I don't own PJO or HoO.

IX

And when the dark clouds arrive I will stay by your side. I know we'll be alright, I will stay with you. -John Legend

The second that Reyna's feet touched the carpet of her floor, she knew something was bound to go wrong. It was this creeping feeling up her back that she got as she groggily rubbed her eyes and stretched out her limbs. Reyna debated knocking back out again on her bed but decided against it, remembering she had two important exams today. She padded to the bathroom where she found her mother. They exchanged good mornings, Reyna mumbling hers. She rummaged through her closet, picking out a blue dress paired with a cardigan and boots. Technically, the whole ensemble wasn't hers. Over the past weeks or so Reyna had raided Hylla's closet once more for new clothing. She had picked out some dresses and flashy blouses for whenever she went out with her girls or Percy. She was meeting Percy today after school so she wanted to look decent for him, unlike when he came over and she usually wore sweats.

Her mother pursed her lips at her when Reyna emerged through the kitchen. Ever since she'd learned about Percy, everything Reyna said or did or wore was scrutinized as if she did it for him. Partly, yes. The other part was because Reyna was embracing her femininity. She had a body, she was a woman and she could wear whatever the hell she wanted. Reyna served herself some cereal and accepted her mothers ride to school.

The first three periods were good. She took her biology exam with no problem and had a very interesting debate in English about white privilege. She even stayed after class and commented to her teacher about how much she enjoyed the discussion. He was surprised that Reyna, who sat in the back, had so much insight about the topic. They could have talked for hours but the tardy bell rang and Reyna had to cut the conversation short. She rushed to her locker to pick up her Calc book and stuffed it in her bag. As she turned to head to class Reyna was interrupted by a figure slamming her locker door shut. Alarmed, her eyes searched the perpetrator: Miguel's friend. The gang leader.

He had a wolfish grin on his face and was staring at Reyna up and down. Save for his dark skin and hair, it reminded her of the way Jason had looked at her when he had pushed her against the wall. She gulped and did her best to stare him down. She couldn't show fear; not to him. Show the slightest amount of fear and the gang members would own you. Reyna steadied her voice before she spoke, "Can I help you?"

The guy licked his lips. "Yeah, see, I've been meanin' to talk to you, Ma."

"Don't call me Ma."'

"Word on the street is that you're dating a gringo."

Word on the street? Reyna knew he'd seen Percy that first night and she was sure that he'd seen Percy those several other times he'd been over. It's not like his shiny car blended in the neighborhood. The nicest car someone in her neighborhood got was a Toyota or Honda. The gang member and drug lords usually drove big fancy trucks but nothing like Percy's car. Still, even if his car was parked outside her house frequently that didn't mean anything. It's made her mad that he was automatically assuming things just because she wasn't hanging out with Latino guys. She wondered if they'd be having this conversation if she'd brought Leo home.

The guy in front of her was inching forward.

"Word on the street is that you need to mind your own business," she retorted, holding her ground. Something flashed in his eyes and he took on a menacing sneer. Out of the corner of her eye Reyna say two dark shapes move behind her. Before she could turn, the guy shoved her against the lockers. He closed the space between them, eyes wild.

"You think you're so funny. So much better than us. You think you're too good for us," he spat.

"Whoa, those are big assumptions you're making," Reyna countered, eyes frantically searching her surroundings. Two gruff looking guys had emerged behind their leader. Reyna recognized one of the guys from her history class. Okay. So maybe she could take on the first guy but she'd be a goner with the other two. What if she screamed? Would someone hear? Care? Perhaps a teacher would peak out of a classroom? But Reyna knew that none of those options was the best way to deal with this. They'd simply get in trouble and terrorize her at home. She couldn't have her parents worried and at risk. The guy was moving closer, until his body was pressed against Reyna. Her face contorted in disgust.

"Girls like you are trouble. You go around looking down on us, we jus gotta show you who's boss around here."

The other guys chuckled behind him. One laughed stupidly and muttered, "Yeah, show her." The lead gang leader took the advice.

