CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Know Your Frenemies
Percy liked having Nico around. For the last year he hadn't really had a set place to live. When he returned from Spain he usually just stayed in the dorm rooms of some friends. Not really friends. Party friends that he only actually liked when he was drunk. Like Jenna, for example, the Donald Trump supporter, but when Percy was drunk, she was Jenna the chugged-an-entire-keg-and-almost-died girl. And Aaron, the guy who went on a diet of carrot sticks. Only carrot sticks. But at parties, he always bought the best music.
Percy had hated staying with them. So when he got offered a place in Jason's room full-time, he snatched up the opportunity. And he liked it. He also liked having guests around, ones that he actually liked. So he sat in Jason's bed, while Jason was away, and Nico paced at the foot of the bed, rambling on about Will Solace.
"…so then he invited me over to the Apollo table," he was saying as Percy typed up an essay, "and Chiron let him but when I didn't sit with him he moved over to sit by me and we didn't really speak but I'm thinking about talking to him, you know?"
Percy stopped typing and looked up. "Like, asking him out?"
Nico shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't know. I guess?"
"But do you like him?" Percy asked. "Because this whole 'being gay' business isn't just: oh, he's gay, I'm gay, we're compatible. You have to actually like him." He had a lesbian friend who went to his gym who often complained about girls only wanted to date her because they could.
Nico paused, looking to the side as he though. Ten seconds later he looked back at Percy. "Yeah, I really like him. What should I say? What do you say to Annabeth?"
Percy shrugged. "I say: I cheated on you! Now I'm dead. Kidding! But I did cheat on you. Haha, tricked you again, I stayed faithful. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't get back together straight away." He looked up at Nico. "If you're looking for a relationship like that, you've come to the right place, my tiny friend."
"On second thought," Nico mused. "I think I'll ask Hazel for advice. He relationship seems stable."
"Good choice," Percy nodded, approvingly.
Nico paused before sitting at the end of Jason's bed. "Not to sound judgemental," he said, "but if it's so hard, and so… dysfunctional, then why don't you just walk away? Cut your losses and count it as an epic memory?"
Percy sighed, closing the laptop and sitting up. "Because we're in love. And when you're really in love, you can't walk away."
"Well how do you know when you're really in love?" Nico asked.
Now, if this was a movie, this would be the part where he describes how her hair smells and how her eyes reassure him that everything's going to be okay. Then he would run off, realising he couldn't live without her and kiss her in the rain. But this wasn't a movie, so Percy told him the truth, one of the ways that proved he was in love with Annabeth.
"After I got shot," he said, the scar on his torso hurting when he said it, "I had a dream of Annabeth. I told her I couldn't fight anymore. And I think the dream was a glimpse of Elysium. But Annabeth told me to fight, that I owed it to her. So I did. I fought. And I survived, not because I wanted to, but because she wanted me to. After I got shot, I didn't know how to live anymore. But somehow, dreaming of Annabeth, being home with Annabeth, I figured it out. And that's what love should be. You should love the person who makes you glad that you're alive."
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Reyna and Annabeth got ready together. It wasn't something they usually did. Stand over the sink at a mirror doing their hair, but that night was a very fancy night.
Reyna styled Annabeth's hair so it was clipped back above one ear, emphasising the curls on the other side. She wore it with a strapless, light blue cocktail dress that had a wrap-skirt down to her knees. She wore a cardigan to cover her bare shoulders and neck, but she would have to leave it at the coat check when they arrived. She also wore high-heeled shoes that matched her dress colour.
Reyna's own hair was French braided over the top of her head, like a crown, and around to meet at a braided bun at the base of her neck. She had a beige dress, the same length as Annabeth's, but with long sleeves and a low back. It had silver patterns running along it and she wore it with matching high-heeled shoes. She had a tiny evening bag, which held their phones and spare hairbands.
"Is this evening going to suck?" Annabeth asked. "Be honest."
It was the initiation evening for Harrington House. They would pretty much spend the whole night conversing with the upper-west side of New Rome, drinking champagne and gushing over new organisations.
"No," Reyna sighed. "I've been to like, three of these before as praetor. Hazel will be there!" That didn't particularly lighten Annabeth's mood. "The building it takes place in has a stain-glass window that's been re-used since 1509. Just talk to the architecture geeks about that."
It wasn't a long walk from campus to the building, and nobody seemed to question their attire. It was set in a large hall, with hardwood floors, two rows of marble pillars, a high ceiling and a large stain-glass window at one end. They needed to show their invitations to get in. Everyone there was women, except from the waiters who were traditionally men. The Amazons favoured the prospect of men serving women.
Reyna personally disagreed. She dreamed of a world where men and women were treated entirely equally. Unfortunately, a considerable amount of the rest of the world believed in male domination, and her own sister believed in women superiority. "I need a drink," Reyna said, interrupting her own thoughts. Probably best not to get into a feminist rant that night.
