See author's note below for important notes.
GUEST REVIEWS
Guest: Carter and Sadie will always bring the awesomeness. In my opinion, at least.
Great T'Phon: Your brevity has been excused. Yes, she did.
Guest: Someone requested a crossover, and I obliged.
Pi not Pie: Thank you. Yes, I have explained it before. Do you mean Alex? I use zhe/zher because Alex identifies as non-binary, and zhe/zher is a gender-neutral pronoun. I use it on my non-binary days myself. And here is the next chapter.
Booklover: That is what every Percy Jackson fan thinks about Hiro. Thank you. Although I could never be anywhere close to Rick Riordan.
Guest: I know that now. But thank you for pointing it out anyways.
This is another idea of mine. I'm sorry that this isn't someone's request. I won't have any other ideas of my own after this chapter. I promise.
Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero Six, Ouija, Laika, or any other movie or company mentioned in this chapter. I also do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the Heroes of Olympus. They all belong to their respected owners. I only own Delun, Jovver, Adilah, and Catherine, another personal OC of mine.
Chapter 19: The Wrong Tickets
"Anything else?"
Lou Ellen tapped her index finger against her lip, as she squinted at the choices up on the electronic menu. "And then…hmm…a lemon-lime slushie."
"Coming right up, miss! Small, medium, or large?" the peppy cashier asked. Her name tag read Catherine.
"Um…A small."
"Excellent choice! That'll be $21.69!"
Lou Ellen leaned back with a grin, as the cashier turned around to start preparing her requested slushie. Another was cranking the popcorn machine, pouring in the golden brown kernels that would pop up into the magical buttery white fluff. She started digging around in her pocket for the money that she had, along with what her friends had given her to pay for their snacks.
So far, it had all been going according to plan. Lou Ellen and Cecil had gotten permission to go to the movies from Chiron and Mr. D with Will and Nico. They had been wondering if they should've asked some other people to come with them, but decided that any others would ruin it. Plus, most of the people that they knew had seen Big Hero Six already, which was the only movie that Chiron would probably let them go see.
When they had arrived at the movie theater, running close to movie time, Lou Ellen had taken snack orders from the group of friends-Will wanted a lemonade with white cheddar popcorn, Nico a Sprite and Cherry Twizzlers, and Cecil demanded popcorn, M&M's, and a Coke (Lou Ellen was scared). She herself was content with a slushie and some Skittles. They all gave her the money that they would be using for snacks. Cecil had offered to pay for all of them, but that idea was quickly vetoed. They didn't need any cabins angry at them because their money had been snitched.
They split up once they got there: The boys went to the ticket line to pay for everyone's tickets, and Lou Ellen walked up to the snack bar line to get the snacks. Then Cecil would take Will and Nico down to the theater where the movie would be playing, and tell them to go find seats and wait for him and Lou.
Lou Ellen and Cecil were planning to dawdle in the theater lobby for a few minutes, waiting for Nico and Will to find seats that were together and alone. Then they would sneak into the theater and sit far away from them, so that the two boys could enjoy the movie alone. That was if they couldn't see Will and Nico in the darkened theater. If they could and there were empty seats near them, they still wouldn't go near them. But if there wasn't any empty seats, they'd pop over and say that they'd find somewhere else to sit, and give both boys their snacks and drinks. Lou Ellen and Cecil would then proceed to find other seats.
If they ended up having to avoid them, Lou Ellen and Cecil would find them after the movie and apologize, saying that they couldn't find them anywhere, and give them their food as an apology. Hopefully, the time alone would make them realize their true feelings for each other, and they wouldn't be too upset…Emphasis on the "too." Will was scarily territorial about his lemonade.
The knocking of her fingernail against a quarter shook Lou Ellen out of her thoughts, and she pulled it out. She studied her finger and frowned. The space galaxy nail polish that her mother had sent to her for her birthday was beginning to wear off. Shame, it was her favorite nail polish. If you chanted "Nebula star galaxy comet" three times while waving the hand or foot with the nail polish on it around, the polish would shimmer and move, with shooting stars and planets and entire galaxies revolving around each other.
