Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your feedback! I apologize for the late update; school had just ended, and work had been hectic, so I didn't have much free time or motivation to finish the third and fourth chapters.
The fourth chapter is where the story truly begins; the first, second and third chapters served as an introduction. I apologize if some of the characters appear to be out of character. Certain characters, such as Annabeth and Jason Grace, are more difficult for me to relate to and write about. Because I have a personality similar to both Leo Valdez and Percy Jackson, those characters have always been the easiest for me to write about.
CHAPTER THREE:
The majority of the girls groaned in disgust at Coach Hedges' announcement, while all of the guys smiled and cheered. Dodgeball is one of the worst sports to play in gym class, according to Percy, especially if you're in a class full of cocky jocks and brainless teenage boys. Percy isn't a big fan of dodgeball, but he looks at Luke and smiles broadly to himself. He will not only be given the opportunity to throw a ball at Luke's face, but he will also be allowed to do so without consequence.
Silena, the girl he met earlier, raises her hand and diverts everyone's attention away from the coach. "Will we be picking teams like last year?" She asked, widening her smile at Annabeth and the other girl they were standing with.
Coach Hedge sighs and rolls his eyes. "Having team captains, according to Zeus, is unfair and promotes bullying," he scoffs. Clearly, he disagrees with Zeus. "This year, I'll be creating your teams."
Jason taps Percy on the shoulder and whispers in his ear. "Last year, Coach Hedge would assign two team captains to each class, somehow the uncoordinated students were always on one team and the athletes on the other. Last year, there were numerous injuries and house calls after Zeus personally attended several of Hedges gym classes."
Percy acknowledged with a nod and found himself shaking his head and laughing. At least one thing this school had in common with the other hundred schools he had attended was social stereotypes.
"How is your choosing of teams any less fair than having team captains?" Annabeth inquires, crossing her arms defensively. "We all know your teams will be even worse than last year's."
"We all know you've got your favorites, Hedge," says the gothic-looking girl next to Annabeth. Percy is intrigued by the girl. Her hair is short and wild, almost to her chin. Her hair is dark black with purple and green striations running through it. She has a nose piercing, and all of the earrings must have taken up all of the available space on her ears. He can't deny that her eyes are stunning. Her eyes are similar to Jason's in color, but hers appear to be less emotional.
Coach Hedge snorts and pulls out his airhorn. He presses down on it for several seconds, emitting an obnoxious noise that causes several students, including Percy, to cover their ears. "Do not question me, Thalia Grace," he squints at the girl, ignoring Annabeth and her earlier statement.
Thalia frowns and crosses her arms. She looks over at Percy and his new friends, and he worries for a moment that she is judging him. Her gaze, however, does not linger on Percy and his nervousness. She gives Jason a sidelong glance. "I don't care as long as Jason and I aren't on the same team as last year." This girl must despise Jason based on the death glares she gives him.
Percy anticipates Jason hiding in fear of the girl, as he knows he would. If anything, she appears to be more intimidating than Annabeth.
Jason responds with a snort. "Dad strictly forbids us from ever partnering in gym class again, don't you remember the volleyball incident?" Jason then turns to face Leo and apologizes by patting him on the back. "Sorry for hitting you in the balls with a volleyball last year. You can blame Thalia or Annabeth for forcing me to do it."
While patting Jason on the back, Leo sarcastically groans in pain. "Don't worry man, my balls healed in a month, although my ego will never be the same," he exclaimed dramatically as he made eye contact with the three girls across from them.
Annabeth rolled her eyes as Thalia smirked. Silena was too preoccupied with picking at her nails to notice Leo's stare.
"I have it on video if anyone wants me to forward it to them," Luke says, taking his iPhone from his pocket. Several boys around him chuckle and start making crude jokes about Leo. Percy was surprised when Coach Hedge did not intervene to stop Luke and his thugs from bullying Leo.
Percy observed Leo's face turn from happy to red with embarrassment from their jokes. He heard a high-pitched squeal from Luke's phone, which made the others laugh even louder and Leo's face turn redder.
Percy watched as Jason took a step forward, ready to defend his friend and yank the phone from Luke's grasp, but Annabeth beat him to it. Annabeth Chase took Luke's phone and deleted the video, but not before smashing it on the floor. Percy isn't sure if she'll get in trouble for destroying another student's phone, but he can't deny that it's fun to watch Luke's face change from happy to angry.
