She was so close to graduation. It was her senior year and she had grown guts, grown more brains and had a ticket out of Langley.

All it took to derail her confidence and shatter the self esteem she had built was a simple partner assignment that their history teacher had paired them up on. It wasn't worth jack shit to their final grade, it was supposed to be extra "fun credit" their earnest history teacher had encouraged. She had clearly run out of course material.

Nethertheless, Grace was an unashamed nerd. She didn't care if the assignment was worth peanuts, if she was given a task to do, she did it as if it was her final exam. And she didn't need Harrison fucking O'Connor to help her with it.

"I'll take this one," she told him haughtily when he sauntered up to her after class. She shoved her books and pencils into her backpack, eager to be out of his presence.

"Naw," he drawled lazily. "I can't have you spreading rumors that I ain't pullin' my weight around here."

"Well, it wouldn't be the worst rumor people have heard about you."

"What rumors have you heard about me, hmm?"

She slapped his hand away when she saw it approaching her head in her peripheral vision.

"I would offer to swap numbers but I made a note of yours on the bathroom wall."

"You're a fucking asshole," she hissed.

He held his hands up, smirking at her anger.

She shouldered past him, cheeks burning in rage.

"I'll text you!" he called after her as she stormed down the hallway, dodging students quickly.

"Honey," her mother knocked on her bedroom door. "Harrison's here, he said you have an assignment due soon that you were supposed to work on."

Grace gaped, mouth moving like a fish when her door opened further to show a grinning Harrison behind her smiling mother.

"Thanks, Mrs Linwood." he smiled warmly at her Mom.

She patted his shoulder and left them alone.

"I did text you," he held his phone up, waving it in the air.

"Did you?" she said dumbly. "Hmm, I thought you were a creeper so I accidentally blocked you. Oops."

"No bothers, I'm here now." he stepped into her room, looking around at her space.

"You're really perpetuating that nerd girl stigma."

She looked around her bedroom and tried to view her personal space from his eyes. There was a massive poster of the solar system that lined one wall. The infamous poster of Albert Einstein hung above her bed, the one where he was sticking his tongue out.

She had a bookcase that was basically vomiting books - textbooks, autobiographies, mysteries, romances and sci-fi literature were scattered all over the place.

She had a single double bed with a deep purple and blue comforter. Her face reddened when she spotted her Darth Vadar soft toy that she habitually placed on her bed when she left her room for the day.

When Harrison strolled over to her microscope to peer into it she jumped up.

"Okay, I never gave you permission to enter my room."

He straightened up and turned to smirk at her. 'Well, I had no choice when you didn't answer my texts, darlin."

"Not your darlin." she mockingly drawled. "And like I told you today in class, I got this, O'Connor."

"Naw, that's not gonna work for me. I know you think I'm a dumb jock-"

"Your words."

"But I always pull my weight in group assignments."

"Impressive. I'm sure God will let you into the pearly gates because you helped out in an assignment that's worth basically zero marks."

Harrison tipped his head back and laughed. "You got jokes, ..."

"As entertaining as this is, I'm actually not working on our thrilling assignment."

"What are you doing?" he asked, throwing himself down onto her bed.

She grabbed his ankles, ignoring the feel of his hard strong flesh under her skin, and pulled them off her bed.

"I'm doing mock quizzes for my college classes."

"Jesus, Grace. You haven't even graduated highschool yet."

"So? I have high expectations for myself and college is nothing like highschool. It doesn't hurt to get ahead of the herd."

"What about having fun? Getting laid?"

"I have my whole life to do that. Unlike you I don't plan on peaking in highschool."

She turned back to her desk and stared down at her paper. Even though he's said way harsher things to her, she still felt a pang of guilt at the bottom of her stomach. It wasn't in her nature to be mean, but if she didn't fight back she would be devoured like prey.

"You think you're so much better than me, don't you?" he sneered.

"No," she whispered. "I know I'm better than you."

She heard him jump up from her bed and storm out of her room.

