Life of an Average Fangirl

1

Nico hung his head as low as a katobleps.

"I, uh... used to play this stupid card game when I was younger. Mythomagic. The katobleps was one of the monster cards."

Frank blinked. "I played Mythomagic. I never saw that card."

"It was in the African Expansion deck."

"Oh."

Their host cleared his throat. "Are you two done, ah, geeking out, as they say?"

I grin, staring at the page intently as the second bell rings.

"Adrienne Cadence!" a voice yells.

I groan internally, I was reading in class again.

Again.

The House of Hades, by Rick Riordan, my favorite book, I was re-reading for probably the fifteenth or sixteenth time.

I'm that big of a nerd.

Let me start from the beginning: my name's Adrienne Oceanna Cadence, and I'm a massive fangirl.

Don't judge the middle name.

The author ran out of ideas.

*Frantically fixes the fourth wall*

Anyway, what was I saying? Right, I'm a fangirl.

A big one.

Really.

I get bullied for my blue hair and bright purple eyes that I assure you are quite natural, but I really don't care. I think they look good.

My ships, which are very important, are Percabeth, Solangelo, Jiper, Frazel, Tratie, Chrisse, Pansmione, Drarry, Blairon, Fourtris, Stucky, IronStrange, Spideychelle-

Sorry, got a bit carried away there.

Anyway, I get up and walk to Ms. Harrison's desk, gulping as I take each step.

"You really need to get a new hobby!" Ms. Harrison snaps, tearing The House of Hades out of my hand.

I begin to protest when she shushes me.

"This much reading is just too much, Adrienne! Find something else to do, and when you do it, make sure it's after school."

"Reading is important," I frown, hurt.

"Math is better," she scowls. Oh, wow, this is a total surprise! A math teacher, biased about her own subject. Isn't that crazy?

Still, I grab my book back and am about to leave, judging the smirks the queen bees of the school are giving me, when Ms. Harrison calls out, "Detention!"

Sh*t.

As I exit the classroom, the 'ruler' of my school, "Jefferson High," (don't judge), Amy Davids (Sorry if your name's Amy and you're really nice!) struts past.

"What are you reading, Adrian?" she mocks.

"Adrienne," I correct with gritted teeth.

"Same difference," she shrugs, doing a quick hair flip, shooting a wink at resident jock Bryce Jacobs.

He grins.

I roll my eyes in disgust.

"Oh, this old thing again? Honey, I told you already, dye your hair, where contacts, put on some make up..you'll look perfectly average!" she yanks The House of Hades away.

Tearing a few pages out, she throws the book on the floor and steps on it with her stupid designer heel.

"No!" I tear up.

Before my step-mom had died two years ago, this was the book she'd left to me.

To me.

And now it was ruined.

I get through the day grudgingly but eventually make it to the end.

Grabbing my bike handles and swinging one foot over the seat, I hop on and start pedaling, ignoring the taunts being thrown at me.

My hair.

My eyes.

My name.

My personality.

Just me in general.

Why does life have to be so f***ing stupid!?

As I'm riding my bike home to my dad, who works at an accounting firm, I see a blonde haired girl and a black haired boy sitting together affectionately.

"PERCABETH!" I shriek, though inside I know they're just fictional.

They look at me with narrowed eyes, and when I keep going, they shrug, turning back to their conversation.

A dog, big and black, wags its tail at me and I wave half-heartedly.

I want to imagine it's Mrs. O'Leary, but that's impossible.

It starts at me and I frantically try to bike faster, but it's running by now.

With a big jump, it's on top of me, and I'm out cold.