Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO
Drew Tanaka most definitely was not spoiled, thank you very much.
Contrary to popular belief, she actually had the typically tough life of a demigod. A father who never seemed to be present (work issues, he claimed), a stepmother who despised her (devil child, or so she called Drew); family life pretty much sucked for five-year old Drew.
In elementary school- whispers; the girl whose mother abandoned her, never had anyone to applaud her on presentation day, who wore tattered clothes to school, and had no friends because they were all jealous of her beauty. Mutters in the corridors, whispers in the canteen, snickers at the playground- Drew had nowhere to hide. After a particularly harrowing incident involving a plate of spaghetti pushed over her head, Drew stopped even going for breaks. So she retreated into the shadows of the stairwell, clutching her doll- her only companion, and curled up until a teacher came to get her.
Drew! They always said, with that tinge of annoyance even the most patient of teachers couldn't keep out of their voices. Stop being such a troublesome girl!
So at night, when the shadows and nightmares came to get her, she lay underneath her blankets, shivering as the taunts were hurled at her over and over again, like grenades that never ran out of ammunition.
You lose, they would snicker.
There was nothing she could do but to wait for the next sunrise, only for nightfall to come again.
…
When Drew came to camp, she thought her days of hiding were over- finally! Everyone at camp was different in his or her own special ways, and she would not be shunned because of her beauty, at long last.
Then she was claimed, and she had to hide all over again. Only this time, it was a different kind of hiding. Hiding behind make-up, sarcastic comments, flirtatious advances (Drew didn't even think half the boys she flirted with were that appealing), and snarky remarks- just to keep up the oh-so-perfect image of Aphrodite image. Every single boy that came around the corner- on goes the charm and the flirts, up goes the eyelash batting rates, and more heart breaking. And guess what? Drew didn't even enjoy it. She had become a bully.
Every cloud has a silver lining, though.
When Silena Beauregard came along, with her ideals of love and beauty that Drew found so much better than what others had preached before, Drew looked up to her to no end. The cabin seemed so much better too; more caring, more sweet- more love-filled. They participated in more camp activities, instead of just sitting there doing their make-up and gossiping. And that was how the Aphrodite cabin was supposed to be- right? Right?
Apparently not.
Rumors came flying about. Rite-of-passage, breaking hearts, heartbreak- how terrible! Yet they had to do it, because they were the children of Aphrodite. And they had to keep up the good image of their cabin, of their godly parent. Sometimes Drew wished she were a daughter of Hermes, or even Apollo. Standards were so much easier to live up to. Silena refused to do the rite of passage- and look where it got her?
D-e-a-d.
Drew couldn't even think about it without shedding a tear. Her sweet older sister, a traitor? The one she had looked up to, wanted to be like when she grew up? The one who had so many times talked about love like it was a religion and believed in it so much so to the extent of not completing her rite-of-passage? Silena betrayed her love, and the image Drew had of her instantly shattered.
So when she took charge of the cabin, one day, she woke up with something new inside of her. Silena didn't get her happy ending? Fine, then nobody was going to get a happy ending. She marched over to each and every one of them, and persuaded them that love was all about heartbreak. Matching up couples was only so that they could break them up again. That was what love was all about. So with her powerful charmspeak- no one could resist her. The Aphrodite cabin became a preppy, flirty, fake cabin once again. False giggles, snarky comments… More loves were crashed because of the Aphrodite cabin. Drew had the love lives of the entire camp wrapped around her little finger.
Of course, Drew's phase of luck didn't last for long. Little-Miss-Lovely Piper McLean came into the scene, and she reminded Drew so much of Silena, that she instantly hated her. Which made it all the more worse when Little-Miss-Lovely took over her position. Disgraced, looked down upon, chased from her own cabin, Drew Tanaka craved one thing only from that point onwards.
Revenge.
The perfect opportunity came when Gaia appeared to her in a dream, offering her a place in the Giant Army. Power, she promised, her sleeping eyes and moving mouth drawing Drew to her, plenty of power. Her absent father, her stepmother, the bullies, the teachers, Silena, Piper… they all flashed before Drew's eyes. Drew had snapped up the offer within a day. She snuck away from camp. No one even noticed that she was missing.
Ah, the lengths revenge would take you to.
So as Drew Tanaka lay on the cold, hard ground, her life slowly ebbing away from her, a golden arrow struck through her stomach, the shadows swarmed around her again, and laughed at her cruelly.
You lose.
I got a whim to write this after reading many stories about Drew being the ultimate baddie. Seriously though, she has potential to be a very interesting character if RR did delve into the topic. I may choose to write Rachel Dare if this gets good responses. Maybe Calypso too.