47. The Fourth Kind

"Do not make any plans Wednesday! I have so much homework I don't understand and a test Thursday I know nothing for! Thalia, please, you gotta help me!"

Thalia smiled as she thrummed her fingers on her nightstand.

"I don't know, Percy. I'm so busy!" Thalia said, exaggerating the last three words. She could almost hear his frown.

"You're so evil. Why am I even your boyfriend? Maybe we should break this off before I become a rotting corpse in your closet."

She laughed and shook her head.

"I'll help ya. I'm not that heartless. I'll swing by after school, yeah?"

"Thanks Thals!"

"Sure, just don't ever call me Thals again."

"You got it… Thals." He hung up before Thalia could scold him. Rolling her eyes, she chucked the phone beside her and finished her homework. She was halfway through her math homework when she heard a yelp coming from the living room. She jumped up and ran out, to see her mother sitting on the couch, leaning forward with a pillow clutched between her hands.

"Gods, what happened?!" Thalia exclaimed, looking around.

"The Fourth Kind," her mother replied, without looking away from the TV. Thalia looked up to see the woman who'd done Resident Evil sit in a therapist like office.

"You scared me out of my skin for a stupid movie?" Thalia yelled, feeling her speeding heart start to slow. She wasn't sure what she thought had happened, but when you hear a scream, the worst runs through your mind. Knowing her mother's previous "troubles", the worst wasn't always a far stretch.

"Well, excuse me if aliens freak me out," she said, still clutching the pillow. Thalia pursed her lips, but looked at the screen.

"It was an owl." The movie went on. Biting her lip, Thalia walked over and sat on the couch, but was sure in not sitting too close to her mother. Her mother, though, was leaned in, watching the movie intently. This movie isn't scary. It's not even suspenseful.

"No! No, it's not owl!" Thalia yelled at the TV, as she clutched her mother's hands.

"What if we've had an owl at our window?" her mother whimpered.

"Gods, Mom! No, no, no. Aliens don't exist."

"Are you sure? I mean, it's a big uni- AH! WHY DO THEY KEEP SHOWING THAT OWL FACE?! It's so creepy!" Thalia scooted closer to her mother, who had thrown her pillow away to make space for cuddling with Thalia.

"Okay, I think we're getting waaaay into this movie. It's not even scary." Her mother squeezed her hand.

"Thalia, what if I've already been abducted? Quick, check the floors for scratch marks!" Thalia pulled her mother back down to the couch.

"Don't be ridiculous! Aliens. Don't. Exist." They stared at each other. Thalia bit her lip. "But I suppose checking the floor doesn't do any harm…" They both got up and ran for their rooms, dropping on their knees and studying the hardwood floor. After a minute, Thalia sat up, feeling completely stupid. She walked into the hallway where her mother had just walked out. They looked at each other and then burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, Thalia was clutching her stomach. She ended up sitting on the floor, tears falling down her cheek. She couldn't remember ever laughing this hard. Not even with her own father.

"Okay, we never tell anyone about this," Thalia said, wiping the tears away.

"Agreed," her mother gasped. They laughed again, until their sides hurt so much they had to stop. Thalia leaned against the wall, catching her breath. She looked at her mother. She mimicked Thalia's position, bare feet upright against the opposite wall as she slouched against the other. Her hair was messy, falling around her shoulders. She wore grey sweatpants and a white tank that showed just how much her stomach had grown over the past few weeks.

"You know," Thalia said, catching her mother's attention, "we should do this again." Her mother smiled, a lip closed kind of smile, but it made Thalia's heart flip. It was the first time her mother genuinely smiled at her since her father left. She wanted to sit there all day and look at it. Just… look at it. But her mother's face soured before she squeaked and ran into the bathroom.

Chuckling, Thalia got up and walked back into her bedroom to finish her homework. She felt a weird sense of happiness settling in her chest. She had closed her door, so she didn't know what her mother did afterwards, because she certainly didn't come into her room. It didn't bother Thalia, though. Sure, it was a nice moment, but she knew from the beginning, it wouldn't last.

She fell asleep on her textbooks and she was lucky she had the habit of leaving her alarms on, or she wouldn't have made it to school on time. Nothing about the Talent Show came up, except when Cindy was loudly planning what she was going to do with her posse. Not many people seemed excited about it, at least not yet. Thalia didn't even bother thinking about it anymore. She wasn't going to go to the Talent Show. It was just asking for a headache she didn't need or want. Let the popular girls deal with it.

When school ended, she headed straight for Percy's apartment. She pressed the buzzer and it opened without anyone answering. Percy knew it was her. She walked up the steps, shifting her back pack from side to side until she got to his door. She was about to knock when the door opened.

"I can smell you a mile away," Percy grinned.

"Don't be stupid, I use deodorant," Thalia said as she pushed passed him into his apartment. He scoffed.

"Well, I smelled the lemons."

"Strawberries."

"Potato, potatoe." Thalia rolled her eyes as she plopped onto the couch.

