Category: Slash

Rated: PG-13

Spoilers for: Episode 18/19 Don't know the episode names, sorry.

Set-up: Joan and Adam are finally together (yay). Grace is annoyed and still flying single (less yay). And I now know Quaker girl's name is Alice, thanks to some helpful readers.

Disclaimer: Don't sue me or anything because I am poor. I'm not trying to make any money off this. The characters aren't mine. Fanfic is written out of love. And boredom. And a need for Grace/Quaker girl smoochies.

Chapter 1

Grace rolled her eyes as she impatiently waited for Joan and Adam to stop be mushy with each other. How could they have possibly missed each other if they refused to ever separate. Besides, what did they really miss? The face sucking? Then they should shut-up and get on with it already. The only thing that ever stopped them from kissing was pausing to talk about how much they wanted to be kissing. The couple took her advice. Grace wrinkled her nose and turned her head. Gross.

"Can you believe this?" she turned to ask Luke. Bad timing. He was being all smoochy with geek girl.

God! Thought Grace, I'm in the middle of a bad, underaged porno! What was so great about kissing anyway, especially since it seemed to cause instant and permanent neurological damage. It was a good thing she kept her kissing skills reserved for political statements.

Joan and Adam finally drifted apart. About fucking time. Oh no, she didn't even want to consider the idea of the two of them getting biblical. It was bound to make the situation even worse. She shouldn't have encouraged Joan. She should have just pushed for him to stay with squeaky. Yeah the girl was obnoxious as hell, but nothing a good sharp jab to the voice box wouldn't fix. And depressed and angsty Joan was by far superior to the version she was having to deal with now.

Joan was slightly flushed, big smile on her face. She gave a little head tilt as she watched Adam disappear into art class. Oh please do not tell me she's checking out his butt. I don't wanna think about Adam-butt. Thanks! Now I need a brain enema!

Joan heaved a sigh. "He's just so ..."

Dead if I ever hear him use the term snookiewoogums again?

"Yeah, whatever. I've gotta go?" Joan looked at Grace in disbelief.

"What are you actually planning on going to a class on time?" Busted!

"No, but avoiding promptness takes careful planning." Grace began to stalk off but Joan followed after.

"Grace is everything ok?"

"Everything is dandy! Everything is flowers and sunshine! "

"Because I know it's kind of different with Adam and me. I don't want you feeling left out, but you'll meet the right ... someone. I promise. It just takes time"

"I want to be left out. Romance kills brain cells, not to mention personality. If I'm going to fail chemistry it's because of the mild disinterest and a lack of respect for public education, not because I'm too busy getting felt up!" With that Grace stalked off.

"Um God?" Joan asked, "Would this be a part of the whole careful what you wish for scenario?"

The janitor walked by her, pausing long enough to say, "Get to band class."

*******************

"So I'm finally happy, and instead of joining me in my happiness she has to try to make me feel miserable, and it's working. I mean, what is her deal? She's morose, so everyone else has to be too? I'm tired of being lonely and depressed all the time!" Joan rambled off, barely pausing to take a breath.

Cute hat girl, Joan's Quaker band friend hesitated a moment before answering, clearly afraid another string of sentences was on its way.

"Maybe she's just feeling a little overlooked. It's hard enough being an outsider. I know. But when you're an outsider without friends, its even harder."

"We're still friends!" Joan insisted. "We spend all our time together."

"But is it time with her or time with the two of you while she happens to be there?" Quaker girl asked.

Joan paused for a moment. The remark had hit home. Too close to home. She looked cute hat girl over closely.

"You're not popping up as people I already know now, are you?" She gave her a meaningful look.

Quaker girl was, not for the first time, a little frightened of the strange girl. "What?"

"Never mind." Their band instructor interrupted them.

"Miss Girardi, if I lacked the percussionary skills of a wind-up monkey I would be paying attention in class instead of talking."

"Oh I'm paying attention," Joan said. "I'm paying complete attention-" She gestured on the last word for emphasis, accidentally sending a drumstick flying into the face of their first chair trumpet.

"Ow," he cried, dropping his horn and grabbing his eye.

"Principal's office Joan. Now." Joan slid out of her seat, trying to seem cool and collected despite the situation and the fact that she tripped on her way out the door.

**************************

Grace felt a little bad. She'd never admit it, but the feeling was there. This was the honeymoon period for them after all, and she hadn't really seen Adam smile so much since before his mother died. She snuck out of class early, to remedy her actually showing up on time. She leaned against the wall, waiting for Joan to get out of class so that she could find a way to apologize without apologizing. Or trick Joan into apologizing instead. Whatever worked. However when the class emptied, Joan was nowhere in sight. A girl with a strange but oddly endearing hat came up to her.

"Grace right?" Grace put on her tough face. Here comes another lesbian/transgender jab. Or a practical joke. Or both. Great.

"Are you waiting for Joan?"

"I'm not waiting. If she happens to show up, I'm here. Who are you?"

"Alice, one of Joan's friends." Joan has other friends? Tell me she's not a pom-pom swing fascist!

"Oh really."

"We're in band together." Duh. Well that made sense, since she came from that class. Band nerd. Another subdefective. Grace's Great Wall of China lost a couple of bricks.

"She's a little worried about you, you know?" Alice told her.

"Why?"

"That she's losing you as a friend. I'm sorry, am I butting in?" Alice looked down at her feet.

Normally Grace would have shot her down, but she was so nonassuming and vulnerable. She just didn't have the heart to. Besides, subdifectives needed to stick together. That hat was casting a spell on her.

"Yes, but you've already started so you might as well ... how could she be losing me? She's the one who's pushing any non-Adam person away!"

