"I will get old. You will get old. But I will still look in your eyes the way I looked at them when we were young."
- Anonymous
Athena could tell the number of days she counted to finally meet her heart-throb, the amount of times she had kissed his posters and online pictures she had kept framed.
She remembered every bits so vividly like it happened a millisecond ago.
His pretty smile that he constantly had whenever he'd talk to the teachers in primary school, his sandy brown hair that made her feel nostalgic to the beach, and she hated beaches. His primpy way of handling things made Athena confirmed that he was indeed perfect in every way.
Of course, it was also his unbounded tenderness and amiability that she admired the most.
It all started back when she was still a horrid devil's daughter. Her parents wanted their daughter to experience and befriend children of the upper class.
She was supposed to study there for only five months as her parents couldn't afford any further beyond that.
To the eight year old Athena, it was a no problem as she thought she was above everyone else until... the day of her major exam.
It was the final subject that she had to score, and being undoubtedly clever since a young age, she was confident the first place would be nobody else's but hers.
Since she loved attention, she wanted to ace this final one without a single mistake. Plus, it was the easiest subject, according to her haughty self anyways.
Art.
Athena strode in like a lion into class that day, nose high in the air, arms crossed with her suitcase. When she got her canvas, she smiled like she won the lottery to the class, assuring them they can get the hell out as she was clearly the winner.
After stretching her hands in front of her for a fake warm up, she felt her blood went frigidly cold, her proudly rigid back can might as well fall off her seat.
Where the hell is my brush?
Surely, she could not have misplaced it elsewhere. She went for another round of robust rummaging. Still, empty, nothing but her watercolors, palette and neglected dust at the base of the suitcase.
Thanks to her infamous repute, almost the whole class noticed this.
Some stifled a laugh, a few more pretended to be oblivious but a satisfied grin couldn't help but betray them, and even the teacher in charge who was suppose to help, huffed to hide her smile and went back to work.
The snob on her face morphed into a piteous look abruptly, hoping it could bewitch her classmates to brush off the past incidents.
None fell for her wicked tricks. They knew her too damn well. She even tried mimicking her favourite cartoon, Puss in Boots.
It worked for him, she thought.
Unfortunately, Puss' reputation wasn't half as bad as was Athena's. So it wasn't a surprise she ended up twenty minutes into the exam just staring at her bleak canvas who seemed to mock her too.
Now, exams may be something frivolous to many but it wasn't anything like that for her. She was so used to getting good grades that even getting a B+ would completely shatter her heart.
Breaking down was the most foreign thing to devil Athena but with the vast pressure weighing down on her small body, she did.
What she didn't expect was God was on the devil's side that point.
Good things comes to those who wait.
She felt a feather like tap on her shoulder. So faint, so fragile, she almost missed it. "Don't cry."
She heard his voice, quiet yet soothing, it solaced an atrocious brat like her instantaneously. She turned to discover her nemesis who tried to lull her.
She wouldn't consider the cordial boy a nemesis if it wasn't because he was her only competition during exams.
She ignored him but he called again. "I'm Theo."
Of course I know you, you idiot. You're me bloody enemy.
"And? Who cares? I didn't ask. Don't talk to me," she barked.
Theo was unfazed by her impertinence. He was fairly mature as a kid. He knew she wanted someone to help her behind the tough act she built.
He lifted his favourite paintbrush, the only one he had and handed it to her. He abandoned his artwork midway as he waited for her to receive it but she didn't.
"I don't need your stupid brush! Get it away from me!" She grimaced, flicking away the paintbrush, causing it to fall.
Not wanting to aggravate a girl in the middle of the exam, he only nodded slightly and bent to keep it back.
Small noises began emitting from his table and she didn't resist to glance. Her lips gape apart when she saw him cutting a fraction of his precious sun-bleached hair. His hair came falling down like snowflakes during winter.
"Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing?" Athena was inquisitive. He only gave her a side smile prior to taking a wooden splinter out meant for decoration of his art.
He gathered his hair carefully, taking only the adequate ones as he tied them to the splinter, heedfully passing over to her.
This time however, he placed it on her table, convincing her it was final. "You didn't like my paintbrush. So how about my hair for a change?" With that, he carried on, leaving her dumbfounded.
She hesitated to use it but noticing the ticking clock, she did. Never had she used a brush nearly as close to this one. It made her every stroke and hue perfect. Thus, the fragrance of his hair kept her pacified throughout.
Albeit it was the most disastrous day she had, she gained humanity and lenience. All because of a boy who did her a favour, and all through it she found herself catching a glimpse of him every two seconds.
The heated audience cooled at once, from fire to ice.
Athena didn't know how or when she was dropped to the hard, uneven concrete.
Three insanely big shadows still surrounded her ominously, and she could only see a quarter of Theo's irate face but even if she didn't, she would still be able to tell it was him, the knightly being that she worshipped every night and day, every second even.
His voice followed her for years, how could she not?
As Theo moved closer to them, she could make out his gorgeous face that made her heart miss a few beats.
His thick eyebrows were deeply creased, his elegant hand that gripped his novel was shaking and Athena prayed his well manicured nails that dug into its hard cover would not break.
"Get your dull-witted ass away from her," Theo berated, and though it seemed his words were wisely used, nothing vulgar, nothing harsh, it was still entirely threatening coming from the gentle boy.
Feeling somewhat docile at the hands of Xerus' best man, the three stepped at least three feet back.
How Athena wanted a well to drop into, never to see the despicable world again. She didn't bump into him when she tried going to locations he often been to, dressing in striking red nor the time when she put extra effort in her make up and went to the art exhibition he often went or just any other good times.
It had to be this way.
Athena noticed he barely changed at all. From the way he looked, his neat light brown curls, his usual turtlenecks, to the way he acts, always helping when he could.
The only thing that was different was his voice. It certainly became deeper, darker, manlier. Athena had no complains about it. She loved the change beyond imagination.
Theo tore his earplugs out of his ears, not bothering the stinging pain it caused. "Are you all so disturbingly shallow? Just because of the paltry points, you asses are willing to go for another controversy?" His british accent that always lace beneath his words became more evident.
The three delinquents gulped hearing Theo spoke an incalculable amount of words.
Though the Thieves were friends all along and their golden friendship is undeniable, when it came to serious things that could possibly affect their name and other primal things, it wasn't the same.
Felix started, "But you should know how important the virginity records are to all of us, Theo. Plus, didn't you hear what she just called us? Shitheads!" He laughed like he still couldn't process that. He resumed, "I mean what the fuck this dog is thinking?! Who the fuck even let her into A---"
Felix hissed in pain when Derek pinched him ruthlessly at the back of his arm. "Theo, sorry man we werent thinking straight. Clearly, the tequila last night fucked our brains," Derek chuckled with insistence, hoping to lighten Theo's mood.
Theo only returned him with the grim expression he had imprisoned on his beguiling face.
"Theo, I think with the tremendous amount of things we've done, making controversies and entertaining the world with what we love to do is our job now."
Derek's eyes went like saucers. These stupid dudes.
Few seconds ticked by and they met with a gravely silence.
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