Page 98 of Resilience

Olivia and Kenneth exchanged that look that meant they knew something big and couldn’t wait to share it but weren’t sure how. Athena was sure they were about to tell her something she already knew.

Then Kenneth stood and came around to sit at her side, setting Blanche’s service vest out of the way, and she was even more sure.

“Hunter is dead, Athena.”

Athena had no idea what kind of actress she could be. She had recent evidence to suggest she was a terrible liar, but hopefully that was only the case with family. “What?” she signed, trying to look like she didn’t understand. “When? How? What?”

Kenneth gave her leg a consoling pat before he answered. “Eric talked to Mr. Cruz. Hunter had an accident coming back from visiting his grandpa. He ran off the road on a turn, went over a bluff and landed in the river below.”

“Oh my god.”

They both nodded gravely. Kenneth told her, “They told Mr. Cruz he probably died instantly.” He tilted his head and peered at her. “Are you okay?”

Though she’d come to despise that question with the heat of a million suns, Athena honestly thought about her answer, trying to give the best one. “I mean ... yes? It’s awful, and I’m sad for his family, but ... yeah, I’m okay.”

“You’re not sad for you? You two were together a long time,” Olivia pointed out needlessly.

“Yeah, I know. I’m ... shocked, mainly, I guess.”

Olivia didn’t seem satisfied with that answer. “You are so weird, Athena.”

“Why?”

“You always act so tough. It’s like you don’t have feelings.”

“That’s a shitty thing to say,” Athena told her, not acting at all. She was honestly hurt.

“It kind of is, Olivia,” Kenneth added.

Olivia had the grace to blush. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be shitty. I just meant it’s okay to be sad about Hunter. I know you two broke up badly, and Hunter said some nasty shit about you after, but you were a couple for years. It doesn’t make you weak or pathetic or anything like that to be sad that he died.”

“I’m not trying to be tough, Olivia. I just don’t know how I feel about it yet. Maybe I’ll be sad when the shock wears off.”

Kenneth put his arm around her back “And we’ll be here for you when that happens.”

“Thanks,” she said and rested her head on his soft shoulder.

The need for comfort was real now, as she worried about her performance during this talk.

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~oOo~

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News of Hunter’s ‘accident’ blazed through the school that afternoon, and any plans for the day went off the rails. Hunter had been a popular teacher, so everybody—not only the faculty and staff but the students as well—was talking about his death, and most mourned it.

Probably everybody but Athena was in mourning. She spent most of the afternoon working very hard to seem like she was exactly the right amount of upset for a woman learning about the death of her ex-boyfriend.

It wasn’t as hard as she feared; she was quite upset about a lot of things regarding Hunter and how he’d died. It was just a matter of making sure she appeared surprised and sad and not guilty or anything like it.

Not that she regretted his death. But regret and guilt weren’t the same thing, and she was, in fact, guilty of his death.

Making sure her reactions balanced on that line was exhausting.

A few minutes after lunch, while she and Blanche were in the tutoring center preparing for the next sessions, Athena got a text from her father:

H’s death on the World site

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