Good riddance.

"Texted you again but remembered that you blocked me so of course you're at the first place I think to look."

Her brow furrowed in disbelief as Harrison sat down heavily opposite her.

She was in the school library, still not working on their assignment. She wasn't being conceited, but she could smash that out in less than two hours. Since it wasn't important, she was working on other papers.

She looked around in feigned confusion. "May I help you?"

"Look....I know you can get this shit done in thirty minutes, but I wanna help you. When Miss Singh reads our project and sees both our names on there, I want to have earned the right to have it written down."

"I spoke with Bobby Fenwick and he told me that you only contributed the intro to your Junior year science project. It was worth a good chunk of your grade."

Harrison's face reddened and he shrugged. "So I've turned a new leaf."

"Debatable."

"Look," he held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not here to be an asshole to you,"

"That's a change of pace."

"But," he stressed, "I want to help out. Give me a chance."

She looked into his brown eyes and for once they were warm instead of mocking. He was such a handsome boy. She forgot how gorgeous he was sometimes because all her thoughts of him were usually murderous ones. But looking into the familiar eyes that she had known since childhood, her heart softened a smidge.

"Fine," she sighed. "But you are definitely doing more than just the intro. I don't know why Bobby let you get away with that. Entitled prick," she murmured under her breath.

"I heard that, but I will let it slide. Okay, what should we do first?"

And so for the next hour they chatted about their assignment. They picked a topic and chatted about the outline of their essay and any accompanying materials they needed.

She was pleasantly surprised that Harrison was actually quite intelligent and brought some really good ideas to their project. She could almost forget that she despised him. Almost.

She hopped up to use the bathroom and when she came back she saw that he was fiddling with her phone. Fucking amatuer leaving her phone open like that in front of him.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, snatching her phone and going through her social media. "Did you post something? Send a dick pic?"

He rolled his eyes. "You wish."

"What did you do?" she pressed, heart racing.

"Relax," he took his phone out of his bag and started typing something out.

Her phone dinged with a message.

Harrison: See you same time tomorrow?

She blew her breath out in relief. Her heart was still racing as she clutched her phone to her chest.

"Grace?"

She couldn't do this.

For a second there she forgot.

She forgot the cruel taunts, the tears, the embarrassment and the pain. Seeing Harrison messing with her phone brought back the same panic she felt every time she saw him walking towards her in the hall or every time he stood too close to her locker. She was always the punchline to some joke or prank he wanted to play to earn a few chuckles from his friends.

She hurriedly gathered up her books and shoved her phone into the pocket of her jeans. She had to get out of here before she burst into tears.

"Gracie, what's wrong?"

"Don't call me Gracie," she snapped.

Harrison's brow furrowed in confusion, he stood up; holding his hand out to her.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder, turned and hastily strolled out of the library without a word.

"Grace!" he called out.

She was lying in bed re-reading a withered copy of The Count of Monte Cristo when her phone pinged.

Harrison: Still mad at me? :)

She ignored him.

An hour later her phone sounded off again.

Harrison: C'mon. I promise never to touch your phone again :)

She went back to reading.

Harrison: Whatcha doin?

Harrison: Don't be startin that project without me, darlin

Harrison: If you don't answer I'll come over again and tell your Momma that you're being mean to me ;)

Oh, that was rich.

Grace: .

Harrison: Oh funny :P I mean, if you don't say a full sentence to me I'm comin over

Grace: Take a running leap off Clifford Point.

Harrison: Ouch. That's harsh.

"I'll show you harsh," she muttered, burying her nose in her book again.

Harrison: So, same time tomorrow?

Grace: If you insist. Going to sleep now, g'night

Harrison: But it's only 7:30

Grace: That's when nerds go to sleep. Night, night.

She went back to her book, switching her phone to silent.

The next day, Harrison met her at the library, right on time. The sooner they could get this done, the sooner she could go back to ignoring him.

