Sorry about the late-ish update. They'll be coming a bit slower because of sports and the end of school coming up. I'm really trying to get chapters written. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO!
Chapter Four-A Confession
"Mr. Jackson, you were supposed to memorize the first two pages of characters in your book."
I shifted around uncomfortably. Memorizing wasn't my thing… "Erm…yeah…"
"And you evidently didn't." There was something about angry Chinese women that just scared me to death.
She was glaring harshly at me through her thick-rimmed, wide glasses. I stared at a spot above her head. "Nope."
She narrowed her eyes. "Then you can memorize them by copying each symbol twice."
I bit back a groan and slouched in my chair as she stalked away. Great.
Annabeth gave me a small look of sympathy. I just shook my head a bit and she just gave me a small smile.
My eye twitched ruthlessly as I grudgingly wrote out the two pages of characters twice. It was a tedious task because my dyslexia was trying to rearrange how the characters looked. Because we only used ink brushes in this class, I couldn't just erase my mistakes. I had to put an 'X' through it and then start over with that symbol.
I growled as a kid suddenly walked by, bumping my arm and causing me to place a black streak across a different symbol. I clenched my teeth and glared at the kid who walked by. He didn't even notice what he did. Jerk.
Ferociously, I dipped my brush in the ink bottle and started over on the now two destroyed characters. Again, I started working furiously to finish.
"Hey…"
I glanced up and saw Annabeth had scooted her desk towards mine a bit. I clenched my jaw. "Stupid teacher…"
She didn't say anything. I could feel her staring at me, and I'll admit it made me a bit curious as to what she found so interesting about me. She didn't say anything for a while and I continued to work, still aware of her gaze.
"I can help, if you want..." I heard her mumble. I blinked and looked up at her. Her offer shocked me. I was just surprised she didn't laugh in my face.
I sighed and gave a half smile. "Nah. That's okay. I'll get it done. Thanks, though."
She looked a bit disappointed, which piqued my curiosity. Why did she have that look on her face? She wasn't actually upset about my refusal, was she? She was obviously just being nice when she asked me. Hmm…
"So how did you get mixed with Stacey?" I asked. It had been bugging me all day yesterday after the confrontation with the school's bitch.
I watched her for a reaction, and I wasn't disappointed. Her whole body stiffened. "Umm…I don't really want to talk about it…" she said wearily with a hard voice.
I bit my lip. Damn. I wanted to figure out what the deal was. Oh well. I didn't want to push her away now that we were…well, sort of friends. I didn't want to lose all possibility of gaining her trust. Disappointed, I just nodded. "Okay."
I wouldn't ask her about it for now, but I will find out what happened eventually.
After a few more minutes, I finally finished copying.
"Done!" I exclaimed proudly, holding up my three pages of work. Mrs. Chang snatched them from the air and nodded at me.
"You will do well to remember to memorize next time," she all but snarled at me.
I glared at her when she turned her back, heading to her desk. Maybe I should have Nico set up a prank on her…
"For this next activity, you'll all need a partner."
I sighed and turned to Annabeth. "Partners?"
She nodded, albeit hesitantly. She was still stiff from the Stacey prompt, but I tried to act like nothing had happened. Again, this only left me wondering even more about what happened between the two.
After class, as I was walking through the halls, someone suddenly screeched my name. I froze in my spot, knowing too well whose voice that was. I turned in fear and stared in horror at the mess stomping towards me.
It was Rachel, and for some reason (though I'm sure I know who did it), she was covered in purple and green paint.
I stumbled backwards into a locker as she grabbed the collar of my button up shirt and shoved me against the wall. I noticed with disdain that she was leaving paint stains on the shirt, but then her cold, glaring eyes and harsh voice was bearing down on me again.
"You," she growled low and cold. "You tell your cousin to knock this shit off."
I laughed nervously. "N-Nico you mean? Aw, he was just joking—"
"Tell him to stop or I'll punch his lights out."
I swallowed. "Okay Rachel. Please don't kill me…"
She gave me another glare and then released my shirt. I watched as she huffed and stomped away, heading towards the office, probably to change.
I let out a breath, glad that I was still alive. Rachel was scary when she got mad. She could seriously put you in a coma. She was mean.
However, my thoughts soon turned towards the cause of all this. I growled as that annoying kid Nico came to my mind. Rachel didn't need to worry. I would rip him a new one.
Turns out, I didn't have a chance to get to him. As Rachel seethed with rage in her seat, she mentioned to us how she had told the principal about his little prank.
"It wasn't just me," she reported, "he played his prank on the whole class. The teacher sent him to the office, but I had to go in and make sure."
"You mean rub it in his face?" Thalia asked with a raised brow.
Rachel cleared her throat. "Possibly."
I grinned at her. This wasn't the first time he's been to the office for pulling a prank. In fact, he and the Stoll brothers (and Grover on occasion) had been in the office more times than I could count. Unfortunately, the brothers and Grover and roped Nico into their mischievous ways ever since Nico came to the high school a year ago. It was scary to think of the pranks they had accomplished, most of which Nico hadn't even been a part of. I shuddered involuntarily.
Rachel was still covered slightly in paint. She had changed clothes, and most of it was out of her hair and face, but there were still some streaks in her hair and a few blotches and smears on her arms and face.
