Fing Perfect - S01 E36

5 months ago

Fing Perfect - S01 E36

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 36

Cold Shoulder

Grace's alarm pulsed in her ears, pounding at an already horrible headache.

She woke up slowly, hoping that the events of yesterday were nothing but a bad dream, but the swollen state of her cried-out eyes told her otherwise.

She wanted literally nothing more than to silence her alarm, crawl back under her covers, and sleep, but she had already been absent yesterday. If she broke down now, then everything she'd done, to Cal and to herself, would've been for nothing.

So Grace dragged herself out of bed and to her bathroom to get ready for the day.

She did her best to hide her puffy eyes with makeup, but it probably wasn't going to get past her family and Jeanette and Megan. She just hoped they got the hint and didn't ask her about it. Sufficiently dressed, she headed downstairs to wait for her ride from Jeanette.

The first floor was entirely empty since her father had already taken her brothers to school and then gone to work himself. In a way she was glad, and in another she was lonely. She'd locked herself in her room from the moment she stepped in the door after school yesterday. Her father had naturally tried to check on her, but she refused to come out.

Grace just stared blankly at her door as she waited for the text message from Jeanette. She felt gross from crying last night – she hated how dry it made her eyes and she just didn't like the feeling of it in general.

The moment she broke up with Cal, part of her regretted it and part of her was relieved. She should have spent more time processing what happened with her grades – her decision to end a relationship with someone she cared about was based on the terrible fear she'd felt when she saw the grade on that midterm exam.

Since the year after her mother died, Grace had gotten As on every exam she took. It became second nature to her, to the point where it didn't even stress her out too much. The only time it was somewhat of an issue was when a teacher made a mistake on her 9th grade history final and accidentally gave her a B. That certainly caused a lot of drama.

There wasn't any specific reason as to why Grace had to be a first place honor student. It was just that nothing felt interesting or fun after her mother died, so back in middle school she just studied to keep her mind off of the loss. She happened to get first place and ever since then, it had just been a part of who Grace was.

When she saw that something she did wasn't perfect, she felt a hopeless despair in the pit of her stomach. Without realizing it, she developed an unhealthy obsession with perfection, which was probably why she had trouble opening up to people around her – if she did, then they'd see her flaws, her fears, her desires...

Even so, everyone she did open up to – Cal, her father, Jeanette and Megan – all accepted those flaws without question. So why did she feel so pathetic and worthless when she got a C on that chemistry exam?

It was enough to make her terrified of her first real relationship. Since it correlated with a dip in her grades, she felt a nagging impulse to cut it out of her life before things began spiraling downwards.

It was out of fear for her grades...

It was out of pressure from the overwhelming stress...

It was...

Cowardly.

Grace started when she felt her phone buzz in her hand, and she looked down to see Jeanette's message. She took a breath and opened her front door to step outside.

It was going to be a long day.

Grace thought she could just drown her sorrows in her schoolwork that day, but she found herself almost more unable to focus than before. Nonetheless, before she could begin questioning all of her decisions, she opted for a more rational conclusion – it was natural that she was upset right now, but after a few days of getting used to it, she'd launch back into her studying.

After all, it was what she did in middle school to keep her occupied while she mourned her mother. If it worked for something as horrible as that, it would work for the end of a month-long relationship.

Honestly, Grace never imagined she would be so upset about ending such a short relationship. It didn't even last as long as when she "went out" with that boy in middle school. Yet, the pain of breaking up with Cal was a good hundred times worse. She'd never liked someone as much as she liked Cal. With the amount that she missed the tall blond in one day after dumping her, you'd almost think she was in lo-

No, no, that's not what this is. My future is more important than some high school relationship.

She shook the thought out of her head as she left second period, doing her best to keep her thoughts under control. She was so occupied by being lost in her mind that she unknowingly bumped into something, stopping her in her tracks.

She looked up to see a familiar face, one that was probably one of the last ones she wanted to see.

"Oh, hello, Grace," Sarah smiled wickedly, and Grace knew exactly where this was headed. "Long time, no see."

"I really don't have the patience today, Sarah," Grace warned, keeping her voice controlled and level.

Sarah ignored her. "I guess you decided to heed my warnings after all. Too bad it was after you got me suspended. Now the administration won't believe that I'm meant to be first place on the honor roll – they're investigating me for cheating."

Grace continued walking down the hall, doing her best to keep her cool. All she wanted to do was slap that smirk off of Sarah's face, but that would be below her. Or maybe it wouldn't, since she already did it before...

"They just can't believe that their favorite pet isn't as smart as they made her out to be," Sarah continued, following the brunette as she walked. "But really, what happened to you? Did your transfer student girlfriend break up with you?"

Grace stopped in her tracks, causing Sarah to nearly bump into her. A lack of sleep, a break-up, and paranoia made one's patience only run so thick. And Grace was just about out of it.

"Don't mention her again," Grace warned, not even looking at the small, dark-haired girl.

"Who, Cal?" Sarah questioned, but her voice was a little more unsteady, as if she was actually a little intimidated by the way Grace was acting right now. "I knew that girl was having an affect on you, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. Still, it's nice to know that she finally realized what a shitty person you are and-"

"Just shut up!" Grace rounded on Sarah, raising her voice. She clenched her fists, literally only two seconds away from abandoning her reputation and pride to plant them on this horrible bitch's face.

"You guys are kind of blocking the door."

The voice sent chills down Grace's spine as she looked up to see none other than the person in question: Cal.

Apparently they had stopped right outside of a classroom door, blocking it. The whole scene gave Grace a sense of déjà vu – it was so similar to how she and Cal first met at the start of the semester. It felt like years ago now.

"C-Cal," Grace stammered, her face reddening. She wasn't sure how to react to this awkward situation, but she instantly experienced a wave of sadness and longing. Even right now, in the middle of an argument with Sarah, standing in a busy hallway, Grace wanted nothing more than to just hug the tall blonde.

But Cal didn't appear to share the same temptation. Her face was stuck in an intimidating scowl, her eyes unemotional and stern. She looked over at Sarah, causing the smaller girl to tense up.

"Haven't you gotten tired of this yet?" Cal asked, her voice low. "If I see you pulling this shit again, I'm seriously not going to let you get away with it."

In spite of the simplicity of her threat, the pure vitriol in her tone was enough to make Sarah go pale. It was possibly because Cal had only ever been nice to Sarah and somewhat manipulated by her.

"Uh, sorry, I've got to get to class now!" Sarah yelped, and hurried off down the hallway.

Cal watched her for a second, then looked down at Grace, causing the latter to feel weak in her legs. However, the taller girl didn't say anything as she stepped around Grace and entered the classroom.

Even when they were enemies, Cal had never acted this cold to Grace. It made her feel like a hole was going to form in her own chest.

Grace was unsure if she'd be able to pay attention to any lecture at all today.