"Okay, so that's a quarter…" Lou Ellen muttered, and stuck her hand back in her pocket to pull out a ten, a five, a one, and a stick of gum. Transferring them to her other hand, she reached into her other pocket for another five, six quarters, and two dimes. She placed them on the counter and started to count them out.
Okay…That's a ten, and a five…and a one…so sixteen? Yeah, I think. They're not gonna accept gum as currency, are they? Nope, probably not. That's another five…What's sixteen plus five? Twenty-something…Twenty-one? Okay, let's say it is. And the quarters…Hmm, there's a lot of reflections on this counter. I can see the hot guy who was working at the other register at the slushie station. He's making a slushie. Hope it's mine…ARGH! Focus! Miranda will murder you! Okay, okay, okay. Quarters are twenty-five cents, and there's seven here. Um, seventy-five? Thirty-two? No, no. Seven times twenty-five…Twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, a hundred, a hundred twenty-five, a hundred fifty, and a hundred seventy-five! Woo! And dollars are, like, a hundred cents, so that's a dollar seventy-five. Wow, I'm smart. So, twenty-one and a dollar seventy-five…Twenty-two dollars and seventy-five cents? And the dimes…That's twenty-two dollars and ninety-five cents! Wait, is ninety-five more than sixty-nine? Think so. I'll just pay…
"Lou! Hey, Lou Ellen!"
The blonde girl jerked up at the sound of her name. "Cecil?" she called back, turning around.
"Hey!" Cecil was jogging up towards her, although it looked more like he was running because of his speed. He skidded to a stop next to her, barely out of breath. "Got them in the movie theater. They're trying to find seats right now. The theater's a bit packed, though, so I doubt that we'll all be able to sit next to each other."
"That's great! Think that we'll be able to pull it off?"
"With the movie we picked? Definitely."
Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow at that. How would Big Hero Six help like that? Besides Disney being one of Will's favorite franchises, next to DreamWorks. Disney was good, Lou Ellen had to admit, but she wouldn't mind seeing a Laika movie over a Disney one.
"Excuse me, miss, but your food is ready!"
Lou Ellen turned around to see Catherine pushing the slushie onto the counter, next to the two bags of popcorn, the candy, and the drinks. The cashier grinned at Lou. "Is your money ready?" she asked.
"Oh, yes!" Lou Ellen picked the money off from the counter and scooped it into her palm, before dropping the bills and coins into Catherine's outstretched hand. The cashier thanked her and started to sort the money into the cash register, scooping out a few coins that Lou Ellen supposed were her change.
"Oh, yes. Come to me, my sweet, salty, buttery, fizzy snacks," Cecil moaned, making grabby motions with his hands.
"Your boyfriend like this a lot?" Haruhi asked, glancing up from where she had been counting out pennies.
Lou Ellen made a retching noise. "Oh, him? No, no. I am never going to date him, ever."
"Wow, Lou, nice to know that you care. I am deeply wounded!" Cecil joked, clamping a hand to his chest in mock shock.
"And, um…" Lou Ellen hesitated. "I'm kind of seeing someone else already. Her name's Miranda…"
"Ah." Catherine nodded. "Sorry about that. I just kinda of assume people are together. Delun keeps on telling me to stop, but he's just as bad as I am!" She stretched out her hand. "Here's your change! Should be twenty-three cents…"
The coins clinked together as they fell into Lou Ellen's outstretched palm, and her fist closed around them. "Thank you!" she said, and moved her hand into her pocket to deposit of the coins.
"Wait a second…" Cecil snapped his fingers multiple times near his head, so as to help him remember whatever it was that he was recalling. "Delun who? Because we know one, actually. Remember, Lou?"
Lou Ellen's eyes widened. "Oh! Delun! Yeah, I remember him!"
"Wait a sec," Catherine interrupted. "You wouldn't happen to go to the camp that he's in, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, think we do. What's the name of the camp?"
"Camp Half-Blood."
Cecil clapped his hands together and pointed at Catherine. "Atta girl! That's the one!"
Catherine laughed. "It's great to meet you guys! Always wanted to meet more of your…" She blushed. "Well, he told me not to tell anyone else, but…"
Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow. "About our heritage?"
