A Sunrise on the East Side

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"Aunt Athena? Wake up!" My eyes cracked open and I was face to face with Elijah.

"Good morning," I yawned and Eli smiled.

"Mom told me to come and wake you up. She let you sleep late because she knew you were tired." Eli smiled and I nodded.

"What time is it?" I asked, stretching.

"It's noon." He said simply.

"What?" I jumped out of the bed. That means I only had three hours to get ready. Oh lord. "Hey, Eli, go tell your mom that I'll be down in a second, 'kay?"

"She said that I wasn't supposed to leave unless you were with me." Eli sat on my bed.

"Of course she did. Okay. Well let me get ready and then we can go down." I smiled at him and grabbed a pair of shorts and a pretty blouse that I had bought at American Eagle.

I moved into the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. I, Athena Genevieve Merrick, would hopefully be an employed woman after today.

After I was dressed, I focused on my hair and I decided on braiding my bangs again and just keeping my hair down. Having short hair was a good thing, I didn't have as much to do with it in the morning.

I walked out of the bathroom and looked at Eli. "Ready, dude?"

He nodded and I grabbed his hand. Is this kind of what I'd be doing while nannying?

We walked downstairs and into the kitchen where I was not surprised to see the guys over again. Rian wasn't, he was probably with Ashlei and Matt wasn't over either. Only Jack and Alex.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, directing it more toward Alex but Jack answered.

"We're taking you to where we live, for your interview! Mrs. X is gonna let us chill with Grayer while you guys go out for 'tea'." Jack laughed and my eyes widened. "Just kidding, Athena, she's not taking you for tea. You guys are gonna talk in her office."

I glared at him and then turned to Allison. "Why didn't you get me up earlier-- is that bacon? You are my savior!" I cheered.

Allison crossed her arms and smiled smugly.

"You did this on purpose! You knew I would be mad so you made bacon. You evil, evil girl." I punched her in the arm. She had always hated that.

"Athena! You /know/ I hate that." She glared.

"I know. And you /know/ I hate getting up late. I missed the sunrise, you bitchh!" I laughed. I punched her again.

"Athena! I'm seriously warning you. Don't punch me again or else." Her eyes narrowed.

"Or else... what?" I bowed my head and looked at her. Then slowly, I brought my arm and punched her quickly.

"ATHENA GENEVIEVE MERRICK!" She screamed and I ran to the door that led outside. I screamed playfully and ran around in the yard. I had always been faster than everyone. State champion for track when I was fifteen. Allison was quick but she could never catch up.

"Ooh, Allison... you're slowing down a little bit." I teased and she laughed. All of a sudden there was another girlish scream and Jack was chasing the both of us. Alli and I looked at each other and with one glance, we teamed up. We knew the plan. Split up and then tackle. It worked everytime.

We turned separate directions and Jack stopped, trying to figure out who to chase. But before he could decide, we had tackled him.

"You let your guard down, man," I laughed.

"Aw, dammit." He mumbled from under us.

I stood up and grabbed Allison's hand to help her up. We left Jack laying there to get up himself.

When we got inside, we sat down at the table. Alex was speaking with Eli.

"What were you saying about the sunrise, Athena?" Allison asked.

"Oh, well every morning I would go down to this little lake and watch the sunrise." I shrugged.

"Like when you would get up early when we were younger?" She questioned. I nodded slowly. "You still do that after all these years? I mean I remember you and Alex used to do that all the time..."

"Yeah. I guess I never grew out of it." I spoke softly. I looked down and rubbed my Harmony tattoo.

I stood up and walked over to the bacon and took a piece, when I came back to the table, I noticed Allison looking intently at my right foot.

"What's on your foot?" She asked.

"A tattoo..." I trailed off. Both Allison and Alex's heads snapped up and their eyes widened.

"WHAT?" Jack shouted.

"What's the big deal?" I asked.

"You swore you'd never get a tattoo! When we were fifteen you told all of us you would never." Allison said, her mouth open.

"Shut your mouth, Alli, or bugs will fly in." I smirked.

"Don't change the subject! When did you decided to get a tattoo?" Allison demanded.

"I actually have three. And I decided to get them two years ago, dear," I shook my head.

"THREE?" Jack shouted and I laughed.

"Yes, Jack, three."

"Let me see." He demanded and I rolled my eyes.

"Does everyone want to see?" I asked.

"What are we talking about?" Zack asked when we walked into the kitchen.

"We're watching Athena show us her tattoos, Zack," Allison cocked her head to the side and looked at my brother who furrowed his brow.

"She swore she'd never get any..."

"Well obviously she changed her mind." Allison explained.

"Do you want to see them or not?" I raised my eyebrows.

Jack, Allison, Zack, Alex and even Elijah nodded. I laughed. "Okay, first, I have 'Harmony' on my wrist, see?" I held up my wrist and showed everyone. "Next, I have 'smile' on my index finger on my right hand." I then held up the finger. I had gotten it after I found that I really enjoyed taking pictures and I thought it was funny. "And last but not least, on my foot, it says 'watch the sky'." I put my foot on the table and showed them.

"Wow." Jack said.

"It's not really that big of a deal. Unless the mother of this child doesn't like tattoos. Oh, Zack, please don't tell me that she minds!" My eyes widened.

"Nah. She knows that Rian, Alex and I all have them so she's okay," Jack told me and I sighed. Good. "Speaking of which, we should probably leave kind of soon..."

I nodded and walked upstairs to grab my bag and throw all of my stuff (phone, id, money, etc) in it.

When I came downstairs, we hung out for a little while longer until we left at about two, because Jack wanted to show me their apartment. Fun.

I can only begin to imagine what it will look like. Oh, lord. Should I be afraid?

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"Here is our lovely home!" Jack smiled widely.

Yes. I should be verrry afraid.

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