Reyna's Nickname

"You look good as a blonde," Jason smirked as he put the blonde wig on his best friend.

Reyna narrowed her chocolate brown eyes.

They were in the Halloween section of the clothes store in New Rome because Jason was looking for a Halloween costume. His best friend was throwing the big Halloween party that everyone was talking about, and he was determined to win the costume contest this year.

"How about this? Then no one has to see your face," Reyna held up a gorilla suit, and he smiled wider.

"But my Adonis-face is what is going to make me win, Rey-Rey."

Reyna rolled her eyes.

She hated when he called her Rey-Rey.

For the last month, he had been trying to find the right nickname for Reyna.

He had tried Shorty, but she was only two inches shorter. He tried to call her Count Chocula for her chocolate brown eyes, but she would return it with Captain Crunch, which had caught on with his friends. He was now calling her Rey-Rey, but it didn't feel right.

"How about Hercules?" Reyna held up a costume bag, "It'll show off those abs of yours."

"How about you go as Venus?" Jason held up the bag with the sexy pink and white dress.

Reyna raised her eyebrows as he handed her the dress, silently asked if he had taken one too many blows to the head during training.

"Or you could go as Venus. You'll get points for originality," Reyna shoved the dress back at him, and he quickly put the dress back before Reyna would buy it and make him wear it.

"I could go as Justin Bieber," Jason picked up a microphone, and Reyna smiled as she nudged him.

"As long as I can take pictures."

"Kinky."

She shoved him.

"Why are you even dressing up? I thought that was for seven year olds," Reyna took off the blonde wig and looked through the costumes on the wall, trying to find something for Jason so that they could leave already.

Reyna playfully put the cop hat on him, and he held up a caveman costume.

She shook her head, and he put a princess crown on her as a joke as he looked through more costumes.

But he had to admit that it fit his regal Reyna.

She fit her name better than she would ever know.

Queen.

If he didn't know her as Praetor Reyna, he would have believed it in a heartbeat if someone said that she was queen of some island. When he was first announced as Praetor and sat down on the Praetor-Throne, he could have sworn that Reyna was queen.

It was the one time a year when she wore make-up and didn't have her hair in a braid down her back. Her hair had been curled and framed her face. Her high cheek bones were complimented with light blush, and her thick lips had been painted a light red.

Now Jason couldn't have told you all that.

But he could tell you that she looked beautiful.

"So what are you going as?" Jason asked as he held up a costume for her approval.

Reyna shook her head at the costume as she put the crown up.

"I am going as a girl in her pajamas with a bag of Kit-Kats and Netflixs," Reyna shrugged as handed him a costume.

"You're not going?"

"I never go."

"But he invited you."

Everyone in New Rome had been dying to get an invite.

Even the adults secretly wanted to come to the party.

"He invites me every year. I'm Praetor after all," Reyna shrugged.

"I've never seen you there."

"I never go."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Reyna shrugged as she picked up the right costume for him.

"But everyone wants to go."

"Not me."

Jason gave up as Reyna held up the costume, and he took the bag when she handed it to him.

"I'll try it."

It wasn't what Jason would ever pick out.

But he wasn't going to question Reyna, and he had no other options anyway.

Reyna waited by the changing room area as he tried it on, looking through crowns and hats for Halloween, and Jason found himself staring at himself in the mirror.

"She was right," he mumbled, shaking his head, "Who am I kidding? She's always right."

Not that I would ever tell her that, Jason reminded himself, and he was about to go show how great her suggestion had been when he saw Ella.

"Jay-Jay!" Ella dropped the princess costume, which her mother quickly struggled to pick up, and Ella ran to Jason, who greeted her with a big hug.

"Hey, Shorty," Jason ruffled Ella's black curls, making her brown eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

Ella suddenly reminded him of Reyna.

I'm seeing Reyna everywhere, Jason thought, It must be because I am with her so much…

"'hy haven't 'ou been babysitting 'e?" the cute little four year old asked, and Jason smiled.

"Well, I've been busy. I have a lot of work to do now."

