the feeling's mutual. [ p r i v a t e -- cher ]

William Michaels slipped his feet into a pair of bright, blue Nikes and bounded out of the Zeus cabin's door. "And don't forget the extra cream!" A soprano, annoying voice behind him called. He turned his body, trotting backwards and flashed a brilliant grin at his mother, who only looked annoyed. "I won't, ma. By the way, that's what she said," he added that last part with a wink. "Smart-ass!" Roxanne called back, with a mischevious glint in her eyes. Will darted around various campers with a few grins and a few greetings at various people. Will was popular around camp. He would've rather stayed behind the scenes and done the stuff that wouldn't get him attention, but he was the cabin leader of the Zeus cabin. He would always be in the spotlight.

Lately he'd been thinking about college and where he was going to go. He had a basic high school education, er, well, at least an education almost all the way through his junior year. He'd be turning seventeen in June. And when he left for college, that meant his mother would be already gone and the Michaels family would cease to hold leadership in the Zeus cabin. But he supposed that he would think about that when the time came.

Will slowed down to a slow, bouncy jog when he came up to the camp's parking lot. The heat from the May sun was beating down on him, making him sweat just a little. He wiped his hand across his forehead and his gaze floated over to the road instead of in front of him, checking out the traffic. Which there wasn't much of. He was too busy scanning the road to notice the girl walking in front of him.

Will thudded straight into someone, his keys flopping out of his hands and his list of various coffees to buy going down with the keys. He also fell to the ground, hearing a thud from the person he ran into. Judging from sound of the thud, he had ran into a girl. "Oh my gods, I am so sorry," Will apologized, his eyes wide. He pulled himself off of the ground, his shirt and shorts slightly covered in dust from the parking lot ground. Hardly looking at the girl, he kept apologizing profusely and pulled her to her feet.

"Oh, man, are you oka-" his speech was cut off with a small choking noise when he recognized the girl he knocked over. It was Sutton. The girl who hated him. For no reason of course. She looked like she was in a hurry to get away from someone or... something. "Sutton... are you okay?" Will asked, gently touching her arm in a kind gesture. Sutton definitely looked annoyed and like she was trying to get somewhere. "Here, follow me." he said, taking her arm and steering her away from the spot where they smacked into each other.

Will continued pulling her along, shoving the random reporters out of the way. He used his powerful forearms and knock cameras down and his commanding voice to yell, "Get out of the way you parasites." Once they reached the car, reporters were surrounding them. He opened the driver's side. It was the only way to get into the car, really and they needed to get away. "Sutton, crawl," he hissed in her ear, guiding her elbows, helping her into the low-riding car. Once they were situated into the car, reporters were snapping shots of Sutton in the window and banging on the windows for questions. Will snatched his aviators off the dash and a hoodie from the backseat quickly, "Here, put these on. If we see anyone where we're going, they won't recognize you...perhaps.." Will shrugged, ignoring the reporters.

He jammed the keys into the ignition and twisted forward, the engine thrumming to life beneath the two demigods. He yanked the stick into the position, all of this getting done within a few seconds. Will knew how to drive stick expertly. He hit the gas, the engine roaring. Half of the reporters jumped out of the way of the car and Will layed on the horn in order to get the others to move out of the way. Most of them moved. A few were being daring and decided to stand right in the middle of the road. "Alright, you wanna play? Let's play," Will's green-blue eyes sparkled mischievously. He put the car into drive and hit the gas quickly jumping onto the brake just as fast. The car jerked forward, moving the remaining parasites. Will rolled his eyes impatiently. He hit the gas, finallly removing his foot from the brake.

The car peeled out of the parking lot, the tires squealing, the car fishtailing slightly. Once the chaos was over, Will's grip on the steering wheel loosened. His left hand relaxed from the ten position. His right hand stayed on two. "Mind telling me what I just did back there?" His gaze flickered to Sutton next to him.

Will kept his mouth shut as the traffic started to get heavier and heavier. He had said what needed to be said and he felt pretty confident that what was said had left a bit of an impact about how Sutton viewed him. He was fairly sure Sutton hated him and so hopefully she wouldn't after this. Will's eyes mostly stayed on the road, but when he heard a little plop, he glanced over at Sutton, to only see her mouth snapped shut. The corners of his mouth turned upwards ever so slightly. Almost in a smirk, but not quite.

All was quiet in Mustang. Will dropped his right from the steering wheel and rested it on the leather console. His fingers drummed along the smooth surface gently, itching to get up and move around. His ADHD was usually kept under control in times like these where he had to sit for more than ten minutes at once, but today, he was just a little antsy. Will lifted his hand from the console and began to fiddle with the radio, settling on a hits station.

He didn't know what Sutton liked so he figured that since these were the songs that everyone in the nation knew, Sutton would like them, too. "Is this station okay?" He asked, his voice sounding strange since he hadn't spoken for over twenty minutes. The traffic was heavier than it usually was. Will figured there was a concert or something going on that everyone was wigging out about. For a moment, Will didn't think. He just watched the road ahead of him and the many cars and the masses of people. Currently the two demigods were in West Queens, passing through Woodside, an Irish neighborhood.

See, Will was Irish, so he'd heard about this place. Of course, he'd been raised in Camp Half-Blood and his mother had been rasied in the Bronx, but she had friends over here in Woodside and friends in Rockaway Beach. Smiling through the window, Will exchanged glances with a redheaded woman, carrying a bag on the sidewalk. Though he knew that most of New York's inhabitants were rude and horrible people, some were kind. And he loved people. He was a people-person.

Sutton's voice startled him a little, and his hand jerked the wheel a tad bit. "Oh, uh, there's this Starbucks in Manhattan that my mom really likes. I have no idea why it's just that one Starbucks, but I think it's because she has friends there and...well, yeah. We're going to Starbucks. I hope you brought some money or something," he said, glancing over at the female demigod next to him. She looked extremely uncomfortable in the car with him, but he didn't particularly care. She'd love him by the end of the night.

After he closed his mouth, in a few minutes he heard some ruffling around and he gave a sidewards glance to see Sutton putting on his sweatshirt. It was his, but it was tight on him, because that's how he liked his clothes. Tight. So, he figured it would hang on her just a little. He didn't think she'd care all that much, because it was just a slight disguise, and plus he had another hoodie in the car with him. The one she had was one of his favorites, but his absolute favorite was sitting behind him on the seat. The one she was white with thin, horizontal dark blue stripes going across it. The one behind him was just a faded blue one with white strings.

The car slowly came to a stop at a red-light behind about three billion cars. It felt like this trip was taking forever. A small crowd of paparazzi was on the street corner looking quite bored, just hanging around with cameras dangling from their necks. "Sutton..." Will said quietly. But it was too late, one of the parasites caught site of her face. "Damn," Will muttered, throwing his hand to the horn and laying on it. "Come on, turn green already," he growled. Suddenly the reporters where snapping shots of Sutton. The light turned green and Will decided to make an illegal move. He leaned his head out the window and threw his foot on the gas. He yanked the wheel to his hard left and pulled the car out of the lane and stepped on it. Many horns sounded behind him and cuss words in a few different languages were thrown at him.

He looked at Sutton once the car was moving swiftly, leaving the reporters behind. "New York is not a place for the pretty, rich, or famous."