Shoot an Arrow Through His Heart

Phase Four: Let's Go to the Dam Snackbar

"What about Reyna?" I asked.

"I don't do Valentine's Day," Reyna said. "Besides, I have a student gov meeting with Frank." She was freshman class president, and Frank was her vice.

"Oh, that's why you're not with Octavian; he's at the meeting," Nico said. He studied Hazel. I wondered what he was looking for.

"Yup," Hazel replied, just as fast as before. I could tell she wanted to shut down the conversation. There was definitely something fishy going on between her and Nico. I wondered why I didn't know about it; Nico told me everything.

"Sounds fun," Will said.

"Yeah, I'm in, too," Percy agreed.

"I thought you were going to Grover's," Nico said.

"He's spending the day with Juniper," Percy said. Juniper was Grover's new girlfriend.

"Oh, okay," Nico replied. He sounded a little... nervous.

That's an understatement. Why the fuck would I want to spend Valentine's day with both of my crushes with both of their girlfriends? But I had to go. Hazel was being really weird about Octavian, which meant I had a good chance to do recon. I hadn't forgotten the day I walked in on Hazel crying. Why did she feel like she had to be with Octavian? If the son of a bitch was pressuring her into anything, he would get what was coming to him. So, I agreed to go with them to the dance.

We decided to go to this cute diner called the Dam Snackbar. Yeah, I love the pun too. Annabeth agreed to join us as soon as we invited her. Everything was set.

I was so happy Nico was coming. This was my proof that Will was working. Nico had never gone to a school dance before, and now he was coming to one, and a pre-party too.

Flash forward to Valentine's day. Will and I spent bio planning out what we were going to do at the diner and at the dance. There was a lot of pressure on--we had to make sure Nico had a good enough time that he'd want to go out with friends more. If he had a bad time, he'd have an excuse not to leave the house again. I didn't want him to go back to his old self.

But, Will and I were a quote-unquote "couple," which meant that most people would expect us to spend the night alone together. We could count on Hazel to keep Nico happy when we were at the diner, but she'd be off with Octavian during the dance. We decided to use the Jason situation as an excuse. I'd tell Jason what Piper said (that she knew about his crush and liked him back, I mean) and then I'd spend part of the night trying to get him to ask her out. That would give Will an excuse to get away from me and talk to Nico. I'd kill two birds with one stone: my brother and Jason. It was the perfect plan.

Annabeth and Hazel came home with us, along with our usual crowd. Since Hazel didn't have anything after school (that's why she normally didn't join us) she sat on the bleachers and watched archery practice. I told her she could wait inside (it was super cold, California in the winter always is) but she refused. She even convinced Nico to join her since he didn't have detention.

Thalia kept coming to archery practice, even though she hadn't been able to shoot for almost a month; the baby bump got in the way. She helped Coach Artemis plan and coach practice instead. Sometimes, she'd run the practice alone so Coach Artemis could instruct Zoë one-on-one, prepare her for Jupiter's in the spring. Since both Thalia and I couldn't go to the competition, Zoë would be competing in the single's tournament instead. A lot was riding on her shoulders.

Thalia was running Phoebe, Naiomi, Celyn and I through drills when her phone went off. She ignored it at first, but whoever it was kept calling. After the fourth time, she caved and took the call. Her face fell. She didn't say a word, and then she hung up. "I have to go," she said quietly.