She took another step forward and found herself in his personal space, their noses inches apart. "I told you I'd make your life a living hell if you ever showed that video to anyone else," Annabeth growled as she took another step forward, her nose brushing his. Her angry expression was visible in her eyes. Percy may not understand what's going on, but he does know that Annabeth is terrifying when she's angry. Percy retracts his statement about Thalia being more intimidating.
Luke smirked in his ex-girlfriend's face, unfazed. It's as if he felt no remorse for embarrassing Leo in front of the entire class. "What are you going to do about it Annabeth?" He points to his broken phone, which is lying on the gym floor. "Break my phone again?" He chuckles, unafraid of her wrath.
Annabeth remained unfazed, except her smirk had turned into an evil grin. That can't be right. She leans in close to the boy and whispers something into his ear. Whatever she said made him change his mind completely as his face turned red. He takes a step back and shakes his head, silently begging her to stop.
Percy is curious about Annabeth's influence over Luke. Maybe she's aware of all his embarrassing kinks or something. That would be embarrassing if he had a foot fetish, for example.
"That's enough," Coach Hedge declares finally as he steps between Annabeth and Luke. "As much as I'd like to see Annabeth beat up Luke, it appears that doing so is against school rules." He grumbled in irritation. Coach Hedge, according to Percy, acts more like a student than a teacher, and he can't decide whether he hates or loves him for it.
After Silena and another girl in the room start arguing about how to throw a dodgeball with acrylic nails on, the tension in the room seems to dissipate.
"Because this class is much larger than last year's, we will have three teams instead of two," he says, looking up at the students before returning his gaze to his clipboard. "I made the teams without favoritism," he says, glaring at an unfazed Thalia. "I will be handing out yellow, red, and orange jerseys. Put them on and meet with your teams."
Percy counted the number of players on each team (with his fingers). He had counted nine people on each team, indicating that their class had 27 students.
He was assigned to the red team, along with Leo, Thalia, Dustin, and five other students whose names he didn't know. Dustin glared at Percy every time he moved, which Percy noticed. Percy has been at this school for about four hours and already has three people who dislike him (not including Annabeth).
"Red and Yellow team will face off first," Hedge announces while he grabs all of the dodgeballs from the dusty closet in the gym.
Thalia nudges Percy in shoulder as they step onto the court. He looks over at her with a grin. "You good at this game?" She asks him.
In response, he shrugs. "I'm good at most sports, including dodgeball. I enjoy throwing balls at people "He smirks at Thalia as he looks over at the yellow team. "In particular, Luke."
"I think were going to be very good friends, Percy Jackson."
"How did you get my name?" It's a stupid question, but he's still curious. Maybe Annabeth was talking about him? If that's the case, why is one of her friends talking to him?
Leo was launching himself into both of their arms before Thalia could open her mouth to respond. Percy met Leo nearly an hour ago and already feels like they've known each other for years. "Guys can you please aim for Lukes's dick?"
"You aim for the dick, I aim for the face," Percy explained to Thalia. They exchanged smirks and bumped fists. Thalia appears to despise Luke as much as Leo does.
Silena, who is stuck on the yellow team with Luke, rolls her eyes and complains to coach Hedge while he distributes the dodgeballs. She claims that due to girl code, she cannot be on the same team as Luke.
Annabeth and Jason start talking on the sidelines, their conversation civil. If Jason and Annabeth can get along, why can't Percy get along with Annabeth?
Coach Hedge starts the countdown, and everyone takes their places. Thalia and Percy are standing next to each other, ready to sprint for as many dodgeballs as they can. Leo retires to the back of the gym and pulls out a strawberry Poptart to eat, completely ignoring the countdown. Silena frowns as she examines her nails, more concerned with breaking a nail than with winning. Annabeth and Jason stand on the sidelines, their legs tense with anticipation.
Members of both teams practically fly to the dodgeballs the moment the countdown reaches zero. It's no surprise that Luke goes for Percy first, but Percy deflects the dodgeball by hitting it with one of his own.
For a brief moment, Percy ignores Luke and focuses on Ethan, who also happens to be on the yellow team. Ethan's attention is drawn to Leo, who is unconcerned as he eats his pop tart. Percy will make an educated guess and say that Leo dislikes sports.
