Point Place, New York

January 21st, 1977

Friday Afternoon

Percy Jackson's Driveway

The guys were all staring at a tiny scratch on the Vista Cruiser, Nico ran his finger over it before saying over his shoulder. "Man, Jackson, it's a tiny, little scratch. Paul's never gonna see it."

Percy's head flew up to look at the back of Nico's head. "No, Paul sees everything. He sees when I put cheap gas in the car."

The toolbelt around Leo's waist made a loud clanging noise as he jumped up and down. "Oh, I got it! We'll just put my 'gas, grass, or ass' bumper sticker over it!"

Silence.

With a sigh, Leo added, "Look, Percy, whatever happens we've got your back."

Percy smiled appreciatively at his four guy friends before turning to face Paul who was carrying trash out. They all watched apprehensively as Paul threw the trash away. When he froze, Percy knew his life was over. Paul's head swung around to stare directly at the scratch.

"How'd you scratch the car, Perceus?" Paul demanded.

"Good luck, man," Nico said as he and the others ducked passed his stepdad on their way down the driveway.

Percy thought momentarily of getting new friends before he replied, "Well, sir, I was pulling out of a parking space and, uh… You know, I was creeping is more like it. Creeping out of …"

Paul stared him down. "You were screwing around and hit a fire hydrant. I can see the paint marks."

"No!" Paul's no nonsense face made him quickly add, "And by 'no' I mean 'exactly'. But it wasn't my fault, sir, Leo was… He was giving me…"

The more he thought about what he was about to say the less he wanted to confess what he and Leo had been doing. He seriously needed new friends. Paul was waiting patiently for his excuse as Percy finally built up the courage to just say it.

"Leo was giving me a purple nurple," he muttered. Paul just stared at him, dumbfounded. "A purple nurple is where you grab someone's nipple through their shirt and twist really hard. Until it becomes… purple." That's it he was getting new friends.

Silence, as Paul processed what he had just heard. "Give me the keys."

Percy froze, eyes widening. There was no way his father was about to take away his car, the only source of freedom he had in this whole town. His friends were going to be so disappointed and he wouldn't be able to take Annabeth on a decent date. "Dad, I…" Percy tried only to be cut off.

"Your driving privileges are suspended until you learn some responsibility," Paul stated. When Percy tried to argue again, Paul's counter argument was, "A responsible person doesn't go around getting their nipples twisted."

Percy pursed his lips as he thought about that. "See, when you say it, though, it just sounds weird."

(***)

In the Jackson's basement, Annabeth and Piper were looking through a magazine. Annabeth pointed to one article titled 'Hair Dos and Don'ts of Olympic Gold Medalists' with a look of disbelief.

"Ohmygod," Piper said, "is that Dorothy Hamill? She's a virgin."

Annabeth shifted in her seat and resituated her jean jacket. "Speaking of…" she froze and shifted again. Piper just stared blankly at her. "Right, so, those girls at school who do it, like, all the time? Is it just me or do they seem more relaxed?"

Piper started to answer when Percy, Nico, and Leo walked in.

"What are you guys doing?" Percy asked as he took off his oversized coat.

Leo smirked as he sat down in the lawn chair. "They were talking about sex."

Nico scoffed. "Come on, Leo, chicks don't talk about sex, man." He sat down in his usual chair and propped his feet up on the table. "It's dirty."

"Yes we do," Piper said, plucking a piece of lint off her sweater vest. "Especially when it involves Jason Grace, my dreamboat."

"Oh, great," Percy said as he perched on the couch next to Annabeth. "Now we get to talk about Piper and Jason's sex life. Wonderful. I swear I had a nightmare about this one time."

Piper smiled before looking at Annabeth. "Hey, wanna go to my house?"

"You know what? Okay."

As soon as Annabeth got up, Leo slid onto the couch and grabbed a comic book off the table. As he flipped through it he vaguely listened to Percy and Nico's conversation about what they should do. Everything was too far away now that Percy's car privileges had been revoked.

"Oh, wait, you guys, check it out," Leo said as he remembered something.

Nico didn't look at him as he asked, "Did you get a car?"

"Yeah," Both guys turned to look at him in disbelief. "My cousin Sherman loaned me his wheels. I completely forgot."

"How could you completely forget a whole car?" Nico asked.

