AN: This is a continuation of Chapter 7, in a way. Using this and some other shorter things to get back into PJO/HOO writing to write some more of Have a Goode Year and such. Fell off the wagon with school and everything going on.

Steven

"Don't do anything dumb, now, Stevie" I self-talked, probably looking like a complete idiot. Which I was, obviously. Standing at the doorstep of my friend, Zoe's house trying to get up the nerve to knock.

So maybe I totally liked Zoe, yea, but I'd heard from a few people in our grade that her parents were really intimidating. Zoe said they were great, but of course they'd be different with her, she was their daughter.

Being a guy coming over to a girl's house to visit was pretty nerve-wracking, as it turned out, but I steeled those nerves and knocked on the door, gluing my hands to my sides to keep from fidgeting.

The woman who answered the door, I could tell immediately, was Zoe's mom. They had the exact same unique grey eyes that you rarely saw on anyone else.

"Oh" she smiled at me, "You must be Steven, come on in!" she greeted kindly, making a little bit of the nerves wash away. Mom seemed not so bad. "Thank you Mrs. Jackson" I replied politely, to which she laughed a little, "I'm not quite sure where Zoe is, but she ought to be around here somewhere" she turned and called out to one of the other rooms, "Percy! Do you know where Zoe is?" I heard footsteps and gulped nervously, I knew that Percy was Zoe's dad's name. As I thought that, he appeared in the archway, eyebrows raised slightly. I saw that he was where she'd gotten her hair from, the midnight black shade. "Not since this morning, why?" he noticed me then, "Oh, whose this?" he asked his wife, she gave him a meaningful look, "This is Steven, Zoe invited him to hang out today."

He looked me up and down, and I felt like I was under a microscope while he did, his gaze was as intimidating as people had said it was, but then he let out a small smile. "Hope she doesn't get you into too much trouble at school." I blew out a sigh, "No sir, I was already getting into trouble before I met her." Maybe not the best admission to a parent, but Mr. Jackson just chuckled, "Maybe…" he mumbled, "Luke!"

I heard shuffling down the stairs after a second and then saw Zoe's little brother Luke come down the stairs, unlike Zoe, who'd gotten a mix, I could tell now that Luke had gotten more of his mother's attributes, having her hair and eyes, mainly. Bianca, the middle child of the three, had her dad's hair and eyes. "Yea dad?" he asked, noticing me and getting a devilish smirk on his face. My eyes widened in fear, Luke was a pretty diabolical kid, and he definitely had figured out that I liked his sister by now. Please don't tell them that! I begged internally, eyes darting between his parents and him.

"Have you seen Zoe? Steven is here to hang out with her" his mom answered in Mr. Jackson's place, Luke shrugged, "Bianca had looked for her before she left, searched all over the place and didn't find her anywhere" he mentioned, "I haven't seen her either, it's weird." Zoe's dad scratched his head, "Did she look everywhere?" he questioned, earning a deadpan look from his son, "you know how thorough Bianca is, if she says she isn't here, she isn't here"

Mr and Mrs. Jackson looked at each other, something seeming to be clicking. "Today?" he asked, curious, and she smiled a little in return. Luke and I watched the interaction, equally perplexed.

"I think Zoe might be a little, uh, busy with something unexpected right now. She should be back…" Mrs. Jackson looked at the clock in the room, "Well probably less than half an hour."

I nodded my head, Mr. Jackson looked over at me, then at his son, "Luke, you know Steven, right?" Luke nodded, "Mind entertaining him for a while until your sister gets back?" It seemed to not really be a request as much as a command, but Luke's grin said that he was more than happy to comply. "Sure thing dad, I'd love to catch up with Stevie" Zoe's parents shrugged and headed into the other room again, leaving me alone with Luke.

"So, here to see Zoe, huh?" he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

I groaned, rolling my eyes, "Shut up, please." I glanced the way his parents had gone worriedly, but Luke laughed, "Calm down, Steve, I'm willing to bet both my parents know you have a crush on my sister just from meeting you." My eyes widened, but he put a hand up, "They don't care, man, if they did I would have brought it up for the reaction." He grinned, "You should have seen your face when I saw you though, I thought you were going to faint!"

"Imagine how much worse it'd have been if Zoe was here?" he continued, "You two would have been all shy and blushy like you are at school now." Luke laughed, probably imagining it in his head, "Oh man, were you expecting my parents to stab you or something?"

I shook my head, "No, just, didn't think they'd be so nice." He smirked and winked mockingly at me, "Where do you think my dearest sister got her personality from?" I blushed involuntary, which was exactly what Luke was going for, of course.

"Lucas!" a new voice shouted from the other room, where his parents were, "Stop teasing the boy!" I saw Luke cringe a little, and smirked. Serves him right. "Who was that?" I asked him.

He poked at his ear as if making sure it was still working, "My Aunt Piper, she's great and all, but when she tells you to do something, you do it." We went into the other room and talked some more, about other things. Luke was 14, only a three year difference from me and Zoe, so we went to the same school and knew most of the others friends through Zoe, and we got along alright.

We kept talking until we heard a familiar voice from the other room, "Oh my gods! Mom! Dad!"

Both of our heads shot up, wondering where Zoe had been, as that had definitely been her and she sounded a little frantic.

We got up and headed into the other room, coming to face with Zoe, her parents and another woman I guessed was their Aunt Piper. Zoe was gesturing wildly to her amused looking parents, "And they said it was twenty seventeen and – "

"Zoe we know!" her mom interrupted, grinning.

Zoe froze midsentence, turning to her mom, "Wha- you knew?"

"Of course we knew, it happened, remember?" her dad said, and then noticing me and Luke in the doorway, he coughed, glancing at his wife.

Mrs. Jackson took his prompt and saw us as well, "We can talk about it later Zoe, for now, you have a friend here to see you.

Zoe looked confused until her eyes settled on me, and she blushed a deep red of embarrassment. "Uh, right, um hey Steve."

I smiled, "You okay?"

She pushed all of her hair out of her face quickly, face starting to return to a more normal colour, "Yea, just having an odd day, is all." She took a cautious look at her parents, one of whom, her dad, was stifling his laughter at her. Their Aunt Piper was looking at me with a knowing grin, motioning her eyes subtly at Zoe, making my cheeks tint pink.

"Come on" she muttered, walking over to me, grabbing my hand, and dragging me out of the room towards the stairs, I probably turned as red as she was as I was pulled away.

As we went up the steps, I heard her parents through the wall, "He probably thinks she's a weirdo now" Mr. Jackson claimed, to which Mrs. Jackson laughed, "She's your daughter, Percy, he probably figured out how weird she is already."

I heard Zoe sigh with annoyance, "Parents" she muttered, reaching the top of the stairs. She was smiling though, so she obviously still loved them all the same as she'd made it sound before.