Episode XXI

It's a time for upheaval for the Jacksons. Money is tight and Sally's job isn't secure without tenure. The Jacksons struggle to make ends meet. And Percy is in the throes of adolescence… which sucks no matter what decade it is...

Percy and his band of rebels were heading for a movie in Watervliet on a starlit night. Nico sat in the backseat, squeezed in between Frank and Will; while Jason sat in the front seat between Leo and Percy.

"I am so excited for Star Wars," Frank enthused.

Nico threw an arm around Will as he said, "Hey, Jackson, man, this thing better be good. If this is just some nerdy shit I'm gonna be pissed."

Percy shot him a look in the rearview mirror.

"I dunno, guys. I hear it's okay," Jason said with a shrug.

Leo shifted restlessly in his seat. "Well, there's no way it's better than the Planet of the Apes. I mean, those apes were really good actors."

Nico snorted as Will buried his face in his hands. He couldn't believe he'd dated the idiot not once but twice.

(***)

At the theatre, as the movie played, each of the boys were blown away. Nico tried his best to look unfazed while Will, Percy, and Jason looked on in fascinated awe. Frank was laughing uncontrollably.

There was a flash of light, and Leo stared on in stunned silence.

"Whoa," Leo mouthed.

(***)

The Jacksons were eating at their kitchen table the next day while Percy excitedly recalled every detail of the movie they had watched.

"And then, they go into this bar, and there are all these space creatures, and then someone makes the mistake of picking on Obi Wan Kenobi, and then he takes out his lightsaber, and it goes WOOSH! And he chops off the guard's arm! 'Cause it's a saber that's made out of light," Percy rambled. He had never seen such a masterpiece of a movie.

Sally patted her son's arm before getting up. "Well, that sounds lovely, sweetie."

Calypso ran a hand down her face. "I swear to all the gods above, if I hear one more thing about Star Wars I'm going to murder someone. Leo's already gone and gotten Star Wars pajamas. Why did you have to take him with you?"

Percy didn't get a chance to answer as Paul entered. "Sally! I got a raise!"

"Oh my gods, you're kidding!" Sally said before laughing in delight. Paul shook his head and Sally's shoulders sagged with relief. "Oh, this is a godsend!" She ran up and hugged Paul. "And to think how close we came to losing the house."

"Losing the…?" Percy asked, sharing a concerned look with Calypso. "Mom, you said we were fine."

Sally waved him off. "Oh, Percy, sweetie, I lied." She turned back to her husband. "Oh, honey, this is the best news."

Standing up, Calypso went to hug her father so that he stood with one arm around his wife and the other around his daughter. "Congratulations, Daddy," she told him.

"Ah, my job and my little girl," Paul said.

Percy raised a hand, hesitantly. "Um, I'm here, Dad?"

Paul let go of his wife and daughter to face his son. "Oh, and, uh, speaking of you. I told Hermes Castellan's son Luke to come by and see you."

"Luke Castellan?" Percy griped. "Dad, I hate that guy."

"Yeah, well, I hate some people, too, but I smile like hell whenever I see them. And you'll do the same. Got it?" Paul ordered.

Slouching in his chair, Percy sighed. "Fine, got it."

(***)

The gang was hanging out in the Jackson's basement. Annabeth and Percy were perched on the couch, deep in conversation while Calypso and Piper leaned on the back of the couch. Frank and Leo were staring at something behind them. Will was seated in Nico's chair while Nico sat on the dryer behind him. Reyna was seated in the lawn chair and Jason was standing behind her.

"Luke Castellan?" Annabeth whispered. "Oh, gods. Do you remember when you beat him up on the playground?"

Percy smirked. "Yeah, I kicked his ass."

Reyna quirked an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "Wait, wasn't he the kd with scoliosis and asthma?'

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Percy muttered, "Yeah, but I totally kicked his ass."

Leo turned to look expectantly at Calypso. "So, mi diosa, you wanna go see Star Wars tonight?"

Calypso fixed her brother with a glare before replying, "Leo, I told you I'm not interested."

"If we're gonna start our relationship over, we gotta meet each other halfway, mi amor," Leo lectured.

Sighing, Calypso ran a finger down Leo's chest. "Well, maybe I wanna do something else tonight," she said seductively.

Percy gagged.

Leo stared at her blankly. "Like what?" Realization kicked in and he groaned. "Gods, Cal! We can do that for the rest of our lives. Star Wars is a limited engagement."

