FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM - HER FIRST LOVE

Jessica peeked her head inside with a warm smile. Hera moved away from the window to her bed and returned Jessica's smile. 

Jessica held a package in her hands. She read the unasked question in Hera's curious eyes. "It's for you, Hera. Open it," she said, giving the package to Hera. Jessica looked way too excited, but Hera chose to ignore. A midnight black material greeted her eyes when she opened the parcel. Sitting on top of it was a heart-shaped sweet. The outer side of its wrapper said it's a "Love Candy". 

'Oh, what a perfect name! Could it be any better?' 

Hera thought sarcastically and rolled her eyes. Oh, no prizes for guessing who the package came from by the way.. 

"If you need help with putting on the dress, simply yell my name, and I can do your hair if you want," Jessica offered. Smiling, Hera nodded. "Thank you, Ms Lanson," she said, earning a playful glare from the woman. "What did I tell you about calling me, Ms Lanson? It's Jessica for you, honey," with that said, she left the room, leaving Hera to get dressed. 

Hera unwrapped the sweet but didn't eat it as she remembered his jab.

'You don't have to eat it to read the message.'

Putting aside the candy, she read his message written inside the wrapper. 

"Goddess Hera,

Wear the dress and enjoy the party.

Wish I was there to help you with the dress ;-) 

Miss you, Love." 

The word "love" made her cringe. What they had between them was anything but love. She took out the dress from the box and walked to the mirror. 

The dress looked too short for her size. Unsure, it would fit or not, she tried the dress on and to her surprise, it suited her body size perfectly. The black dress looked good against her creamy white complexion, but her face told a different story altogether. Her large eyes looked awful due to her intense crying, and her long, straight-edged nose was red at the tip. Her hair was a tangled mess. She didn't brush it in the morning as she was too busy sulking. 

'Definitely, I could use the magic of your hands, Jessica.' 

Hera thought to herself. 

And magic, Jessica did. She applied some gel, and her hair transformed into a velvet curtain from a tangled mess. She used some makeup, making Hera's swollen eyes look lively. A touch of lip colouring, a light shade of blush on her cheeks and Hera was flawlessly ready. 

"You don't like to wear any other accessories, I guess?" Jessica asked, already knowing the answer. Hera shook her head, proving Jessica right. "You don't need them anyway. You look gorgeous without any accessories. There's a black stiletto in the shoe section of the wardrobe. Don't forget to put them on. And now, let me take a picture of you," Jessica said, taking her cell phone out. 

After clicking some pictures of Hera, she went out saying she needed to run some errands. 

Hera checked the stilettos. One glance at them and she kept them back in their place. She's hardly used to such things while sneakers and flip-flops were her kinds of things. Hera stood in front of the mirror, her feet bare. The only accessory on her was the white-gold anklet in her left ankle. She liked the way she looked and decided to join the so-called "welcome party". 

'Satan is not in his hell right now. Maybe I should have some fun at this party and enjoy my freedom as well.' 

The party had already been in full swing. Music was blasting loud enough to block all other sounds. Teenage boys and girls were everywhere, dancing, drinking, teasing, playing games, lost in their private world. Hera scanned the crowd of teenagers searching for familiar faces. 

Asher's gaze found her first, and soon the rest of her friends too joined her. They were all drinking a beer. Celine offered Hera one, but she declined it. She couldn't find Abby anywhere. 

"HERA... HERA... HERA... HERA....."

Startled, Hera jumped as she heard the crowd chanting her name and with utter confusion, she followed the waves of the chanting voices echoing in the back yard. She was stunned at what greeted her eyes.

An arch decorated with glittering, colourful papers and balloons made her gasp, and Hera facepalmed while her eyes read the words written on it in bold capitals. 

"WELCOME TO HERA'S QUINCEANERA" 

Below the arch, small rectangular tables were arranged together on the makeshift dais to make a high platform. 

"Whoa! Didn't know, people in London celebrate Quinceanera too," Adelaide yelled in excitement while Hera still stood dumbfounded. "What does all this mean?" Hera asked no one in particular. Her friends looked at her as though she'd grown two horns on her head. 

