"Drew is made from layers and layers of secrets, lies, manipulation, gossip, pure bitchiness, a fake personality and I have a feeling it's more than that. I grew up with her for more than 10 years and I still don't understand her. Nobody does, not even the person who's closest to her if she have somebody. She's complicated and tricky." ~ Mitchell
It was towards the end of college. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades have slowly drifted apart. Of course, they still reference each other as best friends but it was becoming clearer and clearer their friendship is going away.
Zeus had fell into the 'in' crowd with Tristan and Aphrodite McLean, the most popular people in Goode High. He now hung out with Tristan and his friends. Poseidon and Hades have became closer than their relationship with Zeus but not as close as it was before. Hades hid in the shadow and gradually, people noticed him less. He hardly seems to be around and he is the type of people that you'll find in the back of the classroom. Poseidon became closer to his swim team. As swim captain, he spent more and more time with his swim buddies.
It wasn't the fact they spend less time with each other that driven them apart forever but it was the fight. The last day of high school was suppose to be either excited or happy for a new term in college or a sad and regretful moment that the high school life is over. However, this wasn't Zeus, Poseidon or Hades' last day. Sure, they had their time with their groups creating last high school memories (or in Zeus' case, watching Aphrodite cry and sniffle that she couldn't bribe her way out of college since she already did that to get her in some famous fashion school in Paris). Nonetheless, that wasn't it. Neither of them is sure how the fight came to be. Did one of them try making conversation which led to bigger and bigger arguments? Did they just fired straight away at each other?
It didn't matter. The memory burns into every single one of the mind. It never left them and whenever they had a spare moment, they always thought of the fight. What would happen if things turned out differently on that day? That day drew best friends into sworn enemies. Zeus swore to kill Poseidon and Hades one day while they plotted schemes against him. Poseidon and Hades secretly have anger for each other and had plans drew out if another fight between them broke out and what they would do. They had rigged their house with the best security, just to keep each other away from one another.
The fight wasn't pretty but it wasn't completely ugly too. It was the truth. It wasn't black and white. You can't label Zeus as the bad guy, Poseidon as the good guy, Hades as the guy who sorted everything out or anything like that. They each had a bit of bad, good, and anything a friendship could have in them.
Some people might say you shouldn't leave a fight unresolved. Maybe it's true but at times, the fight is so untouchable, you don't want to talk about it anymore. It even hurts recalling the memory. You just don't know what to do and what you have done - no matter if you regret doing them or not - is done. You can't change the past. What you said is history. You can't wipe it out easily like a mistake on a math test.
Nobody knew about the fight except for them. Everybody thought they just drifted away from not meeting each other for a long time or some innocent, simple reasoning like that. They won't have guessed what it was about as they never been through anything like that before. It was dangerous, yet thrilling to have watched the argument. It's interesting how people you used to know everything about could suddenly become strangers. It's funny how you knew little things like what is their favorite shop, what is their least favorite fruit, which celebrity they can't stand but then again, you're not suppose to know it anymore. It's crazy how you know all his darkest secrets knowing you can reveal it anytime especially in the state they left one another but couldn't bring themselves to tell the world about it. It's amazing and truly a horrifying work of art.
"We need to talk." Poseidon said briskly over the phone. It was amazing how he even got his phone number. Zeus had change his at least three times and never gave it out to somebody like Poseidon.
"Agreed." Zeus sniffed distastefully as if he had much better things to do but was obliged to agree. "And let's do it over phone. I don't want or need to see you after what happened to Hades."
"No." Poseidon said firmly. "In person."
"I don't want to be seen with you!" Zeus complained. "You are like a..social reject!"
"That's your excuse back in high school." Poseidon snapped. "And I'm not a reject. Just because you're more popular than me doesn't mean I'm the bum of everybody."
"Fine. Starbucks at 11 tonight. You know where." Zeus sighed. "I'll come to you since I'll probably be wearing some sort of disguises."
"Reyna?" Annabeth called as she stepped inside the restaurant. It had a dim setting and romantic candlelight were set on every table alongside a rose. It didn't seem like the type of restaurant her friend would go to but she'll ask about it later when she finds her. "Reyna?"
