"Either way, though, I just don't think all of the attitude was warranted." Mercedes chides, following behind Salem with a pissed off look on her face. He finally reaches his locker and begins inputting the combination. She just stands there and glares at him.

He'd actually forgotten that she was still here for a second, and he glances over at the girl. She's mad at him right now. Granted, she gets mad at him about 100 times a day. This time, though, she's more upset than usual.

"I don't even remember what I said," Salem replies, because he honestly doesn't. He has no recollection of what this girl is talking about. Seems like it's his fault, though, which is pretty typical.

"I," Mercedes starts, pressing a manicured hand against her chest, "was in the middle of talking about something super important, and you told me to shut up."

Salem blinks at her, scratching the back of his neck as he thinks back. It's actually starting to come back to him. She was going on and on about something that happened in chemistry class, but someone started talking on the intercom and he told her to be quiet. This was both so he could hear the announcement, and also to keep himself from missing part of her story in the noise.

He didn't tell her to 'shut up' either, he didn't say anything at all-well, aside from shhh.

Mercedes now has her arms crossed, eyebrow raised at him. Due to the heels she's wearing, she's almost Salem's height, and her skirt has ridden up slightly from the way she's standing. Her nose is scrunched up, eyelashes touching the skin below her eyebrows due to the fact she's looking up at him. She's visibly angry, and she's drawn the attention of almost every passerby since they were released for the day.

"Sorry, babe." He apologizes, and not for the first time. "Didn't want to miss your story."

She does not appear to believe him. "That is definitely not it. You were distracted the whole time-probably staring at Mrs. Peterson. That's right! I know you have a crush on her."

Salem can't help but to stare dumbfounded at the girl in front of him, who is sounding crazier by the minute. "My English teacher? She's married."

"Wow." Mercedes replies, nails digging into her arm from the rage she's feeling. "Is that seriously the only reason you aren't interested in her? Ugh! I should have fucking known, she's pregnant, and now it's pretty damn obvious that it's because of you-"

Salem sighs. "I didn't get Mrs. Peterson pregnant."

"Yes you did!" Mercedes objects. "Why would I believe that? Can you prove it to me?"

Salem finally finishes putting all his things in his locker. He turns to face the blonde girl, who is still glaring at him.

"Because I've never had sex with a woman." He replies, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets. He and Mercedes haven't even gotten close. Salem could never really bring himself past much more than a kiss on the cheek.

"How do I even know that for sure?" Mercedes asks, before his phrasing seems to catch up with her. Yeah, the fact that he specified women was not lost on this girl. Nothing is. "Oh my god, are you talking about your ex again? Are you actually bringing him up now? Ugh, you're so not over him. I seriously should've seen this coming. He's like, all you ever talk about-"

"He's not all I ever talk about," Salem disagrees, because he absolutely does not talk about Atlas Marino that much. Well... okay, so he mentions him sometimes, but that's just because they dated for so long. They were together from the end of freshman to mid junior year. As of right now, it's a couple months into senior year, and Salem and Mercedes got together over the summer. Atlas is his longest relationship, and probably always will be, at this rate.

"Yes he is! It's always Atlas this, Atlas that. You know he's gotten arrested, right? By your dad?"

"I know, why are you-"

"Also!" The girl interrupts, holding up a finger to his lips. He just sighs. "Don't think I've forgotten about the time I saw you two talking in the hallway, and you were all happy, and you wouldn't shut up about him the rest of the day-"

"Mercedes," Salem's tone is pleading, and she finally closes her mouth. He recalls the instance she's talking about, and it had happened when school first started. It was the first time they really spoke since the break up, and Atlas was asking about Salem's new relationship.

Salem grabs her wrist and removes her hand from his face, then grasps it between his own. "I am completely over him. He's my ex for a reason."

Salem ignores the doubt, that sinking feeling in his gut that objects. It happens every time he says something along those lines, and he tries not to wince at his thoughts. He is. He's over Atlas. He's... completely moved on...

"Stop lying to me!" Mercedes snaps, startling Salem a bit. He actually jumps. "That's it-we are over! I'm done!"

"Mercedes, stop," Salem grips her hand tighter to keep her from leaving. She just rips it forcefully out of his grasp, leaning closer to glare at him.

