Chapter 3: Am I Dead?
When I woke up, I wasn't dead, but I felt like my insides were microwaved. The sun shined dimly as if it was just the morning. I sat up groggily and looked around. My friends were just waking up too and they probably felt the same.
"Ugh, why do my insides feel like they've been through the microwave eight times?" Leo asked.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one," I rubbed my forehead.
Piper looked the worst. She hugged her stomach as if she was about to vomit and she tried to manage a smile when she noticed me looking at her.
"Pipes, are you okay?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Piper groaned.
Jason crawled over to Piper and hugged her. Piper leaned away from Jason and puked on the sidewalk.
"Oh boy," Jason backed up a bit. "I thought you said you're fine."
"Well, I'm not," Piper sat back up and wiped her mouth.
"So are we still demi-gods?" Frank asked.
"Well, if I can't understand Blackjack anymore, then I'm not," I said.
Blackjack looked at me curiously and nickered. Wait, I couldn't understand...I'm not a demi-god?
"So, what should we do?" Hazel asked.
"We could be mortals?" Leo joked.
"Yes, repair boy, we are mortals," Piper said.
"I know that Beauty Queen," Leo stood up, but his face told me he regretted his choice. "Let's get moving, maybe we can crash at someone's place."
"Maybe mine?" I offered.
"Yeah, there we go, we can stay at your place," Frank said and stood up.
Everyone else stood up, except me and Piper.
"Seriously? I understand why Piper is still sitting, but you?" Annabeth puts her hands on her hips.
"I don't want to be even more nauseous when I stand up," I complained.
"Get up," Annabeth grabbed my hand and pulled me up.
I felt a wave of nausea when I stood up and throwing up sounded like a good idea, but nothing came. And when I glanced at Piper, Jason was helping her to her feet.
"Thank you," I heard Piper say to Jason.
"Alright, let's get moving. My apartment is a few blocks away," I started walking and my nausea got worse. I kept moving and whenever I looked back, Piper was holding her hand over her mouth and hugged her stomach. By the time we reached my street, Annabeth was hanging out with Piper in the back, whispering to her.
We reached my apartment and I unlocked the door, pushing the door open.
"Thank goodness, a bed!" Leo ran in.
I didn't just have a bed. I had about 3, I had extra because my apartment was on the bigger side of things. I had 3 bedrooms and a decent sized kitchen and living room. The bathroom was nothing fancy, just a nice shower and everything else.
Annabeth's POV
Once we entered Percy's apartment, Piper was on the verge of tears. The boys were completely oblivious of her nearly crying and Hazel and I stuck around once the boys went to claim their rooms and I waved off Percy so she could talk to us in private.
"Guys, can we run to the pharmacy later?" Piper asked, wiping her eyes.
"Um, okay, but why?" Hazel asked.
"I'm late," Piper said and it donged on me. Her vomiting, her hiding in the restroom at the gas station, and now her admitting she's late.
"Pipes, are you sure it's what you think?" I asked.
She nodded grimly, "I'm pretty sure."
I hugged Piper, "Don't worry about it until we know for sure."
"Hey, what's up?" I heard Frank ask.
"Don't worry about it," Hazel said gently.
Frank sat on the floor in front of Piper, "Hey, are you okay?"
Piper looked like she didn't want to lie to him and don't blame her. He's one of them that actually seems to be genuinely concerned about Piper, "I really don't know yet."
"Yet?" Frank asked gently.
"It's kinda a girl problem," Piper wrung her hands.
"Oh," Frank looked a little uncomfortable.
Piper stood up and her face still had a tinge of green, "I'm going to find a room for us." She walked away.
"Don't you already have a room here?" Hazel asked.
"Pfft! You think I stay here every night?" I was semi-offended.
"Well, yeah," Hazel looked down at Frank.
"Okay, yes, I do stay here often, but I don't always sleep in 'my' room," I made quotation marks around "my".
Hazel looked at me as if I was blushing, "Oh?"
"Not like that, Hazel!" I knew I was blushing and I stood up and gone after Piper. I didn't want to talk to Hazel about Percy and my "sleepovers".
I caught up with Piper and she found "my" room, "Hey."
"Is this your room?" Piper asked.
"Why does everyone keep thinking I live here?" I asked.
