High school dance: an extraordinary night of pettiness and drama (private)

Ari felt her blood run cold. Jenna and Nelly. Those f*cking b*tches. She hated these sluts. For one, that's exactly what they were: sluts. Everyone knew that Nelly had been with half of the football team and Jenna had been going steady with a 25 year-old stoner for almost four months (and she never f*cking shut up about it, either) before she started dating Swamp. She said it before she could stop herself. "Well if it isn't Whores One and Two," she basically snarled.

Thorn sighed when Ari spoke up, making the situation worse than what it really was.

Nelly laughed. "Well, isn't it ugly Scorpio girl. Are you having fun at your boarding school? We know high school was too hard for you, comparing your looks and body to the likes of us, so you had to run away with your dork of a brother. Enjoy your night back, you ugly b*tch."

Bus put his arm in front of Nelly. "Now, now, let's be nice. It's nice to see each other again," he said in a deep voice.

"Shut up, Bus, and go get me some punch," Nelly ordered.

"OKay," Bus said, looking down, and walked away.

"Thorn, why are you here with this ugly b*tch? Didn't we already tell you about her years ago?" Jenna asked.

"SHHH!" Thorn panicked.

"Oh, she doesn't know? Oh, uhm, sweetie, you know the reason Thorn broke up with you was because we brought to his attention that he was way out of your league, and way too popular for a nobody like you," Jenna said, proudly.

Ari felt her cheeks flush red--no, not because she was about to cry, Ari Scorpio never cried because of these f*ckers, but because she was mad. Mad enough to where she had to restrain herself not to just say one word and kill every one of these kids. Her nails bit into her skin.

Oh, so they wanted to play? Well, she was gonna f*cking play.

She grinned in what appeared to be a sweet, friendly way, but her eyes were murderous. "What's that, Nell? Upset that Thorn hasn't stared at your tits yet now that Bus is gone?" she laughed. "That's all you ever did back when I was still here. F*cking hell, it was worse than in that Legally Blonde movie. You strutted around like a f*cking crack-whore." Done with that b*tch at the moment, she turned to Jenna. "Glad to know that you're still the lying, slutty, no-good b*tch Nelly here used to shit-talk you about. Like Thorn was ever that stupid--he's not like you prissy f*ck-ups," she snapped.

Swamp frowned. "Whoa, back off," he growled, wrapping an arm around Jenna's shoulders. "Jenna's not lying. Thorn dumped you because we all told him he could do better," he said matter-of-factly.

That struck Ari like a blow. Coming from Jenna the STD-magnet was one thing. Coming from Swamp, who not only wasn't known for being a liar but was also Thorn's former best friend, was another thing entirely. She looked over at the other Egyptian demigod, expressionless. "Is it true?" she asked quietly.

"Um," Thorn looked at Ari with red in his face. "Yeah, it's true," he said, ashamed. "But, it wasn't like I didn't like-"

"Thorn, stop trying to save it. Let the little ugly girl realize the truth and move on," Nelly said, with a grin. Her and Jenna both ignored Ari's insults now that the real stab in the back was revealed.

"Ari, I'm really sorry, let me explain." Thorn looked around as people started to crowd around them, laughing at Ari.

Ari couldn't take it anymore. She turned around, pushed two little f*ckers out of the way, and stormed out of the gymnasium.

Once outside, she still didn't cry. She just....it wasn't like her, to cry. She was strong, and she needed to be strong right now. But it was hard....and it hurt so much....and she had been so convinced that she and Thorn were just getting close to each other again. Well, f*ck that shit sideways in the ass.

She took a couple deep breaths, knowing that sometimes demigods could accidentally cause things to happen when experiencing extreme emotions. She would never forget the day a horde of cats invaded the school--which also happened to be the same day she and Thorn had broken up. She pushed her hair, which had fallen down in her face, out of her eyes as she paced back and forth. For once, she had no idea where to go from here. Ari Scorpio was at a loss.

Meanwhile, Swamp looked over at a dumbstruck Thorn and shrugged. "Dude, I thought you would've told her by now," he said, his eyes traveling over to Jenna. "C'mon, let's go dance," he said as his arm slid off of her shoulders and his hand slid lower.

