Lost Hope

ELEVEN

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Athena returned hours later, swaying on her footing and giggling randomly.

She stumbled in, grinning widely. "Top of the mornin' to you all!" she yelled when she was in the living room.

Blake snorted, Emmet pinched the bridge of his nose, Isaac burst out laughing and Henry got up quickly.

"Whoa, are you . . . drunk?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Me?" giggled Athena, pointing to herself. "Drunk? Never!" And she burst into a fit of loud laughter.

"Oh my God," whispered Henry, looking lost as Athena stumbled around.

"Harry, do something. She's your cousin!" hissed Emmet, catching her just before she fell.

"I've never dealt with her drunk before!" Henry hissed back.

Athena stumbled to the stairs, laughing drunkenly. Henry cursed and helped her to her bedroom, she jumped to her bed and fell asleep instantly, not bothering to change. Henry threw her covers over her and set her an alarm for school.

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Athena woke up the next day with a pounding head. Groaning, she turned her alarm off and scowled at the ceiling for a few minutes before getting up and going to the shower.

Half an hour later, she was dressed in her uniform with her baggy leather jacket and converse and was walking to school.

Chris was sitting in the courtyard, on the ground, his back against the wall and his head bowed into his sketchbook.

"Morning," she said, sitting next to him.

Chris started and turned to her, blinking. Quickly, he plastered a completely fake smile and said hoarsely, "Hi."

Athena frowned. "Are you all right, Chris?"

"Yep," he said quickly. Way too quickly.

"I don't believe that for a second," she scoffed.

"Well, don't," he said shortly.

"Listen, why don't you just talk to me?" she said, annoyed. "I'm your best friend, you know."

Chris stared ahead blankly.

"What's going on, Christophe?" she whispered, worried.

But he stood up and grabbed his things beginning to walk into the building at a fast pace.

Azalea followed after him, her worry increasing. She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. His eyes looked empty and his face was expressionless. "Chris, what's wrong?"

The bell rang.

Chris stared at her for a few moments. "Everything," he breathed, his voice cracking and his eyes welling. He took his arm out of her grip and walked to class.

Azalea stared at his back, biting her lips. She sighed in annoyance and walked to her class, too.

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At break, she couldn't find Chris. She looked everywhere and got no sign of him.

Jacob approached her, grinning. "Hey, Graves."

"Hi," she said distractedly.

"What do you say about hanging out after school today?" he said easily.

"Yeah, yeah, all right—what?" She paused, turning to blink up at him in utter confusion.