Hi all, sorry it's been a bit. Have been recovering from an injury. Hope you like the latest update!
Dpov
At first, I'd thought being friends with someone whose father was famous would be a little weird. Considering who she was related to however, Lorelei as a person was actually pretty normal. Well, as normal as it was possible for a demigod to be.
She went to school, even though she hated it, played video games, tangled with monsters and generally just tried to stay out of the public's eye. Though I had to admit, it was still pretty bizarre to see her go from walking magazine cover, to stunning a basilisk with a chop stick in the blink of an eye. We'd been attacked outside the local Chinese place when grabbing an order for takeout, and while the last time I'd seen her up against a snake like monster, she'd been pretending to be scared, now that I knew her better, I knew she was probably more worried about her shoes than her safety. A few weeks ago this would have annoyed me. Now however…
I had to admit, these days like Jake I thought it was more funny than anything. I didn't know if it was because of her parents, or it was just who she was, but I found Lorelei had a very odd view of the world. One that was far different than mine. She tended to focus and pick up on strange things, while being oblivious to others. I was sort of beginning to understand why Ellie had referred to her as 'weird', but I didn't find it weird. If anything it was interesting, and the more I got to know her, the more I wanted to know.
"You are the absolute worst." She said throwing a pillow at Jake off the couch which he easily avoided, then pushed her off the cushions.
They'd been playing a racing game, and just as she was about to win, Jake had used a power up that had lost her the top spot. I watched, entertained, as the two bickered, hurling insults and pillows at each other until the next round started.
I found this interaction to be pretty representative of their friendship.
Despite seeing rather a lot of her over the next few weeks, I hadn't met Lorelei's father.
She tended to spend most of her time at Jake's house and, as such, the parent that I had met was his. His mother was a kindhearted woman that seemed to be just as energetic and eccentric as her son. She'd met his father overseas as an army medic, then gotten a job as a physical therapist for the team Lorelei's father played on, causing me to realize Jake and Lorelei had actually known each other, and know what each other was, for a lot longer than I'd thought.
I'd assumed, like most demigods, they'd met each other at camp. But in reality, they'd sort of grown up with each other in a way, which actually explained a lot about their relationship to me. Knowing this and watching them interact, it was clear that Lorelei and Jake's relationship had sort of blurred the line between best friends and some sort of quasi adopted sibling. It was interesting to watch and I found this to be my routine over the next few weeks, hanging out with Lorelei and Jake with increasing frequency around my other activities. I'd never been that social of a person, but before I knew it, between school, sports, work, my hobbies and spending time with my own friends, I suddenly seemed to never to not have plans.
I was starting to think like Priya, I might actually have to start keeping track of events on a some sort of calendar.
Gods… when had that started?
"Are you ever not in detention?" I asked, grinning a little as I pulled into the senior lot at my school and cut the engine of my car, glancing, somewhat amused at my phone. It was clamped into stand on the dashboard and displaying the length of the call. It hadn't been long, but still... Even just a few minutes was risky.
Lorelei, who seemed to be an early riser in general, had apparently had to go in early to write lines for one of her teachers.
"Technically I'm not in detention now." She pointed out and I heard the familiar sound of high heels clicking in the background as she walked.
"Yeah?" I asked raising an eyebrow despite knowing she wouldn't be able to see. "How long is that going to last? Thirty more seconds?"
"Oh shut up Dex." She huffed. "It's not my fault the dress code is sexist."
"I dunno." I said dubiously. "I'm pretty sure if I showed up in one of your outfits, I'd be reprimanded." I continued and she laughed.
"Forget a reprimand. I'm pretty sure you'd be arrested." She said and I could tell she was smiling. "None of my clothes would fit."
"Well I guess that goes my plans of borrowing from your wardrobe." I said sarcastically and she let out an amused noise.
"You are not allowed near my clothes, you'll get grease on them."
"Fine, you're not allowed near my stuff anyways either."
"Still worried I'm going to get too much aura over them?" she asked playfully and I grinned.
"I'm actually more worried about your make up. I saw your laptop remember?"
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Never." I agreed feeling entertained and she let out a sigh.
The clicking had stopped and I figured she'd probably reached wherever she was walking to.
"What if I asked nicely?"
"Nope."
"You suck."
"Guess you're just going to have to learn to live with it." I said diverted and while she didn't answer for a moment, the silence wasn't uncomfortable.
