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Stephanie Lauter found herself, at the popular kids’ bench, watching the nerdy prudes from afar at lunch. She fidgeted with her green, flannel overshirt as her eyes continued to analyse the nerds, watching their every move. She had admired them ever since the incident at the old Waylon place. Herself, Richie Lipschitz, Ruth Fleming, Grace Chasity and Peter Spankoffski, all nearly murdering the top of the school’s food chain, the biggest bully in Hatchetfield High. Max Jägerman. Luckily, Peter had caught him before the rotting wood gave way, otherwise he would have fallen three storeys. That would have been nasty. Regardless, that day she bonded with nerds. The Stephanie Lauter, bonding with nerds? If anyone found out about that, it would ruin her reputation immediately. Sure, Max didn’t bully them quite as much anymore because they saved his life and were nice to him, but still. They were the weirdos. The Unpopular kids.
And Stephanie Lauter - the mayor’s daughter - had standards.
But at the end of the day, she cared about them all. Even with Peter’s horrendous bowtie and incredibly nerdy grades. Or Ruth’s lack of filter and lust that makes everyone increasingly uncomfortable within a mile radius. Or Richie’s obsession with anime and his horrific sense of fashion. Or Grace’s… Grace Chasity. There was something different about her. She was most definitely not the most normal of the nerdy prudes, not by a long shot, and yet, Stephanie didn’t have the same feelings about her that she did for the other nerds. The bell rung out, signifying the end of lunch, quickly followed by a cacophony of groans and the table of nerds all covering their ears momentarily. “Ugh, Music…” Stephanie murmured, to nobody in particular. “Mhm! Now hurry up-” An upsettingly familiar voice rung out from behind the now startled Stephanie. “-Or I have a detention slip with your name on!” Grace Chasity threatened, earning a sigh from the popular girl. Against her better judgement, Stephanie stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. “I’m going, I’m going, relax. You coming with?” she asked, instantly regretting her decision. She had just risked having to deal with Grace’s non-stop talking for a whole five minutes. Grace stopped in her tracks for a second, in thought and surprise, but quickly sped up to walk alongside her. “Well, I must make sure you get to lesson without being tardy, I suppose.” Grace mumbled, pretending to be aloof yet unable to make any form of eye contact to the now annoyed eighteen-year-old, and stumbling through her words. The walk to Music was disturbingly quiet, which concerned the usually uncaring girl. Usually, when she had the displeasure of walking with Chasity, for whatever reason, or just being around her in general, it was a constant waterfall of random nonsense. About cancelling Homecoming, about abstinence camp, about nerdy nonsense. But this time, she was silent. Not a word. Not even any looks in her direction. Stephanie swallowed, then sheepishly asked a question. “Hey, Grace? Are you, like, okay?” She asked quietly. Grace didn’t respond. Instead, she just walked faster and turned into class, finding her seat and sitting down, shaking slightly with a red face. Stephanie walked into class a few seconds later, perplexed by her reaction. Yet, despite her concerns, she went and sat in her seat, surrounded by all the popular kids. A few tables over, she heard the nerds discussing something. She swore she overheard her name a few times and caught a few confused and surprised glances from them all. All except Grace Chasity.
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Grace quickly scurried out of her last lesson, English, flustered and confused. She couldn’t think straight for the last two lessons, ever since lunch. She couldn’t pinpoint what she was thinking, or why she was thinking, or who she was thinking about. All she knew was that it was wrong.
So wrong.
