Point Place, New York
Friday 1976, 1:15 p.m.
Point Place High School
The classroom was filled with boisterous conversation when Percy finally made it to class. He made his way to his desk behind Annabeth who already had her text book opened and pencil ready. She turned to him with a weary smile.
"Will this day ever end?" she asked him.
Percy blinked. "It's Friday, so... No."
He cringed as he heard a familiar voice barking orders behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Clarisse La Rue and her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez harassing some poor student. The look of annoyance on Annabeth's face mirrored the frustration Percy felt from just being in the same room as the intimidating couple.
"Oh, great," Percy mumbled. "It's Destroy and Give-Back."
Annabeth snorted. "Why do they call them that?"
As the two made their way down the aisle of desks towards them, Percy held his pencil up. A second later and his pencil was in Clarisse's hands. She effectively snapped the wooden pencil in two before handing it over to Chris who laughed as he handed it back over to Percy.
"I believe this is yours, Jackass." Then to Clarisse, he excitedly said, "You broke his pencil! That was great!"
"And you gave it back!" Clarisse said like it was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen.
They both laughed all the way back to their desks as Paul entered the classroom. "Alright, enough messing around. Pipe down, everyone," Paul ordered as he made his way to the front of the room. "I've got a few announcements to make before Study Hall can begin. And whatever you're about to ask, Percy, the answer is no."
Percy brought his hand back down to his desk and slumped into his chair to write a note to Annabeth in retaliation. Let's ditch Study Hall, he wrote.
"Whoever burned their initials in the football field, nice job," Paul was saying when Annabeth passed the note back.
It read: Are you crazy?! We can't ditch!
He resisted the urge to laugh at her innocence. Quickly, he passed the note back with just one question scrawled across the ripped paper: What, are you too chicken? He knew she would read a challenge in the question and if there was one thing he knew about Annabeth it was that she never chickened out.
Paul was droning on about some football games and social events coming up but Percy had long since learned how to tune Paul out.
The note was passed back and forth a couple more times, each message from Annabeth seemed to be on the verge of giving in. Then, Paul was standing over them with a knowing look on his face. Luckily, Annabeth reacted faster than him and had stealthily slid the note under her book.
"Percy? Annabeth?" Paul said accusingly. "Do you have something to do that's more important than studying?"
Before Percy could even think of a sarcastic comeback, Annabeth beat him to it. "Actually, we need to be excused. Percy and I are taking pictures for the yearbook."
Paul blinked a few times, probably trying to remember if his son was even in the yearbook club. A hesitant acceptance crossed his face as he chose to accept Annabeth's statement as fact. "If you say so, Annabeth. You wouldn't lie."
Percy stood and was making his way to the door but Annabeth froze with an indignant look on her face. "Well, I might," she said stubbornly.
The entire class started laughing at the ridiculousness of her statement. Even Paul was trying to pass his chuckles off as coughs. Percy finally grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out of the classroom heading towards the parking lot before she blurted out where they were actually going.
Once they were seated in the front seat of the Vista Cruiser, Percy started the car and looked to Annabeth expectantly. "Where you wanna go?"
She shrugged looking a bit panicked.
"Annabeth Chase skips class, I'm so proud."
"Yeah, well, danger is my middle name," she said nervously.
They were a good mile from the school when Percy saw something moving in the rear view mirror. Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder and a just woken up Nico appeared in the backseat.
Nico glanced around, trying to remember where he was. "Why are we moving?"
"Neeks?" Percy cried which earned him a swift punch in the arm. "Ow!"
"Don't call me that!"
Leo shot up from the backseat wiping sleep out of his eyes. "Mommy?" he slurred.
"What are you guys doing in here?" Percy asked.
Nico asked them the same thing to which Percy proudly explained how he had convinced Annabeth to ditch class. The pair of eyes in the rear view mirror stared at him with nothing but skepticism.
"No, seriously, was there like a fire drill or something?" Nico tried again.
