Chapter Text
Stacey Marsh was in love with Grace Harrison. It was as simple as that and she knew it. Ever since the fourth grade, she had felt something strange. It just took a while till she knew what it was: love.
The first time these feelings began to take shape, she noticed, was in the seventh grade. The two had never talked since the fourth grade when Grace had stood up to her. However, Stacey always found herself drawn to the other girl despite never being in any classes with her. They never spoke, not a lot anyway until one day.
Stacey had walked into the school that day, it was already halfway through the year. She had sat in her advisory and waited for her first period to come around. After elementary school, she and her main group of friends weren’t in the same classes. The group had still hung out but shared few to no classes. She had made new friends, they weren’t the best but they were friends.
Stacey sat in the uncomfortable class chair and rested her face in her hands. Her black hair fell over her eyes so even if she wanted to open them, she’d see nothing. Her friends would constantly comment how her hair was unkempt, somewhat knotted, and obviously greasy. Not to mention her dandruff. What could she say? The head and shoulders shit didn’t work on her. It was technically clean and that was all that she cared about. She hummed very quietly and waited for the school bell to cover the noise coming from her throat. Her eyes were shut and she just had to make it through the day.
“Hey there everybody,” A voice broke Stacey out of her trance. It was familiar to one she had heard but not until she looked up when she could place it. In the front of the class stood a very familiar blonde girl. She had piercing blue eyes and blonde hair that shined. She wore a blue jacket and was holding a few flashcards. It was Grace, Grace Harrison. The girl stood with another girl and boy which Stacey hadn’t recognized, the group of them holding cards. They were apparently there to give a small presentation. It was for some fundraiser that the school was hosting but she didn’t pay attention, she never did. Her gaze locked on Stacey, the girl giving her presentation with a passion that showed how important it was to her.
Grace didn’t look at Stacey, not for more than a second anyway. But that never stopped Stacey from looking at her. Did she care what the fundraiser was for? No, not at all. But the way that Grace explained it and how the words flowed out of her mouth was enough to make her listen. Each word that came out was music to Stacey’s ears. It didn’t matter that what she said was scripted, the way she said it made her stomach churn.
Yep, that definitely was not normal. Stacey tore her gaze away from the projector and its presentation. She laid face down on the desk and hoped to god it would be over soon.
“I’m sick, I must be sick.” She repeated to herself in her head. Why else would she feel like this? She had to have caught some stomach flu. It wasn’t completely out of the question, her friend Kendra was sick just a few days ago. She probably caught it and it stayed dormant in her body till now. She squeezed her eyes closed, she knew that these stupid presentations were long but now it just dragged on and she couldn’t take it. Just shut up Grace, have that other kid talk, just stop, stop, stop-
“Miss Marsh.” The teacher grabbed her shoulder and Stacey’s head shot up. She made eye contact with the teacher before craning her head to see Grace staring right at her. A pit developed within her stomach and she forced herself to look at the teacher.
“Yes…?”
“Since you seem so interested in this fundraiser, why don’t you volunteer?” The teacher said, obviously sarcastic.
“Wha-” The teacher cut Stacey off. His eyes were narrowed and she was clearly pissy.
“Since you decided to be disrespectful to these students who took time out of their day to present to us, you should volunteer. After all, you need your service hours, don’t you?”
“Yeah but-” Stacey got cut off again.
“You will be volunteering. If you paid attention, you’d know the hours.” The teacher glared before looking over to Grace and the other presenters. “Keep going, please.”
After a few seconds of silence, the boy began to speak. The presentation was pretty much over and Stacey hadn’t caught any of it. The bell rang, signaling that the first period would begin in a few minutes. She hoped the teacher wouldn’t hold her up to that volunteering, but he was right. She needed community service hours and it would seem sketchy if she kept claiming to ‘help out’ at the old folks home. Ever since her new principal came in, they were adamant about making sure students did their service hours. They wanted them to be ‘active in their community’, whatever that meant.
Stacey stood up, shrugging her small black backpack on. The keychains on it jingled slightly. She made her way out the door when a voice piped up behind her.
“Hey!’ The feminine voice called. Stacey turned to see Grace, smiling at her softly. The two hadn’t talked in years and their last interaction wasn’t… friendly to say the least. It felt weird that the other girl had greeted her with such warmness.
“Uh, hi.” She replied, clearly confused about why Grace would interact with her.
“Look, I doubt you want to actually help volunteer but it would mean a lot if you helped out. It’s a good way to get your community service hours in. Just volunteering for one day can fulfill the whole semester's requirements.” Grace said. “Besides, it’s for a good cause.”
