CHAPTER 1: ERIS GETS HAUNTED BY ANOTHER GHOST
"We have a problem and it's name starts with "Nico"."
JUNE 3rd, 2008
NEW ORLEANS
LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL OF ARTS
"A BASKET! A WHAT?! A BASKET!" The cheer captain chanted. It was Friday night, the last day of school and the last day of Eris's freshman year. It also happened to be the last basketball game of the year so everyone from school was attending.
Along with the other cheerleaders, Eris stomped her foot and clapped on beat. The cheerleaders along with Eris wore a Black skirt with white lining, with a black long sleeved crop top that had a white outline and the words Lafayette Jaguars on big yellow print.
"We want a basket! A what?! A basket?! For who?! Jaguars! Sh-Sh-Shoot that basket!" Eris and the rest of the cheerleaders chanted loudly. "We want a basket! A what?! A basket!
We want a basket! A what?! For who?! Jaguars!"
Eris and her team finished their cheer with a series of flips and stomps before ending creating cheers from the crowd.
Next to Eris, her friend, Freddy, panted. "I'm surprised your moms aren't here. They're usually at every game."
Freddy Jamison had dark skin with tightly coiled hair. In contrast to Eris's 5'8 height, Freddy was 5'4. Her friend was petite, with a heart shaped face, narrow nose, and full lips. She wore liquid black eyeliner that in the end formed small designs like hearts or stars.
Eris shrugged, "I didn't tell them there was a game tonight," she blushed a bit. "I thought they deserved a night to themselves."
Freddy rolled her eyes, "You're too nice, Eris Lewis."
"Whatever."
Suddenly, Freddy looked across Eris's shoulder and smirked. "Don't look now, but Jeremiah's totally checking you out again."
Ignoring Freddy's words, Eris turned only to find Jeremiah Nickels staring at her. He was relatively new to their school, only starting school in January but was already pretty popular. His focus was in dance so Eris saw him pretty often when her dance team had dance practice.
Jeremiah was a tall, brown-skinned Black boy with a hair that was braided into two short cornrows with his hair faded on the sides. He had dark narrows eyes, high cheek bones and well groomed eyebrows. All in all, he was handsome.
Ever since he came to Lafayette High School he always sought out Eris. Even when Eris tried to not give him the time of day, Jeremiah always seemed interested in her.
They had been on a couple dates, with Lena and Katherine's permission. One date to the arcade, another to the movies, he even took Eris to the art show. And...they may have kissed a couple times but that was it. They weren't official or anything. He was nice but...Eris hated that a part of her still longed for Percy Jackson.
Percy Jackson with his stupid green eyes and handsome smile. Percy Jackson who hasn't answered a single one of her letters in months. It had been months since December and she still couldn't get over him. Seriously, why the fuck was it so hard to get over Percy Jackson?
Jeremiah caught Eris's eye and winked. She blushed lightly.
Eris turned away, "You mean checking out my ass," she replied as they walked into the locker room.
Freddy shrugged as she opened her locker. "I mean can you blame him?"
"Freddy!"
"What? You're mad at me for having eyes?! It's not my fault that you have a bi-"
"Oh my god!"
"You've changed, girl. Everyone's noticed. Ever since you came back to school after winter break you've changed."
Eris put on her shirt, "I don't feel any different."
"Well you sure look different."
Eris knew she had changed since last year. She grew a couple inches now standing at 5'9 though she wasn't insecure about her height anymore. She had dyed her locs back to it's normal brown shade and it reached her waist. Instead of styling it she let it fall down her back in slightly curled waves. She traded her glasses for contacts mainly for fighting reasons because glasses were a liability in fighting. She still had a bit of acne that covered her forehead and some of her baby fat had gone away but a bit still clung to her cheeks. Instead of green braces she traded them for clear colored ones. She had a couple ear piercing covering the outer park of her ear. Her body had changed a bit after mixture of Hippolyta's training, trips to the gym, and dance practice. Her body had become more athletic and muscular, with a slight appearance of abs starting to form on her stomach.
