five
"What's going to happen next year?" Paige asked, stopping her scrolling on her phone to look at Athena. It was March of 2016, Paige and Athena a month and a half away from officially becoming high schoolers. Paige was worried, she wanted to talk to Athena about this earlier but could never find the courage. She had the idea that her best friend would confirm her concerns, that they would rarely see each other anymore, that they would drift, that they would no longer be friends. Paige had basketball, Athena had soccer, nothing in common with the two, and since they overlapped in season. And the classes, high school was much bigger than middle school, with more teachers and students, there was barely any chance they would have some together, or even see each other in the halls.
"What do you mean?" Athena asked, chewing on her pencil.
"Like when we go to high school. Are we still going to be friends? I mean i'll be busy with basketball and you soccer, and it's not guaranteed we have classes together, so when will we ever see each other? And i want to see you, you're like...my best friend." Paige expressed, now avoiding eye contact with the girl next to her.
Athena put down her pencil and moved her notebook aside, "Paige," she softly said, drawing the blonde's attention back to her, "where is this coming from?"
Paige shrugged, mumbling a soft "I don't know," as she started fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist, "I've just heard that high school is like when people break up or drift apart the most or something, I don't know."
"P we live like 5 minutes from each other, it's gonna be hard for us to drift apart. Especially since you abuse that power daily." Paige pinched Athena's thigh at her words.
"Don't act like you don't love it when I'm here. You would be rotting in bed, reading all day if i wasn't here to bring fun into your life." Paige said, now sitting up to face her.
"That actually sounds kind of nice. The silence, the alone time, not having to deal with your loud video games or basketball stats. I can imagine it now, and it's peaceful here." The soccer player said with a slight sarcasm in her voice.
"Please you act like you don't text me daily asking when I'm coming over, or if you can come to my house. You would miss me and you know it." The basketball player stated.
"Eh, i guess. Point is that we will still see each other, yes high school will be different, but it won't be that different. And we will be taking the same classes so we can study together, trust me P, it won't go the way you think it will." The brunette comforted the blonde, not breaking eye contact once.
"Yeah right, you're gonna be in all AP or honors classes while I'm stuck behind in the basic classes."
"So? Doesn't mean we can't still study together. Trust me Paige, we'll be fine. Promise."
Paige nodded and then let the conversation go, she was still worried but with her best friend's words, the worries were tucked away in the back of her mind. She suggested they continuing watch Grey's Anatomy, something that had become tradition when they were at one of their houses. Athena agreed and they made their way down to the dark basement with the larger TV for quote Paige, "maximum emotions." Of course they first had to stop for snacks.
The show was more like background noise, really this time spent was just them talking. "We need a code." Paige stated from the opposite side of the couch they were sitting on, it was a small couch so they were both still pretty close to each other.
"A what?" Athena asked, taken surprise by the sudden change in conversation.
"A code. Something that we can never break, until the end of the world."
"The end of the world?" Paige nodded after she said that, "Ok what would be said code."
The blonde shrugged, "Uhm....Oh! We always have to share food."
"Really? That's the first thing you think of?" Athena asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, it's important. Moving on, make plans to see the newest movie out day of. Only if it's a good movie of course but yeah." Paige added.
"We need to write these down somewhere, no way I'm gonna remember all this." The brunette suggested, "wait stay here, i have an idea." Athena stood up from her seat, walking upstairs, leaving Paige to watch the show alone while she went to grab a sticky note and sharpie.
Coming back downstairs with her items in hand, Paige paused the show and looked at what was in her hands, "Nah what, that's way too small for all the rules we need."
"Exactly, I need to limit you as much as possible. Otherwise there would be all these stupid rules, like 'Athena must tell Paige how pretty she is every hour of the day' or something." The soccer player said while Paige took the sticky note and sharpie, writing the already established rules.
"So you think I'm pretty?" She stopped writing and looked up with a smirk.
"Shut up, not at all what i meant." Athena tried to look over Paige's shoulder to see what she was writing, "dude nobody is going to be able to read that."
"Doesn't matter, it's just for us so who cares. Alright what else.....sleepover! Twice a week, every week."
"We do that anyway."
"True but this is official official" Athena rolled her eyes as Paige looked back down to write her new rule. With her handwriting and decoration to the sticky note, there was only enough room left for one more. Paige took the liberty to write down the last one without warning Athena, knowing she would agreed to it.
Paige and Athena's best friend code that they are never ever allowed to break :)
1. Always share food with each other
2. Always see the newest movie out day of
3. Sleepovers at least twice a week
4. Always stay best friends no matter what
"There, perfect. We should frame it." Paige stated, finishing the last word on the sticky note. "Hey wait this is just like the episode we just watched, when Dereck and Meredith signed the sticky note."
"Great observation, it's almost like that's where i got the idea." Athena said sarcastically, earning a light slap on her arm.
"I hope you know that if you ever break one of these i will be haunting you for the rest of your life. I could never forgive you." Paige said, her voice serious, and she was mostly serious but she knew that it wasn't true.
"Same goes for you. Now how do we decide who gets to keep the original." Athena questioned.
"Uh, rock, paper, scissors?" The blonde said as she reached her fist up, ready to play. The brunette agreed and reached her fist to be level with the others, Paige counted down and both of them selected paper first. The second round was the same, and the third, and fourth, "Ok stop copying me."
"I'm not, you're the one copying me."
"Am not. Whatever just go again, ready?" This time Paige threw rock and Athena picked scissors, "Yes! I win, haha"
"Congrats superstar, you won at a child's game."
"Still won so HA" Paige laughed in her face, "I think you should keep it though. As a reminder that you lost."
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Later that night, after Paige went home, Athena did as promised. She found a small frame, and took the picture of her as a 4 year old after playing her first soccer game out, placing it on her desk. She replaced it with the sticky note and placed the frame right next to a picture of Athena with her mom, a soccer ball at the little girls feet and a wide smile on her face, her mom carrying the same smile. The photo was like a candid that could never be recreated.
A small smile appeared on her face as she remembered back to that day, Calliope and Athena were in the backyard, kicking around a ball. Daniel stood at the door, admiring the two laughing and playing. This was before their downfall, before all the medical appointments, before the tragic events that would follow, back when their family was complete, when they were happy.
After her mother passed, Athena felt as if she lost a piece of herself. Her mom was her best friend, as sad as that sounds, she didn't care, she loves her mom and misses her like crazy. She would give up everything just to have 5 more minutes with her mom, but that wasn't possible. So she did everything in her power to feel close to her, that's why soccer is so important to her, because it reminds her of the times when her and her mom would spend hours kicking a ball while Daniel made dinner. Or when after Athena's games they would go out for ice cream to celebrate their win, even if they didn't win they would still go as a "pick me up."
Looking at the picture now, wasn't as painful as it was the year prior, before when Athena had the slightest reminder her mom was dead she would burst into tears. But now she was smiling, eyes were watering, but still she was happy. She wasn't constantly pulled down by that memory, and it was all because of the girl who wrote their 'code' in the worst handwriting shes ever seen, next to that picture.
Paige was able to reignite that spark, the spark that Athena and her dad thought was gone forever. It had only been a year and Athena felt like she was close to healed. And she couldn't wait for the next 4 years.