Memories

XXI

LITTLE LIES

'If I could turn the page in time
Then I'd rearrange
Just a day or two'

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Enjoy the little edit of Kevin I made for y'all. I'll probably make ones for other characters as well, I'm already making an Andrew one so yeah :) (Also it says looneytooney because that's my instagram and I'm going to post it there :)

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"Why do you have numbers on your cheeks?" she asked. One of the boys laughed, while the other stayed silent, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. An elbow was shoved into her side. She looked up at the boy who'd done it, and frowned. "What? It was a question."

"It wasn't polite," he hissed. The boy stopped laughing.

"It's quite alright," he said, his eyes showing nothing but pure happiness. "It's because we want to be the best. We are the best. Number one and two."

"That's a bit of a power imbalance, don't you think?" she asked again. He elbowed her again. "Ow, stop that Abram. It hurts."

"What are your names?" Abram asked. It was the right thing to be saying. She knew that. She knew what she'd said to them wasn't polite. If she were at home, she'd have gotten a beating for that.

"Well I'm Riko, and this is Kevin." Riko said. "And you are?" he said, seemingly bored now that the conversation wasn't particularly interesting. But she was only nine, and he was only ten, and Riko and Kevin were twelve, at least.

"I'm Abram, and this is Anne." Abram introduced. Anne smiled and waved, and Riko returned her gesture. She thought that he was very good looking, and that he seemed like a nice person. Her mother had always taught her to be polite, and to never settle for any man that didn't know how to hold a proper conversation.

"It's nice to meet you," Kevin said his first words of the day, and Anne smiled at him. "Shall we practice?" he led the way onto the court, and from there, the four practiced a game of Exy that was as imbalanced as the numbers Kevin and Riko wore on their cheeks.

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"Thalia? Thalia!" a voice said, startling Thalia. She woke with a start, hitting whoever was closest to her. "Damnit, you wake up like Andrew? Nice to know." Matt's voice said as he choked and coughed to get air back into his lungs. It took Thalia a few moments to get adjusted and remember where she was.

The Fox bus was mostly empty, with only Thalia, Matt and Dan still on it. Thalia rubbed her eyes and stood up. She mumbled an apology to Matt and followed him and the captain off the bus. She grabbed her things and walked into the Fox tower after them.

The next day, Thalia heard a knock at the door, but Renee, who was watching something on the tv, got up and answered it before Thalia could. "Hello Andrew, what are you doing here? We don't have another session until next week." Thalia was confused, but put her head down and kept studying. She guessed she wasn't particularly supposed to hear whatever their conversation entailed.

"I'm here for Thalia," he said, fake cheer in his voice. Thalia turned at Andrew's voice and frowned. "Kevin wants to speak with you." she nodded and closed her textbook. Thalia stood and grabbed her keys and wallet, before following Andrew out of the dorm.

"I didn't realise you were Kevin's servant," she said sarcastically on the walk down to the carpark outside. Andrew laughed dryly, and didn't answer, since Thalia hadn't really asked a question.

Kevin was waiting in the passenger seat of the car and Andrew climbed into the driver's side, while Thalia took her place in the backseat. Nobody spoke while Andrew drive, and when they ended up at the court, Thalia wasn't exactly surprised. 

Kevin got out of the car first, and Andrew didn't make a move to leave, so Thalia followed Kevin into the stadium, only looking back once for Andrew. He didn't move, and his hand was stuck out of the window, a cigarette in hand.

Kevin didn't go for the locker rooms to get changed, like Thalia imagined he would. Instead, he walked straight into the court. He unlocked the door to the inner court and held it open for Thalia. She paused, wondering if she were walking to her death, but Kevin wouldn't look into her eyes, and looked sad about what was happening.

She walked in, and Kevin followed. He sat in the centre of the court, and Thalia did the same. She sat opposite him, and they both sat in silence until Kevin moved. He reached behind him and Thalia seized up, knowing this was the end. Kevin was really working with Riko, and wanted her dead for something she did.

But instead, Kevin pulled out a photograph from his back pocket and looked at it a few seconds before handing it over to a reluctive Thalia. She looked at Kevin before down at the page and her breath caught in her throat. 

There were three children in the photo. Two boys stood with a girl between them. She had auburn hair and a smile on her face, despite the teeth that were missing in front. There was a three  on her cheek that matched the one and two that the unsmiling older boys had. 

"That's the only thing I brought with me from Evermore." Kevin said quietly. Thalia looked up at him to see that Kevin seemed like he was going to cry. "We were all close. I think you were the only person in the world that Riko cared about." Kevin chuckled lowly. "Sometimes I think that your disappearance was what made him go crazy."

"I think that's bullshit," Thalia said. Kevin looked up, slightly confused. "There's no way that monster every cared about anyone. Much less me." she said quietly. Kevin reached out and turned the paper over. There was writing on the back; (Left to Right) Riko Moriyama, Nathalia Wesninski, Kevin Day, pose for camera for Times, Riko describes Nathalia as 'My Little Sister' and Day as 'The Closest Thing I Ever Had To A Brother'

"Doesn't he actually have a brother, though?" Thalia said, remembering what Kevin had told her. He huffed a laugh and shrugged.

"Not technically. He's the outcast. And if he ever had a sister," Kevin paused. "Well, she'd be six feet under by now." Thalia was outraged by that, but stayed silent and processed it all.

"Jean said I faked my death," Thalia spoke up, handing the photo back to Kevin. He folded it and put it back in his pocket. "How, and why?"

"Because we came to get you," a voice said from behind Thalia. She spun around, and Kevin looked up. Neil was making his way across the court, a careful expression on his face. He sat down next to Thalia and looked into her blue eyes with his brown ones. "I begged her for three years to go back and get you. She'd hit me. Tell me you weren't worth it. That you'd been in the public eye for too long." Neil looked at Kevin and then back at Thalia. "Maybe she was right."