A/N: Let's be clear with this front and center. Percy is still Percy even though he's a girl here. Luke is Luce. Grover is Glen. Ethan is Ethel. Travis & Connor are Trixie & Codie. Thalia is Thames. Clarisse is Caesar. Silena is Sinclair. Annabeth is Anthony. Rachel is Rynell. And all the adults retain their names and sexes because.
This is my first time writing genderbent characters to if you spot a wrong pronoun please notify me so I can make amends :)
xOxOx
Of all the days to forget an umbrella.
Percy looks out at the downpour with a miserable frown, zipping up her backpack and hugging it against her chest, strapped on backwards as it was. The wind isn't particularly strong but the chilly air has Percy shivering; three-fourth sleeves are apparently not enough of a defense. She looks on with a bit of jealousy at the pair of students sharing a yellow spotted umbrella trudging across the street.
She didn't really mean to stay so late. It's just that it's a Friday and Glen had her Earth Society meeting and the swim team's practice unexpectedly got cancelled so Percy took refuge in the AV room watching slideshows of – well, it's no use making excuses now.
January rainstorms are spontaneous and bitingly cold. Very few students still wander the halls and most of the lights on the upper floors are already off. Cars line up in front of the main entrance, a guy wearing a pink sweatervest rushes past her towards an army green convertible; the door to its back seat opens, revealing what might be the kid's mom picking him up. A shiny red sports car takes the convertible's spot when it drives off.
Sighing, Percy mentally prepares herself to bolt into the rain. She has already spent twenty minutes waiting for it to let up, any more and her own mom might start worrying. Hugging her backpack closer, Percy heads down the front steps only to stop when a heavy cloth of some sort is dumped on top of her head.
She almost trips her way down the remaining steps if not for the steady grip on her shoulder. It's followed by a rich chuckle and a familiar smell of honey. "Easy there, Ocean Eyes."
Percy straightens up, more effort going into keeping her voice steady than anything else. "Luce. Hi."
Standing on the step above her, dressed in a faded Watchmen t-shirt and cut-off shorts was none other than the volleyball team captain and Goode High School's resident heartthrob (though Percy tries not to think much about that last part).
The senior grins, just the right side of confident mixed in with friendly. Luce's hand moves to rearrange the weighty material over Percy's head. Once done, Luce cocks her head to one side, nodding in approval of her handiwork. "I'm still kind of afraid you'd turn back into a mermaid if you're doused with water." Her blue eyes gleam with mirth.
"Your analogies are getting old," Percy replies cheekily, finding relief at their comfortable bantering. "And I am part of the swim team, you know." She rolls her eyes, noticing at last the familiar design of her new headpiece. The question barely manages to form on her tongue when two loud honks sound from the sports car in front of them.
Luce eyes the girls who are calling her over, the rolled down windows showing around four of them inside the car. "Give me a sec!" Focusing back on Percy, she shrugs. "I'll see you around, then."
"Wait your jacket–"
"You need it, Ocean Eyes." Luce waves her off, descending the steps.
"No I don't," Percy insists, ready to pull off the clothing article but Luce gives her that look and all of Percy's motor functions suddenly cease.
"Yeah, you do." Luce stops by the open car door; Percy recognizes Ethel with the Stoll sisters inside. "Just borrow it for the time being. I don't want to see you sniffling down the halls Monday, got it?"
Percy blinks and Luce nods as though it's all the confirmation she needs.
The sports vehicle drives off with Luce, leaving Percy standing on the front steps barely daring to breathe because holy hell – the varsity jacket smells overpoweringly of Lucille Castellan.
xOxOx
Percy meets Luce on the first day of high school.
Percy's a transferee; she and her best friend Glen Underwood, actually. They've gone to the same schools since kindergarten and have been friends for just as long but on this day Glen isn't with her. She's come down with a bad case of the flu and has been bedridden for two days now.
So Percy goes to school, after her mom rebuffed every excuse she had not to go without Glen. If only they hadn't gotten involved in pranking Nash Bobofit last year maybe then they wouldn't have been advised to transfer. But that was then – and she doesn't completely regret it because payback is super sweet – and this is now and now Percy's the fish out of water all over again.