The restaurant wasn't small but you can see the whole place when you take your first step inside of it. Nobody in the room had Reyna's dark brown hair. In fact, nobody looked familiar in it..except..there's this guy with black hair in the far corner. Slowly, the boy turned around revealing sea green eyes and a face she knew too well. Percy. Percy of all people.
"Annabeth?" Percy seemed pretty shock to see his ex here. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just going to ask the same thing." Annabeth narrowed her gray eyes. "Oh I see. Somebody set us up. Reyna's not here at all. Well, I'm going."
"And waste this?" Percy gestured at dishes of fancy food in front of him. "This probably costed Leo - or whoever that set us up - a fortune."
"Percy, if I stay or vice versa, we'll be falling into their trap. They want us to eat the food. Go ahead, you can eat it."
Percy bit his lips. The food was pretty expensive. He would know since he paid for it and the plans just can't go down the drain. "I..I can't pronounce the name of these food. I'll need somebody to. They aren't pizza or cheeseburgers. They are really posh things and I don't want to eat snails."
"Well, good luck eating those beetles over there." Annabeth laughed harshly.
"Look, I don't even know what happened to us." He started staring into the wall behind her. "I don't know what I did for us to crumble. All I need is an explanation for..that picture."
She waved the subject with her hands as if she didn't want to talk about it. "Percy, it's not your fault. Nothing is. Don't blame yourself or anything, okay? It's me. I just needed some time to think and I really don't want to talk about it. You're a great guy, but I don't know anymore."
"Don't know anymore?" Percy echoed. "It's not like I'm going to propose to you. From the last few days, I can tell we aren't even friends anymore."
"Luke's a great guy too." She sighed. "I always thought he was more into Silena, even though she had Beckendorf. They were always flirting but still, she remained faithful to Beckendorf. And of course, there was Thalia. You know I used to love him a lot. When he finally came around, I can't just sit there. It was like a childhood dream coming true."
"Your childhood dream was to become an architect."
"That's still my dream now." She snapped.
"He's gone now." He reminded her. "Unless you know where he is and held information from everybody which I think you do."
Annabeth reassured him. "I don't. I know somebody who knows where he is but I don't."
"Who is that?"
"I don't think I can tell you." Annabeth shook her head feeling a bit embarrassed. "We kind of had a falling-out just a few weeks ago and it's awkward. I'm not going back to find her or doing anything with her anymore."
"Come on!" Percy whined. "I won't tell anybody or march straight up to her asking for Luke."
"Thalia." She whispered. "We fought over him, if you must know."
Suddenly, Annabeth found herself telling him the things she have kept as a secret and promised herself not to tell anybody. She realized she was getting closer to him that ever before. He was so easy to talk to..no, this is exactly it. She was falling into whoever that set them up's trap. This wasn't good but she couldn't help herself pouring everything to Percy.
Reyna wasn't feeling especially satisfied of herself. Her life wasn't exactly straighten out. She still needed to study for her exams which is two weeks away, deal with Hylla for one more day (thank god, she is going back tomorrow), go to her parent's stupid boss's party and make a good impression and frankly, she had quite a lot of things to do. Normally, she's stressed but for once, she was actually feeling calm and pleased.
What is she happy about? Reyna wasn't sure. It's not like Jason came flying into her arms or anything. He's stuck in another state with his not-yet-girlfriend-but-everybody-knows-they-will-date. Her little crush on Sky haven't been going well either. If anything, she should be down and depressed.
"Reyna, right?" A voice she didn't recognized whispered softly.
Reyna froze. What the-. Who? "Excuse me?" She frowned. "Is someone there?"
A tall boy with blonde hair and stepped out from the shadows. He was good looking in the friendly, classic, all-american way but not really Reyna's type. "So you are Reyna." He nodded. "I'm Mitchell."
"I don't um.. believe I know you." Reyna raised her eyebrows. The boy looked familiar, as if she saw him a couple times at school but not like the type where you know somebody personally.
Mitchell laughed as he shifted his foot awkwardly. "Nobody really does but for what it's worth, I'm in your Spanish class."
"Sorry." Reyna shook her head. "I didn't recognize you."
