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Chapter 25: Jealousy
"What's their story?"
"Hmmm?"
"Their story. How did they get together?" Calypso asked again
Annabeth tore her eyes away from her paper to see Piper and Jason out in the hall. Jason was leaning against the wall while Piper stood in front of him planted in between his feet with their hands interlocked. It had to bring a smile to her lips, they were so perfect for each other.
"It's a longer story than you'd think." Annabeth spoke quietly so the teacher wouldn't call her out.
"Well this class is long" Callie pointed out with a hinted smile.
Annabeth broke into the grin "Why do you wanna know?." She whispered. "Romances are so cheesy."
Calypso blushed and shrugged. "Is it a crime to know how a few friends got together?"
Rolling her eyes, Annabeth sighed weightedly. "Well alright. But no lovey dovey details. Got it?"
"Okay" Calypso leaned closer to hear eagerly.
"It kinda started when we were friends. Hazel, Frank, Leo, Jason, Piper and I. They were always crushing on each other as kids. It was kinda dramatic. Not my thing, never really enjoyed talking about it with Pipes."
Calypso nodded to show she was listening even though her eyes were already fixated on Annabeth.
"So by the time we reached high school they were really close. Well we were all really close, but Piper and Jason especially. That's when Piper's dad got all famous. People kept coming out of everywhere to ask her for phone numbers and to flirt with her and to be friends. Piper, back then, didn't have the backbone to tell any of them off. It got so bad that she didn't want to come to school anymore. Which was fine by me. I was trying to get her to do it online. Which is what I was doing."
Calypso's wide eyes came closer "and?" She asked eagerly.
"That's when Jason finally stepped up and pretty much acted like her bodyguard. People stopped bugging her when Jason was around. If they got to close he'd chase them off. He never roughed anyone up though. But there were rumors that he did. That's what stopped the flow of people around Piper."
"Aaaannnd?"
"Well Piper kept trying to get Jason to ask her out but as it turns out, Jason didn't want Piper to feel like he was there just because he was after what everybody else was after so he waited for her to make the first move. So I won a bet and made Piper finally get it over with."
Calypso sighed dreamily "That's a great story."
"Into romances are we?"
Calypso blushed but nodded all the same "I've never had a romance before."
"Didn't Leo ask you out?" Annabeth murmured curiously while pretending to write something down in her binder.
"Ya….. our dates tonight" she whispered back while blushing furiously.
Annabeth did a silent 'ooohhhh' moment before she smirked "Well that's what this is all about. You excited?"
"Nervous." She corrected "Super duper Nervous."
Annabeth momentarily paused seeing as the teacher was eyeing them. Thankfully other students were talking so she wasn't singled out. She let the silence sit cold for a few minutes while she rubbed her shell between her fore finger and thumb.
"Oh? Why?" The conversation ensued as soon as the teacher's back was turned.
"Because I've never been on a date before" Calypso muttered so fast Annabeth almost missed it.
Annabeth chuckled heartily "You'll be fine." She assured her friend while continuing to write the note being sloppily put up on the board.
A breeze whisked its way through the open window and gave Annabeth the warm smell of flowers in bloom and new ones growing. Spring was evident just by the smell. Longingly, Annabeth looked outside and watched the wind ruffle the trees and play with the clouds. Being inside this crummy white walled classroom suddenly felt like the most suffocating thing in the world. It was darker and crammed. The students at each desk were totally submersed in the the low drone of a speech the teacher was giving.
From beside her, Calypso tapped her pencil on the desk to grab her attention.
"What about Hazel and Frank?" She asked with a faraway look in her eyes.
"What? You mean how they got together?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Ya."
"Oh, their story is really simple. They liked each other until Piper pretty much told them that they liked each other. Then there was a lot of drama and a bit of arguing and then they one day they just kissed in the rain, no joke, and started going out after that."
Calypso started saying something when the bell went off so all Annabeth could see was her lips moving.
"Pardon?" Annabeth said once the sound died down and the students binders stopped clacking.
"Nothing" she murmured, blushing lightly while gathering her things.
Annabeth quirked her eyebrows "Oh that was definitely something."
"I wouldn't mind being kissed in the rain." Calypso muttered again. Her face was so red it would make a tomato jealous.
Annabeth laughed lightheartedly "Well maybe we can turn on the sprinkler and give you and Leo a shove."
The look on her friend's face was diamond. Annabeth didn't stop poking fun at Calypso till they sat down at the caf. She pulled out her plain white sandwich and was about to dig in when her eyes noted the off feeling.
"Where's Percy?" Annabeth accounted the missing person as she scanned the table.
Jason just shrugged nonchalantly while Frank shook his head knowingly.
"What happened?" Piper voiced Annabeth's question.
"It was so weird!" Leo sat up dramatically while planting two hands on the table with a loud thud.
