Everything (in) between us

8: Family Differences

A few weeks later, Aria dragged herself to Computer science. She hated the lesson more than she had words for, and silently made a note for herself to drop it.

Something, however, made her pause in her step.

There was someone sobbing.

Her head tilted up as she attempted to figure out where the sound was coming from. Upon pinpointing it, she quickly walked over to it, a frown creasing her eyebrows.

The sight she found confused her.

Hero leaned casually on a locker, a nonchalant look on his face as he chewed gum and fiddled on his phone, as if unaware of the terrifyingly loud wailing before him.

The girl opposite him, however, was the opposite of composed. Her eyes were bloodshot red as she sobbed, and she was bent slightly in front of him, her hair sticking to her face with just how much she was crying.

"Ple-please Hero, I didn't- I di-didn't know. Plea-pl-"

"Fucking hell," he rolled his eyes and stood up straight, slipping his phone into his back pocket. "Calm down, would you? I haven't killed your cat... just, lost interest?" He added a cruel chuckle in the end.

The girl sniffled and moved quicker than either of them could react. She threw herself at Hero, wrapping her arms around his neck.

His silver eyes flashed for a second, and Aria flinched.

"Get your hands off me," He said in a low voice. "Before I remove them myself."

The girl didn't waver.

And then, Aria gasped as he literally pushed her off him, sending her falling into the lockers as she curled into herself and cried harder.

Aria quickly ran to them and helped her up, before she met his confused eyes.

"Greeny?" He asked, his long eyelashes fanning out as he blinked. "What are you-"

"Are you clinically insane?"

She hissed as the girl sobbed harder. She rubbed her back awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"What?" His eyes lazily drifted to the crying girl. "Oh, that. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried for you, asshole." she said angrily. "Do you have no manners? No respect?"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you even understand what's-"

"Your disgusting, player ways hurt a girl. Now you're pissed she got attached even after leading her on." His eyes widened, clearly not expecting her response. Of course she understood. She was insanely smart, after all. "What exactly is your problem, dick head?"

He rolled his eyes, the blue in his eyes disappearing from view as he bought that wall right back up.

"If she wanted to keep me interested," he said. "Spreading her legs wasn't the best way to do it."

Aria was appalled.

The girl cried harder, and it snapped a restraint inside Aria that had been waiting to explode since she'd met the infuriating boy.

She had reacted before she could think. She reached over without an ounce of hesitation and slapped him, hard.

In seconds, she was away from the girl and had been slammed against the lockers with a force that rocked her vertebrae. His fingers dug into her jaw as he held her face, his silver eyes dangerously raging.

Aria didn't back down and held his gaze defiantly.

"You think," she started, so angry that she couldn't manage more than a whisper. "because you've been spoon fed everything in life so far, it's all yours for the taking. That you can be the biggest dickhead on the planet and get away with it."