XXVI. Eric, October 14

Eric tapped his pen in frustration. To anyone else, the steady bounce of the pen against the table probably appeared to be an expression of boredom, or at least impatience. But that wasn't quite it—Eric was frustrated. It was his second time taking Mr. Porter's biology class, and he really couldn't afford to fail this time. For some reason, he somehow just could not absorb this stuff, try as he might. Admittedly, he wasn't really the studying type. It wasn't that he was a slacker by any means; it was just that he had been able to get by without studying for so long that he had fallen in to bad habits. Eric was naturally smart, always having been able to get As and Bs without any effort at all, really—until his sophomore year of high school, anyway. He had been startled when he had done so badly on his first biology quiz, and he hadn't been able to pick himself up from there, mostly because he had no idea how a person picked him or herself up from a bad grade. Of course, he had wound up failing the class, mainly because he preferred activities like going to parties to studying for the one class it was necessary for.

So here he was, in the second month of his second attempt at taking biology, and he could feel that he was slipping down the same slope as before. He desperately needed to start studying, but he didn't even know where to begin. The logical thing, of course, would be to go to his girlfriend. Eric was dating Vanessa, a girl a year older than him who was interning as Mr. Porter's class assistant. She had aced Mr. Porter's class with flying colors her own sophomore year and seemed to have a knack for all things scientific. She seemed to be the number one option for homework help. But Eric was too proud for that. It wasn't just the fact that Vanessa was his girlfriend—no, that wasn't it, not exactly anyway. It was the fact that Eric had put on this act from the first time they meant. He had acted like this stuff was easy for him—child's play. He had kept up that act consistently. It wasn't as if they spent any time outside of class discussing biology-related things, so his secret seemed pretty safe. But that also meant he couldn't ask for her help—then she would know he had been lying.

As he tapped his pen against the desk, he looked around at the other students in the class, sitting at their lab desks. Mr. Porter asked a question, and one girl's hand shot up. Eric didn't know her, but he knew her name was Ariel. She usually hung out with the same two girls, and they didn't sit anywhere near where Eric did. Eric focused on Ariel as she answered the question, sitting forward in her chair eagerly.

"Why, that's absolutely correct, Ariel!" Mr. Porter said with a chuckle. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

The girl beamed, her cheeks reddening a bit as well. She combed her fingers through her hair nervously. Ariel often answered questions in class, but she never seemed to be doing it to get the teacher's attention or to somehow impress him. She never gave that "teacher's pet" kind of impression. Instead she seemed genuinely interested in the subject matter, and had a natural ability for it, apparently. Eric wondered what it was about the subject that had piqued her interest, as he could find nothing to get excited about.

Eric gazed down at his textbook, staring blankly at it and losing focus. He was daydreaming a bit, certainly not paying attention to Mr. Porter's lecture.

"Eric, my good fellow, can you tell us the answer to the next question?" Mr. Porter asked good-naturedly.

"I, uh, well…" Eric said, looking around at his peers, lost.

Ariel caught his eye, and he was surprised to see her gesturing the page number to him. Not one to reject a hint, he quickly flipped open his book to the page she indicated. She then mouthed, "question four" while holding up four fingers. Eric gave her a small nod of appreciation before looking down at the problem in his book. He cleared his throat and read the question, something about cells or... something, it was all gibberish to him... followed by the four multiple choice answers.

"Yes, Eric, that is the question," Mr. Porter said. "Would you happen to know the answer?"

"Um, sure, let me just..."

He looked desperately up at his helper, and luckily she was there to come to his rescue, holding her hand in the shape of a letter "C" to indicate the correct answer. Eric gave her another appreciative nod.

"C," Eric said. "The answer is, C... cy-cyto—"

"Cytoplasm," Mr. Porter filled in.

"Yeah," Eric said. "That."

Mr. Porter nodded and moved along. Eric hoped Vanessa had not noticed that Ariel had been feeding him the answers. He glanced over at her, but she didn't really seem focused on the class activities at all right now. She was reading through some papers and seemed very focused on the work she was doing. Eric was thankful for that.

After class, Eric chased after Ariel in the hallway. She was walking with her two friends from class. Eric grabbed her arm gently to get her attention. She looked at him, startled.

"Oh! Eric—hi! I... I didn't expect..." she looked to her friends. "I'll catch you guys later."

"Thank you so much," Eric said. "What you did today in class—you didn't have to, but I'm so glad you did. You're a life saver."

"Oh... it was nothing," Ariel said with a shy smile. "It was really the only decent thing to do."

"I wanted you to know I appreciate it, either way," Eric said, nodding. "And... I was wondering. Maybe you'd like to study together sometime? It's just... I'm not very good at bio, and you seem to really know your stuff."

"I'm really not all that..." Ariel looked away.