"Want a coke?"

"Sure," Thalia said, as she left her bag on the auto man. Percy walked out of the kitchen and handed her a cold can of Coca Cola. He pulled his bag from behind the couch and started rummaging through it, pulling out every single notebook and textbook.

"Well shit," Thalia said, taking a sip of her coke.

"Yeah, they gave way too much homework in two days," he said, looking for the pages of his homeworks.

"Serves you right for going on vacation while every other student slaves in class."

"Wawa, cry me a river," Percy said. Thalia kicked his foot. He chuckled and kicked her back.

"What are you doing first?" Thalia asked, putting her feet up on the auto man. He looked at her and leaned in, pouting his lips like a fish and making kissing sounds.

"When you get an A in algebra," Thalia grinned as she put a hand on his face.

"Well, now I'm never going to get kissed." Thalia rolled her eyes. She set her coke down and started helping him with his math, a topic Thalia was luckily good at.

"You need to change the negative to a positive," Thalia commented.

"But why?" he complained.

"Because you have two negatives dimwit! Two negatives make a positive!"

"Why is math so complicated?"

"It's not complicated, you just don't want to use your brain," Thalia said, flicking his forehead.

"So you caught me," he said sarcastically. "Come on, let's eat something." Thalia was about to protest, but he was already in the kitchen, making gods know what. Thalia walked into the kitchen to see him making grill cheeses. She sat at the kitchen table. They ate their food, taking their time, insulting each other back and forth until they finished and Percy went to the bathroom.

Thalia took the initiative to clean up their mess, because she knew Percy wouldn't even touch it. As she threw away the plastic plates, she heard muffled music, no doubt coming from one of Percy's neighbors. Well, maybe not a neighbor, it sounded closer.

She listened to the familiar beginning of the music, closing her eyes and rubbing the smooth, cold surface of the counter.

When the days are cold and the cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold.

A soft smile traced her lips as she listened to the song. That song always hit home, like Imagine Dragons was speaking right to her.

"No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed. This is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come. When you feel my heat, look into my eyes. It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide. Don't get too close, it's dark inside–"

"Whoa." She abruptly stopped singing, when she hadn't even realized she was. She spun around to see Percy standing behind her, on the other side of the dining table, with something in his hand Thalia couldn't make out what. She turned back, away from his wide eyes and back to pretending she was cleaning the counter of imaginary crumbs.

"That was awesome," Percy said. She pursed her lips as she heard his heavy footsteps walk around the table and stop beside her.

"Shut up," she said, throwing out a napkin and walking back out of the kitchen.

"Thalia, you can sing! I didn't know that!" he said, like he had made a new discovery, which he had. He had to play 20 questions just to get one answer out of her.

"No, I can't. Just leave it alone," Thalia grumbled, as she walked into the living.

"You're amazing," he said following behind her.

"No!" she snapped. She felt a painful jab in her gut. She'd heard only one other person say that to her. Obviously, she wasn't amazing enough for him to stay. Percy scoffed in disbelief.

"How can you say that?"

"Just drop it Percy. I'm warning you," Thalia growled. She's grown accustomed to his asking too many questions, but this was one subject she wanted to hear nothing about.

"But-" but he was silenced with another glare from Thalia. He sighed. "Okay," he sighed, raising his hands in mock surrender. "But I think you'd win that Talent Show," he said. Thalia's head snapped back to him.

"What?" Then it hit her. She glanced at her backpack and saw the crumpled piece of paper she'd kept for no reason was now gone from its side pockets. "Who told you to look at my stuff?!" Thalia stood up and ripped the folded piece of paper from her hand.

"To my defense, it had fallen out of your backpack. But Thalia, it would be awesome if you joined the Talent Show," he sat down on the couch where Thalia had plopped down again. She felt anger and sadness boiling inside her.

"Percy, I just want you to leave it alone. Maybe I can sing, but I don't want to. I can't–" she was cut off when Percy kissed her. She dropped the balled up piece of paper and held onto him. He pulled back, her hands still wrapped in his. He pulled one free and touched her cheek.

"It's okay. I'm not going to force you to. Sorry I pushed." Her anger melted away at the puppy dog look in his sea green eyes. She leaned in and kissed him again, her way of saying it was okay.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you liked and/or what you didn't like! :)

QUESTION!
I have this new short story in mind I've been writing. If you guys want, I'll post it when it's done. Summary: It's about a new camper, Karen, who is trying to be killed by an enemy only Nico di Angelo can see and fight. There's a few more things involved like every other story, but that's the main plot line. It's going to be one very long chapter. Do you guys want me to post it? :) Let me know in your reviews!

So, the poll has been closed! These are the results:
Demons by Imagine Dragons = 35%
How Far We've Come by Matchbox Twenty = 28%
Heart Attack by Demi Lovato = 14%
Love Hate Heartbreak by Halestorm = 7%
Thanks to the voters! ^.^