Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I'm borrowing them from the lovely Rick Riordan.
For the first time since Percy can remember, he sleeps in. It's a surprise when he rolls over to look at his alarm clock and the numbers flashing 10:45 at him.
He rubs his eyes firmly, sitting up and pushing the blankets off his body. Unable to help himself, he glances back over and checks the time again, furrowing his eyebrows. He was supposed to be in school almost two hours ago. Normally, his mother would have shouted the house down by now to wake him up. He gave up on alarm clocks long ago - His mother seemed to think that he was handicapped and needed to be personally woken every morning.
Percy frowns, sitting on the edge of his bed and wracking his brain. It's a weekday, definitely. He hasn't made a mistake, he's sure. He's certainly not sick... Percy can't think of any reason to be kept home from school. He stands up, pausing to yawn and stretch before he's rummaging in his wardrobe for something to wear. He dresses quickly, simple blue jeans and a t-shirt before he pads out of his bedroom, letting the door click shut behind him.
He's still trying to work out why he would have been allowed to oversleep as he enters the kitchen, grabbing a bowl, milk, and a box of cereal. Slumping down into a chair at the dining table, he eats slowly, and it isn't long before his stepfather appears in the room with him.
He grunts his acknowledgement, and Percy keeps his head down, eyes fixed on the bowl in front of him. It's nothing out of the ordinary. His stepfather is throwing things around, crashes and bangs echoing from the kitchen as he makes himself his usual morning coffee. It's their routine, Percy knows. The only thing wrong is his mother. She should already be showered, dressed and rushing about the house trying to get everyone organized. He hasn't seen her all morning.
With a mumble of something Percy doesn't bother trying to understand, his stepfather sits down at the table across from him. For once, Percy looks up to meet his eyes, his eyebrow cocked in questioning.
"What do you want?" Gabe snaps, and Percy sighs, shaking his head.
He's reminded, not for the first time, that his stepfather really doesn't give a fuck. His mother might be fed up, annoyed with the fact that she doesn't have the son she always wanted, but at least she pays more attention than him. Most of the time, Percy can get his point across soundlessly. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but she's picked up on the various habits he uses to ask different questions, and Percy knows that had it been her sitting across from him, she could have answered in a heartbeat. It saddens him a little to think that he doesn't give her enough credit most of the time. Then he remembers that his guitar is missing from his room, and he scowls.
"Shouldn't you be in school?"
Percy's head snaps up at the sound, bewildered. This is much more conversation than he ever would have bargained for from the man. So far, it's been two complete sentences, and that's more words than Percy thought he would ever hear directed at him.
He shrugs his answer, again trying to point out that he doesn't know because where's his mother?
Yet again, the silent questions are lost on his stepfather, and he sighs, pushing his bowl away from him and standing up. There's silence as he leaves the table, taking his bowl with him into the kitchen. He leaves it in the sink, and that's when he spots the note stuck to the fridge.
With faint curiosity, he pulls it down, recognizing his mother's looped handwriting.
I'm going to my friend's until I can work out what I'm supposed to do with the two of you.
Don't try to contact me.
The bluntness of it leaves Percy a little lost. He's used to long, boring explanations, uneasy words and annoyed sighs. His mother was never one to cut straight to the point, and the words she's scrawled haphazardly onto the piece of paper throw him off a little.
He can't tell whether his stepfather has seen it, and Percy doesn't really care. He can't believe that she actually appears to have gone through with it. Finally, she's walked out of his stepfather, even if it might not be for good. She's finally done what she's been procrastinating doing for years, and Percy can't really believe it.
And then it hits him.
It's the first time she's done it without Percy.
So many times he's been woken up in the middle of the night to go with her, always a false alarm. His mouth goes a little dry at the knowledge that the one time she does decide to leave, she leaves him behind. He re-reads the short note, and he knows that for the first time, he's been roped in with his stepfather. Sure, she gets annoyed at him, fed up, but never has she gone to the extent to leave him alone with that man. Percy has to admit that he's a little frightened.
A quick glance into the dining room shows his stepfather still brooding over a cup of coffee and the morning paper. Nothing appears out of the ordinary, other than the note carelessly tacked to the refrigerator. Percy knows that as soon as his stepfather finishes his coffee, he'll stumble into the kitchen, get himself a beer, and then throw himself in front of the television for the football.
He waits, and sure enough, as soon as the last dregs are gone from the mug, Gabe is sauntering to the fridge. Percy watches in disgust as he extracts a beer, not sparing his stepson even a glance before he's walking out again, ignoring the note Percy is clutching in his fingertips.