"No need to be modest," Eric said. "Meet me in the parking lot after last block?"

"Okay," Ariel said, nodding.

"See you then," Eric gave her a little salute and let her run off to her next class.

"Couldn't you have just asked Vanessa for help?"

Ariel and Eric were sitting in his living room, biology material spread across the coffee table as they sat on the couch together. They had been studying for about an hour and a half when Ariel finally asked that question that she had probably been wondering the entire time. Eric looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment or two.

"I'm sorry, that was completely... I didn't mean to pry. I shouldn't have asked," Ariel said, shaking her head.

"No, it's okay," Eric said. "It's just a bit embarrassing, I guess... See, when I first met Vanessa in the class... I pretended I got it so she wouldn't think I was an idiot or something. I don't know what I was thinking. I just figured if I acted like this smart guy—more on her level—she would be interested in me. I guess it sort of worked."

"Well I'm sure she wouldn't actually think you were an idiot if you told her the truth," Ariel said, though Eric thought she sounded a bit unsure—as though she didn't even quite believe those words that she was saying.

"Oh, I'm sure she would think that, actually," Eric said.

"She sounds like a pretty terrible person," Ariel said, then quickly caught herself. "Wow, I don't know where that came from... That was really rude, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Eric said—he couldn't really fault her for it because he couldn't really dispute it.

"Either way, your secret is safe with me," Ariel assured Eric. "Vanessa looks right through me, so it's not like I could even tell her if I wanted to. Not... that I want to, anyway."

"Thanks," Eric said, nodding.

There was a pause, an awkward silence.

"You don't… seem very happy," Ariel said. "Just an observation."

Eric looked at her for a moment, and then turned back to the biology book and the material they were studying, hoping Ariel would drop it. She did. Soon after the sky began to darken, Eric drove Ariel home. She sat in the passenger seat in her driveway. Eric seemed to lean over towards Ariel as he spoke.

"Thanks," he said. "You were really helpful with all the biology stuff. I feel like maybe I'm finally starting to get it."

"I'm glad," Ariel said, leaning forward ever so slightly. "I know you're capable of it, and I'd hate to see you do badly."

"Well, I'd hate to disappoint you," Eric said, his arm resting on the console now. "So I'll be sure to do my very best."

What was he doing? It was a question his mind was screaming right this minute. Every primal instinct in him was urging him to kiss her, but his mind knew better. He knew it was wrong. He was seeing Vanessa, and if he kissed Ariel now he'd be being untrue to her. He was a lot of things, but he'd never been a cheater, and he wasn't the cheating type, anyway. Still, the way Ariel ran her fingers nervously through her startlingly red-hair, the way her eyelashes fluttered when she blinked inquisitively at him, the way her lips parted slowly into a dazzling smile—it all drove him a little mad, in the best way possible. It was a fairly sudden development and a sudden realization. He could smell her faint nautical perfume. She was so close now, he could move his arm a couple of inches and it would be brushing hers. What he really wanted to do was to reach over and kiss her, tangling his fingers up in her soft tresses, feeling those eyelashes brushing against his cheeks and parting those lips himself.

Instead, he reached across Ariel's lap and pushed open the passenger side door. He saw the look of disappointment flash across her face, and he knew what it meant. She had been expecting the kiss as much as he'd wanted to give it. But it just wasn't right, and they both knew it.

"We should do this again sometime," he said, forcing a smile.

"Yeah," Ariel said, her own wry smile not hiding her disappointment.

"Goodnight, Ariel," Eric said as she stepped out of the car.

"'Night, Eric," she said, closing the car door.

He couldn't help but watch as she walked up the front steps and let herself into the house. He told himself he was just making sure she got inside safely—but what was there to be unsafe from in this neighborhood? Ariel lived in a palatial residence in an upscale neighborhood by the lake on the north side of town. There was no crime here, especially with the tall wrought iron gates that surrounded the property. Eric sighed as he backed the car out of the driveway. Ariel. Even her name was beautiful. He shouldn't have said her name, he thought. Now he couldn't get her out of his mind.

Eric pulled into the driveway at home, shut off the engine and got out of the car. No sooner had he stepped a foot out of the car than he heard his name being called. He looked around and saw his next door neighbor, a gangly little boy two years younger than Eric, coming across the lawn toward him.

"Hey!" Eric greeted him with a pat on the back. "Mowgli, what's up?"

"Oh, I was just coming over to warn you," Mowgli said, standing up straight with some force.

"Warn me?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, your, uh, lady friend stopped by," Mowgli said. "She's inside—just thought you should know, she looked like she was in a little bit of a huff."

"Well, thanks for the warning, little man," Eric gave him a warm shoulder squeeze. "I haven't seen you around much, though—how about you? Have you got a—'lady friend'?"

