Dawn Evans

∞

It was about a month later and Antonio and I have talked to each other every day since then. Whether it was on the phone or in person. I've been over his house a few more times, but it was only for a short amount of time so he could get some of his things.

The Millers hadn't assigned me a mission for two weeks and they wouldn't for about a few more because I had an important one coming up and they thought that I should spend my time training. But it wasn't only me. This time I was paired with Malik to take out a group of individuals who sought to kill the Millers. They called themselves the Black Dragons. I've never heard of them. Either way, I've taken out groups of people alone and I didn't understand why I needed Malik's help- by the way, he was fighting last month- why he needed mine.

"He doesn't have to go." Antonio's jealousy echoed through the phone.

"These people are dangerous." I defended the Millers' methods even though I didn't believe in them nor did I understand them myself.

Antonio huffed before he said, "How is Clover?"

For the last couple of days, Clover had been having nightmares, terrified, and screaming in her sleep like before. I didn't know how to help her, I've never been in that situation.

"I dunno." Clover doesn't talk to me anymore. We talked about boys and we gossiped, but she doesn't talk to me about what's bothering her and I wondered how we got to that point. To the point where she felt like she couldn't confide in me anymore.

"She'll come around." He told me before he brought up our last conversation. "Who are you and Malik gonna take out?" He added emphasis around the words 'take out', sounding like an excited twelve-year-old who was watching his favorite superhero movie.

I sighed before I said, "You know I can't tell you that."

"Come one, D." I still haven't gotten used to the nickname. No one had ever called me anything besides my real name up until I met Antonio and I kind of liked it. "Maybe I can help you." He continued.

I thought about his offer before I questioned him, "What do you even know about being an assassin?"

He hesitated before he said, "Well, I know you."

That's not what I asked...

I was about to change the topic before I thought about Antonio's skills in martial arts. My eyes widened. "Maybe... you can help us."

~

It's been a couple of days since I invited Antonio to tag along on my mission. Clover and I were getting ready for school and of course, I wore my basic everyday all-black outfit. I got into the passenger side of Clover's car. She wanted us to take her Toyota because she claimed that she loved feeling 'lowkey.'

The engine roared before she backed out of the parking space and began driving down the street. I wouldn't say that Clover was the worst driver, but she wasn't too great at it and I found it hard to believe that she even passed her driving test. She turned up the radio before she got that look on her face. I knew something distasteful was about to blurt out of her mouth.

"Dawn..." She said slowly, wanting to tell me something.

I rubbed my hand down my face knowing that I wasn't gonna like whatever she was about to say. "Clo..."

She turned to look at me before she said quickly, "I think I'm gonna go back home."

I looked at her, shocked that she would want to go back to that awful joke of a home. "You mean your dad's house?"

She rolled her eyes, but in a 'She already knew I was gonna start this bullshit' way. "Clover, why?" I asked her.

"He called me and-"

I cut her off, "He called you?! On your flip phone?" I asked her. She didn't actually have a flip phone, but the only phone that she could afford after she lost her old one at Antonio's party wasn't really up to date. I offered to buy her a new one multiple times, but she always rejected it.

She nodded her head. "How did he even get your number?"

She stopped at a red light before she looked at me. "He came to see me." She paused, trying not to cry. Clover never felt the need to hold in tears around me, but now it was like my best friend hesitated to be just that. "Dawn, he needs me."

My mouth flew wide open, you would've thought that a fly would've gotten trapped in there. "Clo, you don't have to leave. He's your dad, you're not his. Taking care of him isn't your responsibility." I told her.

"Where am I gonna go, Dawn?" She paused, wanting me to respond wholeheartedly. But she knew that she could stay at my place, which is why she continued. "At your house? Alone while you're on a mission?"

"My mom is gonna be there- maybe Enzo?" I said as a joke to ease her thoughts, but I made it worse.

"Your mom who can't stand to see me around and her sex slave?"

S-Sex what? What did she say??!

Before I could respond to her interesting comment honking roared from behind us. We both looked up ahead to find that the light was now green.

Clover put her foot on the gas pedal and the old, but efficient Toyota began zooming down the street. I looked over at her, "My mission?"

