Sensitive

A date auction.

She couldn't believe it.

He was literally auctioning himself off to other girls.

She must actually be the stupidest person on earth.

How could she have been so stupid?

Grace slammed her bedroom door behind her, throwing her bag down on her bed. She flopped down beside her bag, covering her face with her hands.

Her phone buzzed beside her. She ignored it. It didn't matter who it was, she didn't want to talk to anyone.

Meg had messaged her before, asking if she was okay. She didn't want to talk to Meg about it. Meg was into Marlon. She was hardly the person Grace would go to for boy advice.

Not that she needed any advice, she knew exactly what was going on and where she'd gone wrong.

He was such a fucking asshole.

First he'd called her nobody and now he was actually advertising himself as available to make out with any girl at school willing to pay enough.

Jesus Christ.

Her phone buzzed some more and she relented, picking it up. It was Kelsey.

Hey Grace, I just wanted to say I'm sorry if I was being insensitive earlier. I just want you to know we can talk about both genders. I'm always here for you.

Grace stared at the screen, not quite believing nor processing what she was seeing.

She made to type out "I'm not a freaking lesbian, Kelsey, I'm just not pathetically obsessed with boys" but decided she'd done enough damage with Kelsey for one day. She threw her phone away without typing anything in response.

What was she meant to tell Kelsey? Sorry, I thought I was kind of moving in on your man? Sorry, it turns out he's incapable of human emotion?

She groaned. She hated everything.

She lay there, staring at the ceiling, for a while. She knew she should probably do something productive, like homework or articles, but she just wanted to be miserable in peace for a bit.

Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want.

Her bedroom door opened with so much force it bounced off the wall, the noise jolting Grace out of her misery-induced trance.

"Grace, you need to come outside right now. Kendall's here and we can finally do your astrology chart."

Jesus.

Grace groaned again. "No, Eve, I'm not in the mood."

Eve shook her head, walking over to Grace's bed and tugging at her arm.

"Nope, come on." She gave Grace's arm a harder tug and something inside Grace snapped.

"I said I'm not in the mood, Eve! God, can you ever just take no for an answer?" She was yelling, and she didn't care. She didn't care if Kendall heard, she didn't care if she hurt Eve's precious feelings. Why did everyone have to be so goddamn annoying?

Eve stared at her for a second. "Grace, you're being really hostile and I think we need to do some yoga or some..."

"No! I'm not doing yoga with you! I just want to be left alone, can't you see that? Why do you never care about what I want? You just take whatever you want, don't you? My breakfast, my clothes. You give away my number without my consent, you barge into my room whenever you want. Jesus Christ, Eve, just stop being such an asshole for once!"

There was silence in the room, and Grace and Eve just stared at each other. Grace couldn't ignore the look on Eve's face, but she also couldn't find it in herself to apologise. She wasn't sorry.

Eve turned around, walking out of Grace's room. The fact that she didn't shut the door only served to infuriate Grace even more.

Grace got up off her bed, crossing her room to shut her door with slightly more force than necessary.

Why was everyone she knew so stupidly sensitive? She was literally never allowed to say the slightest thing against Eve or the world would end, Kelsey was like a toddler she had to be careful with her words around, and Meg was pining over a guy who not only was a dick to her but was also apparently dating other girls?

God, she wanted to hit something. She wanted to lock herself in a room full of breakables and a baseball bat.

She better not have to go to this stupid auction.

She couldn't stand there and watch Kelsey try to win Daniel. She couldn't stand there and watch Daniel, period.

Grace sighed, pulling the covers on her bed back and getting underneath them. Maybe a nap would make her feel better.

She closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. Nothing happened. She huffed, rolling over onto her side. She couldn't even sleep when she wanted to.

She threw back her covers, sitting up. Reaching for her laptop from the floor below, she set it up on the bed next to her.

She brought up a word document, figuring she may as well try to be productive.

10 signs he's not worth pursuing

No.

10 signs he's just not into you

Nope, already a movie.

10 signs he's an asshole

Whatever, it was a working title.

Number one, he ignores you around his friends and family.

Check.

Number two, he doesn't treat your friends well.

Check.

Number three, he doesn't respect your decisions.

Check.

Number four, he doesn't make you feel good about yourself.

Check. Mostly. Ignore the time he told her she was the one most likely to change the world. That was all bullshit. Obviously.

She stared at her laptop screen. Okay, maybe ten was a stretch.

Whatever, she'd finish it later.

Grace closed her laptop, placing it back down on the floor. She lay down on her back, figuring now she might finally be able to sleep.