24. Picnic & Chewie

School the next day was absolutely no fun. Not that it ever was, it just seemed worse. Ever since this morning, Thalia's been having a bad day. Sure, she could handle snobby girls who think they own the school, love sick boys, and snotty teachers, but having your mother's mess swirling in your head all day tends to dampen the day. She slouched into her chair in fourth period and aimlessly doodled in her notebook. She remembered the two agents who had walked into her class a week ago, making her freak out a lot, as much as she hated it. She hoped there would be no more surprises like that. She sighed, as every memory trigger-related whooshed back into existence. Forget about it.

She spent the next fifty minutes listening to Mr. Roberts talk about a human's anatomy making many immature people giggle when the bell rung and signaled time for fifth period… her lunch. Thalia sat down in her preferred corner where people normally weren't and began enjoying her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was half way done when a kid sat in front of her. A boy she had come to despise. And let's just say, if cops searched her sketchbook, she might go to jail.

"Really? Are there no boundaries?" Thalia complained as the boy set down his food.

"You know you miss me!" Leo said, as he started stabbing his juice box with the flimsy plastic straw.

"Not even in your dreams!" Thalia huffed.

"Come on, am I really that bad?"

"Let's look at it this way; I like you as much as Chewie likes a hair dryer."

He paused, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I'm impressed with the analogy, but come on! Can we start from scratch then?" Leo pleaded. Thalia thought about it. She did that once, with a certain green eyed boy and what happened? She ended up getting pepsi poured down her backside. Who knows what the price of this "starting over" would be. She shivered at the thought.

"No, I don't think so," she replied. Leo's face fell.

"Well, can we at least talk? I'm bored today," he said, slightly gloomy. Thalia felt a tiny bit of pity, which she totally hated. If only she could get rid of all her pesky feelings. So she decided she'll make a deal.

"If I talk to you today, will you leave me alone? For good?" she said seriously. Leo thought about it for a second and slowly nodded. "All right then, just don't be too annoying," Thalia said as she took another bite from her sandwich. Leo took a loud sip from his juice box.

"So, questions allowed?" Leo asked. Thalia shrugged, not really paying a whole lot of attention to what he was saying.

"Okay, so why were you in detention last week?" he asked, a little bit hesitantly. Thalia looked at him, a thought forming in the back of her mind, but a little out of reach though she could feel it as if his question triggered something she couldn't place yet. And that annoyed her beyond words.

"I got in trouble," she answered, trying to ignore the nagging thought.

"Uh-huh… want to elaborate?" Leo prompted. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I got in trouble for something I didn't do. Something that involved some bad words and aerosol," Thalia said lamely and Leo almost chocked on his nuggets. He half coughed, half gasped as he took a big sip from his juice box.

"Got issues?" Thalia commented, as Leo calmed down and got his breath back.

"No, no, I'm good," he said, clearing his throat a few times and taking another bite from his nuggets. Thalia studied him, wondering what his little episode was about when someone slid into the seat next to him and immediately made Thalia's skin crawl.

"Hey guys," Cindy smiled as she looked intently at Leo. She casually put her arm over his shoulder as he kept his head hung low.

"What do you want Cindy?" Thalia growled. She already had to deal with Cindy during her classes; she really didn't need to deal with her during lunch. Cindy chuckled.

"Oh nothing, just… hungry," she said, as she plucked a nugget from Leo's plate.

"Ah, the orgy back at your table not enough to feed a succubus?" Thalia said sarcastically and Cindy glared at her.

"Better watch it Grace," Cindy hissed.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Thalia retorted sarcastically. Cindy huffed.

"Whatevs," she said, as she stood up. But before she left she leaned over, giving Thalia a complete look of her cleavage and whispered something into Leo's ear. He jerked angrily and with a satisfied smile, she walked away. Thalia was about to ask Leo what that was about, but he didn't look like he'd want to be questioned, so she didn't bother. They spent the rest of lunch in awkward silence. Normally Thalia wouldn't mind the silence, but Leo kept mumbling under his breath and he looked at his nuggets like he was trying to put a hex on them.

The bell rang for the end of Thalia's favorite period and Leo bolted out of the lunchroom without a word. She was a little bit startled, but she didn't bother. If he was having his issues, she would just leave him to it.

