So some anonymous person asked for something either Pipalia or Theyna, and I thought, "Well I don't think I've written any Theyna. That'll be fun. So this is for that person, whoever they are. Hope it meets their standards.
Don't own Heroes of Olympus.
Fact of the matter was that Thalia didn't want to deal with any schoolwork at the time…or any time, really. She could have been doing something useful with her life, like sitting in her room, avoiding her mother. Or interrupting an awkward date between Percy and Annabeth. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in the library, waiting for a tutor that wasn't even on time.
"You're Thalia Grace, right?" Thalia looked up from her feet and scowled. Maybe that would get rid of the girl. "Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."
Instead of getting rid of the girl like the scowl was supposed to do, it only seemed to make her want to scowl back. Honestly, Ramirez-Arellano was scowling back at Thalia, and that was not a normal occurrence. Sure, people scowled at her a lot, but never to the intensity that was happening right then.
"Yeah, whatever. You're—"
"Late, I noticed." This girl wasn't going to break like the other tutors that Thalia had been assigned, that much was obvious. "I doubt you're one to talk though."
"So? I can still point out the obvious."
"Well, fine then. Do your homework. I'll do mine. The one finished first with the correct answers has a meal paid for them by the other." She was making it a competition? Like that was going to actually work. "For your sake, I hope you don't have much."
For her sake. What an annoying notion. Thalia was smart. She could win a stupid contest where all she had to do was her homework. Geometry wasn't that hard. Neither was Chemistry. Yeah, she could finish it all way before Reyna Ramirez-Arellano could even open her first textbook. Not that she really wanted to.
The main problem with not trying was that she didn't have any money on her, and Reyna looked like the type that was very serious about the deals that she makes. So not winning would mean paying for a meal for someone else with money that she didn't have.
Not like Thalia was going to lose anyways. No way she was going to lose to an overconfident, condescending ass like Ramirez-Arellano.
"Are you going to even start, Grace?"
"Looks like you're taking your time."
"I'm simply turning to the page that my assignment's on. Pay more attention to your own work. If you even start on it."
"Shut up." With that, Thalia grabbed a notebook from her bag and furiously began copying down confusing equations that she needed to solve somehow. What was this even about? Something about angles and circles and degrees. Did they throw temperature into it?
Good enough. Thirty problems sloppily done. Time to move on to Chemistry. The titration of hydrochloric acid to something else. Well, none of this made any sense at all. Next one. That might be easier.
Find the molarity of 54.67 grams of barium nitrate. What was molarity? How was Thalia supposed to keep track of all the chemical stuff that she wasn't taking notes on? Titration, molarity. None of it made any sense.
Chemistry just didn't make sense after passing the part about the differences between chemical and physical changes.
"How much longer are you going to sit there?" Thalia shot a glare at Reyna, who didn't flinch like most other people would. "It's almost seven, and I am hungry, you know."
"You're already done?" That was it. Thalia wasn't going to pay for anyone's dinner but her own, and that would only be if she had money.
"Have been for an hour and a half now." No. No, this wasn't real. The girl was lying, and Thalia wasn't going to believe her. Because she wasn't done yet. That wasn't possible. Time hadn't really gone by that quickly. "What are you working on?"
"Chemistry." Reyna stole the paper Thalia was working on without even asking if she could. Was that necessary? No, it wasn't because Thalia could figure it out eventually.
"Titration and molarity aren't that hard, considering you're in Chemistry I. Molarity is a simple equation. Figure out how many moles of the titrant were needed. Use the balanced chemical equation to calculate the moles of analyte—which is the acid—present. Use the volume of analyte to find the concentration of the analyte."
"What?"
"How about this? You buy dinner, and I'll actually teach you to do this instead of giving you the answers."
"How about no."
"Either way, I'm expecting dinner."
"I don't have money."
"Then I'll pay today and expect restitution tomorrow."
"Don't you get paid for this? Why do I have to pay?"
"Because, Grace, I won. Come on, let's go."
"I don't have a car, so I guess I can't go."
"Luckily, I can drive." This was so irritating. There was no way that Thalia was actually going to be able to get rid of this tutor like the others. "It won't be far from where you live."
"How'd you figure out where I live?"
"Various History projects with Jason last year." Of course she knew Jason. They'd get along well. Serious about their studies. To the point where it was annoying.
"Ready to lose, Ramirez-Arellano?" Three months this had gone on, competing to see who would buy who dinner after finishing their homework. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, every week. They were probably both going broke.
"I'm afraid that I won't be, not today." Reyna sat done across the table from Thalia, smirking. Whatever, Thalia was definitely going to win. She actually knew what she was doing for homework, finally. For once, she wouldn't be clumsily stumbling through it.
That and the fact that she had gotten most of it done during lunch because she was going to win today. She wasn't going to pay today. Nope, she had planned everything out. Just a few problems left for Geometry, and she'd be done. Yeah, she was definitely going to win today.
