Veni, Vidi, Vici

Grace fiddled at the corners of her text book, slowly enhancing the dog eared curls of each page’s edge. It was meant to be a distraction, but it proved to be of no use against the impatient flutter in her stomach. Although what Marc had done did change a lot of how she felt towards him, there was still an impending sense of excitement upon seeing the boy, still anticipation to see what he would do.

“Boo.” Grace jerked her head up at the sudden whisper and found her staring into the eyes of the one and only Marc Winston. They were a greyish green up close, kind and smiling; different to how he usually acted around the rest of society.

Grace couldn’t help but smile in return as he sat down in the adjacent seat, his eyes never leaving hers.

“This feels kinda weird, sitting here, everything looks so much better. You have a great view, outside and at the board, and there’s a lot more light, seriously, it even smells better.” Marc mused, sniffing the air with a deep frown engraved in his face.

Grace laughed at his serious expression, but her smile instantly fades when she caught the eye of a girl sitting five seats across from her, Grace recognized her as the one who usually sat next to Marc in the class, her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. Grace instantly averted her gaze and bit her bottom lip anxiously focusing on her hands that were entwined on the cold wooden desk. Marc noticed her sudden change in behavior and turned around, searching for the source of her discomfort. He instantly saw Keira, a petite girl with dark skin, high, pointy nose and electric blue hair. He smiled at her cheerfully and gestured with a nod of his head to Grace, then gave her his best puppy-dog eyes, eyes wide opened, eyebrows drooping and lips twisted in an exaggerated frown. Keira laughed and shook her head - more to herself, then him – and returned her gaze to the teacher marking the class roll, a small smirk lingering on her lips.

Marc focused his attention back on Grace, the same smile still on his face.

“Keira won’t bite. She’s actually like the only genuine friend I have who’s a chic, oh, apart from you of course.”

Grace tried to look relieved for Marc’s benefit, but the fact that Keira was Marc’s ‘only genuine friends who’s a chic’ made her even more intimidated by the strangely beautiful girl who could only be described as ‘ridiculously cool’. Part of it may just have been slight jealousy at Keira’s easy, carefree relationship with Marc, and her bold confidence. Yet Grace was partly comforted by the fact that he’d chosen to sit by her side, even if it were for one day, what they’d gone through during the weekend wasn’t exactly easy to ignore, and acknowledging her presence showed that he still remembered, and cared. So throughout the lesson, they’d sat only a few feet apart, with Marc every so and then making witty remarks about Mrs Rossini’s teaching or her ‘huge ass’, and Grace trying to stifle her laughter at his humorous commentary, or good naturedly reprimanding him on his insults.
When class ended, she walked out without saying goodbye, just a small smile, a lift in the corner of her mouths, was a more than sufficient farewell.

Marc exited the class last, dawdling and ever so slowly packing up his things. He sauntered out the door, eyes unfocused and expression vague, thinking about nonsense like how many sheep there were in New Zealand or why people enjoyed eating mouldy cheese, and the topic that occurred most during his train of thoughts- Grace Lennon. She had that effect on him, bring his head into the clouds.

“Oi, bitch!” a loud voice snapped, accompanied by a hard whack on the upside of his head.

“What the fuck!” he squealed, voice going a lot higher than it probably should. Marc turned around with his eyes narrowed, nursing his head in his hands.

It was Keira, with arms crossed tight across her chest and legs apart, grounded in a commanding stance. Her head was held high, like a worldly queen, which contrasted boldly with her mesmerizing cobalt hair.

“Who’s you’re lady friend?” she asked, her expression hardened and a single eyebrow rose into the sea of blue.

“Um... Grace, we met... a couple of weeks ago?” He mumbled, eyes on the ground and thumbs twiddling nervously in their own war. Keira kinda frightened him, she was commanding, confident and powerful in a way Marc wasn’t use to with most women.

“Grace, that’s a pretty name, pretty girl as well, but cut the crap, you know what I’m getting at, don’t you Marc.”

Marc sighed, Keira was sharply perceptive. He often wondered if she could read minds, he’d even resulted to a frantic repetition of ‘stop reading my mind bitch!’ in his head every time they talked in order to block out her psychic powers.

“She’s different.”

“Oh I’m sorry, have we just entered into a portal of romantic chick flick land? You’re no Prince Charming, Marc, and she sure as hell ain’t your Cinderella.”

“Look, things are different with Grace, she isn’t like all the other girls I’ve-“

“You mean like those sluts who don’t know the meaning of STD?”

“What? No! Geez Keira, be a little nice why don’t you.” Keira pursed her lip, but stayed silent.

“Ok, Grace. Grace.” Marc released the air in his lungs in a loud exasperated huff.

“Look, here Keira, Grace isn’t someone I’m into, err... sexually. She isn’t someone I wanna date, I don’t do dating remember? Grace is just a friend. She’s...she’s like a sister to me.” Marc knew that what he said was true, well, maybe like 0.5 percent of it at least. He didn’t have any siblings, so maybe what he felt for Grace was actually brotherly/sisterly? He didn’t exactly know, or wanted to, really. Thinking about his relationship with Grace was like writing a ten foot long essay on the life cycle of a naked mole rat.

“Marc Winston, you better believe that the shit comin’ outta your mouth is true, Grace is a good girl, if you affect her in any way with your skulduggery, you won’t even know what’d hit you.”

Marc’s guts tightened with instant genuine fear, Keira looked like she could kill someone, with dark, dark eyes swirling like a deadly hurricane and jaws set like concrete, she was undefeatable. It was probably time to retreat, so he slowly backed off with an exaggerated pained smile. “stop reading my mind bitch, stop reading my mind bitch, stop reading...”. Keira only laughed -a change in expression quicker than the blink of an eye- blew him a kiss and bounded off in the opposite direction.