"I know it's kinda awkward to be the odd one out. I've sort of been the odd one out my whole life. But that's why you have to be patient. Because the friends you make are the ones actually worth having. Even if they get a little distracted sometimes."

"So what's your abnormality?" Grace asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Why are you the odd one out?" Grace clarified.

"Being Quaker. Being a complete dork. Being, um, single." Grace started to really take notice of the girl's body language.

When she had said this um she had involuntarily looked Grace up and down. Though she hadn't had much experience with the maneuver, she recognized it from when geek boy had tried it out on her. She just checked me out! Grace returned the favor. Cute hat girl was just that, cute. Downright hot when she worked the hat thing to her best advantage. But the Quaker part? Could an angry young militant and a conscientious objector have a chance in Hell of having a chance of anything together? Then again Grace was rebelling against the very rules that would have told her to give up and stick to secretly rewinding the Willow and Tara scenes in her hidden stash of Buffy DVD's (which no one but her would ever, EVER know about).

Grace heaved a sigh and shifted to stare at the ceiling. "Look, It's been a bad day. If I was an ass before-"

Hold on just a moment. I came dangerously close to saying the word sorry. Sorry's not supposed to be in my dictionary. I tore that page out the day I was old enough to wear leather. What was going on? Lust was already warping her brain. Get out while you can Gracie!

"It's ok." Quaker girl smiled under her cute hat. "I sort of figured as much. You know I've enjoyed talking to you. Maybe we should, um...." Make wild monkey love. Skip through the fields together. Make me stop wanting to puke from all these overly sentimental and romantic notions!

"Talk or something. Again. I'm a good listener. "

"Sure." Grace's pulse was racing just like in that damn geek-girl's analysis of heavy on the cologne boy.

"You can come to my band practice tonight if you want."

"Yeah, sure. If nothing better comes up." Grace hid a rare smile as Alice walked away.

Her dad was still tripping out about her building a gun and causing a scene in Hebrew class. She only imagine his reaction if she got a girlfriend.

Chapter 2

"How could you do that?" Grace demanded, slamming her locker so fiercely that both Joan and her brother jumped.

"Do what?" Joan asked.

"Tell Alice all those things. I don't put a school bulletin every time you do act like a bitch. Like now."

Joan furrowed her brow. "Tell who what?"

"Your band friend. The girl with the cute hat."

Cute? How did that happen? Words like cute weren't supposed to be in her vocabulary. Keep going. Maybe no one will have noticed.

"I mean-" Luke stared at Grace in disbelief.

"Did you just say cute?"

"Shut up Geek boy. Lay off the interruptions. So who's this girl anyway and why are you sending her out to become my personal councilor?"

"She's just this girl I talk to sometimes," Joan answered. "And I didn't send her, she must have done that on her own. I obviously was in the principal's office and kind of in no position to send anyone anywhere. Besides, I only talked to her because I can't talk to you, and you're supposed to be my best friend! The one I talk to when I can't talk to anyone except now I can't because YOU'RE MEAN! Excuse me, I have a bake sale to organize."

And with that Joan stalked off. Bake sale? That girl had more extracurricular activities than Luke and she didn't even want to get into MIT. Not that they'd accept her anyway with a shady academic record and a list of things she'd started late and inexplicably quit a mile long. Luke was still standing there, looking stunned.

"Do you like this girl or something?"

"I, uh..." Damn his perceptiveness!

Grace stomped her foot "Shut up Geek boy!"

She stormed off to avoid further questioning. Luke watched her go, clutching his large pile of books.

"Well," he said to no one in particular, "at least we know why that bell stopped ringing."

****************************

The band was terrible. Well they weren't so bad themselves, but their songs blew big time. They were so safe and uncontroversial, they made Christian rock look like Eminem. Grace had come, against her better judgment, and would be spending the rest of the night listening to MP3s of embittered singers fry their vocal chords as they made millions and lost touch with the things that made them famous, just to get those damn corny tunes out of her head.

The band finished their set and said their goodbyes for the night.

"So," Alice asked, "what do you think?"

Just say something nice. Go ahead and BS. The girl's never gonna jump you if you insult her band. Ah hell.

"Kinda bad."

Quaker girl looked crushed but not particularly surprised. "Really?"

"You've got a great voice and a decent sound but it's far too safe. There are no chances being taken. Music is all about self expression. What are you guys trying to express?"

"Well the thing is, my parents come to all the shows," Quaker girl confessed. "So... "

"All the more reason to speak out and be yourself. If you can't show that to the people legally required to like you, how are you going to show that to the rest of the world? Have a little confidence in yourself."

"Well, maybe I will."

"Then good for you ... maybe."

"So-" Alice sat next down next to her. "Did you have a completely terrible time?"

"No, it was fine. Uh, fun."

"So tell more about yourself," Alice said, leaning in dangerously close to Grace, making her entire body tingle with anticipation.

"I know you're friends with Joan. What else do you do?"

"Try and get out of Hebrew class."

"You're Jewish?"

"In theory."

"And are you ... I mean you're gay, aren't you?" Grace immediately threw back up her guard.

"Is there like a school bet going on or something? The first person to determine my sexual orientation wins?"

"No. Not at all. I'm sorry. It's just I really like you and I thought maybe you liked me, but ... sorry. It was stupid." Alice hid her face in her hands. "I ... please don't hate me."

Grace sighed and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I don't hate you. That would be like hating a fluffy little bunny or a puppy. Well I'm not a big fan of rabbits, but..."This wasn't coming out quite right. "The answer is yes."

Alice looked up just enough to make eye contact. "Yes what?"

"Both questions. Yes I'm gay and yes I like you. Could we... could we start over?" Alice face brightened, brightening Grace's in return.

"Sure." She smiled. "So, Grace, tell me about yourself."