She spends five minutes standing in the middle of a hallways crossroads, staring uncomprehendingly at the piece of paper that holds her class schedule. She's gotten to her locker okay but now class time was approaching and she's kind of lost. A shiver runs through her coupled with the feeling of being watched. She looks up and there's a pair of girls (twins, by the look of it) who are staring back. A smile stretches out on both their faces, eerily synchronized, and they walk over.
"Freshie?" the one in the green shirt asks. Their faces are similar to the last pore Percy thinks it's a small blessing they at the very least chose to wear different t-shirts.
"Um, yeah," Percy replies. Without a warning, her class schedule gets ripped out of her hands by the twin in a maroon shirt.
"Ooh, you got Mr. D for homeroom," green-shirt twin comments, glancing over at her sister. "Tough."
"Can you help me find the classroom?" Percy ventures, she doesn't want to be late on her first day.
The twins share a look, Percy thinks it's her oblivious optimism that made her miss the conniving grin that passes between the two. They hand her schedule back, sweeping their arms in a grand gesture. "This way."
She doesn't know what exactly it was that made her trust them but she follows without question. "I'm Percy," she says as they round a corner.
"We know," the twins chorused, winding through the crowd easily. Their tall stature certainly helped. Percy shoots them a bewildered look and they snort. "Read it on your schedule."
"Oh. Yeah, of course." Mentally, Percy smacks herself. Duh. "So, what're your names?"
They smirked at her. "She's Trixie," the green-shirt girl said. "She's Codie," maroon-shirt supplied.
"Nice to meet you," Percy smiled. She realizes she probably should be paying attention to the route but then her guides stopped, gesturing to a door.
"Here you are, kid." Trixie nods towards the closed door, the small window on it showed a dark interior. "It's still pretty early, don't be surprised that no one's in yet."
"Yeah," Codie chimed in. "And I hear Mr. D doesn't even show up for the first week so might as well get a comfy seat."
"Thanks."
The twins nod at her and move on. Percy has half the mind to call them back and maybe hang out a bit but it looks like they had somewhere else to be so Percy lets them go. She pushes the door open, eyes sweeping through the dimly lit room. Barely two steps in, there's an ear-splitting shout.
"WHAT THE FUCK – GET OUT OF HERE!"
Percy's gaze zeroes in on the corner where there's two people and they're – oh. She stumbles back, tripping on her own feet and landing on her ass on the floor of the hallway. The other students stare at her and the classroom door slams shut but it doesn't stay like that for long.
Angry stomps precede the appearance of a very angry young man. His brown hair is slicked back and pointy, exposing a livid face with eyes dark like burning coal. "You!" He finds Percy, still sprawled on the linoleum-covered ground, and stalks over with clear intent to murder.
"I'm sorry!" Percy scrambles backwards, eyes wide. Nash Bobofit looked like a wimp compared to this one. "I didn't know – my homeroom class is supposed to–"
"Homeroom?!" The guy towering over her grits his teeth, Percy wouldn't have been surprised if they were razor sharp like a predator's; they aren't, but they might as well have been with how Percy's cowering before him. "Can't you read, dipshit?"
She looks past him to see the plaque over the door; it read Choir Room, complete with musical notes decorating the corners. Leaning against the doorway is a Latino-looking girl in a turtleneck dress, she's looking at Percy but her gaze shows nothing less than a more composed sort of anger. The whole hall is quiet but Percy very vaguely hears cackling from somewhere. Those twins. Damn it.
"I'm new," Percy tries to explain. "There were these girls and they said–" Her rambling gets cut short when the guy picks her up by the collar.
He winds back his other arm, fist closed tight. Nobody seems to want to step in.
Percy squeezes her eyes shut, bracing herself for the inevitable.
"Caesar, calm down…"
Another hand covers the one holding up her shirt and Percy dares to open her eyes. Standing beside them are two guys and a girl. It's the girl whose meaningful grip and stern gaze has Caesar relinquishing his hold. Percy is dropped on her feet, a surge of relief filling her when her savior turns away and crosses her arms at the livid brunet, blocking any advance Caesar might try.