He shrugged. "That's alright. I don't really mind anybody. My step-sister has such a great reputation, it's hard to keep up. I can't fill in her shoes and be what everybody expects me to be so I just back down and you know, go with everybody. I'm pretty sure the majority doesn't even know who's my step-sister. I have my own friends, not an awful lot though, but other than them, nobody really knows me. Sometimes, I don't even think teachers know me."
"I know that feeling." She agreed. "My sister, Hylla is like everybody's favorite and I'm simply not. It's tough, but why are you here today? Did I do something that offended you or something?"
"No! Well, not that. I'm here to talk about my step-sister."
"Who's that?" Reyna asked.
"Drew." He replied. "Drew Tanaka."
Cat narrowed her eyes at her brother. "God Justin, what the fuck happened on Valentine Day?"
Justin laughed. It was no surprise when his lawyers beat those government beginners. Getting into trouble was totally okay in the Fontaine household, you can get out of anything. Justin knew his little stunt in Ashley Taylor's party wasn't a big deal. "Was nothing. Haven't you heard about the other things I do? Sky was just injured. I killed people before."
"I don't give a damn about your tutor or whoever you killed. In fact, I won't even care if Sky's dead but it's Piper." Cat explained. "God, she's my friend. You don't hurt your sibling's friends."
"Piper?" Justin repeated. "Seriously? She got more than she needed. It's fine, sis. She's in…I don't know, London now? Athens? Rome? Berlin?"
"LA. The Oscars." Cat reminded him.
"Exactly!" He waved his arms around like he didn't care. "She's fine. She'll hook up with a few of those celebrities and everything will be alright."
"You're sick." Cat sneered. "Hook up? She's not going to have a one night stand with anyone. Besides, she got that Jason with her. He's sensible, he won't fucking let her even get drunk. He never even took a sip of an alcoholic drink."
Justin had a comical expression on his face. "Oh, a friend now? She is so getting over Sky's little injury. If she's not getting in with any celebrities, she's getting in with that fella. When did you get so close to Piper anyway?"
"Since we became friends again?" Cat made it clear that it sounded like 'duh! don't YOU know?'
Justin rolled his eyes as he took out his phone indicating he didn't care what Cat was going to say. "Whatever. What's done has been done. If it makes you or Piper feel better, I'm sorry! Do I need to send somebody a bouquet of flowers? Or would a box of chocolate be better?"
"That's not the point!" She growled. "I just need a damn explanation for that night. Why the hell would you pretend to be the Shooter and actually shoot down somebody? Why were you even talking to him?"
"The Shooter." Justin bursted into laughters again. "This city is full of cowards. Just because this psycho dude decides to shoot a few losers like two years ago, people are freaking out. It has been two years and I bet that guy just lost his marbles for a few hours. He's fine, probably shitting himself for killing these people. There's a reason he didn't make videos taunting people and posting them on Youtube. There's a reason he didn't kill anybody else. There's a reason he's laughing at everybody like you and those police who are still worried about it."
"How do you know?" Cat asked quietly. "I know the Shooter murdered Hades Di Angelo."
"What?" Justin took sudden interest in the topic. "He did?"
"Might be a she." Cat shrugged. "But the Shooter left a note in Hades' body that revealed he killed him. The police found it but kept quiet about it and gave it to his son, Nico. I'm not sure what Nico has done with it or if he even showed anybody the note but that note is important."
"You aren't friends with that emo or the police. How did you get the note?"
"Easy." Cat smirked. "I was there when the body of Hades have been discovered. I was the only person who wasn't smitten with Tristan or Aphrodite McLean. Why would I be anyway? If I wanted their signatures, I can just head over to Piper's house and get them. Anyway, I noticed the body but the note was sticking out of it. I took a peep at it and placed it back inside. Nobody noticed me as Piper's parents are way too interesting. They're great, they're totally clueless of what's going on yet helped me so much."
"Did you see who placed the dead body on the gravestones?" Justin questioned curiously.
"Of course, but that is going to have to cost you something, bro." Cat smiled devilishly. "We both know the Fontaine family have generations of secrets and lies to keep and hide. We both know the Fontaine family are to be feared of but people still admire us. We can work together. Find out who the Shooter is and imagine how big the information would be. Police would die to keep us in line, the Shooter would do anything for us not to reveal the identity, the families of the victims would beg to know who killed their family."
