7: Breaking the Ice

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Cal stumbled her way through the school day, unable to get yesterday's encounter with Grace out of her head. Of course she'd seen the girl angry before, but Grace had seemed overwhelmed by her emotions.

There really must be something going on, Cal thought.

She almost felt bad for being so harsh on the ice queen...but still, Cal couldn't forget the fact that Grace was a bully. Having a hard time in life didn't give her a free pass to act like a bitch and ruin other people's lives.

Cal shook her head as if to scatter her thoughts about Grace. She'd been thinking far too much about the other girl lately. Ever since they met it's like Grace was occupying such a large portion of her school life. Normally she wouldn't give a typical mean girl like her a second thought – she'd just brush her off. But Grace was different somehow...

"Whoa, earth to Cal."

A voice startled Cal out of her thoughts and she looked over to see Kenzie walking at her side down the hallway.

"You just wandering around aimlessly or are you trying to get to fourth period?"

"Both, I guess?" Cal admitted with a sigh.

"What's on your mind? Thinking about that Sarah girl?"

Cal was a bit caught off guard by that question. "Sarah?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had a thing for her since you've been bringing her around with us," Kenzie said.

"No, I just wanted to help her out since she's always being harassed by Grace." Cal sighed. "I feel like I'm the only one in this school who goes against the 'princess's' wishes."

"I don't know about that," Kenzie replied. "I don't think Grace is the only reason people don't hang out with Sarah?"

Cal stopped in her tracks and turned to her friend. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kenzie put her hand on her chin as if she was thinking hard. "I'm not sure, actually. I feel like there was an incident freshman year involving someone named Sarah...but I can't completely remember."

"An incident?" Cal echoed. "Maybe it's just another one of Grace's rumors."

"Maybe," Kenzie conceded. The two continued walking. "But you should still be careful."

"You're always telling me that."

"Because you look at things too face-value, Cal," Kenzie remarked, giving Cal a playful shove. "Makes me worried about you."

"Yeah, yeah. I appreciate it."

I feel like Grace said something similar about me...

"By the way, a senior friend is having a party this Friday," Kenzie said. "You totally have to go with me and Mark."

"Ugh," Cal grunted in complaint. High school parties were the worst. Back in her old school she nearly got arrested when a house party got busted by the cops for underage drinking.

"No complaining. You're coming whether you like it or not!"

Cal smiled. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that."

Maybe it'd take her mind off of the whole Grace thing for a bit...

--

Before Cal knew it, the week was nearly over and Thursday's tutoring session rolled around. Cal debated just ditching it – she wasn't super interested in harassing Grace anymore. But some vague sense of curiosity brought her feet to the library before she could really think about what she was doing.

She entered the study room and, sure enough, the pretty brunette was sitting in her usual spot at the table. She was already working on whatever homework – it didn't even look like math.

"Hey," Cal muttered, and Grace hardly even acknowledged her with a nod.

Cal got her stuff ready and sat down. She was already feeling suffocated by this marked silence. Is she that pissed at me? Cal wondered. But she still showed up today...

Not knowing what to say, Cal simply started working on her Calculus homework. She was still pretty lost in the class, but she'd managed to barely keep herself afloat by looking stuff up online. Obviously it would be easier if she could get some actual tutoring...

The silence continued as the two girls focused on their schoolwork. The initial awkwardness slowly faded away into something somewhat peaceful. Cal had never felt so relaxed in Grace's presence...the girl had never been this quiet before.

Sometimes Cal would sneak glances at the brunette in between her math problems. As much as a bitch as she was, Grace was extremely pretty. And when she was so quiet and focused she had a sort of mature beauty to her. Sometimes her brows would knit together when she became particularly engrossed in thought, and Cal couldn't help but find that...kinda cute?

No, no, what am I thinking? Cal flushed a little bit as she desperately tried to shoo these invasive thoughts away.

The blonde tried desperately to throw herself into the Calculus problem she was working on, but she realized that she'd never seen this type of equation. She flipped through her book to find where it was explained, but honestly it looked like an alien had written it.

Fuck, this is probably gonna be on tomorrow's quiz.

Cal glanced at Grace for a split second. No way she's going to help me...

But Cal reminded herself that she wasn't scared of the ice queen, so what was the harm in asking her on the miniscule chance she'd be willing to help? She'll just say something bitchy and Cal will look it up herself online later.

"Hey, Grace?"

The other girl seemed almost startled that Cal was speaking to her. Her icy blue eyes looked up to meet Cal's, and Cal felt a very unprecedented shiver run down her spine.

"Um, I know you said you wouldn't help me and all..." Cal scratched her cheek nervously. "But can you please just explain this one particular problem? I'm just not picking up how the book's explaining it."

Grace stared at Cal wordlessly for a few seconds. Then she sighed. "Fine. Just one problem."

Cal was pretty caught off guard by the girl's willingness to help her. "Really?"

"Yes, before I change my mind," Grace snapped.

Cal slid the worksheet over to Grace and Grace explained it after looking it over for a second. She explained it so fluidly and precisely that Cal pretty much understood it immediately. It was almost as if they'd forgotten about their drama and were normal fellow students. And Cal couldn't help herself when she stared at the brunette gesturing to the textbook page, all focused and eloquent. For a few seconds, her heart started beating so loud that she was worried Grace would even hear it.

"There you go," Grace shoved the book and worksheet back at Cal. "Now be quiet again. You're a lot more bearable when you're not talking incessently."

There's the bitch I'm used to.

"Right back at you," Cal replied, and she returned to her schoolwork.

Before she knew it, the tutoring session time was up and the two of them were packing their stuff to go. This session had been rather...pleasant? A strange feeling to have when in Grace's presence.

Cal knew this didn't put them on any sort of friendly terms whatsoever...but she couldn't stop herself from asking. "Are you, uh, going to that party on Friday?"

Grace, once again, seemed startled that Cal was talking to her, and she paused for a second while putting her books in her backpack. She resumed her packing up, her normal resting bitch face settling. "Of course not. I don't do disgusting shit like that."

And with that, Grace slipped her backpack on and sauntered out of the room. Cal sighed.

Good to see she's still herself...

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