She passed the rest of the day trying to keep her mind blank. To forget all about the crisis that was slowly developing back at her apartment. But she still couldn't ignore the fact of how badly her mother screwed up and she should've seen it coming too. It frustrated her so much that she couldn't do anything, but watch the disaster unravel. She hated not being able to do anything; nothing irked her more. Okay, besides Percy.

The last bell rang and she busted out the front doors into cool fresh air. She shifted her bag and started walking down the sidewalk towards home. I don't want to go home. She sighed as she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and trudged on. She wished even more so nowadays that she could just run away. Disappear into the wilderness of New York and forget everything about her used-to-bes. And she was even close to it one day; packing up her bags and grabbing the doorknob, but she couldn't bring herself to leave forever.

She wasn't even sure why, but something stopped her every time. Now, though she wished she could run away, she wouldn't. Not even if you paid her. The life of her unborn sibling was too important for her to even pull out her suitcase from her closet. She couldn't leave it to defend for itself against their mother. Staying to give the child a chance, one she had lost herself, to have the life it deserved and not what her mother was ever willing to spare. It was a challenge, some may say an obstacle and a commitment, but most of all… it was a promise. One she was going to keep.

She was so busy in her thoughts she barely noticed her phone ringing. She spared a glance at the screen to see who it was. The Chosen One. Oh boy, she already knew who this was and she was going to chew him out for taking her phone and saving his number.

"Yes Percy?" she answered casually, but with a sarcastic undertone.

"How'd you know?" Percy asked surprised.

"Please Percy, only you would call yourself the chosen one," she replied. She could almost hear him pouting which made her smile in victory.

"Well, anywaaays… I was wondering if you'd like to have, uh, lunch slash dinner with me?"

Thalia thought about it and almost in response her stomach growled. Oh, no, no, no, no Thalia! Remember what happened last time you were around him! It involved sticky cheese and hot soda!

"I don't know," she replied.

"Please? We can meet at the park."

Thalia, I'm warning you! Don't do it! Don't-

"Sure," Thalia answered, and she immediately smacked her forehead.

"Great! Meet me at the park!

"What time?"

"Now actually…" Percy trailed off. Thalia didn't have enough time to call herself stupid a million times when she rounded the corner of a building and found herself looking at Percy standing next to the swings with a picnic basket in hand. Her jaw dropped, not in admiring surprise, but complete and utter shock. Should've said no Thalia. Should've said no.

"Uh, wow," Thalia said awkwardly as she put her cell phone away. "That's… that's something," Thalia said, scratching her head. "I don't—"

"Calm down Thalia, it's not a cheesy or romantic date," Percy said. Thalia's eyes opened wide.

"This is not a date!" she burst startling a few pigeons. Percy raised the hand that wasn't holding on to the basket in fake surrender.

"All right, not a date," he agreed. That was too easy.

"What's your angle? Hm?" Thalia said crossing her arms. Percy scoffed in disbelief.

"I'm just a guy asking a friend for lunch," Percy replied a smile playing on the very tips of his lips.

"Liar," Thalia stated plainly.

"Maybe, but don't tell me you wouldn't want one of these?" Percy said as he pulled out a nice juicy hamburger with the cheese melting around the edges. Thalia's stomach clenched and she could smell its sweet aroma swirling around her. She opened her mouth, but then shook her head.

"I know what you're doing! You're trying to get me with food!" Thalia said, waving a hand. Percy chuckled.

"Is it working?"

Thalia bit her bottom lip.

"Yes," she admitted shamefully. Percy laughed and set the picnic basket on a small table.

"Come on, let's eat. In a very non-date way," he said, as he threw his legs over the bench and started pulling out different foods. Thalia took a deep breath and sat across from him. She grabbed one of the burgers and sunk her teeth into its deliciousness. All her worries and nightmares melted like the cheese on her burger. Maybe this was what she needed. Someone who could keep her mind off everything that was screwed up in her life. Someone that could keep her from jumping off a building yelling "I'm freeeeeeeee". She was just surprised the only person who could pull it off was Percy.

Sorry I took so long :P I hope this chapter came out okay. Actually, I'm not very confident about the succubus joke, so if you guys have an idea, feel free to suggest it. Thanks for reading and for reviewing if you did. :)