“What’s the cause?” Stacey cringed at her own words. It was painfully obvious how little she paid attention to the presentation. Grace exhaled, a small laugh was heard from her voice as she made eye contact with Stacey.
“Well, for some reason, there’s been an influx of animals in the shelter lately. They don’t have lots of toys and the shelters are also struggling with food for them.” She explained. “We’ll be volunteering at the shelter sometimes and donating what we can.”
Stacey nodded. She had always liked animals so even without Grace talking to her about it, this fundraiser had some sort of an appeal to it.
“I mean, you have a dog, don’t you? Well, you did…” Grace trails off. It was a surprise that Grace remembered that she only mentioned Sparky once when the two of them were friends.
“Yeah, I still have Sparky.” Stacey nods and smiles nervously. For some reason, Grace remembering that detail about her made her stomach do flips. The blonde nodded with a smile on her face.
“Cool,” Grace said. Students passed by, trying to make their way to their first class. Stacey’s next class was nearby, less than a two-minute walk from her advisory. Even so, she didn’t care if she was late. “Well, I’m going to class so if you want to volunteer, just talk to me.” Grace nodded before walking off. Stacey kept her gaze on Grace, even the way she walked just screamed how perfect she was. Her posture was straight and her bag was neat, perfectly zipped unlike Stacey’s. Stacey watched the blonde turn the corner before heading to her first period.
“Yo, earth to Stace.” Kylie waved her hand in front of her face. Stacey looked at her with a puzzled expression, wanting to know what she wanted. She, Kylie, Kendra, and Erica were sitting at a table eating their lunches. Kylie and Stacey both got school meals while Erica was eating something homemade. Kendra was stealing off their plates and they pretended not to notice. “Dude, you’ve been out of it all day. Is something going on at home or are you just in one of your moods?”
“I was just thinking.”
“Oh no.” Erica pipes in with a grin. Kylie looks over to her and hisses “Shut up, fatass.” She returned her gaze to her best friend.”About what?”
“Well, there was this presentation in my advisory…”
“The animal shelter one? You paid attention to it?” The redhead asks and scowls when she hears Erica mutter ‘lame’.
“Well no, but it got me thinking. I need to get my service hours in so…”
“Oh god, are you seriously going to do that hippie bullshit? Just lie. I do it all the time.” Erica sits back on the bench and continues eating her sandwich.
“We can tell.” Kylie glares at her. “No one genuinely believes you can be a decent person.”
“Oh fuck off, Kahlie. You act like you’re any better.” She sneered. The two girls began to bicker like always which only made Stacey zone out more. She stared out at the other tables when she caught a glimpse of a certain blonde. She was walking with Mary and Henry. Stacey was somewhat aware of the other two as they both had at one point been with their group. Mary, an ex-homeschooled kid, fought with Kylie. Henry, a nice guy, had dated Erica for a portion of their elementary school years but left her. She never thought they’d be friends with Grace but who wouldn’t? The trio seemed to be engaged in a nice conversation, something Stacey rarely got in her group. Her eyes followed them as they traversed through the halls. She never felt so compelled to just watch someone but here she was. That’s when she made her choice
The last bell rang and the students filed out of the classroom. Stacey looked around the crowd and the other students from different classes, scanning for a certain girl. Her eyes lock on one of the advanced classrooms where Grace exits. She’s walking alone and is holding a few books in her arms. Gathering her courage, Stacey took a deep breath before catching up to her.
“Hey, Grace.” She called out from a few feet behind her. Grace quickly turned and her eyes widened a bit at seeing Stacey. She clearly wasn’t expecting this.
“Oh? Hi Stacey.” She smiles softly. She moves her arms around, balancing the books. However, one of them almost falls before Stacey grabs it. She takes the book and places it on top of the others so it won’t fall. It was some novel she had never read before, it seemed too long for her anyway. She looks up at the blonde, their blue eyes meeting. After a second, she tore her gaze away from Grace’s. Stacey could feel her face heat up. “Oh, thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah…” She gulped and stood up straight, cracking her back. She couldn’t help but cringe and hoped Grace didn’t hear that. “So, about volunteering… uhm… when are the hours?” Stacey noticed the shock present on Grace’s face before it got replaced with a warm grin.
“Oh. Well, we are doing it every afternoon this week if you want to join.”
“Okay… I'll probably volunteer tomorrow. I’m… busy today.” She lied, scratching the back of her neck. She wasn’t ready to spend time with Grace, it would be awkward. After all, when someone tells you that you have ‘growing up to do’, it’s hard to be near them for more than three conversations.
“Well, I’m glad you’re considering it.” Grace smiles before turning away. “I have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Stacey nodded “Tomorrow.” Grace looked at her one more time, as if to take in this was real, before walking down the hall and out of sight.