"Here we go." Jason muttered.
"Does he need an intro?" Frank added sarcastically.
Leo ignored them "Percy was running all over the place in gym going swish swish swish. Literally destroying the other team in basketball! When aalll of a sudden BOOM! Casey falls on top of Percy! And I mean right on top!"
Annabeth choked on her drink.
"But suddenly this redhead pops in the mess and yanks Casey off Percy by her ponytail! Percy is relieved but then a cat fight ensues! These girls were literally fighting over Percy! It was as if it was a scene right out of some cheesy modern high school soap opera!"
Annabeth's jaw clenched. Her fingernails were biting into her palms.
"Anyways, so this redhead is brawling it out with Casey when the redhead, I think her name is Rachiele or something-"
"It's Rachel" Frank intervened while chewing. Looking as bored as ever. He'd probably heard Leo tell a million people this already.
After all, everyone knew that Leo Valdez was the most dramatic storyteller known to man, beast, and earth dwellers.
"Yah! Rachel! She suddenly socks Casey in the face and is all like 'I saw you jump on him on purpose!' And Casey's all like 'nuh uh! It was a total accident!' But by this point Casey is crying and she tries to get Percy to defend her! Meanwhile Perce is just super weirded out and coach finally notices then gives Rachel detention." Leo's giant hand motions and excited voice gained them some eavesdroppers who listened to the story curiously.
"Rachel got detention?" Calypso asked timidly. The poor girl looked shaky. Probably because she was going on a date with this twit after school.
Leo nodded. "And then Percy all of a sudden says he's gotta go and books it outta there like a ball out of a cannon."
"Percy left? Did he come back?" Piper's brows twitched together.
Leo shook his head wildly making his chocolate brown curls bounce "No! And when we asked at the office they said that Percy had a family emergency and had to go home! How did he know he had family emergency while we were in the gym? Isn't it just so mysterious?"
"Okay Mr. Mysterious. Sit down and eat your lunch so that we can finish hours." Hazel muttered while rolling her eyes at the boy.
Annabeth looked back and forth between her friends. In the background the tables shifted with teens in different color clothing at their lunch tables while the ceiling fan swung monotonically above them. The noise of hundreds of voices chattering bounced about the room while her gang remained silent, munching away contently.
"That's not the only thing off." She stated with her mind whirring. Piecing together things and playing with the corner of her shirt. "Percy doesn't have any family in San Francisco."
Another moment of silence quieted the gang down as they let that sink in.
"So." Piper started quizzically. "Are you saying that he just left without telling us?"
-{:oOo:}-
Percy was in a pickle. It hadn't been twenty minutes ago that Rachel had been screaming at Casey. It was a situation he never wanted to be in again. Who knew Rachel could be so protective? It was just after they're little one punch escapade that he had seen his watch.
A little red light illuminating it.
Without a second thought he had left and dove into the nearest janitor closet before flipping off the cover to reveal the touch screen.
Crouching between two leaning brooms in a room that smelled strongly of bleach and old carpets, Percy read the message scrolling on his watch. The only light leaking from under the creaky wooden door and flooding brightly out of his device.
It was an assignment.
A major assignment. And those didn't come by often.
According to headquarters in Washington they had just been delivered a tip.
Someone was going to drive a car with an unidentified amount of explosives into the downtown bank. It would be a catastrophe unless Percy got there in time. Being one of three agents close enough to engage in time, Percy was required.
So, pushing passed the buckets and stacked sponges, Percy had bolted out the door, hot wired the first car he found and took off. He was weaving and twisting through the rows of civilian cars as fast as he could. Tires squealed and the steering wheel shuddered under his control.
He jammed the gears and floored the gas again while barely missing a passing street car. The car rocketed by the buildings and ran red lights making everything outside of it just a blur. Wind whistling crazily through the open window and whipping his shirt back and forth like an un-sequestered flag.
Slamming on the brakes, he wrenched the faded steering wheel in a circle making him spin to a stop while the tires burned against the cement with the friction. The car coughed in the rancid smelling but spacious alley behind the Dare building as it started to cool down. Threads of steam trailed up from the hood like a sigh of relief.
Letting go of his breath, he couldn't help but smile at the adrenaline dose he just received. His windblown face pink from the stolen warmth and his hair as ruffled as ever.
"I see you're still in love with speed" a rough feminine voice laughed familiarly from near his open window.
Snapping his head around in alarm, Percy caught an image he hadn't seen in ages. Nostalgiac memories of long hours in a glass roofed training room and cracks of dawns racing down tracks on vehicles varying from 6 wheels to 2.
Ebony spikey black hair, black eyeliner, black leather fingerless gloves embedded with spikes, heavy dark combat boots and leaning against a sleek midnight motorcycle that could make any geek cry.
