Chapter 9: Tension On (And Off) the Stage (Percy)
"Ready to get your tights?" Piper teased.
It was Thursday and we were walking into practice with Connor, Travis, Leo, Grover, and Piper's friends, Hazel and Rachel. Today the cast was being measured for costumes.
I rolled my eyes. "Please tell me I don't really have to wear tights in the play."
Piper grinned mischievously. "You'll see." She kissed me on the cheek and ran down the aisle to talk to Mr. Brunner about something.
I smiled, then frowned. "Wait. That was a no, right?" I called after her.
She turned and winked, before saying something to Mr. Brunner.
"If we have to wear tights, I'm quitting," Travis said.
Leo grinned. "That's just 'cause you don't got anything, Travis. I'll stick around if we have to wear tights. Everyone wants to see this hot stuff." He licked his head and ran it through his hair.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Yeah right." She walked down the aisle and disappeared back stage with Hazel at her heels.
Leo sighed. "They just haven't converted to Team Leo yet. Girls these days. All wanting a vampire or a werewolf. What about us scrawny Latino guys? Ah, don't worry, they'll come around." He grinned and started towards the stage with us right behind him.
"Dude! I look like a monk!" Leo came out of the dressing room in his Friar Laurence costume which was basically a very oversized, scratchy brown coat. He did look like a monk.
Silena rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Leo. Can you walk around in it?"
Leo grinned. "Oh I can do better than that. Watch this!" He ran out onto the stage and did a back-flip. It would have been impressive if he hadn't stumbled and ran into the set Rachel, Katie, and Calypso were painting. He turned towards us, covered in fresh paint.
Calypso glared at him, hands on her hips. "Look what you did!" she yelled. "You ruined our set." She motioned towards it, which was now smudged in a Leo sized shape.
Leo shrugged. "I'm fine, by the way."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm so sorry I didn't think about how you feel after you idiotically ran into my set."
Travis started laughing as the two continued to argue. "This is priceless."
Katie shot him a look. "Don't you even start, Stoll."
"I didn't say anything," Connor said.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "How stupid can you be? She was talking to Travis obviously!"
"Well, next time, she should be a little more clear!" Connor argued. "And I am not stupid!"
"You could've fooled me!"
All six of them started arguing. I looked at Piper. "Should we do something? They're our friends."
She opened her mouth to say something, when an earsplitting whistle rang out across the stage and somebody sprayed them with a super soaker. All of them started whining, except for Leo who opened his mouth so the spray of water would go inside.
I looked from Leo and the others to my cousin, Jason, who was standing in there with a whistle in his mouth and a super soaker in his hands with another one strapped to his back, grinning. He was dressed in shorts, a faded jersey, and basketball shoes. He looked like G.I. Joe getting ready to play basketball.
Piper did a face palm. "Oh, god. Now he's not going to shut up about this." I was about to ask her what she was talking about when Jason blew his whistle again.
"Dude!" I yelled, while everyone covered there ears. "We get it!"
He grinned again. "Sorry. I just love this thing. Now what's the problem that everybody's yelling?"
Silena pointed at Leo. "He totally ruined that costume!"
"And our set," Calypso added.
"Does anybody care that I ran into a set and hit my face, which really hurt?" Leo asked.
"Why should we?" Calypso asked. "It's your fault."
Soon they all started arguing again, which caused Jason to blow his stupid whistle again. "Take the costume out for dry cleaning," Jason said, "and we'll just put a piece of furniture in front of the set in that area. Luckily, it's not that big."
"Thank god Leo's a scrawny elf," Calypso muttered.
"Hey! I heard that!"
"That was the point," she snapped.
Jason put his whistle in his mouth again.
"Okay, they're sorry! Enough with the stupid whistle!" Katie said.
Jason smiled. "Good. Now no more fighting, or you'll end up in time out."
I raised an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."
He looked serious. "Oh, but I am. Now, let's get back to costume fitting." He walked over to stand with me and Piper.
"You look ridiculous," she muttered.
"You just wish you thought of it," he whispered back.
"Annabeth?" Silena called into the dressing room. "Are you ready?"
The door creaked open and Annabeth stepped out. She looked... beautiful. The dress was scarlet red (the color of the Capulet's household) and the color looked great on her. Of course it was old styled, but she still looked great.
I wasn't the only one staring though. Luke was too, only he was a lot more obvious about it. It reminded me of yesterday.
