A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. There was an update problem, and my chapter update had issues. Issues that I was mad about. But I'm over it now, so let's see where this chapter takes us.
"What do you mean, Percy? Tell you everything? I have no idea what you mean," Mikayla asked, trying to act innocent.
"Don't bullshit me. Shit went down last year, and I don't remember it. Tell me what happened," Percy demanded. Mikayla sighed mumbling a, 'fine'. She rocked back and forth on her heels of her feet before finally speaking.
"Well for starters, you and Jacob weren't friends until like the end of October of last year. The only reason he's even your friend is because you two got in a major fight, which he caused, and you totally beat him. He had bruises for weeks. So he apologized, and started following you around. And he changed you. You became a super-jerk. You sent my best friend, Lily Stevens, to the hospital in a lab accident, and she moved schools because of you. You three did horrible things, Radio and I just sort of left the group, because you were acting like such an ass-hole, and we didn't know why. We thought it was just a phase, and you'd get over it. And Jess, well, she's just a new recruit. She's been Jacob's girlfriend for like, two months. But she's nice- way too good for him," Mikayla explained to Percy.
Percy didn't know what to think. The only sentence he could form was, "I'm sorry that I sent your friend to the hospital."
"It's alright. It wasn't anything too serious, it was just so unlike you," Mikayla told him. Percy nodded in understanding.
"So when you left, Jacob took over as swim captain. And he practically kicked everybody off, except J.D. Radio doesn't swim, he works with, well, radios. So, our star team, and star player, were destroyed within weeks. And now, up until today, Jacob's been a jerk, acting like he's the king of the school," Mikayla told Percy, explaining Jacob's evilness.
"Well…this isn't good," Percy said simply. He had no idea what he was going to do.
"Want my advice? Don't join the swim team again. I get that it's senior year, but, quite frankly Percy, you look like shit, and as frail as a piece of lettuce. And the people that Jacob replaced with your teams mates? Yeah, they hate your guts. They're all bullies that you had suspended because they were picking on freshman," Mikayla advised.
"So let me get this straight. Jacob really isn't my friend, the swim team hates my guts for something I don't even remember doing, and I did a lot of bad things before I left last year?" Percy clarified. Mikayla nodded. "Just great. Exactly what I needed to hear before I eat my lunch." Percy said as he walked up the hall, towards the cafeteria. He saw Annabeth, sitting next to Radio, looking like she needed to be saved. She spotted Percy from across the cafeteria, and her eyes widened in excitement- for what Percy didn't know.
Percy sat down in the spot next to Annabeth, immediately grabbing her hand under the table. Mikayla followed in behind him, sitting in between J.D and Jess.
"Where were you two?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow Mikayla.
"She wanted to apologize for this morning, when she called me a skinny-ass and pale skinned," Percy lied, wanting their conversation to be a secret.
"Oh, well that's cool. Aren't you two going to get any food?" Jacob asked, gesturing to the empty spots in front of them.
"Not hungry," they both mumbled, looking down. Their appetites hadn't been the same since Tartarus- maybe that's why they were always tired.
"Oh come on. You two are skin and bones! You need to eat!" Jess fussed, pushing the rest of her spaghetti over to Percy, who in turn, pushed it to Annabeth.
"Here, Wise Girl, have it. I don't need it," Percy mumbled, not in the mood for food.
"Percy, you have to eat, too." Annabeth insisted.
"You look so tired, you look like you could fall over. Eat it." Percy said, looking out the window.
"Well as long as you're with me when I fall, I'll be okay." Annabeth mumbled, before stuffing a fork full of spaghetti into her mouth- looking at him pointedly. Ow, low blow there, Annabeth Percy thought, rubbing his neck, as his friends laughed at the comment. She finished the rest of Jess's spaghetti, facing Percy.
"There, I ate it all!" Annabeth yelled playfully, sticking her tongue out at him. Percy rolled his eyes at her, reciprocating her actions by sticking his tongue out as well. They all laughed, when Jess asked, "How long have you two been dating?"
"Um, give me a minute," Percy said, counting on his fingers up from when they first met.
"Really, Seaweed Brain? It's only been a year." Annabeth said, slightly laughing.
"Well, I've known you for like, six. And let's not forget, I wasn't even there for half of it," Percy reminded her. Annabeth shrugged.
"You were gone for half the year?" J.D asked, biting into his burrito.
"Well yeah…when I got amnesia…I was…uh…visiting my cousin Jason in California." Percy answered, knowing he was only telling a half truth. J.D nodded in acceptance.
