Lost Hope

SEVEN

〡↻ ◁◁ II ▷▷ ↺〡

As soon as the last bell rang and Athena sped out of the school doors, Chris ran up to her, glaring.

She rolled her eyes. "Wuss."

"I heard that!" snapped Chris.

Athena gave him a sarcastic smile and motioned for him to follow as she jumped on her skateboard.

"The boys nearly got caught with the last graffiti on Thursday," she said as soon as they were a good distance away from the school.

Chris froze. "Boys as in...?"

Athena nodded with a sigh. "Black and Sawyer."

She jumped over the skateboard, avoiding his eyes.

"Fuck."

Athena bit her lip, knowing what was to come.

"Fuck, Athena, fuck! Do you fucking know how dangerous and stupid what you're doing is?"

Athena stopped skating and turned to him, clicking her tongue. "Isn't everything I do 'dangerous and stupid', Davies?"

Chris gave her an annoyed look. "Most dangerous and stupid, then."

Athena grinned, shaking her head.

"Relax, Chrissy, we're all right. Besides, Small's a good guy, he'll let us off the hook. He always does."

"You have a fucking gun on you, Athena!"

Athena's eyes widened, she looked around, making sure no one had heard. "Lower your voice!" she hissed at him. "And I know that."

Chris punched the low wall next to them.

"What's wrong with you?" she cried, grabbing his now bruised, bloody hand.

Chris wrenched his hand away. "I want you out of that mess," he snapped, eyes cold.

"It's not that simple, Christophe," she scoffed.

"I don't fucking care, you're getting into more dangerous stuff with time, haven't you noticed? First it was cigarettes, then graffities, then guns, then drugs and weed and now you're on robbery. What's next, huh? Are you gonna murder someone?"

"Shut up," she whispered, holding her head and getting on her skateboard again.

"No. You need to understand what kind of shit they're throwing you into! You're gonna end up wanted by the cops on murder if you don't fucking realise all that! Just get out, already!"

Athena stayed silent, welling the tears away.

"What's in there for you, anyway? Sebastian fucking cheated on you! And I told you! And you didn't listen just like every single time I warned you! God, think about me, maybe? What am I gonna do if you got dragged into fucking jail?"

Athena wiped at her face furiously. "It's not easy getting out of that stuff."

"What?" he snapped, staring at the ground.

Athena gave a small smile and continued skating.

Chris quickly caught up with her, his expression mournful. "I'd never forgive you if you die."

"Me neither," she laughed.

"Do you have to do it?" asked Chris after a few minutes of silence.

Athena jumped off the skateboard and handed it to him. "Do what?"