"Hey, Jason," Reilly smiled at him.

Reilly had basically raised him.

And he loved her like his mom.

Well, he loved her more than he liked his real mother.

He felt a shudder ran down his spine as he thought of his mothe.r

He never brought her up to anyone, ever. Even if people asked, he pretended that he didn't remember anything about his mom. But he did, and he wished he could forget her.

He wished he could forget Thalia…

"Hey, Reilly."

"Mommy, I 'iss Jay-Jay!"

"Sweetie, he's busy with work."

"How about I come and babysit you next week? You and Jordan can have a date night," Jason smiled up at Reilly.

"I might just take you up on that," Rielly smiled at Jason, and Jason was about to put a crown on Ella's curls when he heard someone walk up behind him.

"Hey, Jason, I'm going to get out of here. I'll-"

Reyna stopped mid-sentence when she saw Ella and Reilly.

"You were right about the costume," Jason stood for Reyna to see the Luke Skywalker outfit, and Reyna stared at him.

"Did you just admit I was right?"

"Uh-"

"You said that I was right."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did.'

"Well, I meant that you were-"

"Say it again."

"Say what?"

"Say I was…" Reyna motioned for him to continue.

"Wearing sneakers."

Reyna was about to make him say that she was right when Ella tugged on Jason's hand.

"Who the pwetty 'irl?" Ella pointed to Reyna.

"Oh, uh, this is Reyna. Reyna this is Ella," Jason tried not to blush.

"Is she 'ur girl-fwiend?"

This time Jason couldn't help but to turn red.

"We work together," Reyna quickly told her, trying to stop herself from turning crimson.

"You're Praetor Reyna?"

"Yes," Reyna turned her attention to Reilly, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"I'm Rielly James. This is my daughter, Ella," Reilly smiled down to her daughter, who was showing her costume to Jason, telling him about all the places she was going to go to when she was trick-or-treating.

"She's adorable," Reyna smiled at the little girl.

"And she just loves Jason. He's been babysitting her since she was a year old," Rielly smiled at the two of them, and Reyna nodded.

"'Ou wook good, Jay-Jay," Ella told her as Reyna and Reilly kept talking.

"Thanks, Cutie," Jason told her as he put a hot pink crown in her hair.

"Are you trying to wook good for her?" Ella looked to Reyna, and Jason blushed again.

"Reyna and I are just friends."

"But do 'ou wike her?"

"I like her. But as a friend. I think she's cool."

"Do 'ou want her to be your girl-fwiend?"

"I said we're friends, Ella."

"But do 'ou want to be her boyfwiend?"

"Come on. Let's go try on your princess dress, okay?" Jason asked, trying to get her off the subject of Reyna.

This Reyna heard, and she quickly remembered her plans to go buy candy before it sold out.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jason. I have to get to the store before they run out of candy."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the party?"

"Yeah, you go. Have fun. Win the contest," Reyna nodded to him, "Bye, Rielly. And, bye, Ella."

"Bye, Weyna!" Ella waved, and Reyna smiled at the cute little girl.

The Party:

Jason watched everyone around him.

His friends. People he didn't know. People he wished he didn't know. Even ex-girlfriends.

They were all having fun, dancing along to the dance-remix versions of old Halloween songs.

A few months ago, Jason would have been leading this. He would be the star on the dance floor. By now, he would be chatting up a girl. He would have stained his white outfit with the red spiked punch and the glitter from all of the girls who dressed up like fairy's who were leaving glitter all over the dance floor. He would be laughing with his friends and putting the pictures of their fun on facebook.

But not now…

Tonight, he had spent most of his time talking to his friends. And, though he could feel the girl's eyes, he suddenly just didn't feel like flirting or dancing. So he just talked with his friends and had the candy.

He knew what everyone was thinking.

He was thinking it himself.

Who was he and what had he done with Jason Grace?

Jason Grace was the life of the party. He knew all the right things to say to girls. He knew what song to play, and he knew how to dance so that everyone else joined in. This was just his place, his scene.

But Jason Grace hadn't come to this party.