"So you've known each other since you were…twelve?" Jess asked, doing some quick head math. Percy and Annabeth nodded their heads in unison. "Wow, that's not only incredible, but it's extremely adorable." Jess gushed.
"Yeah, well after the first year, you learn how to deal with a Seaweed Brain like Percy." Annabeth joked, giving Percy a playful shove.
"I could say the same." Percy said, laughing to himself, remembering the good times- before everything got dark and pale. Just then, the bell rang, meaning lunch had ended, and it was time for English 12 with Paul.
"Come one, guys, off to English." Percy said, standing up, pulling Annabeth with him.
As they walked through the door to room 352, Percy pulled Annabeth aside, saying, "Stay away from Jacob." Annabeth nodded, understanding Percy's warning. They walked into Paul's white and dull classroom. The only interesting thing about it was a wall of windows in the back of the classroom, overlooking the pool and football field. There weren't any students in the classroom yet, so Percy was casual with Paul.
"Hey, Paul." Percy waved, taking his place according to the seating chart- which was conveniently placed right next to Annabeth's.
"Hello, Percy. How's your first day back?" Paul asked his step-son. Percy shrugged, not giving too much away. "That bad?"
"No, it hasn't been bad…just interesting," Percy said.
"Ah, well, class is starting soon, and more students are coming. Time to go full teacher mode," Paul said, earning a chuckle from Percy. The final bell rang and Paul introduced himself to the class.
"Hello. My name is Mr. Blofis, and I will be your English 12 teacher for this year. Now, just keep in mind that this is a discussion based class, so there will be more discussions about the novels we read than anything." The class groaned. Mr. Blofis smirked and said, "That's right, you'll actually have to use your brains. Now, because it's the last period of the day, we will be doing something easy and relaxing… a game I invented a while ago. It's called, How Well Do You Know Your Class. Basically, we go down the roll sheet, and we ask all of them 5 generic questions. The person with the most points at the end, gets some candy. And since this is a class of only 24 students, I think this will be quite a challenge. Ready?" Paul explained, while the class chanted, "Yeah!"
Paul walked up to his desk, where his roll sheet was, and called off the first person, Laura Antolini.
"Favorite color?" Paul asked the class.
"It's blue!" a boy shouted in the back. Laura shook her head.
"No, you dumb-bell it's green!" Mikayla yelled, causing the girl, Laura to nod, saying, "Yes."
"Great, one point Mikayla." Paul said, tracking the students' points on a piece of paper. The next four questions were also quite simple like, what's your favorite food, what do you want to be when you grow up, how old are you, and the best thing that's happened in their life. The last question proved to be difficult for the students to guess for both Laura, and Peter Bronson- Jacob got most of the points for Peter.
"Next up, Annabeth Chase." Paul said, eyeing Percy suspiciously. Well at least I'll get five points Percy thought to himself as Annabeth walked up front. The class mumbled amongst themselves, wondering who Annabeth was, and how they were going to guess the answers.
"Okay, now, what's Annabeth's favorite color?" Paul asked the class. The class was quiet, so Percy raised his hand and said, "Sea- green." Annabeth's cheeks slightly reddened with Percy's answer, but it quickly faded and she nodded in conformation.
"Point one for Mr. Jackson. Now, what's her favorite food?" Paul asked, smiling at Percy.
"Mashed potatoes," Percy answered almost instantly. Annabeth nodded, remembering the Thanksgiving before Percy left, and how she was the only one who ate Sally's mashed potatoes.
"Nice job, Percy. But can you tell me this? What does she want to be when she grows up?" Paul asked, staring his step-son right in the eyes.
"An architect." Percy said, remembering all the times that she had ranted off about architecture. Annabeth once again nodded.
"Wow, aren't you guys going to give him any competition? Point three for Mr. Jackson. Now, how old is-" Paul was cut off, when Percy answered, "18." Annabeth, nodded, looking back at Paul, who was chuckling adding another tally mark by Percy's name.
"Okay, well this has been like a lightning round. This last one, though, do you know the answer? What is the best thing that has happened in Annabeth's life?" Paul asked the class. Percy didn't want to say the answer, because it was a bit embarrassing, but he also didn't want Annabeth to stand up there all day while the class tried to guess.
"The best thing that has happened to Annabeth… was… meeting me." Percy said slowly. The class laughed at Percy, but it quickly died down as Annabeth turned to look at Paul, and nodded.
