A big question.

After that, we both remained quiet for a long, but comfortable moment. We hadn’t run out of things to talk about, nor were we tired enough to want this to end. No, it was simply a nice, natural moment of silence. I enjoyed how Grace’s naked body cuddled against mine and the soft sound of her breathing. I was able to retreat to my headspace for a moment, and in doing so I remembered something important. I remembered that there was a question I wanted to ask Grace.

Should I, though? I didn’t want to kill the mood. I’d run that risk already and Grace saved it by being awesome. But… I also didn’t want the day to end without me asking. I wanted to know.

…

Well. Here goes nothing.

“Grace?”

“Hm?”

“I… need to ask you something important.”

“Ask away,” she said easily.

“Can you… tell me where all the rumors about you come from?” I turned my head to look at her.

She had closed her eyes, deep in thought. Then, she opened them and gave me a wry smile. “This is as good a time as any, I guess. Just… don’t go spreading this around, okay? Not even to Thomas.”

“I promise.”

Grace took in a deep breath, let it out, and while still snuggling close to me, she started.

“There are lots of things being said about me, most of which is baseless trash spread by people who don’t like me. A small part of those people have good reasons to not like me, however. You’ve probably heard I **** people, right? Well… It’s true.”

I kept looking at her, expression neutral.

“Not gonna comment on that?” she asked me.

“Are you done?”

“No.”

“Then I won’t.”

She smiled, then continued. “I told you Sarah, Mila and I have known each other for seven years. Well, we weren’t always a group of three. We used to be four.”

…I didn’t like where this was going.

“We had a fourth friend whose name shall remain a mystery. Her parents know ours, too, and we hung out a lot. Then we all entered Hyougen High. It was going to be great. But then this friend got involved with a couple of assholes. Human trash, really.” Grace frowned, and though her tone remained calm and casual, I could feel the venom in her words. She sighed. “Before you get any ideas, this girl is doing fine now. But she was… abused.”

My heart went cold. “Please don’t tell me they…”

Grace shook her head. “Not that far, but… almost. It took her a while to finally tell us. She didn’t want to tell the teachers because she didn’t want word to get around. She was ashamed and afraid. And so…” Grace sighed. “I took matters into my own hands. I talked to people and found some dirt on these guys. Entitled rich brats, the two of them. Followed them, caught them on video committing a few felonies. Driving while drunk, not to mention being underage, vandalism, use of ****… Sent them an email with the videos, confronted them face to face, hung the evidence over their heads, told them to leave my friend the fuck alone or I’d show the evidence to everyone. Imagine seeing the video of the son of a known TV actress taking a big swig of expensive booze before hopping into a car and driving off, or seeing the son of an influential politician doing lines of coke at a party with his friends, not to mention the rumors of things I hadn’t found evidence for but had testimonies from witnesses.”

“…That was dangerous,” I said. Smart comment, I know. But hearing her say she confronted them made me… fearful.

Grace nodded. “But not as much as you’d think. If these guys had nothing to lose, this wouldn’t have worked. I did my homework, though. I knew what I was doing. Do you think they lived that life with their hard earned cash? No. They were using mommy’s and daddy’s money. Let them find out and they’d be in more trouble for staining their family’s reputation than with the law for committing those felonies. The law barely punishes 15 year olds. It’s a complex process, and with influential parents like those, it’d be easier to go free. No, I made it clear that I’d have their parents and the internet know first.”

Well, at least she’d thought it through. “Did it work?”

She nodded again. “But it wasn’t perfect. They left my friend alone, yeah, but now they wanted **** on me. It escalated from there. They sent people to threaten me, so I fought back by finding out stuff about those people. Eventually I started extorting them for money and used that to pay others to find stuff for me since I couldn’t do it myself anymore. In these three years, I’ve built a wide network in school.”

“And you trust these people in your network?”

“Enough. I keep their identities secret, they earn some nice pocket money, and a good few of them find the spy work thrilling. Helps that if they try something against me I can just rat them out to the people they themselves ratted out. The system works”

There was no pride in Grace’s voice. Only plainly stated facts.

Things were starting to make sense. The reason Grace’s blackmailing was a rumor was because no one would outright confirm it, not even the victims. And of course they didn’t. Doing so would prompt the question ‘what are they being blackmailed with?’, and Grace would just reveal everything.

“Are Mila and Sarah in this with you?” I asked her.

She tapped my nose. “I said I wouldn’t reveal other people’s secrets. Whether they are or not, you’ll have to ask them.” Was that confirmation? It felt like confirmation. If they weren’t in on the thing, Grace would’ve had no problems telling me. Still, I saw her point. “So there you have it. I have my own crap I’ve had to deal with, and I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but it keeps the people I care about safe. Feel like staying away from me now?”

I shook my head. “Now I’m worried about you.”

Grace smiled, cupped my cheek and kissed me. “You’re the sweetest. But you don’t need to worry so much. This whole deal slowed down by the end of sophomore year. I still have my network, but only for emergencies.”

“What about the guys who… abused your friend?”

“Turns out a life of crime and debauchery doesn’t escape a watchful parent’s eye. They found out and set those dumbasses straight. Still assholes, just less dangerous.”

“…And your friend?”

Grace sighed. “Still talk to her sometimes. Never in public. It wouldn’t do for her to hang out with a dangerous girl like me. She has an image to keep now. The biggest issue is that I think she’s still ashamed and feels responsible for what I ended up doing. I’ve told her it’s fine, but she won’t have it. We… We’ve naturally drifted apart. Not in bad terms in the slightest. Still friends. We just don’t hang out anymore.”

“I see. Sorry for bringing it up, but thank you for telling me.”

“I’d been meaning to. I don’t want you to think I’m a bully. Well… Maybe I am by definition, but I had my reasons. Do you believe me?”

I nodded. “I choose to believe it.” That, and my sixth sense kept telling me Grace had been nothing but honest the entire time.

She smiled at me, and I saw her clear green eyes glitter with the threat of tears. She rubbed her eyes and then climbed on top of me. “I’m up for a couple of final rounds if my story didn’t kill your mood again.”

I chuckled. I put my hand on the back of her neck and pulled her to me, giving her a slow, but passionate and wet kiss. Like the ones we liked.

Our remaining time in the room flew by in the best of ways.

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