Leo just shrugged nonchalantly. "So, where to?"

Everyone stared at one another as they all realized there was nowhere they really wanted to be. "Wanna just hang?" Percy suggested.

(***)

"Snookums?" Marybai called out from the kitchen.

Fred Chase sat at the dining room table filling out paperwork as he replied in a cutesy voice, "Yes, Pookie?"

"Do you want turkey or tuna sandwiches tonight for dinner?"

"Tonight?" Fred looked up in concern. "Tonight's meatloaf night."

Marybai nodded but then continued, "Right, but I have my class at the community college tonight. I told you about it last week." She turned to walk back into the kitchen.

"You most certainly did not."

"Yes, I did, remember? You were watching Baretta?" Marybai insisted.

Fred looked at her incredulously. "Marybai, you can't tell me anything while I'm watching Baretta. It's complicated."

"Fred, I've been telling you for months how I need to," she paused to sit down across from her husband, "expand my mind."

"Is this about jewelry?" Fred asked. "'Cause I'll buy you jewelry."

"No," Marybai insisted. "It's about me becoming a whole person."

Fred waved her off. "That's just stupid. I'm the man of the house… and I say you're not going to community college."

"You can't tell me what to do, you ass!"

(***)

Sally walked out of the kitchen door to find Paul squatting beside the car, staring intently at something. "What are we looking at?"

"The scratch."

Glancing over Paul's shoulder Sally couldn't see anything. So, she moved to the other side of her husband and knelt down, still all she could see was the shiny side of the Vista Cruiser. "What scratch?"

"That scratch that Percy put on the car," Paul said as he rubbed the spot with a cloth. Sally stood up as her husband continued. "I got most of it out with rubbing compound, but you should have seen it before. It was a doozy."

Sally rubbed at her face before sarcastically saying, "Wow, that must have been some accident. Was he killed?"

"See? That right there is where he gets his smart mouth. Driver safety is serious business, Sally."

"Of course, you're right, Paul," Sally said with a solemn nod of her head. "So, when he comes home, I'll hold him down and you burn him with a cigarette." With that she stormed off into the house.

(***)

Annabeth, Piper, and Will sat on Piper's bed detailing their ideal first sex.

"Just so you know, when I finally decide to do it with…" Will paused as he remembered the one person he wanted to do it with wanted nothing to do with him, "with someone, I have the whole thing planned out.

"There'll be candles everywhere. And a gigantic banner declaring our love for one another. Then Ni… he will come in with the wind blowing and we'll have the most magical night of our lives."

Annabeth quirked an eyebrow. "If you have it all planned out, why are you still waiting?"

"Still waiting on the right guy, I guess. I want it to be really special," Will said with a wistful look on his face.

Piper patted Will's knee sympathetically. "How could it not be with a gigantic banner?"

Will laughed as he spread his arms wide. "Exactly!" The three of them erupted into giggles, once they fell silent, Will asked quietly, "How is Nico, by the way?"

"Grumpier than ever," Annabeth grumbled.

Piper nodded as she tucked her legs underneath her. "He won't admit it but he misses you. Damn that Drew Tanaka for ruining everything; you and Nico were so cute together!"

"We were hardly together," Will argued.

"You made a cute couple either way, and if Nico wasn't such a drama queen he'd see that you were perfect for him," Annabeth countered.

(***)

Marybai found herself at the Jackson's kitchen table with Sally not too long after her fight with her husband. They were drinking coffee together as Sally listened to her complain about the unfairness of it all.

"Fred doesn't want me to take this class, but it sounds so exciting," she said. "It's called, "The Woman Warrior: Fighting Female Stereotypes." She held up a brochure for Sally to look at and pointed to a man on one of the pages. "That's the professor, isn't he cute?"

Sally nodded. "Darling."

"So, you want to come?" Marybai asked excitedly.

"I can't say I'm not tempted…" Sally shook her head before quickly saying, "Actually, yes, I can. I'm not tempted."

Marybai looked at her in confusion. "Don't you want to become an empowered woman?"

Sally looked apologetic as she shrugged. "I just… I don't have time to be an empowered woman. I'm too busy running this household."

With a shake of her head, Marybai leaned back in her chair. "You're so lucky, Sally. You have it all. A great family and a career. How did you ever talk Paul into letting you work? Fred would never let me."

