Aces

NINE

Amaya

All over my body, I could feel myself sweating; my palms were the worst. Despite fighting with my mind, telling myself it's okay, my breathing started to speed up as each second passed. My eyes danced from object to object. Suddenly, Avery took my hands in hers and I felt my heart do a flip. She looked me dead in the eye; I began to get lost in the ocean before me. "It's okay." Avery's tone was warm and welcoming. "They're just stupid teenage boys, they can't hurt you." I tried my best to place a convincing smile on my face. Avery pulled me in for a sincere hug. When she placed her hand on the door handle, she sent me one last comforting smile. Come on Amaya, you can do this.

Aiden and Axel sat around a small, circular table in the centre of the room. I felt slightly intimidated by them, but Axel was definitely pulling the weight there. I mean, his hair was red and black, the purple areas around his eyes clashed with his pasty, pale skin, and he held a cigarette in his mouth. Aiden on the other hand, well he wasn't at all scary, but his rude attitude certainly does some damage to his likeability. Whilst I took my seat opposite them, Avery slammed the door shut behind me. She made her way over to the table and took a seat next to me, and for some reason, my mind was really focused on how close she was to me.
"Listen up, everyone. We're gathered here today for a very important reason." she began.
"Make it quick, will you?" Aiden grunted.
"Aiden, cut it out." Axel said, obviously annoyed.
"You're not the boss of me."
"Listen here golden boy, I'm sick and tired of this new attitude. What's gotten into you? If you're trying to impress the new girl, sorry, I mean Amaya, then you're not doing a good job, buddy. Do us all a favour and sort yourself out, okay?" There was a brief moment of silence, but a room had never been so loud.
"Boys! Quit it." Avery demanded.
"Sorry Avery. What's up?" Axel replied.
"So, as you both know, this is Amaya. I'm happy to say that she's now my friend, and given that you two are also my friends, I feel as if we should welcome her into her group."
"No." Aiden shot back. "You know exactly what this group is based on, Avery. We can't just welcome random people. I'm sorry, but it's not happening."
"I- I can just go if you guys don't want me here." I stuttered as I stood up to leave, but whilst doing so, I felt something pull me back down. Avery shook her head lightly as she took her hand away from my sleeve.
"No." Her voice was quiet yet dominating. "Hey Amaya, I know this is going to sound weird, but I need you to take your shirt off."
"What? No, no. I can't do that. I'm sorry. I just can't."
"Amaya, I need you to show them."
"Show them what?"
"Your back. Please. You'll see why. Just trust me, okay?"
"My birthmark? I told you, it's just a birthmark, but if you're really that worried, then sure." I watched as the boys' expressions changed at my words. Something was up, and I didn't like it. I stood up, turning to face away from them. As I unbuttoned my blouse and slipped it off my shoulders, a loud gasp echoed around the room. My head whipped around to see two shocked faces. "I don't understand, it's just a birthmark?" I don't think I'd ever been more perplexed in my life. Avery scoffed and stood up, nodding at the boys. In unison, they took off their shirts and my gaze switched to the floor extremely fast.
"Amaya, look up." Nothing could prepare me for the confusion that hit me as I did so.

In front of me were 3 bare backs, each a small birthmark on the back of their left shoulder, just like mine. Avery's was a diamond, Aiden's was a club and Axel's was a spade. Buttoning their shirts back up, they span around to face me. "I don't understand..."
"Every 100 years, there are 4 people who are born with a card suit on their back; we're called the Aces. You know, like there is in a pack of cards? That's why all of our names start with the letter 'A', and we meet in room 52 for the same reason." Axel explained.
"Hold on, didn't your parents ever explain this to you?" Aiden asked.
"No. Were they supposed to? Why is this even a thing? What's the whole point?" Questions were flowing from my mouth like there was no tomorrow.
"Well, now that we've all found each other, something big is going to happen very, very soon. We're the only people who can do anything about it because all of the information on what happens will be sent to us." Axel seemed to know a lot about this.
"So, we're like superheroes?"
"Not really, but that doesn't matter right now; we have plenty of time to explain," Avery smiled. "We found you. Welcome home, hearts."