AN: Thank you for the reviews! :D I might do a POV from one of the other characters every few chapters. Sorry, I was supposed to update yesterday, but I had I bunch of homework to do… screw history… :/

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO

Amanda POV

I watched Avalon walk home, Nico closely trailing behind. Wonder what that was about…

I sighed and turned away from them.

Bad idea. John was staring at me intently. I bit my lip and faced back towards the window. My eyes shut tight.

After not being able to concentrate for a few seconds, I fished out my iPod from my backpack and put on my bright blue headphones.

I closed my eyes again and leaned back on the seat, the sun shining on my face.

That was better. I could always concentrate with a little music. It calmed me down too. But of course not completely, since I could still feel John's gaze on my face.

*Flashback*

We started to walk out, when John grabbed my wrist. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

I silently nodded and looked over at Avalon.

She understood my silent message, and continued walking out with Derrick.

I turned to John, who was looking at the floor. I bit my lip. "So… um, what did you wanna talk about?"

He looked up at me. "What did you mean earlier when you said, 'unlike some other people here'?"

I sighed. "John, I think you know what I meant."

"But I don't. That's the thing…"

I looked at him. "What do you want it to mean?" I asked softly.

He stared into my eyes. I could see every fleck of blue, the pain, the sadness, the longing.

I hadn't even noticed that he'd been coming closer to me until Hunter came and shoved us both into the lockers.

"Maybe I can't get the rest yet, but I can sure as hell take you, right now!" he growled.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him. He pushed me onto the row of lockers on the opposite wall and was about to crash his lips onto mine when some other force pushed him onto the ground.

"Stay away from her." John growled threateningly, stepping in front of me protectively.

"Oh, big tough boy protecting his girlfriend, huh?" Hunter sneered, getting up from the floor and pulling out a knife from his pocket. "Well let's see how tough you are when-"

"Hunter!" Nico yelled, coming up. Hunter swore under his breath and looked at him. Nico threw his own knife at Hunter. The moment it hit him, he disappeared, leaving nothing but a pile of scattering dust.

Nico looked at us. "Come on. We've wasted enough time."

John and I shakily nodded and the three of us walked out.

*End Flashback*

So if it seemed like I was acting weird earlier, that was why.

Plus the whole issue with Derrick. What was up with him? One moment, he's our awesome friend who loves to eat and can't do PE, and next, he's part of some big secret that he can't tell us about…

I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes. Speaking of Derrick, he was looking at me expectantly.

I grabbed my backpack, ran out of the bus, and walked to my house.

"Mom! I'm home!" I yelled.

She came out of the kitchen and smiled. "How was school?"

"School was school." I shrugged.

She gave me a hug and went back into the kitchen.

I ran upstairs and crashed onto my bed. School was anything but school today.

The things with John and Hunter definitely proved that. I'd never spoken to Hunter in my life, and then he tried to kiss me? And the way John reacted… it almost made me believe he liked me back. Almost. He hadn't spoken a word to me since, so guess that wasn't an option.

I'd have to talk to Paradise about that. She usually knew what to do in these situations.

I started to do my math homework while listening to music. After a while, I started to get really frustrated with all the numbers and letters and just moved on to Greek.

I ended up just reading the stories and not actually doing any homework. They were all really interesting.

"Amanda!" my mom called from downstairs.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Can you come down here for a second?" she yelled.

I got up and made my way downstairs.

Mom was standing in the living room, next to a very frantic looking Derrick and a very annoyed and confused looking John, Shane, and Paradise. She looked like she was about to cry.

I got a confused expression on my face. "What's going on?"

"Sweetie, go and pack a week's worth of stuff. You have to leave." She said in a small voice.

Hold up. What? I gave her a quizzical look.

"Please, just do it." She pleaded. I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off. "No questions, honey. You'll understand soon."

I nodded and went to pack a few things in my small backpack. I went back downstairs and she gave me a hug.

"I love you, sweetie. Come back and visit." She smiled at me and ushered us out of the front door.

That was it? No explanation, nothing. Just, oh goodbye, come visit.

After she closed the door, I turned on Derrick. "What the freak is going on?" I seethed. "Dude, you've been scaring me today…"

He sighed. "I think Nico should be the one to explain. He should be here soon."

A thought suddenly formed in my head. "Hold up. Is Nico getting Av?"

The rest of them looked shocked for a moment. We all glared at Derrick.

He sighed again. "Come on. Let's go."

He started walking over to the direction Avalon's house would be and the rest of us followed him reluctantly.

I clenched my fists and walked a little bit ahead of where John and Shane were talking.

Paradise came next to me. "If he doesn't tell us what in the world is going on, I might just hurt him!" She said, sounding very annoyed.

I rolled my eyes. "Not without me you won't." I replied.

We all continued walking for a few minutes. When we turned around the corner, we saw Nico and Avalon. He was carrying her backpack, and she looked as if she'd been crying.

Paradise and I gasped and went to give her a hug.

She smiled and sniffled. "I'm ok. Now that we're all together, what I really want is to know what's going on… I was just told by my dad, the only person I have left, to leave. Derrick and Nico seem to know why, so I would really like an explanation, now."

Wow, it wasn't just me. And I'm guessing John, Shane, and Paradise also had been told to leave.

I was more than ready to find out why.

We all turned to Nico and looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. "How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

AN: Ahh… I feel like this chapter was a bust… Once again, sorry for the length. I've been really busy lately… Today, and this is just for one class, I have to annotate 19, and I counted, pages of text that is size 10 font, single spaced… One day, school will be the end of me… Not to mention I have volleyball every single day of the week for two hours in the sun… Ok, now that I'm done with my rant, thanks for the reviews! They mean the world to me! Love ya!

~Nessa