Hidden treasures

First encounter

"Come on, we have to hurry!" A beautiful woman with chestnut hair and bright grey eyes spoke whilst clutching a baby wrapped in a blanket. "We're almost there," a tall, handsome man said as he walked beside her with his arm around her shoulders. They stopped in front of an old looking house. *knock, knock, knock* The black haired and blue eyed man knocked on the door in front of him. The woman started sobbing quietly and cooed to her baby who was fast asleep. "I love you, Athena," the distressed woman whispered to her baby. The man had tears streaming down his face as he kissed his baby on the forehead. Lights flickered on inside the house and the sound of footsteps on stairs could be heard. "Come, we must hurry, someone is coming." The woman hugged her child one last time before placing her on the doorstep of a house which had the words 'sunshine orphanage' printed on a board outside. The couple retreated from
the house and hid behind a large oak tree that stood on the side of the orphanage. The mahogany door opened and an irritated looking woman with curlers in her light brown hair appeared. Just then the baby wailed and the woman at the door, looking startled, picked up the crying infant. She glanced around worriedly to see if the baby's parents were anywhere to be seen.  Having not seen anyone she rocked the baby. " shh, it's ok." Before closing the door she noticed a silver piece of paper on the ground where the baby had just been. It read 'Athena Theodora'. The woman sighed knowingly and hugged the baby tighter. "Come on Athena, let's get you inside where it's warm." Once she closed the door, the woman hiding behind the tree clutched her husbands arm. "She will be safe, won't she?" In reply the husband said "Don't worry, she is in safe hands." "But how do you know?" The woman sobbed. "I know because that woman is my sister." The husband said with a pained expression on his face. He hugged his wife and together they walked away. 

*16 years later*
"Athena, rise and shine" said a slender woman with wavy light brown hair as she shook the sleeping girls shoulder. " don't want to get up Calista." Athena grumbled. "Come on, it's time for school." "No" "I'll make your favourite breakfast." That seemed to wake Athena up immediately because she opened her bright grey eyes and sat up. "You mean your amazing blueberry pancakes?" Athena asked dreamily. "Yes but you have to get ready first." "Ok I'm up, I'm going to shower."

30 minutes later when Athena was showered and dressed she sat down at the 15 seater table. Since Athena lived in an orphanage it was a big house with lots of bedrooms and a few bathrooms. The kitchen was quite big and had a sunny vibe to it with colourful mugs and plates. The dining table was nearly always brimming with various foods and this morning Athena's carer (Calista) had made a mountain of her famous blueberry pancakes. Well, it was famous amongst the orphans at least. Athena piled a stack of pancakes on her plate and moaned inwardly. "Cali, you've done it again. These are delicious." Calista (Cali was Athenas nickname for her) laughed and went back to making scrambled eggs for the other kids.

Nearly always Athena was eating alone or going about her life in the orphanage on her own. Athena had been in the orphanage all her life and she grew up with a bunch of other kids however they all were adopted when they were young. Over the years more kids have joined but they were all a lot younger than Athena. She read to them and played with them when she could but mostly Athena was busy studying or at the gym. If it wasn't for Calista and her best friend Blair Athena would have been depressed with loneliness.

Calista was almost like family to Athena. She was the one who found Athena at the doorstep of Sunshine orphanage 16 years ago, when Athena was a baby. Calista is so caring and protective of Athena. She put her life on hold to look after Athena. She hardly ever goes on dates and when she did she'd always come home early or turn down the offer of a second date. She brought her up and taught her nearly everything she knows. She helped her learn to read, write, count and always did her best to make Athena feel less lonely and upset that she hasn't been adopted. Normally people adopt children who are too small to know that they're orphans so there was no chance Athena would be adopted at the age of 16. Athena was looking forward to turning 18 because that meant she could leave the orphanage and live her life on her own terms. The only downside was that she couldn't bear to leave Calista.

Blair was another constant in Athenas life. The girls first met in nursery when Blair asked if she could use Athenas blue crayon. Every since then they've been best friends. Blair has emerald green eyes and unruly brown curly hair. She's slender and has a pixie physique whereas Athena is tall and has straight black hair that compliments her bright grey eyes. Blair had been there for Athena through everything and her positive personality always made Athena forget her worries.

Athena finished her breakfast, put her plate in the sink, said goodbye to Calista and grabbed her bag to leave for school. Athena attended 'Garner high school' and was in her final year for GCSE's ( her last high school exams). She met up with Blair halfway to school outside the local sweetshop.

"Hey B" Athena said fondly. "Hey A, guess what?! Charlie texted me last night!" Blair said excitedly. Charlie is Blairs crush, she's fancied him since the start of the school year. "Really? That's great, what did he say?" Blair launched herself into a full recount of how Charlie asked her out on a date. Athena listened and "oohed" and "awwed" at the right times but she couldn't help but wonder when she would find someone who liked her as much as Blair liked Charlie.

The day went on as usual and at the end of the day the girls met up at Athenas locker. "Hey I have a music room booked after school to practice my violin so I'll see you tomorrow." Athena said to Blair. " yeah that's cool, Charlie asked me if I wanted to get ice cream with him after school today I'll see you later." Blair said in an excited rush and ran off down the hallway.

Athena is extremely talented musically. She sings melodiously and plays the violin with immense passion. Playing her violin was a favourite hobby of hers ever since Calista gifted it to Athena for her 12th birthday. Athena got so into playing her violin she didn't realise someone had come into the room and had been listening to her play.

When she finished playing a piece of music someone applauded behind her. Started, Athena turned to see who it was. "Who are you?" Athena asked. " Hi nice to meet you too, I'm Luke. You play really well." Luke has stunning blue eyes and ash brown hair. He smiled at Athena and Athena could feel herself going red. "Thanks, I'm Athena." "I didn't mean to barge in but you did go over time into my booking." "Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't realise." "It's cool, I liked hearing you play. You're really talented." Athena blushed an even deeper red at Luke's unexpected compliment. "Well I better get going and let you practice. It was nice talking to you." Athena said hurriedly as she packed up her things. "Yeah, same here. I'll see you around." Luke winked and Athena left before her face ignited on fire.

AN: hey guys, this is my first ever published piece of work and I really hope you enjoy this story. I plan on posting every Saturday so stay tuned :)
Thanks for reading <3