I knew it was incredibly stupid to be on the phone with her. Since spending more time around her and Jake, my usual number of monster encounters was going way up and this wasn't going to help, but I couldn't seem to help myself. It didn't matter if it was a text, or a call, the moment I saw her name flash on my screen I answered it almost immediately.
"I should probably go." She said eventually, sounding a little disappointed all the same. "My teacher is going to be pissed if I'm late, and he already hates me."
"Try to stay out of trouble today, ok?" I said. "I've got a date with the Tetris machine after school and you have to be there to witness me crush your score."
She let out a derisive noise at this.
"Keep dreaming Dex."
"I'll see you later Lore."
"Bye."
"Bye."
She clicked off the line, and I sat for just a few seconds staring at my phone realizing I wasn't totally managing to keep back a bit of a grin, picturing her expression as she'd said 'keep dreaming'.
She was right of course. I didn't think I'd ever actually beat her score, but I had to admit, it was fun to mess with her and while I could have pretended to be ignorant about it, I knew exactly why.
Maybe that was why it was so easy to ignore the alarm bells going off every time I thought about how much I didn't know about her. Or the panic as I realized just how much time I'd been spending with her lately. How easy it was to pretend not to notice that cautionary voice that told me to think, really think, about some of Lorelei's more bizarre behavior.
Deep down, in a hidden but honest part of myself, I knew I was being stupid. That I should be being more careful spending this much time around Lorelei, that I was being uncharacteristically ignorant to what people might have considered to be major red flags…
But I ignored it. I liked spending time with her too much. It wasn't like how it had been getting to know Heather, or any other girl I'd tried, and miserably failed, to get to know better because I might have been interested in them. It wasn't awkward or nerve-wracking while I tried desperately to try and find the right thing to say.
Around her it was easy, she was legitimately becoming my friend. And any time I felt a pang of uneasiness at some of her inconsistencies, or a shadow of a doubt when I wondered about the things she kept to herself, they were pushed away in the moments she seemed genuine. Squabbling with Jake, laughing at something stupid one of us had said, even the few times when she'd been upset, opening up about her parents, especially her dad.
That last one didn't happen a lot, but it was real, that I was certain about. Despite spending so much time with her that was still somewhat of a mystery with me. What she really was. The material girl drawing attention just from walking down the sidewalk, or the nerd who talked shit and crushed her friends in video games? The kid who was constantly in detention, screwing with her father's career just because she was angry, or the anxious girl who channeled her emotions in to pastries and trying keep her abilities under control.
'Maybe she's all of them.' I thought distractedly as I got out of my car and locked it, making my way towards the entrance of my school.
I'd just stepped through the doors intending to head towards the robotics club meeting before class when I ran into a familiar figure.
"Hey El." I said automatically, but hesitated when I saw her expression.
Ellie was a petite girl with curly brown hair that, as usual, was pulled back into a bandana to keep out of her way as she was working, and her light brown eyes were narrowed.
Her hands were on her hips in a somewhat accusatory manner, the look she was giving me was one of stubborn expectation. For the life of me though, I couldn't figure what she was annoyed about.
"What?" I asked uncertainly and her eyes narrowed further.
"Spill."
I hesitated for a moment, not entirely sure what was going on and when she saw my confusion, Ellie made an impatient noise.
"Don't play dumb." She said disapproval in her tone, rolling her eyes. "I saw you talking on the phone. You hate phone calls."
I ignored this and continued walking, Ellie trailing after me like an energetic terrier that had caught a scent.
"Everyone knows you've been hanging out with some private school chick and they're too scared to ask you about it, but I'm tired of waiting. So,"
She raised an eyebrow, clearly meaning for me to respond.
By 'everyone' I was assuming Ellie meant everyone in the robotics club, which, really wasn't a lot of people. Basically just our circle of friends. She was the only girl in the group however, and I guess because of this, she'd decided that this investigation fell under her jurisdiction.
"And don't try to deny it." she continued before I could even start to form a response. "We've all seen you texting her, even Jenny asked about her. Said she's gorgeous."
She shot me another look.
"Spill."
Not expecting this, I paused for a second, trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do in this situation, finally appreciating the problem Lorelei had found herself facing a few weeks ago, trying to explain her life to someone she wasn't entirely sure would understand it. That she might not even want to know. And I was almost certain she wouldn't want me telling others.
"It's complicated." I said, echoing her words and Ellie looked unimpressed.
"Complicated?" she asked with a snort. "What is her majesty too good to get to know your friends?"
The distain in her words was evident, and it irked me.