Annabeth huffed indignantly. "I do bad things!" Everyone laughed in response. "I've done bad things before!" They all stared at her expectantly as she gestured vaguely at the air around her. "Just because I can't think of anything right now doesn't prove anything, okay?"
Without warning, Leo grabbed at Percy's head. "Watch out for that keg in the middle of the road!"
"Get your hands out of my face!" Percy yelled back.
Annabeth gripped his arm that was closest to him. "Seaweed Brain, look out for that keg!"
The Vista Cruiser turned quickly to avoid the keg that was sitting in the center of the road. When the car finally came to a harsh stop it was parallel to the keg so that the four teenagers could lean out of the left side windows to view the keg in all its glory. Later, Percy would swear that the keg was actually glowing and the angels sang from above.
"That's a keg," Percy stated dumbly.
Leo added helpfully, "Of beer."
In awe, Nico said, "It must be a sign."
"Of beer," Leo repeated.
Annabeth scoffed. "Oh, that's it. I'm cutting class every day."
(***)
A few hours later and they were sitting around the keg in the Jackson's basement with Frank, Jason, and Will. It sat in the old shower that's only purpose nowadays was to hide their alcohol. They had tried to get a hold of the rest of their group but Piper had been grounded for possibly stealing a car, Reyna told them they were dumbasses and that she'd bail them out of jail later, and Hazel was out of town with her mother.
Frank reverently placed his hand on the keg before asking, "Where did you find it?"
"We were driving down the road, man, and there she was!" Nico explained in awe. He still couldn't believe their luck. This was the kind of stuff that only happened in movies, not in Point Place.
"So, in other words," Frank said, barely containing his snickering, "it was a… beer in the headlights?"
With a smirk and a shake of his head, Percy chose to ignore Frank's attempts at joking. "I mean, how often do you find a mysterious keg of free beer?"
"Only once in awhile," Leo answered which garnered him a few weird looks.
Nico clapped Percy on the back with a smile. "Right you are, Jackson. Right you are. When the heavens give you a keg, you gotta…"
He was cut off when Frank blurted out, "Kill a virgin."
Jason hesitantly patted his foreign friend's head as he patiently explained, "No, Frank. We throw a party."
Annabeth's face lit up with excitement. "Oh, yes! We have to!"
Leo sat down on the arm of the chair with his chin resting on his fist. In a monotone, he thought aloud, "Two bucks a head. A keg is equivalent to seven cases, that's 168 beers, if we each drink three beers a piece - "
"No way," Nico said standing next to him, staring intently at the ceiling as he processed the numbers in his head. "Sophomore's gonna drink one, tops."
"True."
Nico continued, "And the freshman's only gonna drink half."
Eyes narrowed in concentration, Leo calculated quickly. "So, that averages out to one point five beers per person, which means we can invite 112 people, and that's 224 bucks."
Will stared at his boyfriend in amazement. "Why can't you do that in math?"
"Pfft, 'cause this matters," Leo said like it was obvious.
Percy and Annabeth left to grab a tub and red plastic cups for the party. The rest of the group stood around their new found treasure with varying degrees of awe and reverence. Will, however, was staring at the keg like it was a puzzle that needed to be solved. Scoffing, Nico nudged Leo. "He doesn't know what a keg is," he whispered to Leo. "Seriously? Why're you dating this loser?"
"He's easy on the eyes," Leo answered with a suggestive smile.
Nico rolled his eyes just as they heard footsteps descending the stairs. Jason and Frank threw the shower curtain closed as fast as they could just before Sally made it to the landing of the staircase. She greeted them happily as she went to start a load of laundry. If she thought they looked suspicious kneeling around the basement's shower, she didn't say anything.
"Oh, don't mind me, kiddos," she laughed. "Just cleaning some clothes real quick. What are you kids up to?" The teenagers mumbled out a wide range of different answers. "Oh, you crazy kids and your little shenanigans." She looked up when Percy came from one of the back rooms of the basement carrying a large tub. "Hey, Snigglefritz, what are you doing with the tub?"
Percy jumped back and looked to his friends for help. They just stared at him with wide expectant eyes.
