Venus

Olympus Academy // A School for Demigods and Demigoddesses

<Snipped quote by Dirty Pretty Lies>

Gurl bye! You're not a Gm.

@Altered Tundra

Olympus Academy // A School for Demigods and Demigoddesses

@spooner Accepted

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Even after the bombshell April Foster had just dropped on him, Santiago Fernandez didn't so much as flinch. The two words that could shake any man to the core had done nothing to wipe away his confident, golden boy smile. This wasn’t the couple’s first rodeo with pregnancy scares- and all they ever did was sent them panicking for no good reason. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for April to miss her period whenever they had some sort of big fight: stress messing up her hormones or something like that. Yup, that’s probably what was going on. Just another one of those false alarms. Nothing to even sweat over.

“We've gone down this road before, Lils. Your period's probably just running late again. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.” he said confidently, shrugging off her worries. “You know it always gets screwed up when we have a big fight.”

“No, Santi… This one’s real.” April said softly, as she reached down to her purse to retrieve her phone. With a practiced hand, she flipped through it before arriving at a set of three photos. Three photos of positive pregnancy tests, each image with dates edited into them. She scrolled through each of them, giving Santiago time to clearly look over each one. “I can feel it. I had to get my dress adjusted because of it and everything.” she added, taking Santiago’s hand and placing it over her abdomen. The bump was just barely noticeable, but it was certainly there.

Diablo’s gray eyes had scanned the pictures carefully, looking for signs of any foul play but ultimately finding nothing. Not that he had expected to find anything in the first place, anyway. He knew in his heart that, no matter how badly she wanted them to be together, April would never do such a thing. Of course, there was this part of him that secretly hope it was all just a big, desperate attempt to get him to commit. But when his hand felt just how hard April’s lightly bloated stomach was, his blood suddenly turned to ice. He knew right then and there that this was no joke or false alarm…

He really was going to be a father.

“What did you just say?” he croaked in an attempt to break the silence that threatened to drown him in his own racing mind, swallowing hard as he choked on his own words.

April reached down and took Santi’s hands in her own, looking him in the eyes. She took in a deep breath and gave him a gentle, nervous smile. “Santi, I’m having a baby… your baby… our baby.” The brunette squeezed his hands reassuringly after watching his expression change completely. This was a big moment for her, but the evening had been even bigger for him.

“Shit… I’m just…” he stuttered, the nervous hand that wasn’t on April’s stomach immediately jumping to rub the back of his neck. The contents in his own stomach began to bubble up as she watched his biggest fear become alive right in front of his very eyes. “Fuck, man. I don’t know if I can do this, beba.”

“You don’t have to do this, we will do this…” April tried her best to sound reassuring, but Santiago was still looking positively scared shitless.

“Puñeta… Are you absolutely sure about… this?” he repeated, motioning to her stomach.

“I mean, unless my instincts, lack of a period in the last ten weeks and three positive pregnancy tests are wrong, I’m fairly certain. That and I may have thrown up on the side of the road on the way here today.” April couldn’t help but be a little bit of a smartass. She was trying her best to lighten the mood and help with the nervousness that the two of them were experiencing.

Once again, Santiago said nothing as he took a few steps away from April, letting the hand that had been previously resting on her stomach fall limply to his side. He began pacing back and forth absentmindedly, running his hands across his head and mulling through the reality of the situation. The only thing he was sure of was that he’d be heading to college on a full sports scholarship and then heading off into the army. The prospect of children had never been present in any part of his lifelong plan- much less in this particular period of time. And although he’d always been aware of the possible consequences of his actions, there were always a few times in his life in which Diablo thought with his dick and not his head. What were the odds that it was in one of those times -so damn few that he could count them with the fingers on one hand- that he’d managed to knock up a girl?

Life was just being a big fat bitch to him.