Percy observes as Ethan prepares to throw a ball in the direction of Leo. Percy throws his final ball to Thalia before sprinting over to Leo. He jumps slightly in the air and catches Ethan's ball with two hands, smirking as Ethan groans in frustration. Luke growls angrily as Ethan walks off the court.
With his mouth full of Poptart, Leo thanks Percy. "Thank you, Percy. But you didn't have to do it, man. I'd rather be out than playing, "He shudders violently. "I don't like dodgeball because it's too aggressive. Too much like volleyball."
Percy wants to tell Leo that volleyball and dodgeball have almost nothing in common, but Leo is hit in the shoulder with a flying dodgeball before Percy can start his sentence. Percy makes eye contact with Luke across the court, ignoring Leo as he walks off the court, grumbling something about inequality.
After a few minutes of Dodgeball, only Thalia, Percy, and Dustin remain on the red team, while Luke still has seven on his. Percy looks over at Dustin, who is motionless while holding a dodgeball. Percy wagers $5 that Dustin will let Luke win.
Thalia and Percy exchange glances. Thalia has two dodgeballs in her hands and Percy has one, but they appear to have made their plan despite the lack of communication. Luke throws a dodgeball at Thalia, who grabs Dustin and uses him as a human shield. Dustin is hit in the stomach by Luke's ball.
2 versus 6. It appears to be an impossible situation. Luke smirks at Percy and swiftly throws another ball in his direction. If Percy did not dodge to his left the ball would have hit his right arm. Thalia successfully launches a ball at Silena, hitting her on the knee. Silena only offers her a soft grin before walking to the sidelines.
"You throw like a girl," Luke says as he throws another ball at Percy. Percy rolls his eyes at his horrific insult and avoids the ball once more.
Percy grabs a ball off of the ground and throws it at a girl on yellow team's legs. She jumps in response, yet the ball still hits her shins. She scoffs as she walks off the court.
Thalia and Percy make eye contact as Thalia hands Percy her extra ball. They stand side by side and dodge several dodgeballs from the other team.
After a few minutes, only Percy and Luke remained. Luke hit Thalia in the shoulder, causing her to curse him out. As he holds two dodgeballs, Luke grins evilly at Percy.
All three teams are rooting for them. Leo, on the other hand, is yelling like a lunatic. "PERCY, GO BEAT THAT JACKASS." Coach Hedge pulls Leo aside to lecture him on his language use.
Percy snorts and shakes his head at Leo before turning his attention to Luke. Luke launches one dodgeball toward Percy's leg before launching another near his head. Percy smirked as he jumped and dodged the lower thrown ball while catching the higher thrown ball with two hands, preventing Luke from becoming the winner.
Everyone cheers and claps for Percy, which seems cliche, but Luke losing means a lot to them. It proves Luke is breakable and not all powerful.
Luke grumbles and curses at Percy. As Luke growled, Ethan and Dustin held him back. Percy stood unconcerned, his eyes widening at Luke's amusing facial expressions.
Coach Hedge grumbles while pulling out his airhorn, blowing it for several seconds. Many people covered their ears with their hands while others only rolled their eyes. "Team red wins. Yellow and orange team will face off tomorrow. The winner will play red team Wednesday."
Everyone finishes talking and makes their way to the locker rooms after Coach Hedge speaks. Percy enters the locker room and immediately notices an irritated Luke. His face is flushed with rage. Dustin and Ethan are standing behind him, staring at Percy. Percy turns his head and looks at Jason, who simply rolls his eyes at Luke.
Percy looks at Luke for a little longer. Luke is shirtless, which Percy finds strange. Percy finds himself staring at Luke's soulmate tattoo in the center of his stomach. It's a tattoo of a cheetah with red teeth, the rest colorless. Percy would despise being Luke's soulmate.
"Jackson, are you staring at my abs? What are you, gay?" Luke snorts and bumps his fists into Dustin. In response, Percy rolls his eyes. He's not only a jerk, but he's also homophobic? What on earth did Annabeth see in him?
Percy does not let Luke and his loudmouth effect his mood. "What is your problem with me?" Percy asks as he simply walks over to his stuff to pick up his clothing while keeping his eyes on Luke.
