We're sitting on the bed, talking. Not about the kiss, about other things. But it's like closing that little space tore down a huge wall in between us. Now we're more open. Like a kiss really confirmed that we're dating.

"Y/n, watch out!" Xander shouts, looking at something behind me. I scream, and pull out my dagger. Frantically trying to slash at it, I fall backwards on the bed. It jumps, and it's so big, it can pin both of us down.

"HELP!!!" I scream. Now that it's closer, it's skin is too tough to cut. We're both hacking at its tough hide, but to no avail. We're screaming, in the desperate hope that someone will hear us, preferably one of the demigods.

"What's-"Hazel starts, dashing into the room and noticing the monster on top of us. She attacks it with a long sword, though it bounces off uselessly. The monster is distracted from us though. "LEO, THIS THING HAS TOUGH SKIN! COME USE YOUR FIRE!" She shouts, way more casual than she should be, considering that she's standing in front of a monster with impenetrable skin, armed with only a weapon that is meant to penetrate the skin.

"I'M COMING!!!" Leo shouts back. The monster gets off of us to face Hazel, and I can breathe again. Hazel manages to keep it occupied until Leo gets in and can kill it with fire.

"You guys good?" Hazel asks.

"Y- yeah. I think so," I stammer.

"We're fine," Xander adds, though he looks a little pale. That was the closest call yet.

"Oh, y/n, Percy just got back. He wants to talk to you," Leo informs me.

"Ok. Could you ask him to come here?"

"Sure thing," he says, turning to leave. Hazel follows him, and it's just me and Xander again.

"We need better weapons, or more training, or something," I say.

"Maybe. I don't even want to know how close that monster was to finishing us."

"Yeah. I guess it wasn't really our fault since its skin was so tough we couldn't hit it."

"Hey, y/n," Percy says, coming in. "What was going on earlier? At school?"

"Well, I always kept the fact that I knew the Hawthornes a secret, since people start acting differently when they're involved in anything. But word got out, and I had to leave, so they wouldn't keep bothering me. There's a policy for all the schools in the district that if a student has a direct connection to this family become public, there are certain measures that could be taken to protect them. One of those is leaving school for the day to meet with this family and discuss how to continue. I get briefed on how it all works when I first started school, and at the beginning of every year since then."

"Wow. The schools have to do that?"

"Yeah. It's an unfortunate fact of life in this area. I guess they figured that more people would have connections with them, since we live in the same general area. But how was the rest of your day?"

"Not great. You left me alone for math and language arts! We had to read a book out loud! And I have dyslexia! I can only read Greek!"

"Oh. Sorry."

"And Elaina kept trying to flirt with me! Plus, there were two more monsters that showed up after you left. Though I think that I might have found a half-blood."

"Ok? What do you do about the half-blood?"

"Take them back to Camp Half-Blood, where they'll be trained to defend themselves, and if they aren't powerful enough, then they'll be able to stay here most of the year, and come back for the summers."

"Huh. Who was it?"

"This girl, I think she said her name was Millie?"

"No way. That's my best friend!"

"Really? I guess you just attract all kinds of attention. I'm going to talk with her more about it tomorrow, so maybe you can come with me, since she already knows you."

"Oh... about that..."

"What?"

"I'm switching schools. I'll be going to Heights Country Day with Annabeth and Frank."

"You're leaving me in a mortal school? Seriously?"

"Yeah. People there are already used to all the money, so they won't be like, attacking me."

"Can't I just stop going then?"

"No. That would be too suspicious. Maybe one of your friends could come with you?"

"Wouldn't that be suspicious too?" Xander interjects.

"I guess it would," I say, and we all sit in silence, trying to think about what to do.

"Well, looks like I'll have to start making some friends tomorrow," Percy says at last, turning to leave the room. Only a minute after he leaves, a tall, black woman walks in.

"I'm Landon," she says, with a posh British accent, "the media consultant. Lovely to see you again Xander. I trust you're y/n?"

"Uh, yeah," I say.

"Well, you two will be media training together for now. Firstly, I need to know whether you're going to tell the public you're dating or not."

"We are," Xander says.

"Excellent. That makes things a lot simpler. Now where would you like to draw the boundaries?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"How much would you like the public to know?"

"Uh, like they know that we're deeply in love," Xander says, dramatically, "but not what we do with each other within this house?"

"Yeah. Like that," I say.

"Ok. Well, first step, you would be advised to start posting pictures with each other on your social media pages. I'll advise you on how to take the first one, and a team of photographers will help you with the rest. I'd do at least one a day, but if you want people to think that you're even more in love, you can do more," she says. Then she tells us to lay on the bed next to each other, and she poses us in a cute way. "Who's going to post the picture? It's almost guaranteed to blow up, since it's your first one."

"I will," Xander volunteers. She hands him the phone, and shows him how to angle it. Then he takes about a million pictures, and we have to scroll back through them. We choose one, and he posts it to his instagram page.

"Now we start really training. People will want to hear more about your relationship with Xander, so I'll need you to think of no fewer than a dozen stories from when you were growing up together. And maybe a date story? Though it might be too soon for that. After the interview, you'll want to wait around four to six days, then go on a date. A casual one. Maybe a movie, or going to a beach for a while. Then a fancy restaurant a few days later. Make sure to take pictures at every place."

"Wait, I don't want our relationship to just be for the press," I say.

"Don't worry," Xander says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "We'll be the real us here. But putting on a fake face is just one of the things that comes with being famous. And I'm not nearly as important as Jameson, Grayson, or Avery, so it'll all die down soon."

"Ok. But I'll need to have a talk with you later about that 'not as important' line." He laughs, and I laugh with him.

"Good," Landon says, calling attention back to herself. "That's the kind of energy we need, but the actual conversation was not good. Try to avoid bringing yourself down like that Xander. And y/n, we always avoid promising private conversations out loud. If he says something that merits a conversation off screen, then you should have a small sign to gesture it. In fact, you two will need to develop a whole code. For example: tugging on your ear could signal the other one to switch topics. I'll send you a list of things you'll need a signal for, and potential signals, though you could switch them up so they'll make more sense for the two of you."

"Will do," Xander says.

"Well, that's your homework. I'll be back tomorrow, and I will be checking to make sure you've done everything," she says as she leaves the room.

"Are conversations with her always this delightful?" I ask Xander, sarcastically.

"Pretty much. I learned the hard way when I was younger that it's best to just do her homework," he replies. I sigh and sit on the bed.

"Well, now I have to explore my memories to think of six funny stories with you. That one will be the easy part.

"You could tell them about the time we tried to play hide and seek here."

"When we were like five?"

"Yeah. I was like, in tears, because I couldn't find you. And you stayed hidden in that secret passageway for like six hours before we finally found you."

"I remember that time," I say, laughing. "That's how hide and seek was banned in this house. It's just too big, and there are too many good hiding places."

"And we've never played hide and seek since."

"Ok. Now I need 11 more stories. I could talk about that time with your mom's ball gown."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember that. We were going to have a tea party, and you wanted to look nice, so we snuck into my mom's closet, and chose a ballgown for you. But we were like twelve, so it was way too big for you. And when she found us, trying to use one of her belts to keep it up, she was so mad... good times."

"Yeah."

"What about when we were nine, and you got the first taste of my distractions?"

"Yeah, I was really worried about a test, so you took me to play life-size chess. You won, obviously, but it was still fun."

"Yeah. I guess coming up with these stories isn't going to be so hard after all."

"Mhm. Growing up as one of your friends was so entertaining. I don't think many kids could say that they had access to this House every weekend growing up." He laughs, then we hear someone scream.