly. "I'm just worried about you."

Grace stroked her thumb along the back of Cal's hand, the one she was holding.

"Thank you."