August 21
For the rest of the school year Percy was going on and on about some "Mrs. Dodds", which made no sense because neither of us have ever had a teacher by that name. Maybe he finally snapped, or he's going to a secret school and didn't tell me.
Okay, probably not, Percy can barely stand going to one school, let alone two. Besides, it might be a phase, maybe.
But, in all seriousness, he was beginning to worry me. With all this talk about demon math teachers, he may get locked up. And then who would be there for Mom and I? Gabe? Yeah...right. The whole thing was obviously stressing him out, causing him to get expelled. Which, by extension, expelled me as well because I refuse to go to a school without him.
I did, however, feel bad for Grover, though. We were his only friends at this school, and both of us gave up popularity to defend the crippled boy. All the way up until we left the school, and even a bit on the way to the bus, were all three of us would board and than part ways. A trip that would have gone smoothly, with Percy and Grover talking and me listening to music, if the bus hadn't broken down.
"Shit," I swore, pissed by the delay but got of the bus anyway due to the oven-like heat in the oversized, mobile tin can. I scanned the area in confusion, I had seen this area before, but never noticed a fruit stand. 'Must be new,' I concluded in my head as I watched the knitting old ladies pull out a long pair of scissors. I'm telling you, those things should be friking garden shears or something, not craft supplies. Not to mention how heavy they looked, and I wondered how the old lady could even carry them.
Snip
I heard, which was a sound that four lanes of New York traffic should have covered up easily. Those grandmas must be some heavy weight knitters. Like, Olympic knitters or some shit.
Suddenly, the bus turned back on and we were on the move again.
When I sat down again and saw Percy I instantly checked his forehead, "are you sick?" I inquired.
"No, it's just a bit hot in here," he smiled reassuringly. I nodded, but kept a sharp eye out incase he started coughing or looking worse.
For the rest of the trip I watched over my brother until we got home, after conveniently ditching Grover.
A few words about my mom before she enters the scene. We don't have the best of relationships. I love her and all, and the same goes for her. But I have a thing about adults. It isn't her fault or anything, but rules just aren't my thing. I like my freedom, and we both know that. Of I feel coped up, I just leave and try to go as far as I possibly can.
If its anyones fault, its Gabe's. He always calls the police when I don't show for a few days and Mom sticks up for me. If it wasn't for her I would have been sent away a long time ago, and I knew if I left again I just might be. Gabe just manages to screw stuff up like that, all the time. For example, when we got home.
"Hey brat, got any money," he growled out to Percy.
"Nope."
"Really? Are you sure about that?" he glared, threatening my brother. If anyone else did it, I would have punched them by now. But with Gabe, well, he kind of scared me.
Percy grumbled and handed over the money, hesitant. After a few more taunts from our step-father, Percy and I left for our room. The room we both shared, which was a small study with one bed and a desk. The whole room had a certain, Gabe quality to it, with its alcohol stench mixed with cigarettes and puke. I wrinkled my nose in disgust before plopping onto the bed next the my already sitting brother. Percy wrapped one arm around my shoulder in comfort and I smiled at him in thanks. I then heard the familiar sound of mom coming up to our room.
"Oh! Sweet hearts! Look how much you've grown since Christmas!" Mom coo-ed and hugged us.
For the next hour we sat on the bed and talked about how Nancy Academy was.
"...and then Percy tripped on the rock." I laughed while I ate a lime Tootsie Roll. On my right, Percy was eating a blue candy cane, and Mom was laughing at my story."Well, as interesting as that was, I have something to tell you!" Mom smiled, brimming with excitement.
"What?" Percy asked, also getting excited.
"We're going to the beach!" she smiled brightly.
"Montauk?" I smiled, happy to be going back to the one place I loved the most.
"Yep!" cheered Mom as Percy and I smiled at each other. Suddenly, Gabe walked in, probably to put out any happiness he could find.
"Yo Sally? How about some bean dip?" the douche nozzle growled out. What I wanted to day was, how about some bean dip up your ass,but didn't because Mom was there. But one day, one day...