Chapter 17:
School
"School?" Annabeth stared blankly at Chiron. "You want me to go to school?"
"That's right." Chiron nodded. "Is there a problem?"
"I-I've never been to school before. I always had a private tutor in the past."
"I thought you were leaving your past behind?" Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Learn to live in the present, Annabeth. You may never have attended a public school in the past, but now you reside in our village. You shall respect our customs."
"Y-yes, sir." Annabeth mumbled, staring at the floor so that her adopted father wouldn't see her furious scowl. And so that she wouldn't have to look into his wise brown eyes and see the amusement on his face at her antics.
She turned and ambled out of the room, hair streaming and heart pounding.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new beginning, she told herself. I can do this. It's only school. Only a place of education. Only a place where everyone will scorn me, and I'll have no social skills, and I probably am behind in studies— shut up! I can do this.
Annabeth took in the sight with wide eyes. There were toddlers, teenagers, and adults milling around, holding stacks of papyrus paper and sticks of charcoal.
The toddlers toddled within a small confined area, while the older people roamed the grounds free.
A particular group of teenagers caught her eye. A boy with black hair, and a lean, muscular frame stood in the midst. Percy.
Annabeth wrapped her wimple tighter around her head, hoping he wouldn't notice her.
Percy was standing with two boys and one girl. His three friends were chatting animatedly, but Percy looked unhappy. Annabeth vaguely wondered why, when she remembered the tragedy that he had gone through on three meagre days earlier. He had lost a great friend in a bandit skirmish. He had a right to be upset.
She yearned to go and comfort him, but she knew she couldn't let him see her. Only in the dying light of two days past had the boy held her in his arms, shielding her from the malicious storm that had kept them trapped in a small concave in a mountain for over three hours. They'd created a bond during that time they'd been in the other's forced company; they'd come to an understanding as they talked freely for the first time since they met. But ever since, they had been avoiding each other like the plague.
She hurried along the grass, head down, stack of paper clutched to her chest, and made to enter the squat building that was her classroom.
However, as her foot crossed the threshold of the classroom, a sudden appearance of someone else's toes tripped her up, and she landed on her hands and knees, papers scattered and dignity crushed. Mocking laughter seared her ears, and she found herself blushing to the roots of her hair.
"Have a nice trip, new boy?" a snarky voice laughed.
Annabeth collected her papers, keeping her head down.
"That wasn't very nice, Adrian," a voice said. Annabeth looked up, and instinctively grasped the extended hand. It pulled her up, and she came face to face with the very person she'd been hoping to avoid.
Percy Jackson.
Annabeth gasped, and quickly extracted her hand from his, once again blushing.
"Wasn't supposed to be nice," the boy who had tripped Annabeth, Adrian, challenged. "It's tradition to mock the new boy."
Annabeth threw off her hood and glared at Adrian. "Excuse me, but can you not even tell the difference between male and female, Adrian? Or has behaving like a no- good burden to society dimmed your wits?"
Annabeth could almost have smiled at how far Adrian's jaw dropped.
Percy didn't bother to hide his smirk. He leaned in close to Annabeth and whispered in her ear, "Good one."
Annabeth didn't need to be told that twice— the wide, gaping maw (aka: Adrian's mouth) was enough proof of that.
The gong struck, and all the teenagers hurried into the building. There were twice as many students as there were chairs and tables. The unfortunate people who didn't get a desk sat cross legged on the dry dirt floor.
A woman that students addressed as 'Mrs Dodds' stood at the head of the class with a wooden rod in one hand and a scroll of papyrus in the other.
"Order!" she called in a gravelly voice. "Order, class!"
Annabeth sat at a table, and was confused when everyone else stood and began reciting an oath. She quickly stood up as well, but had no clue what to say.
"We, children of wretchedness,
Abide by our elders in all faith,
We give ourselves, holy and truly, to the Goddess.
Dishonour, disrespect,
Punished only by death.
And may our souls revolt in Hell,
For we are deemed unworthy in Her eyes,
We, children of sin."
The class became silent. They sat, staring sullenly at Mrs Dodds. The thin, wiry woman gazed at each student in turn. The teacher's threadlike mouth turned up in a cruel smile. "Very good. You have learnt well, children." Then the woman's eyes landed on Annabeth. "Is this a new mind ready for moulding?" she cackled. "What's your name, boy?"
Is everyone in this town dull as ditch water? Is it really so hard to distinguish one gender from the other?
Annabeth wiped the scowl off her face and composed her expression to be neutral and drew the wimple back from her face, and her blond curls tumbled down her back. The students gasped collectively. Adrian, who was sitting three seats across from her, scoffed and turned away.
"Not a boy, it seems. Explain why you are dressed in mens' clothes, girl!"
Annabeth trembled under Mrs Dodds' callous glare. "I was previously unaware that I had to dress in women's clothing for school, Ma'am."