Percy wanders through the school gates three hours late.
He makes his way to his first class slowly, deciding that if he's already this late, a few more minutes shouldn't really make a difference. His physics teacher is in the middle of yelling at the class for disobedience when Percy pauses outside the door. He seriously considers walking away then and there, but after a moment's hesitation, puts his hand on the doorknob anyway. The door creaks a little as he opens it, only serving to alert them of his presence further. As soon as he enters, his teacher rounds on him, his face almost red from shouting. Percy resists the urge to groan out loud, shoving his hands in his pockets and waiting for the assault to begin.
"Where have you been?"
Percy looks at him and remembers that this is one of the new teachers. Previously, Percy has gotten to class on time, sat at the back, and handed in whatever was asked of him. He's been one of the kids who passes through soundlessly, without the teacher even being able to match the name to the face.
He doesn't know about Percy's... issue.
Percy frowns, cocking his head to the side and contemplating just how he's supposed to address the situation. There's a few kids giggling; kids who know exactly who he is, and that he's about to get the lecture of a lifetime if he doesn't reply soon - something they all know isn't going to happen.
"Excuse me? I'm waiting for an answer."
Percy sighs, shaking his head. The kids in the back row snicker some more, until one finally speaks up.
"It's the Ugliano kid, sir. You know the freak who doesn't talk."
Percy doesn't even bother to get offended by the insult. He's just glad that somebody has saved him the trouble of trying to explain it himself. The teacher looks stumped for a moment, before he turns - if possible - redder. Percy's not sure whether it's out of embarrassment for not realizing that he has that kid in his class, or that he's even more furious than before.
"Don't play games with me. You're half an hour late to class."
Percy has to suppress a laugh at the realization that his teacher is embarrassed...And now desperately trying to cover it up by playing the denial card.
Percy shakes his head again, resorting to his final course of action. He rolls his eyes, points to his throat, shakes his head. He feels like an absolute idiot, but he doesn't really fancy getting suspended from school for 'ignoring' the teacher.
"It's true. That's Perseus Ugliano," a kid in the front row pipes up, a little more kindly than the others, and Percy is surprised that so many people seem to know who he is.
The teacher gives up eventually, giving an exasperated sigh and telling Percy to sit down. He does so immediately, thankful that he's managed to get off without getting a detention for being late.
When the end of school bell rings, Percy's at a bit of a loss. He never really wants to go home, but today is worse, because he knows that the only thing awaiting him is a drunken stepfather. He doesn't know when his mother is planning on coming home – he can still hardly believe she left - but he doubts she'd be back already if she was that serious about it. And she is, isn't she? Because she left him behind, and she hasn't ever, ever done that. Percy knows that he must have pissed her off even more than he originally thought.
Why should they even care?
It's just a name. It's not as if he killed someone. What he did hadn't hurt anybody - or so he had thought. They seem to be under the impression that he's denying them as his parents, and maybe, in a way, he is. Percy denied the name they gave him, the one thing that most kids are forced to take to the grave with him. And even though he only changed it inside his head, it's still a betrayal in their eyes, and that, amongst everything else, is more than his mother can take. She had never really coped that well with stress, and Percy has been a heavy burden on her back for three years.
With the option of going home ruled out, Percy sits down on the curb outside of the school and sighs. He's supposed to go to a session with his therapist that afternoon, but now he's not entirely sure that he wants to. The thought of sitting down and confessing his deepest secrets to the woman who, though indirectly, caused his mother to walk out, doesn't seem that appealing to him. A niggling voice reminds Percy that she was just doing her job, but he ignores it. It continued to pester him, reminding him that so far, she's been the only one who cares in the slightest, and maybe he shouldn't push her away so quickly. And then there's the boy, the boy who appears to always be there. Percy assumed that his sessions are either right before, or right after his own.
The thought of seeing Nico raises his spirits just a little, but he still doesn't feel like going to the psychiatrist. It's been a horrible day so far, and the last thing he feels like doing is sitting on the squeaky, uncomfortable couch, avoiding questions and fidgeting nervously.
Making up his mind, Percy stands up, brushing the dirt off his jeans and beginning to wander aimlessly. Even if he doesn't want to go to the shrink, he still definitely doesn't want to go home. He knows it's probably not going to be safe to walk the streets in an hour or so, but he doesn't really mind. In his opinion, it's probably safer than home.
Well the bitch left. And then the rest was just kind of a filler chapter, I'm sorry. But hey! Happy New Year! I'll try to write more before I go back to school because once that happens, I'll be taking finals and cramming will then take up a majority of my time. Sorry, not sorry, about that.