"Okay, well, one day," Sally started, "we sat down, we did our bills… and we realized we were going to lose the house." She started giggling and Marybai laughed along with her.

(***)

In Sherman's car, Percy and Frank were crammed into the backseat while Nico rode shotgun and Leo drove. Percy's leg kept bumping into Frank's and he groaned in frustration. "This backseat sucks. It's too small and Frank's leg keeps touching mine."

"No, your leg is touching mine," Frank argued.

Nico and Leo shared an exasperated look as Percy continued, "I shouldn't even be in the backseat. You know, I should be driving my own car."

"Well, the reason you're not driving your own car, Jackson, is because you're irresponsible and you scratched it," Nico explained as Leo and Frank started laughing at Percy.

Leo chuckled. "Yeah, that's a good one, ese."

Percy's fist swung down to land on Leo's shoulder causing the Latino to yelp in pain.

"¡Dios mio!" Leo shouted. "I'm trying to drive the car here, man!"

Nico shook his head as he leaned over to change the station. Soft rock began playing and Nico changed the station again and Percy told him to change it back. "Pipe down, backseat Charlie," Nico snapped. He changed the station once more and found a station that was playing 'Highwater Star' by Deep Purple. He and Leo starting rocking their heads to the beat.

Percy sunk back in his seat. "The backseat sucks."

"Welcome to my sad little world," Frank said with a smile.

After driving for a while, they went through the drive-thru of a fast food joint before continuing along. Nico was munching on some fries while Percy scrutinized his burger.

"Great, no pickles. Now we have to go back," Percy complained.

The other three guys all shouted for him to shut up.

Percy was rolling his eyes when something caught his eye. "Hey, why does Sherman have a statue of the Virgin Mary on his dashboard?"

Leo shook his head. "I dunno, maybe he's, like, religious or something."

Nico took a sip of his drink. "Didn't he go to prison for arson?"

"People who burn stuff believe in God, too, Nico," Leo said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, and why does his keychain say 'I love Bingo'?" Nico pointed out.

Frank piped up, "Sherman must love Bingo."

Percy took a bite of his burger as he started laughing. As he swallowed he tried not to choke on his food before saying, "I'm starting to think this isn't Sherman's car."

"Then whose car is it?" Leo said just as a police siren flared up behind them alongside red and blue lights.

Everyone in the car froze as they realized just how much trouble they were in.

(***)

The four boys sat on a bench in a jail cell at the local police station staring ahead with varying degrees of distress. Nico appeared much too comfortable in the new environment while Frank was panicking.

"This is great, I'm dead," Percy said, eerily calm. "You know, when we were in my car and I was running the show," Percy's voice rose as his anger showed, "I don't remember a single time we ever got arrested."

Nico nodded, his dark hair falling into his face. "That's true."

"Perce, will you just relax? We're all in trouble here," Leo sighed.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Percy argued. He pointed to Leo, "Your parents have seven children, they won't even notice you're gone." He pointed to Frank, "Your parents don't even live in this country." Finally, he pointed to Nico, "And your mom is probably one cell over. Which just leaves me. I'm the only one actually in trouble here."

Nico scoffed as he tugged at his AC/DC shirt. "Look, Jackson, I'll be in as much trouble as you once Maria sobers up."

"They're going to deport me," Frank cried.

Suddenly the door to the cell opened up and a police officer walked in. When he asked who the ringleader of their group was, everyone pointed to a very upset Percy. The officer handed Percy a quarter and told him he could make one local phone call.

"So, who should we call?" Leo asked.

Percy exhaled. "I'd call Paul, but I feel safer in jail."

Nico crossed his arms. "I can't call Maria, man. It's poker night."

Leo snickered before leaning closer to Nico. "No offense, but isn't every night poker night for Maria?" He laughed at his own joke until Nico punched him in the arm. A second after getting punched, Leo had an idea. "I know! I'll call Will. His dad knows some pretty good lawyers and he's got a checkbook."

Nico rolled his eyes and clenched his fists. "Great, he can come makeout with all the prison guards."

Leo ignored him as he listened to the phone ring, finally someone picked up and he had never been so grateful to hear Will's voice.

"Hello?" Will greeted.

