"History repeats itself all the time. We fail to learn from history so we forced ourselves into learning it first handed. We don't want to change from the old ways until we're absolutely forced ourselves into. We just don't learn until it happens on us." ~ Silena Beaugard
Katie laughed at her best friend. "If it's the Strolls, I can definitely think of better insults."
Miranda rolled her eyes. "It's so obvious you have a crush on Travis. Ask him out already! You, unlike this bitch over here actually have a chance on getting a guy."
It was their Freshman year, before the Shooting. Even though Piper was sort of friends with Annabeth, Hazel, Leo and the people she usually hang out with now, she was much closer to Silena, Katie and Miranda. They were her best friends since her dispute with Cat. They were at that time the most popular girls in Goode High. Silena being the main it-girl while Piper, Katie and Miranda also sharing the fame. Of course, there's Drew but she was not prom queen popular, she was after Silena died though. All popular girls tease the other less socially fortunate people than themselves just for fun and that's exactly what they're doing to Reyna. Silena, Katie and Miranda had this idea where Piper and Jason would be your ever after couple and when they found out Reyna tried flirting with Jason, it wasn't pretty. Even though the group just knew the students from Camp Jupiter middle school that term (as they were from Camp Half Blood middle school and once they reach high school, both middle school became one school), it didn't stop them from taunting students there.
Piper blushed. There was nothing going on between her and Jason. Sure, he's kinda cute but seriously, Reyna can have him if she wanted! It's a fair game.
"Stop teasing her!" Silena noticed how uncomfortable Piper was and nudged Miranda.
"Okay!" Miranda shrugged. "But I'm watching you, dork. Jason can do better than you."
"Get lost." Reyna muttered quiet enough to satisfy herself saying these words but not loud enough for the four girls to actually hear what she said.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear what you said." Silena warned.
Piper shook her head and whispered quietly as Silena, Katie and Miranda turned their backs away from Reyna. "Forget what they said. I'm so sorry, they're not usually like this."
Reyna sighed. "Thanks but honestly, they're right. What chance do I have with Jason Grace? He's all yours."
Piper bit her lips. She didn't like being so mean to people who didn't really hurt her. "Of course you have a chance with him. Everybody does. You're gorgeous, you know him better, you're regal and strong just like Jason. You guys are so alike you make a good pair."
"I hope so." Reyna said softly and nodded towards Piper's friends. "You better go now. They won't like you talking to me."
Piper nodded and hurried back to her friends who was talking about the sleepover they plan to have that Friday. Even now, she felt bad being apart of teasing people like Reyna especially when she's friends with them. Piper teased them quite a bit in the past, why do they still want to be friends with her? They're glad that somebody popular wants their friendship? They want to be noticed in school?
Piper knew what it was like being bullied. In kindergarten, the parents and teachers there are extremely racist even when people should be over their racial difference. They laughed at her being a Native American and made fun of her, even the kids discriminated her. It was nasty and she used to cry a lot. It wasn't the same kind of bullying she did to other people but it probably hurt the same.
"You and Jason will be amazing together." Miranda cooed.
"Not as cute as you and Connor." Katie teased.
Miranda giggled. "Okay, I'll take one of the brothers. You take the other, Travis."
Silena and Piper giggled. It was obvious to the group that Miranda had a crush on Connor while Travis had a crush on Katie. They always tease each other of dating a Stroll.
"Cut it out, you two." Silena smiled. "You'll be dating them in no time."
"Hey Katie!" As if on cue, Travis Stroll made his entrance and threw something towards her.
Katie screamed as she jumped back. "It's a fricken spider!"
"Exactly, chill bro." Travis shrugged as he collected his spider. "Found it in my backyard this morning. It's pretty, isn't it? Look at it's features. I'd love to have a pet spider, you know, when we live in the same house together."
Subtle. Totally subtle. That's how Travis flirts. He already start hinting that he wanted to spend his life with Katie since sixth grade. It's actually pretty cute if you're not Katie.
"We're not going to live in the same house, don't worry." Katie shuddered as her friends laughed.
"Where's Connor?" Miranda asked. Travis was always around Connor and vice versa. It's like they come in a package. However, that day only Travis once seen.
Travis grinned. "Just collecting a few things for our newest…scheme."
"Does it involve me?" Katie blurted in. The Strolls' 'schemes' often included Katie in it, as the victim. It wasn't pleasant being Travis' number one favorite victim but it was his way of getting Katie's attention. Piper loved how Travis tried really hard to get Katie, she found it sweet. Secretly, she hoped Jason would do something to try and get her but they were just friends. Not even really close friends.
