Friday went by pretty normally for the most part. I’d spent most of the night before texting Glen in secret but so far I hadn’t heard from him. I walked into History and sat at my usual spot in the middle of the room near the window. I was doodling in my notebook when Glen plopped into the seat next to me that was usually occupied by a skinny kid with bad acne named Marty Dies.
“Hey, Naida.”
“Well this is new. Don’t you normally sit sandwiched between the cheerleaders?”
He laughed. “Yeah but you’re more interesting. And I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow night. You never gave me a yes or no when we were texting.”
“I-”
The bell rang and Mrs. Stern got up from her desk. “I’ve been thinking,” she started. “We’ve been discussing Ancient Greece but I’ve neglected giving you some needed background info. Naida reminded me yesterday how influential the gods were. So what do you know about them?”
I kept my mouth shut as the other kids called out different things. Stern wrote on the board and in no time we had a decent summary of the 12 Olympians.
“Oh, Hades is the dead god,” Clara Roberts said in her overly-bubbly voice.
“Well not quite,” Stern said.
I jerked in my seat. I knew for a fact that all the dead became Hades’ subjects. Hell, his kid had the power to summon the dead.
Mrs. Stern continued, “Yes, Hades runs the Underworld but keep in mind he is not Death. Thanthos is the one to collect souls and Charon transports them to the afterlife. Hades makes sure everything runs smoothly.
Glen’s hand shot up next to me. “So Thanthos is like the Grim Reaper and Hades would be the devil.”
“And his kids would be Satan’s spawn,” I added without thinking.
That earned me quite a few laughs but Mrs. Stern’s eyes narrowed at me. “That’s enough of that. We are going to respect the Greek culture.”
Class resumed as normal after Mrs. Stern’s little respect spiel. I'd had enough with the Greeks and was so ready for the weekend by the time the bell rang. I quickly gathered up my stuff and shoved it into my bag and then Glen started walking with me to the door.
“One moment, please, Naida,” Mrs. Stern said right before I crossed into the hallway. She sounded polite enough but I knew it wasn’t a request.
I sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Glen. Text me with the details.”
He grinned before he walked out the door and I turned back to Mrs. Stern. She wasn’t smiling like she always did. Instead, her head was cocked to the side and she was studying me with ocean blue eyes full of concern. “What’s going on with you, Naida? You were such a great student for the fall semester of your Freshman year and you started this year with so much optimism and now you’re making sarcastic, very dangerous and offensive comments. What’s going on?”
I stared at her for a minute. I’d never realized how tiny she was. And pretty. She didn’t look like your typical History teacher. “Nothing, Mrs. Stern. And I don’t know what you mean by dangerous and offensive.”
“Oh? You of all people should know what I mean. Naida, I’m used to hearing from parents worrying about their kids but it’s been a long time since any of the Olympians have personally asked me to keep an eye on one of you. Something's up with you.”
My blood suddenly felt frozen in my veins and I was dizzy. “Wh-what?”
She nodded like it was no big deal. “Yes. Your father IM’ed me and asked that I watch out for you. It’s never a good sign when Poseidon is worried about one of his kids. And here I thought that Percy was going to be the trouble-maker.”
My jaw locked together. “He’s checking up on me? I told him to leave me alone.”
“Please, tell me what’s going on with you. Is this about Nico di Angelo? I know that you two were a couple.”
I grabbed my bag and started toward the door. My stomach clenched into a fist at the word were. As in, past tense, not anymore. “Thanks for the pep talk and all, but can we please go back to where you’re just my cool History teacher? I’ve had it with the gods and I’m just trying to get my life back. Is that okay with everyone?”
She sighed. “Sure. I just want you to be careful, Naida. But you know that the gods aren't something you can ignore.”
I flipped my red hair over my shoulder and met her square in the eye. “Yes I can. I'm stubborn that way. It's something that I get from my Mom, like all the rest of my good qualities.”
I stormed from the room and made a quick pit stop at my locker. The locker door slammed a little too hard but there was no one in the hallway to hear it echo off the walls. By the time I'd reached the subway, I was a little calmer but no less annoyed.
Since it was Friday, my mom was already home having only worked a half day at her unglamorous job as a receptionist for a Manhattan law firm. She wore crisp pencil skirts and blouses and heels every day for her job and always had her hair in a fancy twist or bun. She didn't look like my mom. As much as I'd loved being in New York so close to Percy and Annabeth and Camp, now I really missed moving around all the time to any city with some good surfing. New York, despite being right on the Atlantic, sucked if you were into being out in the ocean.
“Hi, honey, how was school?” Mom drawled in her thick Tennessee accent. My mother looked a lot like me with the same wild red hair, same pale skin with a million freckles, same swimmer's physique. But instead of my green eyes, hers were a brilliant blue like the Pacific Ocean in the morning. She stood over the stove getting dinner started- another new thing since moving to New York.
“It was good. I, uh, have something to tell you, though.”
She looked up from her Martha Stewart cookbook with narrow eyes. I was usually in trouble at school so I was sure she was bracing herself for bad news. “What is it? You're not suspended, are you? Paul pulled a few strings to get you into that school, Naida.”
"It's nothing bad,” I quickly reassured her. Paul Blofis was Percy's step-dad and a teacher at Goode. He's the one that got me into the high school and helped keep me there after accidentally setting off the sprinklers back in April (not my fault I can't control my water abilities when I'm mad, or that the cheerleaders annoyed me that day). “I've got a date."
"Really?" Mom's eyes lit up. "But I thought you hadn't heard from N-"
"I haven't," I said quickly, cutting her off before she could say his name. "That's why I'm going out with a really hot, really normal guy. He's 100% human and 100% into me."
Mom frowned and I knew this wasn't going to be good. It was never good when she was more my mom than my best friend. “Naida, are you sure that's a good idea?”
“Why wouldn't it be?” I snapped a little too harshly.
“Because you're on the rebound. Don't get mixed up with some guy just because another one hurt you.”
I usually loved that my mom could be so straightforward with me but this time it bugged me. “I'm not using Glen. I'm moving on with my life. And here I thought you'd be the one person I could count on to support me.”
She winced slightly at my words. It was a low blow, I know that, but I was tired of everything coming back around to Nico and it was making me cranky. “Fine, baby. If you think this is a good idea, then I'm all for it. Go out and have fun. But you have to be sure this is what you want.”
I thought about it for a second. Glen was normal and handsome and he liked me. He seemed like the perfect guy, like someone I could really fall for. So what if he wasn't my true love or anything sappy like that? I was due for some fun and it looked like the universe was finally granting that wish.

Notes

thank you for commenting, Thalia grace!!!
okay, here's the deal, i update MUCH faster when i get comments! so, sorry for taking a week to get this chapter out, but i'd be quicker if i knew more people wanted to keep reading!