Chapter 47– Hera

Chapter 46– Hera
Miss Dangereuse: You're insufferable. 

I turn to my books as I await his next response, but I just can't concentrate so I give up on revision and get started on my assignments instead. Halfway through, I turn to Astrid. “Have you done our Practice MCQs for Biology yet?”

She shakes her head, gaze on her screen. "I'll do it the morning of submission.”

Ladies and gentlemen, my best friend Astrid Norwood– the kind of girl that uses words like "gooder” and "difficulter” for the sake of it, pronounces the word “bra" like it has two syllables, does her studying a day to our mid terms and at most three days to exams, is always on the phone in class, parties hard during the weekends yet is on a comfortable three-point-seven grade point average– without any obvious or significant effort.

Yet formal education doesn't motivate her. On the other hand, talks about mysterious men do. That's why when I announce that Czar has responded to my texts, immediately she drops her phone. 

“Czar… Is that his actual name?” She leans closer, grinning sheepishly. "He sounds exotic.”

"His annoying tendencies are definitely out of this world.”

“For someone I know you’re crazy about, you seem to… dislike him?” She manages, thoroughly entertained by my reaction. 

"He saw the pictures.”

"But.”

"He's being a jerk. He called me desperate.”

She pats my back. "I'm sure he was just teasing." 

“I hate him so much." 

“A, you're lying. You're just upset right now because he's not giving you attention. B, just take a break from him and defuse. It will do you good,” she says. "I recommend social media.”

"You always recommend social media." 

“What do you prefer, finishing another five hundred page novel in two days, you serial bibliophile?" She pushes herself to her feet. “I'm getting another cookie jar to go. My Dad's out of town, Mom’s working late and my older brother nearly burned our house the last time he attempted cooking something edible so I'm not counting on dinner tonight." 

“Knock yourself out." 

Minutes after she has left the room, I'm finishing up on my History homework when my phone buzzes with a text.  

Lone Wolf: Your English Teacher isn't linked in any way to your parents or the deaths in Novadale. But she isn't so innocent either. Do you want to know what I found out about her?

I can't believe I'm saying this. But it turns out I may not be able to sleep this night if I don't know: 

Miss Dangereuse: No, tell me what you think of the pictures I sent first.

It takes him a full minute before he replies but when he does, immediately, I wish he hadn't because dissatisfaction and embarrassment covers me from head to toe like a shroud. 

Lone Wolf: They're okay. 

As opposed to what, repugnant?

Just kill me now. 

Understandably, men can be very economical when expressing themselves but surely, this has to be the height of pure evil. 

Miss Dangereuse: Interesting. Very. 

Lone Wolf: Why? Were you expecting a different response?

He is definitely doing this on purpose. 

Not that it makes this whole thing any less annoying. The very fact that he is aware makes me even more livid because there is a deliberacy in his upsetting me– a desire to do so.

Miss Dangereuse: No, no. I was just wondering. Is that all you thought they were– average?

Lone Wolf: I didn't say they were average.

I don't even realize I'm flipping out until the words are on the screen. 

Miss Dangereuse: No, you didn't but you're implicitly saying the fucking same thing. Honestly, I'm beginning to think if they had been nudes you would have reacted in the same way– like you were fucking commenting on the weather.

I mean, what did I expect? This man saw a bloodied heart and didn't even pause to ask me what on earth I was showing to him. No, he told me not to worry because the thing hadn't belonged to a human being. 

I'm still contemplating how exasperatingly detached he can be when his next message drifts into the chat and I just… pause. 

Lone Wolf: Do you want to send me nudes? 

Why does it sound almost… eager?

‘Resist it, you whore,’ I snap to myself. 

Miss Dangereuse: You wish. 

Lone Wolf: If a reaction is what you wanted you definitely would have gotten one had you sent me those. I know I haven't gotten over what I saw last night. 

So why the hell did he leave me to drown in the pool of my own want?  

Well because he's a bloody sadist who likes to punish me to prove a point, that's why. 

I'm still rubbing my forehead as I try to summon clean thoughts from the depths of my soiled mind so I don't end up lashing out like a frustrated, horny freak the way I did earlier. 

Miss Dangereuse: Well that is entirely your business because I'm not sending any. 

Lone Wolf: Witch. 

Somewhere in my head, I swear I hear him laugh. The sound is rich and deep and it bounces off the walls of my skull like it has a right to. 

Miss Dangereuse: So…?

Lone Wolf: I don't follow.

Miss Dangereuse: Comment. On the. Pictures!

Lone Wolf: Or else what?

Did I foresee this? Yes. Yes, I did. Because heavens forbid Czar is ever cooperative. 

Miss Dangereuse: Or else I will stop talking to you.

Lone Wolf: Doesn't matter. 

Miss Dangereuse: It doesn't?

Lone Wolf: Because I won't leave you alone, Hera. I will haunt you like a ghost that has found its permanent place of rest. 

Un-fucking-believable.