One of the guys puts his hand on Caesar's shoulder. He has porcelain skin and his raven hair is styled like he belonged in one of those popular boybands. The appeasing smile on him does nothing to calm his hot-headed friend. Caesar huffs, maintaining his glare on Percy. "She's a spying little sl–"
"No she isn't," the other guy said, dark eyeliner accentuating his electric blue eyes. A smirk is playing on his lips as he goes on to explain. "The Stolls led her to the room, just another tasteless prank; you know how they can be."
The Latina comes up beside Caesar, laying hand on his bicep. "Come on, Cee, I think I know where we can find those little devils." Her curly brown hair is held up in a messy bun, dark brown eyes finding Percy who flinched at her strict gaze. "Word of advice, newbie, don't trust those obnoxious b-words if you know what's good for you."
With that Caesar and his girlfriend stalked off, students keeping to the walls until they've taken the stairs and were out of sight.
"I better make sure they don't actually kill anyone," pretty boy says, going after the pair once his two friends nodded their agreement.
Percy breathes in a huge gulp of air, pressing a hand over her heart and willing its pace to slow back to normal. See, this is why she needs Glen around. If they were together, she wouldn't have fallen into the trap of she-devils incarnate.
"Perseus Jackson? Is this you?"
She looks up to find her savior – a blond upperclassman studying her. The second their eyes meet, Percy feels the very air she just inhaled heat up, sparking the most subtle current of electricity under her skin. If the way the other girl's mouth – thin lips colored pink like a fresh rosebud – drops open, Percy guesses she probably felt it too.
In the split second it takes the older girl to compose herself, Percy has already taken note of the rest of her. Tall stature accentuated by a lean build, she carries the color orange extremely well with her tanned complexion and her tank top flaunts the benefits of good genetics and athleticism. She wears her sandy blond hair short with one thin and longish braid falling down her left shoulder.
"Nice name," she flashes a sunny smile, maintaining eye contact even as she hands over the slightly frayed piece of paper.
"Thanks." Taking back her schedule, Percy feels her own smile growing with the brush of their fingers. "But I actually just–"
"Are those contacts?" her other savior interrupts, getting up close and looking intently at Percy's eyes.
Percy's a bit startled, and a little annoyed at having being cut short but she knows she kind of owes these people. "I'm not wearing contacts," she replies bemusedly, it's only been the millionth time she's heard that comment.
"They're wicked green," eyeliner guy exclaims, grinning.
"Nah, they're more like deep waters, actually," bombshell blond corrects her friend. He's half a head shorter than her and while she's dressed in breezy casual, he's decked out in a leather jacket, dark pants, and a studded belt.
They share a laugh and Percy just knows these two are inseparable.
"Ocean Eyes," the girl declares, something like triumph in her tone. "I'm gonna call you Ocean Eyes."
"E-Excuse me?" Percy stutters, feeling oddly flattered but at the same time wanting to give this girl her preferred name, the one that isn't an embarrassing result of her parents' obsession with Greek mythology.
"I'm Luce." The blond takes her hand and shakes, letting go too quickly for Percy's liking. "And this is Sister Grimm."
"Jesus H., Lu!" 'Sister Grimm' mutters, mock punching Luce on the shoulder. "Stop calling me that."
"I liked the Runaways," Percy comments, certain that she was blushing when Luce's smile grew wider in her direction.
"And I'm liking you more and more each second."
Hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her jeans, Percy continues. "I'm guessing that makes you Lucy in the Sky."
Luce's eyes were blue like a clear summer sky and they not-so-subtly appraised Percy's form, an impressed grin curling at the corner of her lips. "I certainly don't remember being this cool as a freshman…"
"Are you a senior, then?" Percy asks, curious but at the same time dreading the fact that she may only have one year to actually get to know her.
A delighted chuckle escapes Luce. "Do I look that old?"
Percy bites her lip, shrugging.
