The Dancer | #5✓

Chapter 12

It wasn't hard to get dirt on Grace. In fact, all I had to do was trace back our conversations. I had since changed my phone and old computer, but I still had some of my old social media profiles standing. Maybe I could even get hold of the old texts if I could get my mother to mail my old phone to me. I had considered reaching out to other people she had harassed, but I was hesitant. For one, they probably didn't like me. I used to be Grace's best friend. The more I thought about it, however, the more I kept feeling that reaching out to them might be worth it. Facebook was still a thing, and it was as easy as searching their names up and sending out a message.

I put that idea to the side for later. Right now, my focus was on retrieving as many old messages between us as possible. I made countless bookmarks, compiling everything neatly into a folder. I needed all the information I could get. I noticed Grace deleted some stuff from her private profiles, but there wasn't much she could do about the texts and messages she sent directly to me.

"What are you doing?" The sound of George's voice made me jump back a bit and I almost dropped my phone. I looked over at him, mouthing an apology as I went about switching my phone off and tucking it back into my jeans pocket. I was at work, and maybe it wasn't the best time to scroll through the hundreds of messages I had exchanged with Grace two or so years ago.

George raised a brow at my odd behavior, but he didn't say anything about it. His brown head of hair was combed back today. I didn't like the look and had a nagging urge to reach out and ruffle his hair. He just sidestepped before walking away. I watched him leave, sighing in distress when I felt my heart beat from just watching him work.

Crush. I said in my mind as I took a deep breath. It's just a crush. I repeated in my mind, not knowing what else to do. Who would have thought it was possible to like two people at the same time? But here I was. I still liked Advik, but with George, it was just... different. I don't know.

I returned to work, not wanting to be caught slacking off.

For most of the week, Grace had stayed clear of me. It's as if she could feel what I was about to do. Catching a glimpse of her nervous face was enough fuel for me to keep digging. my takedown needed to be perfect. I didn't want to get anyone involved. All I needed was to show her what I could do, and she would back down. Grace might be crazy, but she wasn't stupid.

I let out a sigh when I thought of Advik. He's been asking me about what happened since that day at the party. I don't know — I don't want to get him involved

"You don't trust me," he had said with a frustrated sigh when I put my phone away when he looked over my shoulder. I didn't deny his claim. It was true, and there was nothing I could do about it. Well, for now. I really wanted to sort things out with Advik, but I couldn't do that with race lurking in the shadows and threatening to ruin everything.

I looked up from my desk when the sound of the store's door opening brought me out of my thought. A confused frown made its way to my face when I saw that it was George that just walked in. Did he leave? He never left the shop even for a minute during his shift unless it was his break. My surprise grew when I noticed he looked over at me, and soon he was walking over. I thought he was mad at first, but a ghost of a smile was on his lips so that couldn't be the case. I didn't figure it out until he dropped a while nylon bag on top of the counter.