Santiago stopped silently pacing after what seemed like a lifetime, and finally turned his attention back to April… The mother of his soon-to-be child… That sounded so fucking bizzare, even in his goddamn head. “Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this, Lils? Because you don't have to have it…” he told her, and realizing how he might’ve been coming across he immediately added, “I'm not saying to not have it, by the way; I'm just saying there are more options out there than to just outright have it.”

“I am not going to ditch this baby just because we screwed up!” April cried out, her tone shifting to a slightly defensive one.

“Heyheyheyhey, that’s fine, that’s okay,” he shushed her, cupping her face with his hands and looking straight into her eyes again. “I’m not telling you to do anything you don’t want to, alright? We'll just- we'll just have to figure it out somehow.”

“Alright… April replied timidly. She may have looked mildly confident on the outside, but on the inside the brunette was absolutely terrified. What the hell would this do to her life? She had a plan and this hadn’t been a part of it!

“Santi...I’m scared. I...I don’t know what to do.” April’s voice was quiet as she spoke. Her warm brown eyes drifted down to the ground as she closed the distance between herself and Santiago, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes. She needed to feel that comfort and safety again.

Diablo kissed the top of her head again, and upon hearing her words, he scoffed lightly. “And you think I do?” he said sarcastically, hoping his jesting tone would give her the same comfort his arms were. “Beba, all I know how to do is wrestle, play football and sell pills; and that's not exactly Father Material if you ask me. I don’t know jackshit about kids.”

And just as she was starting to feel a bit better about the entire clusterfuck of a situation, the most terrifying thought of all flew across April's mind after Santiago’s words.

“Fuck! What the hell are we going to tell my dad?!”

What Are You Listening To?

The Family That Slays Together

@CaptainSully gurl bye don't even get me started on that! 😂

Olympus Academy // A School for Demigods and Demigoddesses

Or that Ariana would have to find a new man to hunt 😫😂

The Family That Slays Together

Certainly out of my comfort zone... But interested all the same! 😊

💟 An RPG Valentine 💟

@voltaic @Altered Tundra @CaptainSully @spooner @SpicyMeatball @Hero @Inkarnate @HaleyTheRandom @MissCapnCrunch @Aewin @Filthy Mudblood @AnaSilan Sunja @Ejected @Syn @Denny @Melo @eclecticwitch @okonuki

Not much more to say other than I LOVE YOU GUYS! So happy to call you guys friends through the sugar and the salt and the tea, to be able to create alongside you all the most beautiful and entertaining stories and overall just have the BEST FREAKING SHIPSSSSSSSS (or siblings or best friends or rivals or whatever we've done together lol)! You are all amazing writers as well as individuals, and I hope we can continue these friendships for a lifetime. <3

Sᴛᴇʀʟɪɴɢ Hᴇɪɢʜᴛs Sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛs

You say you're sorry
But it's too late now
So save it, get gone, shut up
'Cause if you think I care about you now
Well, boy, I don't give a fuck

The day Ronald Calloway’s secret was revealed to the population of Sterling Heights High School, Arabella Jennings had failed to show up to school. The girl had been fast asleep when the wave of notifications arrived, and was jolted awake by the wave of notifications sending her phone into a vibrating, beeping frenzy. With eyes half-blinded with sleep, Arabella unlocked her phone to see what the commotion was all about, and her grogginess instantly disappeared when her blue eyes fell on the Sterling Heights Secrets alert. She’d read over the lines on the site at least ten times before she shot up from bed, put on her robe and slippers, grabbed her keys and drove off to Ron’s.

Arabella had arrived at the Calloway household in record time. She’d barged straight through the door and into his bedroom with no warning, and went off on what was possibly the biggest rant the boy had ever been witness to. All the pent-up anger of dealing with months of cheating rumors, mind games was finally liberated in a series of cold, hard truths that had the school’s King Bee wide-eyed and stunned into silence. But it was that last statement - a confession of the secret she’d kept for the duration of their ‘relationship’- what really broke him: a punch to the ego so strong that the young woman knew he would never take another female for granted again. After it was all said and done, Arabella turned on her heel and marched away, making sure to erase every shred of his existence from her life.

