- Thalia Anagnos-Loukanis -
I had successfully been able to slip in and out of my house this morning, as I had been staying at the Angelo's for the weekend, as per usual. They understood me more than any of us would ever care to admit to.
"Thanks for having me again" I broke the silence between Phoenix and I. Silence between the two of us was never unusual. It was basically our entire friendship.
"If you say that word one more-" I cut him off "Thank you" and he just glared at me. He hated the words thank you and sorry for some reason he has never told me why, but I just say them so I can get a heated reaction out of him.
"Hey, you two!" an unfamiliar voice called out to Phoenix and I. As per usual, Phoenix stood in front of me, as I grabbed onto the back of his hoodie that wasn't covered by his backpack.
"What?" Phoenix bit back at the people in the car that I hadn't had a chance to glance at yet. We were the only people walking down this street, and there was no other cars on the street. We knew that they wanted us.
"Tahlia" another voice that I had only heard a few days ago, had spoken to us. I peeked around Phoenix's back, and saw that it was indeed Elijah. I had no idea who the other guy was. "Elijah?" the way I said his name came out as more of a question.
"Do you want a ride to school? It's like another 20 minuets walking" the way Elijah spoke his words was like he wasn't questioning us, more like a statement. I looked to Phoenix, and he wearily nodded.
Elijah then opened the door, showing three other boys in the back of the car, and an older man in the front. "Hello" I squeaked out, holding onto Phoenix's arm as I felt his shaking hands.
"Hey" a boy that I was sat across from looked scarily similar to me. "Everybody in?" the man from the front spoke, his voice dark and scary, but I assumed it could be even scarier. Everyone had silenced at his voice, and know I knew why Phoenix was nervous.
These people were the ones that had been involved in fights, even some including Phoenix himself or his brothers.
"Do you two normally walk to school every day?" Elijah questioned. He was now sitting beside me, which gave me greater comfort than I ever knew I would need. "Yeah" Phoenix spoke for the first time in a while.
"I meet her at her house every morning then we walk together" most of the boys in the car clearly relaxed at these words, which confused me. "She does look like Enzo" I heard someone murmur into another person's ear.
"You know I can hear, you right?" I felt a surge of confidence. I knew that I looked like the boy in front of me, but he could just be some distant relative that my brothers and sisters forgot to introduce me too, right?
That was all it was, right? I had a family and so did he, so there was no way that he could be like a long-lost brother that I had read in all those books years ago. "Oh, sorry" the boy that had whispered looked as unapologetic as ever, but I didn't care.
I had never had anyone look at me the way he did then. I was so used to seeing hurtful and disgustful looks from my siblings and even the people at school. It was honestly unsettling.
"So, Tahlia, I heard you were at the party on Friday night. And you met my little brother Elijah. Tell me, what was it like?" I knew exactly what this boy was hinting at. He was the one that had whispered about me, anyways.
And from the embarrassment shown on Elijah's face, I knew he had been preempting this question. "We didn't" was my response. Who cares? I'm 14 and I assume Elijah is at least 15 or 16, so why does it matter? Even if I had feelings for him, why did it matter to these boys?
"I don't even know your names, to start off with, so that question was too far. You all clearly know my name anyways" I had no idea where this confidence was from, but this wasn't me. But I oddly felt comfortable around these people, well at least Phoenix - who was scarily quiet - and Elijah whom was quiet a bright pink from embarrassment.
"I'm Enzo" the boy who I had noticed looked like me, spoke. He looked way too much like me, it was scary, terrifying almost. "I'm Stefano, Elijah's older brother" the boy from earlier who was interrogating me, said, before punching Elijah in the arm.
Elijah didn't even flinch, rather punching his brother back, only for the other older boy who had stayed silent as well, intervened. "I'm Nicolo, or Nic if you prefer, and I'm one of Enzo's older brothers"
"Wait, how many brothers do you have?" Phoenix questioned. He was clearly intrigued by all of this now. "I have 3 older brothers and a half-brother. Leonidas, introduce yourself" Enzo seemed way to comfortable with the scary guy in the drivers seat.
"I'm Leonidas, sweetheart" that pet name sent shivers down my back, reminding me of Apollo and Aphrodite. It just reminded me of all my brothers and sisters in general.
"Make sure you clean every inch of this house, sweetheart"
"Aren't you just a sweetheart to look after"
"Sweet hearts don't exist"
"Thankyou for the ride" Phoenix's voice called out to Leonidas, and that was when I realized we had finished the dreaded journey. But, it didn't stop there.
