Greetoids peoples! So, here's your Fiftieth Chapter Spectacular! From now on, you get something special every twenty-five chapters! Yay! I would make a big deal on how this is at least twice as ong as the average chapter, yada yada yada, but that seems to be becoming the normal chapter length, so yay for you guys. Not guaranteeing over 2,000 words though, the minimum requirement stays at 1,000. I'm sorry this is late, but, well, I warned you this is the busiest time of year for me. Sorry.

Uh, Princess Andromeda II, one of my reviewers, mentioned wanting a really long chapter, that's almost like a short story, complete with subplots and everything. I wanted to know if you guys are interested in that type of thing. I considered making this chapter ridiculously long, but I decided that I'd rather get this up here for you to enjoy rather than waste a few week trying to figure out how to logically make this particular moment (that I may or may not have been planning for months ;)) more drawn out. Anyway, the review had suggested some sort of sleepover thing, but I wanted to know if you guys would be interested in something of that style. It would be posted on here, but it would be a side project to my (hopefully) weekly updates, so you'd have to wait awhile. Let me know what you guys think, I guess.

I hope you guys enjoy, and stay awesome! :D

-ROC6

P.S. I just realized I didn't put this up there, but I really am incredibly thankful to everyone who takes time out of their day to review, favorite, follow or even so much as read this story. Thank you guys so much. If it weren't for your support, well, this project would've died out long ago.

Tuesday, February 14th, 23 years after defeating Gaea

Honestly, Belle hated Valentine's Day. She took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to slam her locker shut when she saw the small pile of envelopes sitting inside. Instead, she took a measured breath, counted to ten, and let the air out through her nose. Grabbing the small stack, she shoved them unceremoniously inside the messenger bag slung across her plain blue t-shirt, not caring if they crumpled or bent. She then grabbed the books she'd come to her locker for, exchanging her first period supplies for the ones she needed next. She closed her locker softly with a click, but by now her legacy senses were going crazy; she was being watched. Usually, this was around when Lily showed herself, since she often slept in thanks to having study hall first period.

"Hey Bedhea-," Belle started saying as she turned around, not looking up as she adjusted the precarious pile of books in her arms, "Oh. Uh, hey."

Her cheeks tinged pink at the awkward greeting, but in her defense, she hadn't realized who was standing behind her.

The teen shook it off, holding out a rose, "Hey Belle. Would you, uh, like to go out with me?"

The dark haired boy stood tall, but his eyes kept sinking lower, leading to him having to force them back up again. He did a good job of hiding it, but he was clearly nervous. Belle always hated this part, but she wasn't really looking to date, "Oh, I'm so sorry, James, but I'm not interested in dating right now."

He coughed, slightly, and started fiddling with the pockets on his jeans as he backed away, "That's alright, I guess. Uh, I have to go. Have a nice day, Belle."

He turned and hurried down the hall, and though he tried to hide it, Belle could see the redness creeping up his neck. She sighed, sorry to have embarrassed him, but her answer remained the same.

"He was cute," a voice said from beside Belle, startling her out of her thoughts.

Out of reflex, Belle aimed a high kick at the offending person, who smirked at her, ducking the blow. Technically, the school had a zero tolerance policy for violence, but it wasn't exactly enforced. Demigods, and legacies, too, tended to be more violent than the average teen because they, ah, had to kill things to survive. Weapons weren't allowed under any circumstances, (Belle worked hard to hide her pocket knife,) but some minor, friendly or accidental violence was typically not punished. Hence, Belle's reflexive assault not landing her in the principal's office.

"Missed me," Lily said slyly, flicking her glossy high ponytail over her shoulder.

"Don't do that!" her blue-eyed friend hissed at her, though she was smiling.

The Asian legacy rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else on the subject, "So why you'd turn him down?"

Belle shrugged, mumbling something incoherent.

"Whatever," Lily decided, rolling her eyes, "I need to get to Health, and you have Honors Physics, so let's get moving. We can read your Valentines on the way."

Suppressing a groan, the brunette handed the semi-crushed pile of cards to her fellow legacy, who proceeded to skim through them all.

"Alright, so the first one's from Emmet Stoll-"

"No," Belle cut her off.