"Oh… no," Mowgli said, but he shuffled his feet a little and gave a soft chuckle, his gaze pointed downward.

"But there is a lady in your life," Eric said with a smirk. "Well, good luck with her—but don't let her tie you down before you're sure."

Eric gave the boy a reassuring wink and headed towards the house. He wished someone could give him a reassuring wink. He had no idea what Vanessa was mad about this time—frankly, it could be anything. It didn't even have to be about Eric, she would take it out on him. She was just a generally angry soul. Eric wished he had known that before they started dating, but he did sort of jump into it without much forethought. Vanessa was hot. He was a hormonal teenage boy. It wasn't a difficult equation. He just wished he had noticed Ariel before. Maybe it was just the novelty—maybe it would wear off. But right now, Ariel was definitely looking a lot hotter than Vanessa. Plus she was kind, or at least she seemed to be so far. While Vanessa had not been quite so openly rude at first, she had at least never shown Eric any particular kindness. Come to think of it, he had paid for all their dates, driven them everywhere, taken care of all the plans…

And here was Vanessa, standing in the foyer with her hands on her hips.

"And where were you?" she asked, tapping a foot impatiently on the ground.

"I was bringing a friend home," Eric said defensively, throwing his arms out a little. "Is that a crime?"

"A friend?" Vanessa emphasized the word. "Was this a female friend?"

"As a matter of fact, it was," Eric said, shrugging. "So what?"

Vanessa's face was turning red now. This was a bit different from usual. Eric knew her to be the short-tempered type, but usually she was pretty level-headed when doling out the lists upon lists of things that Eric was doing wrong. Now she seemed like she was about to lose her cool, and Eric was pretty sure he did not want to see what that looked like.

"Was that female… Ariel?" Vanessa asked through gritted teeth.

"What the fuck?" Eric sputtered, unable to control his own language. "How would you even… have you been spying on me or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Vanessa spat. "I was simply coming by to see you—a girl can come by to visit her boyfriend, can't she? And I saw you walking inside with that little… that silly little… Well. Anyway, I decided I would come back later and see what that was all about."

"We were literally just studying together, Vanessa," Eric sighed, exasperated. "I don't get what the big deal is."

"She's a sophomore," Vanessa twisted her face up. "What could you possibly have to learn from her? The only sophomore class you're in is biology, and you do just fine in that. Plus if you didn't—you have me, so you'd never need her."

"You know what Vanessa?" Eric said. "This is ridiculous. I don't need to be given the third degree just because I had a friend over—that's right, Ariel is a friend, but as it just so happened we were studying biology together, because I know that if I try to study with you, you'll just treat me like I'm some kind of idiot… third grader!"

"Why, I—"

"No," Eric interrupted. "You listen to me—I'm not going to do this any longer. We're through, Vanessa. Get out."

"Oh, I don't think so," Vanessa said, a sadistic laughing tone underlying her words.

"I didn't ask what you thought," Eric said firmly.

"No, but I think you'll be interested to hear it," Vanessa mused. "I can tear you down—right down to size, little Eric. Remember your place. I'm a senior. And let's face it, I'm a bit of a gossip queen. Enough of what I say is true that people take it as fact—and you know it. So what's to stop me from spreading… a vicious little rumor about you?"

"Oh, do whatever you like Vanessa," Eric said. "I don't care—my true friends know better, and anyone who believes your lies doesn't matter."

"Hmm, well," Vanessa tipped her head to the side slightly. "If that won't do, then I'll just have to tell some stories about your precious Ariel—see how she likes that."

"No!" Eric said involuntarily.

"Oh, I see—that's the sweet spot," Vanessa smiled slyly and nodded. "There it is then. I honestly couldn't care less if I never see you again—but if you tell a single soul that you dumped me… If you tell anyone that we're not seeing each other anymore… If you even hint at it, your little Ariel will be crying herself to sleep night after night with all the torment I'll rain down upon her."

"You're despicable," Eric said, gritting his teeth. "I don't know how I didn't see it."

"Oh, no worries, darling," Vanessa gave his cheek a sharp pinch. "No one does until it's too late. That's how I have everyone at that school under my thumb. So remember—not a soul. I have a reputation to uphold! Ta ta!"

Vanessa blew Eric a kiss and sashayed out of the house. Eric could hardly believe what had just occurred. Vanessa was off his back in a sense, yes, but he couldn't pursue anything with Ariel because that would be breaking his… contract with Vanessa. He could try to do it behind her back, but… it seemed sometimes as though Vanessa had eyes all over town. Maybe she did. Vanessa's mother was a wealthy socialite who was friends with all the local business owners, so it wouldn't surprise Eric in the slightest if she had access to all the security videos. But that didn't explain how she always seemed to know where everyone was and what they were doing in the privacy of their own homes. Eric shuddered. He almost didn't want to know.