Warning: This chapter contains swearing, mentions of school, family and food.

Wow I really am not happy about this chapter. I had a major writer block so I just half assed my way through this. Sorry about that, hopefully the next chapter will be better.

Still, I think this chapter is necessary for getting to know Reyna's character a bit more, the way that she values school as being more important than anything and all that.

Also! I might not be updating as often but if you want to know what I'm up to and if I'm planning on updating anytime soon you can check me out on twitter prncesscandy.

Man this chapter was a pain to write

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After all the tests, papers and homework they had to deal with, winter vacation was something most students looked forward to. Reyna, however, was able to look through the bullshit. Not only did the teachers assign numerous papers, as so the students wouldn't forget school actually existed, but she also had her family to deal with.

Christmas was about the only time of the year when her whole family was actually together- mostly because they didn't live all in the same country and they couldn't afford airplane tickets every time someone's birthday came around- and it was a complete and absolute mess. Her grandmother and grand aunt would always have big fights over who got to host Christmas that year, there always seemed to be a cousin who owed money to another cousin, and it was always a struggle to remember the names of family members that she only saw once a year. Piper said it was kind of funny, and Reyna agreed, but it was like one of those jokes that got old quickly.

Over the years, she learnt that the best way to avoid family was to study, and so she didn't have to deal with as much fighting and questions about her non existent boyfriend.

When she had a lot of things to do, Reyna found it useful to write them down on a clean sheet of paper to get her mind sorted out. She had already started making one before vacation even started, with "study for maths test" and "geo paper", and now, on the first day of vacation, she was sitting on her bed, trying to recall all that she was supposed to do so that she had an excuse not to participate in the conversations of whether her cousin Julie looked more like her father or like her mother.

After about five minutes, she was done. "Study for everything" was a no brainer, and she had a few small school projects here and there, but other than that she didn't exactly have too much to do. It was only when she set the list down on top of her bedspread that she noticed she had left something important out. She hadn't written "Talk to annabeth."

They had had four conversations so far, the first ones being awkwardly bound to subjects like family and the differences between their countries- those were the main aspects of the paper they were going to have to present, after all- but once they got that over it was much easier to talk. Annabeth was actually nice, and better, she was funny.

Maybe that was why Reyna had forgotten to write that down. Talking to her pen pal didn't feel like a burden, it was just like she was talking to a friend. Hell, maybe they were friends. Were they friends?

She pushed the thought away. The girl had a tendency to overthink otherwise simple things, and though she tried to stop, it was almost impossible- especially when she didn't have her relaxed best friend to tell her to "calm the fuck down and eat a snack or something, you're too uptight." Whether or not she and Annabeth were friends, it didn't matter. Reyna enjoyed talking to her, and most importantly, she had to.

Still, "Talk to annabeth" remained unwritten as Reyna leaped out of her bed to turn her computer on and check if a certain someone was online.