"Guess you'll have to wait and find out."
Silena's eyes lit up when Beckendorf came behind her and crushed in a hug. "Charlie!" Silena squealed.
"My parents want to invite you to dinner tonight." Beckendorf told her. "My cousins are around and they want to meet you."
"Sure!" Silena said happily. "My dad probably won't make it home for dinner again. He always have those meetings from his chocolate factory to attend and they include dinners. I'll just text him to tell him I'm not coming home."
Piper sighed and looked at her watch. It was almost time for registration but neither of her friends seemed bothered to leave. Suddenly, a shrill shriek was heard. Piper turned out quickly and saw Annabeth dropping her books onto the ground with a horrified expression on her face.
Travis grinned. "Oops."
"What did you do now?" Piper demanded.
"Sp-sp-spider!" Annabeth cried shaking in fear. "Goddamned it! Everybody knows I have arachnophobia!"
"Take it back, now!" Katie ordered.
Normally, the group would just laugh at the victim but it's Annabeth. She was sort of their friend and they always stuck up to each other. Even though Annabeth doesn't hang out with them, they still sort of cared for each other. She was the only person outside of the group who doesn't get victimized the way other people do. Silena, Piper, Katie and Miranda treats her like she's in the group sometimes.
Travis sighed. "Can't take a joke?"
"I don't have arachnophobia and I'm freaked out by that thing. You know she can literally have a heart attack seeing a spider." Katie scolded.
Silena and Beckendorf were too busy discussing their dinner plans to notice what's going on. It's amazing how love is, Piper knew just by watching them. They're so in love with each other, sometimes they get lost in their own world, World War Three could have happened and they won't know. Nobody minded them, it's just love. It's beautiful. Their love is absolutely gorgeous, it's perfection.
Miranda was curious about Annabeth's shriek but was too occupied with trying to spot Connor. She really wanted to drop some more hints that he should ask her out sometime. Start of school dance was coming up soon and Miranda would die for Connor to ask her to it. She knew Beckendorf would ask or probably had already asked Silena. Travis was obviously waiting for the perfect moment to ask Katie. Piper would have no problem getting a date even if it wasn't Jason (Miranda swore they were made for each other), she's just drop dead stunning. Guys trip over themselves to ask her. Miranda knew she wasn't as pretty as any of the girls in the group or anything guys like. If there's anybody who have trouble getting a date, it'll be her.
"Connor!" Miranda grinned as she finally saw him.
"Hey, Mir." Connor nodded. "Bro! Got the-"
"Shh!" Travis' darted from Katie towards his brother to put his hand in front of his mouth. "Not in front of them." He gestured towards Katie.
"Oh right." Connor nodded and bursted into laughters as he saw Annabeth dealing with the spider Travis didn't take back yet. "God, it's just a spider, Annie!" He said knowing that she hated being called Annie.
"I'll kill you and your brother later." Annabeth growled.
"Welcome to my world." Katie had a sympathetic smile on her face. "It's not nice."
Miranda sighed. There goes Connor's attention. His attention is so hard to get. It just keeps running away from one thing to another. It never focused on anything. "Connor!' She tried again. "What's our math homework?" She asked even though she knew what it was.
"Exercise 12 to 14 or something." Connor replied.
Miranda groaned and lied. "Oh my god, seriously? I hate algebra. I'm absolutely shit at it."
"You're not." Connor scoffed. "I saw you got full marks last time."
"I guess I got lucky." Miranda shrugged modestly.
"I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car. He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel the other on my heart." Taylor Swift sang through the speakers as the students all look up in confusion.
"What the hell?" Travis frowned. "Why are they blasting Taylor Swift instead of the bell?"
Slowly, the students began to realize it's a joke and started laughing. Leo Valdez walked through the school doors wearing a cowboy hat and grinned. "We're going country!" He yelled as he somehow got a bunch of pigs and even two horses through the door to roam around the school. He also managed to get a few trucks to drop down some haystack in the school yard.
Piper remembered it clearly as it marked one of Leo's greatest pranks. Luckily, their principal had a sense of humor and let Leo off with just a couple of detentions. He even kept the country decorations around for a few days. She liked thinking of the times before the Shooting. She missed Silena. She kind of missed Katie and Miranda too. They hung out a bit after the Shooting but slowly and steadily broke apart. Katie and Miranda are still best friends but Piper is now closer with Cat, Annabeth, Hazel and their group.