"What about your mission?" She asked with her hands glued tightly to the steering wheel as she made rapid turns and twists. Her driving didn't even compete with the terror that Antonio put me through, though. So, I was grateful.

"You can come," I told her. Everyone else was already coming, I figured that I could invite Royal and make it a vacation.

She shook her head, "No." and my lip tugged to the side because if she knew what missions were like outside of the killing and the fighting, she would be amused. The beauty of some of the places that I've seen during my ten years of working with the Millers, anyone would be.

"You don't even know what a mission is like!" I tried to explain, but maybe she needed a little more convincing.

"I don't care."

"Clo, come on. At least know where I'm assigned to first."

She rolled her eyes before she played along, going to say "no", no matter what my answer to her question was. "Where are you going that's just so special, Dawn?"

"Paris."

Her facial expression changed and she was now excited. A smile forming across her face from ear to ear. "I've always wanted to go back," she muttered.

"Back?"

"Yeah, my dad took me once- after everything happened." She explained, referring to her mom's passing.

I nodded my head before I looked out of the window and then back at her, "So?"

She nodded her head, ecstatically, and just like that. It was official, she was going to Paris with me, Antonio, and Malik in a couple of weeks.

When we got to the school building there were decorations everywhere because Christmas was in a few days. We had two more days left of school until Christmas break started. These three days never really counted because we never actually did classwork, we usually just watched Christmas movies because the teachers were practically horrible at doing their jobs. Not that I was complaining or anything.

Clover and I got out of the car before we walked up to the school's entrance and spotted Antonio pulling into a parking space. "Give me a minute," I told Clover.

She smirked before she gave me a side-eye, "K." She made it quite obvious that she 'knew' what was going on between Antonio and me, even though I barely knew. I mean... I liked him, of course.

Maybe we should just leave it at that for now.

While walking to Antonio's motorcycle, I spotted people staring at me, giving me evil and fearful looks. I hadn't noticed them in a while. Maybe, I'd been too wrapped up in my head lately that I hadn't worried about being very cautious.

Standing directly beside his bike, I didn't greet him. I wasn't really into hellos. Instead, I stared at him waiting for him to get off his bike.

"Wassup." He said as a statement before taking off his helmet and then looking down at me. His hazel eyes piercing into mine until finally, he outstared me.

I quickly glanced at his outfit and he wore all black. A black zip-up hoodie, faded black jeans, and "black-red" Yeezy 350 sneakers. This wasn't normally how he dressed. Sure, he'd wear black often, but not like this. How we present ourselves is usually impacted by how we feel on the inside about our surroundings or ourselves.

Bitch, shut the fuck up. You swear you a therapist.

I figured that Antonio probably wasn't feeling his best today and I knew that I had to try my best to be as non-annoying as possible.

He sat his helmet down on his handlebars before he got off the motorcycle and turned to face me. Then he began walking beside me toward the building. His hand in mine, unnoticeable to any and everyone who looked. He knew that I didn't want anyone to know about 'us'- whatever 'us' was. But whatever it was, I thought that it would ruin my reputation. I thought that it would change the way that people saw me. They wouldn't fear me anymore.

"What you doing for Christmas?" He asked me.

I looked up at him, shocked that he even acknowledged that it was a holiday. "Same thing as last year."

"And what's that?" He scrunched his face up.

"Nothing," I told him. Every Christmas was bland for me. I never did anything. I gave gifts to my friends, but I did that on a daily basis anyway. It wasn't really anything special. Plus, I always told them not to get me anything. Though despite what I told them, every year, Royal, Clover, and my mom would try to think collectively to get me a gift, each time I'd give it back to them. It was usually something that they liked that they assumed that I would like as well.

"Why not?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Ever since my dad left us- me and my mom, it's just always been that way." I paused, reminiscing all the wonderful moments with my dad. "He used to take me to go see the Christmas lights." I grinned slightly. "Then we went ice skating after. It was a family tradition. He used to hang onto the wall, while I skated in the center like a pro... and then when we got home, he'd tell my mom that he was the 'best skater out of all the Evans.'" I said, with my smile growing wider and wider.