Mrs Dodds' raised her wooden rod. "And your name?"
Annabeth hesitated before whispering, "Annabeth." Every single person's head save Percy's whipped towards her. Whispers went up around the room. "Annabeth? As in the princess? The one that the Guard saved from the tower?"
Mrs Dodds paled. "Of course," she seethed. "The Goddess has granted me my wish. Get up here, Princess Annabeth." she hissed.
Annabeth rose, and happened to accidentally meet a pair of sea green eyes. They showed sympathy. Annabeth wondered why.
It wasn't until she was ordered to lift her cotton shirt and lean over a bench that she realised what was going to happen. It was too late. The rod was already in action. "Ow!" Annabeth cried as the wood made connection with the smooth skin of her back. She felt a warm trickle of blood drip down her back. The merciless rod hit her back again. She felt her skin break open, and shuddered, moaning softly from the pain.
"Take it, and learn, girl!" Mrs Dodds leered. "The punishment for women wearing mens' clothes is ten lashes. I'll be kind to you and grant you eight."
On the third lash, Annabeth felt faint. She tried to stand, but staggered. Blood oozed down her back. "Agh…" she groaned, trying to escape the wooden rod. "Stop, please… I'll… not do it… again."
"I don't like your attitude, Princess Annabeth!"
"What- attitude?" Annabeth gasped, falling backwards. She gasped when her shirt stuck to the bloody gashes on her back.
The teacher hauled her up and smacked her face. "The Goddess help us, vermin is upon us!" she howled.
Tears streamed down Annabeth's cheeks. Her back was flaring in pain, and her cheek was smarting.
"Mrs Dodds!" somebody yelled. "Meant with all due respect, but you've gone too far!"
Annabeth fell backwards. She was lightheaded from blood loss and the pain was excruciating. She wasn't aware when hands slipped under her armpits and caught her. Because her senses had already been numbed and her vision had already gone black.
Once he'd carried the unconscious Princess to the infirmary in the Big House, Percy returned to the classroom. If he'd known that Annabeth would be attending school, he would have warned her about the teacher's personal vendetta against royalty. Nobody knew the reason— Mrs Dodds was as secretive and mysterious as the Goddess herself.
Percy strode through the doorway and stood with his arms crossed. He and his cruel teacher appraised each other from across the room.
"Do you wish to suffer the Princess's fate, Perseus?" Mrs Dodds called.
Percy frowned at the mention of his full name, but he knew that now was not the time to address it. "No, Ma'am, I do not wish that, nor would I wish it on anyone. However, you do realise that you can be dragged before the king for such acts as this? You know as well as anyone in this room that if unaccustomed to it, people can die from a brutal whipping. And she is royalty, nonetheless," he added.
Mrs Dodds stood with her arms crossed, glaring fiercely at her student. "Her father disowned her. She is no more special than any other mindless child in this wretched village."
Percy kept his tone mild, but inside he was burning with rage. "She is still of the blueblood heritage, Mrs Dodds," he said through gritted teeth.
"It's not like any of you actually embrace her father as your King," Mrs Dodds snapped. "She shall still be treated accordingly, no matter her blood line. Besides, had I not been ordered to teach you brats against my will, I would be far from here."
Percy was still trying to figure out how such an unkind woman- a monster like her- could have chosen a profession that forced her to work closely with children. She had showed no love for any human being that was under the age of thirty summers. So he asked the question everyone was secretly dying to know. "Why are you here, then, Miss? We all know you hate us. We are all aware of the fact that you grate at the thought of spending a mere hour in our company. Tell me, why are you here?"
For a second, the look on the old woman's face softened, and her eyes became faraway and even gleamed a bit. There was dead silence in the room.
Then Miss Dodds's face hardened once more and she scowled at the class. "Back to work, all of you! Problem will be up on the board." she snapped, swivelling on her heel and not looking back once at Percy.
As the teacher wrote the daily problem on the blackboard in a piece of white chalk, Percy thought deeply. He didn't know what Mrs Dodds was hiding, but what it was must have been huge— the teacher didn't even give him the rod for asking such an intrusive question.
Percy didn't fancy kneeling helplessly in front of a woman such as Mrs Dodds, while the old hag beat his bare back with a stick, but he would do whatever it took to figure out her secret— and make sure she was gone by the next fall. Because is his assumptions were correct, Annabeth was going to acquire a whole new archive of scars and beatings before this teacher had had her share of revenge— whatever her reasons may be.
I'm sorry about the whipping— but it's an important part of the story. You'll see why within the next couple of chapters. Tell me, have I mentioned that Mr Di Angelo is going to be making an appearance soon?...
PLEASE CAN WE GET TO 100 REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER? PRETTY PLEASE WITH A PERCY ON TOP?
Thanks for reading, guys!