It all happened so fast that later when Reyna replayed the scene in her head she silently scolded herself for being so stupid. The boys had shifted closer, huddling around her. The leader moved his hand up her thigh and started to work his way up while the another whispered obscenities and the other slid his hand up her shirt. They wouldn't right? They wouldn't take advantage of her in the middle of the hallway, right? It was a hallway, in a school and it was technically in public. They at least had to have some morals to know that this way wrong. Reyna thought back to the situation with Jason, how different and yet similar the situations had been. One, she hadn't been ganged up on. Two, she semi sort of knew Jason. Three, Jason had cornered her too (for real, what was up that move?). Four, Reyna had led Jason on which has cause him to act the way he did. Still, even if she had led someone on or didn't, taking advantage of some like this was wrong. It stripped them of their dignity and it eventually became rape. She knew she needed to fight back right now if she wanted to escape unharmed but the truth, Reyna had always been terrified of gangs. They were ruthless and cold blooded if you weren't a brother or sister. They didn't care who they hurt in the process of getting what they wanted. She knew there would be hesitation to hurt her. Even if she did escape, next time it wouldn't simply be just three guys who ganged up on her. It'd be the whole gang.

She'd heard those stories before. Girls who thought that they could change a gang member ended up getting traded within the gang in exchange for some drugs or so. The members all took turns with them and they were threatened to not talk. Afterwards the girls were never the same. Who would be? Rape did that to people. They never emotionally nor psychologically recovered. Reyna had even heard that rape was an initiation ritual.

"Yo, I kinda like it when they fight back, Speedy," one of the guys on her side said. His hands were struggling with the bra clasp. Speedy, the leader, made a grunt. His cheeks were flushed red. Red. Red. Reyna began to see red. The adrenaline set in, coursing through her veins. She had to act now. She couldn't let herself become one of those girls. She mustered all the strength and kneed speedy in the groin. His eyes widened and he crouched in pain. Before the other two could react Reyna slammed one into the locker and the other earned a punch in the eye. She was about to make her great escaped but the guy from the locker tackled her legs and she crumbled to the floor. "Déjame, perro," she grumbled, trying to kick him in the face but his arms had a tight grip on her legs. By now the other two guys were recovering. Speedy looked murderous, small switchblade in his grasp. He was cussing in Spanish, calling Reyna and her mother the worst.

"What's going on here?" rang a girly voice. The four of them turned and sure enough a tall brunette was standing in the hall. She had a frilly black dress, knee high socks and black flats. Her hair was styled in waved curls, half of it pulled back in a bow.

Reyna took this as an opportunity, and picked herself up from the floor and gathered her stuff. The boys recovered as well, malice glinting in their eyes. It appeared that the couldn't focus on who two deal with: Reyna or the new girl. Reyna silently prayed that they'd back off for good. She readied her hands, just in case they decided to make a move and she needed to punch.

"Did they hurt you?"asked the girl, eyebrows furrowed with concern. She stepped closer to Reyna, eyeing the three men warily.

Reyna shook her head, eyes matched with Speedy, but that didn't seem to make the other girl any less worried.

Speedy was looking at the brunette. His eyes lingered on her legs. "If you wanted to join the fun you should have just said so," he told her.

The girl scowled in distaste and cursed in Spanish. Reyna noticed her accent was different and as she looked at her more closely, Reyna noticed she wasn't quite Mexican nor Puerto Rican. Argentinian? Sure, her hair was dark and her skin was tanned but her facial features were more European. Reyna couldn't pinpoint the exact color of her eyes.

The boys were laughing at the brunettes remark. One of them was brave, or stupid, enough to caress the girls cheek. She screamed and shoved the boy away. He stumbled back and was caught by Speedy. They frowned and began to advance on the girl. Reyna intercepted. "Don't you even dare."

She stared them down and it worked, they backed away, furiously. "Don't forget I know where you live," Speedy told Reyna. With a click of his tongue he dismissed his other gang members and they scattered down the hall. Reyna and the brunette stood there, watching after until the girl let out a shaky laugh. "Dude that was insane."

Reyna didn't reply. She was mentally punching herself.

"Reyna. Reyna! Were you trying to get raped?"

Reyna frowned at that. She glanced at the girl. "How do you know my name?"

The brunette rolled her eyes like she couldn't believe Reyna was asking such a dumb question. "Are you kidding me? Who doesn't know you?"

"Um..."

"I'm Silena, by the way."

"Well, thanks Silena for the back-up."

Silena smiled brightly, pleased with a compliment.

Reyna smoothed her dress with trembling hands. She didn't really want to be at school anymore. It wasn't safe, and that was all she wanted at the moment. Safety. Reassurance. Percy.