I noticed how big my smile had gotten before it shrank and I dropped my head to the snowless ground, a part of me wishing that life was still like that. When we got to the school doors Antonio looked down at me, "It sounds like y'all was close." His sympathetic eyes trying to pry as much information out of me as possible before I completely shut down.

"We were," I said.

"What happened? Why would he do... what he did?" He was referring to selling me to the Millers.

It was impossible for me to know, seeing as though I didn't talk to my dad since he left us. But I took a wild guess, "Maybe his love was just stronger for my mom than me." I looked up at him and he shook his head.

"That doesn't make sense, though." He told me. His eyes beaming with mystery and confusion. "It doesn't make sense for him to love her any more than you, just to leave you both."

I thought about it and he was right. But before I could come up with theories of my own Clover stood next to the both of us, forming a triangle.

"Hey Ant," Clover said. I embarrassingly covered my face, hiding from him. Clover and I called him that from time to time, but only in private. I found it hard to believe that she called him the nickname to his face.

"Ant, huh?" He chuckled before he continued, "I kinda like it." He lied. As hard as he tried to make it unnoticeable, I could see the humorous expression that was written on his face.

I laughed, "Liar!"

"What?? I do." He smiled before he repeated the nickname over and over, "It got a nice ring to it," He joked. 

"Whatever," I said.

It got quiet just before Antonio said to both Clover and me, "I'm having a small get together at my place on Christmas Eve." I automatically assumed that invitations were in order.

"YES!" Clover shouted before he even asked us to come.

"Ight, cool." He said to Clover before he looked over at me, lifting his brows, silently asking me if I wanted to come.

"I don't know. I'll think about it," I told him.

"Come on. What else are you gonna be doing?"

I rolled my eyes before I looked over at Clover. Attempting to make the most convincing puppy dog eyes, she clasped her hands together, practically begging me to come.

This reminded me of the first party that we went to that Antonio hosted. The worst party that I've ever been to.

"Alright, what time?" I asked.

Bitch, didn't you just say it was the worst party?!

~

It was third period when I saw Aleeah sitting in the front of the classroom. I didn't realize that she'd be going to school here, but I guess it made sense.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Antonio asleep on his desk. His head turned away from me, facing the window. I hated Mrs. Jones a little more than the other teachers and I assumed that it was only a matter of time before she called on Antonio to answer an off-guard question.

"Mr. Antonio Armani." She called his name, attempting to grab his attention. I looked over at him, his head still glued to the desk. I chuckled a tad bit before Mrs. Jones continued, "Somebody wake him, please." She instructed any of our classmates.

Somebody who sat beside Antonio tapped his shoulder before Antonio jumped up. The expression on his face giving me the impression that he'd either had a horrible nightmare or something, in general, was bothering him.

"What?" He said aggressively and agitatedly before he turned to face the guy who woke him from his sleep.

"Don't blame him, Mr. Armani. I told him to wake you up. Our number one rule is no sleeping during class." The entire classroom could tell that she was expecting an apology from Antonio, but instead, he stared at her with a blank expression before he rubbed his eye, looking bored as his chin sat in his hands and he leaned his arm on the desk.

"Okay, Antonio. Tell me about the destruction of Pompeii."

I hope she didn't think that was a difficult question for him. "Very smart, Mrs. Jones. Ask an Italian about Pompeii." I blurted out accidentally.

I- I meant to say that in my head.

I heard Antonio scoff before Mrs. Jones looked to the back of the classroom at me. "Okay, Ms. Evans. How about you tell me about it."

Antonio turned to face me before he said, "You know what- I can answer it-" he made an automatic assumption that I didn't know the answer to her question.

He was cut off by the teacher, "No, Mr. Armani. You had your chance. Now, I'm asking Dawn."

I rolled my eyes before I noticeably looked up and down at her. I don't know what gave any of them the impression that I was incapable of answering a simple question like this. "The destruction of Pompeii.." I repeated. "Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted and destroyed Pompeii, killed thousands of people. Afterward, it was vacant for about two centuries. However, the physical state of Pompeii was in no way, shape, or form destroyed. Actually, under all the debris and ash, the remains of dead bodies, the architecture, and artifacts remained. The fact that there was no law or no system that kept Pompeii intact is why people labeled Pompeii 'destroyed.' But in reality-" Mrs. Jones cut me off in the middle of my statement.

