Chapter Eight
Girl, Misunderstood

I didn't get it.

I'd tried being nice, even though all I wanted to do was scream. Swallowing my pride wasn't easy for me.

And he'd responded by being completely neutral and reserved. For some reason, I thought this was worse than the snarky side of him. At least I knew how to deal with that. This Luke was more like a complete stranger.

So I crossed being nice off the list of ways to get him back. Being a bitch hadn't worked too well either. Go figure. I only had one option left, one I'd seen my mom use over and over again, but it'd always burned her in the end.

I had to try seducing him.

Why couldn't I just give up? Maybe life would have been easier if I just accepted he hated me, found different people to hang out with, and ignored him for the next two or so years.

Well, as the tagline goes, a woman's heart is an ocean of secrets – which, by the way, I've always thought was total bullshit. The whole movie it went with was bullshit, but whatever. That was completely irrelevant right now.

So I just had to seduce him. Not hard. If only I had some idea of how to do that.

And thinking of a plan was just going to have to wait. A certain annoying aunt was hovering in the doorway. The mom act was getting old. Really, she was only five years older than me.

"What do you want?"

I knew she was biting her lip and more than likely twirling her hair, two of her most annoying nervous habits. I bet she'd run away like a scared little rabbit if I gave her the glare I was suppressing. "Well, umm, I thought it would be good to start going through your mom's things. That is, unless it's too soon and you still feel…"

I wanted to tell her to grow a pair and just spit it out. "Yeah. Whatever. Most of her shit can go straight to Goodwill." Because I'm sure they just loved reselling $2,000 shoes and French lingerie.

Nell seemed torn between following me and staying put. "You don't need to help me. I'll just go through her clothes and stuff."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just not ready to look at her things yet." So it was okay for me to? "It's been less than a month, and it's just too soon for-"

"Yeah. Don't care." I brushed past her. "Get a therapist, and get over it."

Mom would have told me to quit being a little bitch and get of her way. Nell, on the other hand, broke down crying.

I pretended not to see.

If I got an A- in world history, my Ivy League dream was as good as gone. Any other school was a joke. Hey, I'm from the University of Michigan. Want me to design your vision? No one would take you seriously.

Of course, no one else understood that, Grover and Percy included.

This stupid project was going to be the death of me.

I'd made both of them do research last night. Really, it wasn't that hard, but I don't think Grover owned a computer, and Percy had pulled some excuse about having a swim meet in Blackston. Apparently, he was some swimming god and was going to take our team to state this year.

I really couldn't express how much I didn't care. Sports didn't rank too high on my priorities. Yeah, I did cross country and field, but that was solely for making my transcripts look good. Really, by the time you were thirty, no one cared if you won the state championship in basketball your junior year.

"So, what did we learn last night?" I asked. Well, demanded would probably be a more accurate term.

Percy looked up from doodling in his notebook. "The Greeks believed in all these gods and stuff. They killed their cows and goats so the gods wouldn't strike them down with lightning or something."

I ground my teeth and took a deep breath. He'd tried. He'd failed miserably, but he'd tried.

"But the gods really liked the people and would have kids with them. Only…things never really…you know…worked out for the kids…." Grover added.

Hello, I am a Greek teen. We just sacrificed our favorite cow so the gods wouldn't smite us. Oh, and I'm pretty sure one of the gods is my dad.

Without me, they would have failed. Epically.

"Are you going to Bianca di Angelo's party this weekend?" Grover blurted out. I was ready to tell him off, but then I realized he was talking to Percy, not me. Yeah, just ignore the person who's going to do this giant project for you.

Percy shrugged uncomfortably. "We have a meet at Degis. Don't know when we're gonna get back," he mumbled. "Besides, isn't their house like…above the funeral home? That's just creepy."

"Yeah, the family's kind of weird. Their dad is all big and scary, and Bianca – she's the older sister – is kind of a diva. Nico's in middle school, and he's kind of…different. Like all emo and stuff," Grover explained. I wanted to tell him that I really didn't think Percy wanted to be briefed on all things di Angelo.

"Oh. Well, good to know."

"Okay, well this project is due next week. You two don't know anything, so I'm going to do it myself this weekend. I'll even throw some typos in so it looks like you actually did something." I thought I was being pretty generous.

"Sure. Thanks," Grover said, then went back to telling Percy all about Shallow Lake's social system.

One day when I was famous and they were cashiers at McDonald's, they'd be sorry.