Puberty Rituals

'Coming of age rituals? 

Seriously? 

I mean, who throws a party to celebrate one's menstruation?' 

Hera thought it was disgustingly ridiculous. Why should it be announced to the whole world that a girl is starting to have her periods? "It's rituals, and I'm old-fashioned," that's what Liezel said to justify her action when in reality People in California don't even practice such rituals anymore. She just needed an opportunity to show off how good at heart they were. 

'After all, they've adopted an orphaned girl and gave her such a good life. Or maybe, it's just an excuse to get drunk.' 

Someone called Hera's name and pulled her out of her thoughts. Hera tried to listen with great difficulty whatever they're preaching her right now, and it's no more different than what Liezel and Jenny told her a week ago. 

Poor Danny had to sit through when they were having this "adult talk" because it was supposed to be his duty as a brother to protect Hera, now that she's a grown-up woman. He was so disgusted listening to his mother and aunt talking about sex that he almost threw up. Hera bit back a sarcastic laugh at the memory. 

'As if Danny gives a damn about his so-called little sister. If only he could care for me.' 

Fundamentally, it was about how a girl at fifteen will be now going into a new phase of life where she needs to think more like an adult and be more mature. And they educated her about randomly having sex, boyfriends, unsafe sex, getting knocked up, blah blah blah. 

'Utter bullshit.'

Hera didn't need their preaching. For sure, Mother Nature took her sweet time to bless Hera with puberty. But it didn't mean she was ignorant. All her female friends, including Abby, acquired their license to womanhood way before Hera did. Probably a year and a half early compared to Hera's. So Hera knew everything because friends do talking. 

Soon these women felt that they'd taught Hera enough and they left her table to join the adults to enjoy their drink. Hera inhaled the evening air and relaxed in her chair. She couldn't be happier, as they left her alone to enjoy her food in peace at last. 

Right at that exact moment, Danny's cell phone which Hera had kept in the chair next to her pinged, indicating an incoming message and Hera choked on her food when she saw her Satan's name flashing on the screen. She coughed, and her eyes watered as the food entered the wrong pipe. She drank water and composed herself quickly, not wanting to grab attention. The phone kept alerting about the incoming messages. She grabbed the phone and shoved it inside the pocket of her jean shorts without glancing at the screen again. She couldn't dare. 

Hera stood up from the chair and eyed her unfinished food. She never appreciated the idea of wasting food. But right at that moment, wasting food was the last thing she was worried. She was nervous and needed someone for moral support. Hera quickly glanced around, searching for her cousin and found Abby dancing with a boy. She could see how good-looking he was. 

Hera stared at her beautiful cousin while Abby laughed heartily at something the boy said. Her soft dirty blonde hair moved in sync with the soft wind, fanning her oval-shaped face. He gently tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear, making Abby blush. 

Unlike Hera, her cousin was a social butterfly and could easily mingle with anyone. Hera decided not to ruin her fun and started walking in the direction of their back-gate entrance to the kitchen. She saw Danny and sighed in relief that he's busy kissing a random girl behind a tree.

Hera made a beeline to her room without any second thought. 

Hera locked her room and leaned against the closed door. She placed her palms on her chest and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"God! Are you planning on killing me, you stupid heart? Slow down, will you?" She scolded her racing heart, which was beating so fast that she felt like it might jump out of her chest. She waited for her heart to settle down until her breathing became normal. 

She jumped on her bed and took several deep breaths. She wasted enough time trying to dodge the dreaded moment. But how long could she avoid it? She wasn't allowed to ignore him. Eventually, Hera took out the phone from her pocket and swiped the screen. Thankfully, Danny had given her the password to unlock the screen before giving his phone to her. Otherwise, she would've needed her annoying brother to open the phone lock, and she didn't need a commanding Hitler dancing on her head right now. 

The notification bar showed, twenty-four messages and two missed calls. "Oh, my God! Did he call? I missed it!" She said aloud, panicking. 

"He'll be furious that I didn't answer his call. What should I do now?" She asked herself as her heart started to race again, making her nervous. She brushed her sweaty palms on her jean shorts, wiping them. 

Slowly gathering all the courage from every fibre of her body, she checked the missed calls first, and to her relief, it wasn't from Hunter. It was from Evelyn, one of Hunter's best friends. Her name itself brought a smile to Hera's face. Unlike the rest of his gang, she was a sweetheart and the only odd one out in their group. 

Evelyn was beautiful, smart, and the blue-eyed angel of the school. Most importantly, she wasn't a mean bitch, unlike her other best friends. She's kind, friendly, and liked to be a help wherever it was needed. Every boy in their school had a crush on her. But she had her eyes and heart set on only one person, Daniel Aiken aka Danny. However, Hera's stupid brother Danny had always ignored Evelyn's every attempt to win his heart, or so it seemed. 

Hera opened the message inbox and found out that Evelyn had sent twenty-three messages. Hera giggled quietly. For someone ignorant of Evelyn's feelings, Danny for sure chatted a lot with her, and he'd saved her contact name as Princess Evelyn. 

Out of twenty-four messages, one message came from Hunter. Hera paused and debated whether to open or not to open Hunter's message. She thought maybe it was for Danny. According to what her brother said, Hunter was supposed to call her. He wouldn't message her, right? Hera jerked back in surprise when the phone pinged again, notifying an incoming message. It was from Evelyn, and Hera accidentally touched the screen, opening the message unknowingly.