"Will! Thank the gods above you're home. I was driving a stolen car and I got arrested," Leo said hurriedly.

There was silence on the other end and Leo worried for a moment that Will had hung up. Finally, Will spoke up, "Who all's there and how much is this gonna cost?"

"Me, Neeks, Perce, and Frank," Leo answered. "And no idea on the cost but I'm sure you're good for it."

Leo heard an exasperated sigh on the other end of the phone before the line went dead. He turned to his friends and shrugged. There was no telling if Will was going to come through for them or if he was just going to let them rot away for the night.

"Give me another dime," Leo ordered.

His three friends stared back at him. "We only had one dime, you idiot," Percy shouted. "We only got one phone call."

"Well, on the off chance Will is going to abandon us, someone give me a spoon," Leo said, his ADHD kicking in. "I'm gonna dig my way out of here."

Frank lunged across Percy and Nico to try and tackle Leo. How could he not secure them a way out when there was a chance Frank could be deported back to Canada? Nico and Percy hauled him back from the Latino and tried to ease the tension.

(***)

Sally and Paul were sitting down to dinner when Paul pointed out, "Look at this. Here we are sitting down to dinner and Percy's not even home yet."

Tugging at her blue turtleneck, Sally moved to start plating the food starting with the mashed potatoes. She gently reminded him that he'd taken Percy's car away and now the boy had to walk everywhere.

"Walking's good for him," Paul stated.

Sally sat back down after handing Paul his plate. She re-situated her chair before moving the food around on her plate. "Must you be so hard on him?"

Paul leaned back in his chair. "My father was hard on me to prepare me for the world." He pointed at her with his fork. "You know, Sal, when I was his age I could have parachuted onto a deserted island with nothing but a Swiss army knife and I would have survived."

Sally rolled her eyes. "Then no skydiving for Percy."

With a shake of his head Paul continued. "I tell ya, Sally, the world is a tough place. You drop your guard for one second and it'll kick you right in the ass."

Sally gave him a look. She knew how bad the world could be, she still had nightmares about Smelly Gabe. But just because the world was a tough place didn't mean home should be.

"Wouldn't it be nice for Percy to come home to a place that wasn't tough?" Sally asked quietly.

They fell silent as Paul considered her words.

(***)

Annabeth and her father were eating tuna sandwiches that her mother had left them while she went to her class for the night. Fred Chase looked disgruntled and Annabeth prepared herself for the complaining she knew was coming.

"I can't believe she went to that class," Fred moaned. He shook his sandwich at his daughter. "Married women do not abandon their families."

Annabeth sighed. "Sure they do, Dad. It's the '70s."

"I know what decade it is," he grumbled. "Doesn't change the fact I'm eating a sandwich instead of a hot meal."

"Want me to microwave it for you?" Annabeth said with feigned innocence.

Fred rubbed a hand down his face. "I just don't understand why she needs this. I've given her a great life."

Annabeth groaned. "Dad, that's not the issue." She leaned forward in her chair as she continued. "The whole point of the Equal Rights Amendment is so that women don't have to define themselves by a man."

"Annabeth, is this about clothes? 'Cause I can buy you clothes."

There was a brief second of disbelief before Annabeth stood up. "This is pointless," she said as she left the room.

"While you're up, you wanna get daddy a beer?" Fred called out after Annabeth who ignored him. "Honey?"

(***)

Back in the jail cell, Leo was begging Percy to do something about their situation as Will had yet to show up after a couple hours.

"Me?" Percy asked incredulously. "What about you, Leo? Or Nico?"

Nico shook his head slowly. "I can't talk to cops, man. I go insane with rage."

Leo twitched his head up and down. "Yeah, me, too. Nuts." He gestured wildly about the room to indicate how crazy he would go which only garnered him unimpressed looks from his friends. Leo waved them off before returning to his begging, "Perce, ese, you gotta help us."

"So, what? Now I'm back in charge?" Percy asked angrily. "This is so typical." He stood up, ran a hand through his hair, and turned back to face his friends. "Okay, you know what? Fine. Once again, I'll suck it up, be the man and save all your sorry asses."

He walked to the door and knocked on it. When the officer came to see what the commotion was about Percy calmly asked to speak to him privately. The officer led him around the corner, out of earshot of his friends.