Catherine nodded sheepishly. "It just slipped out one day. Don't worry, I hadn't told anyone else! I do think it's a bit cool, though."
"It's alright, just don't tell anyone." Lou Ellen looked Catherine up and down. "You know, you could actually pass as a camper. Couldn't she, Cecil?"
Cecil frowned and nodded, stroking his chin. "Yeah, actually. The blonde hair, the gray eyes, you could be a daughter of Athena.
Catherine snorted. "Yeah, Delun tells me that a lot. He's a sweetheart!"
"He is pretty nice, considering his cabin," Lou Ellen agreed.
"Oh. My. God. Well, I should say that as plural, but I know! He sends me videos sometimes. I saw that one from last week, with Drew and that other girl. His half-sister Lexi filmed it, apparently."
"Oh, yeah, Lexi. She and Adilah are pretty chill, too, even if Lexi's a tad on the loopy side and Adilah's scared of her own shadow."
"Oh, Adilah! Is she still there? I've met her a few times, along with Jovver, Hansika, and some others. Can you tell me hello for her?"
Lou Ellen nodded. "We sure will!"
Catherine beamed. "Great! Man, if I had known who you guys were sooner, I would've let all of your food-" She gestured to the wide arrangement of snacks. "-Be on the house!"
"Oh, no! It's alright! We should be going to the theater anyways, the movie will be starting in a few minutes. C'mon, Cecil, grab some stuff!"
Lou Ellen grabbed her Skittles and slushie, along with the Sprite, Twizzlers, and M&M's. Cecil took the other two drinks and the popcorn. Catherine continued to talk.
"Who are you here with?"
"Our friends, Will and Nico. Guessing you know about them, too?"
"Yes, I have. It's insane! I've heard about all those stunts you guys have pulled on them, along with any video that's been sent to me. The one with the flirting and that guy commenting on the entire thing like an Animal Channel narrator? Priceless. I nearly died!"
"That one's sold the most so far, according to the filmmakers," Cecil grunted, struggling to balance the bags of popcorns and the drinks.
"No surprise. Hey, what movie are you guys seeing, anyways?"
Lou Ellen answered, "Big Hero Six. I can't wait!" at the same moment that Cecil exclaimed, "Ouija! I heard that it's terrifying!"
Lou Ellen froze, before slowly turning her head to see Cecil's jaw drop into a perfect 'o.' "You. Did. Not," she snapped.
"I thought you said Ouija! I was going to ask why, since Will-"
"Why the hell would I suggest a horror movie when I know that Will hates them?!"
"To help scare him together with Nico?"
"I-no. I just…" Lou Ellen sighed. She could already feel a headache pounding behind her forehead. "You need to get your hearing checked."
"Sorry, Lou."
Catherine looked back and forth between them, her face scrunched up in confusion. "What just happened?" she asked.
"Cecil here was an idiot and bought the wrong tickets," Lou Ellen growled, ignoring Cecil's cry of protest at being called an idiot. We were going to see Big Hero Six, but now we're going to go see Ouija. Great going, Cecil. Now nobody's gonna hear the movie, since all that we'll be able to hear is Will shrieking in terror every time that a stair creaks in the movie. Great going, Cecil. Now an entire room full of people are gonna hate us, and not because they're Romans and we just got caught sneaking into their camp to disable their onagers."
"How is this my-Oh, yeah. I guess it is."
Lou Ellen sighed and rolled her eyes. "Let's just go to the theater. I guess we'll have to sit with them after all. She hefted up her goodies and nodded at Catherine. "It was nice to meet you. I'll definitely say hello to Adilah for you. I'm sure that she's gonna be in town for a few more days, until that shoot is over."
"Thanks." Catherine smiled and nodded at them again, waving as Lou Ellen stomped away from her. Cecil muttered something under his breath and ran up to Lou Ellen.
"Look, man, I really am sorry," he apologized again. "I didn't think-"
"No, it's alright. What's done is done. I mean, we'll always have the chance to do this again, Big Hero Six isn't going out of theaters any time soon."
"So, I'm off the hook?" the son of Hermes asked hopefully,
"No way in Hades."