Throwing her hands up, Calypso gave up. "Fine! But I want the big popcorn."

The two of them left and Frank moved to stand in Calypso's spot.

From upstairs, Sally shouted, "Percy, Luke is here!"

"The scoliosis, asthma freak?" Frank asked. "I cannot wait to see this."

Luke walked down the steps and everyone stood up to greet him, except Nico who remained seated on the dryer. He was a tall, handsome young man with short-cropped sandy blond hair and a scar below his right eye. Will silently bit his bottom lip nervously as he watched Nico's reaction out of the corner of his eye. He and Nico had just recently reconciled and he didn't want this blond haired, blue eyed god to catch Nico's eye.

Nico, however, was watching the newcomer with distrust in his eyes.

"Hey, guys, I'm back," Luke said as he threw his arms wide.

Percy stared, slack jawed for a second before jerking back into motion. He stuck his hand out to Luke. "Yeah, hey."

"Wow," Annabeth breathed. "Luke, you've… you've really grown up."

Luke smiled at her as he gave her a once over. "Hey, look at you. You've really grown up."

Percy shot Annabeth a look before saying irately, "Yes, in fact, we've all grown up."

"Yeah, but him more than you," Nico added helpfully. Jason snorted and tried to cover it with a cough while Percy glared at Nico who smiled back.

Percy threw an arm around Annabeth and pulled her close. "We're dating. Tell us about you?"

"What was that?" Annabeth asked as she tried to pull away from him.

"What?" Percy asked innocently. "I'm just making conversation."

Luke sat down on the other side of Annabeth and questioned her. "So, Annabeth, are you still working on your building designs?"

"Yeah, a little," Annabeth replied with an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.

Percy furrowed his brow. "You do?"

Ignoring Percy, Luke shifted closer to Annabeth. "I'd love to see some of your designs."

"Yeah?" she said.

"Well, enough about us," Percy said quickly, "tell us about you Luke. You still have that curve in your spine?"

Nico stood up from his perch and stepped up behind Will. "How'd you get that scar?"

Luke's face darkened and he briefly touched his scar. "Dad got me this lizard named Ladon and the bastard clawed my face."

(***)

Luke was at Annabeth's house, sitting at the table in the kitchen, enthusiastically reviewing her architect designs.

"They're not the best, but…" she tried.

Luke shook his head with a smile. "These are amazing. Do you have any more?"

Annabeth blinked in surprise. "Yeah! Oh my gods yeah. I totally have more. I just have to…" She stood up suddenly and knocked a glass of soda onto Luke's lap. "Oh my gods, oh my gods, I am so sorry! I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Luke laughed goodnaturedly.

Percy peeked through the blinds of the kitchen door and found Annabeth's back to him and her hands really close to Luke's crotch. He barged in and demanded to know what was going on to which Annabeth answered calmly, "I spilled soda on him."

Luke excused himself quickly.

As soon as he left, Annabeth turned on Percy. "What is with you?"

"Me? Wise Girl, he's hitting on you!"

"He is not," Annabeth argued. "We're just friends. He talks to me, listens to me, and shares ideas with me."

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh my gods, Annabeth you are so naive."

Annabeth glared at him. "Perceus Jackson, just because a guy pays attention to me, does not mean he wants to get me naked."

"Oh, grow up," Percy said with a shake of his head.

Fixing him with a look, Annabeth asked, "Is that why you pay attention to me?"

"No, I love your mind, Wise Girl. But most guys don't see past your amazing body," Percy said which caused Annabeth to turn away from him as she tried helplessly to hold on to her anger.

(***)

Percy lit some incense while he was sitting in the circle with some of his guy friends. Jason was munching on a bag of potato chips and Frank had a stash of candy in his lap.

"So, Annabeth says Luke and her are just good friends and if I don't believe that, then she's gonna think I don't trust her," Percy explained as he accepted a small handful of chips from Jason.

Frank shrugged. "Maybe you should let Luke have Annabeth. I mean, they look so nice together."

Nico pointed a finger at Frank. "See, this is why your country lost the war."

"My country never fought a war?" Frank said questioningly.

"Big surprise," Nico said with an eyeroll. "You know, Jackson, I'm a romantic. So, I say you choke him 'til his eyes pop out."

Leo snatched a candy bar from Frank as he added helpfully, "Yeah, hittin' people is cool!"