That was the last time she ever saw or heard from Ronald Calloway.

The next day, people had been expecting - and probably some secretly hoping- to see Ara walk into school a broken girl whose world had just come crashing down. Instead, they found themselves face to face with an Arabella Jennings that was confident, determined, and a force to be reckoned with. There was not a single chip on her armor, only the shining light of a thousand suns. She remained the same cheerful, enthusiastic and outgoing girl most knew and loved. And for those who wondered how she was so unaffected by the blasphemy going around, the response was always the same: believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Eventually, the gossip died down, and everyone went on with the rest of their lives. Ara did the same with her head held high, her heart at peace knowing she’d left her mark in Ron’s life forever.

* * * * * * * * *

The first game of the season was a complete bust. Nobody was sure if it was because of the absence of two of their best players or just dregs of the negativity cloud floating around in the last few weeks, but the SHS team had been brutally beaten for the first time in three years. A grumpy Arabella had been forced to watch from the sidelines, praying her and her team would get an excuse to put their hours of practice into work. But unfortunately, luck was not on their side today, and the game had come to its. Crestfallen, the cheerleading team had headed back to the showers, hoping that the Homecoming dance would go much better than the game had.

“Talk about cheesy…” Ara said cheerfully as she made her way to where her friends stood, taking position on the opposite side of Bernadette. Her slender body sported a black sequin halter top, paired with a black leather peplum mini skirt and trusty black heels. Half of her blonde hair was pinned back, revealing a face with just enough makeup to highlight her most appealing features. The girl looked around the room with a face that was a combination of amused yet horrified, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. “This school should really use a larger activity budget. These decorations are literally atrocious. That or a better decorating committee. Pretty sure my bedroom looks, like, literally a million times better than this.”

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

With Marisol and Julie

The second Marisol stepped back inside the tent, the girl felt like she’d been dropped straight into a episode of The Twilight Zone.

Stella Lambert was lip-locked in a kiss with Oliver Grayson: someone who Mari knew was as about as straight as wet spaghetti.

Beatrice, Archer and Kavan were attempting to do some sort of Bollywood-style dancing. Yup, that’s right: Archer Diedrikson, who’s knowledge of Bollywood dancing - or dancing in general- was about as vast as his interest in females.

Lucas Anderson was getting chewed out by Chanel Martin, and Jordan Henderson was refereeing the fight. That was probably the least crazy of the hallucinations, seeing as it wasn’t far-fetched that Diablo’s ride or die would do something as dumb as he was to get himself in hot waters with the badass woman that was Chanel.

And, finally, Cousin Kavi getting ambushed by two girls while two others watched, none of which looked particularly pleased with him for a change. See, Sol always knew that Cousin Kavi’s playboy habits were bound to catch up with him eventually - that wasn’t the big deal. The real surprise of the night was that the two girls currently cornering Kavi were none other than the two you would least expect: Pinkie Pie Nadia and Emo Queen Ariel. How had that happened, Mari had no idea. But was it looking like an entertaining little scene? Hell yes. She would need to catch up on that later.

Shaking her head at all the weirdness going around, Mari looked around for any signs of Salem, but failed to spot him in the crowd. A frustrated sigh left her lips. She didn’t want to look like a complete loser just standing there by herself, so she begrudgingly made her way over to the two people she knew that were available to talk. Who knows? Maybe in the process she would show Sonny - and herself- that she was able to move forward with life.

“Hey Julie!” Mari greeted the young woman, shooting the redhead a bright smile.The last time she’d talked to ‘the jewel of Crown Heights’ had been during Diablo’s party some time before. So much stuff had happened since then, but with her schedule now dominated by work and school, Mari hadn’t had the chance to do more than wave at her across the hall. It was finally nice to catch up with her, even if it was in passing.

