Fing Perfect - S01 E22

Story 5 months ago

Fing Perfect - S01 E22

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 22

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"Cal! Cal, just wait a second!"

Grace hurried after Cal who had already started rushing off to the other end of the building. They received some weird looks from the occasional student or teacher that was lingering behind after school. Grace chased Cal all the way out to the parking lot.

"Cal! Just fucking hold on and talk to me!" Grace called once more when they were outside.

Finally, Cal whirled around, Grace nearly running right into her. Her expression was a mix of anger, hurt, and confusion, a face Grace had never seen from her before.

"What?" Cal yelled. "Are you going to try to tell me that back there wasn't a total shakedown?"

"Well, if you would just take a second and listen to me-"

"I can't right now," Cal argued. "I need to think this whole scene over and then maybe we can talk about it."

"Listen to my side first and then you can spend all the time you want thinking!" Grace retorted. "It really wasn't what it looked like."

"And what about the whole throwing all of her shit into the pond?" Cal snapped. "Was that not what it looked like either?"

Grace paused for a second, confused. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You haven't told me a thing about your situation with Sarah, and I'm starting to think it's because you're hiding it from me!" Cal continued. "None of this makes sense! Why are you threatening some tiny shy girl in a bathroom? And it's not even the first time I've seen you do it!"

"Sarah's not some innocent girl," Grace said, in disbelief that Cal was acting this way towards her. "She's been bothering me for all of high school!"

"Then how come you've never brought it up?" Cal asked. "Is it because you're the one whose been 'bothering' her? You always tell me that these people at school are harassing you, but how can I be sure it isn't because you've been doing shitty things to them with your little friends? They seem to always have the same story, but you seem to always have a different excuse!"

Grace gritted her teeth, feeling completely betrayed. After all this time they've spent together and after all the things they've told each other, Cal wasn't even willing to give Grace the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they haven't known each other for more than a couple of months, but it's been the same amount of time that Cal has known anyone in this school.

"I just don't understand," Grace said, her voice wavering a little. "You of all people should know not to believe anything that people say about someone. I've never been perfect and I've done some petty things, but I've never done any of the things you seem to be accusing me of...I thought you were different than this."

Cal seemed taken aback at the sudden display of emotions, but Grace turned on her heel and stormed away before she could say anything. Tears pricked at Grace's eyes as she rushed over to Jeanette's car in the parking lot. Luckily, Jeanette and Megan were waiting outside of it.

"Grace! What took you so lon-" Jeanette was cut off by the sight of tears running down Grace's face. A look of shocked crossed both her's and Megan's face.

"What happened?" Megan asked, the two immediately swarming their friend. "Are you okay?"

"Come on, let's get you in the car," Jeanette said.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Grace had never cried in front of her two friends, but she was honestly too upset to even care about that right now. She could only be grateful that she wasn't alone.

--

"She wouldn't even listen to you?" Megan asked.

"She just believed whatever Sarah told her?" Jeanette chimed in.

The three of them were huddled in the back seat in Jeanette's SUV, situated in the parking lot of a sports complex not far from the school. There wasn't really a better place to deal with the situation being that Grace didn't want anyone to see her in such a state.

With all of the emotions overflowing, Grace had spilled everything to Jeanette and Megan. She'd refrained from opening up to them after years of being together, but she couldn't hold her mask together like she usually did. It shattered on its own, bearing everything to her two friends.

She told them about basically everything shy of some personal information that Cal told Grace about herself – she opened up about Will, about her relationship with Cal, and the most recent developments with Sarah (the two already knew about Grace's overall relationship with Sarah since they were also a part of it).

Grace hardly had time to be embarrassed about opening up. Her friends were very gentle and understanding, as she always figured they would be, and the only other person she opened up to was now against her. It was always her pride and past trauma that kept her at arms length from Jeanette and Megan.

"I think there's something more to it," Grace said, wiping away some left over tears. "Cal mentioned something about throwing stuff into a pond and I think Sarah's been manipulating her behind my back."

"Still, it sounds like she should know better," Jeanette said.

"We're so sorry this happened, Grace," Megan remarked. "We'll get that little bitch back for what she did!"

Grace shook her head. "I think it'd be best to lay low for a little bit. There's not much more Sarah can do at this point anyway."

The two friends looked at Grace sympathetically. They each grabbed one of Grace's hands.

"Thank you for telling us all of this, Grace," Jeanette said. "We've always been worried about you, but we didn't want to push you too hard."

"We'll be here for you no matter what," Megan affirmed.

Grace smiled, her heart warming. "Thank you guys. I'll be here for you too. I know it's a lot to take in, but I really appreciate you two listening to me."

"Of course!" Jeanette said. "Though, I'm surprised at how quickly you got along with Cal. You did hate her at first, after all."

"Yeah! Now it's almost like you like-" Megan started, but Jeanette covered her mouth.

"You can't just say that, Megan!" Jeanette said, in shock.

"Oh...sorry," Megan said once Jeanette removed her hand.

Grace laughed, much to the girls' surprise. "I'm surprised you guys are so open to that idea."

"Well, of course," Megan replied. "If you two did have a thing going on, we'd support you no matter what."

"I know we used to call Cal a dyke," Jeanette added, "but it is 2019, after all."

Grace smiled, a little sadly. "Well, anyway, I don't really know what our relationship is, or...was."

"Hey, don't write it off just yet," Jeanette encouraged her. "She's being stupid right now, but maybe it was just an immediate shock reaction – you know, like her emotions got the better of her. I'm sure you two will get a chance to talk it out."

Grace sighed. "I hope so. I don't want her to think I'm an actual bully."

"Well, even if she does end up thinking that," Megan said, "if anything happens with that stalker guy or you need us to come over when you're alone, we'll be here for you."

"That's right!" Jeanette chimed in.

The two squeezed her into a hug, and Grace felt eternally grateful to them. It wasn't fair that I was keeping so much from them...they're such good friends, Grace thought, feeling a bit guilty. All this time she'd assumed she was alone, so when Cal came along, she was truly relieved. But perhaps more people were there for her than she originally realized...or allowed.

I also need to talk to Dad, Grace thought.

But for now, she would spend this time in the arms and company of her friends. And pray that things would work out in the end.