𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 - 𝙴. 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚔𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣

𝙲𝚘𝚋𝚛𝚊 𝙺𝚊𝚒 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙳𝚒𝚎𝚜

The sleepover went swimmingly. The three girls screeched along with the movies all night. Athena was just grateful that her dad had the overnight shift. They grubbed on whatever was in the Reyes' fridge and talked and laughed the entire night. Aisha opened up about all the messages she received online. Athena and Julie told her about Kyler and his goons. The friendship formed that night was sure to be a long lasting one.

"Thanks, 'Thena, Julie, I really needed this." Aisha told them while getting out of The Magic School Bus, the next morning.

"Of course Ish, and honestly any time you need some back up, we gotchu." Julie turned around in the front passenger seat, pointing at Aisha.

"Yeah, you're one of us now. A loser." Athena smiled fondly. They all chuckled and said their goodbyes.

"So what now?" Julie turned her head to her best friend.

"I dunno." Athena shrugged. "Wanna go kidnap the boys and make them go to the mall with us?"

"Can we go to hot topic?"

"Uhhh- duh."

"Hell yeah!"

꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂

"Ok, let me see if I understand what you're saying here. Miguel got the shit beat out of him?? And you guys ran??" Julie interrogated Eli and Demitri.

"Umm yeah??? What did you expect us to do stick around?" Demitri defended.

"Nah, I would have ran too." Athena admitted while she handed a pretzel nugget to Eli. He took it gratefully, with a small 'thanks'.

"Noo, we get the shit beat out of us together." Julie's hand motioned a circle between the four.

"I mean, he could have ran with us, but he chose to stay and try and fight them." Eli shrugged, taking another pretzel from Athena, who gave him an understanding look. Julie sighed dramatically and fell back in her chair.

"Also," Athena cut in. "We would never get the shit beat out of us, we always run before things can get that out of hand." She popped another pretzel in her mouth.

"But, hypothetically, if I were to be cornered and beat up, would you stay with me?" Julie asked.

"Of course, but that's not the case. Miguel made the choice to stay, and thus got his ass beat." Athena reasoned. "If you were to be cornered, if any of you were cornered, I'd do everything in by power to stop and or prevent shit from hitting the fan."

"Well, now, is this argument anti-Miguel?" Demitri's head tilted. "Are you anti-Miguel?" Oh fuck debate club and their fucking argument tips.

"Absolutely not." Athena stated shortly. "It's anti-ass-beating. The person, or rather people, to blame are as always Kyler and his goons." She looked to Eli for agreement. He quickly nodded. The other three sat back in their seats, satisfied and looking deep in thought.

They sat in silence for maybe 50 seconds before, "So did you guys see the last Supernatural?" Julie looked up from her lemonade.

"Oh my God fucking Jack!"
꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂

"So that's it? No more karate?" Demitri confirmed with Miguel.

After making sure Aisha was fine with her usual table, the five were eating lunch in the library in order to avoid The Plastics and The Neanderthals.

"I guess so." Miguel barely responded, clearly wanting to not talk about it.

"Maybe it's for the best." Athena tried to make him see the bright side.

"Yeah, it was starting to boost your confidence." Julie jumped in.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Miguel asked before Athena could disagree with Julie.

"No!" Demitri answered, cutting off both girls. "What has confidence ever gotten anybody, except for a black eye and their backpack thrown in the trash?" He refuted.

"A significant other." Julie answered.

"Some fucking respect." Athena responded.

"Well I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler." Eli added.

"Are you insane?!" Demitri bursted. Athena rolled her eyes and laid her head on Eli's shoulder. "Let me ask you: what is the best superpower anyone could have?" He questioned.

"Super strength." Miguel didn't even hesitate.

"Whatever the hell Dr. Strange has got goin on." Julie offered. Athena was distracted, playing with Eli's hand while he ate and occasionally handed her food with his other.

"Wrong. The both of you. Invisibility." Demitri immediately disagreed. "A distant second would be super speed to run away fast."

"Run away from who?" Ugh

"Whom." Everyone turned to Brucks. "It's the object of preposition. Remember English class." Oh shit he's right.

"We were just leaving." Miguel told them as the rest of the friends sped to get the fuck out of there.

"He where are you going?" Landon grabbed Eli and held him by his face. "Oh, look at this freak. Oh shit!" He and the rest of his buddies laughed. Athena felt her face heat up in rage. "What kinda girl would ever kiss this shit?"

"Fuck off Landon." Athena commanded.

"Oh yeah, that's right! The Freak Fucker." Landon turned to the shorter girl.

"Yeah that's right, I'm a Freak Fucker, but I'm sure he's getting more than you are huh?" She questioned.

"Leave them alone, dudes." Miguel seemed just as, if not more, pissed off than Athena. This made The Meatheads chortle even more.

"What'd you say?" They all stepped up to Miguel. "You haven't had enough, 'Rhea?" Athena and Julie scrunched up their noses at the nickname Kyler shoved Miguel's shoulder. "Get the hell out of here man." He pushed him much more forcefully this time. All five nerds quickly walked away, Eli and Athena hand in hand. "Come on, you don't want this shit." Landon stated as he grabbed Demitri's back pack."

"No, come on, not the trash!" Demitri protested. "I just threw a-" Landon threw the bag anyways "yoghurt in there.."

"Now it's double dip." Kyler commented.

Demitri reached into the trash can, and pulled out his now yoghurt covered backpack. Julie pulled him away from the boys, latching her hand onto the inside of his elbow.

꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂

"God, I hate them!" Athena frustratedly groaned while her knuckles turned white around her steering wheel.

"It's not anything we haven't dealt with before." Julie scrolled through her phone in the back seat. A bit irritated that Eli made it to the front before she did.

"I know but it's still so irritating." Athena slumped back in her seat, waiting for the light to turn green. Eli reached over the center console and gently grasped her hand. He squeezed twice, while she squeezed back 3 times.

"Thanks for saying that, back there." He looked softly at her. Shit, it might be dangerous to drive when he's right there all distracting and shit with his fucking eyes and lips and his hand in mi- "Thena?" His voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry I spaced out." She shook her head. "Eli, I couldn't just let him talk to you like that." She pressed on the gas, her hand still in his.

"But you didn't have t-"

"But I did, Eli. I hate it when they talk to you like that, especially about your scar. It shouldn't hold you back, and they shouldn't get away with treating you like shit because of it." He looked down. She moved her hand to his chin, still watching the road. "Listen, I love you, and I'll always be there to protect you, but you and me and Jules and Demitri really need to learn how to deal with those jackasses, because it can't just be Miguel standing up to them. We can't let that happen again." She brought her hand back down to his and finally relaxed, satisfied. Her friends all sat in silence, absorbing what she had just said.