Hera genuinely thought that they had put it on the bulletin board of the school to humiliate her. That would be one loud, unforgettable, public humiliation. How would she survive her remaining days in the school after going through such degradation? 

‘Dear God, I don’t deserve that. I couldn’t be that badly cursed, right?’ 

“Wait. What? Do they know about my situation? Ah man, they had spread the news throughout the school already. Somebody kill me now,” Hera whined stomping her foot in anger while her friends laughed at her misery. “Why do they hate me so much?” Hera groaned, annoyed. 

“Aw, come on, Hera. It’s not that bad. Stop exaggerating,” Abby said, elbowing her in the side, still laughing along with the others. 

“You look different, Hera.. Something’s changed,” Jarred commented, eyeing her up and down from head to toe. Hera lifted her head, looking into his light blue eyes. He was six feet tall and had a lean body. 

“Yeah, right, you kind of look hot,” Asher voiced out his opinion, and Hera scowled, giving a dirty look to both the boys. Her friends were all blonds with blue eyes. Brittany immediately slapped his head from behind, making him curse in reflex. “What was that for?” Asher asked, shoving Brittany’s shoulder. “You just called her hot, you jerk. Don’t be such a pervert. You’re not supposed to feel that way for your best friend. That’s so gross,” she said, scolding him. 

However, for Hera, it’s the least of her worries. What’s bothering her the most was the fact that her friends knew about her situation. But they hadn’t heard it from her, and that indeed was annoying her. 

‘Those comrades of Satan don’t have any right to invade my personal space. There’s something called privacy for God’s sake!’ 

Hera thought and cursed her luck inwardly. 

“Damn, girl. I didn’t mean it that way. She seems somewhat different,” Asher said to Brittany. “A good different, that is,” he added when she glared at him. 

“And she’s grown taller,” Andrew said while he studied her appearance in detail, but it wasn’t anything in a creepy way as he’s the most decent guy in their entire school. 

Hera knew what they’re hinting at. Her physical appearance had changed a bit. She’d put on some weight, obviously all thanks to her aunt Liezel, who thought it’s that time of your life where you need to feed your body with enough vitamins to build a healthy foundation for a growing girl’s personality. So, she made her stay back at home though her holidays were over, making her miss the school for ten days in the process. And she did make Hera stuff her tummy with food and food and more food. 

Hera surprisingly got emotional and cried when Liezel said, that’s what a mother would do when her daughter hits puberty. No matter what, Hera could never be an ungrateful person. She was thankful for everything her adopted parents had done for her. 

A loud honking of a car made them all jump in surprise. They all turned to the car only to witness Clara White winding her window glass up sitting in the back seat of her car but not before glaring at Hera with pure hatred. Hera bit her lip hard, and her fingers closed into a tight fist digging her nails into her palm to distract her mind, but the pain didn’t do anything to stop her memories rising to the front from the deeply hidden bottom of her brain. 

‘I’m tired of people hating me. Why don’t they just let me live in peace?’ 

Abby wrapped her arm around Hera’s shoulder in a protecting manner while glaring at the car going away from them. “Ignore her, Hera,” she said, rubbing Hera’s arm in comfort. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” Hera heard her friends whisper in unison. When she looked at them, they all were giving her a sympathetic look. Hera lowered her head, avoiding their eyes. “It still hurts. It hurts so much, you know,” she said in a broken whisper and tried hard not to cry. 

“Welcome back, Hera,” Asher yelled out loud out of the blue, startling Hera. She looked at him with her widened eyes, which screamed: “Are you crazy?” 

Asher grinned and started to tickle Hera, making her squeak in surprise. She found herself giggling, which soon turned into outright laughter. All of her friends joined Asher and held her in the place when she tried to run away. Hera fell on the ground, begging them in between her laughter to stop tickling her. 

Finally, with a promise from Hera that she’s not going to mope around thinking about the past, they stopped torturing her. Those tears threatening to spill out of her eyes earlier, which she tried so hard to hide, escaped her eyelids anyway. But they weren’t tears of sadness anymore. 

Hera wiped her cheeks, erasing the trace of those tears. They called for a group hug, and Hera genuinely smiled, hugging them all. No matter how unpleasant the situation got, her friends always made it better for her. Every single time. 

“Okay, enough drama already. Kids, behave,” Andrew playfully scolded them all, grinning wide. “Oh, we are one bunch of nasty teenagers, alright. Don’t ask us to behave, Mr Virgin pants,” Asher said, and they all laughed at his words. Andrew glared and tried to punch him, but Asher easily dodged it. 

“You should be happy that at least, Virgin pants sound better than Virgin Mary,” Abby said, pinching Andrew’s cheeks which made him groan in disapproval. “Yeah, right, because Virgin Mary is rightfully Hera’s title,” Jarred said, flicking Hera’s nose while Celine and Brittany high fived him. Hera rolled her eyes at her immature friends. 

Hera couldn’t be happier to know that all her friends had decided to stay back so that they could make it up to her for those last ten days she missed. Her friends decided to wait in the corridor until Hera and Abby finish their meeting with the Principal. 

When Hera reached the Principal’s office, she scowled at the first person she saw. Principal’s PA Julia Rooney and Hera never liked each other. She’d always been a bitch to Hera for some unknown reason. “Ah, look who’s finally decided to grace us with her presence!” Julia said, and Hera faked a smile at the mean Personal Assistant.