Flora and Helia walked to their first class of the day together receiving stares along the way.
"Just ignore them, Flora." Helia whispered as her placed his arm around Flora's shoulders.
"Easy for you to say. I have no problem with them staring at us because we are a couple but I just don't know if they are staring at us because of what happened to me. I know that if people always remember me as the girl who was raped, then I will never truly move on. I just want to forget about what happened to me." Flora sighed as she turned towards Helia.
"You will move on past this, I promise. I don't think that the other students know what happened last night but if they do, just pretend that they don't. Their opinions don't matter." Helia smiled down to Flora before bringing her in for a tight embrace.
Flora flinched feeling Helia's arms around her and she quickly retracted much to Helia's dismay.
"I'm sorry, Helia. I..." Flora stammered as she caught her breath.
"No, I understand completely. I'm sorry. Let's just go to class." Helia lightly replied.
Flora and Helia walked the rest of the way across campus until they reached the science building where they shared their first class of the day, environmental ethics. Despite Helia being an art major, he had taken the class so that he would have the chance to become closer to Flora. Flora had always dreamed of working with nature and decided that she wanted to be an environmental scientist. However, ever since the attack, she found that her love of plants had slowly diminished.
Flora walked to the back of the class and sat in the corner, not wanting to draw attention to herself and hide herself from the stares of the other students.
"Flora, you should sit at the front of the class. You always sit at the front of the class." Helia smiled as he bent down to talk to Flora.
"Helia, I really don't want to. I just want to sit here." Flora curtly replied looking down and playing with the hem of her skirt.
Helia sighed and took the seat next Flora's and placed his bag on the floor. He looked at Flora through somber eyes and his heart broke seeing Flora. He knew that she was trying but he couldn't help but feel guilty at the fact that he could not protect her.
The class began and Flora sat quietly in the corner answering when she was called on. Helia could not take his eyes off of Flora, wanting to make sure that she was okay. Class ended and Flora stood up from her seat and quickly left the room. Helia was about to chase after her until he was stopped by the professor.
"Helia, can I talk to you for a minute." Helia looked at the direction of the door and sighed.
"Sure." Helia replied quietly.
"I know that you are close with Flora and I cannot help but to think that there is something going on between you two. Art majors usually don't take 300 level environment studies classes. However, I would prefer it if you two left the drama outside of the classroom. Flora is my best student but I have noticed that she has been completely withdrawn from her work for the past few months. She is still doing well but the spark is gone."
"With all due respect, shouldn't you be talking to her about it?" Helia snapped.
"I have but she does not want to listen to me. I think that maybe she would listen to you." the professor responded calmly.
"Honestly, you have no idea what you are talking about and I think that you should really just stick to teaching. Do you have any idea what Flora went through?" Helia shouted.
"Helia, this is unlike you. I think that you need to calm down. I may not know what happened to Flora but I do know that she needs help and I thought that you would be the best person to help."
"I am sorry," Helia sighed, "I will try to talk to her."
"Thank you. You may go now."
"I'll see you on Thursday, Professor Garcia." Helia waved and walked out of the classroom to find Flora waiting outside with tears in her eyes.
"Flora?"
"What did you tell him? Does he know?" Flora asked in a low mumble.
"Of course not, I would never tell anyone. It is not for me to tell. He was just wondering why you have been so down in the dumps. He thinks that there is a problem between you and me." Helia replied softly.
Flora looked up at Helia and gave him a slight smile that brightened Helia's mood.
"Would you like to go to the greenhouse and work with the plants? I know that usually makes you feel better." Helia smiled but Flora's face grew pale and full of horror.
"No. I can't go there anymore." Flora said as she backed away from Helia.
"Come on, Flora. You love the greenhouse." Helia replied.
"NO! I never want to go back there again. I can't. I won't." Flora exclaimed causing Professor Garcia to come out of the classroom.
"Is everything alright?" Professor Garcia asked.
"Everything is fine. I am going back to my room." Flora turned around and started heading back to her room, leaving Helia and Dr. Garcia behind.
Hey, sorry I have been super busy but I wanted to give you all a quick update. I have an idea of what I want to do for the rest of the story but I am not sure if you would like it. If you want to know and have some input, feel free to message me or leave a review and I will get back to you. Things are getting a little tense and Flora is going to want to break that tension somehow, especially when she is going to have to face her abuser in court. DRAMA!