Her Music lesson was covered by some random professor who had a failed musical pitch a few months ago, her English lesson was all about unrequited love. She found her English lesson interesting for once, as much as she hated it. She couldn’t understand why. Grace was zoned out as she tried to understand her thoughts when all of a sudden, she bumped into Stephanie Lauter. “Hey, careful!” Stephanie cried out, wrapping her arms around the falling Grace’s waist and catching her. Grace turned bright red and let out a surprised squeak, quickly jumping to her feet, though not pushing Stephanie away. Grace looked up at her, her eyes drifting to meet the concerned, soft eyes looking at her. They looked in each other’s eyes for a few seconds too long, and she felt that familiar feeling she hated again. Grace’s brain was filled with ideas – Lean forward. Kiss her. Hold her. Closer. Stephanie snapped her out of it, letting go of her and quickly picking up both of their dropped books. “I- Uh, sorry, Grace.” She blurted out awkwardly, trying to think. “Let me carry your books for you. We go the same way, don’t we? It’s, uh, the least I can do.” She mumbled, carrying the books with slight discomfort as she began walking away. “Wait- Stephanie! We are NOT old enough for that! We’re only eighteen!” Grace turned bright red and exclaimed in embarrassment, scrambling after her. “Give them back!” “It’s fine, Chastity. It’s not that deep.” Stephanie grumbled, her usual I-don’t-care persona resurfacing finally. “I’ll give them back afterwards. I’m not that mean.” She said, met with even more distress from before. Grace suddenly grabbed Stephanie’s arm, pulling her back so they were facing each other. “I said. Give. Them. Back.” She growled, snatching her books from her hands. Stephanie looked at her with shock, an ever so slight blush on her face. She swiftly gave the books to Grace, turned on her heels and walked away. “Steph- Wait a second!” Grace called out, concerned, but was met with silence and the sound of footsteps getting quieter. The next day at school was awkward. Stephanie tried to avoid her for the day, and it worked for about half an hour. That was, of course, until History, when the seating plan was changed unexpectedly and they were both sat together in the back right of the room, by themselves. Grace sighed as Stephanie rolled into class late, watching her aloofness about getting a detention, yet again, and quickly buried her face into her book as she heard the chair beside her being pulled out. Damn Stephanie. Making her feel things she shouldn’t. As Steph sat down, she heard the popular kids all giggling and muttering about the fact she had to sit next to her. “Don’t listen to them.” Steph said, protectively, knowing that Grace was, in fact, listening to them. She attempted to comfort her by putting a hand on her shoulder, but Grace flinched and pushed her hand away. “Focus on the work.” “I don’t want to. God, butt out, Chastity.” “Don’t use God’s name in vain. And if you’re not gonna do your work, can you please at least shut the heck up?” Grace said, for once not threatening her with a detention, and not daring to use profanity. “God, fine, Chastity.” Stephanie mumbled, suddenly realising that Grace was shivering. Her face dropped slightly in concern. “Are you cold?” “Just a little. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Grace snapped, burying her face back in her book. There was silence for a few seconds, then she felt a soft fabric draped around her shoulders. Her head immediately turned to the culprit, who was sat in her crop-top and short shorts casually in a very cold classroom. Her head turned to look at her, giving her a small, weak smile and a wink. Grace Chasity felt her face burn with blush, about to take the overshirt off her shoulders but quickly stopped, seeing her table partner giving her an annoyed stare. She grumbled as she put the overshirt on, finding that was slightly too big, but she didn’t mind. it was surprisingly comfortable. “Does it fit well?” Stephanie spoke softly, looking at her with concern. “Are you any warmer?” “I… Yeah. Thank you.” “Its fine. Just… don’t tell anyone I did this.” The bell rung and everyone began filing out of class. All except Grace Chasity and Stephanie Lauter. Grace carefully took the overshirt off, placing it in the taller girl’s hands. Awkward silence filled the room as they both picked up their books and left, both going to their next lesson of the day, which they were both not looking forward to. Mathematics.
