38. Pillsbury

She was burning up inside. She wasn't even sure why she was so pissed. Mr. Brunner took away her punishment, she knew he understood the dilemma, she had no repercussions. If anything, she should be ecstatic that Cindy got busted. If she'd known any sooner she would be laughing in Cindy's face and maybe even doing the rain dance to rejoice that the universe had finally wronged Cindy, but she didn't feel happy.

She wasn't even friends with Leo, but she was furious he had lied to her. She walked into her apartment, slamming the door behind her.

"Whoa, not so loud. Headache," her mother complained from the couch. Thalia ignored her. She ran into her room, threw her bag on the floor and jumped on her bed. It shuddered under her weight as she buried her face into her sheets and her too long hair.

"I can't believe it," she mumbled into her bed. She turned onto her back and sighed. She sat up, slouching and glanced into the mirror. The anger put her in a stink mood and everything she saw bothered her; even the fact her black hair was just below her shoulders. She rubbed her face when her phone went off. She moaned, but answered anyways.

"Hello?" she answered lazily.

"Hey Thalia," Percy's voice said. She never thought someone's voice could make her feel better, even just a little bit.

"Hey," she said. "What's up?"

"Well, Mom is having a dinner tomorrow. She wants you to come. She thinks we're a couple…" he trailed off, as if saying "not my fault, don't kill me!". Aw man!

"Did you tell her we kissed?" Thalia asked bluntly.

"Eh, no. She's just really good at guessing…" he said, and Thalia could almost see him shrugging his shoulders. "She knows me as if I were her son," he said, and then chuckled. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Look, I don't know Percy…" Thalia began. She wasn't sure. Were they a couple? It's not like you automatically become a couple if you kiss. The biggest question, though, is if she wanted it to be true. The idea of Percy being her boyfriend didn't seem as farfetched as it once had, but she wasn't sure if she was ready or willing. Isn't there some kind of requirement of how much you're supposed to like them? Like "if you like me insert measurement then we should totally go out". She could even imagine those people who open up their arms as wide as possible and say "I love you this much!" Cliché. She moistened her lips. The idea of getting together wasn't revolting…

"Thalia," Percy's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Are we a couple? Or was that just… some kind of fling?" he asked. Thalia opened her mouth, but she seemed to be tongue tied. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she didn't want to say no and maybe lose her chance.

"I don't know," she said. "Are we?"

"No, I guess not," he answered. "Do you want to be together?" he asked, a little bit cautious. Thalia chewed on her lip. She felt like she was holding scales, but wasn't sure which way they were leaning. Yes or no?

"How about I answer that at the dinner?" she asked, trying to put it off for a little bit longer.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. The dinner is tomorrow at six, is that okay?" he asked.

"Yep, totally fine," she answered. With a quick farewell, Percy hung up, leaving Thalia listening to the loud rrrr. She pursed her lips. She walked into the bathroom, disrobed, and hopped into the shower. She let the warm water run down her back as she thought about Percy's question. Do you want to be together?

Did she? She scrubbed her head, sliding her fingers through her hair as she thought about it; keeping her eyes closed to keep the shampoo from falling in her eyes. She turned to rinse off her hair, accidentally bumping into the little ledge that held the soap. She rinsed and when she moved for the conditioner she stepped on the soap, falling forward and hitting her head against the bathtub.

She knocked herself out cold.

"Honey, please think about this!" she pleaded desperately. Thalia peeked out the crack of her door at the scene taking place down the hallway.

"I'm done, Lilah!" he growled angrily.

"Eli, please!" her mother cried. She grabbed his shoulders, but he pushed her off with one hand while his other one held onto a big, brown suitcase. Thalia's mother had tears streaking down her face with her lips turned into a frown with trembling lips while Thalia's father, Eli, stared at her without sympathy.