"Leave Percy alone, Luke," Jason says, standing between the boys. One of his hands is held in front of him to prevent Luke from approaching. "Everyone is tired of you bullying every new kid; it's pathetic."
Luke stood there, his face red with anger, his hands in fists. He decides Percy Jackson will be his next victim.
Percy ended up talking about swimming with Leo and Jason after he finished changing. They exited the Lockeroom and entered the hallway.
"Yeah, even though it's the middle of October, if you talk to the coach, you might still be able to make the team. If you want, I can talk to my father about you joining." Jason walks on Percy's right side, while Leo shuffles on Percy's left. They were currently talking about Percy joining the swim team. Although Jason is not on the team, he is willing to help Percy make the team.
They come to a halt when they reach the end of the corridor. Percy has a lot to consider before joining the swim team. He had occasionally joined school swim teams. He has always loved swimming and will continue to do so but joining a swim team is prohibitively expensive. Percy recalls joining the swim team at fourteen and enjoying it. He performed admirably in the races and was nearly unbeatable. Sally was overjoyed for her son, but swim team was so expensive that she went further into debt. She hoped Percy wouldn't notice, but he did.
His mother had encouraged him to join the swim team since he was fourteen, and every year he would purposefully do terrible during the tryouts so his mother wouldn't have another bill to pay. Sally had sacrificed so much for him that Percy believes it is only fair that he sacrifices something for her.
"Thanks," Percy says with a fake smile. "I'll have to talk to my mom about it first."
"Come sit with us during lunch. Since Nico decided to ghost everyone, we've had an extra seat," Leo says with a dramatic sigh. Percy can't help but feel accepted. He had never had anybody ever ask to sit with them during lunch.
"Yeah, sure," Percy says, trying not to smile too broadly. Jason and Leo return the smile and start walking in the opposite direction. Percy follows behind them and starts up another conversation. "So, who sits with you guys, anyways?"
"Not a lot of people," Jason says as they begin to descend a flight of stairs. "Hazel, Piper, Frank, Leo, Annabeth, and I." When Percy mumbles something insulting about Annabeth under his breath, both Leo and Jason laugh.
"Let me guess," Leo grins as he brushes up against Percy. "At first, Annabeth seemed to be the nicest person on the planet, but then you realized she is a complete bitch." Leo completes his sentence and exhales deeply.
Percy laughs and snorts. "Basically, yes. I think I told you that we had a class together and she became a total control freak." Percy hollered. "But Frank said that was normal."
They entered the cafeteria a few seconds before the bell rang. In front of Percy, Leo and Jason took the lead. They walk further into the cafeteria until they find the table where the three girls are sitting, Frank wasn't there yet it seems.
"Ladies," Leo says as he slides into his seat, his bookbag tucked beneath his seat. All three girls roll their eyes at Leo. "Percy is sitting with us," Leo says a moment later, drawing the attention of all three girls to Percy. Piper gives him a smile and offers the free seat next to her and Annabeth to Percy. Annabeth only glares at Percy as he sits next to her.
The other girl, Hazel, extends her hand for a handshake, which Percy finds strangely comforting. When she introduces herself, he accepts her handshake and smiles.
Percy settles into his seat and carefully places his grocery bag full of food for lunch on the table. At some school's people care about the type of lunchbox you have. Some kids would make fun of him for bringing a grocery bag to school for a lunch bag; he hopes his new friends aren't like that.
When he sees Leo place a soggy brown bag on the table, he tries to hide his smile. Perhaps he isn't the only one without a lunchbox.
"Percy, where do you come from?" While eating a bite of her sandwich, Hazel makes small talk.
Percy decides to stick with the answer Utah for the time being. His life is far too complicated to discuss with complete strangers. "I'm from Utah." He unwraps his sandwich and takes a bite.
"Why did you move here of all places?" Piper asks sarcastically. Percy couldn't help but notice her obvious soulmate tattoo as she leaned her head down on Jason's shoulder. Pipers' soulmate tattoo is in the shape of a flying bird and is located on her neck. He wonders if Piper and Jason have the same soulmate tattoo. Jasons matching tattoo on his neck confirms his answer.
