A/N:

Hi everyone!

First of all, I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my story so far. You guys are absolutely amazing! I can't believe this book's at almost 100k views!

Unfortunately, I've been extremely busy lately and unable to write as much as I would like. I have the plot completely fleshed out, but I'm almost caught up with posting the chapters I've been writing in advance, and I need some time to get ahead and edit properly. 

So I won't be posting another chapter after this one until next Wednesday. That'll give me a week to do some catching up. 

I'm sorry to do this, but there's some real fun stuff coming up and we're not too far from the end. 

Thanks again!

-Tera

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The weekend came and went like a dull daydream, and Cal couldn't decide if she was upset that she couldn't be occupied from her thoughts all day at school or happy that she wouldn't run the risk of seeing Grace in the hallways.

Even Cal's mother must've sensed how horrible of a mood she was in being that the woman hardly pestered her the whole two days. The transfer student walked around like a ticking time bomb, so being near people was something she did her best to avoid doing.

Cal spent some time both days going to the gym, but she got some weird looks with how aggressively she was lifting the weights and running on the treadmill. Not that she was paying attention to anything outside of her own head...

Most of her thoughts consisted of:

How could she act like that? I was going out of my way to try to patch things up and she treats me like I was just some stupid fling! Why did I even lov- like her to begin with? She's a bitchy nerd who doesn't know how to do anything other than study! What a loser!

Cal's previous depression over the break up had transformed into a near constant state of anger since they tried to "talk things out". And this was glaringly obvious to Kenzie and Mark during lunch period on Monday.

"And I used to secretly make fun of those kids who cried over getting a B or something on a pop quiz and here I was dating one of them! I mean, really, there was no having fun with her around, she was the biggest wet blanket I ever sa-"

"Okay, Cal, why don't you try getting a breath in between all that yelling," Kenzie interrupted, touching Cal's arm.

It was already thirty minutes into lunch and Cal had been basically ranting about Grace for the entire length of it.

Kenzie gently took the crushed up water bottle from Cal's furious grip, setting it down on her plate.

Cal sighed. "I'm sorry, guys. I know I shouldn't be subjecting you to my bitching."

"You know we're here for you Cal," Kenzie assured her. "It's just...probably better for your blood pressure to take some deep breaths here and there."

"Hell, you're even raising my blood pressure," Mark said, drinking from his carton of milk.

"I don't know why, but I've just been constantly pissed off about it since I fought with her on Friday," Cal replied. "I guess it's better than being sad, but I'm not even a type A person to begin with."

"There are many stages of break-up grief, Cal," Kenzie said. "You'll start feeling better about it before you know it."

"Yeah..." Cal sighed and slowly pulled herself to her feet. "I think I'm gonna go get an ice cream bar from the vending machine. You guys want anything?"

Both of them shook their heads, so Cal headed down the hallway. She was basically peeking around every corner to make sure she didn't run into Grace. It seems like when they wanted to be together, they never ran into each other, but whenever they fought it was like the universe gravitated them towards each other.

When they wanted to be together...

No, no, Cal! She's no good for you and you're better off without her!

Psyching herself up, she approached the cafeteria, hiding behind the corner as she scanned for any sign of the brunette honor student. When she didn't see anything, she headed towards the back wall where the vending machines were.

There was a small line to most of them, which was to be expected since it was the middle of lunch period. As she waited, she ended up catching the conversation of two other juniors in front of her when a name came up.

"Yeah, she failed a midterm so I guess she's just one of us normal people now," the boy said.

"I still can't believe that Grace Jordan failed a test," his female companion replied. "I'd given up hope of going for valedictorian with her around...but now maybe I'll give it a try."

The two of them snickered.

Rumors sure were scary in how fast they traveled and how inaccurate they became. I guess it was more juicy gossip to say that the honor student outright failed an exam instead of just getting a C.

The boy noticed Cal standing behind them and turned his head. "Sorry for talking shit. I know you're, like, Grace's friend, right?"

The two of them looked at Cal for an answer, but the transfer student was having trouble coming up with one. It was difficult to even mark a time when her and Grace were "friends". They went from enemies to tolerating each other to lovers within a few short months.

"Ah, no...I wouldn't say we're friends," Cal said, her heart aching a bit when she said it out loud. It was more like they were back to being enemies now...

The ice cream vending machine opened up, so Cal stepped forward and bought a creamsicle. She focused on unwrapped it as she head back towards the exit of the cafeteria, staring down at the orange-y deliciousness.

This blows...now I'm starting to feel kind of down...

Prepared to psych herself up again into a state of anger (since that was apparently easier to cope with), Cal neglected paying attention to where she was going and she felt a hard smack as she ran into someone.

Her newly bought and unwrapped creamsicle toppled to the ground, and Cal frowned.

Why do I bother to keep buying these things? They always end up melted or on the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

The familiar voice made Cal's head snap forward (and down), and sure enough, standing before her was the small, furious frame of her ex-girlfriend, Grace. However, her shirt was stained with the sauce of a slice of pizza which had flown from her lunch tray and onto her chest from the impact.

"Oh, shit, sor-" Cal began to say before getting cut off.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Grace fumed, picking the pizza off her left boob.

"What? Yeah, I was just targeting you out of this entire packed cafeteria like a homing missile!" Cal fired back, feeling her anger well up once more.

"So you're not going to say you're sorry or anything?"

"I was trying to before you interrupted me to accuse me of running into you on purpose!"

Cal noticed her voice ringing out louder than usual and realized that the cafeteria was unusually quiet. When she looked around, she saw a bunch of faces staring at the two of them during their stand off. Cal swallowed awkwardly and bent down to pick up her now inedible ice cream.

"Fight, fight!" some random guy yelled from a table, and Grace rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean this off," she said to Cal. "You should stay here with these immature idiots – where you belong."

And with that, Grace turned and began walking away. Fuming at the insult, Cal opened her mouth to yell after her, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned, she saw Dana standing there with a fake smile on her face.

"Cal, why we don't you come with me to somewhere where you're not making a scene," she suggested, but it sounded more like a command.

Cal sighed, trying to avoid all of the stares she'd drawn to herself. As if there weren't already enough rumors flying around about the transfer student...now she'd have to deal with this.

This is just getting better and better.