Cecil pouted. "But-"
"No."
He huffed. "Fine."
"So rude."
"Such huffy."
"Much mistake."
"Very sorry."
"Wow."
Cecil laughed, and Lou Ellen couldn't help but join him.
When they got to the ticket counter again, Lou Ellen held the rest of the drinks as Cecil dug their tickets out of his pocket. She handed them back to him when they were waved through.
They quickened their footsteps when they reached the doors that would open into the theater, and Cecil pushed them open with his shoulder. They sighed with relief to find that the movie had yet to begin. The screen was in the middle of a preview for some movie that Lou Ellen didn't recognize, although she did note that it had Reese Witherspoon in it. She was a good actress, and a few of Lou Ellen's siblings had a bit of a crush on her.
"You see them anywhere?" She whispered to Cecil, not daring to speak loud enough for every person in the theater to simultaneously turn around and go "SHHHHHH!" at them.
Cecil stood up on his tiptoes-which didn't really add much to his height-and squinted, tilting his head left and right as he looked around the darkened theater. Just when Lou Ellen was thinking that they really would have to follow their original plan before she knew about the movie change, he pointed up to the highest road and said, "There."
Looking up to where he was pointing, Lou Ellen saw that he was right. Will and Nico were seated right next to each other. Will was stretched out almost lazily in his chair, reminding Lou Ellen of a cat sleeping in the warm summer sunlight. Nico was leaning forward on his seat, almost as if he was afraid the chair would snap him up and eat him. She couldn't blame him. On either side of the boys, a chair was occupied by a jacket. They were obviously meant for Lou Ellen and Cecil.
"Well, let's get up there!" Lou Ellen whisper-shouted and started to climb up the stairs, making sure that her skirt didn't whip anyone sitting in the aisle seats or trip her up. Behind her, Cecil made grunting noises as he trudged up the steps, nearly tripping once or twice. Lou Ellen could easily hear his half-muttered Greek and Spanish curses.
"What took you so long?" Will yawned, stretching his arms out when they finally reached the top row. Nico nodded at them.
"We ran into this girl named Catherine. She's Delun's girlfriend. I didn't know he had a girlfriend!" Cecil explained, holding out the lemonade and popcorn to Will.
"Seriously? And thanks, bro." Will took his food, putting the drink in the slot next to him.
"Yeah, I know! Didn't think he had the guts to date anyone. He's pretty quiet for a son of Aphrodite. I mean, Mitchell and Paul…you know."
Lou Ellen scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Please. Delun gets plenty sassy in Arts and Crafts. You're just not there to see it." She handed Nico his Sprite and Twizzlers, which he accepted with a nod. He took his jacket off the seat next to him, and she grinned before sitting down.
"Hey, are you sure we're seeing Big Hero Six? Because these trailers don't look kid-appropriate, even though I'm sure they've seen worse these days," Nico asked.
Lou Ellen scowled. "I let Cecil handle the tickets. He goofed, and we're seeing Ouija instead."
Will leaned forward, staring at Lou Ellen with a horrified expression. "We're seeing what?!" he hissed.
Lou Ellen shrugged. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. If anything, shoot Cecil."
Will turned to face Cecil. "Dude! You know that I can't stand horror movies!" he whisper-shouted.
"I thought that Lou Ellen said Ouija, not Big Hero Six!" Cecil defended.
"That's, like, two syllables shorter! And two words shorter!"
"I'm sorry, man! Plus, I heard this isn't all that good. Maybe it won't be as bad as The Shining."
"Still no excuse?"
"What about The Shining?" Nico interjected.
"Will hasn't told you?" Cecil raised his eyebrows.
"Tell him!" Lou Ellen grinned cheekily. She loved this story.
"Cecil, please, don't."
"Second grade. Late July. Everyone was down at Capture the Flag, except for us. We snuck into my cabin and went to…" Cecil swallowed. "…Luke's bunk."