Justin thought for a while and slowly nodded. "I like it. It'll be like the old times. How that old sod - what's his name again? Marshall? Brad Marshall? - had his life ruined because of us. He thought he could get away with everything but we're too good for him. This is something else even better. I'm in."
"Let's do it!" Cat cheered and took a can of soda out of the fridge. "Coke?"
"I figured out you were investigating my step-sister so I wanted to give you a hand on that." Mitchell explained. He and Reyna were in his room killing time.
Reyna raised her eyebrow. "How did you know?"
Mitchell laughed. "You better be careful what you said around here. Anybody can hear anybody's conversation even if it's suppose to be private. How else does Drew get her gossip and know practically everything going on in the school?"
"Wow." Reyna mouthed. "So she taped microphones or recording devices all around town?"
"In the least suspecting places. It's genius, really. I found out about this myself only after she died and I was looking through her room for any embarrassing records she might have of me. Trust me, growing up with her was the opposite to pleasant."
"Why are you helping me?" Reyna asked.
Mitchell shrugged. "To be honest, I really don't know. You seem like a nice and genuine person. Besides, you'll never get the full picture of Drew without me. Drew is made from layers and layers of secrets, lies, manipulation, gossip, pure bitchiness, a fake personality and I have a feeling it's more than that. I grew up with her for more than 10 years and I still don't understand her. Nobody does, not even the person who's closest to her if she have somebody. She's complicated and tricky. I wanted to learn more about the girl I lived with even though she's gone and since you're doing the same thing, why don't let's do it together?"
Reyna pursed her lips. "Okay. Why don't let's start with her bedroom? Have you looked through the whole thing?"
"No." He admitted. "Only her top drawer which consist of nothing but her diary, her phone, a few Gossip Girl books, Gossip Girl TV series and a couple of movies like Mean Girls and 10 Things I hate about you. You know, girly stuff. I didn't really pay much attention."
"Her diary." Reyna repeated. "Ever look through that?"
Mitchell stared at her as if she was speaking Martian. "Pfft..no? What kind of a step-brother do you think I am?"
"Mitchell, it's a diary. It contains secrets and basically her life. You're way too nice to her judging by how she treated you."
Mitchell sighed. "That's what I've been told many times but it's not my nature to do so. Why don't let's change the subject. Reyna, you know Leo?" Mitchell started. "He has a crush on you."
"Leo? No.." An uneasy laugh came onto Reyna's throat. No, this couldn't be possible. Leo can't like him. They're friends, best friends and she doesn't like him..that way.
Mitchell smiled. "It's true. I can see the way you guys go together."
"No!" Reyna cried a bit too loudly. "I don't like him like that but I don't want to hurt him. He's amazing, you know as a friend."
"Friendzoned. You know it's not good, Reyna. Haven't that happen to you before with Jason?"
"How did you know?" She gasped. "I don't even know you before this."
"Drew has lots of lovely secrets. I know more than I should." Mitchell told her. "Seriously, think about Leo. That poor guy thought nobody will ever like him."
"He's adorable!" Reyna said. "There got to be somebody who will like him."
"Drew said that he only fall for girls who are tough, strong and out of his league. His previous crushes included Khione who graduated, I think, and Thalia."
Reyna spluttered. "Thalia? And me being tough and strong on the same level as Thalia? That boy's crazy."
"Go ask Leo out." Mitchell urged. "He needs somebody. He has been an outsider enough. I can tell even by watching him everyday. Soon enough, he can make his own sad musical to pity his own life. His life is messed up enough. He isn't what he appears to be, I read his file."
"File?" Reyna raised her eyebrows. "She has files about everybody? Talk about creepy."
"No!" Mitchell laughed. "Not really anyway. She accidentally sent me a document labeled 'Leo Valdez' a few months ago. She's not careful for a person with all those things."
"I'll think about it." Reyna sighed. "But seriously, he's my friend. Not my boyfriend. I am so not dating him. Thanks for making everything awkward between us. I can't even talk to him now."
Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Come on, Reyna. You can't hide from him forever."
"Hiding?" She frowned innocently. "Who said anything about that?"
"Everybody knows that would be your next move."
