Mask Of Pain

Chapter 3

Percy's POV

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Percy groaned when he heard his alarm go off next to his ear. He tried to stop it, he hit it a few times guessing where it was because his head was still buried in his pillow. After five minutes wrestling with the damn thing he ended up pulling the plug out of the socket silencing it instantly!

Percy relaxed for a bit until he heard his mom call his name. He sat up with a start! Still tired he yawned like a lion. He wiped the tiredness out of his eyes as he reached for his glasses lying on the table next to his bed and blinked a few times so he could see the time more clearly.

He jumped out of his bed wearing green pajamas as usual and rushed to the bathroom. He stood under the shower brushing his teeth at the same time. He did this often when he was in a hurry and he left the bathroom with the towel wrapped around him.

As he came back into his room, he was dressed in his usual outfit: a plain white shirt under a light grey and blue sweater with cream colored pants and authentic brown shoes. (Here's the link once more: percys_nerd_outfit/set?id=191637544)

When he was finished he jumped down the stairs three steps at a time to the living, dinning and kitchen area. His mother and Tyson were already there (in the kitchen).

His mother was called Sally Jackson and she was by far the best person in the world, which proves Percy's theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plain cash when she was five years old. She was raised by an Uncle who didn't care much about her. When she was young she wanted to be a novelist, so she spent her time in high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got a bad cancer, so she had to quit the senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

The only good break she ever got was meeting his dad. Unfortunately Percy didn't have any memories of him. His mom doesn't like to talk about his dad because it always makes her sad. She has no pictures and they never married.

She told Percy once that he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret, but she never explained exactly why. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.

Coming down the stairs into the kitchen, Percy made his way to his family and sat next to his brother Tyson at the table that their mom often used as an Island for cooking as there wasn't much space.

He spotted Tyson's drooling face and from the smell in the air, Percy guessed their mom was making her blue pancakes. They're blue because one day Gabe had once told their mom there was no such thing. They had a fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time, but ever since, their mom went out of her way to eat blue.

"Here you go boys!" she said putting the plate of blue pancakes on the table for them to feast on. Percy and Tyson looked at it in wonder making Sally laugh. "Well they will get cold if you don't dig in!"

Percy thrust out his hand at the same time as Tyson. Together they finished the plate in a few seconds. Their mom laughed at their behavior. Percy grinned at his mother with his mouth full of blue pancakes. She smiled back messing up his hair.

Percy glanced at the clock on the wall and his heart stopped beating. It's nearly eight o'clock!

Suddenly adrenaline shot though him like a bullet and in one quick movement he grabbed Tyson who still had a blue pancake in his hand. He yelled goodbye to their mom and jumped down the stairs as quick as possible while pulling Tyson along.

It all happened so fast that he didn't see the door opening. Percy hit the door face first and the fact that Tyson was right behind didn't help much. But even with both of them hitting the door with all their weight, the person on the other side just hurled them aside like they were weightless. Both Percy and Tyson landed on their butt, hard.

"Sorry there punks" Smelly Gabe said to Percy not at all sorry. "Did I hurt you? You little baby"

Percy glared at him with pure hatred from the floor while Tyson looked scared.

"What's that look on your face?" Gabe said provocatively making Percy's blood boil. "You look like you want to fight" he taunted.

"I would if you weren't so fat and roll away to dodge my punches!" Percy said cheekily. He didn't have anything against fat people, he just hated this one.

The vicious glare Gabe gave him sent chills down his spine. He grabbed Percy by the collar and lifted him up in the air. Percy's feet didn't even touch the ground.

"Listen you little br-" He stopped mid-sentence when he heard Sally come down the stairs. He quickly let go of Percy and patted his head like a father would to his son.

"Percy, Tyson are you okay? I heard a crash!" she said concerned as she bent down to their height analyzing them both.

"Mom, we're okay don't worry.. Mom, Mom!" Percy said after she checked him everywhere, she then turned to Gabe and glared at him. "You. Kitchen. Now."

As their mom climbed up the stairs, Gabe sent Percy a murderous look that sent a clear message: This isn't finished.

Percy gulped and tried his best not to look afraid and just sent him a glare of his own but Percy doubted it was as intense as Gabe's.

When Gabe was finally gone, Percy let out a shaky breath he didn't know he was holding. "Percy?" he heard Tyson next to him say shakily.

Percy turned his gaze to his younger brother and gave him a wide brotherly grin. "Come on buddy, don't want to be late for school now do we?"

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After Percy walked Tyson to school, he made his way by sprinting more or less to his own school. Percy didn't have the best endurance when it came to running so he wasn't surprised to arrive a few minutes late, breathing hard and with a nice cramp in his calf.

When he entered the school, he jogged to his classroom and when he found it there was no teacher. Percy couldn't believe it. Despite being late, it seems his teacher was even later.

He didn't give it too much thought though as he saw his friends already sitting and talking to another. He quickly joined the group and sat in his seat behind Annabeth.

She was looking sideways with her head on her hand while her arm rested on the back of her chair. She was facing Thalia who was sitting on the row on her left while Nico sat right behind his cousin Thalia.