FLASHBACK!
Luke nodded. "Just in case you get sick, Perce." He was grinning, like he had won something.
I nodded. " Maybe you should practice with Drew since she's Annabeth's understudy. You both probably need the same amount of practice."
Luke's smile widened. "I think I'd rather practice with Annabeth. After all, she got the part. She's a natural. It's easier to practice with her. She makes me a better Romeo."
Annabeth blushed and looked at her shoes. Luke smiled smugly at me. I got her wrapped around my finger, he mouthed.
I clenched my jaw and Annabeth looked at me. "She has that effect on most people," I said, meaning that she could make anybody a better Romeo, "but I need to practice with Annabeth since we're going to be in the play together."
Luke shrugged. "Alright, I get it. You two got the parts, so you need more practice than me since I'm just an understudy." I hated how he said it, like I had just told him I was better than him because I was Romeo and he was my understudy. He turned to Annabeth. "Maybe we can run lines together again sometime?"
I started walking up the steps to the stage as Luke walked off. He smirked at me. "You might be Romeo, but I got your Juliet," he said.
I clenched my jaw tighter and shook my head.
Bad Percy! I thought. You have a girlfriend. Remember Piper? Who was standing right next to me. Immediately, I looked away.
"You look stunning, Annabeth," Luke said and grinned at her. She blushed and I rolled my eyes. Stupid Luke. Stop being jealous! I yelled at myself.
He was right though. Annabeth looked beautiful. Perfect. STOP CRUSHING ON ANNABETH!
Silena studied Annabeth. "It looks great, but we need to do a little adjusting and maybe add some more gold. And we'll have to braid your hair..." She started going on about how Annabeth would dress for the play and I stopped listening.
Soon it was my turn. Thank god we didn't have to wear tights.
There was only one thing that would keep my mind off of Annabeth, I decided. Piper.
After I practice was over and I changed out of my costume, I went to look for Piper. She was on stage, arguing with Jason, although it must have not been too serious since Jason was smiling and Piper didn't look angry.
"Hey." I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and kissed her on the cheek. "Do you want to go out tomorrow?"
She beamed, her eyes lighting up, reminding me that we haven't gone out much lately. "Yes."
"You guys could go to my game," Jason said.
I looked at my cousin. He wasn't smiling anymore, in fact, he looked kind of disappointed. What was with that?
"You're on varsity, right?" I asked him.
He nodded. "We're playing the Titans tonight. It's one of the biggest games of the year."
Piper nodded and looked up at me. "We should go. I haven't been to a game yet this year."
I shrugged. "Alright. It could be fun."
Jason gave us a half smile. "Great. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"See ya," I said.
"Bye," Piper echoed, and Jason left us alone.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"The argument?" she asked, pulling away from me. "Stupid stuff. I was just teasing him about looking like G.I. Joe with the water guns."
"Oh."
She cocked her head. "You aren't jealous, are you?" she teased.
"Of course not." And the funny thing was that I wasn't jealous, but a couple weeks ago I would have been.
Mom and Paul went out for date night. So it was just me and my little half sister (we have different dads), Estelle at home.
Estelle's only four, and she looks just like my mom did at that age, but she has brown eyes, like Paul.
I was baby-sitting which is pretty easy. Stick Estelle in front of the TV, feed her, then get her to bed on time, and I could make twenty bucks in just a just a couple hours. I was in the kitchen making macaroni while Estelle sat in the living room where I could see her, watching some Barbie movie in her pj's, hugging a cabbage patch doll.
My phone vibrated and I picked it up. NEW MESSAGE! was on the screen. I opened the message and read it.
Hey Percy. This is Annabeth. Thalia gave me your # and I was wondering if you wanted to practice lines sometime?
My eyes widened. Annabeth texted me! Oh god. I sound like a girl.
Quickly, I texted back:
Yeah sure. Whenever you want. I could use the practice.
I set the phone on the counter and headed back to my macaroni. The phone vibrated again only a few seconds later and I dove for it.
Haha. Yeah, me 2. :) Sometime next week maybe? Tuesday? I'm staying with my mom this weekend so not then.
I grinned. Tuesday works. C u then.
:) C u.
"Percy!" Estelle yelled. "The mac n cheese is blowing up!"
I turned to see the macaroni bubbling over. "Shit," I mumbled under my breath.
