Alex Anderson The Last Son of Zeus (4 page)

BOOK FIVE

WISE FIONA AND...JUST BOS

The human race positively loved monuments.

That's what Fiona Avery thought as she looked at the ten foot tall statue of...of, well...of some guy located several hundred feet away from the Parthenon. According to the plaque situated directly below his feet, "some guy" was responsible for the construction of the replica and much of the surrounding park. It was ironic the act of building a monument had the unexpected effect of Nashville building a monument for him in return.

There were several benches around some guy's statue. Each one was labeled with abstract terms, such as "administration, traffic, executive, or mechanical, that either meant to encourage, confuse, or just plain
ol
' distract the random passerby.

Fiona plopped her book bag on the bench marked "wisdom" and fumbled around her pocket for a pack of cigarettes and her lighter. She paused and considered how smoking a cigarette--arguably an act requiring an absence of wisdom--on a bench inscribed with the word "wisdom" could be found humorous to the same random encouraged, confused or distracted passerby. She liked smoking cigarettes, despite what they were doing to her body. The justification certainly wasn't a wise motivation.

But neither was building some guy's monument.

As Fiona lit the justified cigarette, her and Alex's longtime and pain in the ass friend--
Salvadore
Boster
--walked up.

"Fiona...
babe
, what's up? We
still getting
together later?"

"Not even in your wettest dreams."

Bos made a fist. "Right on. Hey, wait." He sat next to her. "Who told you that?"

Fiona grinned. Wisps of smoke escaped her lips.

"Nobody told you that. Okay. Alright, I get it. Very cute." Bos clapped loudly. Can we get a nice round of applause here ladies and gentlemen for Fiona's cuteness, not to mention her underage nicotine addiction?" People passing by their bench gave them annoyed looks.

Bos's
stubbly double chin gestured in the direction of the Parthenon and the rest of the class. "How come you
ain't
in here with the rest of those
looozers
?"

"One could ask you the same question."

"Well, ask away, one."

Fiona flicked her pink hair back and took another drag. "Don't really care."

The two of them watched Alex walking from the direction of the Parthenon. A large bruise decorated his left cheekbone, and the front of his shirt was wet.

"What happened to Alex?" Fiona said, faking curiosity. People already thought she was weird enough.

"
Hooooly
shit! Got no idea. But I'm sure it involves insane levels of testosterone. Something you wouldn't understand."

Fiona blew smoke in his face. Bos chuckled and used his bowler hat to wave it away.

"Dude, what the fuck happened to your face?" Bos said to Alex.

"Oh yeah, like it?" Alex gently touched his bruise. "
Augie
gave it to me. I'm thinking of giving it a name."

"Dude," Bos said through a chuckle. "You should totally name it Jorge. I had a pimple on my ass looked
just
like that,
I mean just like that
. I named it Jorge. It was totally awesome."

"Actually, I was thinking of Helen."

Bos put his hand on Alex's shoulder and grinned. "Jody did that to you?
Cause'a
Helen? Dude,
what 'd
you do?"
 

"Looked at her."

"Dude...
come
on."

"I was looking at her ass. And then--"

"Her totally awesome ass, you mean!" Bos said. "Dude, I knew it! You're into her!"

"I was certainly into her ass."

"Yeah, well, anyway, let me tell you what you should do with that." Bos pointed to the bruise on Alex's face. You should pop it like I did Jorge. Otherwise that thing is
gonna
swell and fester. You don't want that, dude." Bos made a squeezing motion with his two thumbs. "Pop it, man! Just-just freaking pop it!"

Fiona stood up and flipped her cigarette away. "Like the mailman did your mother?"

"See, now that hurts, Ms. Avery. That really hurts. People on YouTube completely exaggerated that entire incident." Bos curled his upper lip and looked at his hand. "Dude, is your shirt wet?"

"Does Blankenship know what happened?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah, he separated us. Good thing to because I was just about to...Wait--why?"

"He's walking this way, rather hurriedly."

"Goddammit," Alex said.

Bos smelled his hand. "
You been
eating hotdogs? You kinda smell like hotdogs."

Alex walked over to meet Blankenship.

Fiona saw the two of them talk. Alex, she could tell, was upset and barely managing to hold it in. Blankenship seemed to be getting upset--not over the whole incident--but over
Alex's getting
upset.

Bos wiped his hand on his shirt. "What are they…I can't hear from here. Can you hear? Jesus, I can't hear. Why don't they step closer, so I can
freakin
'
hear?"

