eternal flame - s. harrington

Chapter 25: I'm Done With You

A/N:
thank you so much for 1k! <3

It's been a week since my parents took Will to Chigago. They returned on Sunday, with the disappointing news that the doctor they'd gone to see wasn't much help with mapping out Will's situation.

I don't think there was a doctor who was much help in what he was going through. No matter what branch of medicine they practiced, no matter if they knew about the Upside Down or not, it seemed like no one fully understood his condition...

It's also been a week since Steve came over and we had our drunken moment. It's safe to say that if he was worried about me avoiding him before, he had no idea what was coming next...

But it wasn't just me this time — Steve was avoiding me, too.

Normally he'd greet me first thing in the morning when he saw me in the hallway, he'd sit next to me in class if there was a seat available, he'd want to sit at my table at lunch, he'd walk with me to class and talk to me at my locker.

None of that happened this week so far.

I shifted my car into park as I made it to the school's parking lot. I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and turned off the engine, exiting my car and locking the doors.

Walking towards the school's entrance felt exactly the same way every morning this week. I had a gnawing, tingling sensation in my stomach.

No matter how many pills I took, there was no way of containing my anxiety. It was eating me alive in a way it hadn't done since November...

I sighed as I tried my best to keep my thoughts in order when I stepped through the doors, into the crowded hallway. I kept my gaze forward, avoiding eye–contact with every person who walked past me, in case one of them happened to be Steve.

"Grace!"

I was soon stopped when a gentle hand grabbed my arm and I turned around to see Nancy Wheeler.

I was a little taken aback when I saw her, wondering what she might have on her mind, since she and I never really spoke.

"Oh. Hey, Nancy.", I smiled at her, "What's up?"

The girl held up a flyer in her hand and gave it to me. "Senior class president.", she said. I glanced at the flyer and turned my attention back to her.

"Sorry?", I asked, not understanding what she was saying. "You should run to be senior class president next year!", Nancy clarified, "I saw that on the bulletin board and immediately thought of you."

I chuckled nervously, "Oh. I don't know...". Nancy smiled at me, "C'mon, Grace, you'd be great! You're a great student with good values, and you're fairly popular, too."

"Popular?", I laughed, "I dunno about that."

Nancy let out a soft groan, "You know what I mean. People like you. I'm just saying, you would get a lot of votes if you ran.", she smiled.

"Alright... I'll think about it.", I said.

"Think about what?", I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me. I didn't need to turn around to see who it was, since he stepped in front of me, next to Nancy and put his arm around her.