Thorn nodded as Swamp and Jenna walked away. "Good friends I have," he said as he went after Ari. Once he found her, sitting on the sidewalk, he went over to her and sat down. "Ari, listen. I was stupid to do that. I used to care about what people thought about me in high school. I regretted that so much, I regretted breaking up so much. I wanted so badly to be with you, but I cared too damn much about other people's opinions. Ever since we wound up in Brooklyn House together, I've liked you, Ari. No, I'm not a goddamn schoolboy- I love you Ari. I really do. You are the best person in my life and I love you so, so much. I'm an idiot, I know, and I don't expect you to love me back, but I just want you to know, we're in this together. I'm so sorry. You''re so beautiful and sexy and I don't buy into the me being out of your league crap anymore, I think you're out of my league." Thorn held her hand. "Now, let's get back to the dance and show 'em who's boss."

Ari, for the second time that day, was at a loss for words at Thorn's declaration. Wow....she didn't know he felt like that. She wondered how long he'd been tormented by his conflicting thoughts. It was sort of hot to think about, she had to admit. Part of her wanted to stay angry at Thorn. What he had done was childish and stupid, and Ari knew that she would've never done that had she been in his shoes. Part of her wanted to tell him no and hurt him like he'd hurt her....but she knew that she couldn't do that. She liked him, too. She wrapped both of her arms around his neck in an embrace. "I think I love you, too," she whispered in his ear, "and I don't care about what happened before. Let's focus on right now." They stood together, arms linked, ready to go back to the dance and kick ass.

Meanwhile, back at the dance....

Swamp found himself looking over his shoulder for some unknown reason. Jenna, his girlfriend, frowned and tapped him on the arm. "Hey, what is it?" she asked, pouting over the fact that something had grabbed his attention--something better than her, at the moment.

"I don't know," he replied. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up straight. Then he saw it. "Holy shit! What the f*ck is that?"

Thorn was surprised by her reaction, and hugged her the few seconds they were in each other's arms. He was thinking about kissing her, but he didn't want too much to happen at once. They had all the time in the world to discuss getting back together and to kiss later on, but for now, there was only a certain amount of time to go have fun at the dance. Thorn started walking back to the school, slowly getting more suspicious as he saw people fleeing. He instinctively grabbed his emergency dagger, and saw a monster busting through walls and such. "Oh my gods!" he yelled, and ran into the school trting to find the monster.

Bus was very obviously hid under a water fountain.

"Bus? What are you doing?" Thorn asked.

"Shhh, the monster can't see me," Bus said.

Suddenly, the giant reptilian grabbed his leg and started swinging him around.

"THE MONSTER CAN SEE ME! THE MONSTER CAN SEE ME!" Bus screamed.

Thorn rushed over and stabbed the monster. He flew up into the air, with a hold of the monster, and put it through the ceiling, causing the building to crumble.

Bus fell from the ceiling onto Ari. "Oops, sorry, dude," he said, getting up. "Are you okay? I think Swamp hid in the restroom. Where's Nelly? Oh, no, this is bad, I can't lose another girlfriend! Mom will beat me so hard!"

"It's fine," Ari grumbled as she attempted to shove the hulking form of Bus off of her. "Uh...." Her eyes scanned the room. "Oh--there she is! Over there, cowering underneath the punch table....and there it is: it's all fallen down on her." She couldn't help but giggle a bit at that. Then the monster lunged towards them. Well, that's one hell of a wake-up call.

Ari rolled out of the way and, at the same, pulled out a small, ivory stick from her purse. "Heqat," she shouted, and it expanded into a staff. She then turned towards the monster. She pointed her staff towards it. "Sa-mir," Ari cried out, watching as the green hieroglyphics floated out into the monster's hide. Pain. The monster thrashed around in agony, howling. With the creature distracted, Ari took a deep breath to prepare herself and closed her eyes. There was no point in trying to keep up their cover now; Thorn had already used his weapons on it, and she had just went another step further and used magic. When she opened her eyes, she had summoned her battle avatar with the head of a cat. She was grateful about the fact that the dance had taken place in the gym, otherwise her thirty-foot form of pure light wouldn't have been able to fit. Ari summoned her knives, and the avatar simultaneously unsheathed its claws. The daughter of Bast couldn't help but grin. It had been so f*cking long since she'd last been able to fight like this.