Everything back then was so simple. She was already at the top and had everything she wanted. Okay, maybe she wanted Jason but that's nothing as big as the mess she's in now. Piper felt so weak now. Somehow, she figured that Jason stirred something when he woke up from his coma. It was pretty peaceful until Jason came back. The moment Jason woke up, it seems like Piper's world isn't safe anymore. The Shooting is in large again and people suffered once more.
"History repeats itself all the time." Silena once told her. "We fail to learn from history so we forced ourselves into learning it first handed. We don't want to change from the old ways until we're absolutely forced ourselves into. We just don't learn until it happens on us."
People thought Silena was a barbie doll. Nothing but a pretty face. If you really knew Silena, you'd know she's smart too. Not the book kind, she can't remember how many sonatas Shakespeare wrote or anything but she does come up with pretty wise words people learn from. Piper knew whatever Silena said can be true.
History did kind of repeat itself, didn't it? After Jason woke up, it started all over again.
"Does Drew have any friends in California?" Reyna asked Mitchell. They were meeting up to look through Drew's stuff again.
Mitchell paused and thought for a while. "I actually don't know. I got my first girlfriend there so I wasn't really paying attention. Besides, she's always out of the house and we don't really care what each other does. I suppose she has friends but I never really seen them before. Occasionally, she would mention them but not in detail. Why?"
"I kinda stalked Drew on Facebook just after she died and you know, after you scrolled past those hate comments from people saying they're glad that she died, there are people supposedly called Natalia Reynolds and Helen Samuels who are her friends and Matthew Todds who's her boyfriend who occasionally posts things on Drew's wall to tell her that they miss her but I did the google reverse search on their pictures and they're all models with different names. Natalia Reynolds, Helen Samuel and Matthew Todds doesn't exist."
"That's shallow." Mitchell commented. "Low, even for her."
"Are you sure?" Reyna questioned. "We don't know half of Drew. Maybe she can stoop this low. Maybe she is this desperate to seem popular even if it's not in New York. None of us knew her in California or in New York as much as we would like to."
"Does Drew actually know the real models then?" Mitchell asked.
"No." Reyna shook her head. "At least I don't think so. These models are like legit magazine cover ones. How would Drew ever met them and not boasted it to anybody? I suppose there is a chance for that to happen though."
Mitchell sighed "I wish I can somehow contact them. If they are real famous, asking them stuff would be really hard, it'll be like trying to contact Mila Kunis. We don't even know anybody associated with them. It's not like we can call up their managers to arrange a meeting with them."
Reyna smiled. "Oh really? I'll call Piper. She's in California now. She might be able to meet them for us."
"Good idea." Mitchell approved. "The name Natalia Reynolds, Helen Samuels and Matthew Todds does sound familiar though. I must have heard it somewhere."
"Are you sure? These people are made up. I don't think there's anybody actually named that. Well, those names are pretty common but not anybody Drew would know."
Mitchell flipped through some of Drew's things in her drawer casually. "Yeah, it's like deja vu. It's so familiar I have to heard it before. It's like I should know these people."
Reyna urged. "Think! Use your brain power or whatever. Where have you heard this before?"
"I suppose I heard it from Drew." Mitchell assumed. "But it's nothing recent. Nothing in the past five years, I don't think. I can remember somebody repeating those names but it's not how Drew would say it as a teenager. She doesn't talk like that. It might not be Drew who said those names. The question is who."
"So you can recall somebody calling those names?" Reyna bit her lips.
"Yes." Mitchell confirmed. "Like a faint memory. Like how you might remember something you did when you're 2 years old. It's faint, I can't see it but I can hear it. I don't recall who's saying it but the names are clear. I know I'm telling that person to 'shut up' and another person is telling me to watch my language."
"Freaky." Reyna shuddered. "That is something fishy."
"Trust me, it's not as creepy for you than it is for me. I'm actually remembering the memory and the way you're shivering is making this seem like some kind of a horror movie. I can half expect some psycho man to pop out of nowhere with a chainsaw and I suddenly remembering everything where the voices are some ghost shit from parallel worlds and we'd be getting into a hell lot of mess."
Reyna laughed. "I bet it won't be as complicated as you're making it out to be. I don't believe in ghosts are parallel worlds. They're pure fiction people make up to scare themselves. People love to freak each other out. Besides, they love believing in the supernatural. It's mysterious, dark and they love those kind of things. They don't need proof, all they need is a good story. They want to believe there's something more to what they know. They want something spooky."
"Deep. " Mitchell nodded. "So you don't believe in God or anything? Or is it only ghosts?"
