black & gold

Chapter 10

Grace can feel footsteps behind her and she's near certain that they belong to Mitchell
Davis. Her suspicion is confirmed when the dark-haired boy clad in his usual denim
jacket runs up beside her and smiles, broad and white.
"Hi hello!" Mitchell grins, ear-to-ear, "I was beginning to think you were dead... you
haven't responded to my texts in a while."
"Yeah, sorry, I've just... I've been really busy lately," Grace says and purses her lips.
"I'll bet!" Mitchell laughs, "I heard about how great you did at the meet on Saturday.
Congrats."
"Thanks," Grace smiles and pushes a piece of hair behind her ear, "So how've you been?"
"Pretty good," Mitchell shrugs, "Better if you'd maybe want to get dinner tonight."
Grace's face falls and she shakes her head, "Mitchell, I can't... I'm... I'm really sorry,
but I just can't."
Mitchell's smile fades instantly and his hands drop to his side, "What? I thought we were
having such a great time together."
"Yeah, we were, it's just that..." Grace pauses and tries to find the right words, "I'm
seeing someone, Mitchell."
"Oh," Mitchell responds, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Well then. Uh... sorry for
bothering you."
"You didn't bother me, Mitchell... if I weren't... if there wasn't another person in the
picture, I'd probably really like you," Grace says and gives him a soft smile.
Mitchell shakes his head and turns on his heel, mumbling a faint "whatever" as he walks
down the hall.
-
"Grace, what the fuck," Mamrie yells and slams her tray down on their lunch table, "Did
you really just tell Mitchell you didn't want to see him anymore because you're seeing
someone else?!"
Grace looks up at Mamrie with wide eyes and glances around, realizing that several
students in the cafeteria are looking their way, "Calm down, alright?"
"I will not calm down," Mamrie says and sits across from Grace, folding her arms, "What
the fuck is up, Helbig? Since when are you seeing someone and since when is that person
not Mitchell Davis?"
Grace purses her lips and knows that she needs to tell her. Mamrie's her best friend.
"Please just... just don't be too shocked, okay?" Grace asks and inwardly curses herself
when her voice wavers.
Mamrie's face softens and she nods.
"I've been seeing... a girl," Grace says and immediately looks down at her palms, not
wanting to see the reaction on Mamrie's face.
"Huh," Mamrie replies and Grace looks up, trying to read the contemplative look on the
redheads face, "Didn't strike me as a lesbian, Helbig."
"I'm - I'm not... well, I don't think I am," Grace says and purses her lips, "There's just a
girl. One girl. The only girl."
Mamrie nods and throws a baby carrot into her mouth, "What's her name?"
"Hannah... she's, uh, she's on the track team for Central High," Grace says and pokes at
the spaghetti on her tray with her fork.
Mamrie nearly chokes on her baby carrot before she can respond, "Hannah Hart?!"
Grace looks up, "Yeah... you know her?"
"Holy shit, Grace, everybody knows her. Hannah fucking Hart is a legend," Mamrie
laughs and shakes her head, "She slept with two girls from our team last year, Sarah and
Pearl. And that's just Kennedy High, Grace. She's known to hit it and quit it with
virtually every cute girl in the track district," Mamrie shakes her head, "Be careful, that's
all I'm saying."
Grace knew Hannah had a reputation, she just didn't know how far and wide that
reputation stretched. And it damaged Grace's ego just a bit to know that she wasn't the
first Kennedy Girl, nor was the the second. She's Kennedy Girl #3 if Mamrie's statistics
are correct.
"It's not like that," Grace says softly and pushes her tray away, knowing that there's no
way she'll get even an ounce of food into her system today, "We haven't even... done
anything. We're dating."
"Well I'll be damned," Mamrie smiles, "I knew Hannah would stop sleeping around
someday, I just didn't know Grace Helbig would be the one to get her to settle."
"Settle?" Grace asks and purses her lips.
"I don't mean it like that," Mamrie rolls her eyes, "I mean settle down. You got her to
settle down. Calm down, Grace. All that shit I said about Hannah... that's the past, I
guess. If she's treating you well and she seems into you, then that's all that matters."
And Mamrie's right. That's all that should matter, right?
Right?
-
"Ask me how my weekend was," Hannah says, sliding into her chair next to Tyler in their
first period class together.
Tyler smirks and rests his head in his palm, "How was your weekend?"
"Amazing," Hannah gushes and shakes her head, "I can't even... I can't even put into
words how amazing it was, Ty."
"So I take it you slept with Kennedy Girl?" Tyler asks with a laugh.
"God, no," Hannah shakes her head, "We just... we kissed a lot. And we talked. And
we're gonna try this thing out, Ty. Her and I. We're gonna try to make it work."
"So let me get this straight," Tyler says and puts his fingers to the bridge of his nose,
"You, Hannah Maude Hart, are in a monogamous, sex-less relationship with another
human being?"
Hannah rolls her eyes and swats Tyler across the chest, "I'm not an animal, alright? I'm
capable of being in a relationship."
"It's just weird, that's all," Tyler shrugs, "But you're happy?"
Hannah nods, "I really am. I mean, the whole "taking things slow" thing kind of sucks,
but... I mean, it's worth it. She's worth it."
Tyler takes a moment to look at Hannah - studying her, almost. A solid thirty seconds
passes of this before he responds, "Well if you're happy, then I'm happy for you."
"What was that pause?" Hannah questions.
"Nothing," Tyler responds, flipping open his notebook and grabbing a pen out of his
backpack.
"No, Ty, tell me," Hannah whines, "Do you think I'm not happy?"
Tyler sighs heavily and shuts his notebook, turning back towards his best friend, "I know
you're happy. I haven't seen you this happy in a really long time... I just, I don't know, I
don't know if you can do it."
"Do what?"
"Be with one person. And don't take that the wrong way. It's just that I've known you
since we were in the fourth grade, Han. You're not the type of person that I've ever seen having a long-term girlfriend and that's not a bad thing. That's who you are," Tyler
explains.
Hannah shakes her head, "Fuck you, Ty."
"What?" Tyler asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Why can't you just say, "I'm happy for you, Hannah" and move on? Why do you always
have to tell me how shitty of a person I am? I really like this girl, Tyler. I might even... I
don't know, but I really like her. What kind of fucking best friend are you to tell me that
it won't work out between us?"
"I'm sorry," Tyler says and raises his hands in defense, "You're right, I should've kept
my mouth shut. I didn't mean it as a negative thing, I promise."
"Fuck," Hannah mumbles and shakes her head, "You really think that? That I'm
incapable of being with someone?"
"No," Tyler says and tries to erase what he'd said, "I mean... I don't know, Hannah. I
really don't. Maybe I'm wrong, that's a huge possibility. You and Grace can probably
make it work."
"Yeah," Hannah mumbles, more to herself than to Tyler, "We can. We will."
She'd never believed anything more than those two words.
We will.