"Great," Annabeth said, grabbing two chutes of champagne from a passing waiter. She handed one two Reyna and they clinked glasses before sipping. "Now we have to split up, we look weird."
Reyna bought her over to an old friend, Hilary, one of New Rome's finest architects, and introduced them. "Annabeth was the one who redesigned Olympus," she smiled. Hilary instantly burst with a thousand questions and Reyna left them to it. She wondered around the party until she found Hazel, the youngest member there.
"Hey," she grinned. Hazel looked striking in a purple, t-shirt sleeved dress with a white collar. Her hair fell naturally and she wore flats instead of heels. "How's praetorship working for you?"
Hazel almost rolled her eyes. "How dare you leave me with such a hard job?" she asked. Reyna just laughed. They had a conversation about leading the Legion before Hazel was whisked away by some committee leader and Reyna started a conversation with a Senate Member.
After the first hour, Reyna was tapped on the shoulder and she turned to face Camille. Much to her displeasure. "What are you doing here?" Reyna asked.
"I'm a member," Camille said. "Sorry to break it to you." She wore a black dress and heels and had the kind of hairstyle you could see a Disney evil Queen wearing. "Look, I need to talk to you."
"That's a pity," Reyna said, trying to turn back to her conversation.
"It's important," Camille said. Reyna reluctantly agreed, following Camille to a small side room. She was a year older than Annabeth or Reyna, so it made sense for her to be a member already. Especially since they liked taking special cases. And Camille did spend months doing charity work in the name of Jesus.
"What's this about?" Reyna asked, crossing her arms.
"Okay, this is embarrassing," Camille said, managing to create a light, breezy and very fake laugh. "You're not supposed to be here."
Reyna just raised an eyebrow. "I have my invitation in my bag if you want proof?"
Camille paused, looking regretful. "There's been a misunderstanding," she said. "When the invitations were sent, it was for you and Annabeth to compete for a spot in Harrington House. Some newbie made a massive mistake."
Reyna paused. "And you know this how?"
Camille shrugged, pulling a gold necklace from under her hair. There was a large key charm and Reyna's eyes widened. Camille was the key master, the person who decided who got in and who didn't. "I'm sorry about this mix up-"
"Well I'm not going to compete against Annabeth," Reyna said. "And I'm sure she feels the same-"
"Apparently she doesn't," Camille mused. "She appeared at our last meeting with a very convincing case as to why she should be a member and not you. The secret committee liked her, which leaves you out of Harrington House."
There was a short pause before Camille began to walk out. "Feel free to help yourself to some more champagne on your way out. It looks like you need it."
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The rest of the night went very smoothly. Camille didn't see Reyna and assumed she left. Three whole hours of peaceful, elegant fun passed before anything interesting happened. "What's this?" Camille said, approaching a group of college it-girls. "Sale on wrap dresses?" There were all huddled around, watching their phones and whispering excitedly.
"Better," one of them grinned, turning to Camille. "Reyna thinks Annabeth blocked her from getting into Harrington House and is going Jersey Shore on her ass."
"And some anonymous idiot is streaming it live," another girl said, turning her phone to Camille, who took it out of her hands to watch the little video.
"You couldn't stand me steeling your spotlight," Reyna was saying, turning angrily to Annabeth in a room Camille recognised. It was a small living side room to that building, behind a thick curtain. There was a couple of couches and a plush rug, but other than that, it was empty.
"Oh why would Harrington House want you?" Annabeth demanded. "Because you've achieved nothing other than have a book written about what a slut you are?"
"Let's go watch," one of the girls said to Camille. "I love drama!" They all started walking in the direction of the room, but Camille stopped them.
"Wait," she ordered. They did so. "We can watch from here," she said, devilishly walking over to a TV screen. She grinned to herself. They were planted all over the room to show of the art work and achievements of the members. She plugged a wire into the phone so the whole room could watch the argument.
"… I learned a lot about the issues," Reyna was saying, but none of them had caught what issues she was referring to.
"You mean your messed up issues?" Annabeth was saying.
"Like you're so healthy," Reyna laughed. She mimicked Annabeth. "I hate Percy, I love Percy, I hate Percy, I love Percy, I hate Percy-"
"And who do you love?" Annabeth demanded. "Jason, then Percy, then Jason again! Then that guy Tyler in England, then Michael, then Jason again! Maybe you re that little slut everyone seems to think you are."
Reyna gasped and so did the girls watching. They watched as Reyna reached forward to grab a fist of Annabeth's hair. Slaps were thrown and they heard a rip. Reyna pulled a chuck of Annabeth's hair out and through it to the floor.
"I think we've seen enough," Camille said, walking across the room to the curtain that lead to where Annabeth and Reyna were fighting. "We have to save Annabeth from that crazy bitch!" She pulled the curtain across and looked in.
Reyna was lying down in one of the couches, watching the fight on her phone. Annabeth was sat on the other, twiddling the blond lock of hair in her hands. "Turns out I'm not the crazy one," Reyna mused, looking up from her phone. They stood up and walked over to Camille.
