Democracy is Dead

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Athena, Dyo, breakfast is on the table!"

Mercifully, Athena's mother was calling to them from the kitchen, rather than knocking for them upstairs. But Athena sat up in a panic regardless. Dyo, splayed out in her tiny bed like a starfish, mumbled something incoherent and rolled over, taking most of the cover with him.

His hair, Athena was pleased to note, was looking even worse than hers must have been.

"Come on, sleepy head. Get up now - if we don't go straight down, she might come and get us! We need to get moving if we're going to make it downstairs without them realising we have come out of the same room."

"Calm down. It's too early. They won't care anyway - it's not like anything happened," he told her pillow without opening his eyes.

"Well they won't know that!" She got up, deciding she was going to need to take drastic action and pulled the cover out from round him. When he curled into a ball, she went for the pillow.

"Okay, okay, I'm getting up!" He scowled at Athena, but did as she'd asked.

Athena went over to the door, opening it slightly and poking her head out to make sure there was no one else upstairs. "Okay, it's safe for you to go."

He gave her a lazy smile as he passed her, catching her lips with his for a second before she shut the door firmly in his face. Once he was out, she took a deep breath and went to the mirror to check that she half way resembled a normal human being. She felt considerably less than ordinary; she'd just spent a night with her boyfriend. Sure, nothing had happened but he has still slept in her bed, next to her, all night. That was big. He hadn't freaked out when he opened his eyes that morning, either.

Athena was turning back towards the door when she heard a knock.

"Athena? Are you up yet? It's time for breakfast." When she opened the door, Dyo was grinning at her. He must have gone back to his room and straightened his own hair before knocking for her as he was looking considerably less dishevelled.

He held her hand in his as they headed downstairs and tucked into the cooked breakfast Athena's mum had prepared for them.

"What are your plans for today?" Athena's mum asked, taking a break from scanning the morning news on the feeds.

"I thought it would be nice to show Dyo the shop, then maybe take him to the beach?" Athena shovelled food into her mouth between sentences. Her mum's cooking was one of the highlights of coming home. Her own efforts in the kitchen usually resulted in an emergency take-away.

"Your dad would like that; he was disappointed that he had to leave so early this morning."

"Well, we'll stop by and surprise him then," Athena said brightly as she polished off her food, realising seconds too late what that would mean. "Come on, Dyo, hurry up. We still need to get ready." There was no way she could leave Dyo alone with her mum while she went upstairs to get showered and dressed. Her mum had been well behaved so far, but that didn't mean that she would continue to be so if left alone... Athena was acutely aware that there were hundreds of incredibly embarrassing photos which she was desperate not to have Dyo anywhere near. Particularly those from the potty training months...

Dyo, however, seemed suspiciously keen to get rid of her. "Well you should go and get changed then. I'll be finished by the time you are ready." He put it so matter-of-factly that he didn't really leave her any option for disagreeing. Not without a good excuse, at any rate, and it would defeat the point if she mentioned the photos.

"Fine," she said, unable to keep the frustration from her voice. Please behave she sent across to her mum as she stood up.

I don't know what you mean! her mum sent back, her smile doing nothing to settle Athena's nerves.