"I'm atheist." Reyna told him. "I'm not a hater on religion though. I just think it's bullshit. People make up all their gods to guide them through life. They want to have somebody to look up to and to follow. People want to have a guide they can ask for help in their darkest time. They want to know somebody is there for them when nobody else is. They want to have that sense of comfort nobody human can offer. They want to be loved and cared for at all times. For some people, you can't find that in our society because we're judgmental. We judge people for who they are and we hurt the ones who we don't like for our own personal reasons or pressure from other people. Those people being bullied and hurt can't find anywhere or anything in this materialistic world that's safe anymore. They want somebody who's all benevolent and all powerful to be there for them. They want to be able to pray for help and somehow hope a miracle would happen. Sometimes, a miracle does happen. In fact, I do believe in miracles. However, the people who want somebody to be there for them either make- up or convince themselves that there is this person in heaven or somewhere looking out for them. They think everything will be okay once they follow their god which most of the time, it might be. I think that's because you started to believe in your god and yourself. When you believe in yourself, everything seems to be better. You're most confident and even if some tragedy falls upon you, you find a optimistic way to view it. I don't hate religions, for some people, I think it's better if they follow one. Besides, people want to try to understand how the world works and make up their own versions of it. Different people have different version and each version is a religion or cult."
(AN: I hope this doesn't bash any of your religions or anything. I don't mean it that way. I just feel that this is something appropriate for Reyna to say if I'm going to portray her as an Atheist and to be honest, I'm not an atheist myself but I do respect everybody's opinion on the matter of religion. I respect you if you're an atheist, agnostic, or which ever religion/cult you follow.)
Mitchell applauded his friend. "That is fucking deep. I would do the whole standing ovation thing if I'm not already standing. You just have to watch out for something. I'm Christian, bro."
Reyna shrugged. "That's cool. I'm not bashing you guys or anything. I respect you as a Christian. I don't care whatever religion you are or whatever, I'd still like you the same."
"New York's not safe anymore." Cat told Nico as they took their seats in a coffee shop. "It's going to happen again."
"Shit." Nico frowned. "No, are we too late? If it's going to happen sometime, it has to be today. It's perfect. Jason and Piper are out of the way again. They are probably finding answers in California and it won't be long until they got a few answers they needed and the world would know more than the Shooter planned. It's better to act when they're still ignorant.
"Better off be stupid than being smart." Cat chucked. "It's funny but true. Everybody tells you you're better off being clever. You can always pretend to be dumb but you can never pretend to be smart if you're actually stupid. False. Once you got your knowledge, you can't exactly pretend you don't know it. It's in your brain. You can't forget about it."
Nico nodded. "Fair enough. Where are they going to attack next?"
Cat shrugged. "Anywhere where their target is. I don't know who's the target."
Nico narrowed his eyes. "We don't know something. That's bad."
"I guess." Cat sighed. "We'll probably figure it out soon though. I mean, we have to. We should be on top of this game, one step ahead of the Shooter like how we wanted so we formed this alliance."
"Excuse me, here is your blueberry cheesecake." A waiter interrupted their conversation to hand them a piece of cake.
"We didn't order that." Cat pointed out. "We already got our coffees which we called."
"I know," The waiter smiled. "Somebody anonymous bought it for you. I think somebody has a crush on you."
"On who?" Nico asked. "There's two of us here, different genders."
"Exactly. If anybody, won't they think we're on a date?" Cat raised her eyebrows. "That is strange to send cakes to a person on a date."
"Bro, we aren't on a date." Nico added quickly. "We're fucking friends, Cat. What the hell?"
Cat laughed. "It's a theory people can form. Don't worry Death Boy, I don't like you at all."
"Just enjoy your cake." The waiter told them. "It's rude to give it back."
"Whatever." Cat smirked as the waiter went away. "And that, Nico, is what happens when you have admirers. You get free cake."
"How do you know it's not for me?" Nico complained.
"I don't think anybody would have a crush on a guy who spends half of his life studying about dead people."
"Hurtful!" Nico frowned. "I don't study dead people all the time. I just like visiting the graveyard. It's calm and quiet there."
"Sure." Cat rolled her eyes as she took her fork and stabbed a part of the cheesecake.
"Wait!" Nico knocked Cat's fork out of the way. "How do you know it's not poison? It's dodgy to me."
Cat grumbled. "There goes my fork. Thanks, Death Breath. It's obviously not poison. A waiter served it and my admirers won't poison me. They practically worship me."