"Holy f*cking shit!" Swamp screamed hoarsely, crawling away on the ground as the serpentine monster lashed out towards Ari--now encased in a giant, glowing cat lady--with its claws, causing sparks to fly out from the glowing figure. Ari struck back, clawing a deep wound in the creature's neck and causing sand to flow out of the cuts. The monster screamed in pain as it began to relentlessly attack its opponent. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Unfortunately for Ari, her avatar was much slower than the agile creature of Chaos she was fighting. Already it had sustained plenty of damage--and she hadn't even been holding its form for more than five minutes. Growling it anger, she lashed forward....only to have the lithe creature dodge. Carried by the avatar's momentum, Ari crashed to the ground. Her form flickered ominously. Shit. This was looking bad.

"F*ck!" Swamp hollered as he jumped out of the way of Ari's form. Shit, how the f*ck was the Scorpio b*tch even doing that? Sadly, his yelling attracted the attention of the creature, who had already been looking in that general area after Ari fell. Hissing dangerously, it slithered forward towards the dumbstruck teenager.

Bus started panicking as he watched the fight go on. He closed his eyes and started praying, not believing what he was seeing.

Suddenly, Jenna ran up in front of Swamp. "DON'T TOUCH MY BOYFRIEND!" she screeched. She dropped to the ground, instantly dead.

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Thorn said under his breath as he flew towards the monster and hit it with his dagger again. He started summoning his avatar, a gigantic bird, as he fought the monster. The monster whipped around and flung Thorn back, but his avatar kept fighting. Thorn groaned, and got up, his shirt torn up and his chest bleeding some. He grabbed his staff and tried to fight off the monster using various spells, until it lunged at him so quickly that it scared him. Thorn instantly moved, and grabbed the fire extinguisher. He threw it at the monster, just in hopes of pissing it off, as he felt much of his energy go away. Suddenly, Thorn's bird avatar screeched and sliced through the monster, effectively killing it, just in time. Thorn knew if the fight kept on, they'd be in mass amounts of danger.

The ceiling started crumbling more, causing large chunks of concrete to almost fall on them. Very tired, Thorn went over to Ari and hugged her. "Thank the gods you are alright!" he said, then pulled back and looked at her for a second. He smiled.

"Look, I know you guys are wanting to like, make out right now, but the F*CKING SKY IS F*CKING FALLING HOLY F*CKING SHIT THAT F*CKING ALMOST HIT ME HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!" Bus screamed all in one line, as the concrete almost hit him. He ran faster than he ever had, out of the building, and to the outside, screaming.

Thorn looked at Swamp. "Swamp, go outside and make sure Bus doesn't get arrested. When you find him, report back to the entrance to me and Ari."

As soon as Swamp looked away, Thorn ran through the exit, holding Ari's hand. Once they were outside, he sighed. "I'm so exhausted. By the way, that was to just get us alone, so we can do this," Thorn said, and kissed Ari.

Bus started screaming and running around the school, plowing through kids.

Ari kissed him back, feeling butterflies flutter around in her stomach. She'd missed this. She remembered how much she had first missed this when they'd broken up. She wrapped her arm around him as they parted. "Now," she said, "I know that I must look pretty f*cking hot right now with my hair and makeup all messed up, my dress in tatters, and goddamn ceiling debris all over me, but we should probably stop making out and start making sure the others are alive." Well, maybe not B*tchface Jenna....or Slut Queen Nelly....or Swampy c*ntbag....or--nah, Bus was all right, but the others could all go to hell for all she cared.

Meanwhile, Swamp, after checking Jenna and finding that she was, in fact, alive but only unconscious, raced after his friend. "Bus! BUS! Slow down--aw, shit, THAT'S A KID! THAT'S A F*CKING KID--wait, no, he's okay, nevermind!" he shouted as he leaped over a teenager, who was on the floor, moaning in pain, gripping his leg. "Dude, it's all right now! Bus--HE'S IN A WHEELCHAIR, BUS! HE'S IN A GODDAMN WHEELCHAIR! AW--SHIT! SLOW THE F*CK DOWN!"

