silence

eleven

Athena

The doorbell rings and I race down the stairs attempting to open it before any of my brothers do. Key word 'attempt'. When I get to the front door, my brothers are all standing around it in the foyer.

Pushing through them, I'm met with a familiar brunette - Archer. He's dressed in a blue button up shirt and some dress pants. His blank stare turns into a happy one when he sees me, walking up to give me a hug. He lifts my body off the ground and spins me around before setting me back down on my feet. He's holding a white rise in his hand, that he places in mine sweetly. I thank him and turn around to my brothers' clenched jaws and hard glares.

Ignoring them, I lead Archie into the dining room and we all sit down. We're just waiting on the other two, but they aren't late, Archer is just early. The doorbell cuts off my thoughts.

"I'll get it," I call out before my brothers can move a muscle. I walk back to the front door, opening it to see a well dressed Jasiel and a smart looking Raeden staring back at me. I hug and greet them both before leading them to the dining room as well. I set the plate of cookies that Raeden was holding and the carnation from Jasiel in the kitchen with the white rose and join them in the dining room.

We all take a seat and Maria comes out to serve our meals in front of us. The table has fallen into slight tension. Obviously between my brothers and my three guy friends. Dinner is served and Atticus clears his throat.

"It's good to meet you three boys. Athena's fought quite hard for your approval from us. Thank you for coming on time."

Atticus keeps his hard gaze at them, I feel them tense a little but give polite nods. I think they're a bit frightened by how formal this all is. I barely mentioned my family when we were in England so they didn't really get a briefing. We begin eating as the boys are questioned about their interests and lives. I sit mostly silently, only adding to the conversation to help them out when needed.

Phoenix looks quite stern still, clearly not liking this idea in the slightest, but Khai seems to get along pretty well with them all. Isaiah brought up the topic of football and the boys eagerly conversed about that with my brothers. They are on the same team as Archie and Jas so they have to be somewhat civil at least. Raeden and I talk about art and biology while they chat football, neither of us being interested in it that much.

"Aren't you going to cheer tryouts tomorrow Aena?" questions Jasiel. I almost forgot about that. Atticus had already said I could do it so I'm not worried about him or Isaiah. Mainly just Phoenix. Thanks to Jasiel, this is the first he's heard of it.

Khai widens his eyes and I glare at Jasiel. He gives me a smug look back. I know he brought it up on purpose. Not to get me in trouble, he just never liked the idea of me on the cheer team either and is probably hoping Phoenix will pull some strings so I can't go.

"She's what now?!" Phoenix startles everyone. I look at Atticus for help but he stares straight back at me blankly, telling me not to let this argument get out of hand.

"I was on the team in Dalton, Atticus said I could give it a go here too," I reply, steadying my voice to make me seem calm.

Phoenix turns his head to Atticus with a confused and angry look. "You've seen their uniform right? The tiny ass fucking skirt?"

"Yes I checked the uniform. She only has to wear it on game days and the same night at the football stadium," Atticus replies calmly, his eyes telling Phoenix to drop it.

Phoenix gives me an angry glare but drops the conversation all together. Luckily, the silence doesn't last long when Maria comes to give us dessert - ice cream with a cookie that Raeden made on the side.