Athena

8. Rules Are Just Suggestions

The tension recedes once Ron leaves the room. Aunt Katrina's shock fades. Her demeanor reverts back to business as usual. Not surprisingly, she chooses to side with Ron and Cruz yet again.

My aunt chides with an epic eye roll, "Look at the mess you caused, Athena."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Katrina. I promise this won't happen again."

"You're grounded for a week."

Shit.

I can't be grounded!

Sam's party is tonight, and I need to be there. I already have the quap of weed all individually packaged and ready to go.

I open my mouth to protest, "Wait, no, please—"

She cuts me off and turns to leave, "That's enough from you. I need to go check on Ron and smooth things over."

Before I can get another word out, Aunt Katrina has already scurried off to kiss and make up with her fiancé.

This leaves Cruz and me alone in my bedroom.

I glance at his smashed up laptop on the floor. It looks broken, and I feel bad all over again. Flushing with remorse, I stammer, "I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for things to get so out of hand."

Cruz stares at me. His face shows no emotion, and he doesn't say a word.

My cheeks begin to feel hot. "How can I make it up to you?"

Maybe I can chip in for repairs?

In chilling tones, he finally breaks his silence, "You don't owe me anything. Just don't pull this kind of shit again, understand? I warned you already. You don't know anything about me. You especially don't know anything about my dad. Next time, who knows what will set him off? Who knows what he'll do? Stay out of our way. I mean it."

His words stun me. I feel uncomfortable. In twitchy movements, I start to twirl my hair between my fingers. I want to ask him more questions about his dad.

"Hey, does Ron lose his temp—"

But he doesn't let me finish. With a stormy expression, Cruz pushes past me as he exits my room. Clearly, our conversation is over.

Not long after, we head to school, separately, of course, and my classes drag on as they always do for me. While I sit through hour after hour of mind-numbing trig and history and photography and English and chemistry and Spanish, I decide that I'm going to sneak out tonight. I don't care that I'm supposed to be grounded. Sam's party is too big of an opportunity for me to miss. I need the cash.

Around 10 pm, I hear Ron and my aunt head to bed. I start getting ready to go out. I wear my hair down, letting the wavy black strands fall freely down my back. I put on a little makeup and change into a loose white tee and some black jeans. I want to blend into the crowd. I don't want to stand out. I'm attending the party for business, after all, not pleasure.

After the lights go out in the bedroom that Ron and my aunt share, I call an Uber and quietly head out the front door. Once I'm outside, I notice that Cruz's car is missing from the driveway.

Maybe he went on a date or something?

I walk a block away and wait for my ride. When my driver arrives, he eyes me suspiciously, "How old are you?"

"Eighteen," I lie.

I have a fake ID in my wallet, if he asks for it, but the girl in the photo doesn't really look like me. She has dark hair, too, but her skin is a bit lighter than mine, and her eyes are actually blue.