Piper

Persephone

Waking up in my own bedroom seemed dull and boring in contrast to waking up in Astra's. Astra and Aaron's house was a buzz of activity in the morning – Aaron played some Drake in the kitchen as he set about making pancakes and toast and bacon. Astra had a penchant for waking up early and taking 2 hours to get ready. With the amount of makeup and hair equipment she used on a daily basis, I was surprised she didn't actually take longer.

As she showered, I wandered into the kitchen were Aaron was turning the bacon and Patrick was rapping along to Drake. "Break it down like you working for your tuition at Howard, Mama, get it how you live, that thang that you working is power!"

"Morning sunshine!" Aaron greeted me as I sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Hey Aaron," I said nervously. I was still feeling incredibly starstruck in the presence of these people. They were the popular kids at school, the ultimate Gods of Olympus.

"Want some bacon? Pancakes? A little OJ?" he offered.

"Jesus, A, give the girl a chance to get some energy to answer your questions," Patrick joked, taking a break from rapping and swigging from the carton of Tropicana.

"D'ya mind using a GLASS?" Aaron groaned, frowning in disgust at Patrick drinking from the carton. Patrick rolled his eyes and took a glass out the cupboard.

"Um.. I'll have some pancakes and juice please?" I said politely. Aaron nodded. "On it!"

Where Have You Been by Rihanna started to play from the iPod dock. "Oh man, Rihanna. The things I would do to her…" Patrick mused, before blasting into a rendition of the song. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEEEEEEEEEN?!"

"Patrick is quite , erm, musical in the mornings.. some would say camp," Aaron deadpanned.

"Hey, shurrup!"

Aaron laughed. "Of course, he's totally in love with Ava, but hey…"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!"

"Dude, you so are. You're on the swim team with her. You see her in a bikini all the time."

"Actually, the girls wear full on bathing suits. No bikinis."

Aaron sighed. "What a waste. I bet their bodies are amaaaazing."

I cleared my throat.

Aaron and Patrick laughed at the same time.

"Sorry Piper," Aaron said. "Two guys, what do you expect?"

Ava

Athena

I woke up Monday morning at 7.30, before the maid could call me. I was going to beat her this time. I trailed past the statue of Athena as always, examined my reflection in the mirror, washed and brushed my teeth, ran a comb through my hair, sighed, walked back to my bedroom –

To find Alexandria sitting on my bed.

"OHMYFUCKINGGOD!" I shrieked.

She didn't even flinch. She just looked up at me with her brown eyes. They were bloodshot and it looked like she hadn't slept for days. Her usually perfect wavy hair was in knots.

"A-A-Alexandria?"

She nodded. "I, um, wanted to go to school with you this morning. The maid let me in. I brought you muffins from the Magnolia."

She nudged a paper bag, obviously containing the muffin, towards me on the bed. I ignored it.

"What's wrong babe?"

She blinked. "Nothing."

"You never go to school with me. You show up in your Cadillac twenty minutes late, looking like you've stepped out of a beauty salon."

"I don't look like that today?" she said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

I let my eyes drop. I shouldn't have said that. Her appearance right now was not important. It was her behaviour.

"Honey. What's happened?"

I stared at her, willing her to answer.

Alexandria burst into tears.

Patrick

Poseidon

"Cutting it a little fine, eh Ava? Nearly late!" I joked. Ava got out of her chauffeured car and glared at me. "I have my reasons."

"Such as?.."

She reached into the car. I stepped forward, curiously. A slender, tanned hand reached out and took hold of Ava's. Alexandria looked up at me as she stepped out. "Hey Patrick," she muttered.

"Alex.. What's happened?-

"-Don't even ask!" Ava snapped. "It took me ten minutes to get it out of her. Let's just walk. We're taking her to her locker."

I nodded, knowing when to shut up. Alexandria looked… awful. Hair all mussed up, eyes bloodshot – like she'd been crying too much. She wasn't even wearing her trademark denim shorts. Instead, it was jeans with Uggs.

She looked so fragile.

Ava let Alexandria walk ahead slightly, still holding onto her hand. She leaned over. "Nate gave her a hickey at Danny's party, Hayden found out and broke up with her. He was angry. He kicked her out his house."

"Shit!"

Hayden was usually such a calm, cool guy. He was nice to everyone. He never got angry. He and Alexandria never fought. We reached Alexandria's locker and I watched her fumble around in her bag for her combination. "Oh shoot, I know it's here…" she mumbled, her cheeks turning red. I reached out and took her wrist. "I'll look for you," I murmured. She looked into my eyes. Hers were wide. She didn't know how to act this morning.

I found her combination and got her locker open. As she handed me her folders, making extreme small talk with Ava, a hand thumped me on the back.

"Trying to get into Alexandria's pants are we?" Nate laughed. "I tried, let's say it didn't exactly work. How's the neck babe?" he said, winking in her direction. She looked set to burst into tears while Ava had the most lethal death stare going on imaginable.

"Hey Hayden! Looks like Pat's trying it on with your girlfriend!" Nate called out. Oh shit.

"Shit," Ava swore.

Hayden. Hayden had chosen that moment to walk past us. Well, not past us anymore. Nate's remark had stopped him in his tracks.

Alexandria

Aphrodite

Hayden had Nate up against the lockers in an instant.

"WOAH!" Nate shouted in surprise. He clawed at Hayden's fists which were holding him up by the collar. Hayden was the strongest guy in school, obviously cause of the Hercules factor, but also because of his constant training at the school gym. "Dude, let go!" he said, laughing nervously. This only made Hayden force him up against the locker even harder.

"Don't even think about joking with me after what you did with her the other night," he snarled.

"Hayden, it's not like I slept with her. Come on, man. It was just a hickey-"

Hayden banged him further into the metal. "You shouldn't have done ANYTHING with her. She was my girlfriend."

The "was" part stung.

Nate smirked. "Was? Okaaay, looks like Lexii is open market!" he hollered. I could feel my nails digging into Ava's hand, and if it hurt her, she didn't let on. I jumped as Hayden's fist connected with Nate's jaw.

"YOU DON'T CALL HER THAT! THAT'S MY NAME FOR HER. NOT YOURS!" he yelled, punching him more. He kicked him in the stomach, causing Nate to crumple to the floor. "GET UP! GET UP YOU FUCKING LOSER!"

A crowd was already watching. I could hear Ava whispering in my ear – "It's okay, it's okay..."- trying to soothe me. I wasn't listening. All I could do was watch Hayden continue to tear into Nate, his eyes streaming with tears of anger. Patrick grabbed Hayden, trying to pull him off. He was joined by Aaron and Danny. It took three of them to break away one Hayden.

He wiped sweat from his upper lip. "You're a fucking bastard," he spat. Nate collected himself from the floor, his nose bleeding.

"You made my nose bleed-"

"If you don't watch out, that's not all that'll be bleeding!" Hayden yelled, pointing a finger in his face. "Stay away from her. Avoid me."

The crowd parted as he turned to walk away. He looked at me. His eyes showed hurt. I reached out my hand. "Hayden"-

"Don't," he whispered. He was right in front of me. All I could see was him as I looked up into his eyes.

"Please…"

He leant his forehead down onto mine, his eyes locked on mine. It was only us, no one else in the room. It was our moment. We were touching. I could so easily kiss him, his lips were right there.

Until he wrenched himself away from me.