A cough sounds from between them and 'Sister Grimm' jerks his hand over at the door behind him. "The choir room is vacant if you ladies want to take that chemistry and see what multi-verse it leads you to."
He could be teasing but the dead serious expression on him made Percy think otherwise. The heat on her cheeks, however, can't be imaginary.
"Aw, don't be jealous now." Luce wraps an arm around eyeliner guy's shoulder and squeezes him to her side. "You know I don't hit on freshmen on purpose."
He slaps at her hand but doesn't displace it. "Whatever." Looking back at Percy, he introduces himself properly. "It's Thames, kid, and don't you forget it. Now come on, we'll see you to your proper homeroom."
xOxOx
Monday morning, Percy hangs around Luce's locker waiting for the blond to come around. She has Luce's varsity letter jacket draped over her arms, freshly laundered and regrettably free of Luce's personal scent.
Glen is busy with her phone in one hand and a breakfast burrito in the other. "So tell me again why we're waiting here instead of heading to class?"
Percy shoots her a pointed look. "I'm returning Luce's jacket because someone went ahead without me last Friday; leaving me stuck in school in the middle of a rainstorm."
"Hey, I already said sorry." Glen rearranges her shoulder bag and pockets her phone. She uses the half-eaten burrito to point at her best friend. "And if it wasn't for that unfortunate mishap, you would never have gotten temporary ownership of the quote, unquote Turin Shroud." A knowing expression descends on Glen and she leans in closer to whisper. "So spill. How much force did it take your mom to wrench that thing off of your grabby hands?"
"What?" Percy's jaw drops. "I didn't cling to–"
"Oh, of course." Glen leans her shoulder against the lockers. "You've probably sniffed out every last bit of her scent overnight." She takes a bite of her breakfast, putting up a close-mouthed smile with her cheeks filled up.
"I did not." Percy pouts and crosses her arms more tightly, inadvertently hugging Luce's jacket closer to her chest. At the knowing raise of Glen's brow, Percy deflates. "Okay. Fine. I wore it to sleep. One night, and most of Saturday, but that's it." She glares at Glen. "This doesn't get out, okay?"
Glen takes another bite of burrito, doing a mime of zipping up her mouth. She steps up beside Percy, lining up their sides and putting her head on Percy's shoulder. "You, my girl, have got it so bad it's not even funny anymore."
"Shut up," Percy mumbles, willing away the blush threatening to rise on her cheeks. "It's just a jacket."
"Uh-huh." Glen feels her phone vibrate and fishes it out of her pocket. "Oh crap, class starts in five minutes. We'd better get going."
Percy looks over at the bright screen. "What? But the jacket…"
"You can give it to Luce later." Glen pulls away and tugs at Percy's hand. "Come on, we have a report to present."
"But…" Percy keeps glancing back at Luce's locker as Glen leads her towards their first class. "Oh, alright."
xOxOx
It's already the end of the day when Percy finally manages to find Luce.
The gymnasium is occupied by the dozen-something members of the varsity volleyball team seated on the floor. Their coach is drawing strategies on the whiteboard in front of them and he turns around at the sound of rubber soles squeaking upon contact with polished wood.
"Yes?" He raises one thick brow at Percy, prompting his charges to look up as well.
Percy sees Luce seated right up front, a knitted cardigan covering her jersey top. "I, uh, came here to return something…" Hastily, Percy digs through her backpack but the coach's stern tone calls for her attention.
"If this isn't a matter of importance I'd suggest you vacate the premises." The man crosses his arms, unimpressed. "We're in the middle of something important." His short temper is just as legendary as his coaching skills and Percy can't help losing more than a little bit of confidence.
Just then, Luce raises a hand and stands up. "She's here for me, coach. Let me take care of it." She gives the man a smile and he waves her off with the smallest grunt of approval. Being the team's star player, it's no surprise Luce is some kind of favorite. She strides over to where Percy is idling by the doors, grinning wider as she jogged the last few meters.
Back at the board, the coach continues dictating offense tactics and formations.
