𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄

[𝟏𝟕] 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝

Everything is so awkward now. I mean, not for her, she's cool as cool gets with what happened yesterday and I've been trying to seem the same way. And I feel like I haven't talked to her in years even though it's just been twenty-nine minutes. I'm not counting, I swear.

Okay, so maybe I'm counting. But it's Grace's fault! She's the one that is completely fucking irresistible, the one making everything so hard.

Poke

Poke,

Poke,

I wrap my fingers around her finger that's poking me, turning to her. "What?"

I now see why she hates that so much, it's not going to stop me from doing it to her but I do understand the frustration and annoying usually radiating off of here when I pull the move.

"Why are you being mean?" She pouts, sliding her finger out of my grasp. "I need help."

"With?" I ask simply, not wanting to make the annoyance in my voice too apparent.

Grace open's her mouth to speak but shuts it tight, ignoring my question and jotting down whatever the hell the teacher's writing.

I have to hand it to her, she's smart, she's mature, she's everything you could possibly imagine, everything you could possibly dream of. The thing she doesn't have is the trait of being able to keep up an act. Everyone thinks she's so mature, which she is. Until she isn't.

I suppose she's always immature when she's with me, it's sorta like I bring out a different side of her. I've yet to figure out if this is a good or bad thing but while I wait to get to the bottom of this, I'll just focus on how fucking awkward I am around her.

"Beep-boop, bap-bap-bap, booooop." She makes these weird noises whenever she wants attention and no matter how cute it is, it gets on my damn nerves when I'm trying to be mad at her.

I groan, turning in my seat to face her. She looks up, her pencil balanced in the space between her nose and lip, her lips puckered. I pull her pencil, turning her paper so I can see it better. I quickly jot down simple shortcuts to figure out the problems she's skipped and put a slash through the problems that she got wrong.

Honestly, I don't understand how she's in accelerated math, she sucks at it. She likes it though, for whatever reason. Sometimes, she does makes stupid decisions. So maybe suggesting her counselor give her this class wasn't the best idea.

Thanks a lot, Mrs. Kasington.

When I turn back around and focus on my paper a series of oh's and am I dumb's came from behind me. A cracking sound came from behind me and seconds later, she presses the end of her pencil against the back of my ear.

"What?" I whisper, not turning to her.

"Could I have a pencil pretty pleaaaseeee?" She asks. I pick up my backpack and place it on her desk, earning a small gasp.

"My poor paper got crushed." I can just imagine her pouting and petting the paper like a hurt dog.

She honestly confuses me. She'll have cute days like this where all day she's talking in that soft-ish baby voice thing and all I want to do is hug her and play with her hair.

Other days, she'll be in a good mood but acts plain, if that makes sense. If I were to describe it, I'd describe it as a sort of boredom?

Not long after all this, the bell rings and Grace is one of the first out of class. She's running down the hall, and I have a feeling it's because she doesn't want to talk to me, so I walk the other direction and mind my own business.

Just kidding, when was the last time I minded my own business? What the hell kind of expectations of me do you have?

I walk over to her leaning against the locker behind hers as I wait for her to finish whatever she's doing. After about five minutes, I lean over to see her making silly faces to herself in the mirror she has in there.

Pulling her out of the way, I slam the locker shut and put the lock back on. "I'm fucking hungry and you're taking so long for nothing."

She frowns, her eyes turning glassy as she looks up at me. She wraps her arms around my waist, pulling me close. "Stop having a bad day," she whispers, kissing my chest, "you're hurting my feelings and I don't like it."

I look down at her, my own eyes sad as I see a tear slip down her cheek. I frown, wrapping my arms around her waist. "I'm so sorry, I'm just confused. Don't have a bad day because of me."

"Why are you confused?" She questions, her arms falling loose around my waist. The words form in the back of my throat but I swallow them. What if she doesn't want anything? Then I'll look like an idiot and I already look like one most of the time so we most certainly cannot have that.

"Just classes are kinda a lot right now." I lie, kissing her hair and giving her a tight squeeze before letting go of her. "But I promise I'll stop being rude, I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"Can I make it up to you?" I ask her. Yeah..... BIG mistake asking that because now, I'm standing her confused at what she pulls out of her backpack.