Intermission - Grace puts a stop to it.

Grace still remembered a conversation from high school. When Grace told them she was thinking of going into engineering in university, Thomas commented that it was a male-dominated area and it could make things difficult. Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong.

In her classes, there was a grand total of three other girls aside from her. It probably wasn’t a surprise, then, that the girls decided to stick together. Or in Grace’s case, the girls ended up gravitating to her the day of the entrance ceremony.

“Ugh, it’s just the first week and they’re already giving us assignments?” Maya complained. A short, outgoing girl who’d been the first one to approach Grace that first day.

“And two thousand words? What a drag…” Piper said, so far apparently the laziest of the bunch.

“It’s just a quick fact-check due next week, don’t overreact,” Grace told them, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. It was finally lunch time and Oliver had made them some salad wraps that she’d been looking forward to. Not only was he getting better at cooking, he was getting more creative.

“I agree, but two thousand words is too much for how little they’re asking. We’re gonna have to pad our essays with a lot of nothing,” Romina said before stretching and rotating her shoulders.

Out of Grace’s three new acquaintances, Romina seemed to be the most level headed and studious. She didn’t just take notes, she practically wrote an entire transcript of the class with her tablet and a wireless keyboard. Grace found it unnecessary and too much extra work, but to each their own.

“That’s true,” Grace agreed. “I’ve never liked word-count requirements.”

The group was getting ready to head to the cafeteria. The day was surprisingly warm, so eating at the tables outside sounded like a good idea. They’d have to get there quickly to grab one, though.

Problem was that, was they walked out of the classroom, someone called out to Grace.

“Hey, Grace? Can we talk for a moment?”

Grace closed her eyes and took a silent, deep breath. Her friends looked at her.

“Go, I’ll meet you there.”

They nodded and began to walk away, but Grace still managed to hear Piper mutter, “I kind of want to watch this, though…”

The two others agreed, the busybodies.

Grace turned around to see Patrick, or just Pat for short. He’d been quiet lately, so Grace had gotten her hopes up, but apparently he had something in mind.

“What do you need, Patrick?” Grace’s tone betrayed no venom, annoyance or discomfort. It was with practiced ease that she was able to put up an amiable front even when she would rather say other things.

“I got you something,” he said with a bright, yet nervous smile. He pulled a small, velvety box out of his pocket and presented it to Grace. “Please, Grace. Just one chance. It doesn’t even have to be a date. Let’s just… hang out this Saturday."

Grace couldn’t hold back her sigh. She put two fingers over the little box and gently pushed it back towards him.

Patrick was a short man, just slightly taller than Oliver, really. Skinny, blonde hair, cute face, almost like a K-pop idol. Eager, if apparently misguided eagerness.

Like Sarah, Grace had a guy who’d been trying to court her despite her telling him she had a boyfriend. Also like Sarah’s problem, this guy kept trying by sticking to the mentality that ‘it’s only over when you stop trying,’ though his approach was a bit more… gentle.

She could’ve called Oliver to help her get this over with, like Sarah did, but… Grace didn’t want to burden Oliver with this. She was happy that Sarah relied on him, as it showed she’d grown from the girl who’d yell and throw stuff that she was a few years back. Grace, however, had her methods, and if the guy didn’t want to accept a very direct rejection, then he’d just have to accept something harsher.

“Look, Patrick. I said no before, but I’m going to say it another way now. You don’t want to date me.”

His smile faltered, likely at the new rejection, but he kept in in place as he shook his head. “No, I do! Grace, you’re… You’re incredible. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?”

“Because I’m the kind of woman to go through your past social media posts, find out that you’ve had five previous relationships that didn’t end well and made you delete two previous profiles. I’m the kind of woman to DM your exes to ask them about you and learn that you’re a very sweet guy for the first two months before you absolutely stop trying and take your girlfriends for granted. I’m not going to be your mom and wash your clothes and pay for your meals, Patrick. And even if I were to be insane enough to break up with my boyfriend for you, you’d be on the receiving end of wildly unfavorable comparisons for the month that relationship would last. So for the last time, I’m not interested. I tried to be nice, but you didn’t listen.”

Patrick’s smile fell, his eyes wide as plates. His lip quivered and he slowly began to process everything Grace had said. And somehow, all he had to say back was, “You went through my social media? Dating back YEARS?”

“Correct,” Grace said.

“That’s just… disgusting. And so… pathetic!” His face twisted, now showing disgust and a bit of shame.

Grace smiled. “Oh, and I can be so much worse, Patrick.”

“How does your boyfriend even stand you? How does anyone stand you if you’re actually like this? I thought you were nicer!”

“Oh, my man brings out the best in me. Most other people can’t stand me, so you’re on the right track there.” Grace chuckled. “See you around, Patrick.”

With a dismissive wave, Grace turned around and walked away.

No doubt there would be all sorts of rumors about her soon. Patrick would tell people how awful she was, plenty would believe it and spread their own rumors. People would be badmouthing her from now until graduation, if not more.

She didn’t care. It had been the same way in middle school and high school. Only now she had people who she wanted to be her best for, and theirs were the only opinions that really mattered.

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