"You should know better than to just breeze into a v-ball huddle," Luce teases, whispering once she was face to face with Percy. "Coach isn't called The General for nothing."
"Sorry," Percy replies, sheepish. "I didn't see you at your locker and you were a no-show at lunch, this was kind of my last resort to return your jacket on time." She pulls out the item from her bag and presents it to Luce.
"Aw, you're too sweet, Ocean Eyes." Luce takes the jacket and puts it on. "Thanks."
"No problem." Percy beams. "Well, I don't want to hold you back, those top secret strategies aren't going to learn themselves…"
"That they aren't," Luce agrees with a chuckle. "But if you can wait until practice is over, think about 6:30? I'll treat you someplace."
"Huh?" Percy has to stop herself from sounding as flustered as she feels with this sudden proposition. "That's not really necessary."
"Oh but I want to," Luce presses, a mischievous undertone lining her words. "What are you going to do about it?"
"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm kind of in a hurry right now." Percy wrings her hands in front of her. "Glen's waiting for me and there's this errand my mom–"
Luce didn't seem fazed by the lost opportunity, instead she asks, "How about tomorrow?"
"Tuesdays and Fridays I have swim practice," Percy informs her senior, a strange blend of anxiety churning in her belly. "But Saturday…"
"Saturday, we have a game," Luce nods back at her team. "Hmm."
Squeezing her hands together, Percy mumbles "Sorry" looking up at Luce with the most apologetic expression she can manage to express her inner turmoil.
Luce just shakes her head, grinning wryly. "Don't be. I just never thought asking you out was going to be so tricky." At the sight of red blooming on Percy's cheeks and the widening of those impossibly bright eyes, Luce's grin grows. "I mean, if you still haven't caught on by now I must be getting really rusty at this."
"I, I just… wow." Percy breaks eye contact, staring at her shoes while she tries to get her suddenly-dry throat working again.
"Tell you what," Luce picks up the conversation, her cool blue eyes mellowing with warmth as Percy returns her gaze. "I'll give you tickets to the game on Saturday. After it we can hang out."
"Hang out?" Percy raises a brow, feeling unbelievably buoyant now that she has actually processed the whole thing. "I think the word you're looking for is 'date'."
Leaning in close, Luce smirks and pokes Percy on the nose with a finger. "I'll see you Saturday, then… Date." She walks back to her teammates, a couple of which were grinning and looking past her towards the sophomore.
For her part, Percy vainly tries to keep her eyes in the opposite direction from the sway of Luce's hips. Damn those jersey shorts for fitting so snugly. She meets devilish grins from Trixie and Codie seated at the back row and Percy promptly turns around to flee before "The General" finds her loitering.
xOxOx
Percy exits the shower room to find Thames waiting, cross-legged on the bench between the lockers.
"So I heard you're dating Lulu now."
"Holy mother of–!" Percy grips the towel securely over her chest, backing up so that the locker corners would hide her from the other's sight. "What are you doingin here?!" screeches the swimmer.
"I wanted to talk to you," Thames replies, unfazed. "You know that's not gonna happen when you're hiding from sight, right?"
"I'm underdressed, in case you haven't noticed," Percy snaps. "Can't you wait outside like a normal person?"
"Fiiine," Thames drawls out. There's a sound of boots hitting the tiles and the creak of the door hinges.
Percy takes a peek to make sure the place is empty before hurrying over to her locker and putting on her clothes in record time. Stuffing the wet towel into a plastic bag, Percy zips up her backpack and heads out, mentally preparing herself for whatever interrogation Thames has planned.
At the bleachers, Thames is blasting music from his iPad, fluorescent lighting reflected by swimming pool bathing him in an almost immaculate manner. Almost. Seeing Percy walk out, he perks up and immediately shuts off the device. "So tell me, who asked who, Ocean Eyes?"
"How did you even know about that?" Percy asks; Glen is the only person she's told so how… But then again, the whole volleyball team witnessed Luce and her walking off together after the game.
Thames is grinning ear to ear. "So it is true! Hah, and here I was thinking Sinclair was pulling my leg." Then his expression turns thoughtful. "But now this begs the question of why dear Lucy in the Sky never told me about this."
