One Man Band System

That evening, after having dinner together, Eric was sitting on the sofa with the six girls watching television. "Ding," a notification popped up on Eric’s phone. He picked it up from the coffee table and checked the screen. There was a message from Jade, and he opened it immediately. The message was a selfie of Jade and Ruby inside Jade and Mike’s apartment. Eric could see that Ruby looked embarrassed, her eyes avoiding the camera. Then, another text came in right below it.

"Ruby is staying in our guest room for now until the landlord moves her to a different unit in the same building. Once her lease is up, she’s not renewing and moving somewhere else,"

Jade explained in the text. Eric looked completely unfazed as he read it, replying with just a single word, "ok," before placing his phone back on the table like nothing had happened. But not long after, "ding," another message arrived. He picked it up again to read it.

"Please tell Emma, Priya, Chloe, Monica, Heidi, and Laura to let their teachers know that Ruby will be absent from school for a bit... she seems to still be a little traumatized, even though Chad is still unconscious in the hospital,"

Eric immediately turned to look at the six girls sitting right next to him, all focused on the movie on TV. He then looked over at Chloe, who was snuggled up right against him.

"Chloe, please let your teacher know tomorrow that Ruby won’t be coming to school for a while because she hasn’t fully recovered yet," Eric said.

"Okay... I’ll tell them tomorrow. How is she doing?" Chloe asked.

"Is she okay?" Emma asked, leaning her head out from Eric’s other side.

"She’s fine, she’s staying with Jade and Mike for now," Eric answered.

"Thank goodness for that," Chloe said.

"But is it true that Chad almost died from an overdose?" Priya asked.

"Yeah, that’s what they say, but he brought that on himself. No need to waste your breath thinking about it," Eric replied.

"I already talked to my uncle. He’s going to have a long talk with Chad’s dad, and once he wakes up, I guarantee Chad won’t be bothering us ever again," Laura added, showing off her chat history with Joe.

"Good. That guy is completely out of line, it’s been terrible ever since we were in tenth grade," Heidi said furiously.

"Yeah... hopefully after this incident, he learns his lesson and changes for good," Monica added.

"What about his friends?" Priya asked.

"They were arrested. One of them is over 20 and was actually wanted by the police... so now, we just let the cops do their job," Eric replied casually.

"Perfect, people like that shouldn’t be allowed to run free," Priya retorted.

"We’ll let the teachers know tomorrow that Ruby is absent," Emma added.

"Yeah, thanks guys," Eric replied, stroking Emma’s hair.

"No need to overthink it, we aren’t even mad at Ruby anymore after finding out what she’s actually like," Monica said.

"Yep... true, but don’t worry, we have absolutely no intention of getting close to her either," Heidi added, making her point clear.

"I’ll help keep an eye on Ruby, so nothing like this ever happens again in the future," Laura said, patting her own chest.

Eric just smiled at the six girls and nodded. After that, they went back to watching the movie together, but a few minutes later,

"When do you plan on releasing that song from earlier today?" Emma asked.

"Oh... the plan is next week, right when the new month starts," Eric answered.

"Oh, got it... nice," Emma replied.

"We start practice tomorrow, right? What do you guys think?" Monica asked, looking at the others.

"Yep... sounds good," Priya and Heidi answered at the same time.

"Sure... no problem," Chloe and Laura replied together.

"Alright then, tomorrow after school, you guys can just head straight to my grandfather’s building," Eric said.

"Got it... will do," the six girls replied in unison.

They went back to watching their movie, but a few minutes later, "ding," another message popped up on Eric’s phone. He opened it again, and this time he received a voice note from Jade. When he played it, he heard a conversation between Ruby and her dad.

It sounded like Ruby was telling her father everything, but there was one thing that caught Eric off guard; Ruby mentioned that she wanted to get a job and told Martin not to send her too much allowance because the company’s financial state was still down.

The voice note ended, and Eric sat there stunned for a moment by Ruby’s words. It was blindingly obvious that Ruby was acting completely out of character. Ruby had never wanted to work a part-time job and had never told her dad to cut back on her allowance.

From what he usually knew, Ruby would actually demand an excessive increase in her allowance and flatly refused to work. A tiny thought crossed his mind that maybe his sister was changing now, but he didn’t immediately validate the thought, he just didn’t dismiss it either, letting it take root in his head.

