Gabriel & Athena, Book One: Fate (A Wattpad Featured Story)

CHAPTER 12: RULES

            "Athena," my father pressed, his voice rising again.

            "I've hung out with him a few times at school.  Tonight was our first official date," I confessed, my gaze still on Nathan.

            "Your first and your last," my father said briskly.

            "What?" I cried, looking up at him now.  I could feel the blood rushing to my face as anger and indignation rapidly heightened within me.

            "You heard me.  You are not to see Gabriel Valente again."

            "But you can't do that," I argued.  "I'm not a child.  I can decide for myself who I will and won't spend time with."

            "You are my daughter and it is my job to keep you safe," my father yelled.  Then he said the most cliché line ever.  "As long as you are living under my roof, you will abide by my rules and that is final."

            "Mom?" I said, turning to face her, foolishly hoping she would support me against my father.

            "I'm sorry, Athena, but I'm with your father on this one.  We haven't spent the last almost eighteen years of your life protecting you so you could become reckless with a member of the mob."

            "He's not part of that world," I growled, frustrated tears forming in the back of my eyes.  "Why can't you understand that?  Maybe if you met him, you would see what kind of person he really is."

            "That boy will not set one foot in this house, is that clear?  And do not even think about spending time with him at school.  Nathan will let us know if you do," my father warned.

            I gave Nate the angriest look I could muster.  "How could you go back on your word?"

            As Nate reluctantly looked at me for the first time that night, my father cut in. 

            "Nate is not the one to blame here, Athena.  All he did was try to protect you.  You should be thanking him for caring enough to look out for you."

            "Thank him?" I scoffed.  "Thank him for what?  For being so jealous of Gabe that he broke his promise?  That he can't stand the fact that the girl he likes wants Gabe and so he figured I should be just as miserable as he is?"

            "I am not jealous," Nathan hissed, taking a few steps toward me.  "You've just got your head so far up in the clouds you can't see what kind of person he really is."

            "And what kind of person is he, Nathan?  Tell me.  What makes you think you know anything about him?  You've never spoken to him.  You've never spent any time with him.  All you know is what the rest of this town thinks they know.  Only the lies spread around by pretentious gossips.  If you're really the kind of person who would believe them over your own sister then maybe you're the one I need to stay away from."

            "Now, Athena, that's enough," my mother said, standing up.

            "No," I said, standing up as well.  "It's not enough.  Forbidding me to see Gabe is the most unfair thing you could do to me.  And in case you've forgotten, I'm an adult.  I'll be eighteen in a few months."

            "A few weeks ago, I might have agreed that you were an adult," my father said.  "You've always been so level-headed.  I've never had to worry about the choices you'd make in life because you have always made the right ones, but it seems Nathan is right and this boy has clouded your judgment.  As your parents, we now have to step in and make some decisions for you."