"Hey, I asked you first," Piper picked at the blanket.
"Yes, this is my room, but I don't spend a lot of time in here, except to escape Percy or to read," I said.
"Oh, and we think that, because you guys are close and we would think you two live together," Piper said.
"Okay, that's honest, and yeah, I do kinda live here, I don't go to Camp anymore so, I guess I do," I realized. I didn't realize until now that Percy and I are actually living together now. It's not sleepovers, it's living together.
"Congrats," Piper looked down.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
She sighed, "Jason and I haven't been the same since the last time I visited him, I spent the night and slept with him. He was kinda drunk, and well, I had few drinks with him, like why not? But now that I think about it, it doesn't sound like something we should've done. I don't even know if I actually slept with him or not," Piper picked at the lint on the mattress. "The worst part, I don't even know if we had protection. I'm afraid I could be pregnant. I really don't want to be a mother yet. It wasn't really a dream of mine, yes I would love to have kids, but this early?"
"I understand that, but maybe you're supposed to? Percy and I have been careful, we know the consequences, and Piper, I know you and Jason know them too. Percy and I haven't drank, I knew what we would do. We want to try it without protection, but we know it can be dangerous. Well, not dangerous exactly, but you get the point," I tried to give advice.
"Yeah…" She turned her back to me.
"Look, I didn't mean to hurt you," I apologized.
"No, I need honesty. Jason hasn't been telling the truth, or at least I don't think he has been," Piper looked like she was crying. "He doesn't tell me where he has been, he won't tell me what he's doing on his phone or who he's texting, I think he's pulling away and cheating on me."
"Oh, Piper," I hugged her and she turned around and hugged me back. She sobbed into my shoulders.
Percy's POV
I didn't understand what was going on when Piper, hazel, Annabeth, and Frank talked in hushed tones. I was worried about Piper. She was the only one who vomited and she still looks sick. I walked into Annabeth's room, but Annabeth waved me off when she was hugging Piper, who sounded like she was crying. I wanted to see what was going on, but it seemed like something the girls and Frank were hiding.
I found Frank after he was done talking to Hazel and I stepped up to him, "So, what's up with Piper?"
"I really don't know. She said 'girl stuff'," Frank shrugged.
"Oh," I said flatly. I walked away and sat down on the couch.
The rest of the morning flew by. We watched some TV and even played some video games. Being mortal was amazing. No monsters to worry about, no gods punishing us, well besides them making us mortal, but that's beside the point. We kept calling out every monster we knew and see who could remember the most, and well, Annabeth won, with me trailing behind.
Piper whispered to Annabeth and Hazel and they nodded.
"Boys, we're going to get some supper, we'll be back in about 20 minutes," Annabeth said as she grabbed her jacket and wallet. "No making the apartment a mess, otherwise you have to clean up before food." She left with Piper and Hazel following her.
It was silent once the girls left. We sat still in our seats, but that only lasted about five minutes. Our feet started to swing or we would play thumb wars against our own hands or with each other. We started to watch TV again a few minutes before the girls came home.
"Boys, we're home!" Hazel called.
"FOOD!" We all screamed at once.
Annabeth had to keep the bags out of our reach, which was hard for her since Frank, Jason, and I were taller than her, "Give it back, Percy."
I stuck out my tongue and ran off, heading to the dining room.
"At least they didn't make a mess," I heard Piper say.
The others followed me into the dining room/kitchen.
"Hey, give us some!" Leo cried.
I set the bags on the table, "Back!"
Leo crept closer, "Give me!"
"No, stay back!" I grabbed a spoon out of a drawer and pointed it at Leo like a sword. "Get back!"
Leo backed up, but wouldn't stay. Jason tried to reach around me, but I smacked his arm, "Ow."
Annabeth must've walked in, but I didn't see her. Someone was grabbing from behind and I smack them with my spoon, "Hey!" I turned around and saw Annabeth taking the bags, rubbing her forearm. "Watch who you're smacking!"
"Oops, sorry," I put down my spoon. "I thought you were Jason or someone."
"Mmhmm," She walked to the counter and took out the food, and served us food. Hazel came in and whispered something to Annabeth and Annabeth ran off. I wanted to follow, but someone would steal my food.
