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"I'm sorry, what?" Juni asks as she munches on the piece of caramel popcorn.
After Tara had attempted to call her brother, all of them had decided to sit down and watch a movie. One of Tara's choices since she was the special girl right now.
"I'm telling the truth. I literally thought that this was normal over there." Frida howls, clutching her stomach as she rocks back and forth.
Tara nods, zoning out. Something was bothering her, why hadn't her brother picked up his phone. Instead of picking it up, he just texted that he would call later. It had been twenty minutes till she had called him, what did later mean to him.
Frida suddenly stops talking and makes eye contact with her best friend who was currently zoned out. Juni follows suit and rubs Tara's knee,
"What happened." She asks. Tara blinks hastily and shakes her head,
"Sorry, I was thinking about something." She says, playing nervously with the ringer on her phone. As if it was magic the phone rang, the screen showing her brother's contact name. She jumps up, hitting accept and pressing the phone to her ear.
"Little bird?" Atlas's strong voice flows through the phone, causing Tara to grin.
"Hey, Eeyore." She hums, getting a groan from Atlas hearing his chosen nickname. As a child, Tara would do nothing but watch Winnie the Pooh with Atlas when he would come back from the house. When she started speaking, she drew a parallel to her brother's personality, hence him being called Eeyore.
"Sorry I couldn't pick up the phone. I had a meeting, what's up though?" Atlas asks as Tara flips through the various papers strewn across her desk.
"How did your meeting go?" She asks as she positions the phone so that it's sandwiched in between her shoulder and her ear.
"It went pretty well, we had some arguments though." He muttered near the end, remembering when everything had gone south. His hand lightly ghosts over the holster as he talks. Tara nods, smiling when she pulls out the piece of paper that she wanted.
"Um, do you know how I wrote a college application to the University of Versailles?" She asks, wanting to give him a little bit of context so she doesn't surprise him by saying things out of the blue.
"Ya, so?" Atlas asks curiously, assembling and reassembling a handgun near him. Tara hops a little before spilling the news,
"I'm got in! I got the letter an hour ago and my friends came over to celebrate!" She exclaims, happiness evident in her tone.
Atlas on the other hand was flabbergasted. He was proud of his sister, but even with the rule against killing the innocent, she would be traced back to him, putting her in danger. On top of that, he didn't think that Maurice wouldn't be happy about the fact that he now has a weak spot.
"That's great." He lies through his clenched teeth, digging his nails into his pale flesh.
"Are you planning to go?" He asks, trying to keep his voice bubbly, a stark contrast to his mood in reality. He hears a scoff from Tara,
"Yes! I'll be able to be near you and it could be like old times. And on top of that, I've heard that Versailles has a need for more photographers." Tara explains, jumping at the thought of getting to live in a big city, taking pictures of the beauty surrounding her.
"Great." He mutters slowly, now he would have to either break his sister's heart or he would have to sacrifice everything to make her happy.
Tara hears her name being called by Juni and quickly turns back to the phone in her hand,
"Hey, I've got to go. I'll tell you all the details later ok?" She asks getting a short,
"Ok, love you." from Atlas. Tara beams and whispers,
"Love you." She then hangs up the phone, leaving one thing nagging on her mind. Why did Atlas seem uneasy at the thought of her going to Versailles?
*
"Crap," Atlas mutters, slamming his personal phone on his desk in anger. He pushes himself out of his office chair and pours himself a glass of amber-colored liquid.
"What's going on?" A new voice comes into the room. Atlas drowns his drink in one gulp and slams the glass on the table, only looking up when his satisfaction is quenched.
Atlas looks up to see a familiar sight. Maurice is leaning on his door frame looking down at his right-hand man. He lets out a hoarse chuckle,
"What's going on? Do you have girl problems?" Maurice asks, picking up the set of darts set on the table next to him. Atlas looks at his best friend, a mischievous glint in his eyes,
"Something like that."
Swish. The first dart hits the bullseye with little to no effort.
"Explain your issues to me," Maurice asks, no, commands. Atlas sighs but does so,
"Do you know my sister?"
Thwack. The dart still hits in the ten-point zone, just not in the very middle.
"Ya, I know you have one," Maurice says, getting ready to throw his next dart. Atlas slyly ducks under the desk,
"Well, she's gotten into the University of Versailles and wants to come live with me."
THWACK. The dart lands right where Atlas's head was a couple of minutes ago.
"What?" Maurice asks, throwing the darts to god knows where storming towards poor Atlas. Atlas frantically looks around to make sure Maurice doesn't have any more darts in his hands,
"She wanted to come live with me while doing her major in Visual Arts." Atlas quickly rushes out, attempting to keep eye contact with Maurice, who looks like he wants to choke Atlas.
"Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much trouble that would put us in?" Maurice asks, slowly getting closer and closer to Atlas. Atlas puts his hands up to show that he means no harm,
"I know, I know. But I don't want to break her heart, and she's not even part of any of the other groups in the area." Atlas screams out, just as Maurice was going to punch him in the face.
Maurice's hand stops just as it was going to bruise Atlas's pale skin. He slowly composes himself, looking at Atlas's soul,
"Call her over here. But, you can't expose her to the underground. Deal?" He asks, raising an eyebrow at the male in front of him. Atlas nods quickly,
"Deal."
Chapter Two's been posted! Woohoo! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it was pretty fun to write the dart scene though.
Make sure to add this story to your reading list if you like it, or share it with a friend if you thought that this is their cup of tea.