"What do you mean – wait, wait, exactly how…" Percy's brows knit together as she tries to makes sense of the situation. The mere of thought of Sinclair knowing – god, the guy is super nice but he can be such a headache with his insatiable thirst for gossip. Percy knows well and true that underneath that perfectly coifed hair, pretty boy Sinclair holds the biggest vault of secrets about everyone, every. one. in school. "Who told Sinclair?" Percy groans.
"I think it was the Stolls," Thames mused.
"Damn," Percy mutters. "Does anyone else know?"
Tapping a hand to his cheek, Thames digs through his memory. "Well I heard Anthony whispering with Rynell about it at the library at lunch."
"Anthony?" Percy thinks back to just this morning when Glen was fawning all over her, pressing for details on her date with Luce. Anthony Chase occupies the locker beside Percy's and while they knew each other in passing, Percy never thought her prim, bookish schoolmate as someone who'd be spreading gossip around. "I thought he was all about architecture and history and stuff…"
Thames' blue eyes stared at Percy, rapt. "Are you kidding me?"
"What?" Percy shrugs. "I thought everyone knew that…"
"I'm not talking about the stupid – ugh…" Throwing his hands up for emphasis, Thames leaned forward and poked Percy on the chest. "He's been crushing on you for ages, dummy!"
"He, He was?" It's Percy's turn to be in shock. "But… He has a photo of Luce in his locker!" She's seen it a million times and Anthony is extremely defensive about it so Percy assumed that Anthony likes Luce as well.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Thames asks, raising a quizzical brow.
"Well, don't people usually put pictures of people they like in their lockers?"
Thames snorts. "I have a photo of Billy Joe Armstrong in there but I seriously don't want to bone the guy."
"Isn't that because he's married, has kids, and is most certainly not gay?" Percy says, not altogether sure how they've gotten to the topic but going along anyway.
"Everyone is gay, Percy," Thames states matter-of-factly. "Even if it's just a little. You're gay, I'm gay, everyone in this room is gay."
The door opens, breaking the echo of voices and the monotone of rippling waters. Glen shuffles in to find Thames and Percy staring at her. Unnerved, she raises a brow at them. "What?"
Simultaneous laughter erupts from the pair. Glen walks over and crosses her arms, demanding an explanation.
"But Glen has boyfriend, don't you, Glen?" Percy looks up at her best friend, subtly wiping moisture from her eyes.
"Um, yeah, so is either of you gonna tell me what's so funny?" Glen looks between the two, raising a brow so high it almost disappeared under the messy fringe of her curly hair.
Thames is still cackling so Percy takes a breath and goes on to explain. "Apparently news is out that Luce and I went on a date last Saturday…"
"Well, it's not like we expected things to remain quiet," Glen reminds her. "Luce is kind of at the top of the high school status quo. And you're not exactly anonymous." She nods at Percy.
"You know what I seriously don't understand?" Thames pipes up, suddenly sober. "Why Lu didn't tell me about this in person."
Glen and Percy share a glance. Shrugging, Percy replies. "Maybe she's waiting for the right time?"
"It's been two full days since the date," Thames points out. "Best Friend rules say I should've been informed of it a day before the actual event and within two hours after its conclusion."
Percy bites at her bottom lip. "Um… Have you talked to her about it?"
"Haven't you been listening to me?" Thames furrows his brows, his hurt expression intensified by the dark liner around his eyes. "I only found out at lunch today. Luce and I don't share any classes on Mondays but I sent her a text."
"And?"
A huff escapes Thames. "No reply."
"Well…" Percy smiles gently. "I was planning to go home early but I can keep you company if you want to wait for v-ball practice to end… You two can talk then."
"Am I seriously going to take friendship advice from my best friend's girlfriend?" Thames' half-smile leans on the wry side. Percy blushes spectacularly and Glen covers up her grin by looking away. "Alright, then, Ocean Eyes, get up. You're coming, too, Valley Girl."
