Sadie plopped her bag on the desk next to Percy's.
In the past weeks, they'd developed what Sadie thought of as a 'baby friendship'. Still new, somewhat fragile, but definitely working.
"So," She slumped in her chair. "Bad news. Failing science."
"Bad news," Percy replied. "Failing pretty much everything. Already."
"Man," Sadie held up her hand for a high five, "We are good."
Percy just shook his head, refusing to see it in that light. "Seriously, Sadie. I have to keep my grades up."
"Not necessarily. They don't keep you here for grades, they keep you here for…" Sadie trailed off. "Hey, what are you in here for?"
"Swimming." Percy said.
"Right." Sadie nodded—not in the least surprised he was here for something athletic. "They keep you here for swimming."
"That doesn't mean I can just coast by with a bad GPA," Percy shook his head. "Especially not with a permanent record like mine."
"Why?" Sadie perked up, suddenly that much more interested in the conversation. "What's on your permanent record?"
"Oh, you know," Percy shrugged, not really answering her question. Sadie was about to insist that she didn't know, when he said. "Hey, what are you here for?"
"Drama," Sadie answered. "Now, about your record-"
"Oh, that's cool." Percy interrupted. "What kind of things do you like to act?"
"What kind of…" Sadie shook off the effects of his puzzling wording and got down to business. "Not the point, Percy. What's on your record?"
Percy sighed. "I just… have a tendency to draw trouble."
"I know the feeling," Sadie answered honestly. "But, Percy, I want details. Big, juicy details."
"Can we just not talk about it?" Percy came right out and asked.
"Come on," Sadie shamelessly begged. "The less you say, the more tempted I'll be to just go and steal the actual file for myself."
Percy looked over at her sharply, then exhaled. "The terrifying thing is I really think you'll do it."
"Is that a yes?" Sadie asked, hope blatant in her tone.
"One little detail," Percy admonished. "Then we're done talking about it."
Sadie motioned for him to continue.
"In seventh grade I was accused of blowing up the school gymnasium." Percy said. "That's not what really happened," he rushed on, "they lifted the charges after a while, and that's all behind us now."
"How the heck did something like that get blamed on you?" Sadie asked. Sure, he was a little mischievous, but really? A gym?
"Like I said," Percy shrugged. "I attract trouble."
"I get the feeling there's more to it." Sadie encouraged him to elaborate.
"You said you'd let it go-"
"If you told me a detail." Sadie reminded him. "That was not a detail. That was a teaser."
"Fine," Percy huffed, rolling his eyes, getting exasperated (as all who hold a conversation with Sadie Kane eventually do). "We were playing dodge ball, the locker room exploded, and I sort of ran." Percy shrugged. "It made me look guilty. That's all."
Sadie nodded slowly, knowing a lie when she saw one. "If that's really all there is to it…"
"Yes."
After a moment of thought Sadie decided to let it go. She knew she was pushing a bit far (as she had a tendency to do) and besides, she could always force more out of him later.
"So, science." Percy said. "What are they teaching in 9th grade these days, anyway?"
"Gah," Sadie grimaced. "The hard stuff."
"There's always hard stuff." Percy shook his head. "If you think you get it all over with your freshmen year, you're going to be sorely disappointed."
"Wise words," Sadie nodded sagely.
"Hey, Percy," Drew came up from behind them.
"Drew," He greeted politely.
"Do you have that history assignment done?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah." Percy answered. "Not with me, though."
"Great. Do you think I could borrow your book?"
"It's in my locker." Percy said.
"Then we'll just have to go to your locker, won't we?" Drew smiled. An evil smile, in Sadie's opinion. The kind of smile Disney movie villains gave before making their final, most evil move.
"Sure." Percy rose, then looked at Sadie.
"Don't worry," Sadie stood, and added quietly, "I'll protect you."
Percy rolled his eyes.
"Besides, I was just about to go to the gymnasium. Your locker is in that direction, right?" Sadie slung her backpack over her shoulder.
"Right." Percy confirmed.
With a nod to the supervising teacher, they made their way out into the hallway, and down the row of blue metal lockers, to a rather dented up one. Spinning in the combination, he opened the door.
Inside it was rather bare, with just a few taped up pictures.
"This is it?" Drew asked.
"Home sweet home." Percy nodded, reaching in for the book. "Here."
"Thanks, Perce. I owe you one," Drew said.
"No problem," Percy answered, but Drew was already sauntering away.
"You know what I think?" Sadie asked.
"What?"
"You just doomed yourself." Sadie sounded absolutely sure in this. "She needed a personal object of yours, and now that she has one, she can direct the full force of her dark magic your way."
"You think that text book counts as a personal object?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "And stop making her out to be some unredeemable, evil force. She's not that bad. The worst she's ever done to me is nail me in the head with a shoe. It was a heel, but it was an accident."
Percy made as if to close the locker door, but Sadie stopped him. "Hey, I know her!"
"Huh?"
Sadie pointed to one of the pictures. "The punk girl. Thalia, right?"
"How…?" Percy shook his head.
"At the zoo." Sadie told him. "Felix, this little kid I babysit for, he was convinced she snuck into one of the cages and killed one of the animals. I think… I think…" She trailed off. "Funny. I can't remember."
Percy scowled. "Yeah, that sounds like her."
"You think she really killed it?" Sadie asked.
Percy closed the door. "I think it wasn't what Felix thought it was. But, that being said, Thalia does enjoy the hunt."
"I remember thinking she looked familiar." Sadie remarked.
Percy shrugged. "She's my cousin. I'm not sure how much family resemblance there is, though."
Sadie thought on it. "Yeah, that was probably it."
"Come on," Percy set off down the hallway. "Gymnasium, you said?"
And there you have it. Yes, it was the family resemblance that made Sadie think Thalia looked familiar. Really, people, I tried my best to make Drew seem slightly okay but I'm not sure how good I did :S
Also, thank you for all the new title suggestions. I think I'm gonna go with 'Encounters of the other kind' (Just letting you know so those of you who don't have an account and therefore can't automatically follow it will know what to look for…if you want to keep reading this story.)