"I dunno," Percy muttered around a mouthful of chips. He swallowed before continuing. "If I hit this guy, Annabeth's just gonna be pissed."

Shaking his head, Leo explained, "Nah, ese. Chicas dig that stuff. I mean, Leia, right, she acted like she was mad at Han Solo, but I could tell she liked him."

Jason looked at him in confusion. "Leo, what are you, man, an idiot? Leia likes Luke, I mean she kissed him on that bridge."

"Just for luck," Leo argued.

Percy stared at his friends for a few seconds before throwing his hands up. "Guys, I have a real problem, here."

"Oh, I got it," Frank said. "Maybe you should let Luke have Annabeth, because I mean they look so nice together." Percy punched Frank's shoulder. "Ouch"

Nico and Jason started giggling uncontrollably.

(***)

Percy fell asleep on the couch that night and dreamed he heard Paul talking to him. He was saying, "Now, remember, a Jedi is his own master… his own master… his own master."

The world shifted as Paul came into focus, dressed like Obi Wan Kenobi. When he looked down, Percy saw that he was dressed as Luke Skywalker and was holding a lightsaber which he was beating on to try and get it to work.

"A Jedi's power lies within his own…" Paul paused in his lecture. Putting his hands on his hips he huffed. "Are you even listening to me?"

Percy hesitated. "Yes, you were, um, saying, may the force be with me?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "No, I did not. Jedi knight… More like Jedi dumbass."

Nico ran in dressed as Han Solo along with Chewbacca. ''Luke, man! I don't mean to bum you out, but I just saw Princess Leia cruising around with Darth Vader and his Tie Fighter. Right, Chewy?"

Chewbacca made a sound of agreement. He removed his mask to reveal a sweaty Leo underneath the suit. "This totally sucks, ese," Leo griped. "I should be Han."

"Hey, quit whining," Nico said before punching Leo in the shoulder.

The doorbell rang and Sally entered, using R2D2 as a vacuum cleaner. "Will somebody get that?" When no one moved, she laughed forcibly, "You know what? Why don't I just get it myself?" She turned R2D2 off and opened the door to reveal Darth Vader and two stormtroopers. "Honey, it's Darth Vader."

The stormtroopers took off their helmets to show that they were actually Frank and Hazel.

Hazel said, "Hey, guys, you just gotta come over to the dark side."

"They have free food," Frank said excitedly.

Holding up his broken lightsaber, Percy said, "Okay, what did you do with Princess Leia?"

Annabeth walked in dressed up like Princess Leia and linked arms with Darth Vader. "Hey, guys."

"Leia, what're you doing with Darth Vader?" Percy asked incredulously.

With a shrug, she answered, "We're just friends. He's nice and I think you'd really like him."

"No, I wouldn't."

Darth Vader raised his hand and Percy began to choke.

Percy choked out, "Hello? He's choking me with his mind. That's, like, Evil."

Everybody started laughing at Percy who finally woke up. He shot off the couch and landed hard on the floor. As he stood up, he swore he would never eat cheese before bed again.

(***)

Calypso and Annabeth were sitting in the Chase's kitchen talking.

"When Leo and I were apart, he realized how much he missed me. I'm telling you, Annabeth, breaking up with him was the best thing I ever did," Calypso was telling Annabeth.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I thought you said that getting a pedicure was the best thing you ever did."

"That was last week, Miss Brainiac," Calypso explained.

Shaking her head, Annabeth looked uncertain. "I dunno. I don't know. I don't know what to do about Percy. He's acting like this possessive, macho jerk."

"Oh, I'm so happy for you," Calypso squealed in delight.

"No, Cal, I'm with him because I thought he wasn't like that," Annabeth argued.

Marybai walked into the kitchen and Calypso asked her, "Mrs. Chase, don't you agree that it's cool when men act like they own you?"

"Oh, yes!" Marybai agreed quickly.

Annabeth looked helplessly at her mother. "Mom, what about all those feminist classes you took?"

Appearing chastised, Marybai changed her answer. "Oh, right, no."

(***)

Percy went searching for his dad later that afternoon and found him clipping the hedges in the backyard with Fred Chase. "Hey, Dad, um, I was wondering if you'd show me a few fighting moves."

Paul fixed his son with a look. "Who are you planning on fighting?"

Staring at his feet, Percy answered, "Luke Castellan."

