i like (the idea of) you • grayson dolan

nine

OPAL'S POV

"No, oh my god, Celia, he's the fucking worst!" I groan, shoving my face into my pillow. "He's been such a dick all week."

"I thought you guys were like, becoming friends? Why'd he become an ass again?" She asks, digging through my kitchen cabinets in the other room.

"He always has been though, that's the thing. It was stupid of me to think he knew how to be nice in the first place. Him and Ethan both. God, I think I hate him. Yeah, fuck, I fucking hate Grayson Dolan!"

She laughs as she comes back into my room. I think she took it as a joke, but I really couldn't stand him.

He was just so smug and stupid, and he annoyed the life out of me. This week, him and all his friends had been worse than ever.

Why did they get so much enjoyment from making me nervous or pissed off? I don't think I'll ever understand.

"I'm sorry, babe. I know he's a dick," Celia sighs, eating the chocolate she found. "I've gotta get home, but I'll text you?" She gives me a swift hug before grabbing her things and leaving.

We hung out for a little after school, but her little sister needed a ride somewhere today and she was in charge of that. I wasn't mad though, I kind of wanted to be alone.

Sighing, I climb up from my bed and wander toward the living room, starting up Skyrim to distract myself. I also play some music loudly, which blocks out the game sound, but the album playing is too good to bother changing it.

I'm in the middle of a particularly rough quest when I see something move out of the corner of my eye.

Screaming, I toss the pillow that way before realizing it's Grayson. That's scarier than a serial killer would've been.

I hit pause on both the game and my music with a frown. How did he get in my house?

"Sorry," he chuckles, handing me my couch pillow. "Your door was unlocked and I figured you couldn't hear me knocking, so I let myself in."

"Yeah, uh, what do you want?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"We got english homework to do, Opal. Go get your book," he smiles, sitting in his usual spot on my couch. When I don't move, he raises his eyebrows at me. "This a bad time?"

"Why are you here?"

At the beginning of this year, I probably would've been too nervous around him to say something like that. But now I just couldn't bring myself to care. Grayson deserved to be snapped at... at least a little.

"I just told you, we have homework?" He laughs, taking out his book from class.

Is he playing stupid or just genuinely stupid?

"Grayson, we aren't friends. We've never been friends. I got my homework done already, you should probably go home and read on your own."

He just scoffs at me. "Is this because I told people you were a virgin? Really?"

"No it—the way you guys have been acting about it all week, genius!" Immediately after yelling at him I feel bad. It slipped out. I thought I wouldn't feel bad, but I was wrong. "...and the way you spoke to me."

"The jokes?" His eyebrows furrow. "We've always joked with you, Opal. I didn't think it was a big deal... but I probably could've been nicer. I'm sorry about that, really. I guess I can get pretty stupid around my friends sometimes, I didn't mean to upset you."

They have always joked with me—or about me, really—and it's always been annoying.

But this last week, hearing them talk about me and be so gross was worse than before. It definitely didn't feel as stupidly harmless as it used to.