Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 2
It was just Percy's luck that the next day just happened to be a school day. He groaned as he stood up from his 'bed.' He tried stretching but the only thing he did was open up the scars he had from last night.
Blood trickled down his white T-shirt and he sighed at his stupidness. But he was stupid. Or that's what he thought. If he didn't make that noise… He shook those thoughts out of his head and changed into some jeans and a new dark long sleeved shirt.
Instead of going downstairs, he escaped through the window. It was a habit that had failed at first. He remembered when he first started doing it.
It was another morning after he got the usual beating by Smelly Gabe the night before. Except this time he had actually made a long scar on his face instead of his arms or legs. So now, too scared to face Gabe, he decided that instead of going downstairs, he went downstairs through his window. He opened up the window panels, and swung his leg over it. He regained his balance after a few seconds of shaking. By then he had almost regretted his actions but was determined to make it down. Determination evident in his eyes, he swung his other leg over, and quickly grasped the blinds. But the blinds were too soft so he regretted this action the second it made contact with his hands. The blinds tumbled down along with Percy as he desperately grabbed the thin air in hope for a solid object to appear or something soft to cushion his fall.
Luck wasn't on his side this time though. As Percy made contact with the ground he heard a crunch as he fell with his hands facing the ground. SNAP! Now he was certain that he had broken his left wrist. He could have fainted if he wanted to, but he couldn't set his mind to it. He knew he had to attempt to go to school but the only thing he did was when one thought crossed his mind 'this is the only scar I got that doesn't include Smelly Gabe.'
Of course he didn't get up, but instead just laid there, paralyzed. All until Gabe saw him of course. He was waddling down the apartment when he saw Percy. He sneered for a moment but made no attempt to help him. Instead, he just jeered at him and walked away. With no other help from anyone else, he tried to move his right wrist. He groaned as it made a tiny crunching sound when he turned it left and right. But he didn't give up, he made sure it was ok and snapped his left wrist bone back into place. SNAP! He screamed in pain as the dislocated bone was put back in it's rightful place.
After a few more seconds of agony the scream turned down into a whimper. And minutes after that, just a groaning noise. After all the agony was over, Percy knew that his left wrist was not the only thing that was broken. Apart from his wrist, he was pretty sure he broke one of his legs as well. And he was right. Moving his legs, he whimpered as the legs made a noise. CRUNCH! SNAP! And so on. The noise made a repeating pattern, and he flinched after the sound of each one. Eventually he found out that the noises weren't going to stop, so he made a very stupid decision.
Percy tried standing up. He did it slowly, but it failed immediately. His back was still paralyzed, his wrists, even though in place still hurt. And on top of that all his legs were no use to him. After that useless idea, something had tumbled out of his pocket. A phone. He grinned for the first time in minutes and made his arms move slowly towards it. He grasped it safely in his hands and punched in the 9-1-1 number. The phone slipped out of his grasp when he was satisfied with his talking and telling them the address. The last thing he heard was an ambulance coming towards him when he slipped out of consciousness.
After that incident, Percy still dared going out through the window the second time and later it became a habit. Even though Smelly Gabe had given him matching scars in his face he still dared. So now he learned his lesson. He was lucky they weren't so high up. They were more on the third floor. Now he knew how to climb down properly. He grabbed a random cushion and aimed it towards the circle he had drawn on the ground. It reached the ground in what archers call a bulls eye. He gave a small smile in achievement but winced when he felt a trickle of blood going down his arm. He ignored it as usual and swung both his legs over the windowsill and found a pole next to his 'bedroom's' window. He reached out to it and when his hands made contact with it, he jumped and his body hit the pole with a thump. He had yet to master that technique but for now he was sticking with his body thumping on the pole. He slid down easily and when he saw the solid ground a few inches below him, he jumped on it easily.
After he dealt with getting down he grabbed the cushion and placed it near a wall. The cushion was just incase he fell down too early. Remembering that getting down always took at least a few minutes, he ran to school quickly.
Running quickly was always what he loved doing. Second to swimming of course. So when he found out he was late for school, he was disappointed at his skills. Especially when he realized all that work was for nothing but just made his scars worse. He ignored the pain that was building up on his arms and stumbled into English class.
His late arrival was expected, so he didn't make much of a scene. He wasn't considered popular but neither geeky so he was average. Nobody looked up except for one of his best friends Grover Underwood.
"Percy!" He said, but stopped when he was met by the teacher's glare.
"So glad for you to join us Jackson." The teacher said, his sarcasm met by sniggers from the class. "Underwood, detention 3:00 today."
Percy scowled at the unfairness at his teacher but sat down in his desk next to Grover.
"Sorry," he started but the teacher's gaze cut him off.
"Detention Jackson." The teacher drawled. "Now..."
Percy stopped listening to the teacher after he'd gotten detention and drummed his fingers against his desk. ADHD always made things hard for him. He was meant to have dyslexia but the doctor had made a mistake, so far he could read books perfectly fine.
"Well Jackson," the familiar drawl was heard. "Double detention."
Percy scowled, but was saved by the bell. The teacher frowned while the other kids filed out of the room, Percy and Grover included. Their next class was gym, and Percy sighed.
"What's wrong?" Grover asked him.
"Nothing," Percy lied.
Grover looked doubtful but let it go. On the way Nico di Angelo passed them.
"Good luck in gym." He told Percy and walked past them.
"Some good cousin he is." Percy frowned. "I wonder what he meant..."
He was soon met with his answers, when they arrived in the gym.
"WHEN I SAY SHORTS I MEAN SHORTS JACKSON!" The coach boomed in his face.
Percy jumped back in surprise but found no fault in wearing jeans.
"IS THAT CLEAR!" The coach continued.
"No sir," Percy replied. "I find no fault in wearing jeans sir."
He did a mock salute that left some kids laughing.
Surprisingly the coach gave in. "I'll let it slide this time Jackson but next time..."
Percy breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hiding scars again eh punk?" The voice of Clarisse la Rue came into hearing range.
The class went silent and Percy looked around. The thing that caught his eye however was when he saw Annabeth Chase looking interested. She was always looking for new topics for the news article. She was one of the popular girls.
"Too clumsy," was the only reply she got. "I fell down on the bike and hit a fence. Painful too."
He whined a little at the end just to prove his point. At school he was a completely different person. He didn't even know how to describe himself. Perhaps fake happiness?
"WELL JACKSON?" The coach boomed in his ear. "TWENTY PUSHUPS!"
Percy returned back to reality and saluted his gym coach again mockingly and did his pushups. It was hard to do to say the least. His back was still a bit stiff so he breathed in and out after each pushup. And the ringing in his ears weren't helping either.
"AND STOP RIGHT THERE!" The coach yelled.
The entire class stopped as the bell rang.
"THE BELL HAS RUNG!" The coach continued.
Way to state the obvious Percy thought. He rushed out the class seeing a piece of paper landing in front of him. He picked it up and found his name on it. PERCY JACKSON was written in neat handwriting, and he stiffened. There was only one person who wrote like that. Annabeth Chase.
A/N: I hope this chapter is ok. Also do you want a happy ending or sad ending? And Annabeth to be friend or enemy? I won't put up a poll but please just vote in a review and I'll count it all up. I have no idea what it's like to fall down three stories high so forgive me if I did something wrong. And yes I mean no Percabeth.