it never stops
"ATHENA!"
The goddess' head shot up in surprise at the sound of her name being yelled down the hallway, and she looked around at the few students still lingering in the hallway who seemed to shy away from whatever confrontation they thought was going to happen.
When her gaze landed on the culprit, she was surprised to find that it was Jeremy Gilbert of all people, calling her out in the hallway. She raised a brow, allowing the tiniest bit of shock to show as he approached her at her locker. "Good morning, Jeremy. I've had a decent morning myself, actually, thanks for asking–"
"Cut the shit, Athena," Jeremy interrupts her sternly, and the sarcastic glint in her eyes is quickly one of vitriolic irritation. "You killed Mikael."
Narrowing her eyes, she nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did. And then I talked to your sister, who is still the biggest inconvenience I've ever had to deal with, and I have literally died."
Jeremy shifted his weight, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. "What'd you do with his body?"
"Why would I ever tell you that? Do you people need someone to do your dirty work that badly? I mean, it's not even your dirty work, is it? It's your sister's, and yet you're still here, bothering me about this bullshit."
The boy gritted his teeth, frustration rising with every question she answered him with. "Because he needs to be put back in the tomb, otherwise he'll just wake up again,"
Athena huffed amusedly and slammed her locker shut, the loud sound making him flinch. "You think I don't know that? I'm friends with his daughter, Jeremy. I regularly have dinner with the hybrid that killed– tried to kill Elena. I know how to kill a vampire, I can promise you that."
She stepped towards him, her jaw stiffening as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "And next time Elena sends you to do her dirty work, you might want to ask yourself why she's so eager to put your head on the chopping block in place of hers. And, you know– maybe ask why she sends you to threaten someone who can't be killed."
She steps around him, heading towards her first-period class, but Jeremy reaches out and stops her, pulling her back by her arm. She wrenches his hand off of her and he backs off quickly, holding his hands up in surrender as she glares up at him. "What?"
He rolls his eyes and bites out a sigh, avoiding her stern gaze. "Have you seen them?"
"Seen who, idiot?"
"Them. The Originals," He huffs. "The ones we undaggered."
She shakes her head at him, scoffing. "Even if I have, I wouldn't tell you. But it's nice to know that you're so ignorantly naive to tell me that it was you who did it. Now I know who to kill if they fuck this up for me,"
Jeremy's eyes widen and she smirks, the faint white line of her scar scrunching up with the action. "You just said–"
"I know what I said, Jeremy. I can trust Klaus and Rebekah, and even Elijah if he decides to pop in for a visit. But if anyone, and I mean anyone, tries to stop me from shoving that stake through your sister's heart, I will kill them. I don't care whose brother it is,"
She pokes his chest when she says brother, and she knows her point has been made when he steps back to put distance between them. For a moment, the tension sits between them, but Athena quickly ends their standoff with a roll of her eyes and stalks off down the empty hallway toward her classroom.
"So, that was weird,"
Athena was startled, her fists clenching instinctively at her sides as she shoved the person away from her.
"Oh, god! Jesus, don't hit me!"
"Wh– Nick? What in the shit are you doing?"
The younger boy rocks back on his heels, still looking sufficiently terrified even as she steps away from him. "Well, I was going to the bathroom, but I think you took care of that for me," At her flat look, he shifted uncomfortably, avoiding her dark, piercing eyes, "I'm joking. It was a joke about–"
"I got it," She examined his face, letting some of the defensiveness leak from her posture. "How much of that did you hear?"
"Uh, nothing, actually," Nick shrugs, tapping at a plastic device in his ear. "I had this turned off. I can only deal with Ms. Adams for so long at 8 in the morning,"
Athena raised a brow, hiding the relief she felt flooding through her. "I didn't see that the other day on the track,"
"Yeah, my, uh," He shifted, looking uncomfortable again. "My brother and his friends took it from me. The only reason I could hear you is because it's only one ear, and we were standing pretty close."
Athena felt her anger return for an entirely different reason and she curled her lip in disgust. "What's your brother's name?"
"Uh," Nick drew the word out, his eyes widening when he saw the anger in hers. "No, no, no, you– you do not have to defend me, I promise. Everyone already knows about what happened on the track, and that is enough humiliation for my entire freshman year,"
"Having your big brother and his dumbass friends bully you is shitter than people talking about you hitting on some random senior,"
"I promise you it's not," Nick winced, but quickly went on the defense again when he realized Athena wasn't entertaining his self-deprecation. "What were you and Jeremy talking about?"
Athena furrowed her brows, frowning at his sudden change of subject. "What? None of your business,"
The young boy straightens up, nodding pointedly at her rebuttal. "You tell me what you were talking about and I'll let you defend my honor, or whatever it is you're planning on doing."