She thanked Silena once more and turned on her heel towards the exit of the school. She was a block down when she heard a frantic clop of feet behind her. The first thought she had was that the gang members had somehow followed her, but when she turned she found herself face to face with Silena. The girl was flushed, her hair whipping wildly in the wind. "Wait up...Where-where are you going?" she panted.

Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Uptown."

"What for?"

"To see my boyfriend."

"Can I come with?"

Reyna was going to say no but something in Silena's eyes made her hesitate. Maybe it was the new Reyna trying to break walls instead of build them. Silena had tried to help her. She couldn't be that bad right? Plus, any girl that had the guts to shove a gang member back was OK in her book. She bit her lip and after much contemplation, she shook her head 'yes'. Silena's eyes lit up like 4th of July fireworks and the girls took the train together.

On the ride to Skinny's Reyna found out that Silena was from Spain. Her parents raised her there until her mother passed away. Her father got a new job in Chicago and they relocated. Now she was living with her Mexican step-mother and her father in the nicer part of town, a couple of blocks away from Reyna's two of them tried speaking Spanish but in the end they decided to speak English to each other because neither one of them could understand the others accent. Silena found it weird that Reyna's 'Rs' became 'Ls' and sometimes she dropped the 'D' in some words. Reyna couldn't stand the 'Zs' and 'Ss' becoming 'TH'. Same language, different customs. All in all, Silena appeared to be a pretty amazing girl.

"How come I'm barely meeting you?" Reyna asked incredulously.

"Well, you aren't exactly the friendly type," muttered Silena. Reyna blushed.

They arrived at Skinny's and Reyna bought them lunch. Silena was such a flirt with Skinny. They batted their eyes at each other so much Reyna thought she was going to be sick until Percy arrived. He skipped his last two classes to come see Reyna and acted so surprised that Reyna had friends. She introduced Silena to her boyfriend, and when he wasn't looking Silena gave Percy a once over and nodded in approval. "He's so fine," she mouthed behind his back.

Silena and Percy hit it off. They joked around about Reyna, while she pouted and rolled her eyes.

Five o'clock rolled by and the back table at Skinny's was over flowing with teens eating and doing homework. Piper and Leo were obnoxiously tossing grapes in the air and trying to catch them in their mouths. Jason was frowning at his notebook, trying to figure out the area, or something, of a cylinder. He was seated the farthest away from Reyna. Nico had a copy of the Catcher in the Rye and was pretending to read. Every so often, Reyna caught him looking her way and then burying his face in his book.

Percy was knocked out, biology book in lieu of a pillow. A small trickle of drool on face. Reyna, being a good girlfriend and partly grossed out, dabbed at it with a napkin. Silena was cracking up with Piper and Leo, applauding like an asthmatic seal. And...huh. Reyna glanced around the restaurant for the other couple. Near the hallway by the bathroom she saw Frank and Hazel. Hazel had just handed Frank something wrapped in tissue paper. He stared at the paper in his hands, and frowned. Hazel pointed at his hands again. Frank stared down and Reyna couldn't quite make out his expression in the light but the paper tumbled out of his hands. Frank and and Hazel stared at each other for a long time before he embraced Hazel.

To her left there was laughter. Reyna found that Percy had woken up and Silena was trying to shoot grapes into his mouth. It was nice to see how fast her friends had taken a liking to Silena. Leo had been the most fond of her. His eyes had immediately began to flutter like crazy.

"Hazel!"

They all turned to see Hazel in tears, marching out of the place. Frank ran after her, shoving his arms into the arms of his coat. The door of Skinny's closed with a loud slam. When they had disappeared down the block, Piper let out a sigh. She ran her fingers through her hair, as she admitted that she wasn't sure if they'd make it. Frank and Hazel had been having a lot a problems lately.

Reyna happened to side glance at Percy who was already looking at her. They shared a sincere smile, and he squeezed her hand under the table in reassurance. Being next to him made Reyna feel like anything in the world was possible. It even made her forget about the morning's incident with the gang members. She really hoped they stayed away from her and Silena. Gang members had hearts too, right? She shivered, trying to to dwell on what would've happened if she hadn't acted, if Silena hadn't appeared. One thing was for sure,s he probably wouldn't have been sitting among her friends, holding hangs with Percy.

o.o.o

Reyna didn't have much to look forward to the rest of the week, except lunch and the trip to Six Flags with her friends. At lunch, Silena had taken it upon herself to sit with Reyna and Miguel. She mainly gossiped to Reyna about how cute Jason was and of Reyna knew more about him. As many times as Reyna assured Silena that no, she didn't know Jason, Silena managed to ask Reyna the same question everyday at lunch.