"Oh, the tub?" Percy stalled. "Um, we were just, uh, working on a class project."
Jason stepped forward with a bag of ice he'd grabbed from the deep freeze. "We're making a volcano. Right, Snigglefritz?"
She smiled at them, "Out of ice? Well, I think it might melt!"
The gang laughed a little too enthusiastically as Nico quickly added, "You heard her, let's move it gang!"
Annabeth came running back in the door just as Sally made it to the top of the stairs. The gang was still smiling and waving after Percy's mother just in case she decided to make her way back down. Once they were certain that she wasn't coming back down for awhile, they finally turned to a confused Annabeth.
"We need to get that keg out of here," Percy said.
"But, where are we having the party?" Annabeth questioned.
Leo deflated as he failed to think of an answer to the pertinent question. Beside him, Will looked thoughtful for a second before snapping his fingers. "I know!" Everyone turned to him with high hopes. "There's this vacant house over on Sherman my mom's been trying to sell for awhile. It's totally private and you can get away with almost anything there. There's even an empty pool for everyone to hang out in."
There was a second of silence before Nico declared, "Alright, Leo, you're out. Will, congrats, you're in."
A blush spread across Will's face at Nico's words.
(***)
Paul was seriously regretting agreeing to hanging out with the Chases and Poseidon at the same time. Sally and Percy had convinced him that he and Poseidon should get along or at least be cordial with one another. For whatever reason, Sally had thought that having the Chases over would make the whole thing better - so far, it was just annoying.
The television was playing some show that Marybai had chosen and she seemed to be the only one paying any attention to it. Sally and Fred kept eyeing the bar. Sitting in the chair directly ahead of Paul's recliner was Poseidon who was staring blankly at the TV.
"I'm just so excited for Rich Man, Poor Man," Sally feigned excitement as she giggled forcefully and patted Paul's knee. "I missed the first episode."
Marybai leaned towards Sally as if to confide a secret with her. "Here's the irony of the show, Sally: the rich, safe guy is boring; the poor, rugged one - played by the very talented Nick Nolte - is exciting!"
"Super," Sally said with a forced smile. "Now, who would like a drink?"
"Oh, let's do daiquiris, huh?" Fred suggested.
Sally shook her head. "No, I don't think we have enough ice, Percy took a whole tub full."
Poseidon's head shot up and he locked eyes with Paul. With that one look they knew they were on the same page.
"He took a tub of ice?" Paul asked pointedly.
His wife nodded cheerfully. "Oh, the kids are making a volcano!" She laughed.
Marybai smiled at him and nodded, as well. "Right, that's why Annabeth left with all the plastic cups."
"Plastic cups?" Poseidon repeated. He and Paul shared another look.
Fred smiled absently as he added, "If I didn't know better, I'd say they were having a kegger." He glanced at Paul, then Poseidon, and his smile fell. "Oh, geeze."
"Let's go, Fred," Paul ordered and the three men left the room to find their children.
As soon as they left, Marybai pulled a box of tissues towards her and placed them in her lap with a small sniffle. "Oh, Rich Man, Poor Man. I love it. I just hope I don't get too emotional," she lamented.
Sally looked longingly at the door, wishing she could follow the men before sighing in disappointment. Why did she always get stuck with the emotionally unstable ones to entertain? "Oh, so do I."
Meanwhile, Paul and his two guests were driving down the road and scanning for the Vista Cruiser. Fred was leaning up from the backseat so that his head poked into the front seat between Paul and Poseidon. He'd been rambling on about the search for their children ever since they left.
"Those kids could be anywhere," he said hopelessly. "Needle in a haystack."
Paul resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he pointed out, "They left the house in a wood-paneled ocean liner. They won't be that hard to spot."
A glance to his right showed that Poseidon was ignoring them, eyes focused on the driveways they passed.
"Yep," Fred continued, effectively ignoring everything Paul had said, "it's a real asphalt jungle. The sun goes down, the rats come out. Someone stole my mailbox last year. You know what it is?" He glanced between the two men in front of him before answering his own question, "The evil spilling over from Hoboken. How many stories do you suppose there are in this 'berg?"
