Chapter 4
Percy
It's not every day you find yourself in 70 degree weather, clear blue skies, minimal wind, and overall perfect conditions to go swimming. Yeah, it's only the third day of school, yeah I could get kicked off the swim team if anyone finds out, but I'm beyond caring anymore. I deserved some time off.
I headed over to the beach, hoping I wouldn't see anyone I knew along the way. My mind buzzed with thoughts - thoughts that never leave me alone and consume me like a plague; thoughts of fear, unacceptance, of who I was as a person. I couldn't live like this, like an absolute fucking wreck.
All because I'm…I don't know. I don't like to say that I'm different. I'm just me. And that's okay, right? I mean a lot of people don't like labels. I'm just being myself…being myself while constantly trying to hide who I truly am.
It's hard to look myself in the mirror and know these things. To know that I am basically living a lie. It's not that I don't accept myself, I'm just confused. And completely terrified of what the people around me would think. I can't even "come out" to myself, let alone this entire town of judgemental assholes who aren't used to any sort of deviation from the status quo.
I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh scent of the salty air and without wasting anymore time, I ran into the ocean, blue, sparkling, inviting, the waves pulling me in.
/Line Break/
"Percy, good to see you today, I hope you're feeling alright. You'll be working with our new student, Nico di Angelo, on an oral presentation. He can explain the details to you." Mr. Brunner smiled, then went back to his computer. I stood there in slight shock, firstly at the thought of having an oral presentation assigned on the third day of school - secondly, I was working with Nico di Angelo?
I turned away from Mr. Brunner's desk and looked for someone who could be Nico di Angelo. He wasn't that hard to find. He sat in the back corner, away from everyone else, wearing all black and scribbling on a sheet of paper. His hair was insane - the darkest shade of brown ever all tangled up in a messy mop. I approached him warily, but then he raised his eyes to me. One thing that I could say for certain in that moment was that Nico, dark and eccentric, was most beautiful person I had ever seen. I wanted to look into those eyes all day, I wanted to get lost in them, but then he looked away, bending over his desk, shielding both his eyes and himself from me again.
"H-hi, I'm Percy Jackson, we're supposed to work on a project together," I said a bit nervously as I sat down next to him.
"Staring is rude," was all he said in response not even looking up.
"U-um… sorry?"
"There's no need to be sorry," he said, finally looking up, "I get that you'd like to admire the view. Don't worry I'm used to stares by now. I've been getting them all day, in fact," he continued, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Uh… mm… wha?" I responded, my cheeks reddening.
Nico sighed. "How about we work on our project," he suggested. I nodded eagerly, any sort of topic change would be greatly appreciated.
"So… um… what exactly are we supposed to do?" I asked. He sighed again. Instead of giving me an answer, he shoved the piece of paper he had been working on in my face.
"Here, this is our topic," he said, handing the paper to me. "I'm leaving."
"You can't just leave," I said incredulously. "We're at school."
"Well, considering that you just decided to not show up for the first half of class, I'm deciding to be absent for the last half. Have fun," he said sarcastically and went to get the bathroom pass.
/Line Break/
"The guy sounds like a total asshole," Jason said after I recounted my experience with Nico.
"I don't know," I said, feeling bad for talking about Nico behind his back. "He's probably just upset about the move and all, things'll get better…hopefully. I mean, I am working with him for a while on this huge project. Maybe he'll come around."
Jason stopped in his tracks and stared at me. "Why are you defending him? If he acts like an asshole to my bro then I have every right to call him out on it," said Jason confidently.
"I just don't think we should be so quick to judge," I said quietly. Jason, noticing my change of tone, dropped the conversation.
"So where were you this morning anyway?" asked Jason after a few moments of awkward silence. "Please don't tell me you ditched to go swimming again." I have him a smirk and he sighed. "You know what would happen if anyone found out," he said reproachfully.
"No one will find out, Jason," I said, annoyed. If anyone else found out about me ditching class, it could really hurt my position on the swim team, and that was something I couldn't risk happening. This was just another part of my life that I had to keep hidden, another thing I had to lie about.
"I just want to make sure you're okay," Jason muttered, refusing to look me directly in the eyes. I had to fight against laughing bitterly.
If only he knew.