"Long time no see, Pinecone Face" Percy slid out of the car with a smirk and shut the door over his shoulder.
"You look as disorganized as ever Kelp Head" Thalia crossed her arms over her stomach while returning the smirk.
"What are you doing all the way over here? In San Francisco? I thought you hated the sun." Percy asked jokingly while he noticed the taunt leather bags of stuff she had on either side of her motorcycle.
"I was in the area when headquarters called me over. They just can't trust you with this big of an assignment you shrimp." She teased while ruffling his hair.
Percy chuckled lightheartedly while patting down his wild black strands "As if" he retorted "They probably just want me to show you how it's done" he smirked again.
Thalia shook her head and pulled the heavy bags off her motorcycle. Tossing them to the ground as if they were sack of trash. "Well Kelpy, your gonna have to thank me because I brought all your favorite toys."
Percy's brows furrowed as he actually remembered why he was there. "Any other info I should know about this unidentified vehicle filled with x-amount of 'explosives'." Percy asked skeptically while Thalia passed him heavy metal cylinders and bullet proof stuff.
"It's apparently going to be coming up on the east end. If you're stationed on top of the building on 23 than you could probably snipe the driver."
"What if it comes up on the west end?" Percy asked as he slipped the vest over his head.
"La Rue's there with a batch of blands. But the more logical way for V to come is from the east. Less traffic, less trouble. So she's only there for backup and to show the kiddies the ropes." Thalia explained while she tossed him a gun in its holster and a black sniper rifle that Percy slung over his shoulder.
"Estimated time of entry?"
"Sixteen hundred hours and beyond. It's not set in stone though" Thalia recited while she put in her ear piece.
"Oh, so we've got a bit of time."
Percy copied her and put in his own ear piece before turning it on.
"Testing, Testing" Thalia's voice rang in his ear a little loudly as it was microphoned.
"Shut it Grace. You're interrupting my valuable teaching time." Clarisse's voice took over the communication line with a dark growl.
Percy touched his earpiece "Valuable is a questionable term. It sounds more like a blackmail session."
"Jackson?! Why the hell are you here?!" Clarisse's irritation was obvious.
Percy chuckled "Awww, I missed you too La Rue."
Clarisse was about to answer when Thalia broke in on the line again. "Listen, we gotta job to do. I don't wanna hear any baby squabbles going on."
"I'll beat you beyond the grave later than." Was the last thing Clarisse said before the line went silent.
Percy chortled one last time before leaning against the car he 'borrowed' from the school lot. He couldn't help but finally acknowledge the wafting stench pooling around the air that made his lungs recoil.
Mounds of shiny black trash bags were dumped at the end of the alley creating a fragrant mix of rotting pieces of food and heated type of animal had ripped open the easy thin plastic making the smell all the riper. Between that and the cigarettes caught in the weed choked cracks this was not an exactly pleasant place to be.
Quietly, Percy watched Thalia's muscled shoulders work as she sorted through the bags and would occasionally turn to toss him something while he sat there and thought.
Something didn't feel right.
Thalia of all people should of been feeling the same way. She had a knack for natural instinct. That's why she was second to top agent in the biz.
"You know." Percy stated as he slipped the coverlet over the rifle. "This all doesn't sit right with me."
"What do you mean by that?" Thalia asked with her back turned. Her voice emotion-less. As if nothing mattered to her at all.
"I mean, who on earth would inform us of a bomb attack and how would they know the precise location and time? And why did they tell us? Why didn't they tell the F.B.I or the S.F.P.D? And why hasn't anyone evacuated this area?"
Thalia groaned liked she had been waiting for that question. "Your right. It doesn't sit right with me too. But the pile of assholes sitting around computers we call headquarters has insisted that we carry on."
"Well that's an illogical move."
"You're damn right it is." Thalia growled while passing Percy the last of his equipment. "Following orders is going to be the death of me." Thalia muttered for the millionth time in her life.
"You blockheads in position yet." Clarisse yelled, making Percy cringe.
"For crying out loud La Rue! Turn down the mic on yours!" He hissed "And we're almost in position so do don't be so impatient!."
"Good you little shit."
"Might I remind you that I'm of higher rank so I can tell you to shutup."
The next line consisted of inaudible growls and syllables as Clarisse cursed.
"You ready Kelp head?" Thalia swung her leg over the motorcycle.
"Who are you kidding. I was born ready." Percy shouldered the rifle while feeling fairly confident. "Literally."
"Alright, don't get killed." Thalia replied while pulling the motorcycle helmet over her head and bringing the machine to a roaring start.
Last chapters Trivia answer: A gold statue (sorry that question was vague)
This Chapters Trivia: What was the name of the demigod that Gleeson Hedge found and brought to CHB? (Trivia question made by abcathena. Thanks!)