"Stop it El." I said irritated, moving towards the workshop and she followed. "She's my friend. We met at summer camp ok? She gets… nervous around new people."
I figured that was close enough to the truth to try and get Ellie to move on with the topic, but she frowned.
"So it is the private school girl you've been talking to." She said her tone a little more satisfied. "Cole was talking about her," she explained when she saw my look of suspicion at why this would confirm anything for her. "What's her name? Laurie?"
"Lorelei." I corrected automatically and she frowned.
"God that even sounds like a rich girl name."
"Are you done examining my friendships?" I asked nettled. "I'm allowed to be friends with other people you know."
"From what Jenny said, it didn't look like you guys were just 'friends.'" She said putting air quotes around the words.
I rolled my eyes and kept walking.
Spending more time around Lorelei, especially when she wasn't doing the super model routine, it was easy to forget just how crazy people seemed to get about the children of Aphrodite. How much people loved to talk about them. Moments like these however, I wondered how I ever forgot.
"Look." She said jogging slightly to keep up with my much longer strides. "I'm sorry if I'm being a little over bearing but it's just, the last girl from camp sucked, ok? We're your friends. Vetting people is part of our job."
"You don't trust my judgement?" I asked and at this, she scoffed.
"No. But I guess Jenny did say she was nice."
The statement had ended thoughtfully and I had to hold back a laugh of my own at this, remembering just how easy it had been for Lorelei to influence Jenny's opinion of her. Privately, I wondered exactly how much good 'vetting' would do me from my friends. They didn't know anything about demigods, let alone powers like hers.
"What's she like?" Ellie asked as we continued to walk. "You friend I mean?"
She added emphasis to the word but I ignored it, thinking on the question.
"Interesting." I said eventually.
It was probably the best way to describe Lorelei. It was clear she was smart, even if she had issues with her school, I wasn't exactly sure 'nice' was the best way to describe her personality, but she clearly was willing to help people when she was in the mood, and as much as she seemed to want to avoid people, I wouldn't have exactly called her shy. She was a contradictory person, one that couldn't easily be put into one box of a personality, to be honest, apart from her appearance, which she seemed to have a habit of changing anyways, I was still sort of figuring out how to describe her even to myself.
"In what way?"
"It's hard to describe." I admitted holding the door to the school's work shop open for her before following her in. "You'd just have to meet her."
She didn't answer this and it was apparent as to why as we walked between the first few work benches and spotted Michael, the president of the club, and incidentally, Ellie's oblivious crush for the past two and a half years.
"Hey." She said beaming at him and he looked up from something he was holding at the greeting.
"Hey." He returned her smile before looking at me and holding up what he'd been looking at. "The soldering iron broke."
"Again?" Ellie asked in surprise and he nodded.
"Think you can fix it?"
"Probably." I said with a frown. "But at this point, why don't we just get a new one?"
"You going to pay for it?" Cole, the treasurer of the group, asked walking into the room. "Because after buying a new table saw and paying to have that work bench replaced, we are broke. We're going to have to do some fundraising if we want to do anything cool this year."
Despite being a relatively small club compared to others at our school, our group usually tried to do something big at least once a year, usually closer towards the summer. This years' goal had been to enter a bot battle with some of the other schools in the state that could manage to get one built. It was actually something we'd been working on for years, but this year thought we could actually achieve.
Not having any funding however, would throw a huge wrench in those plans.
"Maybe we do a car wash or something?" Ellie said with a shrug.
"There's not enough of us for that." Michael said. "I guess we could do what the biology club does and do a bake sale or something."
"Does anyone here actually know how to bake anything?" Ellie asked raising an eyebrow and while it looked as if no one was going to answer for a moment, an idea struck me.
"No." I said immediately pulling out my phone. "But I know someone who does."
I could feel their eyes on me as I made my way towards the hall way for some privacy.
I opened my recent calls, and selected Lorelei's name, listening to the line ring for a few seconds before the it connected.
"Hello?"
It was clear she was surprised I'd called her back so quickly and I heard someone, probably the teacher she was serving detention for, yell something at her.
"Sorry." I said quickly. "I forgot you were busy, I shouldn't have-"
She cut me off.
"Don't worry about it. I'm in detention either way." She answered sounding remarkably unconcerned. I could tell she was grinning a little and I had a feeling she was enjoying provoking the teacher. "What's up?"
Debating on if I wanted to be the reason Lorelei got into more trouble in school, I hesitated, then decided to make it quick.
"This is a little weird, but would you be able to do me a favor?"
