Affair.

Chapter 6

As soon as Eric realised that I won't answer his questions, we left the classroom and I noticed that Ethan was waiting for me next to the stair which made me smile. "Ethan, could you make sure that she attends today's lessons on time?" Eric asked and Ethan nodded. We walked down the stairs and met with Hayley at the bottom. She hugged me straight away and I hugged her back. "I missed you so much!" She exclaimed which made me smile. I pulled back from her embrace and looked at Ethan. "I apologise... To the both of you." Ethan nodded at me. "It's alright, I understand... Although I hope you won't allow some loser to come between us again." We all laughed and hugged again. Seeing the time, we made our way to William's lesson, which went by fairly quickly, especially that I was sitting with Ethan again. Since yesterday I had a lot of time to think and realised that Ben is a terrible person and I need to get away from him. This morning's encounter only reassured me of that. I can't imagine being with him for any longer and my mental health had declined tremendously, ever since I began to see and spend time with him.

Lunchtime. Ethan, Hayley and I made our way outside, to the smoking area and we talked while Ethan smoked his cigarette. I noticed that Ben and his friends were also there, but I didn't pay any attention to them. We talked and laughed when all of a sudden Ethan and Hayley went quiet, looking behind me. I turned around and saw Ben walking towards us. I again looked at Ethan and Hayley and whispered: "I'll be back in just a minute." They both nodded at the same time and started to talk between themselves.

"So what's up? You're back with your sad friends? Why have you been ignoring me, Soph?" Ben started but I rolled my eyes which clearly made him angry because he growled. "I'm breaking up with you Ben, okay? Nothing less, nothing more..." I was about to turn around, but he grabbed my arm like in the morning and I could see the fury in his eyes. "You can't break up with me, flower." He tried to sound calm, but it didn't work too well. "Well, I just did!" I was trying to get away from his grip, but he wouldn't let me go and my arm started to ache again. "Let... Me... GO!" I shouted at him which made everyone look at us, along with Eric and Daniel who were walking from the parking lot to the college's building. Both of them quickly made their way toward Ben and I and Daniel grabbed Ben wrist. "Did you not hear her Benjamin?" Said the teacher but Ben was like in a trance and keep looking at me without acknowledging the teachers who were standing next to us. His grip tightened on my arm and I squealed from the pain.

Eric pushed Ben away a little bit, which made him wake up and let go of my arm. Eric looked at me concerned and Daniel started to talk to Ben. I could hear the anger in his tone while Ben was now looking at me and Eric. "Do you want to sit down? Perhaps drink some water?" Asked the teacher worryingly and I nodded. Ethan wanted to say something, but seeing that Eric was walking with me he stayed silent and started to talk with Hayley again.

Eric took me to an empty counselling room and gave me a cup of water, on which I fixed my gaze, before sitting opposite me. Neither of us said anything and then Daniel came into the room and sat next to Eric. "Benjamin is with the principal right now and will most likely be suspended for some time." I nodded at his statement, still looking at the cup of water. "We need to know if he hurt you in any way." He continued but I didn't say anything, glad that I had a long-sleeve top on so if there was a bruise on my arm from Ben's grip, it wasn't visible. What if him forcing me to sleep with him was considered violent? What if I told them about it and it was normal? They would laugh at me for thinking that someone's right is considered violent in my eyes. For these reasons, I stayed quiet and both of them sighed at the same time. I looked up from the cup and studied Eric who looked very tense.

"Alright, why don't I go and get Brittany. Maybe it will be easier for you to talk to a woman..." "No!" I exclaimed before he could stand up. Both of the teachers looked at me with curiosity in their eyes but I didn't say anything and looked down at the cup again. Daniel got up from his chair and left the room. "Do you want me to call your parents?" Eric asked but I shook my head and continued staring at the cup, knowing that if I looked at him I would not be able to look away. Anyway, what good would calling my parents do? My dad would most likely not pick up, so that leaves my mom who adores Ben and would never take my side when it came to choosing between me and him. "Are you alright to attend the rest of your lessons today?" I nodded at his question and he got up. When I heard the door open I looked up at where he was standing. "Go on then, it's almost the end of lunch." He smiled and I complied, starting to walk to my next lesson.