Grace; misanthrope // Jai Brooks

Chapter 1

I sat in class like any other day. The kids near the back of the room were gabbing away, avoiding the English assignment given to us by Miss Ritter. She was young and new so most students didn't take her very seriously. I was always sat closer to the front of the class. I was a near-perfect student; I was always on time, never missed school, and always had straight A's.

I tried focusing on my work, ignoring the rowdiness of the popular kids in the back of the class. I let out a sigh, annoyed by their immaturity. The bell rang and everyone in the room began to filter into the hall. I went to my locker to get my things for my next class, but as soon as I opened my locker it was slammed shut. The laughter of one of the popular guys, David Waters, soon followed, as he looked over his shoulder to see if he'd gotten a reaction out of me as he passed by. I rolled my eyes and opened my locker once again.

Later that night I sat in my room, studying for an upcoming statistics exam. I was in a couple of college credit classes so I was spending a lot more time studying than usual. My phone buzzed and I took a break from staring at my laptop screen. A text from one of my best friends, Bella, lit up my phone.

"Are you going to Amelia's party on Friday?" She asked.

Amelia was another girl in our year. We weren't really friends, more like acquaintances. I didn't have a whole lot of friends, but I did have two really close friends, Bella and Chloe, and that was enough for me.

"I don't know, that's not really my thing." I reply.

Suddenly, my phone is buzzing again and this time Bella is trying to facetime me. I take a deep breath and answer the facetime call, preparing myself for a lecture.

"Grace!" She shouts at me. "You have to come!" She pleads.

"Why?" I groan. "I don't like parties."

"Because! You need to socialize. Plus, Chloe is coming and we can't go without you." She puts on her best puppy dog eyes and pouts her lower lip. "Pleaaaase." She begs.

I let out a dramatic sigh and finally gave in to her pestering, "Fine." I state, "But I'm driving separate so I'm not trapped there the entire night."

"Yes! Thankyou, thank you, thank you," she trails off.

"Alright, alright, alright." I laugh and roll my eyes at her.

Bella is quite used to having her own way all the time as she's an only child and comes from a wealthy family. She's always had the best clothes, best shoes, best phone, and so on and so forth. Spoiled would be an understatement. Chloe on the other hand is the captain of the girls soccer team and has only one brother, but he's older and married so she might as well be an only child as well. They both acted as intermediaries between the popular kids and not-so-popular kids. They essentially were friends with everybody. Meanwhile, I preferred to mostly keep to myself.

Sometimes I wonder how I even became friends with either of them. We met in primary school and ended up on the same soccer team. Despite many ups and downs we managed to stay friends ever since. On the opposite spectrum of both of my best friends, I was the academic book worm. I took a lot of pride in my school work and spent a lot of my free time studying and reading. Unlike most kids, I enjoyed school. I also enjoyed my own company. I could spend hours listening to music or watching movies all by myself.

At school the next day, Bella, Chloe, and I ate lunch in the courtyard. It was a cool day and the wind teased my long ponytail. We were in the middle of discussing  last nights soccer game when wham! Something struck me in the back. I whipped around to see what it was. A soccer ball had hit me and was now dribbling on the ground. I watched it as it rolled away, my eyes landing on a pair of feet. It was David Waters. He was laughing as he retrieved the ball. He wiggled his fingers at me and snickered as he walked away.

"What a dick," Bella retorted.

"You okay?" Chloe asked, putting a hand on my back.

"I'm fine," I say with frustration.

"Just ignore those guys, Grace. They're idiots." Bella added.

I ponder to myself for a moment. I hardly touch my food. We finished lunch mostly in silence.