A shadow hung over the group at the mention of his name. They had heard the story that Annabeth and Percy had told, about what had happened up on Olympus. Grover and Thalia had also vouched for them. But, like most other campers, they still had their doubts. Many had said that they had lied, to try to defend Luke's honor, and that Percy had slew Kronos and Luke. Lou Ellen didn't think that they were right, but the story did sound a bit off. After all, the prophecy had stated a demigod of the elder gods, and Hermes wasn't counted as an elder god. There had been many speculations about if the prophecy was even completed. Lou Ellen thought it had been. The Oracle did release the Prophecy of Seven, and that had been the next Great Prophecy,
Cecil cleared his throat, shuffling around in his seat. "Anyways, we had heard him talking about some movies that he had under his bed, and we-"
"That was all you. You just dragged me into it, so that not all of the blame would be on you if you were caught," Will interrupted.
"Shut up, Cecil's having his story time with the kiddies, Will. So we found a box and pulled it out. And when I say it was full of horror movies, I mean it was literally crammed with them. I'm surprised that there was air in there. We managed to pull out the top movie, which was The Shining. And I knew how my older sister Tohru's portable DVD player worked, so I turned it on, wrestled the DVD out of its case, and popped it in."
Will groaned, rubbing his temples. "Can somebody shut him up?" he grumbled.
Cecil cheerily ignored him. "So, there we are: Two eight-year-old's, sitting in an empty cabin, watching a Stephen King classic. I can't remember which scene it was that we started screaming. Will, do you?"
"I make every attempt possible to forget that it ever happened."
"Basically, we watched the entire movie, and nobody caught us because it was Capture the Flag, which neither of us were that good at anyways. The moment it was over, I slammed the DVD player shut, and we both just burst into tears."
"Why didn't you start crying sooner?" Nico wondered.
Cecil shrugged. "Too scared to, I guess. When everyone returned, it was to two little kids bawling in the Hermes cabin. Tohru burst out laughing, and Luke smacked her upside the head. The Apollo cabin didn't let me near Will for the rest of the month."
Will groaned again. Lou Ellen was trying not to choke on her slushie. When she glanced at Nico, she was a bit surprised to find him grinning. The boy seemed to have been retreating in on himself lately, and Lou Ellen wasn't sure why. She had asked about it, but he wouldn't answer her. She was glad to see him smiling. He needed it more than the rest of them all put together.
"Can we stop playing the 'Embarrass Will as badly as possible' game?" Will pleaded. The lights dimmed even further, and the quartet looked around in surprise.
"I wasn't done yet!" Cecil complained, as he ripped open his bag of M&M's and slowly shook it out over his popcorn. Lou Ellen wrinkled her nose and took a loud slurp of her slushie. Cecil made a face at her.
"Let's just watch the movie, okay? I mean, it'll be fun to see Will get scared," Nico said.
"Wow, guys. Look what you've done. Now he's gonna try to scare me all the time," Will grumbled, moodily shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.
"All the more fun to prank you with, my dear!" Cecil cackled.
At least ten people turned around and shushed him loudly.
Lou Ellen dug her nails into the inside of her palm to keep from laughing. Maybe they had made a mistake, but so far, it didn't seem too huge of one.
She regretted that thought almost forty-five minutes later, after Will had yelped with fear for the fifty-third time in a row. It just wasn't funny anymore. Even Cecil wasn't smiling anymore, and, technically, it had been his idea to see the Ouija movie.
Gods damn it, Cecil, she mentally cursed. Gods damn it.
A/N:
Guys, I'm really sorry to say this, but Solangelo will not become canon on Christmas.
The thing is, I do not have Internet access on my laptop at home. I mean, yes, I can access Word, so I can type chapters up and all of that jazz, but Internet is a no-no. I've been uploading chapters at my school, since it does have Wi-Fi. My dad blocked my Internet in June, because my brothers were watching things with bad words in them, so he basically put every device under the control of Linksys.
Now, this is weird, because only "bad" sites should be blocked. But for me, it has blocked everything besides YouTube and Google. So at home, I can do just about nothing. All I have is my Kindle and phone, and my phone shouldn't be connected to the Wi-Fi at all (He disconnected it in September). It only connects because I discovered the password to the Wi-Fi. And my Kindle doesn't catch mistakes, and my phone only catches spelling mistakes. Plus, typing on them will strain my hands too much, and I would barely be able to write.