Unfortunately, Harrison had other ideas. He was charming, funny and a really damn good worker. They decided to split their project up equally and work on a different section each, checking in with each other sporadically.

She thought that he would be dead weight but he kept up with her as much as he could, and was not ashamed to ask for help or her opinion if he was stuck on something.

He also surprised her when she groaned aloud and read out a paragraph, asking him if it sounded too long-winded. He gave her advice and with some tweaking, using his words, it came out a lot less clunky, flowing better with the rest of the conclusion.

They bent their heads together and read through their project, correcting sections that didn't work before they had a completed essay in their hands that she was pretty fucking happy with. It may not be an important assignment, even not that interesting, but for reasons that she did not wish to explore, it had been the most fun.

Harrison held his hand up for a high five which she grinned and enthusiastically returned.

"Well done, partner."

"Not so bad yourself."

"You wanna get tacos?"

And just like that her mood dropped at his sudden change of subject.

"Ahh, I gotta get home."

Just because he managed to work with her for a grand total of four hours without being vicious, didn't mean that she was suddenly going to be chummy with him.

Obviously Harrison away from his friends was a different kettle of fish. If his friends were here with him he would be throwing rolled up pieces of paper at her.

"C'mon, my treat."

She gave him a small smile. "No, thanks."

"What, you used my brains and now suddenly you're too good for me?" he joked.

"Do you want to hand this to Miss Singh or should I?"

"Grace."

"I will, then." She slid the papers into the clear plastic pocket and gently placed it into her school bag.

Harrison sighed, sounded dejected. "So we're done, then?"

"Yep!" She swiftly turned and walked away.

They got an A+ in their assignment. Harrison had approached her after class, grinning delightedly. She had stiffly nodded before brushing past him to get to her locker. She didn't understand why Harrison was being so nice to her, but she didn't trust him.

She managed to avoid him for two weeks - it was relatively easy to do considering that they ran in different social circles. If he was lunching in the cafeteria, she took her meal outside, if he was loitering near her locker, she circled back to where she came from.

The only contact that she couldn't avoid was his texts to her phone, which came through daily. One in the morning - a lame joke which may or may not have made her smile before quickly being replaced with a scowl.

He also sent one after school where he gave her a brief snapshot of his day. But it was his nightly texts that made her heart soar, confusingly. The messages weren't significant - just a simple "goodnight, Gracie" followed by a smiley face.

She probably should block his number, like she had done before. She didn't want to examine too closely why she had yet to do so.

"Can we start over?"

Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice.

Damn, she was rumbled. She had study hall and usually she just headed home if it was her last class of the day. But that day she decided to read a couple of college level textbooks at the public library.

"Start over?" she parroted.

"Yeah," he sat down in the empty chair in front of her. He was wearing a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans. His muscles bulged underneath his shirt, his hair was wet as if he had a shower just beforehand and he smelled like clean soap. Her stupid teenage hormones were going haywire.

"I know you hate me, and probably for good reason -"

"Probably?" The gall of the man.

He blew a breath out. "Okay, for a very good reason." he shifted uncomfortably.

"And I figured it was you that hated me. For the record, I have never had a problem with you."

"Duly noted," his lips quirked but he quickly appeared somber. "And for the record, I've never hated you." His brown eyes flickered up to clash with her own. "Far from it."

Her breath hitched at the sincerity of his stare.

"So what do you want from me?"

"I want to start over." He leaned forward. "Clean slate."

"And what, forget everything you've done to me over the years?"

"No, Grace. I don't expect you to forget. Maybe in time I can have the guts to explain some things to you. But for now, I'll settle for friendship?"

Her brow lifted. "Friendship is a strong word. How about strangers who pass each other in the hall without bothering one another? You know, kinda like how you treat every other student but me in this school who isn't in your precious clique?"

"Ouch."

She flashed him a tight smile before picking up her textbook.

"I'll text you tonight, Gracie."

"Don't waste your minutes."

She was an idiot. Because it didn't take long for her to cave.

