[2] 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 ― l.valdez ✓

002.

「002. juno or hera (pick your poison) 」

CHERRY WONDERS whether your birthday counts whilst your dead. because if it does... she'd now be considered fifteen by society. she didn't know what was the difference between fourteen and fifteen that was so appealing. but for some reason it just had a nicer ring to it. it sounded less childish, and it was only five years until twenty (if she even got to the age of twenty, that is). however, that might have been the only... good thing about coming back to life.

nothing had drastically changed in the mortal wold, there weren't hoverboards everywhere and it didn't look like robots had taken over or anything. it felt normal. but what cherry was feeling was anything but normal. her body had grown a bit so she was maybe an inch taller and it was taking some getting used to. but that wasn't the biggest thing that had happened. what was probably the worst thing was... cherry was currently homeless.

perhaps america's child services needed to improve, because she'd been homeless and on the streets for about two months. and let me tell you something, new york winters suck. it's cold, and all hades had given her was one big puffy coat. she was grateful for it, don't get her wrong. but being homeless with only the clothes on your body and one sword and no ambrosia or nectar at all is like the worst thing possible. monsters seemed to just sense her. she'd walk into a convenience store and bam! monster. she'd walk around the block and bam! monster. she'd go-

well, you get the point.

and that, as bad as it seems, probably wasn't the worst thing to happen to her. you see, cherry wasn't dumb. she never had been, and although she sometimes was a bit clueless, she knew how to take initiative. she wasn't about to just sit around in new york for the rest of her life. she was going to save up money- maybe find a drachma or two if she was lucky- and she was going to find her way back to camp half-blood. there was no doubt about that.

she'd sing (she wasn't that great, but people seemed to like it), she'd tell stand up at places she could, and she'd sell plants on side walks (although it looked really sketchy). but she'd do anything (well... not anything) to get back home. and if that meant embarrassing herself, abusing her powers just a little, or singing as best as she could, she'd do it. the scene of barbie and her reuniting, of seeing annabeth, val and percy again... it kept her going. she didn't know exactly what had happened demigod-wise whilst she was gone, but by the looks of it- she guessed they won the war. because there didn't seem to be any... utter and complete chaos. so she guessed they weren't that bad.

but the funny (it wasn't funny. cherry's just an optimist) thing about cherry trying to get money was the fact everytime she did... it would mysteriously go missing. at first, cherry thought it was somebody stealing her money. so instead of keeping it in her side pocket of her coat, she kept it in a compartment on the inside. because no creep would go unnoticed if they tried to steal from her that way.

but when she woke up one morning to see all her hard-earned money had gone to waste again because it was stolen? cherry knew something was up. it had gone far past some mean and suckish person stealing her money- no, this was a gods doing. except... cherry didn't know exactly which god or goddess (or deity!) it was.

well, a week later and cherry had her anwer. hera. or... juno (but she only learns that later. shh! don't ruin it for her!). pick your poison. no offence to immortal beings such as her, but they're both as bad as each other, if not worse. she'd heard from barbie when she was previously alive how much she hated hera (maybe that was why the peacocks were extra ferocious. although cherry never knew before that how vicious peacocks could truly be). and usually, cherry tried to respect the gods. because she didn't always feel like getting turned into a random animal and being hunted to death. usually.