Paul couldn't stop the roll of his eyes this time. "Eight, Fred. There are eight."
He heard Poseidon snort from the passenger side and Fred finally leaned back with a huff.
(***)
The empty pool was deep and wide, giving the group more than enough room to throw a party. They had already invited everyone they could think of and were hanging around until people started showing up.
"Empty pool, empty house, full keg," Percy said to Annabeth. "You sure know how to show a guy a good time."
She laughed her I-Can't-Believe-This-Idiot laugh. "Yeah, well, I don't color outside the lines often. But when I do, watch out!"
They both turned when they heard Nico shouting something behind them. At the edge of the pool above them, Frank sat looking nervously down at them with his legs swinging. Nico glared up at the foreigner with his hands on his hips.
"I don't care when you ate, Frank," Nico yelled, "get in the pool, now!"
Frank pointed a finger at Nico and declared, "If I get a cramp, it will be on your head", before climbing down the ladder.
"So, who all's coming?" Will asked eagerly.
Jason sat on the keg before answering. "Everyone."
"Everyone?" Will questioned, looking for a more definite answer.
"Everybody who matters. And, for the first time, Solace, that includes you," Nico said snidely. Instead of getting angry, Will just stuck his tongue out at Nico who scoffed in response. "Alright, let's drink!"
Leo shot forward with a manic gleam in his eyes at the suggestion. "Me first!"
Annabeth shoved him out of her way. "No way! I spotted it."
"Nah, I saw it, too," Leo argued. "I just didn't say anything."
Jason pointed accusingly at the Latino. "You saw a keg and didn't say anything? Back of the line!"
Instead of actually moving away, Percy ran up and shoved Leo out of the way in his excitement. "Alright, how do we get the beer out?"
"Through the tap," Nico answered.
They stared at the keg for a long second before they noticed that there was no tap. In unison, they groaned in frustration. All this effort and they had forgotten the tap. Now they were going to have to explain to the hundred teenagers they'd invited why there was no beer to drink.
Nico fell to his knees, clutching the keg, "NOOOOOOOO!"
The rest of the group backed away to give their friend a moment to collect himself. It didn't take long, since a minute later, Nico was standing up with a dangerous glint in his dark eyes.
"We seriously need a tap here," he said, stating the obvious.
Leo fumbled around in his ever-present tool belt and pulled out a Swiss army knife. He held it up like a winning trophy for the unimpressed group to see.
Nico punched his arm. "Brilliant, we can whittle the beer out. Moron."
Before the two could start an all-out brawl, Jason stepped between them and reminded them that they could buy a tap at the liquor store. Everyone sighed in relief until Nico pointed out the one flaw in that plan: they were all broke.
Hesitantly, one hand raised to quietly gain the group's attention. All eyes turned to face the owner of the raised arm. "I have the money," Will mumbled quietly, nervous from having so many people looking at him.
"I know Neeks was joking earlier," Jason started. "But, Will, you are totally part of this gang now."
A small smile lit up Will's face as he hurriedly climbed back out of the pool to go in search of the much needed tap. Moments after he disappeared, two sophomores climbed into the pool and were quickly greeted by Frank.
"Welcome to the pool. I am your host, Frank." He held his hand out to the underclassmen, "Two dollars, please."
While Frank continued taking money from the various people that started entering the pool, Annabeth started joking around with Jason as they stood over the keg. Nico and Percy climbed out of the pool to sit on the edge as Frank had done earlier. Their legs swinging out over the side, Nico glanced over at Percy.
"Will's being cool, man, I'm the cool one."
Percy shook his head.
Nico bumped his shoulder against Percy's to get his attention. "Seems to me that the saucy blonde is willing to engage in criminal acts for that scrawny, little neighbor boy next door."
"Shut up," Percy bumped him back. "How do you know she's not doing this to impress her friends? You know, peer pressure."
"Because her friends aren't scrawny, little neighbor boys," Nico snarked.