"I was planning on ripping your brother's tongue out so he couldn't run his mouth to his little minions,"
"Okay, so maybe not exactly that," He stepped away from her fearfully, but she turned to face him, forgoing her efforts to attend her first-hour class. "But I'll let you beat him up or something so long as you tell me what you talked about,"
"That's not happening."
"Great! Then I can only hope that we'll never see each other again because I can never manage to not embarrass myself in front of you, and it makes me want to die, so," He lifts his hand in a limp wave, his pale cheeks flushed as he backs away from her. "Bye, Athena."
Athena doesn't echo his farewell, instead watching him as he hurries down the hallway toward the bathrooms. She rolls her eyes to the ceiling and puffs her cheeks out with an irritated sigh, silently cursing whatever god had cursed her morning with such chaos.
──────
The sound of porcelain shattering echoed through the boarding house, and Athena looked up from her textbook at Stefan across from her on the couch, a worried exasperation shining in her eyes.
Stefan huffed and dropped his pencil, looking at the doorway across the room. "Josh? Are you here?"
She heard the sound of her brother's voice echo through the house and she closed her eyes, shaking her head.
"Hey, so, on a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think Damon would be if I broke his plates?"
Stefan tilted his head at the question that echoed down the hallway, inevitably making it to Damon's ears somewhere in the house. "Uh, ten? Is this a hypothetical situation we're talking about here, or,"
"It's... hypothetical. Sort of."
The sound of footsteps came down the hall quickly and Athena looked up as Alex and Iris ran into the room, looking amused but sheepish as Damon's voice suddenly rang through the house.
"What the hell was that noise?! Did something break?"
Iris hid her smile behind her hand as she sat down on the couch beside Stefan, her eyes roaming curiously over their homework. "So, uh, what are you guys working on?"
Athena tilted her head, smirking. "Chemistry. What was Josh doing in the kitchen?"
"Oh, he was, uh, making dinner. Or trying to, I think."
"But he can't cook,"
"That's what I said!" Alex threw their hands up exasperatedly, completely giving up the guise of covering for Josh. "He's an idiot."
Athena huffed a laugh and shared a look with Stefan. "Is Damon gonna lose it over a plate?"
"Maybe," Stefan shrugged, his brows furrowing suddenly. "Hey, isn't Caroline's birthday tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but she's barely brought it up," Athena shrugged, only half-listening to Damon and Josh yell at each other in the kitchen. "Bonnie and I are gonna decorate her locker tomorrow morning, and I've got a present for her but other than that, I don't know."
"Why don't we have a surprise party?" Iris sat back on the couch, picking at her cuticles. "We can set it up while you guys are at school."
Athena raised a brow, looking inquisitively at Stefan. "You think Damon would be cool with a party?"
Stefan huffed a laugh, shaking his head. "Absolutely not. We should do it,"
Athena cleared her throat and tilted her head back, eyes rolling to the doorway. "Damon!"
The yelling ceased as her yell echoed, and she listened to his footsteps come down the hallway. Damon stepped into the living room, glaring at Athena. "You know I can hear you, right? You don't have to yell,"
"How else would you hear me over your pissing contest with my brother?"
The dark-haired vampire huffed and rolled his eyes, sitting down in a cushioned chair with a childish pout on his face. "What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be doing homework,"
"I am," She gestured to her open textbook and notes, lifting her highlighter to wag at him. "But it's Caroline's birthday tomorrow so we're throwing her a surprise party for her here."
Damon looked between the scattered faces in his living room, his dark brows furrowed on his forehead. "If I say no will it stop any of you from doing it anyway?"
"Nope."
The group spoke in unison and Damon's lips thinned out into an irritated frown. "Why do I even ask anymore? It's like living in a barn with you people,"
Athena waved him off, scoffing at his dramatics. "Bonnie will be there, so you can't even act like you're mad about it."
"Shut up, Athena,"
"What, you don't want people to know that you're–"
The crash of another plate cuts off her response, and Damon looks both relieved and annoyed as he stands up to run back into the kitchen.
Silence sits between the four still sitting in the living room, and Athena's smile slowly grows on her face as she faces Stefan and Iris again. "I'm inviting Klaus and Rebekah."
Stefan pushes to his feet, nodding. "I'll tell Lexi,"
"Make sure she's alone before you go in there, Stefan,"
The vampire stopped, looking disgusted as her words processed. "Really? It's Thursday night,"
"That's never stopped us," She shrugs. "She's a busy woman, Stefan."
Stefan shook his head, looking slightly horrified. "Damon's right, we're all animals."
──────
author's note; knowing what's going to happen in this book before any of you do gives me a god complex, so thanks for that guys ! also this chapter is a bit shorter than usual because next chapter is going to be... chaotic ;)
originally published; 11.21.21.
edited: 12.9.23.
- liz