After changing, she wore low rise jeans with holes in the knee area, a brown tank top, and a white flannel with her signature old boots. Shiny brown lipgloss covered her lips.
"I don't know why you always say no to Micheal when he asks you out. He is fine," Freddy added as they walked out of the locker room.
Eris frowned, "I thought he was just trying to be nice."
"No, he was trying to get in your pants."
Eris wrinkled her nose, "Oh."
Sex. It seemed everyone at her school was having sex. Eris knew most of her dance team members weren't virgins and though Freddy was still a virgin she did vividly tell Eris about the other stuff she had done. It seemed everyone except Eris Lewis was having sex but she wasn't rushing it nor was she interested in it though Katherine and Lena were already talking about getting Eris on birth control just in case. That was an awkward conversation but Katherine said it needed to be done.
Freddy sighed. "You're seriously dense, Eris. All the guys like you, hell, even all the girls like you. Even the seniors have tried to ask you out and you think they're just being nice?"
"No, I knew about the seniors," Eris replied. "They're just trying get in my pants. I knew that."
Eris always thought it was weird the eighteen-year-old seniors were trying to ask out 15-14 year old freshmen.
"Hey."
They turned around to find Jeremiah Nickels standing behind them with his hands in his pockets. "I was hoping to talk to you really quick, Eris."
Eris frowned, "Sorry, but we were—"
"She's free!" Freddy said quickly, shoving Eris towards Jeremiah. "Totally free. You guys have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" She took of running before Eris could say anything.
Jeremiah smiled, "Great," he wrapped an arm around Eris and she allowed him to lead her away. "C'mon, this way."
JEREMIAH LEAD HER TO THE EMPTY SCIENCE CLASSROOM. Since it was the last day of school, the classroom was practically cleared out.
Jeremiah stared at Eris intensely and Eris sighed. "So...what do you want to talk about?"
Jeremiah locked the door, "I didn't actually call you here to talk." He smirked a bit.
She frowned. "Then why—"
Jeremiah leaned in closely to her face and her eyes widened. "Oh..."
He stared her down and Eris swallowed.
So that's what he wants...well then...
Eris grabbed the back of his neck, and yanked him down to her height. He smirked at her before kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her almost sufficiently close. This wasn't Eris's first time kissing Jeremiah and she doubted this would be her last.
Kissing Jeremiah was like catching on fire. Her palms felt sweaty and her face burned but it was a good burn. He kissed her gently at first but then slowly as time passed his kiss was more rough. Greedy. Like he was trying to take all of the air out of her body.
He pulled away slightly, resting his forehead on her's. "Essence," he sighed, stoking the side of her cheek.
Eris froze. A sick feeling rose in her stomach.
Essence?
Her eyes narrowed, "I've never told you my full name," she told him.
Jeremiah eyes widened but he quickly regained his composure. "Of course you have."
"No, I haven't," she shoved him back slightly. "I never tell anyone my full name. The teachers don't even call me "Essence". So, how do you know?" She demanded. "Who the hell are you?"
Jeremiah watched as her hands wrapped around her necklace. His nervous demeanor stopped and he sighed. "Alright, fine. You caught me," he raised his hands in mocking defeat. He smirked a bit. "Look, I never meant to take our relationship this far, okay. All, Luke told me was—"
Eris's blood boiled. "Luke?" She hissed. "You're working for the fucker who killed my sister? For Kronos?!"
A part of Eris blamed herself for this. Of course, the one guy she was starting to like had to work for the guy Eris wanted to kill. She should've known better. God, she felt so naive.
Jeremiah shrugged, "To be fair, I had no idea he killed your sister. Second, I wasn't supposed to even be on this mission that long but you're just too cute."
"Cute?" Eris growled. "Why the hell are you here anyway?"
"Oh that's easy," Jeremiah replied, putting his hands in his pockets. He tilted his head slightly. "To kill you of course."