Percy grabbed the police officer's shirt as he pleaded, "You gotta let me go! Please, God. My dad's gonna kill me."

"You stole a car, kid," the officer scoffed as he wrenched out of Percy's grip. "What kind of cop would I be if I just let you go?"

"My best friend the cop?" Percy suggested. The cop looked entirely unimpressed so he tried a different approach. "Look, it really wasn't my fault. We borrowed it from a friend."

The officer scoffed again and looked to his approaching buddy. "Guess what? They didn't actually steal the car. They borrowed it from a friend."

His friend scrunched up his nose like he didn't want to admit something before sighing. "Actually, they did. Turns out this guy Sherman borrowed it from his grandmother and she forgot and called it in stolen." He glanced at both of them before adding happily, "Nice old lady, though. She plays Bingo."

"My God, this is great. So, we're free to go?" Percy asked.

The new cop nodded his head. "Yeah, which one are you?"

"Percy Jackson."

The officer handed Percy his file along with his friends' files before heading off.

Percy walked back to the cell to where his friends were waiting.

"So?" Nico asked.

"So, call a cab. We're sprung," Percy said confidently as if he'd done something that led to their freedom.

Leo leapt out of his seat. "What? We're free?"

"All charges dropped," Percy paused. "Wait, that is what you wanted, right?"

The three guys got up and hugged Percy before Nico suggested they all get out of there. Percy called for one of the cops to let his friends out and they walked to the front of the police station. They were just about to head out when Will came scurrying in. He froze when he spotted the four guys walking towards him.

"Oh, hey, sorry I took so long," Will said. "Jason kept getting lost on the way to my house."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Whatever, we didn't need you."

"Um, okay…" Will murmured. "Did someone post bail for you guys?"

"Nah, I just convinced the cops to let us go," Percy said with a lopsided grin.

Will swallowed as he realized he'd come all this way for nothing. "Okay, then, I guess I'll see you around then…"

"I sure as hell hope not," Nico grumbled as he pushed past him.

(***)

"Hey, Fred," Marybai greeted as she came home that night to Fred waiting in the kitchen for her.

Fred smiled softly at her. "Marybai, I've been thinking. If taking that class made you happy, then I guess I'm happy."

Marybai ran up and hugged her husband. "Sweetie, it means so much to me. And it's only twice a week, so it's not…"

"Whoa," Fred said holding his hands up to stop her. "I thought this was a one time deal."

"You can't learn total female empowerment in one night," Marybai laughed. "It takes ten nights."

Fred took a step back. "Marybai, you are not going back."

"Aphrodite, the Goddess of Wisdom, wouldn't take this," Marybai stated before storming out of the room before her husband could correct her.

(***)

"Hey, Dad," Percy said when he walked in sometime late at night and tried desperately to make it up the stairs before his dad could stop him.

"Hold it," Paul ordered. Percy paused midstep, took a deep breath, and walked over to where Paul was sitting on the couch. "About the car, I know it was…" Paul stopped mid-sentence. "And I…" he paused again. "You see, when I was a kid… Maybe I came down... Here's the keys."

Paul tossed the keys at Percy who caught them just as what his dad was saying registered in his mind. "Thanks, Dad."

"So, where have you been all night?" Paul asked as he returned to his newspaper.

"Prison."

Paul chuckled to himself. "Yeah, okay."

Percy took that as his cue to leave before his dad realized he was telling the truth.

(***)

Percy was driving his Vista Cruiser with everyone piled in and munching on burgers and fries from Acte's Burgers. "You guys enjoying your burgers? Got enough pickles on them? That's how Acte's Burger does 'em," Perccy said with a smile. "Lots and lots of pickles. Yes, yes."

Everyone muttered that it was great.

"Got enough room back there?" he asked, knowing that Frank, Leo, and Nico were too close together for comfort.

Leo shifted a little in his seat. "Actually, it's a little bit crowded."

Percy barely let him finish before saying, "Good! That's the way it should be. Yes, yes. I feel like going to the movies. Where do you guys wanna go?"

"Let's go to the reservoir," Nico suggested with his mouth full of burger.

"Movies it is. Yes, yes," Percy said.

Annabeth chuckled. "I kind of feel like going to the reservoir."

"Reservoir it is. Yes, yes."