Author's Note: Hey guys! I love you all so much. I had 36 reviews just for the last chapter. Thank you! I'll try to update as quick as I can since I'm on summer break and I have zero to no social life. I'm also in the process of writing the next chapter of Enslaved.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson!
Bad For Me
Chapter 10: Trust Me
NICO
I can't believe Thalia. What happened to no secrets? What happened to our cousin pact— the one where we tell each other everything? She's starting to break it by not telling Percy about her best friend's dare. I still can't believe Thalia didn't stop Annabeth.
"Hey Nico," Annabeth smiled when I passed by her. Of course, out of anger, I ignored her completely and just brushed it off. Even Jason, Mr. Nice To Everyone, ignored Annabeth.
Jason glanced back at her. "She looks confused and hurt," he muttered to me, matching my long furious strides.
"She deserves it. The only thing that hurts is her pride," I hissed back. We both went out into the school parking lot, where Percy's car was waiting for us. Both Jason and I rode with Thalia this morning, but right now I don't even want to look at her. Percy was in the driver's seat, head inside a book as he scribbled furiously and thought.
"Hey Percy," Jason called. "Can we get a ride back home?"
Percy's head jerked up from his math book. "Yeah, sure," he grinned when he saw it was just us.
Seeing Percy that happy made my insides clench with guilt. I couldn't ruin that for him. Maybe I should tell him later. Maybe I should tell him now. I should save him from the heart break. I should let him be happy for a while. Gods knows how long it's been since he's been around girls he's crushed on. After Calypso, he wanted nothing to do with girls. Annabeth could change that. Annabeth could also break him. I bit my lip out of frustration.
"Nico, you coming?"
"What?" My head snapped up to see Jason and Percy staring at me. "Oh, I just remembered I had to ask Mr. Ride something. I'll ride back with Thalia."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "You sure? She seemed to be in a bad mood."
Jason shot me a pointed look, one Percy didn't see, and I blinked. "Yeah, I can handle her." Percy looked at me in disbelief. We both knew that pissing off Thalia when she was already in a bad mood was basically suicide.
"Alrighty then," Jason shrugged. "Your choice. Let's go, Perce." He shot me a questioning look and I shrugged it off. Percy stubbornly planted his feet into the ground until Jason dragged him away. Percy pouted, and I waved at him. I turned on my heel and ran back to the building, heading straight to the gym. Knowing Thalia, she's either in the gym with the archery equipment or detention.
I was right. She was in the gym with a few other girls I didn't recognize. They were wearing silver-grey tee shirts and shooting at targets, hitting the bulls eye each time.
"Thals!" I called right after she shot an arrow. My cousin looked up and narrowed her eyes. The other girls whipped their heads around and glared at me.
"What're you doing here, boy?" One of them spat. She had long, silky black hair, coppery-like skin, a weird silver circlet-like headband around her head, a slightly upturned nose and black eyes like volcanic rocks. She gave off the aura of royalty and made me feel awkward. She glared at me harshly. She reminded me of a Persian princess. Tall, graceful, and royal.
Thalia stepped in front of the girl. "It's okay, Zoe. This is my cousin Nico. The one I told you about?" The girl, Zoe, gave a quick nod and glared at me again. Antisocial much?
Zoe sneered. "What is it you want with Thalia?"
"Can I just talk with you for a minute, Thalia?" I rolled my eyes discreetly at Zoe's actions. What was her problem?
The blue eyed girl got that defiant look in her eyes again. "Why?" she asked almost snobbishly. "I thought you were ignoring me. What's got you crawling back, huh?"
"It's about Percy." That one sentence wiped the sneer off her face and was replaced with a worried look.
"What about Percy?"
Zoe glared yet again. "Who's this Percy, Thalia? Is he another boy?"
"Percy's my other cousin, the one with the sea green eyes," Thalia answered her question before turning back to me. "What's up with him?"
I shook my head. "Not here. In private. Please."
