"Ellen?" someone called her name as if unsure if it's her. She turned to see Clara and Eric behind her. "It is you. Oh, I missed you so much. Abby and Kelly said you'd come later, due to personal reasons. How are you? Why are your eyes swollen?" Clara rushed to hug her, as she bombarded her with questions. Eric smiled and gave her a side hug too before checking her face well. Yep, her eyes were swollen. "Have you been crying? Or you had a rough night?" He asked her with concern. Ellen gave them a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I'm fine please. I just didn't get much sleep last night." She replied. "Don't tell me you were up studying? When did you arrive?" Eric asked with disbelief and interest. "I arrived yesterday please." She replied with another smile. "And you didn't look for us?" Clara asked, disappointed. "Oh, no, I was going to look for you. I got caught up in catching up with Abby and Kell." She told half-truth. She didn't want to tell the prefects that she was punished and bullied. Someone walked in class, and she whipped her head to see who it was. She looked down when she saw a different person. She had come early to sweep the form three class as usual, hoping to meet Henry. She missed him, and she wanted him to make her smile again, to forget all about Esther and how she had made her cry yesterday. Only he could provide her with that comfort, she didn't know why, but it was what it was. "Ah I see, were you perhaps hoping to find someone else? Preferably the person who always came to meet you after working?" Clara asked teasingly, making Eric laugh and Ellen blush. "He's not coming, if he's the one you are waiting for. He's not in the learning mood these days, so he won't come till later. But he is in school though. I will let him know you are in, okay." Clara continued, urging her to go to class. Ellen smiled and bid them farewell, looking red with embarrassment. "Do you think Ellen likes him?" Eric asked. "Probably, but I get the feeling she won't admit to that. She doesn't even know it herself. Maybe our guy is her first crush. If that's so, he better not mess her up." Clara answered with a warning, and Eric only smiled. God only knew what was going on in that head of his.
***
Ellen wondered why she hadn't heard from or seen Henry, after a week in school. She didn't even see him when she swept his class. "I wonder if he knows I'm in school". She mouthed to herself. "Ellen, you are needed in 3 Science 3." Mercy came to call her from the library. Ellen felt jittery as she neared the class. That was Henry's class, and she felt he will be there today. As she neared the class, she thought of how he was going to behave towards her. 'Will he hug me? Will he say he missed me? Or will he be upset again that I didn't call him after promising to do so? Will he be happy for me, concerning my family status now?' These thoughts played hopscotch in her head as she entered the class, hoping with everything in her that Henry would do the first two thoughts and the last one, leaving out the angry part. Ellen however wasn't prepared for what she saw when she entered. "Oh great! The princess is finally here. Welcome, your highness. How was your vacation?" Henry spoke with a hint of sarcasm. "Um good afternoon seniors." She greeted the three friends, looking at hers, on their knees. "Elle, before you think bad of us, Henry made them kneel. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen." Clara explained the situation. Abby and Kelly were on their knees before the seniors, for God only knows what they had done to them. Before she could say anything, she heard a command that sounded funny in her ears. "Join them, Eleanora. I have been told the three of you are musketeers, all for one and one for all. If one goes down, you all do, right? On your knees, now." Henry commanded and everyone there was baffled. "Henry are you being serious?" Clara asked, thinking she heard wrong, as Ellen stared at Henry in astonishment. "I'm dead serious. I believe you heard me!" Henry responded with a shout. "Bro, think about this" Eric counselled. Henry gave him a sharp look and turned to Ellen, "Are you waiting for a royal invitation, your highness? … Get on your fucking knees." Henry said, and before a word could be uttered, he pushed Ellen down on her knees. The girls' mind went to the day he lifted her from her knees, today, he pushed her down instead. What the hell was going on? Ellen on the other hand was thinking about what Esther said, "Fun fact about Henry, he toys with you for a term and moves on to the next one". Her tears from nowhere begun pouring, looking into his dazzling eyes. Ellen was really angry with herself for allowing things to get this way. What was she thinking, a hug and I miss you? She was such a joke for not listening, she was even liking him. Henry stared at her teary face for some time and looked aside, resuming his seat with his friends, who were baffled at the scene unfolding.