Hearing the bitterness that seeped into her friend's voice, Lily decided it'd be in her best interests not to press the issue with that one.

"Alright," the Asian legacy continued, paging through the envelopes, "I'm just going to skip this one from James Marshall… How about Logan Smith?"

"No," the legacy of Jupiter somewhat shuddered, "All he ever talks about is-never mind."

Rolling her eyes, Lily commented, "I like him. How about Harry Banks?"

"A girl asked him out this morning, you missed it. He said yes."

"Crud. I miss all the good stuff!" The legacy of Aphrodite whined.

"You wouldn't if you actually come to school and do work rather than sleep during your study hall," her friend commented pointedly, shifting her books again.

"Honestly, how do you carry all that?" Lily muttered, glancing at the pile in Belle's arms, "But Belle! I need my beauty sleep!"

"Then don't stay up until two a.m.."

Lily pouted, the corners of her mouth twitching as her lower lip quivered dramatically, or as Belle called it, annoyingly, "It's not like you don't do it too, I know you binge watch Game of Thrones all the time."

The Cherokee girl's cheeks colored, "That's not important."

"Hypocrite," Lily replied, receiving no objection, "We have Jack Murphy."

"Nice kid, not interested," Belle responded, effectively vetoing him as an option.

Mentally cataloging the card for later, Lily continued, "Rodriguez?"

"Rude," the other legacy stated, leading her friend to tsk in annoyance.

"Last one's anonymous," Lily commented after a pause.

"Look, Lily, I'm just not interested in anyone, alright?" Belle said tiredly, scratching the back of her neck in a similar fashion to her twin, "Can you please stop bothering me?"

Setting her hands on her hips as they stopped outside Belle's classroom, Lily glared at her friend, "Look, I get it your breakup with Emmet was nasty, alright? But you can't keep moping around like a kicked puppy, Belle."

"Lil'-" the bell cut off the other legacy's protests.

"Styx!" Lily swore, shoving an envelope into Belle's hands before she started running down the hall, "I've got to be on the other side of the school."

Then, as an afterthought, "This isn't over!"

Belle sighed, walking into her class before Mr. Rovens could get mad at her. As she sat down, she glanced at the crumpled white envelope clutched in her hand, wondering if maybe Lily was right.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

Belle didn't have any classes with Lily, with the exception of lunch. Sometime in the middle of Physics, she broke down and read the note. It was the anonymous one, and it wasn't anything fancy. She knew Lily hadn't read it yet, since it had still been sealed. The card had a simple, hand-drawn picture of a rose on the front, and the inside had a smaller rose in the corner and a simple message written in blue ink, which she found odd, but maybe a little endearing. The message wasn't long-winded or corny, just a simple compliment about how pretty she was when she laughed, and a note to meet the sender under the willow tree between 2:50 and 3:00 if she was interested. It wasn't offensive, rude or desperate, and seemed sweet, along with possibly vaguely dorky, though that may just have been her reading too much into the short message. She toyed with the idea for a few periods, and by the time lunch came around, she'd made up her mind that she'd meet the sender, though she'd never tell Lily.

She was not moping around like a kicked puppy. She wasn't. Not at all. Well, she admitted to herself, maybe a little, but Lily didn't have to mention it. That was just not cool.

When lunch rolled around, Belle had been asked out, and as a result turned the asker down, two more times.

"Hon, you have to get yourself out there again. I'm sure there are plenty of nice guys who would love to date you," Lily tried to persuade her, without Charmspeak, thankfully.

Belle sighed, and her friend continued, waving her pizza in front of Belle's face as she spoke, "I mean, honestly, you can't base your whole love life off of one guy."
"He was a jerk," the brunette shrugged nonchalantly.

"He was not," Lily objected, frowning at her friend's insistence.

"It was a double date," Belle elaborated, then when her friend opened her mouth to object, "In the middle of the agora."

The other legacy hesitated, "Okay, maybe he was a jerk, but there are other gods on Olympus, other fish in the sea, you've got to do something."

"Fine," the blue eyed legacy conceded, "But on my own time."

"So not yet," Lily sighed, stirring a bowl of… something indistinguishable on her lunch tray.

