"Hooo, boy," Athena slapped the latest issue of The Rhydin Post down on the kitchen table, her salted glare at the rag poised as if the very paper would transform at any minute and bite at her hand like an agitated asp.

"See" Told ya," Janie's blonde hair was pushed behind her shoulders as she carefully watched her past teacher. "An' I don't think that we can buy up all the copies in town fast enough. I know that someone's gonna mention it to her...to her face!"

Athena's dour expression lifted to look at the usually easy-going surfer girl. Her tongue lightly clicked against her cheek as she imagined Isuelt's reaction to a few secrets slipping past her carefully constructed wall. For now, she shuddered and simply lent her head to a slow leaning nod.

"An' you know who's gonna take the brunt of this squirrel" We are!" Janie's blue eyes were wider than usual. She'd obviously been fired up about this for some time and had finally gotten someone to listen to her. Athena has always been a rock of reason to the beach bunny, and she was banking on the fact that Athena would know what to do. "I mean, it's not enough that they go and start smearing the name of Scathachians, but they are bringing up Scor—— Well, 'You Know Who' and when she sees that, she's gonna hit the bloomin' roof!"

"Well, Nimue, it's just a printed account of some gossip. Wouldn't it be easier to just slough it off as such?"

"No way! This is the newspaper, with real news and everything!"

"Uh huh. Like the stories they printed about who is hooking up with whom and supposed celebrity sightings ?"

Janie just humphed and folded her arms over her bikini-clad chest. Her voice, while indignant, was quieted. Probably from habit of being disciplined by Athena over the years. "I'm just saying, she's gonna be stackin' pissed."

"How about we let Illea deal with it the way she's going to deal with it and support her through it. Besides, there's nothing in there...well, not really...about what she was actually doing in Metro City." The sunlight coming through the window glinted off Athena's bright red hair as she turned her head to look back to the paper, her eyes skimming the article again. While the truth of Isuelt's past occupation in Metro City was not mentioned in the article, she wondered if the writer, Alexis Laurent, had uncovered any details. Even Athena herself, who thought of herself as one of Isuelt's oldest friends as well as her bunk mate back on the Island, didn't really know the whole truth. That part of her life was something that Isuelt played extremely close to the chest and didn't ever talk about. Ever. She had to admit, she was at least a little curious about Isuelt's supposed dark and sordid past. In any case, she shook her head, feeling that if her friend wanted the truth to be known, she would have told her, right' "Look, just steer clear of Issy for a few weeks, okay' Besides, you know that the two of you get along better when you keep your interactions to a minimum anyway."

Without another word, Janie nodded and turned to leave the kitchen. The red-headed elder watched her go and it wasn't until she no longer heard the surfer's footsteps that she picked The Post back up again, murmuring to herself, "Yeah, this is gonna be a mess...."