"We’ll just have to wait and see how long she lasts... if she really has changed, she’ll stick with it and actually be happy doing it," Eric thought to himself.

After that, he put his phone back down and went back to watching the movie. A little while later, everyone started clearing out and heading to their rooms to sleep, everyone except Chloe, Laura, and Heidi.

"Why are you guys holding me hostage out here? I want to go to sleep," Heidi said.

"I want to take you downstairs for a second," Chloe said, standing up.

"Yeah... come on, walk with us," Laura urged, pulling Heidi’s hand as she stood up too.

"Okay, okay... relax," Heidi replied, getting to her feet.

They walked over to the elevator and headed downstairs. Once they reached the lobby, they walked straight to a sofa tucked into the corner and sat down, with Chloe and Laura sitting directly across from Heidi. The three of them fell silent for a moment, making the empty, late-night lobby feel even quieter. A few moments later,

"So... why were you sleeping in Eric’s room?" Laura asked.

"Hmm... I walked into the wrong room, haha," Heidi answered casually.

"Don’t lie. Emma, Monica, and Priya might not have noticed, but I saw a difference in you today," Chloe said calmly.

The three went silent again. "Sigh," Heidi then leaned back against the sofa, crossing her legs up onto the cushion before stretching her arms out along the backrest.

"I just slept in Eric’s room... nothing more," Heidi said airily.

"When Laura and I slept in Eric’s bed, he told us he doesn’t like anyone sleeping in his bed... unless he gives them permission... like me and Laura. Did you do something with Eric while we were at the gym earlier?" Chloe asked.

"Yep... that’s right. I heard Eric say that too," Laura added.

Seeing the expressions on her two friends’ faces, Heidi instantly smirked. She brought her feet back down and leaned forward toward them, catching Chloe and Laura completely off guard.

"So you guys are finally laying your cards on the table... you’re sleeping with Eric. Caught you at last. I’ve been wondering about this for a whole week," Heidi shot back.

Hearing Heidi’s words, Chloe and Laura’s expressions instantly shifted like criminals caught red-handed. They had accidentally exposed everything, and their faces went pale as they stared at Heidi, who was grinning right in front of them. But before they could even open their mouths,

"Relax, I’m not going to tell the others, because I’m in the exact same boat as you guys, even if it just started this afternoon," Heidi said.

"Huh," Chloe and Laura gasped in shock.

"Now we all share the same secret, so there’s no need to stress over it anymore... besides, I don’t mind taking turns with you guys," Heidi said, completely acting like a mob boss now.

"Grrr... you’re unbelievable," Chloe and Laura grumbled.

"Well... if you guys don’t want to share, I’ll just tell our other three friends everything... then our group splits up and I get Eric all to myself. You both know I’m always upfront and blunt when I talk, regardless of how the person in front of me feels," Heidi threatened.

"You wouldn’t dare," Chloe said.

"Try me," Heidi replied.

"Okay... okay... I get it. Fine... a three-way split, no problem," Laura said, clearly calculating that she would be completely finished if the news of her sleeping with Eric ever reached Joe’s ears.

Chloe looked at Laura beside her, feeling totally betrayed, and then looked at Heidi, who had already reached out and shaken Laura’s hand. But because she was used to thinking critically, Chloe started running the numbers in her head: resisting and getting angry equaled a loss and self-sabotage, whereas joining meant sharing but staying safe. Finally, she stared at Heidi and Laura, placing her hand on top of theirs as they shook.

"Fine... a three-way split... but we use a strict schedule. I don’t want any violations around here," Chloe stated.

"Works for me," Heidi and Laura replied together with a smile.

After that, they began discussing all sorts of things about Eric and how each of them truly felt. Heidi and Laura glanced over at Chloe, who was tapping away furiously on her phone screen while they talked.

"What are you even doing?" Heidi asked, confused.

"Jotting down the bullet points. I’ll give you two the contract tomorrow so the three of us can sign it," Chloe said seriously, not looking up at Heidi at all.

"Wait... a contract?" Heidi asked, completely bewildered by her friend.

"Huh... no way we’re doing a contract," Laura cried out, her face turning bright red.