"Fine." Reyna muttered bitterly.
"Luke! Come back!" Thalia urged firmly through the phone. "It's not safe for you in San Francisco!"
"Please, I have to stay." Luke whispered. "New York is even more dangerous. At least nobody can touch me in San Francisco."
"Then don't come back. Go to Sydney, Hong Kong, Istanbul, anywhere but America. It's not hard going around America to track down one guy." Thalia insisted. "I can't…you can't have anything bad happening to you. Be safe."
"Thalia, you need to know everything. I don't know what will happen to me anytime and if there's one person who can write a biography of me, I want it to be you. Meet me in five days. I'll text you the address. Don't worry, I'll take the fastest flight to New York." Luke decided. "And how's Annabeth?"
Thalia heaved a sigh. "Fine, I guess. I really don't know. We kind of fell out, I don't really hang out with her anymore. She does seem a lot moodier than before and according to her Facebook status, she broke up with Percy."
"Good." Luke growled. "I never liked that Percy. Tell Annabeth to take care."
"Luke.."
"Right, you guys aren't close anymore." Luke said. "So..keep me updated."
"You don't even live here anymore."
"I like to see what my old buddies are up to." Luke shrugged. "Come on."
"Fine. Jason and Piper are shipped to the Oscars and I don't think they're coming back for a while. Again, Percy and Annabeth broke up but knowing Leo, he'd be finding ways for them to get back together. Reyna is still oblivious with Leo's crush on her. Grover's doing okay but his girlfriend Juniper has been pretty protective lately for some reason. Frank and Hazel seriously have to get in there. They aren't even dating. Travis got to stop bugging Katie or he'll never get her. Connor needs to find a new girlfriend. Nico's sister is back in England so that poor guy is alone again but he doesn't really seem to mind it. Rachel is still hanging around, I have suspicion that she's stalking Percy but what's new? Cat is like BFFs with Piper again - this is pretty old, did I tell you this before? Clarissse hasn't changed one bit, still ready to kill the Shooter. Lacy is getting into everybody's nerves with the whole 'oh my god, it's Valentine day' thing a few weeks ago." Thalia started.
"Great." Luke laughed. "Nothing new, I can tell. But honestly, was there anything astonishing? Something more than just those every-day gossips?"
"Right." Thalia stated. "Uh..yeah. Like on Valentine Day, Justin Fontaine decided it was some kind of dress-up party and came to Ashley Taylor's party as the Shooter and actually brought a gun with him. Apparently, he kind of went psycho and shot Piper's date, Sky. I think Sky's okay but he's in the hospital unconscious at the moment."
"Sky?" Luke sounded surprised. Thalia wasn't exactly shock that he felt that way. Sky was similar to Piper, both popular and liked by everybody. Parents loved Sky, they thought he was the perfect role model. He achieved outstanding grades, play sports, look cute, a lot of girls had huge crushes on him. He wasn't exactly totally pure as he had drunk alcohol a couple of times and on extremely rare occasion, took drugs but he managed to keep that quiet and nobody really suspects him. Sky was one of the least likely person to get into some kind of fight or arguments as everybody who knew him described him as a peacemaker. Justin couldn't possibly shoot Sky for no reason so there must have been history between them.
"Mmm." Thalia murmured. "I know, right? But it's Sky, alright. The very one who suggested to ban social networking at school to suck up to the teachers."
"I'm pretty sure that was a dare." Luke recalled.
Thalia laughed harshly. "That doesn't mean he had to actually do it. Good thing Leo found proxies and ways around that regulation. Thanks to that stupid dare that idiot actually committed, our whole school had Facebook banned."
"Listen, I have to go now." Luke whispered softer than usual. "Wait for my text and remember to show up."
AN: And you all thought Poseidon was in LA with Jason and Piper? ;) Yes..the parents will be rather interesting characters and play some kind of a role in the story since I thought it'd be unfair to just ditch them aside.
I know I first published this story in like September which seemed like a long time ago but it's amazing how I'm on Chapter 30 and it's already March. I have to admit, this is probably the story I committed most to. So as a Chapter-30-anniversary kind of thing, if this isn't the longest chapter of the whole story, it has to be one of the longest so yay! :)
~Kisses, Emily