Reyna saw Speedy a couple of times in the hall. He'd try to catch her eye and when he did, Reyna would nod to him and hoped he stayed away. He did.

Saturday rolled around and Reyna was up by 8 am and sitting shotgun in Percy's car on their way to pick up Silena. In the car with them was Nico and Leo. Frank followed close by in his SUV with Jason. They drove to Oak Park where they picked up Hazel and Piper and ate at a local Denny's. Afterwards they headed down the expressway to Six Flags. By the time they arrived, two hours later, Reyna was minutes away from murdering Silena, Leo and Percy. They were so damn obnoxious. She and Nico shared a look of relief as they piled out the car. Percy slipped his hand into hers but kept chatting with everyone else. Reyna noticed that Frank and Hazel were holding hands again but they weren't talking. In fact, Hazel was chatting with everyone except Frank. He looked utterly miserable, with bags under his eyes and crumpled clothes. Reyna felt sorry for the big guy.

Soon all the teens were shuffling inside the amusement park, trying to decide what ride to go on first. Leo wanted to to ride the merry-go-round. Everyone thought he was kidding until Silena agreed that she, too, wanted to get on it. They all found themselves mounted on the horses, taking endless pictures. Reyna was mad because Leo kept photo bombing the ones she took with Percy. Frank sulked miserably on a pink unicorn while his girlfriend laughed with everyone else. Reyna thought back to Piper's words. Perhaps Hazel was on the verge of dumping him, and being friends with Piper, she had told her already. Still, Reyna decided she was being a low-key bitch to Frank. If you don't love someone, or don't want to be with them anymore, it was better to let them know instead of having them hang on thread, hoping for something that didn't exist anymore.

Finally, after what seemed like forever they dismounted and made their way to Batman. Reyna plopped herself next to Piper, Nico and Percy. Silena, Leo and Jason in the back with a stranger. Hazel and Frank were behind the gates, arguing again. Seriously, they were starting to damper her day.

Piper sighed again, and soon the ride took off. Reyna swore she died and came back to life at least twice. She'd been on roller coasters when she had been younger but now that she was older, there was something wrong with being up so high. It was unnatural and there were so many things wrong with that feeling in your stomach. Reyna did not appreciate the adrenaline rush. Instead, she closed her eyes and prayed to all the saints she knew for safety. Once, she opened her eyes to check on Percy and she saw that Nico had a demonic smile plastered in his face. It was so ridiculous that she laughed so hard that when the seats flipped in a loop, she let out her first blood curdling scream.

At the end of the ride, her friends kept poking fun at her scream. "You scream like a girl," Leo joked. Reyna shoved him playfully.

The next ride they picked was Raging Bull, one of the scariest and most popular rides at Six Flags. There was a line of 40 or so people already waiting. Panic seized Reyna as she watched the ride in action and she decided to wait for her friends while they rode. She had no interest in being that high up. She spotted Frank sulking at the base of a fountain and decided to sit with him.

"Hey," she greeted lamely. He didn't reply. He was too busy toying with something in his hand.

Reyna pursed her lips. Good talk. She spotted Percy waving at her from their spot in line, pouty face asking her if she was sure she didn't want to ride. Reyna shook her head.

She turned back to Frank who was sniffing. "You okay?" She asked him.

Frank just nodded.

Silence.

Reyna hated small talk but she also hated waiting. She figured it'd be better to pry than sit in silence for the next 20 minutes. "So what you got there?"

Frank paused. He thrust his object to Reyna. While she took it, he wiped his nose with his sleeve.

In her hands was a small key chain. It was in the shape of a hockey stick and a foam finger. The most bizarre thing about the key chain was the words on it. "World's greatest dad?"

Frank sniffled some more.

"Is this a birthday gift for your dad?"

Frank sniffled. He tried to put on a brave face but it distorted, and he put his face in his hands. He started to sob quietly.

"Frank," Reyna began. She awkwardly put an arm around the big guy. "What's wrong? Did you and your dad fight?"

The boy shook his head. Reyna gave him a moment to collect himself but she was getting aggravated. "Is your dad OK?"

Frank nodded. He sniffled some more, wiped the snot on his hoodie some more. "S'not for my dad," he mumbled. "It was a gift."