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Richie, Pete and Ruth walked out of Mathematics, discussing what had happened just a few days prior with Grace and Stephanie. “So, do you reckon something is going to happen between them?” Richie asked, stimming idly as he walked behind. “Oh, yeah, totally. They’re definitely gonna bang.” Ruth commented, maybe too enthusiastically. “Ew! No, Ruth! Gross!” Pete immediately shouted, flustered that she would even suggest that. “They’re not gonna bang! This is Grace we’re talking about!” “Yeah! Grace would never!” Richie added helpfully as the three walked over to their usual table. They all quickly sat down and began eating their lunches. Out of the corner of Richie’s eye, he saw two familiar figures sitting at a nearby table, between the popular kids’ table and the loser kids’ table. Stephanie sat across the table from Grace, as Grace had refused to go any closer to her since the book-carrying incident. “Listen, Grace. I didn’t realise you felt that way about book carrying. I mean, I know you’re Christian and all, but I didn’t realise the bible was against that stuff.” Stephanie apologised, talking slowly to try and articulate her feelings. Grace was just about to respond when all of a sudden, a familiar, fear-provoking voice rung out. “Stephanie! Grace! What’s up?” Max Jägerman grinned like an idiot, running over and sitting at the table with the two startled girls. They were both still getting used to nice Max Jägerman after him making their lives a living hell in their own unique ways. He was his usual self in every other way, obsessed with football, stupid and a bit of a douche. But he was improving, and they’d be lying if they said it wasn’t nice to watch. He’d appreciated the nerds since they made that haunted house experience from him and saved him from dying. Nobody had the heart to tell him their true intentions. “Uh, hey, Max. Not much, just talking to Grace, I guess.” Stephanie mumbled awkwardly, shooting Grace an even more apologetic look, getting an unimpressed look in return. “Oh, cool!” Max beamed, blissfully unaware that he was interrupting an important moment. “So, Grace, what’s cooking, good looki-” Max started, quickly cutting himself off. His therapist (Yes, his therapist.) had advised him to think about how his words made people feel, and if they made anybody uncomfortable. So, he was resolved to stopping making comments about Grace Chasity, though he was failing miserably. Stephanie felt a pang of something in her stomach when she heard what he was about to say.
Anger?
Jealousy?
“I’m fine, Max. Thank you for asking.” Grace quickly responded, unable to make eye contact with either of them. Stephanie could practically feel the discomfort radiating off the poor girl, knowing how much she hated Max making comments like that. She shot her a small, “Are you okay?” look, but didn’t get any acknowledgement in return. The overenthusiastic jock continued rambling, completely unaware of the fact that neither of the girls were paying attention.Or he was aware.And just talked anyway.Sounded like him. After a few awkward minutes, Grace excused herself from the table and went to talk with the other Christian kids who for some reason tolerated her, probably because she kept them in check in the eyes of the Lord and knew the bible almost completely off by heart. Max looked up at her in complete and utter confusion then checked his watch (That he begged Steph to buy. His reasoning? “I can’t steal any of the nerds’ lunch money to pay for one anymore!”) and quickly realised it was time to leave and go to his math tutoring. He never admitted it, though. Being known as an ex-bully and not exactly on the intelligent side wouldn’t exactly help his already massacred reputation. “I gotta go, see you later!” Max grinned, reaching over the table to give Steph an eager fist bump. Steph uncomfortably gave him the fist bump and watched him immediately run off, his Letterman jacket slung over his shoulder. Steph quietly got up and wandered over to the loser kids’ table, looking mildly confused as the three suddenly shut up and each gave her their very own unique, awkward smile. Stephanie had learned to stop questioning it reasonably quickly.
