It's Saturday—noon, to be exact—and Percy's standing in front of Piper's door.
Even though she is cooler than he initially thought, there's still a very strong chance that Piper McLean will be the death of him. Maybe he would be more open to the whole video project if not for Annabeth; not only is she clearly opposed to the project, but she's pretty obviously opposed to Percy himself, too.
Nevertheless, they've both fallen under Piper's charms. Now Percy's standing—on Saturday, at noon—in front of her door, trying his best to steel himself for another day of internally hitting himself while Annabeth refuses to look at him.
(Don't think about it.)
He's going to open the door…now. No, now. Okay, this time, he'll definitely—
The door swings open with his hand still raised in the air.
"Yo, you've been standing there for like five minutes and majorly creeping me out, but Piper said to let you in."
There's a girl standing in front of him, a questioning smile half-seated on her face. Her hair is green (her fingers stained the same shade), her skin is freckled, and she's maybe a head and a half shorter than him.
Percy laughs. "Didn't mean to make you think I was stalking."
"Yeah, that would be embarrassing." Her grin loses a bit of its edge as she nods. "Stalking during the daytime through the front door is an amateur move."
"That'd be a shitty first impression," He agrees.
"I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, anyways." Rachel says, rolling her eyes—they match her hair, Percy notices. The formal, full name introduction is kind of funny coming from a girl wearing torn up, scribbled-on overalls.
"Percy Jackson. Short for Perseus. Since you told me your first name."
"Idiot Jackson! I've heard a lot about you." She rolls her eyes again. "Annabeth will not shut up."
She's telling everybody about him? (Was it really that bad?)
"So your parents are into Greek mythology?" Rachel interrupts his train of thought, walking back into the house.
"What?"
"Perseus? Greek hero, demigod, son of Zeus? Like, the only hero to get a happy ending ever?"
Clearly, Rachel's more than a bit into the myths herself.
"Uh, I don't know. I've never really asked my mom, and she hasn't called me that since I was, like, seven." Percy doesn't think he's ever been asked about his name before.
"No dad, huh?" She says without thinking, and for the first time since she's opened the door, the girl looks embarrassed. "Sorry. You don't seem like a son of Zeus, anyways, so it's not like it matters."
Percy waves a hand through the air. Rachel's a bit jumpy, not quite like anybody he's met before, but comments about his father (or lack thereof) are much more familiar. "No biggie."
"You're more of a Poseidon, I think."
Again, he's reminded of Annabeth—of detention—and this bothers him more than the comment about his dad. He's not even wearing his swim hoodie today. "What makes you say that?"
Rachel gives him a curious look. "Isn't that who you're playing? The sea god to my snake hag?"
"Oh. Oh, yeah, I am." He scratches his head. "Sorry, I'm a dumbass."
Her look lingers for a moment more. "There are worse people to be turned into a snake hag for."
Percy can't think of anything to say in the time it takes them to get to the living room.
"Hey, cool, it was you chilling on my doorstep. I was pretty sure, but there was still the chance that it could be one of my many gentlemen suitors," Piper comments as they enter, barely glancing at him. She's sprawled out on the couch, taking up the entire space, and Annabeth sits primly on the arm chair (she doesn't look up at all), typing furiously on her laptop.
"Don't be ridiculous, Pipes." Rachel smirks. "Jason isn't the stalker type."
She ponders this for a moment, frowning. "You're right. Actually, thank god you're right—that boy is already way too good at getting through my window."
(He remembers crawling through the window, thrilled but embarrassed, doing his best to close it from the outside.)
"Are you done yet, Annie?"
Finally, she looks up—only to glance at Piper. "I'm finishing the ending."
"The ending?" Percy asks. Annabeth keeps typing.
Piper shoots her a strange look. Then, propping herself up on her elbows, she answers. "Well, as fantastic as your story is, it needed to be script-ified for the actor's convenience."
"Oh, cool." He has no idea what this means, but he nods as if he does.
There's a beat of awkward silence. Rachel rises her eyebrows slowly as it passes, her eyes skimming the other faces in the room.
"Done." Annabeth speaks, lifting her face from the screen; they land on Rachel's face, and she blushes at her expression.
(She's still too pretty when she blushes.)
"Sweet!" Piper sits up entirely, grinning manically. "Let's get this show on the goddamned road, folks!"
.
"We should go out sometime," Rachel says with a mischievous smile, her eyebrows raised. "Wouldn't it be fun?"
Percy raises his eyebrows to match hers. "Oh, definitely, babe."
"Are you free this Saturday? Maybe around eight?"
"I'm free anytime for you," He grins. He doesn't even bother checking the calendar on his phone before answering.
For a moment, neither of them say anything.
Then, Piper bursts out laughing. "That was fucking perfect!"
Feeling his face burn, Percy groans, shoving his face into his hands. "Poseidon's such a douchebag!"
"You're the one who wrote him that way!" She shoots back. It looks like she's tearing up from the laughter.
"That's before I knew that I'd have to play the prick in some shitty YouTube video," He objects through another groan.
"You're the one who agreed to be in the shitty YouTube video, my friend," Piper says, wiping a tear from her face. Her grin's spread all the way across her face.