Annabeth shoved the chunk of hair into her hands and smiled. "Or the bitch."
Annabeth and Reyna seemed to be discovering the joys of filmmaking. There was a pause before Camille turned on her heel and tried to walk back to the party. Someone had changed the TV screens back and nobody seemed to care about that fight.
"Admittedly, your plot to blame me for Reyna not getting into Harrington House would have worked with any other Greek/Roman pairing," Annabeth said. "But not us."
"Do you really think I would have believed you over Reyna?" Annabeth asked.
Camille turned to them, holding her head up. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said. Then she continued, dropping the chunk of hair on the floor. "Or what just happened here…"
"We had a friend film us earlier," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes as if Camille was just being particularly dim. "A friend of ours played it back as a favour."
Camille just turned to Reyna. "You're just upset you didn't get into Harrington House."
"You purposely tried to keep me out," Reyna said.
"Why would I do that?" Camille asked, crossing her arms. The group of girls who first showed her the video still stood behind her, watching Reyna and Annabeth with a slightly scared expression on their faces.
"Because you're obviously still pissed about Reyna sending you to boot camp," Annabeth said. "Despite the fact that it was two years ago! Despite the fact that you drugged me. I guess I can't blame you, being the daughter of the Revenge Goddess."
Camille rolled her eyes, turning to Reyna. "Whatever revenge fantasy you have going on, Reyna, it has nothing to do with me. I told you that it was the committee that chose Annabeth over you, they make the decisions-"
"You seriously didn't think we wouldn't know anyone on the committee?" Reyna asked, smirking.
Camille's face fell. "You can't. That's the secret part of a secret committee."
"Unless the key master misbehaves," Hazel said, coming up behind Camille. All female praetors were a part of the committee, whether they were old enough or not. Hardly anybody knew that fact.
"I used to be Praetor," Reyna said to Camille. "Remember?"
"One phone call confirmed the obvious," Hazel smirked. "Reyna has always been at the top of the list. Congratulations, Rey."
Reyna smiled. "Thanks, Hazel."
Hazel then turned to Camille, a very smug look on her usually kind face. "Key please," she ordered, holding her hand out. Cami growled slightly as she took the necklace off from around her neck. She dropped it into Hazel's hand. The group of girls who stood behind her moved to stand behind Reyna and Annabeth.
"I am getting seriously tired," Hazel said, scowling at Camille, "of you and your schemes. One more move and I'm sending you back to boot camp. Most likely without a return until after the final year of college." She turned to Reyna, Annabeth and the group of girls. "Champagne anyone?"
They all followed Hazel but Annabeth waited behind. "What's going on? I thought you were one of the good guys now."
"I guess I never stopped being mad at Reyna," Camille said. "It's in my blood. And… Percy hasn't spoken to me for almost a year. He was my only friend in years and you stole him from me."
Annabeth's face fell. "Okay, but you could have just talked to us. Scheming, plotting and revenge wasn't the way to get your friend back. I doubt Jesus would approve of that."
Camille smirked. "Well… you can tell Jesus," she leaned in before winking, "that the bitch is back."
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Michael excelled in many talents. Writing was his main skill and hobby, but he also liked to consider himself an artist, technician, mathematician, chef, musician. He could speak Latin and French, thanks to his mother, but he was also learning Chinese and knew a little Spanish thanks to his time with Reyna.
As the son of Venus, everybody expected him to be a romantic, and he was in a way. Not in the way one would usually expect. He didn't pine after Reyna after their break up, he didn't try to win her back, or, in a more romantic way, let her go. No, instead he decided to break her heart, like she broke his.
Reyna loved too easily. Everybody saw her as closed off and cold, and she could be. But if you were someone very special, it wouldn't take her long to decide you were family, and when she did, she would die for you. She wore her heart on her sleeve because she didn't know better. Hearts were fragile. So he broke hers by portraying her in the worst possible light. And even when broken hearts heeled they were never the same.
His goal was to make sure she would never love Jason the way she loved him.
He snapped himself out of his thoughts to check the time. 3:00 in the morning. Interesting. He saved his work on his laptop and began to transfer it onto his flashdrive. Photoshop was amongst his many skills and he had just spent the last 6 hours perfecting the perfect set of pictures and videos. Things Reanna would do that could ruin Reyna.
You must break your characters open to see what they were made of. And they were all Michael's characters, his little dolls to play with.
A/N: I know the Percico scene was fairly short. And yes, I threw in a Solangelo mention in there. It won't progress further than a mention, but hopefully it'll put the debate in the reviews to rest. Nico features in almost every chapter in their last year. Promise. Speaking of which, next chapter is the last chapter of their third year. I have planned a cliffhanger, which is not nearly as dramatic and cruel as the last one (haha sorry Percy) but it's a cliffhanger nonetheless. Hopefully it could be up tomorrow.
And the last year is spent with little to know drama. And I'm planning a big graduation chapter.
Anywho, please review!-Izzy
