Half-Blood High Performing Arts School
Ch. 10: Surprises
Percy POV
I pulled up to Rachel's house around 5. I went up and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes of waiting, I tried again, then remembered, "Oh yeah, she said it was busted and that I could just come in."
I opened the door and walked in. I looked around, nobody home. I called out her name, but got no response. I heard a thump from upstairs, so I went to check it out. I could hear someone moaning, and saw a door slightly open. I got closer and heard Rachel moaning louder.
"Oh yes...right there baby...oh it feels so good..."
I peeked inside and my jaw dropped. There was Rachel, having sex with Luke! Anger boiled inside of me and I was just about to throw the door open, when I got an idea. I took out my phone and shaped a few pictures of them, then quietly went downstairs. I went back to my car and left her house, already plotting my revenge.
I got back to Leo's about ten minutes later and went inside. I went downstairs to find not much different from when I'd left, except Alex was in the studio recording, and the girls were writing. Jason looked up and saw me standing there.
"What do you want?" he asked coolly.
I went over and sat down on the couch. It was one of those L-shaped couches so it wasn't like we were all crowded. "I want you guys," I said. "To help me get revenge on Rachel."
Beck raised and eyebrow. "I thought you were ditching us to be with her? Now you suddenly want revenge?"
I nodded. "I caught her cheating on me with Luke."
Every one of their mouths dropped open. It took a minute, but Nico was the first to speak. "What happened and what did she say when you caught them?"
I shrugged. "I saw them having sex, but I didn't say anything. I just took a couple pictures then left."
"Ew why would you do that?" asked Piper. Apparently she and Annabeth were listening too.
I smirked. "Don't worry it's not what you think. I have a plan."
The girls shrugged, then resumed writing. The guys, who seemed much happier with me now that I'm done with Rachel, helped me write the perfect song, which we also recorded. By the time we were done, it was almost midnight and we were beat, but ready to do it all again tomorrow.
I woke up the next morning around 9 and went downstairs to find Piper, Annabeth, and Thalia all attempting, and failing, to make everyone breakfast. After they gave up, we all just drove around, trying to find somewhere to go, finally settling on Waffle House. As we sat down I remembered I was supposed to meet Rachel today. I pulled out my phone and texted her.
Hey I'm really sorry but I can't make it over today :(
She responded a few minutes later.
Why not? I thought you were going to leave and spend time with me
I quickly texted back.
I know, but I'm writing a song about how I feel about you and it's taking longer than I thought, we still don't even have our audition song done.
She responded almost instantly.
Ok 3 just promise me you'll do that one in front of everyone
I responded.
Trust me, nothing would make me happier
I smirked, proud of my cleverness. I was actually writing a song about my feelings for her, she just assumed it was good. If only she knew...
We finally started working around twelve-thirty, since we all have ADHD it took forever to focus and work. The guys and I started thinking about what we would do for our audition. We needed something good enough to land a spot, but not too good so that a next one falls short. I looked up from the song I was working on and saw that Alex and the girls were just sitting around doing nothing.
"Uh, how come none of you guys are working?" I asked.
"Because," replied Annabeth with a smirk. "We've all finished our stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "Then how 'bout helping us out with our songs?"
They shrugged and came over to help. In less than an hour, we had a good song done and music to go with it, all we had to do was record. You may be wondering why we have to record our songs when we only have to perform them. The truth is, we don't. We just like having them saved in case we ever make it big and need songs for an album. It's wishful thinking, but hey, who knows what could happen?
By the time we were done recording, it was time to eat again. No one wanted a repeat of this morning, so we just ordered a bunch of pizzas. We just sat around eating pizza and talking for the night, finally going to sleep around eleven.
Sunday we basically spent the entire day rehearsing so that we could all nail our auditions. I was worried about the band's inexperience, but figured that I couldn't do anything by just worrying, so I pitched in whenever I could to help us become better.
Monday
I woke up and quickly realized what today was. My palms immediately got sweaty. Everyone was unusually quiet as we were getting ready. I drove with Nico to school while Annabeth and Alex rode together, Jason drove with Piper, and Beck drove Leo. I couldn't sit still throughout the entire day, and thankfully Rachel understood.
"It's fine, I know you're stressed out." she said.
"Thank you." I replied, not really sure if I should give any emotion.
She smiled. "Hey, what're girlfriends for?"
"Apparently cheating on you with arrogant douchebags." Ithought to myself.
Finally school ended and we all hurried to get to our auditions. They had told us since almost fifty acts had signed up, they were just going to pick the twenty best, and decide the order later on their own. As all of us walked in, we saw Luke and his band finishing up and leaving. He purposely bumped into me and whispered, "Don't choke." I didn't even look back. After they were done Calypso was up. She, of course, was probably incredible and will probably end up with a spot. It's not that I'm still in love with her or anything, I just know from hearing her before that there was no way she would leave without a spot.
(A/N: I'm trying to not have a super long chapter so I won't be putting in everyone's lyrics.)
After she was done a few more acts came and went, nothing special. Then, one of the judges called out, "BethLean!" And Annabeth and Piper went into the room. They came back out a few minutes later and sat back down with us.