"Luke Castellan?" Fred interjected. "He's got scoliosis and asthma, you could take him."

Sighing, Paul replied to his son, "Come on, now, Percy. Why don't you beat up Leo. I don't work with his dad."

"He's making a move on Annabeth," Percy explained.

Fred bristled. "Oh, no, no,no. Annabeth's not going near Pretzel Boy. No, no. You gotta nip this in the bud, Perce."

"Alright, alright," Paul conceded. "The bridge of the nose is very vulnerable."

"Oh, hit him with a banjo," Fred added, helpfully.

Paul side eyed Fred. "A banjo, Fred? Where is he gonna get a banjo?"

Shrugging, Fred said, "I dunno. But I saw a guy get hit with a banjo once, and he went down."

"Hitting a guy with a banjo is dirty," Paul argued. "You wanna knee him in the groin."

Percy was fairly certain kneeing a guy in the groin was more of a dirty move than hitting them with a banjo, but he wasn't about to argue with his father.

"You can hit him in the groin with a banjo," Fred suggested.

(***)

Sally and Paul were sitting on the living room couch when Sally asked where their son was.

"Uh, I don't know," Paul said with a smile as he continued watching television.

"I think you do know, Paul," Sally argued.

Paul turned off the television and turned to face his wife. "Alright, Sal, some kid's been hitting on Annabeth, so he went to fight him but it's no big deal."

Sally's eyes widened fearfully. "No big deal? You men are such Neanderthal. Fighting over a woman; it's ridiculous. It's like that time at the beach when that lifeguard pinched my fanny and you just had to lay him out, didn't you?"

"Well, yes," Paul said as if that were obvious.

"Well, how do you think I felt, Paul? Watching you stand over that poor man, your eyes," her voice faltered as she recalled the intensity of that moment, "burning with intensity, your sun-tanned muscles gleaming… like a bronze god."

They sat thinking for a moment before they jumped up and ran up the stairs.

(***)

Annabeth and Luke were sitting on a swing set talking when Percy came up to them. He challenged Luke to a fight and Annabeth looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Seaweed Brain, what are you doing?" she demanded to know.

Percy shoved Luke. "This isn't about you, Wise Girl."'

Annabeth pushed Percy away from Luke. "Stop it, Percy. For the last time: Luke has no interest in me whatsoever."

"Yeah, I do, actually," Luke said.

Annabeth whirled around to look at Luke. "What?"

"Why do you think we've been spending so much time together?" Luke asked.

"Because we're friends?" Annabeth hedged.

Luke laughed. "Oh, come on, Annabeth. I mean I've talked to you, I've listened to you, I've shared ideas with you. What's that about?"

"I had the exact same problem with…" Percy pointed to Annabeth behind her back.

Annabeth turned to face him. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know what it takes with women," Luke complained. "I mean you put in all this time and effort and …." he and Percy said in unison, "they just want to be friends."

Percy gestured to Luke. "I know! I hate that. Man, to think I was gonna kick your ass."

Luke waved him off. "Hey, you had every reason to."

Annabeth threw her hands up in frustration. "You know what, Percy? You don't trust or respect me." She turned to leave but Percy called out for her. "Leave me alone."

Percy stood there and watched, helplessly, as she walked away.

"Well, it never would've worked out anyways," Luke said. "She's too much of an uptight bitch for me. Good luck, though."

Luke turned to leave and Percy tapped him on the shoulder. When Luke turned around, Percy punched him as hard as he could in the face. He heard a cracking noise as Luke's nose collided with his fist and Luke went down.

"You bastard! You broke my nose!" Luke cried.

"Good."

Luke stood up, his breathing sounding unusually like Darth Vader's. "You'll pay for this, Jackson!"

(***)

Percy walked into the kitchen to find his father standing there.

"Hey, Dad, can I talk to you?"

"Absolutely," Paul said, clearly in a chipper mood.

Sally walked in, dressed up in an elegant black dress. "Percy, I am very disappointed in you for fighting."

Percy apologized and then watched in horror as his mother smacked his father's butt.

"I'll see you in the car," she said.

"Where are you guys going?" Percy asked.

Paul informed him that they were going to dinner and a movie. "A little celebration. You know, son, sometimes life gives you a good bounce. So, what'd you wanna talk about?"

"Um, just have a good time," Percy lied.

"Oh, yeah," Paul said. He walked by Percy and threw a fake punch to which Percy laughed at.