That Night √

20» That Picture

Grace's POV
« NOW »

I was skipping my Calculus class.

And that was all because I hadn't completed the essay Mr Whittaker had assigned us all.

Not exactly. I was skipping because I didn't feel well. The night shifts at Welsh's Bar were proving out to be worse for me. I barely got any sleep, and if I tried sleeping, I'd just...not sleep.

My brain wasn't functioning well. I was tired all the damn time. I couldn't bring myself to eat anything. I just wanted everything to stop for a little while.

Stop so that I could catch up.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself. I was sitting on one of the benches beside the water fountain in the school yard. The staff rarely came here and they were the only people I had to look out for.

Not like anybody else cared if I skipped a class.

That's what I had thought until I felt someone sitting down beside me. I opened up my eyes almost abruptly and was surprised to see Fraser, not in class but sitting beside me.

"What are you doing here?" My voice came out more like a rasp. That just seemed to annoy me even further.

He leaned back against the bench and looked up at the sky. "I just thought how nice it would be to spend some time under this beautiful sky."

Then he looked at me and there was this brightness in his eyes, as if he was mocking me. "You know, rather than being in Calculus right now."

Right. He and I had the same class right now.

"I came here to be alone, Fraser." I directed that towards him. I didn't care if I hurt his feelings. I just wanted him to know that this was not the right time. I was beyond exhausted.

"Who doesn't love some company, Gracie?" I almost, almost flinched at that. "Especially, company like—"

"Yours. Yeah. Why wouldn't I like it?" I muttered to myself. It took him only seconds to get on my nerves. He was so good at this.

"You make it sound like my company is bad?" He asked with a small frown. "Is it bad?"

I opened my mouth to say a big fat yes, but stopped because he looked genuine. And I couldn't find the old Fraser in him, not right now anyway.

Being mean sucked.

"I just really...didn't need any company right now." I said instead. "Not yours. Or anyone else's."

"And why is that?" I heard him asking.

I looked in front of me, at the yard. It was all empty, almost calming in a way. Sometimes you felt like people could choke you with their gazes only. I had been feeling like that a lot lately.