Background Characters || WLW

Grace sighed as she glanced over her shoulder for what felt like the millionth time that lesson, hoping that it would the one time that Anna would finally look up from her desk.

It had been a few days since her plan to 'ambush' Anna outside the classroom had failed and Grace still didn't know what had gone wrong. It was as if the other girl just hadn't seen her.

Maybe she hadn't.

Grace had thought she'd been as obvious as possible, smiling when she saw her and stepping forward as Anna approached the classroom door. She'd even begun to introduce herself.

But Anna hadn't noticed a thing.

"Miss Anderson, is there something more interesting at the back of the classroom." The teacher suddenly called out, stopping her explanation of The Crusades to look at Grace questioningly.

Grace stared at her, shocked, mouth opening and closing ever so slightly before she shook her head. "No, miss." She replied, cheeks burning as the whole class stared at her.

Anna wasn't staring though.

She never stared.

"Good. Keep your eyes on the board." The teacher ordered before turning and continuing on with her explanation.

After the lesson was over, the class filtered out for lunch, Anna disappearing before Grace could get to her, as always.

Licking her lips nervously, she quickly found her friends, beginning to explain her plan to find Anna for that lunch time before she got interrupted.

"I think I'm just going to go to the cafeteria today. We've looked everywhere for Anna over the last few days and she's nowhere to be found." Rosalind said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

Naomi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't think she wants to be found, Grace. We've asked a lot of people where they think she might be and no one knows. It's like she vanishes once she leaves the classroom."

Grace looked between her two friends, about to protest before stopping herself and nodding. "Yeah, sure, you guys do that. Sorry for dragging you around."

Her friends waved off her apologies, telling her they were fine with it before giving her a quick hug and moving in the direction of the canteen.

'Right,' Grace thought to herself, walking down the corridor. 'If I were a new student with no friends, where would I hide.'

She searched many, many places as she moved through the school, glancing into classrooms, speaking to teachers and even checking the teacher carpark. Anna's mother was a Maths teacher at the school so it made sense that she might eat lunch in her car.

She didn't.

It felt like she searched for hours when it was only around 35 minutes.

And yet, still no Anna.

Sighing in defeat, Grace retraced her footsteps, only half heartedly looking now. Maybe Naomi was right. Maybe Anna really didn't want to be found.

Swallowing her disappointment, Grace turned a corner, making her way to the nearest girls toilets. She didn't think she could face her friends with yet another defeat so she thought it would be the best to just stay in the toilets for the rest of Lunch.

Just as she was stepping through the door, she smacked into another girl, apologies immediately flooding out of her mouth as she grabbed the girls shoulders to keep her steady.

"Shit! Sorry- sorry, are you okay?" She babbled, stepping backwards once she was sure the other girl wouldn't fall over, freezing when she saw the girls face. "You."

Anna looked stricken, like she wanted a hole to open up and take her from the Earth.

Gathering her wits, Grace stood a bit straighter. "So, this is where you've been hiding?" She said, accusingly, her words coming out a bit meaner than she intended.

Anna's face changed immediately, the embarrassment and shock turning into anger and distrust. "No. I needed the toilet - you know, because I'm a human?" She bit back, her voice venomous.

Grace physically took a step back at Anna's words, shocked at how mean the other girl sounded. "I- I didn't mean it like that. I just... my friends and I were looking for you." She quickly explained. "We've been for the last couple of days actually but we couldn't find you."

It was silent, both girls staring at each other - one with distrust and the other with illfully hidden adoration.

Finally, Anna went to speak, crossing her arms as she leant on one leg, hip jutting out. Grace couldn't help, swallowing tightly before realising what she was doing and mentally slapping herself.

"Okay?" The brunette asked, the phrase 'And your point is?' practically echoing around the room despite being left unspoken.

Realising that she must be wasting Anna's time, Grace rushed to speak, practically tripping over her words. "And we wondering if you wanted to hang out with us? Just until you acclimatise to the school - or longer if you want." She smiled as she finished speaking, eyes aglow with excitement.

Anna mistook the excitement for something else.

"I think I'd rather be skinned alive than hang out with girls like you, Anderson." Anna spat out, her words smacking Grace in the face like a whip before she stormed past her and out of the door, leaving a devastated girl behind.

Time seemed to freeze as Grace stood in the toilets, muscles tense as she processed what had just happened.

Girls like her?

Eyes welling up, Grace turned and left the room, not wanting any other girls coming in and seeing her crestfallen face.

She cursed the traitorous tears that fell from her eyes, despite how hard she tried to keep them in, as she walked through random corridors not even looking where she was going. Her hands were balled up into fists, skin stinging from where her nails dug into it, her body shaking in an attempt to stop herself from giving in and bursting into tears.

It didn't work.

As soon as Grace entered a part of the school that students rarely entered, she finally allowed her walls to collapse, deep sobs racking her chest as her shoulders curling in and her arms crossing protectively.

Soon enough, the sobbing was too much and she had to sit down, sliding into a hidden corner as her legs flopped to the side, providing no support as her body shook with sadness.

Why had Anna said that? Had Grace done something wrong?

Maybe she had and she just hadn't noticed.

Or maybe Anna just didn't want to hang out with people who were irrelevant to her.

After all, just because Anna was the main character in Grace's story didn't mean Grace was the main character in Anna's story.

***

A/N:

Ahhh! Super short chapter today guys!! Grace's POV's will always be shorter than Anna's because of the way I'm writing the book but hopefully they become longer as the book goes on.

I've sorted out a bit of a scheduled for posting in case anyone is interested:

I'll be posting a chapter once a week. It won't necessarily be on the same day and I may post more than one chapter a week - depending on how creative I'm feeling - but I want to get at least one chapter out a week for you guys.

Thanks x