Percy chuckled. "Leo's scrawny and little."
"Leo? Scrawny?" Nico said incredulously. "No, no, no. Leo's pathetic and little."
With a shake of his head and a playful shove, Percy pushed away from his friend and went to mingle with the new arrivals. Nico watched bitterly as Percy talked happily with Annabeth.
(***)
The liquor store was only a twenty minute walk out from the empty house on Sherman and Will made it there with no problem. Stepping inside, he took note of the middle-aged liquor store employee standing behind the counter. He nodded nervously at the guy as he perused the many selections of alcohol.
In a deep voice, he conversed with the guy at the counter. "I see you got some new 'steins here."
The guy simply nodded in reply.
Will made his up to the counter with as much confidence as he could muster. "Hi, I'm twenty-five. I know, I look young." He rubbed his chin. "But, uh, my dad asked me to come down here and pick up a tap for his keg. He's forty-three, so we're both legal, no problem there. And, uh, I'm not going to be drinking the beer or anything, 'cause I don't believe in it. No offense, I think selling liquor is a great thing -"
He knew he was rambling but he didn't really think he could stop on his own. When the guy at the counter reached under the counter and placed the tap on the counter, Will was eternally grateful.
"Here you go," the guy replied.
"Because I'm twenty-five, right?" Will queried. This guy really should card him, there was no way he looked twenty-five.
The guy just blinked at him. "'Cause you got money."
"But, but I am twenty-five."
"Don't need to be, you can't drink a tap."
That was true, Will thought as he grabbed the tap and paid for it. He wasn't exactly disappointed but he had thought that his little adventure to the liquor store would have been more interesting than it had turned out to be.
He was turning the corner to head down Sherman Street when Clarisse and her boyfriend stepped in front of him, blocking his path. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized the only thing he had for them to break was the tap in his hands.
"Ohhh," Clarisse cooed, "Willie, what you got there?"
Will gulped before laughing nervously as he tried and failed to sidestep the two high school bullies. "That was, that was really funny. What you did with my name, Willie… Ha ha."
Clarisse jerked the tap out of Will's hand before shoving him backwards. The push caused Will to lose his balance enough to fall to the ground. He hissed as his elbow scraped along the sidewalk. His head jerked up when he heard the audible snap of the tap breaking under Clarisse's strong hands.
There was a second where Will just sat there staring at the broken tap before Chris handed it back to him with a satisfied smirk on his lips. "I believe this is yours." Chris broke out in his jock-esque laugh before turning to stare adoringly at Clarisse. "You broke his thing!"
"And you gave it back!" Clarisse laughed as though it were the first time they'd pulled this stunt.
"That was great!" Chris exclaimed as they both ran off towards the party.
Will contemplated just disappearing into the night and never returning. Surely that would be better than facing the gang's wrath. With a dejected sigh, he stood up and trudged his way back to the empty house on Sherman. He had wanted so badly to prove to Nico that he was cool enough to hang with them and in one brief second he'd ruined any chances of being accepted.
(***)
Sally was still sitting on the couch with a crying Marybai while the episode of 'Rich Man, Poor Man' finished.
"So, you see what I'm saying about the poor man?" Marybai sobbed.
Throwing her daiquiri back, Sally finished off her drink before replying, "Yes, you have made your point. Many times."
"He's a bad boy," Marybai all but cried. "He's had some rough breaks, but he has good in his soul."
As her neighbor started bawling, Sally made sure to slide Marybai's daiquiri out of her reach. No need for her to add fuel to the emotional flames currently overtaking her neighbor. "Okay, okay, enough daiquiris for you."
Wiping away her tears, Marybai took a calming breath. "Sally, what do you look for in a man?"
Sally raised her left hand to show off her ring with a nervous laugh. "Well, I'm married. I'm kind of through looking, you know?"
"You can always look," Marybai argued. "It helps you to fantasize. Like, some nights, I'm doing the news with Walter Cronkite."
The lascivious tone to her neighbor's voice made Sally blush furiously. Without a thought, Sally grabbed what was left of Marybai's daiquiri and took a long swig.