Annabeth lifted an eyebrow at him. There was no 'hey how's it going?' or 'hey what's up?' or even just 'hello', she just said: "You're late".

Percy tried to think of any reason that would make her act like that but he couldn't think of any reason. As he was about to ask her what was going on, when he got interrupted by Nico who just realized he was there.

"Hey Percy, what's up?" he said earning a shrug from Percy, and added "Didn't see you there" with an absent look in his eyes.

Percy just stared at him like he was an idiot. He saw Nico's eyes were glazed like didn't know where he was and he had a funny look on his face. Percy then turned his attention at Annabeth but she wasn't looking at him anymore, so he checked Thalia but she looked tired with bags under her eyes. What's wrong with them all..? then it clicked, That's it!

"What did I miss last night?" Percy asked at all of them remembering they all slept at Nico's house. Nico was the one who answered.

"Oh you have no idea what you missed last night, buddy!" he said loudly at him. "Nope, no idea at all…" It seemed like he was saying the last part more to himself than to Percy.

"You have no idea do you?" Percy asked him and his suspicion was confirmed as Nico just shrugged.

"What did you drink last night?" Percy asked all of them but none of them replied. It seemed like Nico and Thalia were the ones who drunk but Annabeth just looked out of it. Like she was thinking….

Before Percy could ask Annabeth anything, the teacher chose that very moment to enter the class and nearly everyone in the class groaned because of his sudden appearance.

"Oh come on guys! You didn't think I'd leave you all on your own did you?" he said sounding up beat. The whole class groaned once more.

"What? I said something wrong?"

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They all just came out of their last class of the day and they were now standing next to the lockers.

"Percy? Can I talk to you for a second?" Annabeth asked him as they stood in the hallway with Thalia and Nico.

Percy nodded but he didn't move. Annabeth gave him a look but he didn't get it. "What?" he finally asked. Annabeth sighed.

"Alone?" she told him like he was an idiot. Well now that he thought about it, he must have looked like an idiot standing there next to the cousins who were for once talking normally. Like two friends talking about a mutual subject.

"Yeah sure" he said following her. She led him towards the girls bathroom and he stopped in his tracks. She turned to him when she realized he wasn't following and turned to him with a questioned look.

"Why are we going in the girl's bathroom?" he asked wearily and nervous as hell. His hands were sweating and he kept fidgeting with them, sometimes straightening his glasses on his nose.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm not going to attack you" she said grabbing his right arm and pulled him into the girl's bathroom.

As they entered, Percy couldn't help but be amazed at the cleanness of the bathroom. The walls, ceiling and floor were a shining white instead of a greenly yellow in the boy's bathroom. Even the toilets were white! He realized.

Then all of a sudden, Annabeth grabs him around the collar and pinned him against the wall.

"Enough's enough! I know you're hiding something from me!" she shouted

"What?" he said dumbfounded "What are you talking about?" he said frowning.

"Stop acting dumb! I know you're lying!"

Percy stood there pinned against the wall by his best friend, Annabeth who was looking straight through him with those stormy grey eyes. Her face was so close to his that he could feel her breath. He felt extremely uncomfortable. He heard his heart pounding through his chest, his throat felt tight like he couldn't talk anymore. His palms felt sweaty against the wall he was pinned against.

"Well em I eu…" he said nervously looking everywhere else but at her because he knew she would know when he was lying.

Suddenly she let him go and hugged him. Percy wasn't expecting her reaction and he was surprised by this.

"It's okay" she said in a low voice "It's okay. I'm here, you don't have to be afraid" she said soothingly. "You don't have to tell me yet. I know that whatever you're hiding is a heavy burden for you" Then she gently let go of him and added: "Just know that I will always be here for you."

Percy didn't quite know what he felt. But he managed to look into her eyes and said with his signature grin "Thank you wise girl"

"You're welcome seaweed brain" she replied with a nice, warm smile.

As Annabeth exited the bathroom, Percy fixed his collar that Annabeth had used earlier to pin him against the bathroom wall. He turned towards the exit and at that precise moment a girl entered through the door. It wasn't clear who was more uncomfortable with the situation Percy or the girl but he couldn't pounder on it for very long as she suddenly started screaming. In all the horror films he had watched, he had never heard such a scream in all his life. He quickly ran out of the girl's bathroom while she was still making a scene.

As he ran out he saw Thalia, Nico and Annabeth laughing at what happened and he tried his best to suppress the smile that was beginning to form on his lips.

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Percy walked alone back home after he said goodbye to his friends. Tyson finished early today so he already went back home.

As he walked down the familiar streets he's been walking down his whole life, he somehow didn't feel like he was alone. It was like someone was following him or someone was watching him but as he looked around, there was no one to be seen. No life in sight, there was just him. He sighed and continued his way back home.

Minutes later, he was walking up the front steps to his house. He turned the handle and opened the door before entering. As he closed the door behind him and took off his shoes, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

"Well punk, you're finally back?" Percy heard this sudden voice from behind him. He turned around slowly and gulped as he recognized the round figure of his abusive step father who walked out of the shadows. "I've been waiting a long time for this…"