Praetor Jason had.

Jason was beginning to wonder if he would ever be Jason Grace again, the boy at the party.

He was beginning to wonder if he even wanted to be.

But the idea of giving it all up scared him.

Could he handle it?

Could he handle becoming this new person and saying goodbye to the old?

And what would happen to his friends after that?

As Jason adjusted his hat, which had been a joke from his friends for Captain Crunch, Suzie kept her eyes trained on him, daydreaming.

Usually, Jason would have noticed her from across the room, but he was too busy thinking. He only noticed, when she came in, that she was wearing the sexy Venus outfit that he had teased Reyna with. Other than that, he didn't give much thought to the beautiful daughter of Venus.

But she gave notice to him.

She had been waiting to talk to him all night.

And he hadn't.

It was about to drive her insane, and she was applying more pink lipstick to get ready and talk to him.

But Jason was moving, too.

Suzie walked faster to get to him, but she couldn't catch up to him in the hot pink heels she had worn to match her dress.

"Hey, Brett."

Brett turned away from some pretty red head to his best friend.

"What, Dude?" Brett yelled over the pounding music.

"I'm getting out of here."

"Why? The party is just starting. And I think you're going to win the costume contest. Stick around."

"Nah, I'm out. I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe play some cards?"

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" he yelled again.

"Have fun!" Jason asked, not being able to hear him anymore.

"Alright! We'll miss you at the party!"

Jason nodded goodbye, and he tried to weave through the crowd again.

The music seemed to shake the floor, and Jason suddenly felt like he was getting headache.

"Gods, do I sound like an old man or what?" Jason mumbled, but he couldn't even hear it.

He moved past everyone, and he took a deep breath as he got out of the old building that had become the hottest club in New Rome. The music was still loud outside, but it was better. And only the building shook instead of the ground.

Jason took a deep breath as he got out of the building, and he walked away from the couples getting out of the club for "alone time" and the girls lighting up in secret.

Jason took the usual route back, and he was about to go in his house and watch old horror movies with a bag of popcorn when he hesitated.

He grabbed a bag of candy and smiled to himself.

In the neighboring house, Reyna's night was going as planned.

She had started with the trick-or-treaters, and she had helped Gwen get into her costume for the party tonight. Reyna took a long shower and changed into her most comfortable pajamas while she waited for the popcorn to pop.

She mixed M&M's into her popcorn and watched the first old horror movie.

When the second one rolled around, she got the two bags of candy that she hadn't given out, and she reclined onto the couch with a movie about a swamp monster.

Reyna found herself thinking of the party.

What were they doing? she would wonder, What was Jason doing?

She prayed he wasn't doing anything stupid that could make him lose his position soon.

She even checked facebook to see the pictures of the party.

But she didn't see Jason in any of them.

Then she began to feel guilty, wondering if she had told him too many times to be good so that he couldn't really enjoy himself.

Finally, to stop thinking about it, Reyna put on a headband to remind her it was Halloween, and she began to eat her fun-size snicker bars.

Right as Reyna was about to fall asleep on the couch, she heard the doorbell.

"Why are there Trick-or-Treaters now?" Reyna rubbed at her sleepy eyes as she walked over to the door, telling the person that she was coming so they didn't have to ring the doorbell again.

Reyna was shocked by the sudden bright white that she saw when she opened the door, and she had to blink her eyes a few time to tell what it was.

Jason smiled weakly at the doorstep, realizing he probably shouldn't have bothered her at this time of night.

She looked like she was about to fall asleep right here at the door.

Jason held up the candy, and Reyna kept staring.

"Mind if I come in?"

Reyna answered by pushing the door open more, and Jason smirked.

"How about some old horror movies, General?" Jason took off his hat, and she watched him in confusion.

How much had he had to drink?

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, General," Jason smiled, putting the hat on her head, "Just finding your new nickname."

I am going to keep writing this after Mark of Athena comes out, even if our stories don't really match.

Anyway, I hope you liked it.

If I don't get to sleep now, I am going to pass out on my keyboard.