Memories

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PUMPED UP KICKS

'He'll look around the room, he won't tell you his plan
He's got a rolled cigarette
Hanging out his mouth he's a cowboy kid
Yeah found a six shooter gun
In his dad's closet, oh in a box of fun things
I don't even know what
But he's coming for you, yeah he's coming for you'

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Thalia showed up to practice the next day with a new phone for Wymack and a closed off, lonely attitude. Wymack tried getting an explanation for her actions the day before, but Thalia didn't answer a single one. Wymack eventually figured the effort wasn't worth it and left her alone.

She was smoking behind the Fox Tower after practice when heavy boots rounded the corner. Thalia looked up, slightly on edge when she saw who it was, but Andrew didn't say anything. He took out a cigarette of his own and put it between his lips. They smoked in silence for a few minutes, neither acknowledging the other, before Thalia snapped. 

"So Pig, huh?" she said. Andrew hummed in response, looking away from her. "How many homes?" she asked, knowing it was likely she wouldn't get a response. He didn't answer, as Thalia knew he would, so she stubbed her cigarette on the ground and went to walk away.

"Twelve in thirteen years," he responded, startling Thalia. Andrew still didn't look at her. "You?" she swallowed hard before deciding to tell Andrew the number. It wasn't a hard decision. She'd asked, he'd answered, and now he was asking, so she felt obliged to answer.

"Fourteen in five months." this made Andrew look at her and Thalia huffed a laugh. "Pig said if I ran away from the fifteenth I'd go to juvie. At the time, it seemed like that would have been the worse option." Thalia sighed. "I was wrong."

"So how long were you in the system?" Andrew asked. He stomped on his own cigarette, showing he was at least a little interested in their conversation. They were both avoiding the elephant in the room, and Thalia knew they probably wouldn't acknowledge it any time soon. Especially not today.

"Technically I'm still in the system, since I'm legally seventeen." Andrew's eyebrows furrowed at the second half of her sentence and Thalia sighed, knowing she was going to have to explain what little of her past she knew well. 

"I say legally because my court given birthday is the twenty-second of November. The judge thought I was probably seventeen, so she gave me a year in the system and then told me to do whatever the fuck I want to." Thalia explained.

"Why do you have a court given birthday?" Andrew asked. Thalia knew it was getting personal, and Andrew seemed to as well, but it was clear he didn't care. Thalia knew he didn't, but he did want to know. So she took in a deep breath and told him.

"I was found on a beach in California almost a year ago. I was next to a burning car, and someone obviously pulled me out before I could die. Why they didn't call emergency services, I don't know. But that's not the point." Thalia didn't tell Andrew about the boy she remembered hovering over her and stuffing the piece of paper into her hand that held her name. That was for her to know, and her only. She would never tell anyone that. Especially not Andrew Minyard.

"I didn't have any coherent memories," partly a lie, Thalia realised. She remembered a few things very clearly, like the day she sat in a chair next to a boy and was marked with ink on her right shoulder blade. "And the rest is history." She'd mostly caught Andrew up on her tragic life, and didn't feel obligated to share anything more.

Andrew didn't say anything, and Thalia walked off, not wanting to deal with his apathy or muteness. She made her way back to the court and changed out into her gear. It was turning dark outside, but Thalia knew Wymack would still be in his office doing work. 

Thalia walked into the inner court and began running through drills she often practiced alone, and flung ball after ball at the goal. She practiced switching between hands often so that she could get better at it, and hopefully throw Andrew off enough one day to be able to score on him.

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The needle stung against Thalia's skin. She didn't say anything, only clutched desperately to the hand beside her. Her eyes were shut, and a single tear dropped down her face. Thalia immediately knew that was a mistake, though she couldn't help it. 

She groaned in pain as the knife pressed into her other palm. Thalia didn't open her eyes and her bottom lip wavered, so she bit down on it, not caring about the blood that filled her mouth. "Stay still, you brat." the woman's voice said. Thalia didn't move as the tattooist behind her continued to press the ink into her skin. Though it hurt Thalia knew she'd regret it if she disobeyed the woman's orders. 

"There, Princess," the lady said mockingly. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Thalia blinked to clear the spots from her eyes and looked down at her right hand. The lady's face was pulled in a sneer and she removed the small knife from Thalia's palm. She gasped as the blood seeped from the small wound, and subconsciously switched the position of her other hand as her right one was cleaned and bandaged. 

"Your turn, Junior." the lady said, turning to Thalia's side. She didn't dare follow her gaze. She knew if she did that there would be consequences larger than a cut on her palm. It was the other person's turn to clutch Thalia's hand in a white-knuckled grip. She stared ahead as her shoulder blade that was still burning was patched up. 

Eventually, when the other person's tattoo was finished, a man walked into the room. "Are they done?" The woman stood and nodded. "Good." he smiled manically at Thalia and the other person, icy blue eyes looking murderous. "How are you, my children? Do your shoulders hurt?" It was a rhetorical question, and they both knew it. The man laughed hoarsely and motioned for the woman to stand at his side. She did, and the man smiled at her then.

"I need you to mentor these two. Teach them everything you know, from knife throwing, to dismemberment and where to get someone in the spine to kill them." the man said, which the woman only nodded to. "I'll return in a few weeks. Until then, you will learn to prove yourselves against the tattoos you've received today."