My family is extremely messed up.
Or rather, it's more like I'm the one who is extremely messed up. I mean, whose daughter is happy seeing her father with her stepmother together, when said stepmom treats her like a needle in her shoe? But I couldn't help it. My father is genuinely happy around her, and I had never seen him so happy before. He had never laughed so fully when it had just been the two of us. I didn't want to damage their relationship. You could say that I was being selfish, not wanting to be the one to blame for should she ever leave him…
Yep, welcome to my life.
My name is Diana Rodgers. I'm just an ordinary sixteen-and-a-half girl, with nothing to worry about except school and tests and reading A Midsummer Night's Dream before next week. At least, I thought I was an ordinary girl, until my stepmother abruptly vanished from our lives.
"Di, have you seen Rachel?" Rachel is the name of my stepmother. She was a famous artist, well-known throughout the west coast.
I woke, one morning, to my father's panicked voice. He never sounded like that, and as soon as he spoke, I was wide-awake. "I've been asleep," I pointed out. "Why, did something happen to her?"
He nodded frantically. "I can't find her anywhere! She went to bed with me last night, but this morning, she's not there!"
I didn't want to imagine the things they did together in bed. I swallowed before asking, "Are you sure she didn't just go take a walk somewhere to help with her inspiration?"
"She would've left a note! Or a text!" he waved his phone at my face as he continued, "She hasn't been answering my calls, Di! Oh, help me!"
Well, I couldn't magically summon her into my bedroom, if that was what he was hoping for, and I wouldn't be very happy if she came into my room in the first place. "You could call the police?" I offered.
He shook his head. "Been there, done that. They thought I was mad and hung up."
If this wasn't a serious situation, I would have laughed. It would be quite hilarious if my father called nine-one-one and cried "My wife has vanished!" No doubt the police would mistaken it as a prank call.
I glanced at the clock. "I would help, dad, but I'm sorry...I don't want to be late for school."
His face fell.
"Listen, I'll ask around and see if anyone has seen her on their way to school. I'm sure she's close by." I said, knowing that he would never relax until I did something to help.
"Thank you, Di! I'll search around town for her while you're at it." He left the room, giving me time to get ready for school.
Already, I was going to be late for the bus, so I skipped the hair-brushing and hurriedly slipped on presentable sweatpants and a shirt.
I snatched my bag and dashed out the door, not really having the time to think about Rachel's disappearance as I stumbled onto the bus.
"Didn't know today was pajama day, Artemis," a voice sneered at me. I groaned, turning to the source of the troublesome voice. It belonged to a boy by the name of Nate, whose favorite pastime was to make fun of me. I wouldn't mind it so much if he acted that way around everybody, but somehow he was gentlemanly to every girl in the school but me. He even had the honor of nicknaming me Artemis after the Greek Goddess, because Diana also happened to be her Roman name. Our English teacher, who happened to be a Greek mythology geek, even gave him extra credit for it.
And so the nickname stuck with me, no matter how much I hated it and told them otherwise.
I ignored him as I sat down in the back. This turned out to be a mistake, however, because for the remainder of the ride, he muttered "Artemis" every second and poked me as he did so. It was annoying to say the least, especially when I had more important things to be worrying about, like the fact that my stepmom had just friggin disappeared without a warning and my father would very likely tear every strand of his hair out unless she was found.
We had almost arrived at school when I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up suddenly, and Nate flinched back. "FOR THE LOVE OF WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE IN, SHUT UP!" I screamed. I half-expected the bus driver to scold me for raising my voice. I half-expected the other students to hate me for the rest of my life, because Nate was extremely popular and no one dared to say 'Shut up' to him. But instead, the students cheered and clapped, and some even whistled (it wasn't until later that I realized they cheered because Nate had been annoying them as well with his nonstop muttering of 'Artemis').
I did the smartest thing in a long time: my mouth fell open as I gaped at them.
"That was brilliant, Artemis!" A boy with messy red hair and sharp green eyes commented, his eyes twinkling with laughter as he held out his hand. I took it cautiously. "Robbie Goodfell. Today's my first day. School hasn't even started and you've already made my day!"
"The name's Diana," I said frostily. Half the student body called me Artemis out of habit, and I certainly didn't want a new student to join the club. "Diana Rodgers."
For a moment, I saw his eyes flash with interest. Then it was gone, and he grinned at me. "I look forward to being acquaintances with you, Artemis," he said, still laughing, as the bus pulled to a stop and the students began to file out.
"Me, too," I whispered, staring at him as he nimbly jumped off the bus from the top stair.
This was going to be a long day, I decided, as I followed him. Not to mention I still had to help my father with finding my stepmother...
Hold on a minute...my eyes widened as I pilled the pieces together. Rachel had vanished on the same day that Robbie Goodfell transferred to my school...There couldn't be a connection between them, could there?
Disclaimer: I am just an ordinary person, so no, I don't own the series.
A/N: Is reading the Iron Queen. And because Puck deserves to be with someone since he is so awesome, I decided to write a Puck/OC story. And no, there will be no love triangle.
Extra cookies to anyone who guesses Diana's real mother. (Hint: Diana's also a half-breed like Meghan. And I'm not sure whether that makes her a Mary Sue since it's my first time writing a fanfic story for the Iron Fey series, but she does have flaws which will be revealed as the story progresses).
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