God of Darkness

15

I was right about my mom being concerned about Amanda. She promised to be on the watch for something but for me to just continue on. She would tell me if something was going on... Yeah right. Amanda was too free spirited to tell someone her issues.

'You seem to be the exception though,' my mind reminded me.

'We'll see about that.'

Xena had promised to start "attending" school for a few weeks to see if she could see anything. I wasn't sure if she would be able to handle all the shit that went on in high school, but I knew she could hold her own. I just hoped she wouldn't kill someone.

And then there was the fact that I had to assume nothing was wrong... Unless this was the time when the girl hopes a guy notices or something. That's what Xena had been explaining earlier but had gone completely over my head. Do I worry about her and let her know that or not?

"Just don't overthink it," Xena patted my arm as we walked into the school building.

"Try to blend in," I patted her arm back as she huffed.

"I'm your cousin, so I'm allowed to be different like you."

"Not too different," I reminded her as we made our way to our first class. It's a good thing I could keep an eye on her most of the day...

"You know Drake is watching too right?" She voiced my thoughts.

"Yeah I know... But it's not like he can just drop down here to stop you from setting something on fire."

"Nor you," she teased and went all serious again. "Seriously Em, don't worry about it. I'm only doing what you told me to do."

"Right," I sighed and took my seat as she sat down next to me. Hopefully she wouldn't be too curious about how my school life was. It was similar back at Olympus, but more kids here.

I didn't run into Amanda until lunch time, we had a class together afterwards and I hoped to be able to talk to her...

"Hey," I smiled at her as she was walking towards a table in the back.

"Hey Ember," she smiled and let me walk in step with her.

"Hi!" Xena called as I forgot that she was with me.

"Amanda, this is Xena, my cousin."

"Your cousin?" She eyed me suspiciously as Xena stuck her hand out.

"Yeah, it's a bit complicated," she explained as Amanda shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you... Are you transferring here?"

"Yeah, my parents jobs are changing so they wanted me to try out this school and see how I felt about it before committing," she lied smoothly as I knew Drake was probably laughing his ass off.

"Oh, cool," she smiled softly and continued to walk to the table.

"She seems nice," Xena whispered softly as I just sighed.

"She's complicated I told you, you're just super bubbly and she's not," I reminded her as she nodded and sat down with us for lunch.

Xena eventually made talk with Amanda about some show that was popular around here. Given I knew nothing about it so I just merely listened and hoped deep down she was truly okay.

"You should totally come over sometime and watch it with me," Xena hinted.

"I'll have to ask my guardians... But that would be fun," she admitted.

"Yeah! You wouldn't have to stay long, just an hour you know?"

"We'll see," she smiled at me and walked to her next class as Xena turned back to me.

"Well?"

"Well what?" I frowned.

"I'm getting her to come over! That's more than what you've done," she teased as I rolled my eyes.

"I'm the one who's kissed her not you," I argued as Xena just giggled.

"I know. But if we can keep this up, then maybe it'll help us figure out if your dream actually meant something or not."

"I hope you're right," I trailed as we went to our last class for the day.

When we returned home, my parents as usual were gone so I settled for talking to Xena about her day at a normal school.

"It was... Weird? I never thought so many people knew so little about us. Like we discussed something about religion in my history class but nothing about "Greek mythology" as they call it came up! And wow when you're the new kid they stare at you as if you're a science project... No wonder you don't like high school."

"Mhm," I agreed as she continued to talk about something.

"Oh she found me later and said she would be over to watch Degrassi with me."

"Amanda?"

"Who else?" She rolled her eyes teasingly while getting up.

"Okay," I tried to control my thoughts at her coming over. Obviously it was to watch this show, but what if she wanted to see me too? Guess I was going to have to watch whatever the hell Degrasssi was...

The doorbell rang a moment later as I shot up to answer it while Xena murmured something. Ignoring whatever comment had been made, I focused on seeing Amanda for that split second before she had to pay attention to Xena.

I nearly lost my breath when I saw her, it's not like anything had changed. Her hair was still straight but she was wearing a smile that didn't seem forced.

"Hey," she spoke shyly as I let her in.

"Hey," I replied back and shuffled my feet. "She's in the other room... Setting up for the show."

"Oh, okay," she didn't say anything else before heading into the living room.

I wanted to face palm myself, what had I not done? Should I have complimented her?

'I hope you're right mom,' was all I thought while going into the living room to sit and watch the show for now. Who knows, maybe something good could come from it?

**know I needed to update this book, I realize it's a cliffhanger... Hadn't planned on doing that but the next chapter I'm typing right now. That's all I got for you!**