"What sort of favor?" she asked curiously.
I glanced back into the room where Cole was texting, probably other members of the club, and Michael was talking to Ellie, still blithely unaware of her, admittedly subtle, attempts to flirt with him.
"Actually, make that two favors."
Lpov
"You're in an unusually good mood today." Jake said falling into step with me as we made our way to the court yard for study period. "Did you finally deck Strickland for complaining about your wardrobe?"
"No." I said honestly, though it wasn't as if the thought hadn't occurred to me...
"Then why do you look like some cheesy character on the Hallmark channel after the romantic montage?"
"That is very specific." I said frowning at the comparison and he shrugged.
"You're the one putting out the energy, not me."
"I'm in a good mood, because I have a mission."
"Besides breaking the heart of some poor unfortunate soul beyond repair?" he said sarcastically and I winced.
"Yes, besides that one."
"What do you have to do?"
"I have a relationship to set up." I said brightly.
"Really?" he asked his expression one of total shock and I nodded cheerfully.
"Mhmm."
"But you suck at that." He pointed out and I shrugged.
"It'll be a challenge."
"I thought you hated that sort of stuff." He pressed suspiciously. "Didn't you always try not to get involved?"
He sounded confused as we grabbed a table, ignoring the other students as usual, but something about my expression seemed to have made him realize something because he shot me a significant glance, his gaze shrewd.
"This has something to do with Dex, doesn't it?"
"They're his friends."
"Lore…" he said warning in his tone, but I shook my head.
"Jake, it's not a big deal." I assured him grabbing a note book and a pen out of my bag to start on one of my essays. "I know this isn't my strong suit, but I'm not completely hopeless."
"Debatable." He muttered smirking a little, but I ignored him.
"How hard could it be?" I asked. "From what it sounds like, she already likes the guy and he just is too oblivious to notice."
"Maybe he doesn't want to notice." Jake pointed out, his tone dubious. "No offense Lore, but you don't do great under pressure. What happens if this doesn't go the way you think it will? What if one of them recognizes you? This doesn't seem smart."
"They're a bunch of tech enthusiasts in a robotics club." I pointed out. "I really doubt that's going to happen. Besides, I've already met one of them and he had no clue who I was."
"I still think this a terrible idea." He said shaking his head. "And you would too if it wasn't Dex who'd asked."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked frowning and he shook his head.
"You know exactly what it means Lore." He said seriously. "You've spent your life avoiding this kind of stuff and all the sudden you want to play cupid now?" He snorted. "Please."
"It's just a favor Jake." I said rolling my eyes. "It's not the end of the world, and besides, Dex knows his friends. I'm sure if he didn't think it would work out he wouldn't ask."
Jake made noncommittal noise at this, but I could tell he wasn't convinced.
"You still think it's a bad idea, don't you?"
"Of course, I do." He said his expression surly. "But you're not going to listen to me, I already know that."
"It'll be fine." I assured him, but before he could respond, a snide voice said.
"Heard your dad was back in town Ellis."
We both turned to see a group of pretty girls sneering at me, the lead one, a tall blonde I recognized from several of my morning classes, looking particularly smug.
"What did he come back for, his debut fight for MMA?"
I heard a 'snap' as the pen I was holding shattered, ink staining my hands.
"Lore…" Jake said, warning in his tone but I ignored it.
I was about to stand when a voice, surprisingly familiar popped into the back of my mind.
'Try to stay out of trouble today ok? I've got a date with the Tetris machine after school and you have to be there to witness me crush your score.'
It wasn't enough to banish the anger that surged through me like poison, but it was enough to make me hesitate.
I shouldn't be causing any issues today. I had plans.
'Besides.' A soft, but darkly confident voice whispered within me, creeping icily from a the shut down corners of my mind. 'There were other ways of getting back at her.'
Feeling oddly detached from the situation, I turned to face the girl.
"Celeste." I said with a smile so disarming, I could tell it threw her off.
I knew why. A strange sensation was going through me, an unfamiliar power channeling within that I knew wasn't quite my own. It was strong enough for even the mortals in front of me to notice, and I wasn't sure exactly who was speaking the words I said next. Me or the influence of my mother.
"Just how much would you say you trust your boyfriend?" I asked, thinking back to the lacrosse game where Dex looked as if he was ready to beat some manners into my fellow classmates.
I saw hesitation flicker in her expression, and I felt my smile grow. Even I could tell that it had gone wicked.
"Wanna find out?"