THIEVES

Her Solemn Promise

"Friends are better than boyfriends."

- Anonymous

It was the morning after when Athena answered her beeping phone that buzzed unruly in her pocket.

It was Ace.

"Hey, you didn't come home yesterday. You okay?"

Athena almost rolled her eyes, he had witnessed, no- even the whole god damn school had witnessed what took place last morning, so was that even a question?

Nevertheless, she answered, "Yeah. I stayed in my dorm, I'm fine. Better than ever." She nodded off the traumatising memories as she replied.

There was a long awkward pause before Ace spoke up again. "About yesterday-" He stopped and took a long breath, gathering the proper words. "I should have chased after you and stopped you no matter what it took. I was stupid for letting you go. You're new and don't know the things around here. I should have told you better a-and I should have tried to stop them when they were-"

"No." Athena shook her head. "I don't want you getting into my trouble. I know, it's about your mother and its totally fine. And, I don't and will not regret what I did, one way or another, that teacher needed help. Those assly faces should be expelled for what they did!" Feeling indignant, her voice raised at the end.

"Babe, please quiet down. You're alone, right?" Ace was tense from the thought of her getting caught for saying it.

"No. I'm in the cafeteria and it's like a sea of fishes here."

"Are you serious?!"

Athena tittered slightly from his dramatic reaction. "No baby, it's only me, myself and I," she assured him before adding, "So I can curse those MFs whatever and however I like!" She stopped in her tracks, huffing the stressed air out of her.

She let her anger slide and wondered to ask Ace the question that had been wanting to spill from her lips a while now.

"What's the big fuss anyway? You know, I don't really give a damn if they are just by the bush in front of me eavesdropping neither do I care if they are right in my face. Even better! They can enjoy when I bless them all with my firing spits!" She spattered.

She was hell bent on Ace being her pillar, to support and solace her, especially at times like this as Ace hated bullies himself, but the sickening silence that played in the air after made her tentative.

"Babe, you know I never lie to you and never did something for you to doubt on me, right? He breathed.

Athena leant into her new phone, tucking her hair behind her ears as if to recall if he ever did.

"Yes," she agreed, unsurely, not because she was skeptical of him but it was his inexplicable tone that made her precarious.

"Athena, listen carefully okay? I need you to stay away from the boys you met yesterday. Scratch that, don't even look at them or think about them, no matter in a good or bad way. And, if they set their head straight on something, doesn't matter if it goes against all morals, DO NOT get yourself involved, Athena, do you understand?" He warned briefly.

"So... You mean to tell me that the authorities would be the one to handle them, right?" She supposed innocently.

"What? No, Athena-"

"Then are you asking me to condone their actions?" She was agitated. Why the hell was he acting this way? He was always the more helpful one, the more thoughtful one, so what the hell was this?

Ace sighed, shaking his head in his hand. "Five, Athena. Five of them. Felix Princeton and his brother, Ricardo, they are the ones who tussled with you. They have a somewhat similar face. Remember that, babe? They are twins. They both are aeronautical engineers who have control of almost anything in that department. And, the one with numerous chinese words inked onto his arms is Derek Ambrose-"