black & gold

Chapter 14

"Well shit," Mamrie laughs and nears the two girls sitting on the bleachers of the Central
High track team section, "If it isn't the Pride Parade."
Grace looks up from Hannah and smiles at Mamrie, "Hey, Mames."
"Are you going to introduce me, or..." Mamrie stares down at Hannah.
"Oh! Right! Mamrie, this is Hannah. Hannah, this is Mamrie. My best friend, basically."
"Hey, Mamrie," Hannah grins and extends her hand out to the redhead, "Nice to meet
yo-"
Mamrie interrupts Hannah by grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet, enveloping
her in a hug, "It's about time! Nice to meet you, Hannah! Are you taking good care of
Grace?"
"Mhm," Hannah mumbles against Mamrie's chest as the taller girl cradles her head, "This
is really intimate."
"Sorry, little one," Mamrie says and lets go of Hannah, watching in amusement as the
brunette struggles to straighten out her hair, "Just glad to meet you, that's all. Anyway, I
came over here to tell you two that if you don't stop gaying it up, you're going to give
half of the teams at this track meet a heart attack."
Grace glances up and she realizes that Mamrie's right. Not only is everybody staring at
them, but their jaws are dropped. It's rare for a black uniform to be sitting amongst
golden ones, but it's nearly unfathomable that Grace Helbig, fastest girl in the district, to
be making out with the team manager of her biggest competitor.
"Right, thanks," Hannah says and frowns at the number of faces staring back at her,
"Don't you have your race coming up soon, anyway?"
"Yeah," Grace responds and checks her watch, "I'm gonna go warm up. I'll see you
later."
"Good luck," Hannah smiles and then immediately retracts her statement when she feels
the glare of every girl on her team, "I mean... bad luck. Do badly. Do your worst."
Grace laughs and crosses her arms, "You're a real charmer, you know that?"
"Just get out there," Hannah rolls her eyes and Grace complies, running off towards the
field. Hannah waits until Grace is a good ten feet away from her before she yells out,
"Grace!"
Grace spins around and stares at the younger girl in waiting.
Hannah gives her a concealed thumbs up and mouths 'Good luck' to the blonde. Grace smiles in return before continuing to make her way towards the field.
-
"Tyler... Tyler!" Stacey screams.
Tyler wakes up from his nap and squints his eyes in confusion at the girl sitting next to
him, "What?"
"Was anybody planning on telling me that Hannah's dating that fucking Kennedy Girl?"
Tyler rolls his eyes and groans, "That's what you woke me up for?"
"They were practically fucking on that bench, Tyler. How long has it been going on?"
Stacey asks.
When Tyler notices the redness in Stacey's eyes, his face softens, "Shit. Not too long.
Maybe a week or two."
"Why?" Stacey questions, her voice shaking, "Why would Hannah do this to me, Ty? She
knows how much winning means to me and she knows that it's that dumb Kennedy Girl
that keeps getting in the way. How could she just go behind my back like this?"
"Stacey, honey," Tyler frowns and rubs a hand across her back, letting her lean into his
chest for support, "It's not like she planned this, okay? You know how much Hannah
loves you and this team. She would never intentionally hurt you guys. And to be honest,
the only reason she even talked to Grace in the first place was to try to help you. I gave
her the idea that maybe she could do her usual Hannah Hart thing.... you know, flirt with
Grace and figure out her weaknesses. Maybe throw her off her game a little bit."
"She did it to help me?" Stacey asks and wipes away a tear on her cheek.
"Yeah, initially," Tyler says and offers her a grin, "Do you honestly think she'd even
have talked to Grace if it wasn't to help out the team?"
Stacey sighs and nods, "I guess."
"Well, wipe that frown away and get out onto that track. They're doing final call for the
200 right now," Tyler says, "And beat the Kennedy Girl while you're at it."
"Alright, I'm going!" Stacey laughs and jumps off of the bench, "Thanks, Ty."
-
There's little to no shock at the track meet when Grace beats Stacey by a solid two
seconds in the 200m. On the benches, Hannah struggles to contain her excitement. On the
track, Grace makes her way over to a defeated-looking Stacey.
"Hey. It's Stacey, right?" Grace asks through strained breathing, pushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear.
Stacey looks over at Grace and nods, drawing her lips into a thin line, "Yeah."
"Well I was thinking that maybe you and I should get to know each other a little bit
better," Grace grins, crossing her arms, "I know how close you and Hannah are and-"
"Don't flatter yourself," Stacey scoffs and rolls her eyes, "She's only with you to help
me."
Grace raises her brow in confusion, "What?"
"Hannah. She's not actually in love with you or whatever. The only reason she even
asked you out in the first place is because she wanted to see if she could find out your
weaknesses."
"That's not... that's not true," Grace frowns and knows that Stacey's probably saying this
out of anger from losing the 200m.
Stacey laughs and shakes her head, "You go to Kennedy! Hannah's the team manager at
Central. You don't just date the star athlete on your schools rival team. You're the
enemy. Sorry about it, but it's true. Hannah was just trying to fuck with your head so I
could get my title back."
"Stop," Grace warns with a quivering voice, "You have no idea what you're talking
about."
"You seem nice," Stacey sighs, "But honestly, how could you not have known? Hannah
Hart doesn't have girlfriends. Hannah Hart finds cute Track and Field girls, takes them
behind bleachers, and fucks them. Not to mention that 90% of those girls aren't white.
Don't you think it's weird that she chose you? I mean look at some of these girls,
Grace-" Stacey nods towards a group of girls stretching in the middle of the field,
"They're gorgeous. Tanned skin, dark hair, light eyes... Hannah could have any of them.
In fact, she did have that one, right in the middle. Her name is Tanya. Hannah went down
on her twice last year - districts and states. And-"
"Stop," Grace lets out a breath she'd been holding in and Stacey looks over to see tears
rolling down Grace's cheeks.
Before Stacey can continue her assault, Grace is running as fast as her legs will carry her
towards the parking lot.
She needs to get away.