"Ms. Evans, when did the destruction of Pompeii take place?" She asked me. This was all that she wanted from me? This was a question that I could answer in my sleep. I found it shocking that the teachers at this school dumbed down their students, encouraging us to give one-worded answers.

"August of the year 79 AD."

Mrs. Jones turned her back before she walked over to the chalkboard and continued her lesson. "Mr. Armani, just keep your head up during class."

"Yes ma'am." He said before he turned to face me again and quickly winked at me. I guess this was his way of telling me that I did a 'good job'? Which was something that I did occasionally.

~

When fifth period came around I sat at the desk in front of Clover. "Welcome to creative writing everyone." Mrs. Woodland greeted us how she did every day. "Are you guys excited about Christmas break?" She asked us.

Some boy raised his hand waiting to be called on before he said, "I don't celebrate Christmas."

"Well, that's fine." Mrs. Woodland said, not sure how to reply to his statement.

The class had gone silent before Mrs. Woodland started the lesson. "I'm giving you all an assignment and it'll be due today. It should be quick and easy considering that you'll have to partner up with three other people of your choice." She paused. "If there become any problems with finding partners, I'll be assigning groups myself."

I looked back at Clover who was sleeping on the desk, like always. I tapped her before I said, "Come on, it's due at the end of class."

"What's due?" Clover said loudly over all of the chattering students.

"Exactly," Mrs. Woodland replied from the front of the classroom. She must've heard Clover because she continued, "You all don't even know what's due. You're just running to your friends to be in a group, but your friends may not be what you need to complete this assignment."

I facepalmed myself and she continued, "Today's assignment, four of you will each sit in a group. You will tell each other something that you regret and something that you're most proud of. Afterward, each of you will write three short reports, examining the type of people that your classmates are."

"How are we supposed to just magically know who somebody is based on their regrets?" Somebody shouted out.

Mrs. Woodland smiled with a closed mouth, "You'll know." I rolled my eyes at the ridiculousness of this assignment. "After Christmas break and after I grade the assignments the other three people in your group will give you your report and you will each read one- maybe it's the one that you feel the most comfortable reading- to the rest of the class. And don't forget your life stores are due after the break as well... Maybe this can assist you. Get started everyone, you have thirty-five minutes."

I realized that I hadn't worked on our 'Life Store' project since she assigned it.

Ten minutes past and it was me and Clover's turn to share with our group. We were paired with Keyshon, the class clown, and Bria, who didn't talk much. Keyshon earlier told us that his biggest regret was choosing this class as an elective and he was most proud of his basketball highlights. While Bria's biggest regret was trusting someone- someone who she didn't specify and she was proud of her perfect attendance.

Perfect attendance? I could never show up to this hell hole every single day. Shit- I can barely show up on time when I do come.

"I don't have any regrets," Clover shared. She was lying, obviously and I understood. I could think of about twenty things that she's told me that she wished never happened and they were all things that no one could expect her to share. They were personal to her. That's why this entire assignment was foolish and a waste of time.

"I'll go first." I gave Clover time to come up with something. "I regret promising my mom that I'd go to school this year," I said wholeheartedly. I wasn't telling my business to a bunch of kids who I barely knew. "But I'm proud of myself for coming here even when I don't want to." I finished.

Keyshon and Bria looked at each other before they both began writing on a sheet of paper. Then I looked at Clover signaling that it was her turn to speak.

She looked down at her desk before she said, "I regret not being there for my mom when she died." I didn't know that she was going to bring up something personal. This was something that she'd never told me.

"Clo, you were a baby," I told her, not understanding why she blamed herself for the death of her mom.

"I know. But she needed somebody."

Since our desks were connected and I now sat beside Clover, I squeezed her hand that sat on her lap tightly. It was apparent that she needed somebody too.

~

𝐀/𝐍:

𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐬𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬. 😂

𝐢 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞... 𝐮𝐡𝐡𝐡. 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰.

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰, 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫.

𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲.😽