"Right," Thorn agreed, and took her hand. He went to the outside of the school, and looked around for Swamp and Bus. He looked at Ari. "Do you see them anywhere? I told him to meet me here, with Bus, at the entrance. We really need to get them out of danger and report back to Brooklyn House. Also, we should probably wipe their minds, so they don't remember any of this, or maybe even us."

Bus finally stopped running, worn out. He leaned over, panting. "OKay, you caught me. I'M SO FREAKING SCARED MAN, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" he started hyperventilating.

Swamp quickly grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Uh....I'm pretty sure that some giant f*cking snake thing just tried to kill us. Oh, and Thorn and the Scorpio girl have magical staffs like they're f*cking Gandalf or something. And they can turn into giant glowing things. I think Jenna's passed out. Ya, that about sums it up," he said as he attempted to steer the much bigger teenager back towards the gym.

Meanwhile, Ari frowned. "You know--don't you find it a little off-setting that the monster tried to kill Bus and Swamp?" she asked suddenly, halting. "I mean--they either attack the blood of the pharaohs or....f*cking Christ, Thorn--you don't think they're demigods, do you?" She thought about it for a second. Bus didn't have a dad, and Swamp looked nothing like his....it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Shit.

Bus slowed down his breathing and took a turn, and walked towards the school.

Thorn listened to her and his face expression completely changed. "I- it would make sense. Swamp's dad isn't his biological one, and Bus doesn't have a dad. I guess it's something to look into?" he said, a little confused. He looked the direction of Bus and Swamp when he saw them.

"So, the monster's gone?" Bus asked.

"Yeah, it's gone. But, there's another concern we have. I guess you guys want answers, huh?" Thorn asked. "I'm warning you, we're going to sound crazy explaining this to you."

"I doubt it's crazier than anything we just witnessed," Bus said.

"OKay. So, me and Ari, we don't actually go to two different boarding schools, or boarding school at all. We go to the Brooklyn House, a place in, well, Brooklyn. You see, there's two different type of people that go there. Demigods and followers...the Egyptian gods are real, and they are amongst us. Me and Ari are both kids of an Egyptian god or goddess, AJ is too. The followers are mortals who go there and study the Egyptian gods and follow a specific one. But, that's not important right now. The important thing is, we think you guys are demigods too," Thorn spoke slow and steady. "That monster attacked because it could sense a strong amount of demigod blood. It may have just been me and Ari, but we believe you two are..." he faltered off.

Suddenly, Thoth claimed Bus, and Set claimed Swamp.

"HOLY F*CK! WHAT'S ON HIS HEAD?" Swamp screamed, pointing over Bus's head as an Egyptian hieroglyphic appeared. Risking a glance upward, he saw a red hieroglyphic disappear over his own head. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

Ari rolled her eyes as she turned to look at Thorn. "Sometimes, I just f*cking hate the fact that I'm always right," she sighed. Great. F*cking great. Now she had to deal with Swamp for the rest of the foreseeable future. "Though it kinda makes sense that he's the son of a shitty, no-good, two-faced, traitorous god," she added, smirking a bit as her eyes darted over to the hysterical teenager.

Thorn laughed at Ari's comment. He knew the Scorpios were much more against Swamp then he was, but he understood how unbearable Swamp really was. Thorn rolled his eyes at Swamp freaking out. "You two just got claimed. Bus is apparently a son of Thoth, god of wisdom, and Swamp, you're a son of Set, god of chaos. Well, I guess that means that you guys are coming back to the Brooklyn House with us. Alright, let's go." Thorn grabbed the orb from his pocket to teleport them back.

Bus looked at the orb, frightened. "What is that thing?"

"Relax, Bus, it's going to get us back to safety, where you guys will train and live from now on. Or, at least for a few years." Thorn looked at Bus, who appeared worried. "Don't worry, Bus, you can visit your mother any time. And, it's not as bad as you think. It's really luxurious there. Your mom will be made aware of the situation, she probably already knows, honestly." Thorn smiled. "Alright, time to go," he said, looking at the three of them.