Fiona impatiently looked at Bos and then back to Alex. "Alex is getting whatever
Augie
is getting. Our beloved English teacher believes Alex provoked him.

Bos blew air out his mouth. "Oh, that's
complete
ess
! Wait till Alex's mother finds out. She'll put Blankenship's nuts in a
fuckin
' vice."

Blankenship, obviously through with whatever he had to say, turned and walked away. Alex looked at his friends then started walking back to the Parthenon.

Maybe
I
should just put his nuts in a
fuckin
' vice." Bos looked at Fiona. "You don't happen to have a
fuckin
' vice on
ya
do you?

Fiona picked up her bag and walked after Alex.

~ * ~

"Cigarette?" Fiona offered Alex after she caught up with him. Alex didn't even know she'd been following.

He shook his head. "I don't smoke."

Fiona put them back in her pocket. "Perhaps you should start. It's a positively wonderful way to relieve stress."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, or it could just give me something else to stress about."

Fiona laughed. It wasn't something she did often, not since the car wreck anyway.

The two walked in silence until they reached the museum's entrance. "Did you hear what fat bastard told me?"

Fiona shook her head.

"He told me I started the whole fucking thing. And 'cause of that, I'm getting detention."

"Did he actually say 'fucking'? Cause I think we can have the man's job."

Alex wasn't in the mood. He looked away.

Fiona stepped into his sight. "What did you say?"

"What?"

"After he gave you detention. What did you say?"

Alex tapped the ground with his foot and lowered his head. His long and curly dark hair fell in his face. "Nothing." He looked at her. "Do you believe that? I didn't
do
a goddamn thing, and I didn't
say
a goddamn thing."

"Did you want to say something?"

"Yeah, I wanted to say something. I wanted to say--"

"Why didn't you?"

Alex sighed. "He already made up his mind,
y'know
? Made up. Done. El Fin. So, why bother? I'd just get more detention."

A long silence passed. Fiona adjusted her bag. "Then perhaps you did the right thing. Are you sure that's a bruise? It looks more like dirt."

Alex felt his face. For some reason, it didn't hurt anymore.

He looked at the top of the museum. "Who are those guys? Do you know?" There were over a dozen statues above the Parthenon's entrance. Alex pointed at the largest of them, a man and a woman about to duke it out in the center. She had a spear, and he had a pitchfork or something.

Fiona looked up and shielded her eyes from the sun. "Couldn't tell you."

"
That
is Athena and Poseidon," said Ms.
Pryde
from behind them.

The two teenagers turned and looked at her. She was too young to be a teacher. She couldn't have been more than five years older than him. She was short, attractive and firm. Alex often wondered what her boobs looked like.

Fiona folded her arms. "Why are they fighting?"

Ms.
Pryde
grinned. "Let's just say they always,
always
had a reason."

"Why are they fighting like that?" Alex said.

"How do you mean?" Ms.
Pryde
said.

"Well look at them." Alex pointed at the statues. "Or, look at her. She's all covered in a dress, little bit of armor, and even has a shield. Poseidon's got nothing. His junk isn't even covered. It's all hanging out. All he has is that pitchfork thing."

Ms.
Pryde
bit her bottom lip. "Trident."

"He has chewing gum?"

She bit her lip again. "No, the-the 'pitchfork,' Alex. It's called a trident."

Alex looked back at the pitchfork. "Oh."

"I didn't see you during the tour, Fiona."

Fiona scratched her nose. "Yeah, well, my dad brought me to the Parthenon once when I was little. The statue
creeped
me out."

The expression on Ms.
Pryde's
face didn't change for a couple of seconds. "Well, you'll still be responsible for the handout."

Alex sighed. Before leaving school, Blankenship had given the class a handout full of
Parthenony
-type questions. He'd completely forgotten about it during the ass watching, face punching and puking.

Fiona reached in her pocket and yanked out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and handed it to Ms.
Pryde
. "Already done."

"Just keep it. Either Mr. Blankenship or I will take them up later."

Fiona shrugged and shoved the handout back into her pocket.

Mr. Blankenship walked up. Alex hoped the bastard remained upwind. "Fiona, I need to speak with you." He waved his meaty hand away from the others.

Fiona looked at Alex and walked to Blankenship. The two stopped a short distance away where two cops were waiting.

What the fuck?

They spoke softly, but to Alex's amazement, he could still hear them.

"Their was an accident..."the taller cop started, "...a car accident this morning involving your parents, and we need you to come--"

"They're dead." No emotion touched Fiona's face. Alex felt blood rush away from his own.

Both cops said nothing. They didn't have to. Their nothing said everything.