Percy

I stirred waking up to notice the time and as soon as I laid my eyes on them, I was on the floor. I had slept through the day! Mom was out on some official work and so I was home alone. I just hurriedly got up freshen up put on the suit. Thankfully I had laid down every item I would be requiring at this moment. I drove the car to Thalia's. She was always there for me. I rang the bell.

"What?"She opened the door to see a man who looked like he had just got out of bed. Me!

"Overslept!"

Thankfully she was dressed before time and was clicking pictures. She tamed my hair, did my tie and forced me to polish my shoes just because one of them had a tiny stain.

Finally we were ready.

"How am I looking?" I asked.

"Handsome, I dressed you up what else do you expect! Here wear these, I got them for you!"

I stared at the box she held out for me, it was coloured contact lenses. I wore them hesitantly. I couldn't say no to her because she had saved my ass for time memorial.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed. I saw myself in the mirror, true I looked perfect.

"You look amazing too." I said to her with a smile.

"Have you seen Percy, he's a guy with anger on his the tip of his nose, has a sly iconic grin on his face, never dresses up like a civil human being, his raven hair poking out in every direction." said Zeus, Thalia's dad. Thalia and I hung out quite often, so both of our parents knew us well.

"Lets get to the car. Shall we?" said Thalia.

"See you later Zeus!" I cried out.

"Bring her back by 11 at least. Take care."

"Surely.11 it is."

We drove to school. This brought back many unwanted memories of that one particular night. It played in my head every night, every single night. She left me here and I let her go. I realised I loved her with all my heart. And now 5 years later being back to the same place opened many locked memories.

Thalia was super excited, bubbling with energy.

"How are you so calm?" she asked looking at me for the first time after we were in the car.

"Wait you look like you are going to puke! What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Nothing, I am fine." I said with the most genuine smile I could come up with. My life has been a lie. I have lied to everyone out there that I was fine and even to myself that I was fine and I am fine, I have to be fine. I am not fine I am broken on the inside.

I parked the car. We were walking side by side, awkwardly.

'I cant let the past destroy my future' I chided. She is my future I have to accept it. I know, I have to accept it but I can't.

I gently entwined my fingers with hers and walked to the auditorium. She gave me a smile and scooted closer. We still were on time, well 15 minutes late but that according to my reputation this is literally being before time.

"May I have the first dance my lady." I asked her. She nodded. We headed straight to the dance floor.

Then suddenly she was rigid, she always is whenever she is stressed. I looked into her eyes concerned.

"What if I trip and fall? What if I step on your foot? What if I don't fit in? What if ..?"

"Be yourself. I will handle the rest, I promise. Feel free and enjoy. Just don't get drunk cause then I will have to narrate whatever you did." She smiled.

How fortunate was I, to have such a caring friend. She helped me 5 years back unknowingly and has never left my side. We danced for a while on the beats. Till she said she wanted to grab a drink. We went to get ourselves something to drink, but were pulled towards an already crowed table.

"So we have all our contestants so are you ready?"

"Ready?! for what?" I asked in total confusion someone near me answered.

"Dance off till your feet die! Go choose your name because that will be hiding your identity. And that my friend, is the main thing in this masquerade ball."

"Luke?" I questioned, it has to be him.

"Perce!"

We had a bro-hug.

"And this is?" He asked eyeing Thalia. He reached out for her hand and kissed it. She blushed.

"Back off your charisma dude, today she's my date!" I smiled at Thalia.

"You in for the competition?" I asked her.

"Yup, I'm Jasmine and you look like Prince Charming."

"Well then!" I got both of us listed.

We went to the dance floor, it was cleared for us. We were about 26 individuals and 13 couples. We started to dance in pairs. We were changing partners every now and then. Most of us were dancing with practiced ease. Then we were to form 4 different circles and then, I touched someone's hand and it felt like very familiar. I searched through the crowd. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the one but she was nowhere to be seen. Then I calculated, it would have been, one the four girls standing diametrically opposite to me. One of them had blond hair and was wearing a grey gown, other two had brown and were wearing a maroon and green dress, and the last one with red hair was wearing a teal coloured dress.

Proud of my calculation I danced along 'I could meet her.'