"Until you learn how to move on, don't even think about contacting me-I hate you."

Salem notices that her eyes appear a bit watery. He wants to comfort her-sure, she's not always pleasant to be around, and she's kind of insane, but he still cares about her. However, before he can think too much about that, she's spinning around. She stomps down the hallway, and Salem notices the crowd they had attracted. Several onlookers, some with their phones out. Fantastic.

Mercedes will probably be late for cheer practice now, due to their pointless argument that turned not so pointless. Salem just hikes his bag up on his shoulder and turns around, beginning to make his way to the student parking lot.

The sad part isn't even the breakup itself. It's not the fact that he is currently feeling no emotion, no heartbreak. It's not even the thought of never speaking to her again. He's actually fine with all of that. The sad part, is the fact that all he can think about right now, is Atlas Marino.

His girlfriend of three months just broke up with him, and the only thing on Salem's mind, is his ex.

Atlas' smile, his laugh, the way he always made Salem feel. He's the only person outside of family that Salem knows for a fact he loves.

Loved! Loved, Salem reminds himself. Past tense, because he doesn't feel that way anymore.

Atlas is in the same year as Salem, so he's also a senior. He lives in their town of Wellbridge as well. He still gets up to no good, because Salem knows the guy got arrested, again, not too long ago. The only reason he's aware of this is because his father made sure to let him know how happy he is that Salem isn't with that no good Marino boy anymore. Mercedes is such a nice girl! Good job, son!

Salem finally reaches his car, opening the driver's side door and sitting down in his seat. He leans his head back and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. He wishes that erasing memories was a real thing. Then he'd never think of Atlas again. That would be amazing.

After a moment, the passenger door opens and Milo is sitting there. Took him long enough.

"Mercedes dumped you!" Milo greets.

Salem rolls his eyes, putting the car in reverse and backing out of the spot. He can't believe word is already getting around. Actually, no, he can. "Are you really surprised?"

"Nope, she was so out of your league."

Milo works at the local hardware store. It's somewhat within walking distance, but Salem is a cool and upstanding guy so he gives Milo a ride anyway. After a minute, Salem pulls out onto the main road. As he's driving, he feels his phone vibrate. Milo reaches in his pocket to check who texted him, because he's nosy.

"Your dad wants you to get him McDonald's and bring it to the station." Milo notifies him. Salem's phone vibrates again, so the boy continues. "He wants an Oreo McFlurry, too."

Salem just hums in response, mind too preoccupied with things he really shouldn't even be thinking about.

"Okay," Salem replies simply, and he arrives at the hardware store only a few minutes later. Milo gives him a quick bye, with promises of paying him back for gas. Salem drives off once the guy has entered the building, choosing to go to the local McDonald's, even though it's not as good as the one deeper in the city. It's only a couple blocks from his house, but he isn't going to his house.

Salem needs to stop by the bank. He decides to just go there first, and it takes him about ten minutes to reach it from the hardware store. He has money to deposit, which is necessary because he has almost nothing on his card. He hates paying in cash, too.

Salem walks into the bank and gets in line, crossing his arms and basically just zoning out. He has a stack of cash in his hand, which in hindsight, was not his brightest idea. It's best to keep that sort of thing hidden. Salem, unfortunately, had forgotten about that little bit of common sense.

The line moves up a bit more, and Salem keeps in step with everyone else. He briefly contemplates leaving the line and going to the bathroom, but that would cause him to lose his place. He doesn't want to keep his father waiting longer than necessary.

It's as that thought crosses his mind, that Salem hears a deafeningly loud bang.

He jumps, turning around to see what is going on. His eyes widen when he's met with the sight of multiple men wearing black masks, who are all blocking the entrance. They're also all armed, and Salem feels his heart begin to race. Oh shit.

One would think that, since he lives in a somewhat small town, crime would be uncommon. That is sadly not the case, though. The crime rate in Wellbridge is insanely high, mostly due to the fact that they're right outside the downtown area of the city-Astren. Also, there are several crime families that live in this town. Of course, there's only one that really matters: Di Angelo.

The biggest crime family in the area, practically ruling the entire city's underground. Rumor has it that their main residence in in Wellbridge, and that family is constantly causing problems for Salem's father. They are behind half of the crime in the Toplines-which is the nickname for the main city, Astren, and surrounding area, including Wellbridge.