"Stop being so full of yourself." Nico scolded her. "Go ahead, I'm not responsible if you end up dead, turning blue or something. In fact, I won't even bring you to the hospital."
BANG! Nico and Cat jumped. What on earth was that? A elderly woman screamed.
"GET DOWN!" A waiter yelled. "GET DOWN!" The emergency bell rang and the coffee shop was in chaos. People were desperately trying to get down and hold onto their closed ones while protecting themselves. The woman who screamed had a tough time getting down while shivering from shock.
"What the hell?" Cat whispered. "I don't see anything."
"Gunshot?" Nico guessed.
BANG! This time, it was closer to Cat and Nico. They can see the bullet landing next to them. Thank god it didn't actually hit one of them. However, it hit some glass cups which scrapped Nico's skin causing him to bleed.
"Holy shit!" Cat swore as she saw Nico's wounds. "Need a bandage?"
"I'll be fine." Nico said roughly. "Listen, I just figured it out. They're after us."
"How can they?" Cat's face showed confusion. "We aren't even suppose to be their victims! We have nothing to do with them and we just stayed out of the picture the whole time! I was careful to stay outside!"
BANG! This time, the bullet shot Cat's fallen cheesecake. It exploded into little pieces which fell over Cat's face and the floor. "My cheesecake!" Cat whimpered.
"What do you want?" The manager of the coffee shop stood up trembling. "Money?"
Neither Cat or Nico could see the person firing the bullets but they both knew that it's probably masked.
"To finish business my boss ordered me to finish." The person replied gruffly and shot another bullet which Nico and Cat scrambled away to avoid it.
"Shit, they are really after us." Cat confirmed. "Run. Fucking run. Run to save your life. Don't give a damn about me or anybody else. Get the hell out of here, Nico."
"Got it." Nico nodded. They both count silently to three and sprinted out of the coffee shop. They could hear bullets being fired behind them but at this stage, they couldn't afford to look back and see what's damaged. They just ran as fast as they could hoping they'll be alive the next moment.
"Frank's house!" Cat called to Nico. Frank Zhang's house is closet to the coffee shop and Cat figured out it's their nearest house they might be safe in. She was never close to Frank but she knew Nico was sort of friends with him. If they showed up at his door in the stage they're in now, Frank would probably let them inside and offer them some kind of hospitality.
Both of them jumped over Frank's gates and stomped over his neatly trimmed lawn leaving dirty footprints everywhere. Frank's grandmother wouldn't be pleased but this was life or death. Breathlessly, Cat rung the bell impatiently.
Cat could hear footsteps coming down the stairs slowly. Ugh, neither Frank nor his grandmother must have thought it's urgent which it is. The gunman could have followed them both into Frank's house and if that did happen, Frank wouldn't be safe either. If Cat was whoever that's in the house, she would be a lot quicker than the person inside is walking. Of course, neither Frank or his grandmother knew that there'll be two kids outside that might just be shot the next second. You can't really blame them for their slowness but Cat was not the most patient person. She groaned as she heard somebody fumbling with them locks the pace of a snail.
"Damnit." Cat heard Frank muttered. "I hate these new locks."
"Hurry up!" Nico urged.
Frank said slowly. "Calm down. It's not like some crazy killer is trying to kill you."
Cat and Nico exchange glances and laughed as the door finally tugged open.
"Holy…" Frank stared at them. "Come inside."
Luckily, Frank's grandmother wasn't around. If she was, she'll fuss over them like they're her dolls. They both got to sit down in Frank's living room as Frank went to get his first aid kit.
"That was close." Cat wiped off a bead of sweat dripping down her face.
Nico closed his eyes. "We're not safe. We don't have anywhere to run to anymore. If it happens again, we'll just have to face it."
AN: This chapter is dedicated to Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi who unfortunately died of the Boston Bombing and all those 170+ people who are injured by it. This chapter is also dedicated to all those people hurt by the Texas Explosion and to those who died in it. (The Guardian says 5-15 people were killed in it and at the moment, I still don't know their names.) This chapter is for those who are hurt emotionally due to anything that might have harmed you like maybe your loved one had just passed away or somebody just teased you and the insult really insulted you. If you know somebody who passed away from anything (war, sunken ship, accidents, disease), this is for them. If you know anybody who's suffering even from the smallest matter, this is for them. I'll be praying for all of you tonight and I hope you know I'm always here for you. My message box is free for you to ask anything or just ask me to pray about something. The Boston Bombing had made me realize even further how precious human life could be. It can just be gone in a simple push or a second.
~Kisses, Emily