Meanwhile, Annabeth was still acting closed off. It wasn't as bad as it was in Calligraphy, but she still had that air around her that clearly said she was not going to talk about it.
The rest of the lunch was pretty monotonous. Nothing interesting happened. Grover was still gaga over Juniper (who was coming tomorrow!) and Rachel and Thalia were chatting it up about something they had read in one of their girly magazines.
"She, um…" Annabeth suddenly started. She was sitting by me, so I was the only one who had heard her mumble. Maybe that's how she wanted it. "Stacey…she became my friend when I moved here. She kind of looped me into her 'way of life…'"
I realized then that she was telling me how she was connected to Stacey. I was rather surprised she was telling me and not the other girls, but I wasn't about to protest. Instead, I silently listened, afraid that if I interrupted her, she wouldn't ever speak of it again.
Annabeth paused. Then, "She…took me to a party in freshman year, and she spiked my drink." She took a deep breath. My fist clenched around my fork. She wasn't moving and neither was I. Everything around us, all the lunch room chatter and Rachel's endless rambling, was blocked out.
"After making me look like a total idiot," she muttered angrily with a shaky breath, "she took me home and told my dad that I had gone completely crazy last night and that they tried to stop me. But Stacey had been the one shoving drinks in my hand. I just…." I saw her swallow hard. "I don't want to remember any of this, because she ruined my life. She started rumors about me, she threatened me…"
I studied her face. Her shoulders were tense and hunched in, her jaw was clenched, and I swore I saw her eyes moistening up.
I swallowed dryly. Some part of me, in the pit of my gut, wanted to reach out and comfort her, just to let her know that I was there. I knew how Stacey worked. She clicked by ruining other people's lives. I know. She had done it to me, though not as dramatically.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was reaching out. My hand just barely ghosted over her shoulder before she abruptly stood up with a hasty "sorry," storming out of the lunch room.
My hand hung there in mid-air as the other three and I stared after her.
I didn't know what to say.
I trudged through the hallways to my next class. Annabeth hadn't come back at all from lunch. We had PE today, and I could only wonder whether or not she would miss another class.
A part of me was glad that she had told me this new, interesting piece of information, but another part of me wished she hadn't. But then again, I felt...well, not exactly honored, but something close to that because she had told me, not Rachel or Thalia. Maybe she was testing me, trying to see if I was really going to try and be her friend. I highly doubted it, but in the short time that I've known Annabeth, I've figured out that she is cunning.
No, my logic was just going in circles, bringing me back to the main point of my thinking: why did she tell me, and me alone?
I sighed heavily. I tried to push it to the back of my mind as I changed into my PE clothes. For all I knew, I was making something out of nothing.
When I sauntered into the gym, I noted with a small amount of surprise that Annabeth was there, waiting. Granted, she had her body turned away, clearly expressing her wishes to be anywhere but here. Her whole body was tense still, and her eyes were staring holes into the cement.
After a minute, she glanced up and saw me. I gave a smile and a slightly awkward wave. She just sighed and plodded over. I looked down at her curiously as she averted her eyes.
"Um," she started rather awkwardly. "Sorry about today… I didn't mean to dump that on you."
I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to make her feel better. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She looked shocked at this, but then she gave a small smile. "Thanks, Percy."
I gave a half smile. "Now, let's attack this mile."
After PE and other classes, Annabeth and I were walking through the halls with Thalia. We were going to meet up with Rachel after school to go hang out at my mom's apartment and to plan Juniper's coming come party. Grover had left right away after school to get to the airport to pick up his lover.
However, we were stopped by an amusing sight.
Nico, the little punk-ass, was trudging sadly down the hallway, his head hung low. I raised a brow at the girls and we went after him.
"Nico!"
Said boy stopped and turned around with a heavy sigh. He looked up at us, eyes shining with sadness and anger.
"What happened?" I asked wearily as he stood before us with a rigid stance.
"Well," he started, "I've been suspended for two days."
I blinked. "That's it?"
He sighed. "No. I also have to…um…you know that play they do every fall?"
I nodded.
He swallowed thickly. "The principal is making me, Travis, and Connor…jointheplay!"
After comprehending what he just said, I started laughing loud, obnoxious guffaws.
Trying to stifle her giggles, Thalia asked, "What play is it?"
Nico suddenly blushed a bit, and Nico didn't blush. At all. He was always as pale as death. "Uh…Romeo and J-Juliet…"
That started a new round of laughter. I was practically crying now as I leaned against the lockers. Nico couldn't act to save his soul. He hated anything like that. He pulled pranks. That was his forte.
"What, now you're going to tell us you're playing Romeo?" Annabeth asked.
His blush intensified. "Maybe…"
A new spiel of giggles. This was too funny.
"Ohhh, Nico…" I sighed, a grin still plastered on my face like the jerk I was. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and tugged him down the hall. "My poor, little, idiotic cousin…when are you going to learn that Principal Flatts is only going to get worse with his punishments?"
He glared and shoved me off. I just continued to grin at his retreating form as I fell in line with the girls again.
I wanted to write more, but I cut if off here so they won't get too long yet. We'll ease into the long chapters :)
So whatcha think? You get a little glimpse of Annabeth and Stacey, but more will come of that later, and then the huge plot twist that will come waaaay later.
Thanks for reading and review please!
-Akatsuki Child
