Whoops, something I forgot to do last time:
Disclaimer: Any characters or brands you recognise do not belong to me but to Rick Riordan or their respective owners. I own nothing but the plot.
Thanks to all who read the last chapter, I hope this one doesn't disappoint you!
Edit: I spelled Blofis wrong, I'm sorry, that's fixed now.
"No! Your hair is still blue? But it's been 24 hours!" Jason's cry echoed through the hallway.
"Um, not exactly Jace," Annabeth replied.
"Then what's with the Yankees cap? Speaking of, why on earth do you support the Yankees?"
"They're my mother's team, she gave it to me for my birthday. But I need it to hide my hair."
"Why? I thought you said it's not blue anymore?"
Annabeth looked up and down the corridor before pulling Jason into an empty classroom and yanking off her cap. Instead of her long, blonde curls, or even blue ringlets, she had short, blonde stubble. Jason stared in horror.
"Oh my god Annabeth, I'm so sorry! What does your soul mate think they're doing?"
"It… wasn't my soul mate."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I was panicking! My stepmom ripped into me for my hair and it just wasn't changing back and I didn't know what else to do so I kinda… cut it all off. This is why we shouldn't have soulmates, they make you crazy!"
"Annabeth, you need to calm down okay? This soulmate thing is only a big deal if you let it. You need to stop and breathe. Where's the Annabeth Chase I know, the one who always has a plan, and a backup plan, and a backup backup plan, and a –"
"Okay I get it. I wasn't thinking. It's just… how on Earth am I meant to be taken seriously with blue hair? What kind of… of… seaweed brain dyes their hair blue? Why did I have to get a complete idiot for a soulmate?
"Seaweed brain? That's the best insult you could come up with?"
"Leave me alone Jason, I've gone full '07 Britney in the last 24 hours, let me have this one."
"Okay fine. Let's go through everything that's happened. You first noticed your hair was blue when?"
"Yesterday just before homeroom, you know that Jason."
"Okay, so at about 8am. Do you know when it turned back to blonde?"
"I don't know, I shaved my head just after seven, and then I stopped checking my reflection. I woke up and it was back to normal."
"Okay, so we know it lasts over eleven hours but less than twenty-two."
"Yeah, okay, but I don't see how this is important Jason, my hair is still short and I still have a gods-damned soulmate."
"It's important because we can make a plan for next time. We know roughly the time it lasts, so there will be no need for such drastic measures," Jason said reassuringly.
"What if it's not time based? What if I need to sleep it off? What if –"
"Easy Annabeth, let's just stop for a moment. Stop thinking about this as a soulmate thing, and start thinking of it as a… as a scientific experiment! We have some other hypotheses to test out, but we'll work it out. Let's just stay calm okay?"
"Yeah… yeah I like that idea."
"Alright, now slap that cap back on before Octavian sees your hair. I think the only thing worse than blue jokes would be bald jokes from him."
"Ugh, don't remind me. I hope he finds his soulmate soon, maybe that'll put a stop to his consistent hate on them."
Jason gasped, "Annabeth Chase, have you joined the light side already?"
"What, no! It's just I have a soul link which is rather obvious, therefore I'm gonna be a target. He annoys me enough as it is without adding soulmates to his artillery."
"Nah, I don't buy that, I reckon you're already growing fond of your soulmate," Jason cheekily replied.
"Jason, I cut off all my hair to remove any trace of my soulmate, please tell me how any of that tells you I'm 'growing fond'?"
"Annabeth, de-Nile needs to stay in Africa. Admit it, you like the thought of having a soulmate."
"You're impossible. You need to stop spending so much time talking to Piper, the Jason Grace from six months ago would never have said something so sappy."
"Okay, I admit Piper is having an influence on me, but that's not a bad thing! I was in the same boat as you, I'd only ever seen the bad examples of soulmates, but you can't say Piper isn't amazing."
"Maybe for you, I've never spoken to the girl."
"You can if you want to, I don't mind if you wanna write on my arm."
"Sure, maybe I could tell her about the stapler."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Well if you keep harping on about soulmates and making me rush to class, I might be tempted into doing so. Now come on, we've got to get to homeroom. It's the only class Blofis takes that's actually enjoyable. Why does such a good teacher have to teach English of all things?" Annabeth made her way to the door as she spoke, readjusting her cap.
"Soulmates can be great Chase, just you wait and see!"
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"Your soulmate is great," Piper said between laughs as Percy showed her his hair.
"You could be a little more sympathetic you know," Percy whined.
"I could, but you're almost bald and that's too much to handle. You deserve it you know, you probably turned their hair blue," the Cherokee girl reasoned cheekily, her kaleidoscope eyes alive with a brilliant blue in her delight.
