I sat down next to the boy, who looked up at me. "I don't have anything else to give you" He said apologetically. "You don't need to give me anything, it's the other way around" I explained as I handed back the wallet. He looked at me in disbelief for a moment. "Thanks. My dad would have killed me if I came back without that" That sentence rung a bell for me. An alarm bell specifically. "Killed you? I mean, surely that was an exaggerated but still" "He wouldn't have done anything serious, don't worry. It's just… this wallet used to belong to my great grandfather, so it's very valuable, especially considering its emotional value, so my dad would have been pretty angry if I'd lost it" "It's a good thing then that you didn't. Hey, what's your name?" "Martin" "I'm Percy" "Yeah, I know. You're kind of famous around here. For, you know, beating up bullies" "I guess I did do that" "Wait, what's your last name?" "Jackson" "Did you ever fire a canon at a school bus?" "I did" "You were famous at my last school" "I am? This is actually my eighth or ninth school, so I'm famous at many schools. Just two weeks ago I met a girl whose chemistry lab I'd blown up" "Sounds like something you'd do. And thanks again" "No problem dude" The bell rung and I went back to the torture of derivatives. Halfway through the lesson, the rain turned into a proper thunderstorm that made me flinch a bit with every lightning bolt
After the last lesson, I got an Iris message from Annabeth. "Already calling?" "Well, it's free and it makes me happy. I just wanted to make sure that you arrived safely and that you were doing well with the thunderstorm outside. Lastly, it eases my abandonment issues" "I did. The storm is scaring me a bit, but it's manageable. There's actually something I wanted to talk about as well" "What is it?"
"While I was having breakfast, someone said that you seemed complicated, and I felt like overanalyzing that" I saw Annabeth's eyes light up with excitement. "Oh, this is gonna be so fun" "You got a little close?" "Maybe. So, tell me why I'm complicated" She didn't say that in the passive-aggressive voice you might expect, she just sounded curious. "So, first off all, you like to do things in complicated ways" "I don't do that. My methods only appear complicated because their level of perfection and optimization is severely overkill for everyday life" "If you say so. Well, I've come to the conclusion that everyone does stuff in complicated ways" "I came to that conclusion" "Right, you did, sorry. Next thing; your old jealousy. It was probably abandonment issues. And you've gotten over it by now, but before you did, let's just say Rachel and leave it at that" "Yeah, fifteen year old Annabeth really didn't help the mission with that. Next one" "Trauma. Absolutely no offense, but do you know how annoying it is when we're just talking and you get triggered and turn into a crying pile of Annabeth?" "Yes I do. Because you do that as well, so kind of annoying but also kind of cute" "Same here. I always just want to hug you until it's all better" "Great, now I want to hug you, but I can't" "Annabeth, why would you say that? Now I want to as well" "Sorry. So, what else is complicated about me?" "I don't think I've got any- wait, of course, your alters. It doesn't get much more complicated than that" "Percy, just to make sure, these aren't like reasons you don't like me, right?" "That insecurity would be another one. But don't worry, I still love you despite all of this, maybe even because of it" "Aww, thanks. And you're right, those insecurities are definitely something that make me complicated. But you're helping me through them and I love you for that" "Yeah, uh, you might have actually mentioned that already" "Probably. But can I ever tell you that I love you often enough? No, obviously not" "That is something that is not complicated. You love me and I love you" "I'm so close to finding small Damasen and shadow traveling to your place just so I can give you a hug" "Guys, stop being so cute, you're making me and Jason look bad" "Since when is Piper there?" I asked. "I just came in. Got a bit distracted on my way here by some cute girl. As far as I know, she thinks she's straight, but that might change soon" "Piper, why are you… I guess it's better than hitting on my girlfriend and also none of my business" "Percy, once again, after what you put me through you have no right to complain about girls hitting on me. And like, I'm not gonna cheat on you-" "You already did" "I had more alcohol in me than you consumed in your entire life" "which is none" "when that happened. Also, we only kissed. At least I think we only kissed, but we both have complete blackout from that. But like, what else would we have done? But we're getting off topic. So, as I was saying, I wouldn't, like, cheat on you with Piper, but there's a reason I have two hands. Also, I am, outside of you, very much love deprived and I appreciate a little extra, so just let her do her thing" "You know I can hear you" "Yes I do. But I'm not talking to you, I am defending you to Percy" "I hate that you're right. Every time you do something that society wouldn't like, you find a way to justify why your behavior is actually completely okay" "Believe it or not, but getting people to not dislike you for your behavior is actually a useful skill and it's even more useful when you can pull it off without actually changing your behavior to something less efficient like waiting for you to disappear before telling Percy to be nice to you. That would be stupid and I don't do stupid things" "Once again, I hate how right you are" "Girls, stop arguing about how Annabeth told me to stop criticizing because that's kind of the opposite of what she probably wanted to achieve" "Percy's actually right for once. We should stop fighting. And do you know why?" "No" "Why?" "Because I have three things: emotional instability, a dagger and ten years of