Yes! Finals are over and I am a FREE woman, ladies&gentlemen! I hope I get good grades. Anyway, thanks for sticking with the story. Wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & a prosperous new year! Please read&review! :D Again, apologizing for slow chapters. Another short one, sorryy!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Chapter 13

Posy's POV - two weeks later

"Julius Caesar" said Ariel. I lounged back in my seat, tossing my head back a little to get a good view of the ceiling. It was yellowing from old age and crumbling around the small dots that had been permanently drilled into the ceiling tiles. I wondered how old it was really. A few parts of it were still pale where it was painted white. A pale white that reminded me of Nico's pale skin. Although he wasn't as white as the ceiling, that's what came to mind as I looked up at it.

"Posy! Julius Caesar!" Ariel said again, snapping her fingers in my face.

"Huh?" I said, perking up although the ceiling was still lingering in my mind. Ariel was supposed to be quizzing me for an upcoming history test but it seemed that I wasn't paying attention at all. Ariel huffed at me and straightened out the index cards again.

"Let's try this again: Julius Caesar," she said, prompting me for the answer. Truth be told, I didn't what the whole test would be about at all, I have no idea. I hardly ever pay attention in class anymore. I'm too distracted and my mind isn't with me anymore. It keeps wandering. Away from here and out into the world to find out what has happened to a certain dark-haired boy I know. Used to know, I corrected myself.

"Umm," I started out, trying to answer the question. "I don't know. He died." Ariel looked at me quizzically and inspected my face as if the answer to her question were somewhere there.

"Alright, good enough, I guess," she said. She went on to the next card. I thought about Nico again. Gods, I need to stop thinking about him. It's been two weeks since I last saw him, since we decided that it'd be best to pretend we'd never met. Since he decided. I'd gotten along just fine without Nico and if I really tried, I'm sure I could could get along by myself again. And being without him should've made things easier; no more monsters, no more Titans, no more secrets. But instead, I felt likeI was missing something. I felt like that awkward moment when you leave one of your books in your locker. A feeling that you would describe as...ill-equipped?

"Justinian code."

"Umm.. A code that Justin made." Ariel gathered the index cards and straightened them out again and then bound them together with a rubber band.

"Yeah, you'll pass for sure," she said sarcastically. Ariel started to put her things in her bag and seemed to avoid eye contact with me. I started to feel sorry for her.

"Ariel, I'm sorry," I said. I straightened up in my seat and faced her. Ariel looked at me again, neither angry nor annoyed.

"You're really distracted," she said. "Is something on your mind? You haven't been yourself these past few days."

"I know," I said. "I guess I'm just really stressed out about finals coming up."

"Everyone gets stressed but you just look straight up...depressed. Are you sure everything's okay? Is the new baby crying and keeping you up all night?"

"The baby is fine," I answered. "Don't worry about me." I started packing up my books to leave for my next class but Ariel spoke again.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she said. I looked back at her and saw that she was genuinely concerned about me. I knew she was worried; everyone was but I couldn't just tell her about my problems. Because my rpoblems concerned Nico and Nico problems were much more complicated than regular worries over finals and boy problems. Regular boy problems at least. But Ariel was somewhat right; I did want to talk about it to someone. And who better would understand than one of my best friends.

"Does it involve a boy?" Ariel asked. Oh yeah...she's good. I sat back down.

"Kind of," I answered, shrugging my shoulders. Ariel's face lit up; she loves handling boy problems.

"I knew it," she said. "I can always tell. But I never expected it from you, Posy. You're always so...conservative, for lack of a better word. But nevermind. So! Tell me all about it."

I started by telling Ariel about how I met Nico in the first place, and as I did, I watched her face for any signs that I should stop or maybe she was taking it as a joke. But Ariel kept her face intent on listening to every word that poured forth from my mouth. I told her about the Nemean Lion and how Nico had accurately predicted Grandpa's death, and I ended with the fight in the hidden fortress, casually leaving out the fact that he had nysteriously appeared in my bedroom in the dead of night. And when I finished my story, I sat back, relieved. It felt good to tell someone, to ease my burden for a little bit.

"You have to swear not to tell anyone, not even Lauren!" I said.

"I won't, don't worry. I'll take it to the grave," Ariel said. "Wow. So this Nico kid is pretty special, huh?" Ariel smiled in such a way that made me feel a little uncomfortable with the way she voiced that question. She leaned forward to catch my answer.

"Well, what do you mean?" I asked.

