stollen things || c. stoll

2.10 ~ I Jump Out Of A Moving Car

Almost a month later, I hadn't run into any more monsters. I wondered if there were only two monsters in all of the state of Vermont. I'd made it through most of volleyball season and much of October. Friday night was homecoming at Charles' school, and obviously he had invited me. Sarah was very happy about this and we went shopping together for everything.

Friday afternoon, she was squeezing me into my little black dress and attacking my face with makeup. My dress was one of those tight bodycon dresses with the laces across the back. I felt insecure, but also the prettiest I'd ever been.

"Please tell me you're going to kiss him tonight." Sarah begged.

"I might, actually." I smiled to myself as I looked in the full length mirror.

"You have to tell me all about it when you do." She grinned.

Soon enough, it was six o'clock. Charles was going to swing by and pick me up for the dance in a half hour. Adding the final touches, I sat by the window to watch the parking lot.

He pulled in and I practically ran out of the building.

"You look good," He grinned.

"You need another line," I rolled my eyes, recalling the state fair a couple months back.

I got in his car and we headed to the public high school. I was very aware of his hand on my leg the whole ride there.

He helped me out of the car after he parked and we walked right to the front doors. He was smirking the whole time, and it would've been unsettling to anyone else. But I was pretty sure it was because he was enjoying my presence. Probably.

He re-introduced me to all of his friends, who I could tell were already way high on weed. And it wasn't their smell or behavior. It was the actual plant in their system calling out to me. I'd be an excellent drug sniffing dog, except I'm not a dog and I don't trust police officers.

The punch was spiked and the room was full of sweating, jumping teenagers. A recipe for a fun night. An hour in, we were both at least buzzed.

Later and later into the night, my dress slid lower and his shirt unbuttoned a bit, and the school bathrooms looked more and more promising.

So we slipped away. Before I could even get my lips on his, he'd leaned against the wall, laughing. I desperately wanted just to kiss him, but he apparently wanted to tease me. How wrong I was.

"So tell me, half-blood, how would you like to go on a cruise?"

My heart stopped. Like, actually. "What?" I whispered.

"You didn't actually think I liked you, did you? No. I was biding my time, all these four months. I smelled you the first time you came into the diner, and I knew Master Luke would want you to help us out. He says you're feisty, and I'm sure that's true. We need that in our cause."

His buddies from earlier snuck up behind me. I was surrounded. By monsters or half-bloods, I couldn't tell. No monster was smart enough to keep up this ignorant mortal act for four months. "You're a half blood, too. A minor god."

"What?" He spat out.

"Your parent. I can tell by how bitter you are. They don't have a cabin at any camps, nor a throne in Olympus, and you're angry with the gods for it." I stepped to the side, trying to avoid the other boys behind me.

"You don't get to tell me what I feel, or who my parents are." He stepped closer to me. "I'm going to take you to Luke, and you're going to come quietly. We'll leave you to rot in the brig until you learn that we are the winning side and join us." He quickly jumped towards me to grab me. I was powerless in here; there was no earth. All I could do was catch him in the face with a punch.

He was apparently all talk, because he crumpled at the hit. "Bitch!" He growled, and reached to pull my legs out from under me. So I kicked him.

His buddies, however, were much stronger, and one picked me up and started to crush me against his chest.

"You idiot!" Charles seethed. "Luke wants her alive, don't strangle her!"

The boy stop squeezing, but still had me tight in his grasp.

"Let me go, you asshole!" I started kicking against his legs and squirming as much as I could. Charles finally stood again and came up to me.

He slowly dragged a finger down my cheek. "This is too bad. I think you really liked me."
He turned to the other goon. "Knock her out."

"No! Stop!" I screamed as loud as I could, hoping to maybe get a teacher into the bathroom. I didn't know if it worked, because the last thing I saw was Charles leaving the bathroom nonchalantly as the boy hit the back of my head.

•

I woke up in the back of a moving car. I craned my neck to see the driver. Great.

"She's up." One of the goons said.

"Just untie her, we want her on our side." Charles was moving down the back streets of his town. The goon obeyed and sat me up to buckle me in.

My first thought was panic panic panic panic pani-

I looked out the window. The side of the road was all grass. If Charles knew I was a half-blood, he had to know that I was a daughter of Demeter. I had no idea why he was putting me at such an advantage, but I wasn't complaining.

Right when he started making a right turn, I threw open the door and jumped out at as much of a 45 degree angle as I could make. Tucking my head in, I willed the grass to raise up and soften my hit. It worked, surprisingly, considering the fact that it was a spur-of-the-moment plan.

Obviously they had already noticed that I was out of the car, so Charles had slammed on the brakes. I realized that I had no plan for this part. I couldn't outrun the car, but I had no weapons or anything. I was in a torn-apart silk dress and heeled shoes. Not exactly battle armor. My entire body was in pain from the hit, even though I'd used the grass to help.

I turned on my heel and dashed right to the door of the closest house, knocking on the door as hard as I could, praying that someone was going to answer the door and let me in. After a moment, a woman opened the door just a crack. I had no time to explain, as the boys were gaining on me and almost up the steps. So I pushed right past her into the house and slammed the door behind me.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am-" I started, but she only locked the door behind me and pushed a chair up against it.

"Don't apologize, dear. What's wrong?"

"My boyfriend," I tried to catch my breath. "He knocked me out and was taking me somewhere and I just jumped out of his car and please don't make me go back out there-"

"Just breathe, hon." She pulled me into a hug and lead me to the kitchen. "Help yourself to anything you see, and I'll call the police."

"Oh, please, no." I shook my head. "Just let me call my dad," I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear. I hated using phones, because any phone was a beacon for monsters to come and find me. But this was an emergency.

The phone rang and rang. "You have reached..."

Tears reached my eyes before I could stop them. "Hey, Dad. I'm going..." I glanced at the woman, but she was already making me a hot chocolate and probably wasn't listening. "...to camp. Something happened at the dance tonight and I need to get to camp immediately. I'll call you from there and explain but right now I have to go straight there. Don't worry. I'll hail a taxi."

I hung up and sighed. "I'll be out of your hair in an hour or so, a friend is picking me up." She nodded, and gave me a bite to eat.

I had no drachma. Damn. No drachma, no taxi. The woman gave me a sweatshirt before I left. I looked through the peephole. Charles and his buddies had probably gotten bored and left, so I stepped outside. "Uhhh, Gray Sisters? Can I get a ride?" I said to no one in particular.

A few seconds passed. Then I heard the screeching of tires come zipping down the road.

•

hey besties did you expect that cus i didn't! i wasn't actually planning on doing that but lol

ALSO REMEMBER THAT GIRL? YEAH WE'RE GOING OUT ON SATURDAY