No doubt they're behind this, too.

"Down on the fucking ground!" One of the men yells, and Salem's eyes widen. He does as told, getting low, as does everyone else. He looks around, trying to find an escape. Salem isn't sure if that's actually the best course of action. They're in a large, open area, and he doesn't think running away would be all that wise. Still, he prefers it to being at a stranger's mercy.

Salem sees an exit sign, pointing down a hallway, and it's a good distance away. Still, it's away from most of the commotion, so he thinks he could probably sneak out that way. He can hear shouting in the background, but he begins making his way in that general direction. He's trying not to draw much attention to himself. He thinks he's doing a pretty good job, until he runs into someone.

Salem freezes, turning to look at the person's face. He shouldn't be surprised, since he's never had the best luck. It's one of the armed men, a mask covering his face. He's muscular, and intimidating, and he'd understandably been guarding the exit.

Uh oh.

The man appears to raise an eyebrow at Salem, but it's hard to tell with the mask. He leans down and grabs Salem's wrist, pulling him up to a standing position. Then, he glances at Salem's left hand. It's hard to tell due to most of his face being covered, but Salem would swear this guy is almost... amused.

"Are you actually just carrying around a wad of cash right now? In the middle of a robbery?"

Something about his voice is vaguely familiar. Salem feels scared, but he's also kind of embarrassed because this guy is fucking right. What is Salem thinking? Crawling across the ground in the middle of a robbery with a handful of cash-hundreds of dollars at that.

Salem looks around the room, and finds several witnesses staring at him in terror. Well, more of a pitying fear. No doubt Salem is about to be harmed.

Wait. Oh shit.

"Um." Salem replies, turning back to face the man. Something about him is so vaguely familiar, though, but Salem just can't put his finger on it. It results in him not being as scared as he should be. "Yeah."

Salem goes back to surveying the area, and finds that most of the men are either packing up money and loading it in their van outside, or keeping the witnesses from interfering.

"That's stupid, even for you." The guy replies, and Salem turns to face him again. What does that mean? Stupid for him? This guy doesn't know Salem! He doesn't know anything!

Salem's face is flushing from a mixture of embarrassment and anger. "What the hell does that mean? You're literally robbing a bank. What is this, the 50's? Nobody even does that anymore."

The robber appears unimpressed, but before he can respond, he's glancing off to Salem's side. Salem doesn't have time to see what he's looking at, since seconds later he feels something cold being pressed against the side of his head.

"Get back on the ground, and drop the cash." A deep voice growls, and Salem's eyes widen. Shit, he let his guard down. He stopped keeping track of the actual threats in the room, too busy bickering with the man in front of him.

Before Salem can comply, and possibly shit his pants, the robber that he'd previously been talking to reaches out and grabs the gun.

When he does that, though, Salem can't help but to look at the gunman's wrist. Well, actually, both of their wrists. He feels confused, because they have matching tattoos. Nothing crazy there, it's a little circle with this skull design in it and some initials, except...

Atlas has the same one.

Salem only saw it a handful of times, since Atlas constantly wears gloves or bandages. Still, he's pretty positive it's identical.

But... but there's no way that either of these men are Atlas. They just... neither of them are, there's no way, and Salem will choose to ignore the familiarity he feels with one of them.

He doesn't understand. Sure, Atlas got up to illegal things. Sure, he's gotten arrested more than once. Still, he'd never rob a fucking bank. That's crazy!

"Get out, Salem." Salem hears, and he looks up to find the same man motioning to the exit. He's staring at Salem with nearly unreadable eyes. Still, they seem a bit pleading. Like they really want Salem to comply. To escape.

It's then that it catches up with him. Why is he letting him escape? How does he know Salem's name? Why are his eyes so familiar?

There's an obvious answer, but Salem refuses to believe it. It's gotta be the fact that Atlas has been on his mind today. Just like he is every day. Especially today, though, because of the breakup. Salem is just wishful thinking, desperately wanting to be around Atlas so he's fitting the guy where he can. It's sad, and he doesn't want to know what it says about him. That's gotta be it, though.

Salem just stares between the men for a moment longer, one meeting his eyes and the other looking pissed off.

Then, he runs.