"Okay," Thalia agreed immediately. She turned to the others. "Girls, I have to go. Family emergency. Same time tomorrow? Zoe? Phoebe?" Zoe and some brunette—who I'm pretty sure was Phoebe— nodded their heads.
She turned to me and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the gym and to her car. "Bye girls!" she yelled.
Thalia roughly shoved me towards her car. "What?" she asked.
"Look, I know I've been ignoring you and everything—" she snorted. "—but I think we should put the fighting aside to protect Percy."
"Hmm... I don't know. You're the one who started it and everything."
"Well you're the one who wouldn't tell him in the first place!"
Thalia gradually became angrier and huffed. "Listen, I don't want to even look at you right now. But for Percy's sake, I'm going to. Now this better be good. Talk."
"I just want to protect Percy. That's why you and I are going to tell him about the dare. Today."
She blinked, stunned. "W-what?"
"You heard me. I'm not going to sit still anymore. I'm going to tell Percy, and you're going to tell him too. At the same time, when we get home."
"Why should I?"
I sighed. There she goes, being all stubborn again. "Because," I reasoned, "if you don't, Percy could get his heart smashed and you don't want that on your conscience, do you?"
"No," Thalia shook her head. She thought it over and sighed. "Okay, I will. I was actually thinking about telling him anyways."
I grinned. "Good, we're on the same page. You just needed a small push, is all." We both got into her car, and Thalia pulled out of the driveway and started heading home. "Who were those girls anyway? That Zoe chick hated me."
"Don't mind her," Thalia laughed. "Zoe hates all guys. She and Phoebe are the two major male haters in our school. And those girls are in this club called The Hunters. They train, practice, and win archery competitions. I was thinking of joining them, since Zoe's graduating this year."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
.~.
As soon as we pulled into the garage, Thalia opened the door and yelled for Percy. He jumped down the stairs with Jason right behind him.
"What?"
Thalia rolled her eyes. "What happened to our agreement?" Percy shot her a confused look. "You're supposed to wear your contacts at home!"
"Oh, yeah," Percy said. "It's just that I forgot to switch them since I was studying and—"
"When don't you study?" I snorted.
"I'll let it slide. Only today!" Thalia said. Percy just grinned.
"So what did you need to tell me?"
Thalia's face immediately became serious. "About that. You see, remember when I told you about Annabeth and not going near her?" Percy nodded.
"Well," I added, "Jason and I found out why. Thalia told us everything."
Percy immediately furrowed his eyebrows. "Told you everything? What's everything?"
"Trust me when I say this. Percy, Annabeth's using you for a bet."
Author's Note: I updated in a week! Yay! Okay, from now on until school starts, I'm going to try to update once every week or two.
Contest: So, I thought of a new story. I don't think I've seen a fanfiction like this and I'm looking forward to writing it. But I don't have a title for it yet! So I'm going to be holding a contest. You guys can review in a title and I'll pick the one I like best. If I can't choose, I'll pick my favorite ones and let you vote on it. Here's the summary.
"He saved you, fixed you, and this is how you repay him? By abandoning him for that stupid jock?" Percy Jackson was just the type of guy that everyone loved and adored. But this socialite was a bit quirky— he was known for saving victims of bullies, befriending them, and helping them in any way possible. What happens when he saves nerdy brainiac Annabeth Chase from the school bullies? He aids her to becoming more comfortable with herself, then she slowly changes into someone that he doesn't know anymore. OOC Annabeth for a good part of the story. (She goes from nerdy Annabeth, to normal Annabeth, to bitchy mean Annabeth.)
You like it? That's roughly what the summary will be. I'll edit it later. I kind of got the idea from Ailee's song How Could You Do This To Me? She's my favorite KPOP soloist.
Side Note: You will not believe how much I fangirled when I saw that one of my favorite authors on this site, Fluffy Bunnies Are So Cute, reviewed four of my chapters. I was super happy when I saw that email in my inbox. So thank you, everybody, for reviewing! It really makes my day :)
Question: Do you guys want Percy to believe his cousins or not? Tell me in a review!
Like it? Hate it? Love it? R&R!