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The time on Stephanie’s phone read 19:46. School had finished hours ago, and the young Lauter laid on her bed, sprawled out from the exhaustion of the school day. Her limbs felt heavy as she picked up the TV remote and put on a random YouTube video. Background noise to fall asleep to, she thought. “Stephanie.” A voice spoke stern as the door creaked open, her father stood at the door. She jumped up and looked over at the source of the disruption, grumbling to herself as she recognized Solomon Lauter. “Why have you been interacting with Grace Chasity? You know interacting with someone so shunned could lose me the election.” Stephanie froze. She was stunned. How did he know? Why was it really that bad? Grace wasn’t that bad. At least, she wasn’t recently. “…Dad, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She pretended, unable to even look him in the eye because even she wouldn’t believe herself. “I know you’re lying, Stephanie. I’m trying to have an intelligent conversation with you. In other words, stop bluffing.” Solomon asserted, stepping inside and closing the door behind him with a quiet slam. Damnit. She knew she should’ve paid more attention in Drama.“It’s not like I was doing much with her. I walked to class and sat with her at lunch once. Is that really that bad?” She mumbled, her words unconfident as she tried to roll her eyes. Solomon looked at her like she just shot him and then denied ever holding the gun.“Your teacher informed me that you had apparently been trying to have intercourse with Miss Chasity.” The mayor snapped, adjusting his tie and rubbing his temples. “That’s what she testified to your teacher. Care to explain yourself?” Stephanie had never turned so, so red before. She tried to splutter and cough out a response, one that didn’t make her sound like she actually was and was just trying to cover her back. She’d never even dream about that. Especially with Grace Chasity “Why would I try to do that?! What the FUCK made you think tha-” Oh.
Oh.
The realisation hit her like a bullet, and she felt a little stupid for not remembering that before. (And she was the smart one in her friend group. So much for that title.) The books. Grace was really that wound up by carrying books? Jeez. “Dad, I would literally NEVER do that! She’s a nerdy prude! It was a misunderstanding! I was just trying to be nice!” “I don’t care what it was. What I care about is that it stops immediately. You can resume after the election when it’s set in stone. But I can’t risk your idiotic actions costing me my position as mayor. Speaking of which, I have a meeting to get to. Goodnight, Stephanie.” Stephanie sat dumbfounded as she watched her father smooth out his suit, brush off the dust and leave the room. Once she actually thought about the implications, she picked up her phone and shot a message to none other than Max Jägerman. Who else would have her number than her ex-obsessed jock?
Stephanie: do you have grace’s number? i need to tell her something.
Max:yeah ill send it to you im at a party rn though so my wifi is shit and im partying with stacy and brenda mb if it takes a while steph
She rolled her eyes at his message and paced back and forth as she waited for a number. She knew Grace didn’t deserve what she was about to say, that it was a misunderstanding, but she had to save her own ass. Her dad would know if she was the reason he didn’t get elected. It was almost like he had a thousand eyes, on her at all times. About ten minutes later one Max Jägerman sent her a number. She added the contact as “Chastity Belt” and formulated a very well-thought-out message.
Stephanie:If you keep trying to pull whatever youre trying to fucking do and you cost my dad his place as mayor, youre dead meat, Chasity.
Grace Chasity woke up the next morning with a new notification in her inbox. Weird. Nobody messaged her anymore. The sleep was rubbed out of her eyes with fatigued hands as she tried to wake up properly and comprehend what she was reading. Her heart dropped as she comprehended what she had been sent and who it was from. Silence hung in the air as she walked downstairs and plastered on her signature smile just in time to walk into the kitchen.“Morning Mommy, Daddy!” She beamed, her father looking up from his newspaper and her mother calling out from the kitchen.“Good morning, sunshine.” Mrs Chasity responded happily, carrying two plates of food to the table and setting them down in front of her child and her husband. “I made breakfast, your favourite. One second, honey. Let me grab my plate and we can eat together.” “No, no, Mommy.” Grace quickly cut her off. “I’m okay. I packed extra food for lunch.” She lied through gritted teeth. Reading the message made her lose her appetite. Worst part was, she couldn’t tell her parents what she’d accused Stephanie of, lest they believe she was actually entertaining it. She would never. Book carrying leads to carnal embrace, and she would never do that. Especially with Stephanie Lauter. So, a lie was the best option. Sinning. Mr Chasity set down his newspaper and smiled, trying to mask the confusion he couldn’t deny.“Are you sure, honey? You know breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”“I’m sure, Daddy.” She scrambled to find the words as she picked up her bag and turned her attention to the front door. The chilly air of the outside hit her face. She hadn’t even processed that she had left the house. Oh well. Bag slung over her shoulder, Grace Chasity began her journey to school twenty minutes earlier than she intended.