When Percy finally raises his head back up, his face is tomato-red.
"You look pretty good with a blush, Jackson," Rachel jokes.
(Don't look at her.)
But he can't resist a glance. Annabeth's face turns bright red, too, and Percy bites the inside of his cheek a bit harder than he should.
"Don't lie to him, Rach," Piper says, unknowingly rescuing him from his train of thought. "His face is so red, he looks like Pizza Face."
"You mean Octavian?" Her laughter is loud—a bit abrasive, really—but it's kind of nice in a chaotic way. "Do you guys really still call him that?"
"How could we not-"
They're interrupted by the ring of the doorbell.
"That's weird," Piper frowns. "Jason said he wasn't gonna stop by tonight. Who else could that…"
She turns to give Annabeth a quick, questioning look; the other girl casts her gaze down, biting her lip.
"Did you…?"
"No. No, of course I didn't." She shakes her head, giving a small laugh. "I mentioned that I was going to be here, but I didn't invite him."
(Him.)
Giving a heaving, dramatic sigh, Piper rises from the couch and walks to the door. The trio can't see her from the living room, but they can hear the door open, and muffled voices being exchanged.
The door closes, and two sets of footsteps can be heard on the hardwood floor.
Percy feels his blood freeze when they enter the room. His heart is racing a bit, and his hands are sweating a bit, and his eyes are a bit too wide. He knows before he knows.
(So this is what he looks like.)
"Hey, Rachel!" Luke says enthusiastically. "I haven't seen you in a while. Annabeth said you were all here tonight, and I thought I'd stop by."
Rachel raises a stained hand. "What's up, Luke? Long time no see."
His hair is sandy blonde, on the shorter side. He smiles for a second more before he turns to look at Percy. "Hey, I'm Annabeth's boyfriend, Luke. You are?"
"Percy." He responds, nodding semi-casually.
Luke's eyes are a bright, cold blue, and even though his smile is bright, Percy suddenly feels incredibly unwelcome. Even though he's sitting down, he guesses the other boy is taller. Maybe just by a couple of inches, but still.
(So this is what he looks like.)
"Nice to meet you, Percy. Hope you haven't given my Annabeth any trouble while I was away."
Before Percy can really process the comment—he has given her trouble, hasn't he?—a little red flag pops up in his head. My Annabeth. (My Sally.)
"Are you kidding, man?" Piper has a bit of annoyance in her eyes. Maybe she didn't want Luke to interrupt their practice. "This is the legendary Idiot Jackson that you're talking to. He doesn't give anybody anything but trouble."
She laughs, and Luke gives a chuckle. "Oh, this is that Jackson kid you guys complain about?"
His face relaxes a bit, and his eyebrows raise with his laughter. He has a scar running through one of his eyebrows. "I've heard a lot about you, dude. It's a pleasure."
(So this is what he looks like.)
.
They'd kept practicing for a bit, this time with Luke adding in his own comments on what lines had potential, and what he thought was stupid.
It only goes on so long before Percy needs to clear his head, kind of desperately, and bails for Piper's back yard.
There aren't forests in the city—not in people's backyards, at least—but she lives farther out, in the suburbs, and there's not really much other place to be. So now Percy's sitting on the wooden deck, staring out at the sunset. It's almost gone. The sky's nearly dark, only the undertones of red lingering.
(So that's what he looks like.)
He hears the back door slide open, then close.
"That was some weird shit with Luke," Rachel comments, sitting next to him.
"What do you mean?" Percy doesn't really want to look at her.
Rachel sighs. "Just…don't make fun of me for sounding like a hippy…but the vibes were off, you know? It seemed like things were going on in the undercurrent."
"I don't know what you're-"
"Luke's always been the jealous type," She interrupts. "I don't go to your high school, but I went to the same middle school as Annabeth and Piper. He was kind of crazy."
Percy still isn't sure if he knows. It definitely doesn't feel like Luke likes him, but that doesn't mean much. Making out with somebody's girlfriend seems like grounds to be more hostile than he was; maybe a death stare, or a swift punch to the jaw. Maybe Luke's just really talented at making people feel like shit.
(So that's what he looks like.)
"He was jealous of me? Why?" Odds are, he probably doesn't know. Percy doesn't see Annabeth caring enough to tell anybody.
Percy needs to stop caring. She's made it pretty clear. Act like nothing happened.
"I don't think that matters."
"No?" He turns to look at her, finally. Rachel's expression is intriguingly blank. She shakes her head like a little kid, all fast, her curls-they've frizzed a bit-whipping around her face.
"No. There's really only one question that matters, I think," She confirms softly, tilting her head and looking at him in the eyes. They were greener than his own; more leaf than sea. "Should he be jealous?"
He needs to get over it.
He needs to get over it.
He needs to get over her.
Percy shakes his head slowly. "No. No, he doesn't."
"Okay."
Rachel slides her hand into his. He has no real objections—her hand is soft, and a bit chubby, and there's dried spots of paint on top of the dye-stained fingers.
Maybe he can.
This chapter's been spinning around in my head all day, and I needed to get it out, so you guys get two updates in one month. What do you think of Rachel so far?