Hi. If you haven't read any of my other stories than you need to know one thing. I always put a random thing before I put the disclaimer. So for this story, I'll be doing random favorites of mine. This will let you get to know me a little better. Okay, Onwards!
Favorite Song: Angel With A Shotgun By The Cab
Disclaimer: I don't any PJO characters or any of the songs I use in this story. I wish did though. :(
Chapter 1: I Love That Ratty Old Bus
Percy's POV:
Okay, so I know meeting in a ratty, old, blue bus isn't exactly the most romantic place to meet but that's the way we met. Like all stories, it started with a ring:
RING!
I jumped and knocked off all of my stuff off my desk at the sudden noise of the school bell. I was currently in my English class, my last class of the day, staring off into space. When I recovered from my jump scare, I saw my friends standing by their desks, silently laughing at me. I stood up, gathered my stuff, and headed straight out the door. "Hey slow down man!" One of my friends, Beckendorf, called after me. I stopped speed walking and sighed to a stop. I turned around and saw them jogging towards me. Before I continue, let me tell you about them.
First there's my best friend, Nico Di Angelo. He has black hair, black eyes, and LOVES the color black. We call him emo but he insists he isn't. Second, there's Leo Valdez. He's a very positive person, has brown hair, and has brown eyes. He loves to build things. Doesn't matter what it is, he'll build it. And last but not least, Beckendorf. His real name is Charles but no one calls him that besides his girlfriend, Silena. We call him Beck. He is African American, has brown eyes, and black hair. He is also Leo's half-brother. Don't ask it's complicated.
Back in reality, the guys reached me. "You were walk really, really fast." Leo said, bending over to catch his breath. "That was kind of the point, considering I embarrassed myself by jumping." I said. Beck chuckled. "You gotta admit, it was pretty funny." He said. I just changed the subject by saying, "So are we just going to stand here or are we going to take Becks truck back to my house and practice a song?"
In case you didn't know, the guys and I created a band on one day when we were bored. We practice songs in my garage. We actually weren't that bad. They looked at each other for a while before heading straight towards the exit of the school, yelling "RACE!" I finally reacted and sprinted after them, laughing the whole way.
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I opened the door and was immediately tackled by a black blob. "Mrs. O'Leary! Down girl!" I said laughing as she licked my face. She got off of me and ran away to an unknown place in the house. After I got the smell of dog breath out of my nose, I smelled a familiar scent. My mom was making her blue cookies. Apparently, the guys smelled it too because they ran to the kitchen the same time as me. We saw my mom there, barely taking them out of the oven. We waited impatiently as my mom put the cookies on the plate.
As soon as she put it down, I attacked it. The guys did the smart thing and waited for them to cool down while I learned the hard way. I held out my hand and spit out the contents of the scorching hot cookie and ran to the refrigerator to get an ice cube. My mom scolded me. "Percy, I've told you before! You have to wait for them to cool down before you eat them."
I took out the ice cube and said, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." They all laughed as I continued to cool off my tongue. After we finished, we headed to the garage with my brother, Tyson, in pursuit. He once said he wanted to learn all the skills we had so he could be like us some day. That earned him a group hug from all 4 of us. Since then, he always watches our practices. He sat on the couch we had in there and waited for us to start playing. Nico walked over to his bass guitar and put it on. Leo walked to his electric guitar and put it on just like Nico. Beck strided over to his drums and sat down. The middle drum, and the biggest, had our bands name on it: The Demigods
I just walked to my microphone and admired the work Tyson did to it. (Tyson loved to build stuff as well.) He spray painted it gold and put my initials on it in blue. Leo hooked up his guitar to the stereo and helped Nico and Beck connect theirs. When we finished setting up, I said, "Okay. I wrote a song the other day and I think it's pretty cool. Do you guys want to play it?" They all nodded and I handed out sheets of the song that I had Tyson copy for me. "It talks about an 18 year old in it and in case you guys were wondering, it's my mom I'm talking about." They nodded again and simultaneously said, "Let's get started."
(Social Casualty By: 5 Seconds Of Summer)
(P)=Percy (A)=All
(A) La la la la la la da da
La la la la la la da da
(P) Just a kid, it's all the same
Growing up, it doesn't change
Who are they to try and put us down?
Had enough of what they say
Sick and tired of all their games,
Stand up and sing it with me now.
(A) La la la la la la da da
La la la la la la da da
So save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) Don't wanna be a victim of authority
I'll always be a part of the minority
(A) Save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) So tell me, tell me, tell me what you want from me,
I don't wanna be another social casualty
(Social casualty)
(P) Just a girl turned 18(A/N: He's talking about his mom.)
She ran away to chase her dreams
And they said she wouldn't make it far.
She took a chance and packed her bags
She left town and didn't look back
So tired of wishing on the stars
(A) (wishing on the stars)
La la la la la la da da
La la la la la la da da
So save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) Don't wanna be a victim of authority
I'll always be a part of the minority
(A) Save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) So tell me, tell me, tell me what you want from me,
I don't wanna be another social casualty
(A) La la la la la la da da
La la la la la la da da
So save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) Don't wanna be a victim of authority
I'll always be a part of the minority
(A) Save me from who I'm supposed to be
(P) So tell me, tell me, tell me what you want from me,
I don't wanna be another social casualty
(A) La la la la la la da da
(P) Social casualty
(A) La la la la la la da da
When we all finished, Beck started whooping. "WOOOOOOOO! That was awesome!" We all chuckled at his antics. My mom brought us water and told us good job before she walked back inside the house. Tyson ran off somewhere so we all sat on the couch that he was siting at. By we, I meant me and Nico. Beck and Leo sat on the loveseat we also had in there. We just sat there in a comfortable silence before Leo blurted out, "Let's go do something." We looked at him. "Like what?" Nico asked. "I don't know but, guys, it's Friday! There must be like a gajillion parties going on right now." Leo said. Beck rested his head on his hand and said, "Leo, I'm pretty sure we have to be popular to get into a party."