Swamp frowned, still finding all of this extremely difficult to believe. "Wait--my dad's not some weird god of chaos," he protested.

Ari sighed as she looked over at the annoying little shit. "Look, Swamp," she began, exasperated, "your mom obviously cheated on him with a god. That's okay. It's definitely not the first time that's happened. But we really need to go right now."

"But what about school? And--oh Christ--is Jenna all right?" Swamp asked, suddenly panicking.

"Your b*tch is fine. Me and Thorn just need to perform some mind-altering spells and use the glamour here and there so that it'll look like you two went to go attend a boarding school and that none of this ever happened," Ari grumbled, now annoyed with this asshole.

"It doesn't matter, I give it two days before you find a girl in the Brooklyn House better than Jenna that you'll 'fall in love with.'" Thorn put air quotations around the last part. "Alright, gather around, hold each other's hands, whatever, get as close as possible. Four is a lot to transport across the East Coast, and we don't need any of us missing a limb when we get there." Thorn put his arms around Ari, tightly, from behind. "I hope this spot isn't taken," he whispered in her ear and laughed.

"So, are you guys like, together now?" Bus asked.

"Uh, I, uh, guess...really, Bus, you just figured out your a son of an Egyptian god and you're concerned about me and Ari's relationship status?"

"Well, sorry, dude, I just know the chemistry between you and stuff. Aren't you worried about other girls checking him out, like you were in high school, or vise versa, Thorn?" Bus asked them.

"Dude, the Brooklyn House isn't like high school. And, let me make this clear. She's mine," Thorn said in a very protective fashion. "Are you trying to tell me something Bus?"

"No. I still have a girlfriend...well, maybe not anymore. Nelly was kind of mean, anyway. She would always call me fat and tell me to do her dirty work," Bus said, putting an arm around Thorn.

Swamp's eyes darted nervously from Thorn to Ari. "Uh....so do I need to call my mom later?" he asked, still kinda confused and overwhelmed by everything. "Because she and my dad will be pissed when they hear about this." Mainly because his dad wasn't his dad, apparently.

For once, Ari didn't feel revulsion or hatred when she stared back at the boy. She remembered when she'd been confused and in denial back when her dad had first revealed the truth behind her and AJ's heritage. "We have a phone at the Brooklyn House," she replied reassuring, trying her best not to sound like a b*tch for once. "And Bus, you're not fat, you're a growing boy who could probably tackle a younger Peyton Manning and Nelly's a stupid ho, so what she says isn't even valid." Then she looked over at Thorn, smiling. "I hope you've got this 'cause I'm feeling like shit right now," she laughed, though only half-joking.

Swamp gripped Bus's shoulder and (awkwardly) placed his hand on Ari's as well, wincing when the girl shot him the Evil Eye. "I've got no f*cking idea what you were just talking about but okay," he said.

"I've got this," Thorn reassured Ari.

"Wait, we're going now? What about the school? What about packing up? What-"

"Relax, Bus, we've got this figured out," Thorn said and stepped on the orb. Suddenly, they were transported all the way from Florida to the Brooklyn House's entrance. Thorn fell back, almost pulling down Ari, before Bus caught him.

"Thanks, man," Thorn said and got up.

Bus nodded, but then his face quickly turned sour and he went over and vomited in a garbage can.

"Yeah, teleportation will do that to you- especially the first few times," Thorn said.

Ari shot Bus a sympathetic look before she turned to Thorn. Gods, he looked....well, like a sweaty, dirty, bedraggled god sent down to earth for some reason. She grinned widely. "That was f*cking fun," she said, though in truth she was extremely tired.

Swamp had joined Bus over by another garbage can and was also puking his guts up.

"Perhaps. I need some healing, a shower, and a nap. Want to take a nap together?" he joked. "I'm kidding. Unless you don't want me to be kidding. Anyway, so, us. Are we like, boyfriend and girlfriend now or what?" Thorn asked in an almost childlike way.