Glen just sighs. "Can we at least get some snacks while we wait?"
xOxOx
"So about that concert…"
Luce slides onto the bench beside Percy, smiling at the younger girl. Percy raises a cheese-dipped French fry to Luce who takes it and then presses a kiss to her cheek.
"Ew…" Percy leans away, feeling the wet imprint left by Luce's kiss. She swipes off the cheese with her thumb, placing the digit against her lips to clean it off. Luce's eyes gleam approvingly and Percy blushes.
"Oh god my poor innocent eyes!" comes a wail from the opposite end of the table. Trixie and Codie have a hand over each other's eyes, while Thames pretends to choke on air.
"Like you people are actually innocent," Sinclair snorts, thumbing through his phone.
"Thank you," Luce nods at him before turning her attention back on Percy. "Now as I was saying, the concert on Valentine's Day is going to be pretty big. We're co-sponsoring it with the basketball varsity."
"It won't be anywhere near the bust that was last year's damn masquerade," adds Thames. "We're getting a proper band this time; it's a special one, right Lu?"
Luce gives him a pointed stare that Thames easily deflects with a shrug.
Percy wants to ask but then Glen drops onto the seat beside her with Anthony and Rynell finding their places on the opposite bench. Percy smiles at them – Anthony never to be seen without his Yankees cap, Rynell with his marker-doodled jeans – they made a good kind of friendship and she's actually pretty glad they got grouped together for that experiment paper in bio class. It broke the unspoken tension between her and Anthony little by little. And while the guy can still be a bit stiff around her sometimes, Rynell's free-spirited attitude usually balances it out.
"Mr. Leneus should be returning our graded papers soon," Anthony starts, puncturing his juice box with a bendy straw. "I'm not expecting anything higher than a B+ but if that little slip up of yours causes that mark to–"
"It was one typo!" Percy wails, having heard enough of the other teen's lecture. "And I thought the reason you wanted to proof-read everything yourself is so we can avoid that. So what happened, Mr. Perfect?"
"Guys, seriously," Rynell cuts in, using a plastic spoon to point at his two other group mates. "What's done is done. I personally think we did better than anyone else, so there's no need to point fingers at anybody right now." He finishes the statement by feeding himself some yogurt.
There's a second more of tense staring until Percy sighs and breaks her gaze. "Truce…?"
"Yeah, alright," Anthony accepts.
Rynell nods his approval before taking out the spoon from his mouth and then addressing Luce. "So is it true, then? Zip Code is gonna be here on Valentine's?"
Luce narrows her eyes suspiciously. "You know them?"
Blinking, Rynell shrugs. "Well, yeah, half the kids here probably know them. They were at this Art for the Children event I went to last summer and I got an autograph, too. Speaking of, isn't the guy who–"
"Yes!" Luce's tone is weighed with heavy implications that led to Rynell wisely shutting up. "And now, if you'd please, I'd like to continue properly asking a certain someone here to go as my date."
"Oh, gee, I wonder who that is," Thames quips around his soda can.
"You know I'd love you go with you," Trixie follows, batting her eyelashes at Luce as Codie cackles beside her. "But I only see you as a dear friend, Luce, I hope you understand that."
Luce exasperatedly rolls her eyes. "And you people wonder why I don't go for guys." Hearing Percy giggle, Luce's smile turns a little warmer. "As I was saying…"
"Luce!"
The table's occupants look up to find a pale and lanky girl stopping beside them. She wore her long, silky black hair loose and there was always something nervous in her expression.
"Ethel, what's up?" Luce asks.
"The General wants to see you," Ethel Nakamura relates, thumb and forefinger rubbing at the too-long sleeves of her varsity jacket. "Something about practice schedule and that concert…"
"Right now?" Luce pouts.
Ethel nods.
Sighing, the blond varsity captain vacates her seat. Turning to say goodbye, Luce finds Percy's hand latching onto her own.
"Before you go, there's something I need to ask you," Percy says, grinning bright.
"Yeah?" Luce raises a brow, smile growing fonder at the sight of her varsity jacket on Percy.
"Will you be my date to that Valentine's Concert?"