I will also be in San Antonio for a few days after Christmas, and I highly doubt that I can bring my laptop there. We'll be seeing some family there.
I'll be writing over the break, I just will not be able to upload.
And, even if I could access the Internet, I would still have to push it back. I have had a lot of chapter requests, and if I rush some of them, they'll just come out really weird (I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this sort of thing you guys sorry). And I want to make you guys happy. I really do!
Which leads to this other point: I've been having thoughts about this story.
I've noted that I didn't get a lot of reviews last chapter. I mean, when I uploaded Chapter 17, I had about 320 reviews, and then it jumped up to like 372 or so. Over fifty reviews in one chapter? I was ecstatic!
But I didn't get as much this time-Only 406 reviews, which is what, 34 reviews? Of course, this makes me seem bratty, comparing reviews like this. *Dudley voice* But-But last year I had THIRTY-SEVEN!
I'm not trying to ask for reviews, honestly. In fact, the fact that I have over 400 is more than I could have ever dreamed of! You guys are amazing. Seriously.
But I've noted some things in reviews, like people asking when they'll get together, how many times this will take, and I have just one question:
Am I failing you guys?
I continued writing because you guys said you wanted more, so I gave you more. And, so far, this has been my most popular story, which makes me happier than I could ever describe. And the requests have been wonderful-honestly! I've had so much fun writing them!
But I want to make you guys happy. Which is funny, coming from me, since my mom calls me self-absorbed. But with an audience, people who actually enjoy what I create…I want to make them happy.
And I've tried. I've written chapters at 2am, written instead of studied, written instead of doing other things. I've ignored Doctor Who, ignored Tumblr (a feat in itself), and ignored a whole lot of things so I could work on this.
I shouldn't be doing that. I know. But writing is one of my passions, and I wanna make my readers happy. I've worked, because every follow makes me smile, every favorite makes me giggle, every review makes me flail my arms and lose my balance and fall off my bed. And I want to write every idea that I have, if it's gonna make you guys happy.
I've had plenty of ideas for stories. Obviously, the sequel to this story is one of them. I've also had one for where Will is accidentally turned into a kindergartener and Nico has to take care of him. And another one that I have had for a few months, which is Nico-centric. That one will also have a companion piece, set in the 1860's, right around the time of the Civil War. That's gonna require a fuckton of research, since I'll have to juggle around time periods and racial inequality. I even have a story idea that takes place after them, set in modern times, which revolves around a quest for the Oracle of Delphi. It'll feature one of my personal OC's as a character. And one mortal AU featuring Will, Nico, and a psychiatrist (not Will).
There's also all the one-shot ideas I have, like the toothbrush fic. I have an idea for where Will and Nico secretly date and the others find out, a college AU for Frank and Hazel, Will and Nico performing an exorcism on a Furby (don't ask), Nico getting high when he gets the wrong drugs in the infirmary, Nico and Will adopting a daughter, a mortal AU where Will is one of those helpline people and Nico needs help, a Nico-centric songfic one-shot, a mortal AU where Will discovers that Nico still cuts, and one set when everyone is grown up where Will nearly drops Hazel and Frank's daughter when she turns into a boa constrictor in his arms.
So, that's six fic ideas, and nine one-shot ideas. I've had eight one-shot ideas and two multi-chapter story ideas since October. Hell, I came up with the Nico-centric story and 1860's one before the Blood of Olympus came out. I've had them since, like, August! I'm gonna be busy writing. I'm nearly done with the first chapter of the Nico-centric one, in fact, along with a dream that will occur later in the story. I am willing to release sneak peeks to those interested. Although, be warned: They're much more serious than what I usually write.
But, my first priority will be this fic, foremost and always. I'm trying to please you guys. I really am. I'll be writing until I can barely read the screen and the clock tells me that I've stayed up all night, just so you guys can see the notification email that tells you I've updated, and causes you to break out into a wide grin.
I just have a few questions for you guys, before I finish this author's note:
In what ways am I a failure? How can I change them? How can I make you guys happy? How can I keep you guys from getting bored and leaving?
Please, guys. I'm giving it as much as I can. I just want to make you guys happy.
Happy Holidays.
I guess.