"Okay, fine, then report him," Eric said, without missing a beat. Hera withdrew her hands off him so fast as if she felt electrocuted. "What?" She asked, shocked. Lips parted in disbelief Eric stared at her before getting up from his seat while Hera shook her head. He moved around, facing her directly. "You've two choices, Pixie. Ether you report him, or you tell Ace," he said, eyes fixed on her without blinking.
"What choice are you giving me, Eric? It'll both lead to the same result. Andrew will be in trouble, and here I'm trying to," Hera was saying, but Eric cut her off. "You're trying to what? Protect him?" He spat out the words with such spite, Hera flinched. "Are you fucking kidding me, Pixie?" Why do you want to protect him?" He asked, but didn't give her the chance to answer it. "Because he's your friend?" He asked and let out a sarcastic laugh while Hera glared at him. She was getting angry too.
.
"Didn't you say it by yourself a while ago, Eric that it's okay to forgive?" Hera asked, and they kept fighting over it. Hera couldn't understand what's wrong if she wanted to forgive her friend. She argued about how she was sure that Andrew must be regretting his mistake already, and Eric was pissed because she failed to differentiate between the right and wrong.
Pursing his lips into a thin line, Eric squeezed his eyelids shut as if he's trying to control his anger and his forehead furrowed in the process. He exhaled through his nose before looking into her eyes. "Pixie, friend or not, hurt or not, it doesn't give him the right to force himself on you. Anger and heartbreak, they don't justify rape or molestation," he said, trying to educate her and held up his hand to stop her when she tried to speak.
"Tell me honestly, if stuck in a place alone with him, will you be comfortable around him? Can you trust him again that he won't repeat it?" He asked as if speaking to a child, voice of tone soft and low. Hera parted her lips but hesitated to answer right away. She realised, her answer to Eric's question was a no in big, bold capitals. She stared at Eric, tongue-tied. Folding her arms on the desk, Hera leaned forward, hiding her face.
Meanwhile, Eric patiently waited for her to accept the truth. A few more seconds later, Hera spoke. "I'm afraid of Hunter's reaction. He won't let Andrew go unharmed, and you know it," she said, tone deflated. Eric sighed, looking at her slumped form and walked back to sit beside her. Running his hand over her head comfortingly, he spoke. "That's why you need to report him to the Principal's office and buy me some time until I convince Ace not to touch him," he said.
Hera lifted her head at that and looked at him sharply. "You were never going to hide it from him in the first place, were you?" She asked, accusing him. Eric shrugged, "No secrets between best friends, that's our rule," he stated.
"Of course," Hera muttered and scoffed.
"Don't worry your little brain thinking about that fucker, Pixie. He's not worth it. I assure you I won't let Ace kill him," he said, and Hera stared at him with her widened eyes. "You talk about killing so smoothly as if it's an everyday thing for you guys and that really scares me sometimes," she confessed, looking a little unsettled.
"Don't feel guilty, you silly girl. Andrew doesn't deserve your forgiveness. He needs to get punished for his wrongdoing," she heard him say and sighed as if exhausted. They welcomed the silence for a while both lost in their thoughts.
"I was so scared you know," Hera spoke, breaking the silence. "When he did that, his touch so disgusting, it made me feel so humiliated. All I could think then was about Hunter. His face kept appearing in front of my eyes as if I was hallucinating him, watching me with his piercing eyes. Like, I'm betraying him somehow," she revealed.
Hera disclosed her feelings for the first time after Andrew's incident and the thoughts, the fear, the pain she'd kept hidden, all rushed out as she bared her emotions out in the open for Eric to see. He gave her space, maintaining a respectable distance, afraid she might get uncomfortable, but Hera just moved closer and hugged him tightly. Eric rubbed her back in a soothing gesture, whispering, "It's okay."
When she pulled away from his chest, she stared at him expectantly. Eric watched her for a few seconds in confusion before understanding her need to hear clarifications. It seemed she'd more questions, and she was confused too. Eric tried his best to assure Hera that she didn't betray Hunter, and she wasn't at fault. It's natural for anyone to feel disgusted or insulted when someone touches them against their consent.
"You kept seeing Ace, maybe because you wanted him to come to your rescue," Eric said shrugging. "You love him with all your heart and soul, don't you? That's why you couldn't reciprocate Andrew's feelings or encourage his touch," Eric said, but immediately regretted saying all that philosophical, deep shit because what Hera asked next made him speechless.
"Doesn't Hunter love me then? He'd touched and kissed other girls. Samantha was with him, posing as his girlfriend for two years. I'm sure they'd done more than kissing. Every girl in the school speaks of his big one-eyed snake," Hera said in utter disappointment. Despite the seriousness of their conversation, Eric couldn't help the laughter that tore out of his mouth.
"One-eyed snake? Really, Pixie? Where did you learn to describe the dick so creatively?" He asked, looking at her scowling face. "Evelyn said every boy has a one-eyed snake in his pants," Hera said so innocently, Eric smiled, shaking his head.
"You're asking the wrong person, little girl. Speak to your Hunter about it," he said, answering her earlier question.
Hera glared at him disagreeing. "Well, you don't keep secrets, and you know your best friend better than anyone. I'm sure you have the answer to my question, and besides, he won't mind you, I know it. You can tell me," she urged him. Eric sighed, not knowing how to dodge it anymore.
"I think you already know the answer, Pixie. You two had too much fun making each other jealous after the supposed breakup. Half of the girls in school just took advantage of your situation and cooked stories to fulfil their fantasy. You know, to earn the privilege of knowing school's president intimately," he said. Hera eyed him with her narrowed eyes, accusing him of lying to protect his friend.
"You mean to say he didn't sleep with them?" She asked in disbelief, tone ridiculing. Eric shrugged, his lips twitching downwards, "You already knew the truth or maybe pretended to be ignorant. Instead of accusing and fighting with each other, you should have spoken about it. You let Nathan influence your mind too much," Eric said, tone a bit attacking. Hera looked away, biting the inside of her cheek.
"You don't know a lot of things, Pixie. But it's not my place to tell you everything. Sometime later, when all this shit gets sorted out, talk to him about it," Eric sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I'm afraid I'm going to get grey hair soon because of you two. You give me a lot of stress, and I'm sick of meddling in your shitty romantic love business," he said faking disgust. Hera smiled at that, and it turned into a wide grin when Eric laughed.
"Let me share a secret with you. You know, Mike and Sam are fooling around," he said, whispering into her ear. Confused, Hera looked at him with her questioning eyes, and Eric scowled, unimpressed. "Fuck, you're so dumb," he said. "Mike is screwing Sam and Ace knows it. So, any scary thoughts you have of Samantha, you can throw it into the trash bin. She's just playing dirty only because she doesn't want to lose against you. Nothing's going on between them," he concluded.
"Does Mike like her?" Hera asked. Eric shook his head. "She thinks by using Mike she can make Ace jealous or maybe she wants us to fight with each other, I'm not sure," he answered, and Hera sighed, shaking her head. She understood what Samantha wanted to do. Eric guessed it right to some extent. If her plan worked, Danny, Michael, Ace, Hera and Bianca were all going to be cross with each other. It would lead to an ugly fight.
"Stop it, Pixie, you're worrying again. Whatever her plan is, Sam could never break our friendship. Everything's fine between us," Eric said, assuring her with a lovely smile, a contagious one because Hera smiled too.
After that honest conversation, Eric decided to teach her maths because he needed to prepare her for the test and also it would clear their head from all the stress they just went through.
Eric's phone pinged and he checked it only to confirm if it's from Hunter. Sure it was. A smug smile lit up his face as he typed his reply.
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