"No," Belle felt guilty for not telling Lily about the note, but she was vaguely embarrassed, as she was a legacy of Aphrodite and last time she tried she couldn't even keep a boyfriend. Lily, on the other hand, she went through boyfriends like tissues, and had a lot of break up/make up relationships. Belle wasn't interested in quick, exciting relationships, but seeing Lily with her various partners (her friend had dated a girl once) gave her a vague feeling of inadequacy.

Both girls were silent for a moment before moving on to other topics.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

"Styx," Belle hissed, "Styx, Styx, Styx."

Shoving the last of her necessary textbooks into her backpack, the Cherokee legacy glanced at the clock on the wall, which blinked a red 2:56. A boy had asked her out on the way out of her last class, and now she was running late, and she really hoped nothing else got in her way because she wouldn't have time to deal with it and still make it to the willow tree by the entrance of the high school so she could meet up with the sender of the anonymous valentine she'd received and re-

She forced herself to take a deep breath. Shoving her fishtail braid hastily over one shoulder and her backpack over the other, she took off running through the halls, a lot of hurried "Excuse me's!" clearing demigods and legacies from her path.

Her sneakers pounded into the tile as she skimmed the ground, running from one end of the school to the other. She could see the door ahead of her, and she glanced at a clock, this one reading 2:57. She allowed herself a mental victory cheer as she prepared to exit the building. Assuming nothing got in her way-

There was a hand on her arm. Why was there a hand on her arm, she wondered, struggling to free herself. Who had put their hand on her arm?

Trying to pull away from the person's grip, she scrambled something out along the lines of, "Sorry, whoever, but I can't go out with you and I'm sorry but I really have to go, I have somewhere important to be and I really can't be late because if I am then I won't be able to m-"

"Belle!" a voice interrupted her, causing her to blink. As she registered who had grabbed her, she started mentally panicking, "Look, I get it, you must have really liked Emmet, but you really need to get yourself back out there, alright? I know you don't want to date-"

Belle looked helplessly at the door, then back at the pink nailed hand gripping her arm, then back at the door, wondering if putting on makeup could possibly make someone's fingers as strong as Lily's because there was no way she should be able to have a hand that strong.

"-but you don't need to run out of school as though you're being chased by a herd of angry venti. So, you can go meet with Jack Murphy outside for fifteen minutes, alright? For me?"

The other legacy gave Belle puppy dog eyes as her mind sluggishly tried to figure what was happening, before launching back into its frenzied rampage, "Oka- No! Lily, stop it with the Charmspeak, alright?"

"But Belle!" she stretched out her friend's name, running a hand worriedly through her straight black hair, wondering how she could ever bypass her friend's stubbornness otherwise.

The legacy of Jupiter grunted, letting a subtle trace of electricity wash over her skin. Immediately, the other legacy released her, and she took off running out the door, guiltily ignoring her friend's yelp of pain and shouts of protest.

She arrived at the willow tree a minute later, but there was no one there. She pulled out her phone, checking the time, resisting the urge to curse at the blinking 3:02. She was two minutes too late.

Not a moment afterwards, Lily caught up to her, looking genuinely offended, "What was that for?"

Searching the sea of people moving away from them, Belle sighed heavily, "No reason."

She knew that Lily knew she was lying through her teeth, but thankfully, her friend only pursed her lips, looking doubtful, "Well, if you'd come, Jack should still be waiting for you outside the gym."

After briefly weighing her options, Belle finally resigned herself to her friend's whims, "Alright, fine."

"Yes!" the Asian legacy semi-squealed, grabbed her friend's arm, "He's over here."

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

A green eyed teen leaning against the willow tree checked his phone, which blinked a blue 3:01 at him. He finally admitted to himself she wasn't coming, wasn't interested, and worked his way over to his blonde haired friend.

"Dude," the kaleidoscope eyed boy commented as he approached, "I can't believe she didn't show. If there's anything my sister would show for, I was certain that'd be it."

Jacob sighed, tilting his head so some of his longer locks of semi-curly black hair fell in front of his eyes, "Guess she's just not interested."

Aiden hesitated, then shook his head, "C'mon, Jacob, we gotta go, Rose'll throw a tantrum if we're any later."

For those that don't know/didn't look it up, an agora is a central, open area, similar to a town square, and it doubles as a marketplace. They're typical of ancient Greek cities.