"Well that's not my fault! How was I supposed to know I had voodoo hair?"
"I don't know why you're complaining Percy, I think you look sharp," said Grover - Percy's other best friend, a boy who'd been on crutches for as long as Percy had known him due to a muscular disease in his legs - before he and Piper cracked up once more.
"Oh ha ha, everyone's suddenly a comedian," Percy grumbled as he replaced his beanie. "Remind me why I'm friends with you guys again?"
"Because we're the only ones La Rue can't scare away," replied Piper.
"Ugh don't remind me," said Percy.
"It was your own fault Percy," said Grover, "you could've been fine without them ever bothering you."
"I wasn't just about to let them bully you without anyone saying anything. Besides, Clarisse has hated me since the moment I entered the school."
"That's 'cause you said she smelled!" Grover cried.
"Well it wasn't a lie!"
"That doesn't make it okay Perce!"
"Grover, how can you of all people defend her?" Percy asked.
"I'm not, I'm just saying you didn't help the situation, there wasn't a need to start something with her."
"Grover, you were shoulder deep in a toilet when he found you," reasoned Piper.
"Yes, but they hadn't tried to hide my crutches up until that point, so I chalk that up as a win."
Percy opened his mouth to fire another remark when he was interrupted.
"Oi Jackson!" A girl larger than Percy in height and build yelled as she walked over to their group. Flanking her were two other girls who in comparison looked petite despite the fact the shortest still stood six inches above Percy.
Percy groaned before turning to Piper, "You did this to us. You mentioned her name and now you've summoned the devil," he whispered furiously. "What do you want Clarisse?" he said in a louder voice.
"I heard your hair is a lovely shade of Smurf vomit, I wanted to see for myself," the bigger girl replied with a cruel laugh.
"I prefer cobalt blue."
Percy winced at Piper's reply, it didn't help his case at all. Piper saw his expression and cringed too. Clarisse cackled with glee, she'd been given a weapon served up on a silver platter. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise Prissy was so worried about his hair and what colour it was. You know girls," she smirked to her two goons beside her, "I think his hair looks a little flat, it could really to with a wash don't cha think?"
Percy realised too late they'd placed themselves in a corner with no escape routes. He and Piper immediately placed themselves between Clarisse and Grover, who gave his support via a nervous sound which sounded suspiciously close to a goat's bleat.
"Come now Prissy, we're just making sure your hair really shows off its cobalt blue, wouldn't want anyone mistaking it for Smurf vomit blue, would we?" With that, she and her friends lunged at the trio of smaller middle schoolers. Grover quickly lost his crutches before Piper was restrained by one of Clarisse's entourage, whilst the leader and the other girl overpowered Percy and dragged him to the nearest toilet, scaring away a group of younger students in the process. Percy struggled as best he could, however even on a good day he'd need Lady Luck on his side to overpower Clarisse. Thus it was inevitable that he found his head being forced into a porcelain bowl.
"I think his hair needs a rinse Clarisse," the other girl said as Clarisse let Percy breathe.
"You know, you're absolutely right," she grinned in reply, before forcing Percy back down and flushing the toilet.
Percy held his breath and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable onslaught of water. Instead the system seemed to rumble all at once, and groans could be heard throughout the entire bathroom. With a small creak, pandemonium broke loose. The entire system in the bathroom ruptured, and a torrent of clean and dirty water mixed together to wash over the three students.
As quickly as it started, it stopped, leaving the three floundering on the floor. Percy was surprisingly the driest of the three, though his hair was still damp. The other two weren't so lucky; both were soaked to the core and smelling worse than ever. Percy thought he'd seen Clarisse angry over the school year with their constant butting of heads, but the look of pure fury he received was by far the worst. Before she could open her mouth to tell him exactly how she felt, an unearthly screech assaulted their ears.
"What on Earth is going on here?" screamed Mrs Dodds, the school's pre-algebra teacher and only person in the world who seemed to hate Percy more than Smelly Gabe.
Without skipping a beat, Clarisse replied, "Percy did it!"
"What?" he screeched in reply, "I didn't do anything!"
"Oh you've really messed up this time honey," Dodd's cackled, "I'll finally be rid of you this time!"
"But I didn't do anything! My head was in the toilet bowl"
"Oh I think you've done more than enough honey, your time here at Yancy is done. Let's take a trip to the principal's office."
"But – "
"Now Jackson!"
"Yes ma'am," Percy said reluctantly, before getting up from the floor and following Mrs Dodds to what he was sure would be his sixth expulsion in as many years. "Mum's gonna kill me," he whispered to himself.
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