(***)
"It's broken," Annabeth said bluntly, staring down at the broken tap in her hands.
Will had made it back to the empty pool to find it full of waiting teenagers from the high school and was reminded again how much he'd fucked up. Now, facing the group he'd started thinking of as friends, he considered disappearing into the night once more.
"I got duct tape," Leo admitted.
Jason rolled his eyes. "Dude, duct tape? Do you know how much pressure runs through that tap?"
"Don't snap at me, Will's the one that broke it," Leo grumbled.
There was a thud behind Will as Nico dropped into the pool from where he'd been watching them from the edge of the pool. Will almost shot out of his skin when he felt cold fingers press gently onto his scraped elbow.
"What happened?" Nico demanded.
"I ran into Destroy and Give-Back," Will admitted with a shrug. He was sure they were about to laugh at him or think he was pathetic for not standing up to those two bullies.
Percy let out a low whistle. "Damn, good thing you had the tap then. They've been known to beat people up pretty badly if there's nothing to break."
"But," Will started, genuinely confused. "Wait, you're not mad?"
Annabeth shook her head. "No, no. We're pissed. Just not at you."
"Yeah, besides," Nico said, letting go of Will's elbow, "Jackson, you can just get your dad's tap."
Percy fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as he scoffed. "What? My dad doesn't have a tap!"
"Paul's got bicentennial swizzle sticks, he's got fake lemons with real lemon juice, he's got toothpicks shaped like swords. Paul Jackson is a cocktail dad. And cocktail dads have beer taps," Nico asserted.
Leo raised his hands into the air and said, "Come on, Percy, we never ask you for anything!"
The Latino was met with a raised eyebrow. "You people ask me for everything!"
"Then what's one more thing?" Will asked before remembering Percy hadn't been talking about him. He blushed profusely as Nico and Leo chuckled.
Percy crossed his arms stubbornly. "No, forget it. I've done enough today already, so count me out."
A shadow seemed to fall over Will just before he was jerked back. For the second time that night, he fell on his ass. This time he scraped the same elbow along the cement bottom of the pool. He gritted his teeth to keep from crying out as blood poured down his arm from the deepened cut on his arm.
"What the hell, Will?" Clarisse growled. "Your tap is broken? Why'd you do something stupid like buy a stupid, broken tap? What are you, stupid?"
Will blinked back tears as he stood back up and shoved Clarisse back. "It wasn't broken until you broke it, Dillhole!"
Something clicked in Clarisse's mind as she took a step back. At least she had the decency to seem somewhat sorry for her actions. Chris was quick to console his girlfriend, offering reassuring words and gentle caresses. "Hey, we gave it back, right?" he said at some point.
"Yeah, broken!" Annabeth reminded them.
Chris glared at the gray-eyed girl. "Hey, lay off her, alright? She feels bad enough already."
"Oh, she should, because she's a moron," Will ground out between his clenched teeth.
"What did you say?" Clarisse challenged, towering over Will.
Fear flickered briefly through Will's eyes but he stood his ground. He set his jaw before continuing, "I said that you're both morons." The two tormentors reared back like they were about to let loose some flying fists but Will was too angry to care. "What are you gonna do? Are you going to beat me up? What, you weigh four hundred pounds together? It doesn't matter, the fact is that the tap is broken and it is your fault. Morons!"
"You are so rude," Clarisse grumbled. "Give us our four dollars back."
Will smiled politely, "Of course, Frank?"
Frank handed him four dollars from the bucket he was carrying around. Will held the money out to the two disgruntled teenagers but, before they could grab their money, Will ripped the dollar bills in half.
The angry couple stalked out of the pool.
"Wow, Will, you just tore their money," Nico said, mocking Chris. "And then you gave it back!"
"I know!" Will replied with just as much mock excitement as Clarisse would have.
Nico laughed, "Oh, that was great."
Will grimaced when Nico playfully shoved his injured arm. "I should probably go take care of this, I'll be right back."