"Don't tell me you don't know what a Quinceanera is!" 

"Hera, it's a girl's fifteenth birthday." 

"It's a party to celebrate the transformation of a girl into her young womanhood." 

Her friends exclaimed one after the other. Hera groaned in annoyance. "Shut up, all of you. I know what is Quinceanera okay. I meant to ask, why are they celebrating it? It's not even my birthday!" She half yelled, tone filled with irritation. 

"Who cares, Hera? Let's rock the party, baby," Asher said, dragging Hera into the crowd. Jarred and Asher couldn't wait to join the dance floor to feel the hot girls. After some time Celine, Adelaide and Brittany too left to join the dance floor. Andrew being the gentleman, stayed with Hera. 

Hera watched as Bianca started walking towards her. Andrew stood in front of her in a protective stance. Hera narrowed her eyes in anger as Bianca pushed Andrew out of her way. She took Hera's hand and pulled her towards the dais. Two boys came out of nowhere, lifted Hera at Bianca's command and placed her on the table. Both Bianca and Samantha climbed on the table, joining Hera. 

"Dear friends, meet Hera. The honour of tonight's party. She is fifteen now, and that's what we are celebrating tonight. She's earned the license to please you all handsome boys after all. If you're lucky tonight, she might open her legs for you," Samantha announced to the crowd of teenagers in her overjoyed voice. Meanwhile, Hera cringed in disgust. She tried to walk out, but those two boys from earlier blocked her way from either side, and Bianca smirked at her in victory. 

"And here's your chance to win your private time with our dear Hera. Whoever succeeds in showing her a good time tonight, I mean, if you can make her feel all hot and bothered, then you're the lucky ones," Bianca finished her speech with a wink. And the boys who were already drunk and wasted, hollered loudly, whistling in appreciation. 

"And here's a hint, how to win her over. Use your hands, fingers, legs, lips, tongue, dick, whatever body parts you're good with," Samantha said, adding more to Hera's fear. They left her on her own and jumped down from the tables. The boys started to gather around Hera, and she panicked, not knowing how to escape this trap. She searched for her friends and noticed, they were all struggling to reach her. They were pushed back by the senior boys. 

A hand snaked around her waist and frightened Hera. She screamed for help. 

Someone ripped that hand off her and slapped the culprit hard.

The blaring music stopped. 

"Back off, you asshole, you don't know what you're messing with and stay away from her if you don't want to die tonight," a soft but furious female voice said. Hera blinked her tears away and looked at the blue-eyed angel who appeared out of nowhere for her aid. 

"Evie," Hera whispered her name, almost inaudibly, but the girl heard it. Her tone revealed how relieved and grateful Hera felt to see her interfere. Evelyn pulled Hera into her embrace, soothingly stroking her head. "Sorry for this, Hera. Are you okay?" She asked in her concerned tone. Hera simply tightened her hold in reply and Evelyn understood how much the incident scared her. 

"Hey, didn't your friend say we can do whatever we want with her? Then why are you spoiling all the fun? The boy who got slapped earlier protested and tried to grab Hera's hand again. Furious, Evelyn turned around to strike the Jerk, but Danny beat her to it. "How dare you touch her? You dickhead, don't you know she is Ace's girl?" Danny asked, punching the boy right in his face. Soon Eric and others joined the fight. 

Hera never felt this happy to see her brother. 

A big fight started, but Hunter's friends conveniently dominated them all. The boy and his gang got beaten to a pulp. Few of them apologized, and the rest got thrown out of the mansion. Murmurings were heard, highlighting the phrase "She is Ace's girl" when a warning given to the rest of the teenagers. 

And after that, she was left alone, thankfully. If being labelled as "Ace's girl" keeps her safe from these dreadful drunk teenagers, she's not going to complain tonight. 

Finally, her friends reached her. Adelaide came with two cups of water and offered one to Hera. She gladly accepted and took a sip from it. 

Suddenly, someone wrapped arms around Hera's waist from behind and lifted her, scaring her to death. 

Hera screamed.