Eris didn't waste a moment. She yanked off her necklace and her spear grew in her hands. But what Jeremiah did next surprised her.
Fast as lightling, he yanked the spear out off her hands and tossed it across the room.
Jeremiah clicked his tongue. "Ah, ah, ah. No spear wielding for you."
Eris looked at his hands in shock, "How did you— that was Stygian iron! How are you not dead?!"
He rolled his shoulders and smirked. "You're not the only death kid, you know that right. He whipped out a small dagger from his pocket. "It's not personal, babe. I swear. I actually like you."
She scowled, "Don't call me babe."
"Fine...beautiful."
"Compliments won't help you escape from the grave when I'm done with you."
He pouted, "Oh, Eris, you know you don't mean that."
She socked him across the face. He yelped and rubbed his aching jaw. "Oh trust me, babe." She said mockingly. "I do."
Jeremiah blocked her second kick using his elbow. She tried to swipe him across the head but he easily ducked under her fist. Jeremiah aimed a series of jabs that Eris blocked using her forearms and shoulders.
But this time when Jeremiah tried to punch her again, she grabbed his arms and yanked him around like a merry-go-round before flipping him on his ass.
She panted slightly. Jeremiah was good. Too good.
From the floor, Jeremiah smirked. "Oh you're good." He used his lower body muscles to kick his legs upward in the air and into a standing position. He cracked his neck. "But I'm better." He twirled the knife in his hand.
Eris quickly glanced around. There wasn't anything she could use as a weapon. She could dive for her weapon but her spear was too far. She forgot to put her knife back in her boot that day but...
She glanced down at her jeans and eyed her belt. She quickly took it off.
Jeremiah smirked. "Oh, what's this? You're taking off your pants? Kinky. I like this."
Eris rolled her eyes and wrapped the ends of her belt around her knuckles. "You should," she snarled. "It's the closest you'll even get to getting in my pants in your life."
"You sure about that?"
Eris kicked him across the chest making Jeremiah stagger backwards. He took two swipes at her with his knife that she quickly ducked under. When he tried to strike her again, Eris wrapped the belt around his arm, yanked him foreword and kneed him in his crotch with all her strength.
Jeremiah yelped and clutched between his thighs, "No fair! That's playing dirty!"
She kicked him across the chest sending him to the ground as he painfully clutched his crotch. She rolled her eyes. "You're good, Jeremiah. But I'm better." She leaned down towards his ear. "When you wake up. Tell you boss...the next time I see him, I'm killing him on sight, babe."
She stomped his head with the heel of her boot and Jeremiah was out like a light.
Eris scowled. "Of course, the one guy I kinda liked had to try to kill me. Of course this would happen to me," she muttered, walking across the room and picking up her spear.
And then someone's familiar voice came from behind her, sending a cold chill down her spine.
"Hey."
Eris whirled around and froze. Her spear cluttered to the ground.
Standing there was a girl who looked a couple years younger than Eris. She had deep olive skin, a splash of freckles across her nose and long silky black hair that was pulled back into a braid. She wore a thick looking silver jacket and headband. Her body was slightly transparent, indicating that she was a ghost.
Bianca crossed her arms. "We have a problem and it's name starts with "Nico"."
Thank you so much for reading!
Please comment it helps me update!
Riele Downs as Freddy Jamison
Okay, let's talk about sex. I don't know about you guy's school but at mine a majority of people of sexually active so I thought it would make sense to most people at Eris's school to be. At this point Eris is fourteen on the verge of fifteen. I'm trying to relate her experience to school similar to my own so please don't think I'm trying to force her to act older. This is based off of what I've seen or experienced in school.
Also, with the introduction of Jeremiah. He's not her permanent love interest. I don't remember who but someone asked for Eris to have a another love interest because it wouldn't make sense for her to only have one single love interest her entire life. It made sense so therefore...Jeremiah. The end game is still Percy thought.
Who do you guys think Jeremiah's godly parents is?