Nico and I called, wrote, and Iris-Messaged each other constantly for two weeks. Then it all stopped. At first I was confused and thought maybe it was just a fluke or something, like maybe my letters were getting lost in the mail or I'd dialed the wrong number. After another week of silence, I became hurt. Now, in October, I was mad. I was mad at Nico for ignoring me, mad at myself for being so clingy, and mad at the gods for bringing us together in the first place.
Well screw them all. I didn't need Nico or the Greek gods.
"So you guys have voted to let Socrates live," my World History teacher Mrs. Stern said as she took the last paperclip from the plastic bowls on her desk. We were studying Ancient Greece and the famous philosophers from that time. "That's not what really happened. The ancient Greeks had him executed for his radical ideas. They were afraid of the gods' wrath if he kept influencing their youth."
"Because the gods are petty," I heard myself say. Wait, crap. I so didn't mean to say that out loud.
"What was that, Naida?" Stern asked.
My face turned bright pink. "The Greek gods are petty, and I think bored. And they really like giving out punishments."
"How so?"
Seriously? She wanted to make this a whole discussion? Damn, I had to go and open my big, stupid mouth. Well I wasn't going to back down like a chicken. "Well take Medusa for example."
"Ugh, the snake lady?" one of the preppy cheerleaders, Clara Roberts, snorted. Her condescending tone annoyed me but I kept going.
"Yeah. She wasn't always a monster. She used to be really pretty but got cursed by Athena for hooking up with Poseidon in Athena's temple. I'd be pissed if someone was doing the nasty in my room, but Medusa didn't deserve what happened to her. It wasn't totally her fault."
"So who's fault was it?"
I waited for a second for someone else to answer but Mrs. Stern wouldn't stop staring at me. I sighed. "Well, Athena's anger is justified but she shouldn't have taken all of it out on a poor, defenseless human- that's not cool." There was an angry rumble of thunder as I said it and I knew it wasn't a coincidence but I ignored it. "Yeah, Medusa should have known better and if it was her idea, then she's at most fault. I mean, no offense to guys or anything, but they're simple and if a girl's willing to give it up, they'll take it. But if Poseidon seduced her then it's not fair that she got in trouble and he got off totally free. There's no way to resist a god and she was just the victim. He's to blame the most if the whole thing was his idea to have sex in Athena's temple. And if it was his idea, it was probably on purpose to piss Athena off- I mean, make her mad. Medusa was the victim and got the short end of the stick."
Mrs. Stern nodded. "Thank you for that discussion, Naida. Who else would like to discuss Socrates' trial? What do you think of his punishment? For us today, who know the gods aren't real, it seems a little extreme, right?”
I let out a relieved breath and tuned most of my attention away from History. I spaced out a little and let my mind wonder until my eyes slid over to Glen Fletcher, the gorgeous football star, and he smiled at me. He was totally hot and popular and way out of my league. I felt my face heat up and quickly looked away. Sure, I could handle monsters and titans but I was pretty clueless when it came to guys- case in point being that I was still totally hung up on one that didn't even bother to call me back. For the next twenty minutes I carefully avoided looking in his direction.
By the end of class I felt like an idiot. Sure, Glen had smiled at me but that didn't necessarily mean anything. A guy could be nice to a girl without making a move on her. And maybe I wasn't even who the smile was directed at. With that in mind, I set out to my locker to get ready to go home for the day.
"Hey, Naida," a guy's deep voice said from the other side of my locker door. I jumped like a complete moron and hit my head on the top shelf of my locker. My face and neck flamed and I was ready to crawl in a hole and die.
"H-hi, Glen," I replied when I finally got the courage to show my face. "What's up?"
"Well I'm kinda in need of a History tutor and was wondering if you might be up for the job."
"Me? I'm not sure that's a good idea. I have a low B in that class at best."
"Really? But you were so impressive today."
I shrugged a little and choked back a nervous laugh. Well I want about to tell him that I personally knew a few of the gods. "My friend is obsessed with the stories and likes to tell them to me when she's not doing homework."
"Huh. Then I might as well drop the pretense. That was just my excuse to ask you out."
I stood frozen for a second. "Seriously?"
"Well, yeah."
As I stared at him, Glen's blue eyes and short brown hair seemed to turn black, he lost his golden tan and about four inches so he wasn't a foot taller than my 5' 6. "Can I think about it?" I asked before my imagination could finish morphing him into the guy I was trying not to think of.
"Yeah, of course. Here's my cell number. You should text me sometimes."
I shoved the paper in my pocket. No use telling him I didn't have a cell phone. I was trying to be normal and normal teenagers didn't have to worry about monsters tracking them with cell phones. "I'll try to. I gotta go. See you tomorrow?"
“Yeah, see ya,” he answered.
And then I ran off before my thoughts could catch up me.
An hour after class I was hanging out in my bedroom trying to do homework. Math was easy because it was all numbers but I was struggling with History thanks to my dyslexia. So I was about to throw my homework out the fifth story window when there was a knock at my door. I knew Mom was at work for at least another hour and Annabeth and Percy usually called before stopping by. I carefully took my barrette out of my hair and squeezed the hinge so it opened into a full sword. "Who is it?" I doubted any monsters would be knocking but I kept my death grip on my sword.
"It's your dad," a deep, powerful voice called back a second before the door swung open. The man standing in the doorway was tall and broad. He had a deep golden tan, dark hair, and an easy smile. He wore hideous plaid Bermuda shorts and a colorful Hawaiian shirt with flip flops and a brown fishing hat. The only similarity between him and me was the intense green, almond eyes.
"Poseidon? What are you doing here?"
"Are you ever going to stop using first names?"
"It's better than what I used to call you before I knew you: the deadbeat jerk that knocked up my mom," I replied as I closed up the sword so it was just a hair clip again.
His eyes narrowed and I knew that if I wasn't his daughter, I would’ve had some godly wrath inflicted on me. "Why do you have to be so sarcastic? You really angered Athena today when you were in class."
I turned my attention back to my homework. "I'm trying to be normal and that means not worrying about what any of the gods think. I'm acting like I did before I knew the truth."
"Does this have anything to do with Nico? I know you haven't heard from him. Honestly, I haven't heard anything about him, either."
I froze for a second before I slapped my textbook closed. I so did not want boy advice from my estranged father and I didn't want to discuss Nico. "It's my life and a stupid guy isn't going to affect it. Now can I get back to work?"
He sighed. "You can't just ignore us all you know," he said before he vanished into thin air.
I think the visit from my father is what made my decision for me. I gave up on work and left the apartment. I took the subway to 48th and walked two blocks to the CVS. There I bought one of those crappy prepaid cell with 200 minutes using the money I'd earned this year as a lifeguard at the pool down the street. I texted Glen on the ride back home.
Hi, it's naida.
Hey! Whats up?
About what we talked about after school? What did you have in mind?
I was done worrying about the gods and about Nico DiAngelo. It was time to move on with my life and it seemed like going on a date, being a normal high school girl was the perfect place to start.

Notes

thank you childofsun. i'm sorry it took so long to update!