"Neeks is right, that was awesome. But enough of this," he dramatically ran across the pool and jumped onto the ladder, pointing to the sky. "We came here to have a party, and as God as my witness, there will be a party!"
The gathered teenagers cheered as Percy climbed out of the pool and took off.
(***)
Not long after Will left the liquor store, Paul and company decided to stop in to ask around in an attempt to find information on their kids' whereabouts. While Paul and Poseidon questioned the guy behind the counter, Fred scanned the store's selection of alcohol.
"You had any kids come in tonight trying to buy beer?" Paul inquired.
The liquor store guy just shrugged. "Nah, some young guy did come in for a tap, though."
Paul and Poseidon shared a look, that had to be one of the kids in Percy's group.
"Oh, look," Fred said from a few feet away. The two men turned to see Fred holding a can of Pina Colada. "You can buy this in a can!"
"Fred, we're doing something here," Paul reminded him with the barest hint of exasperation.
A kid walked out from an aisle behind Fred, Paul immediately recognized him as Reyna's crazy, conspiracy-theorist brother. He leaned towards the three men with a crazed look in his eyes as he informed them that he may have heard something. "I can't really recall, maybe," he rubbed his thumb and index finger together, "Andrew Jackson could remind me?"
Before Paul could tell the kid to get lost, Fred was pulling out his wallet. "Andrew Jackson, huh?" He flicked through some bills he found in his wallet. "He's not in. But Abe Lincoln's hanging out with the Washington twins. Would they have any knowledge of the festivities?"
Octavian reached for the bills but Paul quickly confiscated them.
"A real wisenheimer, huh?" Poseidon accused as he leaned threateningly towards the kid. "Well, let's just see how smart you are when I snap off your head."
The kid let out the tiniest squeak before cracking, "Okay! Okay, man. They said something about a vacant house on Sherman."
"I know that place," Fred said with conviction. "It's the vacant house on Sherman."
Octavian looked to Paul and Poseidon as if to ask what was wrong with their friend. Paul rolled his eyes in response. "Good work, Starsky. Let's roll," Paul demanded.
(***)
In the Jackson's kitchen, Sally was smoking as she cooked some popcorn over the stove. Marybai leaned against the counter beside her with a slightly dazed look in her eye as she talked to her friend.
"Sometimes," she was saying excitedly, "Fred pretends he's poor, I call him Buster. He knocks on the door, and I answer in my teddy." Sally took a big gulp of her peach schnapps before Marybai could keep going. "He'll say, 'Does the rich lady need any help around the house?" and I'll reply with, 'I know something that needs attending to in the bedroom'."
Marybai playfully shoved Sally's shoulder as she laughed and Sally took another long drag from her cigarette.
"I'll spare you the details, but it ends in whoopie!" Marybai said through her giggles.
Sally shook the bowl of popcorn even harder. "You know, this is as much fun to make as it is to eat." She put her cigarette out in the ashtray nearby and turned her attention to her neighbor. "Speaking of which, how do you get Fred to play those games?"
"I have a rewards system."
"Huh," Sally thought for a moment. "You know, sometimes Paul would wear a soldier's uniform."
Marybai gave her a lewd smile. "Really?"
Sally nodded. "Yeah, but he was in the Marines."
There was a moment of silence before Marybai spit her drink all over Sally as she started laughing uncontrollably. The two both giggled as they drank and moved back into the living room, a fresh bowl of popcorn in hand.
Neither of them noticed Percy standing behind the bar with Paul's beer tap in hand. He quickly dove for the couch and crawled to the kitchen door. Just before the kitchen door swung shut, Percy slid through without ever gaining the attention of his mother or Mrs. Chase.
"Does he still have his uniform?" Marybai asked as she hiccuped drunkenly.
Sally snickered. "No… He just has the hat."
The two women fell on top of one another as they laid down on the couch, giggling hysterically.
(***)
Percy didn't even think twice when he made it back to the empty house. If he had paused to take a look around, he would have noticed that there were a few hundred less people at the house. Instead, he grabbed the hose and threw one end into the pool, using it to suavely slide down the six feet to the bottom of the pool. When he got to the bottom he held the tap up in victory and began to turn around.