Stacey slumped down on her bed, her back resting on the headboard. She finished the homework and she had the stamina for which was never a lot. The homework she decided to give up sat on her desk next to a dirty plate and cup. She would deal with it later though, she always said she would. Her eyes shut as she thought of the day ahead of her. Why did she agree to do it? Could she just flake out? It would be super fucking awkward either way and she wasn’t ready for that. Grace was expecting her to be there, if she let her down again she’d just be an asshole. Plain and simple. She would just have to suck it up and do it. It couldn’t be so bad. She closed her eyes and tried to relax to no avail. Tomorrow is just another day, she kept reminding herself.
The next morning eventually rolled around. Stacey woke up but remained in her bed for at least five minutes after. She couldn’t be bothered to immediately start her day like some other people. She reluctantly sat up eventually and rubbed her eyes, a soft glow of the sun peeking through her window. She got up and slowly went to her dresser. She slipped out of her pajamas and put on a teeshirt. It was a bit big and fell a few inches past her hips. She dressed herself in the same pair of pants she wore the day before, not caring if it would be considered unhygienic. She ran a brush through her hair for about a minute, not even minding if the knots actually got out. Stacey went to her desk, put the remaining homework left on her desk in the bag, and left. She went outside and made her way to the bus stop. For a while, she lived on a farm with her dad but eventually, the business went bankrupt and she had to move back. That was more than fine with Stacey.
The bus arrived and she and her friends boarded. She sat next to Kylie and stared out the window. She took in the scenery that she would watch every day. But her mind decided to betray her and her thoughts slowly began to circle back to Grace. For some reason, that girl had a grip on Stacey and no matter how hard she tried, Stacey couldn’t stop thinking of her. As she sat in the bus her thoughts went to things like ‘Why doesn’t Grace ride the bus?’, ‘What is Grace up to?’ and ‘Why the hell am I thinking of Grace?’ Stacey’s face went so red that Kylie noticed and glanced over at her.
“Dude, what’s up with you? Are you sick or something?”
“No- I mean, I don’t think so?” Stacey blushed even further.
“You’re red, Stace. Like, more than normal.” Kylie comments. Her face gets closer to Stacey’s as if she was a doctor inspecting her patient.
“It’s just cold.” That was her go-to excuse. Kylie stared at her for a solid ten seconds before leaning back, deciding that she didn’t even care anymore. The two of them sat in silence, well as silent as a middle school bus could get.
The rest of the day trudged on by. Each class seemed longer than the rest and Stacey could barely take it. To her, it shouldn’t be possible for a day to be that long. She stepped out of her final period and looked around the hall. She spotted Grace walking out of the same class from the other day. It was now for her to decide if she did want to help. She could just walk away and say she was busy if Grace ever asked which was already rare enough as is. She could just leave, go home, play some video games, and completely forget about this. She watched Grace walk down the halls and she made her choice.
“Hey, Grace.” Stacey greeted, catching up with the other girl. Grace turned her head and realized it was Stacey. A soft smile grew on her face as they walked side by side.
“Oh, hey there Stacey.” She walked and turned to face ahead of her. “So, you wanna help volunteer?”
“Uhm, yeah.” She said, trying to hide her obvious nervousness. “I don’t know where to go so… I’ll just follow you?”
“Alright.” Grace nods and keeps walking. The two make it out of the school and Grace stops at the parking lot. A lot of other students are being picked up so it confuses Stacey why they are stopped.
“Aren’t we just going to walk to the shelter or..?”
“Oh, no.” Grace shakes her head while smiling. “My parents can pick us up and drive us.” Stacey froze up at the idea of this. Her parents? Chances are that the Harrisons hate her for being a dick to them when she was younger and now she has to get in a car with them? It was a recipe for disaster for Stacey. However, she couldn’t voice that to Grace. The blonde stood and waited with a smile on her face, Stacey would feel shitty if she ruined that. No going back now after all.
The Harrisons blue van pulled up in the parking lot and Grace walked over, beckoning Stacey to come with her. Stacey followed very reluctantly, trying to hype herself up for it. The door to the backseat opened and Grace slipped into the car first, Stacey following. She stayed silent while the Harrisons greeted her with big smiles. It was like they didn’t even care about what happened a few years prior.
“Hey Stacey, are you volunteering at the animal shelter too?” Mrs. Harrison asked.
“Yeah… I need community service.” She answered as she tried her best to seem polite. The Harrisons seemed to take the hint that she felt awkward and made small talk amongst themselves, Grace telling them about her day. Stacey glanced out the window and would speak only when spoken to. Thankfully, that wasn’t a lot. She learned from that car ride alone that the Harrisons talked a lot.