Julie had been deep in laughter at Sonny's reaction of the ballet picture when she heard the familiar voice belonging to Marisol Castillo. The red head just about pulled muscle smiling as she turned around to face her short friend. “Well, if it isn't the little stranger! How have you been? Feels like I haven't seen you in ages!” She exclaimed as she swept Marisol into a tight hug.

“I know, right?!” Mari said happily, hugging Julie back with the same enthusiasm. When their embrace was over, the shorter girl gave the redhead an appreciative once-over. “You look fucking amazing, dude.”

“Thank you so much! I had daddy get in from the vault. It's from the 94’ winter collection! I've been really in to vintage stuff lately!” Julie let the silky emerald fabric swish around her. “But don't let me bore you with that! Your dress is stunning! Very chic!” She said, looking at the petite girl appraisingly.

“Why, thank you so much, sugar,” the shorter girl replied with a mock-southern girl accent, laughing while giving Julie a comically exaggerated bow. “You have my grandmother Marlena to thank about this one. There’s no way she was going to let me come in here in my shorts, my T-shirts and my beanie!” she chuckled. “I barely got away with the Vans as it is!”

Looking around she saw that Marisol was alone and no date in sight. “Where's your date? That hunky new guy that always follows you around?” Julie took a sharp inaudible breath and bit her lower lip, eyes shifting between Sonny and Marisol. Maybe that question wasn't so kosher considering the current situation.

“He, um, had to take care of something real quick,” Mari responded in a small voice, purposely avoiding Sonny’s gaze and biting the inside of her cheek. “I’m sure he’ll find me soon.” There was something about hearing Julie talk about Salem like that in front of Sonny that made the girl uncomfortable. Although her whole mission was to show her ex-best friend she wasn’t the least bit affected by his presence, it was painfully obvious that she did care, and didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Sonny had remained uncharacteristically silent during the entire time the conversation between Julie and Marisol had been going on. To save himself and even Marisol the grief (though he could very well tease her some more), he had to show that at least one of them was the mature adult of the two. He didn’t know why he wanted to spare her the grief of making some offhand comment about Salem. Perhaps it was the company of Julie and his exposure to Nadia’s innocence that was rubbing off on him, but Sonny didn’t feel like causing trouble for Marisol tonight.

As he took his drink and sipped it slowly, he looked at Marisol briefly. It was a short glance, but he could see the work she put into looking good tonight. No matter what they may have been going through, he could appreciate how hot she was tonight. But of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that.

“Clearly, this is a conversation you two want to have alone. I gotta shit, so I’ll see you around, Julie,” he said, giving Julie a quick hug. “See you around, Lil Sol~” He said almost affectionately, waving before darting towards the bathroom.

Julie whimpered as she watched Sonny made his way away from them. “Oh, I’m so stupid.” she whine, turning towards Marisol looking visibly upset. “I-I didn’t mean to… stir something up! I know you guys have had rough time. I should just have been quiet.”

This little confession immediately caught Mari’s interest. The short girl had been watching Sonny go with a pang of guilt in her when the redhead spoke up, making Mari whip her head around to face her. “Wait a second… What exactly do you know?” she asked Julie, eyebrow raised while the guilt morphed into suspicion.

The red head looked around and huffed as she grabbed Marisol by the wrist and dragged the small girl towards an empty table. When they had settled down, Julie swept her hair behind her shoulder and leaned closer to Marisol so she could talk at a lower volume.

“So, I don’t really know much, but Sonny had told me that you guys have not talked at all for a while. And that he didn’t really know why you… well, ghosted him.”

Marisol’s jaw fell open in disbelief, brows furrowing even further in her forehead. Her head was swimming with alcohol and now anger about the blatant lie Sonny had told Julie: a not-so-hot combination that would have her putting her foot in her mouth in no time. “That he didn't-” she stuttered but trailed off, taking a second to scoff before carrying on with her slurring speech. “But he DOES fucking know, Julie! He knows perfectly well why I did! He’s not stupid enough to not fucking know why!”