Leo, being the positive man he is, stood up and told us, "Guys! We could just sneak in! Please! I don't want to have nothing to do on a Friday." Beck sighed and stood up. "He's right."
"We know." Nico and I muttered as we stood up. Beck grabbed his keys off the counter and off we went.
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The party was great. For the other guys. I was just there at the bar the whole time while the guys were making out with girls they'd just met except Beck, who has a girlfriend. He was just dancing. I wasn't going to allow myself to get drunk, so I just drank a coke. The guys on the other hand, got drunk as hell. When we were walking back to the car, they couldn't stop giggling. "And then she asked for my name." Nico giggled. He was currently talking about the girl he just met and he apparently found everything she said funny. The guys started giggling all together. I sighed. Why do they always have to get drunk when we go to a party?
We finally found the car behind an abandoned building. (Yes, the place was that crowded.) Unfortunately, Beck thought he was in a good enough state to drive us home. "Look I'll just call you guys a cab and I'll take the bus." I reasoned. "Why don't you come with us?" Nico slurred. "Because I don't have enough money for all 4 of us." I responded. "But what about my car?" Beck whined. I sighed. "We'll come pick it up in the morning. When you're sober."
"Why don't you just drive it back?" Leo asked. Wow, they're asking a lot of questions. "Because I don't have my driver's license." I said. I pulled out my phone and called the cab company.
When the cab arrived, I gave the driver their addresses while they stumbled into the car. The driver nodded in thanks when I gave him the money. I turned towards the back door to see Leo playing with the window button. They all giggled as it went up and down. I chuckled at the funny sight. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Beck, Leo and Nico waved at me. "Bye Percy!" They all said simultaneously. And with that the cab drove away. Giggles were heard until they disappeared from sight.
I walked to the closest bus stop and waited. After for what seemed like hours, the bus arrived. I entered the bus. For it being 2:00 in the morning, it was pretty packed. I paid the bus driver the little I had and he let me in. I found a seat in the back of the bus. The bus was old. You could see mold forming from under the seats and rust on the blue metal roof. It smelled of cigarettes, beer, and pee.
I sat there and tried to hold my breath, trying not to smell the horrible stench. We came to a stop and at least 10 people got off. Leaving me, two cat ladies, and a man in jogging shorts and a marathon t-shirt. He was either talking to himself or had on a Bluetooth because he kept saying "George" and "Martha" (*wink*)
The bus took off. I heard yelling in the distance. "Wait!" A woman's voice. I turned around and looked out the back window to see a woman running after the bus. "Wait!" She yelled again. I got up and yelled, "Hey stop the bus! There's someone who wants to get on!" I jogged over the back doors and waited for the bus to stop. He stopped and a green light lit up above the doors, indicating that he unlocked the back doors for her to get in. I pushed the doors open and waited for the woman. She caught up and I literally felt the world go in slow motion. She had blonde curls that shaped her face perfectly and was also in a neat bun. Her eyes were stormy gray. She was wearing an unbuttoned salmon blazer with a white shirt under it. She also had black skinny jeans to go along with the outfit. She was wearing heels. That must've been really uncomfortable to run in.
I shook out of my trance and held out a hand. "Need help?" I asked. She smiled at me breathlessly and took my hand. I felt electricity run through our hands. I decided not to comment on it. Sadly, she let go and went to go pay the bus driver. I went to go sit back down. She sat next to me and I couldn't have been happier in my life. She over took the horrible smell with her amazing scent of lemon.
She turned towards me as the bus took off once again. "So did you stop the bus for me?" She asked. I smiled at her. "Yeah." I said dreamily. "Thanks." She smiled. "You're welcome."
"So… my name is Annabeth Chase. What's yours?" She said holding out her hand. "Percy Jackson." I replied while shaking her hand. "What are doing here all alone at 2:10 the morning?" She asked looking at her small gold wrist watch. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I corrected. "Hey! I'm 22. I can be out late if I want. How old are you?" She said. My heart dropped. 22? I'm only 17. Isn't it illegal to date a minor when you're over 21? But I really want to get to know this girl. So I did what any normal guy would do.
I lied.
"Um… I'm 22 as well." I said. She looked surprised. "Really? I would've guessed that you were younger."
"Well, I would've guessed that you were at least 17." I said truthfully. She blushed. "I don't look that young." I smiled at her. She looked cute when she blushed. She blushed even more. Oops, did I say that out loud? "Yeah, you did."
Now it was my turn to blush.
We talked for a while getting to know each other better. The more stuff she told me, the more I liked her. When her stop came, she looked disappointed. "This is my stop…" She stood up. Before she walked away, I gathered up all my courage and asked her, "Can I have your phone number?"
She smiled. "Yeah." We exchanged phone numbers and she walked to the back doors. She looked at me and winked. "See you later… Percy Jackson." And with that she left. Leaving me there, with my heart longing to see her again.
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I arrived at my home at 2:45. My mom was asleep on the couch as well as Tyson. They were probably waiting for me. I covered them with blankets before heading upstairs to my room.
I collapsed on my bed and thought about how much I loved that ratty old bus for helping me find the girl of my dreams.