"Well, Percy, you sure do seem to know a lot about Annabeth," Paul commented as Annabeth sat back down in her seat. Paul continued down the roll sheet, tallying up the points. Nobody knew as much about a person than Percy did about Annabeth, although Jess got three of the questions about Jacob.
"Okay class, this will be the last one for the day. Now, get up here…Percy Jackson." Paul said as Percy stood up, and walked up in front of the class. The class stared at him. They're staring at me like I'm a freak… Well I certainly do look different, but I don't deserve this.
"Okay, what's Percy's favorite color, guys?" Paul asked. The class immediately started shouting out colors.
"It's orange, like those shirts he always wears!" one girl said.
"No, it's green like his eyes!" another girl disagreed.
"No, it's black like his hair!" J.D. joked from the back of the class.
"Nope. I'm afraid all of you are wrong. Because, Seaweed Brain's favorite color is blue." Annabeth said over the roars of the class. Percy nodded at Paul, even though Paul already knew that she was right.
"Nice job, Annabeth. Now, class, what's Mr. Jackson's favorite food?" Paul asked, sitting on the edge of his roll-y chair.
"Chinese!"
"No, spaghetti!"
"His mom's blue chocolate chip cookies," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes at the class' answers.
"Yep," Percy affirmed. Paul added another point by Annabeth's name.
"Is it going to be like this again, guys? Come on! Now, what does he want to be when he grows up, and leaves this place?" Mr. Blofis asked.
"He wants to be an Olympic swimmer!" Jacob, J.D., Mikayla, Jess and Radio chorused. Percy shook his head 'no', which caused confused looks from the class.
"All he wants to be is alive." Annabeth said gloomily, knowing his exact reasons for thinking like that. Percy nodded, sadness in his eyes, his head down.
"What?!" Jacob, J.D., Mikayla, Jess and Radio yelled in outrage.
"Come on, now, people change guys. Now, how old is he?" Paul asked.
"18." Annabeth said almost immediately. Percy, once again, nodded in confirmation, and Paul added another point by Annabeth's name.
"Alright guys, last question of the day, and then you're dismissed. What is the best thing that has happened in Percy's life?" Paul asked curiously, he himself not knowing the answer.
"When he joined the swim team?" Radio questioned. Percy shook his head.
"When he got his district medals?" J.D. asked. Percy, again, shook his head.
"The best thing that has happened to Percy is that he survived this summer" Annabeth said quietly, but Percy heard. He nodded glumly, and walked back to his desk.
"Oh…well then, Annabeth got all of Percy's points. You may pack up your things and leave." Paul said, at a loss for words. Most of the class immediately got up and left, talking about how boring the first day of school was. Percy and Annabeth packed up their things and walked up to Paul.
"Hey guys, you ready to go?" Paul asked, putting some papers in his bag. They both nodded, and walked out of the door. Paul locked the classroom up, and they left.
Percy and Annabeth were sitting in Annabeth's room, both of them filling out their syllabuses that needed to be turned in for credit. Annabeth was naming Sally as her guardian for the time being, seeing as Sally wasn't her parent. Percy had his filled out, and Annabeth was copying what he wrote down, not knowing all of the required information.
"Okay, I'm done. Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go get these signed," Annabeth said, getting up.
"Hold on. There's something I have to tell you," Percy said, continuing to sit.
"What?" Annabeth asked, confused.
"It's Jacob. I talked to Mikayla, and it's Jacob. Apparently, he wasn't my friend until right before I left. And in that time, he influenced me, I guess. She told me that after I left, Jacob kicked everybody off of the swim team, and replaced them with bullies- and they hate me. And I don't remember any of it, and I need to make it right," Percy said, sounding like the hero that he was, but depressed at the same time.
"Percy. It's the first day of school. Just relax. Give it a week, at most," Annabeth pleaded.
"She also told me not to join the swim team, because, and I quote, I look like shit, and as frail as a piece of lettuce," Percy continued.
"She's right. We both look horrible, and…well…we're not the same. No matter how much I hate him at the moment, Chiron's right- we need to recuperate, away from the mythical world. So just chill. If it's still bothering you in…a month…then try and fix it. But otherwise, you are going to be a smooth sailor," Annabeth commanded.
"Yes, ma'am," Percy said, slightly smiling as he stood up and walked into the kitchen to get his papers signed for school the next day. But, unknown to Annabeth, his smile was a façade. How can I let it go? I hurt people, and I have to make it right…but I guess I'll just have to wait it out…