After a ten-minute or so drive, they arrive at the shelter. The car parks and the doors open, Stacey being first to exit. Before the two girls enter the shelter, Mr. Harrison asks Stacey if she needs a ride home but she declines. She could not sit through another one of those today. She thanks them for the ride and the girls enter the shelter.
It smells like you would expect it, the smell of fur flooded her nose. She followed Grace to the front desk and zoned out as the two talked. She eventually paid attention to the sound of her name.
“And Stacey here will help. I can show her what to do.” Grace told the man at the front desk who nodded. Grace’s hand wrapped around Stacey’s arm and pulled her along to where the dogs were. Stacey tried so hard to not focus on what Grace was doing. She followed her and they made their way to where the food was.
“We are going to feed the dogs, okay? If you want, you can play with them.” Grace explained to which she nodded. Grace began to prepare the food while Stacey looked over and observed the dogs there. There were a lot of mutts but they were so cute. She wanted nothing more than to gush about them and take them all home but knew she couldn’t. She felt sad that these poor pups didn’t have an actual home. She looked back at Grace and attempted to help with filling the dog bowls. Once they had enough filled, they began to feed the dogs by putting the food in their little fenced-off areas. Once all the dogs were provided food, Stacey began to play with one of them.
She sat with the last dog they dropped off food to and pet him as he ate. It looked to be a golden retriever mixed with something but she wasn’t aware of what. She kept petting him. The dog eventually finished its food and jumped on her, licking her face. She didn’t care that she was getting his fur all over her clothes. She continued to pet the dog when she looked over at the sound of laughing.
She saw Grace standing there, a hand somewhat covering her mouth as she giggled. She stood at the door of the crated area and laughed softly at the sight. Her laugh was melodic, it perfectly itched Stacey’s brain. Stacey watched as Grace laughed with her eyes shut, not aware of the blush she had caused on the black-haired girl’s face. Stacey attempted to distract herself by continuing to play with the dog but it was to no avail. Grace continued laughing but eventually left to clean up the dog bowls. Stacey sat with the dog who was now curling up next to her. She pets the hound one last time before getting up and leaving. She walked out to see Grace at the end of the hall. The blonde notices her and smirks. Stacey can’t help but note the way Grace’s wavy blonde hair perfectly frames her face.
“Have fun?” She asks as Stacey walks over to her.
“Yeah. I like dogs…” Stacey trails off and Grace looks at her.
“I know. I just, no offense, didn’t think you would actually volunteer.”
“I’m just full of surprises.” Grace chuckles at Stacey’s words. The two look at each other and Grace walks away to do other things to help out, Stacey continues to follow her.
As she trails behind Grace, trying to help but not really, she finally breaks the silence. “Hey, I’m sorry.” Grace continues walking, the apology not seeming to faze her.
“For what?” She asks while cleaning up some dog toys off the floor.
“For being a dick to you. Back in fourth grade and probably now.” Stacey admits. She knows that the other deserves an apology and that she wasn’t the nicest to her.
“That was fourth grade, trust me, it’s okay,” Grace says, sounding completely unaffected by anything.
“Well, I’m sorry about now.” This catches Grace’s attention. She turns to face Stacey who is playing with the hem of her teeshirt. Stacey is gazing at the dog crate, trying to focus on the animal than the girl that was in front of her.
“Sorry? For what? You haven’t been a jerk.”
“I haven’t?” Stacey looks at her for a brief moment with a look of confusion before gazing away again.
“Not any more than anyone else in this town.” Grace shrugs. She doesn’t see why Stacey would apologize for seeming like a jerk. Sure, she had been a bit aloof but she wasn’t outright rude to her. Grace blinks and looks at Stacey, the other girl avoiding eye contact completely.
“You sure?” Stacey asks and Grace nods. She gives her a reassuring smile and the two go back to working in silence.
An hour or so passes by, Grace doing a lot of the work with Stacey trying to help. She didn’t know how the shelter worked specifically but she attempted to assist Grace, despite the fact she would rather play with the cute dogs. Eventually, it’s the end of their volunteering time and the two of them exit the shelter. The sun was already setting and Grace waited for her parents to arrive. The van eventually pulled in and she walked over to it. Before she got in, she turned back to look at Stacey. Stacey’s gaze met hers and they just stood in silence for a moment.
“Not that it matters but I forgive you.” She states with a smirk before getting into her car. She watches as the door closes and she can faintly see the outline of Grace in the car window. Stacey stood, frozen, as the Harrisons' car pulled out and drove away. She stood there, outside in the cold, completely shocked. That’s when it finally dawned on her.
She was in love with Grace Harrison.