experience with it" "Annabeth, I know you like me way too much to stab me, but I'm not gonna take that risk anyways" Piper said. "Good choice. Anything else that is complicated about me?" "I can't think of anything else right now. How about instead we talk about things that are not complicated. The first thing would be, as already mentioned, your love for me. Also, your extreme touch starved-ness. Piper, in case she hasn't told you, Annabeth literally volunteered to do my math homework for me just to get a hug" "First of all, doing your homework was fun. Secondly, it wasn't just a hug. It was an extensive cuddling session with reassuring words included. It made me so happy, it lasted the entire day. That was worth the work" "You're still touch starved" "Fine, I am. But you're not allowed to make fun of me" "I'd never disrespect your trauma like that. What else is simple…? Your love for architecture and designing things. Remember when we built the boxfort together and you enjoyed it so much that you didn't even question why?" "Yes I do. It was six days ago, right after operation give Nico a hug" "Six days? It feels so much longer. Well, the demigod lifestyle Isn't exactly devoid of interesting things that clog up your memory. So, what have you been up to?" "Nothing much" Annabeth explained. "Piper had a little bit of a flashback. Temple of fear if I interpreted what she was saying correctly" "That was the thing" "Some mole dug three holes in a row and that apparently had enough resemblance to the temple's entrance to trigger her" "I literally got triggered by a mole. This is embarrassing" "Piper, that's not embarrassing at all. You should hear about all the things that have triggered my wise girl. I mean, I won't actually tell you about them because that would overstep her boundaries in more than one way, but still, you should hear about them" "Thanks for respecting that. Also, in all honesty, Percy is right. I've gotten triggered by some pretty weird things. But here's the thing: there's no such thing as a silly trigger. If it triggers you, it is a valid trigger and you deserve to not be exposed to it" In saying this, Annabeth had protectively put an arm around Piper. That effect was enhanced by the fact that Annabeth was quite a bit taller than Piper (in fact she was taller compared to Piper than I was compared to her), and it looked really cute. "Hate to interrupt you guys, but someone just knocked on my door. Bye" "Bye" Without letting go of Piper (at least that's what I'm assuming, but I obviously couldn't see the entire process) Annabeth picked up the prism, ending the call.
I opened the door and saw the three bullies from before. Just in case, I grabbed riptide, but didn't remove the cap yet. "What do you want" I asked with a sigh of utmost disinterest. "We want to punish you for making us look stupid" "Oh" I said. "What if I don't want to be punished" I knew what kind of bully I had before me here. It was the kind who thrives on fear and can go without a fresh fix for about as long as a hummingbird. Once his resources of fear-fueled confidence were depleted, he switched to anger. He grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me out of my room. The situation was becoming critical. I uncapped and recapped riptide within a second. The blade extended through leader guys leg and retracted again, leaving no damage, so I was dealing with mortals here. Good to know. You should better leave me be" I suggested. "Why? What are you gonna do if we don't" I slapped him across the face. Leader guy stepped back. "Get him" He told his two friends/bodyguards. The came towards me, slipped in a puddle (seriously, where do they always come from?" and crashed into each other. Once they were back up, the three made a silent agreement to leave. "This isn't over yet" Leader guy shouted. "I think it is. I said before closing the door. For a moment I contemplated calling up Annabeth so she could do my homework, but decided that I needed to learn this stuff myself and become a good student. Hey, Athena, did you hear that?
Doing my homework took me so long that I barely got to dinner on time, so I didn't get to talk to anyone there. After dinner, I decided to call my mom. I did my best to create a rainbow by controlling the water and tossed in a drachma. "SALLY JACKSON" I said. When the mist cleared, I saw an image of my parents (by which I mean Paul, not Poseidon) sitting at the dinner table. "Percy" They said almost simultaneously. "Why are you calling? Has anything happened?" "No, nothing's happened, I just felt like calling since its been a while since we last talked" "So, how is AHS treating you" "Mom, I've been to hell. I'm dating Annabeth. It's gonna take a bit more than a bad school to have an effect on me. The real question is how I am treating the school. I'd say bullying rates have decreased significantly since I arrived here" "How'd you manage that?" "I gave the four hierarchy leaders a taste of their own medicine. This put me at the top of the student hierarchy and gave me the right to just ban all bullying"
"That's my son" Sally said. "I don't want them to go through the schist that Nancy did to me. Uh, mom, what are you eating?" "It's not my fault Estelle wants cookies with ketchup" "Sure. I've seen weirder things. Have I ever mentioned that Grover eats canned foods? With the can" "Not to me at least" Paul said. "So, you just mentioned having been to hell. How's it going with that?" "Not that badly. Most wounds have healed and I've just got a few new scars. I also get flashbacks from it every once in a while, but that's nothing new. Same for Annabeth. Those tips you gave me last year are really helping me out a lot" "I'm glad to hear that"
We kept talking until light out, at which point I said goodbye and closed the connection. Only now did I realize how exhausting it had been to keep the rainbow in existence and barely made it to my bed before falling asleep.
