So I just read the first 4 chapters of this really amazing story by Banana Smoothie called "One Million Ways to Survive the Fifteenth Year". It was so good that I was inspired to be just like her and write some good ole' Nico stories. SO THANK HER FOR ME UPDATING!
Plus, it's the holiday season and I felt jolly and happy and all that jazz. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Disclaimer: For the tenth time in this story, I don't own anything :P
Finally, after what seemed like eternity of Hailey screeching into my ear, the darkness vanished and we entered the regular world again.
The extra weight of Hailey and Riley (who were both clutching my arm) threw me off balance, and I unceremoniously tumbled forward, asphalt scraping my bare skin and leaving red marks. Sitting up, I waited for my head to stop buzzing, and then observed my surroundings just like a good little demigod should do when thrown into an unfamiliar surrounding.
Directly in front of me was a yellow Victorian house. Right under a bay window in the front of the house, there was a lush garden filled with small, colorful flowers. Perfectly trimmed hedges lined a stone walkway, and the house was completed with the oh so clichéd white picket fence. A mailbox decorated with elaborate paintings of birds and flowers (the whole shebang) was planted in perfect alignment with the fence, and a fresh newspaper was still sticking out of it, yet to be retrieved.
Just as the last of the buzzing disappeared from my head, a loud thwack! was heard and a bold pain erupted in the back of my head. Whirling around, I looked to see who would dare face the incredible Nico di Angelo. It turned out to be a 15 year old girl with a temper.
"Ow! What was that for!" I screamed, jumping to my feet in defense. The irritating buzzing had decided to return, much to my dismay.
"You could've at least warned me before you shadow-traveled! You know children of Apollo hate the dark!" she shouted.
"Well in case you didn't realize, I just saved us all from being thrown into jail!" she stared up at me, at least half a foot shorter, and yet she still looked intimidating.
"Maybe if you ha-"
"Guys! I really don't think this is the time for that!" interrupted Riley. Hailey and I broke our death glares long enough to glance at him. He was pointing towards that same yellow house before, or more towards the terrified looking woman staring at us from the window.
"Uh oh spaghetti-o's…" muttered Hailey. I turned to face her again, glaring
"Seriously? Are you serious right now?" I shouted.
She threw her hands up into the air, exaggerating things. "Well excuse me for adding a little hum-"
"Seriously! Shut up!" shouted Riley.
The woman at the window looked as if she had just seen a ghost. But alas, she had not. Instead, she saw a group of teenagers appear out of thin air. That's much more normal, right?
Before I could figure out what was going on, the two less cool members of the quest (Riley and Hailey, in case you weren't sure) had gone off and started walking up to the front door, dragging me along with them. After a few minutes of knocking and shouting "We know you're there! We saw you through the window!", the lady finally opened the door.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Hailey, and this is Nico and Riley. Say hello, guys." Riley and I both muttered 'hi's and forced a smile. The woman just stared at us and then back at the street.
"You, you children, appeared out of nowhere…" she mumbled.
"Uh," Hailey laughed, "not to sound rude and correct you, but we walked here…" The woman looked unsure. Her mouth was still slightly opened, and her eyes continued to nervously glance at the street.
I looked over her shoulder and peeked inside her house. Immediately, I was greeted with over a dozen pictures of a boy, starting with a baby and ending with a teenager about our age dressed in a school uniform.
Hailey was trying to convince the woman by telling her about our trip from the grocery store and how we were going to a party just down the street, when I, being not only gorgeous but also sincerely nice, saved her.
"We're actually friends of your son, and decided to drop by and see if he's home." The woman immediately smiled, and I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for being so darn smart.
"Oh! You kids are friends of Jeffrey! Well, that's just a shame, because he went out for an early stroll with this girl he's 'dating' just minutes ago! Oh, this girl… She's quite nice, of course, but I much would have preferred him going with Jeanette. You children know Jeanette, right? Oh, she's just lovely. In fact, I grew up with her mother. But Kristen is nice too, just different. I wish she would focus more on her grades… An 80 in math is barely passing! Jeffrey will see his wrongs as he grows older. Oh my, silly me! Look at me blabbing! Well, Jeffrey's not here right now. But you're more than welcome to come inside and wait for him!"
"Oh, no ma'am, that's okay. But, just out of curiosity, how long a walk is it from here to Detroit?" politely asked Riley.
The woman gave him a blank stare. "Well, I can't really tell you since I'm not quite sure, but it's about an hour by car if that helps…"
I felt like shouting "Well since we obviously don't have a car, it doesn't, idiot." but I had the common courtesy to stop myself.
"Oh, my! What a coincidence! You see, I just remembered I have a doctor's appointment in Detroit this very afternoon! You see, my left ovary is-"
"Ms, that's quite alright; we don't need to hear the details."