One week, to be exact.

One week of texts, notes left in lockers and gentle smiles and she was sold. She didn't acknowledge him in school and neither did he. But the bullying, the snide comments and abuse stopped. And not just from him. All his friends had taken note of his change of behavior and proceeded to treat her like everyone else in the student body. That meant she was ignored. The only person who could not hide their emotions was Jessica.

Oh, she had stopped her mean girl comments but she was unable to hide her physical reaction to her. Whenever she passed Grace in the halls she would flash her with a look that could only be described as pure contemption. She always looked like she was on the verge of spewing absolute hatred on her but something was holding her back.

Harrison came over a lot. Sometimes pre arranged, sometimes unannounced. She had no idea why her Mom would let him in. Maybe it was because Grace was now eighteen and her Mom thought that she needed some privacy? Or maybe she was just happy that her normally antisocial daughter finally had a gentleman caller. She was betting on the latter.

They would spend time either reading or studying in silence. The first few times she had tried to get rid of him to no avail. I mean, who wanted to sit and read when there was a party to attend or, she thought bitterly, a pretty blonde cheerleader to bang.

But he was persistent. And charming. And so disgustingly handsome that she would sometimes stare at him under the guise of reading her book.

They then progressed to watching TV shows and movies. She was flabbergasted that he had never watched Friends before.

"Oh, my God! We need to rectify that. Friends is required viewing, it's compulsory - non negotiable."

"Well if it's compulsory, you better put it on, then." he laughed.

"They were definitely on a break," Harrison told her as he took a bite of the cheese pizza he had brought over.

"I agree. But she still had a right to be pissed. It wasn't even twenty-four hours."

"Yeah, but they were still on a break." he shrugged.

She picked at the crust of her pizza as she glanced at Harrison below long lashes. A smile quirked at her mouth as she watched him munching on a piece of garlic bread whilst chuckling along to Joey's antics.

A sense of contentment and happiness poured over her. How was this her life right now?

But all good things came to an end and it all came to a head in horrible fashion the week before prom.

It was after school and Harrison had texted, asking her to wait for him outside one of the school buildings. He had a late practice and wanted to take her home.

They were leaning up against the side of the building, flirting heavily with one another. Neither of them were in a hurry to get home.

"So, prom's next week." he murmured as he lifted a hand to brush her hair back.

She blushed at the intimacy of his touch.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"You going?"

She shrugged before quickly shaking her head. "No, it doesn't interest me."

And it didn't. She was never going to go to prom, even though a couple of boys in her circle had tried to drop hints. She was very vocal about not attending. Not because she thought she was too cool for it, but because a social school event with people she rarely cared about was not her cup of tea. She had actually planned to sleep over at Amelia's, watching cheesy John Hughes movies and binging on junk food and soda. Watching Sam Baker in Sixteen Candles drive off with Jake Ryan was her kind of prom night.

"It's not really my kind of event, either." Harrison confessed, surprising her. "But I'm kind of expected to go. People follow my lead which can get exhausting at times."

"With great power comes great responsibility." she quipped.

Harrison's lips kicked up. "Fuck you're adorable."

He paused.

"And sexy."

Her head turned so fast at his words she was surprised that she didn't get whiplash. His face was so close to hers she could smell the peppermint gum he was chewing.

"Don't tease me," she mumbled.

"I'm not, Gracie." He reached up again to brush a finger down her cheek.

"I know you're not planning on going to prom," he started, "but if a handsome quarterback who's been an idiot most of his life were to ask you... what would you say?"

Her heart sped up. What was happening right now? She felt like she was in her own coming of age movie. She just hoped it didn't end with her locking the school hall doors and setting the venue on fire.

She wanted to be Sam, not Carrie.

"Gracie?" Harrison interrupted her dark thoughts. "Well? What would you say?"

She looked into his warm brown eyes, noting the hesitancy and dare she say, nervousness, in his gaze.

She took a deep breath. "I might say yes."