Fing Perfect - S01 E13

Story 5 months ago

Fing Perfect - S01 E13

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 13

Cal's eyes widened.

"Stalking you?" she echoed.

A pained expression crossed Grace's face as she seemed to be working up the courage to talk about it.

"His name's Will and he used to be a family friend of ours," she began. "He lived next door to us and he's three years older than me. He used to be kind of like an older brother, but now that I think about it, there were some red flags.

"When I was in middle school, he started asking me out. I said no every time, but he'd keep asking. He'd try to give me gifts and would tell his friends that I was his girlfriend. Eventually, it lead up to him following me home from school and showing up at school events. I was constantly terrified and paranoid, but he said if I told my dad then he'd..."

Grace started shaking to the point that it was visible, her face pale and her eyes far off, as if remembering the past in great detail. Cal squeezed her hand, pulling her out of her own head.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to..." Cal whispered gently.

"No, I'm okay," Grace replied, seeming to relax a little. "So...eventually my dad found out because he broke into my house and stole some...things from my room."

"What? Seriously?" Cal gasped. This guy was turning out to be more dangerous than Cal initially thought.

Grace nodded. "My dad told his parents and luckily they took it seriously. They moved Will across the country to live with a relative, so I convinced my dad not to take out a restraining order. I never thought I'd see him again...it's been almost three years now."

"So you've actually seen him here? Was he at the party?"

"Yeah," Grace said, looking down. "But since before that he's been texting me and calling me. I keep blocking up, but someone he's using other numbers and contacting me on all kinds of different social media. I still didn't think he was actually here in town, though."

"You haven't told anyone about this?" Cal asked.

Grace shook her head, looking slightly ashamed. "My dad's just going through so much stress now with work, and I didn't think it was serious enough until he showed up at the party. But I'm still scared about what'll happen if I say anything."

Cal shifted to turn her body towards Grace, and she lightly grabbed both of the other girl's hands. Grace looked up at her finally, a bit caught off guard by the gesture. "Grace, you have to tell your dad or the police. This guy sounds like he's seriously dangerous."

Grace averted her eyes. "I know...I'm just scared."

Cal swallowed, trying to get her words together in her head. "Look...I know we got off to a bad start, but I'm here for you if you need anything."

Grace nodded bashfully. "Thank you."

There was a moment of silence between the two, and Cal was feeling a rush of different emotions. What Grace told her was heavier than she had expected, and she was very worried about what would happen. She was happy Grace decided to open up to her, but she could only pray that Grace did the same for her dad...before something bad happened.

"I think the bonfire's starting," Cal commented, figured it was time to pull the other girl into a more positive mood. She stood up and held her hand out to Grace.

Grace smiled a genuine smile, the first Cal had ever seen from her, and her heart skipped a beat. She really is beautiful... Cal thought as Grace took her hand and allowed herself to be hauled to her feet.

"Let's go then," she said, and the two walked over to watch the roaring flames come to life and illuminate the courtyard.

---

For the rest of the weekend, Cal couldn't get Grace off of her mind. She walked through the halls Monday morning in a complete daze.

The bonfire went so smoothly and Cal was really starting to suspect that her feelings for the other girl were more than platonic. Nontheless, Cal didn't know what to do with this newfound realization that she had a crush on an ice queen high school mean girl.

There just seemed to be more to Grace than just being a bitch to her classmates. But all the same, Cal figured she didn't have too much of a chance of getting her feelings reciprocated. Sure, she didn't pull away when Cal flirted or tried to get closer to her...but maybe she was just desperate for a true friend since it seemed she didn't have any.

Regardless, Cal figured it was nowhere near time to make her feelings known to Grace. She'd just keep hanging around her and see if something happened.

Cal walked into her first class of the day and slumped into her chair. Her usual seat was in the back corner of the room since she was too groggy in the morning to get buddy-buddy with her classmates. Tired and worn out from thinking, she leaned her head on her hand and closed her eyes, earbuds still in.

Maybe I'll try to find Grace at lunch time, Cal thought, about to slip out of consciousness.

As she was two seconds away from dozing off, Cal felt someone tap her shoulder. Startled and a bit annoyed, she pulled out an earbud and looked up to confront the perpetrator. But what she saw had her stunned into silence.

It was an absolutely gorgeous girl who she'd never seen before, standing there with a pearly white smile. "Sorry, I was just wondering if I could sit here." She brushed her honey blonde hair out of her face and pointed to the seat next to Cal.

Cal blinked, taken completely off guard. "Uh...sure."

The girl flashed another killer smile. "Thank you."

She sat down and her sweet but subtle perfume drifted over to Cal. Am I dreaming right now? Cal wondered. Who even was this girl? She'd remember if she'd seen her in class.

"Um...are you usually in this class?" Cal asked.

"Oh, no," the girl laughed. "I just transferred back to this school."

Back?

"My name's Dana. What's yours?"

"Oh, uh, I'm Cal," Cal stammered. She wasn't normally a shy person, but the model status of this girl was really throwing her off guard.

"Nice to meet you." Dana smiled. She had a really nice smile.

"I actually just transferred to this school myself," Cal said. "About a month ago."

"Hey, then I guess we're transfer buddies," Dana replied warmly. "I used to go to this school freshman year, but I went to live with my dad in California for a little bit."

"Ah, well then I guess at least you know some people."

Dana smiled. "Yeah, you could say that."

Their conversation was cut off by the bell, and the teacher began his lecture. Cal was having trouble calming down in Dana's presence, especially because Dana kept leaning over to ask what the teacher wrote on the whiteboard. Every time she would, Cal would smell her intoxicatingly sweet perfume, and her closeness made Cal blush.

But wasn't it kind of strange that she decided to sit in the back when she couldn't see the board?