Percy feels envious of the two of them. He is jealous and wishes he was in their shoes. He wishes he could find out who his soulmate was. Percy realizes he has been zoned out for a moment and awkwardly chuckles before making eye contact with Piper. He can practically feel Annabeth's judging gaze on him. "My mom found a good place to live here."
Piper acknowledges with a nod and continues to eat her salad. "Nice," she looks at Annabeth and bumps her shoulder rather aggressively. She gives Percy a fake smile and returns her gaze to Annabeth. Annabeth sighs and rolls her eyes.
Annabeth looks at Percy for a moment, studying him. He becomes nervous in her presence, her gray eyes peering deep into his soul. It takes her a while to open her mouth and speak. The question that comes out of her mouth is, "Do you have a brain?" He does not have an answer for her.
Piper groans and bumps her head against Jason's shoulder, while Jason casts a warning glance at Annabeth. Leo laughs as he observes the scene in front of him. Hazel simply observes their interaction.
Percy realizes Annabeth had just insulted him and his smile faded. He looked at the girl and glared. Is she always this serious? "Do you have a funny bone?"
"Everybody has a funny bone," she states.
"Everyone has a brain," says Percy in response. He gives her a big smile, and she rolls her eyes. Clearly, she didn't mean literally, but he enjoyed seeing her so worked up.
Piper attempts to defuse the tension between them by recalling earlier events. "Do you want to hear something entertaining? Percy asked Annabeth if she was the girl with the soulmate mark on her left boob the first time they spoke."
All of them laugh except for Percy and Annabeth. Annabeth was too busy glaring at Piper to realize Percys stare.
"Percy, that is one of the worst questions you could ever ask Annabeth," Hazel says, wiping her hands with a paper towel. "You not only mentioned soulmates, but you also indirectly asked about Luke."
Percy has no idea how he ended up indirectly asking about Luke, but he decides not to bring it up again. He focuses on the soulmate aspect of Hazels sentence. "What's so wrong about soulmates?"
"The first rule of becoming friends with Annabeth Chase is to never ever mention soulmates unless absolutely necessary," Frank says as he takes a seat next to Leo and Hazel. He hugs Hazel on the side. "I apologize for being late; Chiron held me up."
Annabeth nods and turns to face Percy. "I hate soulmates and everything to do with soulmate tattoos," she says, without explaining why.
"The last time Leo asked about her soulmate tattoo, Annabeth pulled the evilest prank ever," Jason chuckles.
Annabeth laughs at Leo. He looks at her and sighs loudly. Leo then turns to face Percy. "You don't want to know what she did." He shudders as he recalls.
"I personally think soulmate tattoos are amazing," Percy states, he's unworried about Annabeth and her pranking abilities.
"I agree," Piper says, sighing when Annabeth gives her a death glare. "I'm sorry, Annabeth, you know how much I love soulmate tattoos," she says softly before turning to face Jason and smiling.
Jason flushes and returns his girlfriend's smile. Percy senses that those two are madly in love. He doesn't need to see their soulmate tattoos to know that.
"Why do you hate soulmates so much?" Percy inquires politely.
Annabeth scrunches her brows at his response, indicating she's struggling to find the right words. Percy looks her in the eyes. "My family was destroyed by soulmates. Why would I want a soulmate if all they do is cause havoc?"
Percy pauses for a moment to consider her response before responding. "Not all soulmates cause havoc, whatever that means," Percy mutters. "Take a look at Piper and Jason," he says, pointing to the happy couple. "They're happy and stable."
"Piper and Jason are young. They haven't yet experienced the hurt soulmates can cause one another "With an apology, she looks over at Piper. Piper just shrugs. She must be used to Annabeth's aversion to soulmates.
Percy looks at her in awe for a moment. How could she say such a thing? Soulmates may cause harm to one another, but that is no reason to despise them. Every day, humans inflict harm on one another; how is this any different? "You're also young; how would you know? Don't you have a perfect, wealthy family?" He makes an assumption.
Annabeth is now enraged. When Percy looks around the table, he notices that everyone is avoiding eye contact with him. Is there something he's not aware of?
"I thought we had discussed this during History. Money does not imply happiness. My family is very wealthy, I'll admit that, but I refuse to sit here and let you think I'm some spoiled brat. I'm not a brat, and I don't come from a perfect family, but that's none of your business."