"Oh, yes, sorry. Well, Jeffrey will be coming with me, so you kids will be more than welcome to tag along if you wanted to!" Grinning at our luck, I accepted before the other two could get anything out.
The woman then invited us inside (thinking back on it, it was pretty rude that she left us standing on the porch that whole time) and ushered us to sit on the couch while she made snacks. Flipping on the TV, I saw some show I didn't recognize (actually, I probably wouldn't recognize any show playing now) and mindlessly threw handfuls of chips into my mouth at a time for the next hour as Hailey spazzed out to some song she was listening to on her iPod and Riley made a vase of dead flowers come to life, and then die again repeatedly.
It was all quite entertaining.
About 45 minutes later, the front door was opened and the boy from the pictures, Jeffrey, walked in.
"Hey mom, I'm ho-" he saw us lounging on the couch and stopped, "Who are you?"
His mom ran into the room. "Your friends! They came over about an hour ago looking for you. They're going to come into the city with us! How exciting!"
Hailey chose this moment to burst out into song. "OOHHH YEAAHHH! Can't believeee that you betrayed mee! I guess first love, never lassstsss! Ooohhhhh first loveeee!" Getting carried away with the music, she jumped up and started dancing around.
"Hailey!"
"Wha-" She say Jeffrey and his mom staring at her. "Oh, hi." A blush quickly spread up her cheeks and neck.
"Hello." replied Jeffrey. He seemed to have not paid attention to her random spastic movements just a moment ago.
He walked closer to us. Even though it was summer, he was practically dressed in a school uniform. Khaki shorts and a white polo shirt made him look like a walking stereotypical preppy boy. He wasn't exactly unattractive (not nearly as good-looking as me, of course), but just glancing at him instantly irritated me.
"I'm Jeffrey. And you are?" He extended her hand to her, and she shook it enthusiastically. But before she could answer, his mom butt in.
"You don't know her name, Jeffrey? Oh, how rude! After all, she does go to your school?"
"Mom," he started, "I go to an all boys school…"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry. Riley and I go to his school, Hailey is our friend." I clarified.
"Ah, Hailey. What an angelic name." I swear he was about to kiss her hand when Riley snorted in attempt to hold back laughter.
But Hailey seemed to be eating it up. "Why, thank you! It was the name of my grandmother."
"And how lucky she was to have a granddaughter as sweet and beautiful as you." He gushed. I'm not sure if anyone else found it odd that he was romancing her in front of his mother. I swear Hailey nearly swooned.
Then charming Jeffrey turned to face me and Riley. "Oh, and how great it is to see Russel and Nick again!"
Riley cleared his throat loudly. "It's Riley and Nico."
"Ah yes, that's what I said." He waved us off, and went back to talking to Hailey, who suddenly had a fascination with twirling her hair.
"Well, we had better get going!" exclaimed his mother happily. Piling us into her very trendy minivan, we spent the next hour listening to Jeffrey tell Hailey "fascinating" stories about his adventures in an all boys school.
"And then," he said through laughs, "Blake threw the hat out the window, and the teachers never suspected a thing!" Hailey started to laugh too, while I just felt nauseous at how boring that story was. Riley almost seemed to be growling, and as we drove trees in our path began to almost grab at the car as he vented out his sudden anger.
Finally, we made it to the city and nearly threw ourselves out of the windows.
"Everybody find a partner and hold hands!" shouted the irritating mother. I practically gagged as Jeffrey intertwined his fingers with Hailey's and smiled at her.
Riley faced me. "I am not holding your hand." Just to show, he crossed his arms.
"I wasn't asking you to!" I crossed my arms too, to show two can play at that game.
Weaving down the streets, we were suddenly blocked by a crowd formed in the middle of the sidewalk. If I had to guess, I would say they were watching a street fight, but I just heard a girl yelling and a man yelling back.
"You charge people twenty dollars for this piece of crap!" the girl screamed.
"Hey! That's a good quality shirt!" the storeowner shouted back.
"Yeah? Well if it's such good quality, how would I be able to do this?" A ripping sound filled the air, and I had a feeling the shirt was now in two separate pieces. Entertained, I began to squeeze through the crowd, earning lots of "Hey!"'s and "Watch where you're going, kid!"'s.
"What do you think you're doing! I hope you know you're paying for that!"
"In your dreams!" shouted the girl, just as I almost reached the front of the crowd. I saw Riley, Hailey, and Jeffrey trailing behind me as our designated driver shouted for us to come back.
Hailey reached me just as I pushed through the front line of people and could finally see the action.
The store owner bared his teeth like a rabid dog. "Why you little b-"
Out of nowhere Hailey leaped into action and tackled the girl, pinning her to the ground with a big smile plastered onto her face.
"JILL!"