"Hang on," Ariel said, looking ready to burst. "Isn't he that one boy you were going to invite to the funeral?" My mouth twitched into sort of a smile, but it didn't stay that way.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew he sounded familiar. So that's how you know him! Oh my god, this is pretty crazy stuff, Posy. How on earth are you able to handle all this? Gods and monsters and titans-"

"Oh my."

"Exactly!" Ariel's face turned grim suddenly. "He's absoutely right!" she said.

"Huh?"

"Posy, sweetheart," Ariel said, getting close to me. "These are dangerous waters you're treading. I suppose Nico is right in keeping you away, it's for your own good. I'd be worried about you, too. I'm really sorry, Po."

"Sorry? For what?"

"That you got caught up in all this chaos. It's terrible really, I don't know what sort of horrible person would drag you into this, but at least he was nice enough to get you out again. Now you can go back to being normal. The old fashioned Posy we all know and love."

And that was just it. Before Nico came to me, I was just plain, sensible, old fashioned, Posy Felrose: fourteen years of existence, zero years of life. Sure, I graduated eigthth grade a class valedictorian and I was one of the star players of our cross country team, but being without Nico... I just didn't feel like myself. I was back to square one, figuring out what my dreams were all about and why didn't make sense. I realized then, that when I was with Nico, they did make sense. Because I spent my life asking questions and now Nico had my answers.

"I guess," I said, to satisfy Ariel's need for a response. "I haven't seen him for two weeks now." And as hard as it was to admit... I missed him. A lot, actually. "Maybe it's a sign; everyone says I'm annoying and stuff and when people leave, I think it's a sign that its true."

"Really? I seem to think of it as a sign that he likes you." Ariel said, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking her head to the left. She was proud of herself for this revelation and it showed. My initial reaction was to laugh and say "Oh, for real?" but I fought the urge to do so. I lingered on that idea for a considerable amount of time, the possibility of Nico liking me. When I had first met him, he was rude to me and was a bit a jerk, and admittedly, I was a bit of jerk to him, too.

But then we fought that lion together, and Nico helped me ease my way through the grief of my grandfather's loss, and then we were caught in that cave and almost died together. Somewhere amidst all that chaos and calamity, we became friends. We grew up together, despite knowing each other for no more than a month or so. Could Nico have come to like me in such a short amount of time? Was it even possible?

"Ooh. No answer, huh?" Ariel said, bringing me back to reality.

"W-what?" I said, my voice shaking.

"Is he cute?" How typical of Ariel. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well," I started to say, not knowing how to continue. "I know my standards on appearances are different than yours. But...yeah, he's good looking, I guess."

"Aww! Describe him, will ya!" Ariel leaned forward some more, ready to inhale Nico's description and then dub him "cute" or not.

"Umm," I said. "He's got like, dark, black hair, that's about...regular length for a guy. It kinda hangs off his forehead, just above his eyebrows. His skin is like... how do I say this, it's olive but kind of pale at the same time. Umm, he has dakr brown- wait, yeah, they're dark brown. A very nice shade of dark brown, that is. Nico's about this tall, so about an inch or two taller than me. And, umm.. he doesn't exactly have abs of steel- NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW! -he's more on the lean side. Lean muscle, yeah. Not saying he's ripped or anything. And he wears this leather jacket all the time."

"Ooh, I see. Sounds hot indeed." And because I couldn't help it, I started laughing lightly. When I finished getting my laughs out, Ariel suddenly held out to me a magazine, opened to a certain page.

"What is this?" I asked, taking the magazine from her. Ariel looked at me and I suddenly felt like a fool.

"This, dear Posy, is a quiz that I got from a magazine. Take a look at the page."

I did. At the top of the page it read "Is it like that, yet? Take the quiz and find out!" My eyes widened at the title and I looked back at Ariel like she had grown another head.

"Are you serious?" I said. Ariel nodded just as the bell rang. She gathered her things and got up. "Take it and then tell me what you get later. Bye!"

"Wait! Ariel! This is just a stupid magazine quiz!"

"Just take it! It may be more accurate than you think!" Ariel pushed open the doors and left without another word. I stared down at the magazine page. I was never much for gossip, like most other girls were, so I didn't find it necessary in my fourteen years to ever subscribe to magazines. And that's why the object I held in my hand at that moment was rather unfamiliar to me. I looked down at the first question.

TBC

Sorry for the short chapter! Today's my birthday and I just got back from Vegas. Updates coming soon.