Percy was raised to believe that wealthy people are typically obnoxious. Piper comes from a wealthy family, according to Jason, but she doesn't act like it, which Percy appreciates. Annabeth, on the other hand, acts as if failing a 20-point assignment will cause her family to be disappointed, which screams privilege to Percy. His mother was always too concerned with the bills to be concerned with a 20-point assignment.
"OK," Jason says, attempting to defuse the situation. "How about we talk about something else?"
"How about Percy trying out for the swim team?" Leo offers as he stuffs several Pringles into his mouth. Piper shakes her head in disapproval at him.
"You swim, Percy?" Hazel asks in a soft tone.
Percy smiles at the girl. "Yeah, I used to do swim team at my other schools."
"Other schools? That implies you've attended a number of schools." It's as if Annabeth is looking for something to fight about.
"Before Utah, I was in Maryland for a little while," Percy explains, biting his sandwich once more. Annabeth accepts his explanation and does not press him further.
"I'm going to talk to my dad tonight about you joining the team," Jason says. "They usually don't accept late tryouts, but because you're a new student, they have to let you try out for any fall sport."
"I can also talk to the coach if you want," Frank speaks after Jason is done. "I'm on the swim team."
Percy really wants to be on this school's swim team, especially since one of his new friends is on it, but the only problem is money. For a brief moment, Percy considers getting a job. Percy has worked many jobs, but his mother usually forces him to quit after his bosses take advantage of his financial need. He was once paid 7$ an hour to be a lifeguard at a local country club. The number of old women that hit on him there is scary.
"Thanks, guys," Percy smiles gratefully.
Frank and Hazel were having their own conversation, while Piper and Annbeth were speaking quietly enough for Percy to miss. Jason stared at the table, spaced out, as Leo continued to munch on his Pringles.
"Have you heard about Gwen's party?" Jason spoke up out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Isn't it Friday?" Hazel inquired, wiping her hands with a paper towel once more.
"Yeah," Piper said as she set her fork down. "Do you guys want to sleep over the night before? My father won't mind if we sneak out to the party, but he'll be furious if Leo spills alcohol all over his white carpet again "She locked her gaze on Leo.
Leo sighed with regret. "Sorry about that, Pipes," he apologizes. "To be fair, I was higher than the sky."
"Wait," Percy said, stopping Piper from speaking. He has awed expression on his face as he looks over at Piper. "Your dad doesn't care if you sneak out?"
"No," she says, a sad grin on her face. "My father is more concerned with his next movie premiere than with his daughter." Piper isn't looking for sympathy or pity, but everyone gives her a sad smile.
Percy looks at her sad expression and frowns. "I am sorry about that Piper." Percy doesn't notice the way Annabeth looks at him with a confused expression.
"I can sleepover Friday," Hazel announces happily with a large smile.
"Are you coming with us, Percy?" Frank inquires as he bites into his half-eaten apple. Percy responds by raising his eyebrows. He hoped they were inviting him, but a formal invitation feels so much better than an indirect invitation.
"I can go," Percy says. Everybody but Annabeth smiles at his response. Annabeth looks at him with a blank expression. Annabeth clearly dislikes Percy, but hopefully she will not object to him coming. Percy wants to experience what it's like to be a normal teenager for a day. He decides to stop hiding from his social life. He desires friends, and he desires these particular friends.
When the bell rings, everyone in the cafeteria begins to stand and exit the room. Percy looks on as Hazel and Frank walk away together. Percy grumbles: he despises algebra, and it's his next class. He hopes that the next class will be easier than the others.
When it finally hit Friday Percy was psyched. He had been officially welcomed into their friend group in less than a week. Sally couldn't help but laugh and cry for Percy as he told her about his new friends. She hadn't seen her son so joyful in a long time.
Percy and Annabeth's relationship deteriorates further. Both Percy and Annabeth have admitted that they despise each other, but Piper believes otherwise. She and the rest of her friends are secretly counting down the days until Percy and Annabeth get together romantically (or sexually).
Luke becomes an even bigger pain in the ass. Luke has been harassing Percy even more since discovering he had made himself at home in Annabeth's friend group. Luke claims it's because Percy has an ugly, punchable face, but Percy believes Luke is simply insane.
Luke truly is insane.
PERCABETH SLOWBURN WARNING