Julie cocked her head to one side and looked at her friend with a confused face. “Well… So why are you two not speaking then?” she asked quietly.

“I did tell him, Jules! I told him how I felt when I was back in the preserve after the whole incident with Vic! And you know what he told me?!” she cried out, visibly getting upset at remembering what part of the story came next. “He chuckled and shook his head and told me with a smile that I was probably so doped up on benzos that was the meds talking!”

“Okay, okay” Julie cooed in a calming tone grabbing Marisol’s flailing hands. “I get it sweetie, calm down.” she rubbed the girls hands with her own. “We both know that Sonny isn’t the… uhm sharpest when it comes to feelings. But don’t you think he would say that to cover what he really feels? Even if he didn’t have the same feelings as you?” Julie’s eyebrows knitted together in thought. “And I’m not taking sides or anything!” she interjected sensing a a complaint coming. “All I am saying is, do you really think that ignoring each other solves anything?”

Marisol was silent for a few seconds, analyzing what Julie was saying. She had a point: ignoring each other had probably done more harm than good in this particular situation. But what else was she supposed to do: confront him again? To have him dismiss her feelings again? Miss me with that gay shit. “I just thought that if I put some distance between us the problem would fix itself. Clearly that's not what happened here…” she muttered, shaking her head in disappointment. “I miss my best friend, but I'm not about to put myself in the spot again. If he wants anything to do with me again, he can tell me himself.”

Julie sighed “Well if that’s how you feel, I’m not going to argue with you.” she straightened up in her chair. “But don’t tell me he hasn’t tried, Mari… I’ve seen the texts, left on read. Take it from someone that has been ignored by a best friend, that stuff hurts… for a long time.” her voice growing quieter as she remembered her sophomore year when the incident with Santiago went down and April chose sides.

Mari's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Since when were Sonny and Julie close enough for him to show her any messages he'd sent Marisol? Had he made the redhead her replacement already? How long had that been going on? Whatever it was, Sol certainly wasn’t standing by it.

“I don’t know what text messages he's been showing you, because we haven't even looked at each other since the little scene he pulled on me and Sal at the cafeteria on the day the pairings were announced,” she replied, voice now dripping with annoyance. “And how does this ‘not taking sides’ thing work, exactly? Because all I've been hearing since I sat down in this fucking chair is all in defense of Sonny, as if he was some altar boy who wouldn't hurt a fly. Where was this defense for me when I told you that he fucked and dumped me last summer?”

“Watch it, Castillo!” Julie hissed, clearly taking offense to the hostile tone being thrown at her. “I have only been stating facts here. And I seem to remember spending the good part of an hour on the back of a truck trying to calm you down?” she huffed and crossed her arms. “Look! I’m not saying he is innocent in anything he has ever done, but neither are you. And don’t you dare shift your anger towards me! If you guys want to play these games with each other, go right on ahead, but keep me out of it!” The redhead stood up, pushing her chair back as she did so. She took a calming breath and shifted her eyes back towards Marisol. “If you value your friendship with Sonny, I suggest you get your priorities straight. That’s all I’m going to say.” And with that, the redhead turned on her heel and pushed through the crowd of dancing people.

Marisol’s heart sank as she watched the very upset Julie storm away from their table, her green eyes immediately swimming in tears. Fucking great: she’d managed to alienate the one female in King’s Academy without a judgmental bone in her body who’d been willing to listen to her and offer good advice. And why? All because she’d, once again, let herself be consumed by the alcohol and allowed the negative emotions overtake any sort reason.

Before anyone could see her break down, Mari took a deep breath and left the room, making her way towards the parking lot. Frankly, she was done with Homecoming and all the stuff that had happened. If she’d known this is how things were going to happen, she would have left the party a long time ago.

When she reached her date’s car, she pulled out her phone and sent Salem a quick text message:

Where are you? I’m outside waiting by the car. I’ve had enough of this bullshit and I want to go home.