"Done!" Reyna yawned.
"It's about time. About fifteen minutes have passed since you started. Now, where should I have you treat me for dinner?"
"What?"
"I finished five minutes ago."
"Fucking cheater." Reyna smiled and shrugged. That wasn't cool at all. Thalia was supposed to win.
"Actually, I have a better idea."
"Probably something like, me paying for your gasoline for a
That time, Reyna actually chuckled slightly. Not all that reassuring, but whatever. Thalia just didn't want to pay for dinner that night.
Keeping her mother out of the house while trying to cook was harder than it should have been. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if Jason was helping, but no, he had to go do something with Percy. Honestly, Thalia hadn't understood what she was being told about it. She had only blue coke before Jason ran out.
Thalia could keep her mom out, no problem if it was all she was trying to do. Cooking was hard. Attempting to do both was probably going to be the death of her. Yeah, if she kept this up, she was most likely going to catch her house on fire. And that would be bad.
The least Jason could have done was send their mother out on a wild goose chase for something—anything. She'd have believed him. If Thalia sent her after something, nope. Beryl Grace never believed anything that Thalia said. Didn't believe that Thalia's grades had actually gone up to something that was acceptable instead of failures. Didn't believe that Thalia was actually working on homework while she was at the library, even when Thalia sent her a photo of the library.
Why had Thalia agreed to cook?
Oh yeah.
Because she hadn't wanted to buy dinner on Friday. Now, she was stuck cooking on a Sunday. Not that she was busy. It was just annoying and time consuming. She didn't know if she was even doing it right. Preheat to three fifty was what the recipe said, but whatever it was that she was cooking didn't look right. Add a bunch of stuff to it.
Probably didn't look right because they didn't have fifty percent of what the recipe said she needed. So she improvised by not putting some stuff in and throwing other stuff in instead. Though peanut butter probably wasn't a good thing to add. It was some sort of chicken thing that she was making, and last Thalia actually paid attention to anything about chicken, there was nothing related to peanut butter in or on it.
So yeah, this was going to be a complete disaster.
"That doesn't look right." That comment made Thalia jump a little. Just because typically people didn't just walk into other people's kitchens. "This looks worse than your handwriting."
"Shut up, Reyna."
"By the way, the front door was open, so I took the liberty of letting myself in." Well, no way. Thalia hadn't noticed. "In case you were about to ask if I had ever heard of knocking."
"I'm not a cook."
"I noticed." There was a long lapse of silence that Thalia didn't feel like breaking. She just stared at the chicken, as if that would make it all better. It didn't, but it was worth a shot. "Toss it. We'll just eat out. Simple as that."
"You also thought titration was easy, so you're not a good source when it comes to what's easy." But throwing the chicken out sounding like a good idea. Thalia just didn't want to actually leave now, which was another problem. "I'll just order pizza or something."
"I don't care, as long as you pay." Didn't care? Fine, Thalia would choose something that she would be certain Reyna wouldn't like.
Sick with pneumonia. Won't make it to the library for a while. Sorry.
Won't make it to the library? Was Reyna serious? Almost a year of competing and actually talking and buying each other dinner, and Reyna had the nerve to catch pneumonia? That sucked. Oh well. No reason in doing homework then.
Thalia ended up doing the work anyways, which sucked because she really didn't want to. Stupid Reyna made her create a habit that she didn't want. Stupid Reyna didn't show up to the library for two weeks. And then when she did, she still looked sick.
"You look like you've been hit by a bus then injected with the bubonic plague." Probably not the best way to tell Reyna she didn't look all that healthy.
"Thank you for that description, Thalia. Anyways, I might as well pay for two weeks of dinners since you actually did your work without me around." Thalia wasn't going to ask how Reyna actually knew that.
"You should probably still be in bed."
"Can't miss any more school."
"They won't care if you're sick with pneumonia." Which was true. Well, at least they hadn't cared when Jason was out sick with the swine flu or whatever it was called. They didn't even care when Percy faked a doctor's note to get him out of whatever class he wanted as long as he said he had a migraine. Though that didn't go over well when Sally found out about that plot. "Just get a note or something."
"Don't have insurance. Don't have a doctor."
"Fine, but I'm not asking you out until you're not about to sneeze all over me." Oops, hadn't meant to say that.
"What?"
"Nothing, geez. Come on, let's go eat."
"Whatever." Thalia smiled a bit before shoving her books in her bag and standing up. "But just so you know, I'll probably say yes."
"What are you talking about Reyna? We're just getting McDonald's. I'm not paying that much for dinner tonight."
"Idiot. I know what you said."
"I'm not dumb, so don't be so rude. I know what you
"Don't act like a moron then."
"Man, I was going to pay tonight…"
"I'll drive then." Thalia smiled and bravely kissed the sick girl. Not a very smart thing to do, but whatever.
Three weeks later, Reyna was sitting at Thalia's bedroom desk, trying not to laugh at how she had caught pneumonia.