Grace's POV

There were a lot of whispers and murmurs behind my back.

Not just for a little while, no. They kept on going for the whole day. Thankfully, nobody stopped me to ask why I had left for those two years. Though I'm sure they were all passing me looks as if they wanted to know so bad.

Alice, on the other hand, didn't seem to care about the number of stares I was getting her in between. She seemed unfazed and that made me feel even more confused about this girl. Why wasn't she bothered by this?

Perhaps she really wanted to be my friend. Which (again) was totally confusing.

"We've got Literature together." She spoke up excitedly as her gaze moved from my schedule to hers. "And that's it actually. We've only got Literature together."

"You do realize that people are staring, right?" I asked her in a low voice. The cafeteria was pretty much filled up with students and their chatter, both.

"Yeah. So?" She asked, looking up at me.

I looked at her with bewilderment. But before I could've opened my mouth to state the obvious to her, somebody interrupted me, "Grace!"

I turned around to see a pinkish-blonde-haired girl coming towards me. For a second, it felt hard to recognize her. But then I saw her heels and I remembered only one person I knew who could actually run in heels.

"Grace!" She directed a big smile at me. "Oh my God, how are you?"

I couldn't help but notice the way she spoke so loudly, as if doing just that might gain everybody's attention. On purpose. My eyes slowly moved from her towards the people around us. Some were indeed giving us curious glances.

"I'm...good," I replied quietly.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You do remember me, don't you?"

"Of course," I said in a voice just above a whisper, then added a bit belatedly, "Natalie."

The smile came back on her face and she happily sat down in front of me, beside a surprised-looking Alice. "So, how was Manhattan?"

I chose not to reply to her. Instead, I trained my gaze on my lap. She didn't seem to get the hint that I wasn't planning on answering any of her questions as she continued, "I heard The Fashion Gala happened there weeks ago. Did you go there? You must've taken pictures."

I looked at her in disbelief but still didn't say anything. How was I supposed to tell her what I was doing back there in Manhattan? How was I supposed to tell her that I hadn't had a single, not even single, nice day back there? Living there had been torturous. So fucking bad that I wished I could...somehow go back in time and stop my mother from making irrational decisions. Stop her from urging us to move to Manhattan.

"Hey. I'm Alice." Alice spoke up when it became clear to her that I wouldn't be replying anytime soon. I didn't know her much--Alice--but I was slowly getting aware of how good she was at breaking awkward silences.

Natalie looked over at her and passed her a smile, more genuine than the one she'd been giving me. Then I saw her eyes raking over Alice's outfit. "Hey, you're a new kid. And you've got a great outfit there."

Alice smiled, flustered. "Thanks."

"No, I mean you should audition for the cheerleading tryouts next week." Her expression fell into a more serious one. "I'm sure you'll make it."

Alice looked surprised. Before she could've said something, Natalie looked back at me, "Grace here used to love doing cheerleading too. Sadly, she forgot to audition for the tryouts in freshman year."

I decided correcting her on it would be foolish. I never really loved cheerleading.

"And then she went away. Disappeared, more like. One second you knew Grace, and the next it was like she never even existed." Natalie let out a hearty laugh. "You could audition for the tryouts this time, Gracie."

I almost flinched at that name. It had been so long since anybody called me that.

"But I guess..." She trailed off as her gaze trailed me up and down. "...you'll need a little preparation for that."

There it was: pity.

"I think Grace would be great." Alice interrupted.

Natalie, on the other hand, ignored Alice. Instead, her gaze didn't leave me. "Why did you leave, Grace?"

Everyone did quiet down at that, or maybe that was just my imagination. My heart started beating a little too loudly. "I need to use the restroom." I was glad that my voice came out much firmer than I had expected.

Natalie ignored again, her gaze seeming like it was piercing me now. "You know how everyone kept on saying 'Grace. Grace' the first few months after you left?"

Alice looked at her curiously. And for a tiny second, I thought that Natalie knew. That she knew everything.

But she didn't. She couldn't.

"I'm sorry that I can't answer your questions." I looked away from her, getting up from the table.

"Nobody really cared that you left." She continued. "Except him. Lucius."

I grimaced. Alice perked up at that name.

"But that was then." Natalie gave out another laugh. "I don't know about now."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked her with a frown. For God's sake, why was she even interested in something that didn't even concern her?

Natalie looked at her this time, a smile playing on her lips. "He's changed a lot."

And I didn't need her words to remind me of that. Because I knew it already. Deep down, I just knew. Luca had changed.

And so had everything else.

•••

fun fact: i can run in heels too ;)