🅸'🅻🅻 🅱🅴 🆃🅷🅴🆁🅴 🅵🅾🆁 🆈🅾🆄 {ERIC MATTHEWS}

S1 E4: The One Where He Helps Out

˚ ༘✶ ⋆｡˚ ⁀➷ HE ACTUALLY GOT TO SCHOOL EARLY TODAY, and he was particularly proud of himself for doing so. The only problem was that he hadn't seen her waiting at the front of school like she always was. Andy was punctual, always on time and always where she needed to be. A good student, or at least he thought so. He looked left and right, walking up the steps in the front to try and find where she might be. He hadn't seen her after school yesterday, but it hadn't been for lack of trying. He called several times, but the phone was never answered. He went to bed early last night, that being the reason he was up earlier than usual and currently standing on school property before he needed to. 

The kids walking up the steps nearly made him want to do the same, but then he saw a familiar car pull into a designated staff parking space. The car had more than one passenger, which was odd, considering Mr. Feeny lived alone and wasn't the type to simply start carpooling. He wasn't prepared to see her step out of the car when it pulled over. Not only was he surprised to see her, but her appearance nearly shocked him still as stone. 

Her hair was damp, and half of it was in her face. She was in clothes that didn't belong to her, and as soon as he caught her eyes, he saw the bruises and cut on her face. Something bad had happened, he knew it. None of it made sense, and yet he already had an idea of what the problem was. 

He walked up to her and Mr. Feeny, and skipped any pleasantries with the older man. He came close to her and started to examine her face, but she kept ducking her head and leaning away from him. 

"Good morning, Mr. Matthews," Feeny gave a nod to Eric before turning to Andy and giving a face that he couldn't even tell what it meant. "Remember what we discussed."

With that, the Principle walked away. It was a good thing school didn't start for another ten minutes, because Eric would say she had some explaining to do. 

"What's he talking about?" He tried again to pull the hair back from her face and look at the damage. "What the hell happened to you?" 

She couldn't seem to look him in the eye, and he had to gently pull her chin up to get her line of sight to meet his. She looked like she'd cried fro hours, maybe even the whole night long. Even now, she had to bite her lips together in an attempt to stop fresh tears from forming. His eyes widened once he saw the cut above her left eyebrow, formerly blocked by hair that had just fallen. She looked like she'd been beaten to a pulp, and she was shaking like a leaf. 

He didn't know what to do, so he just hugged her. She clung to him and started to even her breathing so she didn't cry at school. The students were still piling through in droves, but he remained standing where he was, unsure of how to ask anything else of her when she couldn't even look him in the eye. 

"It's okay," he muttered into her hair. He wanted to comfort her, but his next words only made her feel worse. "Whoever did this to you is dead."

She pulled back to look at him, and the fear of spilling it all rushed over her, still, she remembered Mr. Feeny's words. If he is going to be her friend in the good times, then surely he will stand by her through the bad. 

"Eric, I need to tell you something," she said softly, almost hoping he wouldn't hear it. Not that she thought she could avoid this by any means, but any form of stalling might prevent it until after school. 

"I'm listening," he replies in a gentle voice. He's being so sweet, showing how much he cares, and it gives her the safe feeling she needs to tell him. 

"My dad's been drinking a lot... They kicked him out of the bar last night and he came home drunk," the last part would be uttered quietly, as other students passing by didn't need to know of her home struggles. "I guess he was angry and thought he could take it out on me."