"I stole my dad's tap," he said just as he realized that the only people in the pool were his friends, both his fathers, Fred, and two cops, "... back from those thieves."
None of the adults looked impressed as they glowered at him. He hung his head in defeat.
"We were worried sick," Fred scolded Annabeth.
Paul pointed threateningly at Percy, "You had us driving all over town."
"We missed 'Rich Man, Poor Man'," Fred pouted.
Leo and Nico slid between Fred and Paul, picking up the keg. "'Scuse us, Paul," Nico said casually.
Poseidon glared at the two kids. "What are you doing?"
"We're just gonna take this off your hands," Leo tried.
"Get out of here," Poseidon ordered. When the two of them scrambled out of the way, he turned to face Percy. "We're not finished with this. And, Jason, you, too? Do you know what your father would say if he found out about this? What about you, Will?"
Jason's face became so pale it practically glowed in the dark. "Sir, please, don't tell Zeus about this."
"Luckily for you, I don't talk to my brother," Poseidon admitted. "Mr. Jackson, here, however, does."
Paul let out a deep, calming breath. "Jason, go home. I won't tell your dad, seeing as you didn't really do anything illegal. But, Will…"
"Will was pressured into this," Leo said, coming to his boyfriend's rescue much to everyone's surprise. "I made him help us, please don't call his parents. I mean, he's already injured."
His boyfriend hugged him tightly with his good arm. "Aw, that was so sweet."
Nico snorted in disbelief.
"Alright, alright," Paul conceded, "just get out of here. Percy, you take Annabeth home and you wait for me. That's an order."
For the first time in his life, Percy truly believed his dad had been a Marine.
"We're not finished either," Fred said angrily at Annabeth but as she walked past him with her head hung down in shame, he caved. "Oh, come here."
Annabeth turned around to give her dad a hug.
"I can't stay mad at you with that cute face!" Fred sighed.
Percy turned to his fathers and opened his arms to give them both a hug.
Instead of hugging him, Poseidon pointed to the ladder of the pool. "Get your ugly butt home."
With that, Percy did as he was told.
(***)
When they made it back to the Jackson's home, Percy and Annabeth sat on the hood of his car. Annabeth was fairly relaxed considering this was her first failed attempt at a kegger. Percy, however, was one big ball of stress.
"My father and Poseidon are going to kill me. And they were both in the military, so they probably know like fifteen different ways to kill me," Percy ranted. "I mean, I cut class, I trespassed, I had stolen beer, and then I swung into a pool full of cops on a garden hose carrying my dad's tap."
Annabeth nodded her head as she remembered the smooth way Percy had slid into the pool. "Yeah, but that was pretty cool."
"You know what was really cool?" Percy asked as he leaned towards Annabeth. "You cutting class and throwing a kegger."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
They leaned in close for a chaste kiss. When they pulled away from one another, Annabeth said, "Did I, uh, mention that I killed a guy in algebra?"
Percy laughed as he got off his car, ready to head in and face his drunken mother. "Good night, killer."
"Night, Seaweed Brain."
(***)
Plastic cups in hand, Paul and Poseidon stood talking to Fred and their two new cop buddies. They'd drank enough beer to get them all tipsy. Paul had his arm around Fred and was leaning most of his weight on his old friend.
"I love," Paul paused to hiccup, "I love that boy."
Poseidon nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, he's a good kid. You raised him well."
"That Annabeth's real sweet, too," Paul added.
One of the cops chimed in, "Man, that Annabeth was real hot."
Fred went from relaxed to pissed in less than a second as he got in the cop's face. "Hey, that's my daughter! You, you don't think I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying!"
Paul and Poseidon quickly grabbed Fred's shoulders and hauled him out of the cop's personal space.
"Alright," Poseidon said calmly, "Fred, it's time to go. We'll just, uh, take this." He and Fred both bent down to pick up the keg before the police stopped them and told them to get out of there. The three men walked to the shallow end of the pool and climbed out.