"Okay." There! An answer that wasn't a gesture or sniffling. Reyna rubbed his back gently and it hit her. It was a gift. World's greatest dad. Him and Hazel arguing so much. Reyna gasped, almost falling back into the fountain in shock. "F-Frank!"

The big guy looked at her, his eyes watery. "I know," he moaned and cried some more in his palms. Reyna glanced at where Hazel was in line, chattering with Piper and Silena as if nothing was wrong. Hazel was pregnant. She couldn't believe it. Hazel and Frank were going to be parents. Obviously in order to conceive a baby, you had to you know...do it, but Reyna couldn't wrap her hand around little Hazel and Frank doing that. God. Oh god. No. God, no. They were practically children. No wonder they had been fighting so much.

"Who else knows?"

"Just you," Frank blubbered. He had composed himself and was sitting up straight but his eyes were red, along with his nose. He looked awful. "She doesn't want anyone to know because she's...she's going to the clinic on Monday."

"The clinic?"

"Planned parenthood."

Reyna's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. While she was no baby expert she knew that pregnant women didn't go to Planned Parenthood to get their monthly ultrasound or vitamins. And if Hazel was keeping this a secret, it could only mean one thing...Reyna wanted to throw up. She punched Frank in the shoulder. "You can't let her, Frank. That's your baby in there!"

The big guy nodded solemnly, gazing out in Hazel's direction. He explained to Reyna that he had not reacted very well to the news that day at Skinny's. He had asked Hazel, 'So what are you going to do?' on accident. Hazel had taken that as if Frank didn't want any responsibility with her and the baby and had stormed off. They had made up but hadn't revisited the baby situation again until today. While everyone else was on Superman Frank causally brought it up and Hazel snapped, "You won't have ton worry about it. I have an appointment at Planned Parenthood on Monday." Frank had begged and begged Hazel to reconsider but she was so set that she didn't want to burden anyone. She didn't want to have a baby if Frank wasn't into it one hundred percent.

"But what do you want, Frank? What do you really want?"

"I want..." His voice trailed off. He focused on something in the distance and clenched his hands. "I want her to have my baby."

"Do you really?"

"Yes. Yeah. I-I want to be the world's greatest dad."

Reyna let out a sigh. She clapped Frank on the back, proud of him. He had made the right choice. Movement caught her eye: Percy was waving goodbye as he disappeared into the ride, along with everyone else. Reyna felt the bile rising in her throat."Frank," she gasped, jostling the boy. She pointed to the ride where his girlfriend was greeting the ride worker. "Hazel."

Frank narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"If she gets on the ride, she's going to miscarry."

That caught his attention. Reyna has never seen anyone run that fast, push his way to the front and dive into the ride. About 30 seconds into a heart attack, Reyna heard high pitched screaming and Frank was carrying Hazel, bridal style out of the ride. She was enraged. Her mocha colored hands were pounding on Frank's chest calling him obscenities. None of their other friends seemed to be following them. Frank set Hazel down about a meter away from the fountain. She slapped him, and began to storm off but Frank caught her arm and pulled her into a kiss.

Reyna watched as they embraced each other, Frank whispering things to her. His hands found their way to Hazel's stomach, and he rubbed it affectionately. Hazel threw her arms around him, sobbing so loud that Reyna could hear it from where we was lounging. All she could so was stare, thinking of what they were getting into.

Finally she saw her other friends emerging from the ride. They were huddled, chatting excited about their experience on it. Percy was waving his arms around wildly, mimicking the loops and curves of the ride. He did notice when Reyna approached and wrapped arms behind him, cheek on his back.

"What's wrong?" He asked, eyebrow raised. The excitement in his eyes began to die down.

Reyna tenderly kissed his shoulder blade. "Nothing. Nothing anymore," she replied. He grinned at her and continued talking with his friends. Reyna glance back at the fountain but Frank and Hazel were nowhere to be seen.

So sorry I haven't update in a 2-3 weeks. I've had so many papers, and tests and events. My birthday, the release of BoO, and I saw Rick Riordan on Sat here in Chicago. Twas very very very exciting.

Has anyone else read BoO? None of my friends have kept up with the HoO series so I have no one to talk to. I'm dying inside.

Anyway, here's chapter 9.. I merged two chapters in here so sorry if it's rushed. Let me know what you guys think.

Peace,

Passy.