"How was it?" asked Nico.
They turned and looked at each other before turning back and answering.
"Well," said Piper. "We think we did a pretty good job, but they had no emotion on their faces and just said thank you afterwards. Nothing else."
We all looked at each other, now officially nervous. While this had been going on, Thalia had been inside. She now came back out and sat with us.
"Man, those people have problems." she said. "Would it kill them to say more than two words?"
After that it was Alex's turn. He went in and came back out a few minutes later.
"Man, those guys freak me out. No emotion. I'm not sure if I ever even saw one of them blink."
After that we heard a voice call out "Fire and Rain!" We got up and walked in. Our instruments were off in the corner we had put them in earlier in the day. We got them and got set up. Leo had left Festus behind and was using an acoustic guitar for this, and I had left my guitar behind, and was using the piano provided for all of the acts. I looked at the judges, who were just staring at us.
"Whenever you're ready." said one of them.
I nodded to the guys and started playing the piano with Nico playing bass with me.
Drops of Jupiter by Train
Percy- Italics
Nico- Bold
Now that she's back in the atmosphere
With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey, hey
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there's a time to change, hey, hey, hey
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Leo started playing the guitar now.
But tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star–
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
The guys all came in now, with Jason adding some cool violin type effects on the keyboard.
Now that she's back from that soul vacation
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey, hey (mmm)
She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey, hey (yeah)
Now that she's back in the atmosphere
I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane
Told a story about a man who was too afraid to fly so he never did land
But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back to the Milky Way?
And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken?
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance, five-hour phone conversation?
The best soy latte that you ever had and me
But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back toward the Milky Way?
And tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
And tell me, did you fall for a shooting star,
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
And did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day?
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
And did you fall for a shooting star, fall for a shooting star?
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
And now you're lonely looking for yourself out there.
We let the final notes ring for a few moments before stopping at looking at the judges, all three of which had neutral expressions. One of them make a mark and a quick note on his paper.
"Thank you." he said without looking up. That was it.
We got back to everyone else and collapsed on the couch.
"Man," said Leo. "All of that work and we don't even get eye contact as he dismisses us?"
"Don't worry about it." said Jason. "It's probably done to everyone as a test or something."
We left the school and all headed for the hill. Frank and Hazel couldn't make it to the hill since they told us they had plans, so it was just the nine of us. We had a good time, but it was easy to see that everyone was busy thinking about the auditions. The worst part was we wouldn't find out the results until Wednesday, with the event being on Friday.
Wednesday
Worst. Week. Ever. You have no idea (or at least I hope you don't.) how hard it is to be nice to a girl who's cheating on you an act like nothing is wrong. She kept asking if I wanted to hang out with her, but I kept turning her down. Thankfully I had the excuse of needing to be ready in case we were selected. The only problem was that she's asked me at least fifteen times since Monday night. Not fun.
We were all in Recording Studio when Apollo walked in with a bunch of envelopes. The class got quiet really fast, since everyone knew that our results were in them.
"Okay." he said. "Since that was the fastest I've ever seen you get quiet, I'm assuming that you know what's in these. Since almost everyone in this class auditioned, it'll take a bit before they're all passed out. Please come up when you're called. Bands, please send one person up only."
Our group had decided to wait and open all of ours together. Alex was called up, then Annabeth went up for her and Piper. I went up for the band, then Thalia went up for her envelope. While she was up, Luke was up for his band, called the Titans. It was basically him, a guy named Ethan Nakamura, and another named Chris Rodriguez. While Luke was up next to Thalia, I saw him lean in a whisper something in her ear. It must have been bad, because she turned around and smacked him so hard he tripped over Ethan, who was an easy seven feet away.
"You bitch!" He yelled, a giant red mark already visible on his face.
"If you ever say something like that to me again you'll be lucky if you're able to still call me that." said Thalia before she returned to us. Luke turned to see if Apollo would help him out, but he just shook his head and told him that he deserved it.
When she sat down we counted to three then all ripped open our envelopes. I read the message on ours.
Fire and Rain,
Thank you for auditioning for our music festival. With only twenty spots available and over fifty acts trying out, only the best could be chosen. We are pleased to inform you that you were selected as one of those twenty. The judges were very impressed with your sound and chemistry as a band. You will be given the honor of being the closing act of our festival.
Sincerely,
HBHPAS Music Board
I looked up and saw the guys looking at me. I broke into a huge grin, which they took as a yes. They all started yelling and bear hugging me. When we broke apart and settled down, we looked at everyone else's. We couldn't believe it. Everyone had made it! After a few more minutes, Apollo got us quiet and announced the order of the twenty spots. Luke's band would be the opening act, Thalia was second, Alex was fifth, Annabeth and Piper were tenth, Calypso was fifteenth, and we were the closing act. There was only one act that surprised me, and that was the ninth act.
Frank and Hazel.
A/N: dun dun DUN! Finally Frank and Hazel have something to do. I'm probably going to be doing the music festival in two parts. You'll see why in a bit, just know that what will happen is pretty sweet. Btw, I'd like to give a S/O to JustDon'tFlickrrr for calling Rachel cheating. Please review! Peace