"Please… don't…" she whined. He opened his mouth to say something, but Thalia had leaned through the crack too much and had fallen over with a thud. Their heads snapped in her direction at the same time. Her mother looked a little shocked, but her father looked sullen. He set his suitcase down and walked over to Thalia and knelt in front of her.

"Hey darling," he said, forcing a smile, but even though Thalia was young she knew it wasn't genuine. "I'm sorry, you should go back into your room."

"Are you leaving, daddy?" she asked in a high voice. His eyes opened a little, and he seemed sad and like he didn't know what to say.

"Hun, I have to –"

"Please, don't leave me daddy!" Thalia squeaked, lunging forward and wrapping him up into a hug in her little arms. He pulled her arms off.

"I need to go, Thals," he said. "I'm sorry," he said with sorrowful eyes. Thalia's own eyes started to water.

"Daddy, please don't leave me!" she cried. He gave her a pained look, but didn't say anything. He stood up and left, grabbing his suitcase on the way.

"Daddy!" Thalia screeched as she followed after him.

"Thalia!" her mother called, but Thalia ignored her. She didn't want to lose her father. He walked out the door and Thalia stumbled out into the hallway.

"DADDY! DON'T GO!" she cried at the top of her lungs. He kept walking. "DADDY!" she cried, her words gurgling into sobs. She bawled as she tripped on her own little feet and fell on her knee. She looked up and watched him walk away as she choked up.

He never looked back.

She woke up with a gasp. Her head was throbbing and her body felt too cold. The shower was still running and her hands were pruny. She got up, holding onto the wet walls to keep her balance as she crawled out of the bathtub. Her body was sore and her arms were stiff as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. She glanced into the foggy mirror, trying to clear up the glass, and saw she had a huge gash on her right brown. She had a thin line of blood trailing down her temple, cheek and neck.

"Ouch," she whispered as she wiped at the wound with a wash cloth and placed a butterfly stitch over it. She got dressed and walked out, trying to shake away the terrible dream she'd had. She hated that day and she did everything in her power to forget it. But no matter what she did, it would still pop up, reminding her that her father didn't love her. Or at least, not enough. Night had fallen and it was about 1 in the morning. Had I been unconscious that long? She went to sleep.

The next day went by in a blur. She spent the whole day avoiding Leo, even eating her next period classroom to not sit in the lunchroom. She wasn't sure if she was going to forgive him. She really didn't want to. And it wasn't like she needed to. She sighed. But she really didn't want to eat lunch in her classroom with her teacher watching her for the rest of the year.

After school, she spent the next three hours before Sally's dinner to do her homework. It was a little hard, since her mind kept drifting off during classes. Like she knew anything about quadratic equations. And she tried to figure out why math had to have so many freaking variables. Call it English class and you won't know the difference!

Twenty minutes before six, she got dressed; slipping on a pair of boot cut jeans, converse and a black jersey with the number 13 printed in blue. She hadn't seen her mother since she had gotten home, but she didn't bother looking for her. She sprinted out of the house and towards Percy's apartment. No one answered the buzzer, they just let her in. She walked up the steps, and knocked on their door.

To be honest, she had no idea what she was doing. What if Sally started asking embarrassing questions? What if she asked if they were together? Thalia still had no idea if she wanted them to be. How would the dinner go? What if things were still tense from the fight with Nico and she sat there awkwardly? WHAT IF! Too many of those, and it was making her head whirl.

The door swung open. Sally's smile was wide and smelled like candy and cookies; it almost made Thalia's mouth water. The smell of baking Pillsbury bread wafted through the threshold and now Thalia couldn't wait to go in and devour the food that smelt so good.

"Come on in," she said, stepping aside.

"Definitely," Thalia commented as she walked in.

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out! I got a little stuck, lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry there wasn't much Perlia in here, but I promise the next one will be worthwhile! I don't want to rush it either. But, to let you know, there'll be lots of sweet and... juicy moments ;) Thanks a lot for the reviews! They always make my day~ And who knows, maybe there will be another Perlia story! :D hahaha