"Thankyou" I murmured as I climbed out after Elijah, Leonidas smiling at me, as I jumped down, noticing all the stares. I realized that this was the car I used to see whiz past me and Phoenix in the morning, the two of us wishing to be in it.
Because we were always forced to walk, together.
But I didn't mind it half as much as he did, because I wasn't forced. I basically forced him, at the end of the day.
School, to learn useless stuff with liars.
---
"We will be working with the Sophomore's class on this assignment. We have organized to meet up with them in the cafeteria to assign groups and start the work before class is dismissed"
Panic coursed entirely through my veins. I was one of the only people in this class that had no friends, as I had only one friend, Phoenix, and he didn't take business. Which meant, I would be all alone to face the Sophomores and everyone would be able to be with their friends.
Just absolutely great.
I sluggishly picked my belongings up, trudging out after the rest of my classmates, if that was what you wanted to even call them.
I walked after them, dreading this encounter. Maybe I should text Phoenix and meet up with him somewhere so I didn't have to do this.
But, the teacher had mentioned it was an assignment that costed 50% of our grade, and that would mean notifying Adonis and Aphrodite that I didn't turn up. I'll just go then, I guess.
And here we are, at the dreaded place that I have only ever sat in a few times. I sat down at the table closest to the exit, so I could leave if I needed.
It wasn't as if anyone would want to work with the Anagnos-Loukanis girl.
They never had, so why would they want to work with me now? I would end up doing all the work, and getting the bad grade because I 'didn't participate'. They all used the same lie to get the credit for my work.
Who was I to tell? absolutely no one.
"So, group 1 is..." and that was when I stopped listening. I knew I would be one of the last names to be called out, as I was put on the end of rolls, being enlisted into classes last as my brothers couldn't decide whether they wanted me to be with the A's for Anagnos or the L's for Loukanis.
The school just decided for them.
"Tahlia Anagnos-Loukanis?" a voice questioned, making me look away from the place on the floor I had been staring at for what only felt like a minuet, but I took note that everyone else was in their groups.
"That's me" I noticed two familiar faces: Enzo and Elijah's. "We're together than" the boy that had spoken to me, literally flung himself down on the chair, causing the other boy and girl that I didn't know, to laugh, and sit down.
The girl sat down on the boy's lap, while the first boy that had sat down had his head down on the table. "I think I'm going to ditch" I heard Enzo's voice, but Elijah grabbed the neck of his collar, throwing him down on the bench beside me. Elijah then sat on my other side.
"So, I presume you have no clue what this assignment is about?" Elijah questioned, which I just nodded too. I didn't know they had told us that. It was probably when I zoned out in class or just now.
"So, we have to make a product for the school's end of year contest, and it has to be within these guidelines" he handed me a small piece of paper "and it can't be expensive for a school student who doesn't work" another page was handed to me "and then we have to record all of our research via this worksheet here" he then showed another page on his computer that I didn't know was open.
"Lijh, let the girl breathe for a minuet" the boy that had his head still on the table, spoke up. "Just trying to help" Elijah looked wounded by the comment, but by the laughter going on around us, it wasn't unusual.
"You'll get the hang of it" Enzo nudged me from the other side, right into one of my recent burns from two weeks ago when Agatha burned me with a candle in my sleep.
She was drunk, so it didn't matter to her like it did to me.
But as they said, if it doesn't matter to them, it shouldn't matter to me, like I don't matter to them, so why I should I bother worrying about myself?
"Thank you, Elijah" I whispered, grasping my left arm with my right hand, rubbing it up and down, as I kept my eyes downcast. Of course my anxiety would struck right now, as most of the eyes of the group were casted my way, including the girl that was slightly grinding her hips on the other boy.
I was in a group with only Sophomore's, I should have known.
"Well, I've got your number, so I'll start a group chat and everything. Did we want to meet after school to continue this as class is almost finished, and we haven't done much?" Elijah started with talking to me, before talking to the larger group.
"Surely we can meet at mine" Enzo started "I seriously need to do something so my brothers get off my back about being sad all the time, so this should distract them from that"
"I'll have to see" I whispered, right as the bell rang. I grabbed my bag, quickly, smiling a little at Enzo and Elijah, before I dashed out of the door.
I wasn't quick enough before I heard the two sentences making my heart crush.
"She doesn't speak much"
"She really does look like you though. Like she seriously could pass as your sister"
Of course they would pick up on my speaking habits, but the fact that they took enough notice that they too realized I looked like Enzo.
I couldn't be related. It didn't work.
---