Percy
I feel bad for Mr. McLean.
His house would most likely be trashed by the end of the night.
I had gotten to Piper's a little late, it was about 9:15. Jason and I had to stay after the game to talk to Coach Hedge, and then we had to shower and change clothes. I threw on a pair of black jeans and some blue Air Forces that my mom got me for my birthday last year. I wore a Knicks jersey and a grey Nike pullover.
Jason went with a preppy look, but it fit him. I don't think I'd be caught dead in a purple sweater vest but go off, King.
No matter how many times I would come to be at Piper's penthouse, it never stopped amazing me. I'm sure it made the same impression on everyone else. By the time we got there, it seemed like the drinks had gone around. Piper came up to Jason and immediately whisked him away to meet some people she knew. How Piper knew people that Jason didn't, I had no clue. But it left me standing in the living room, awkward and alone.
That was until Grover wobbled over to me, Juniper was keeping him upright with her small frame. "Percy! Or should I say, Steph Curry? You killed it today!"
"Woah... G-man you look like you've had a good night." I laughed while making worried eye contact with Juniper.
" Oh yeah, Juniper and I were playing beer pong. She doesn't drink, so I drank double." Juniper blushed and looked away. " But who cares about that, YOU are the man of the hour Percy. No one gave us a chance. "
Even praise of this level made me feel awkward. I had no clue how to accept it.
"No, it was all Jason and the other guys. Without them, none of this would be possible."
Grover started to wobble a little too much for Juniper's liking.
"Alright Grover, let's go get some food into you. Bye, Percy!" She logged Grover towards the kitchen as he groaned about Enchiladas.
I started to move into the living room, seeing a bunch of kids from Goode. The Stolls were running from the bathroom with devilish grins on their faces.
Note to self: Don't use the toilet.
Katie Gardner was talking to Silena Beauregard, while Clarisse LaRue messed with a knife.
Another note to self: don't get within striking distance of Clarisse.
Leo, Annabeth, Nico, and Will (a nice sophomore whom I had only met on a couple of occasions) were all sitting in the living room. Piper and Jason looked to have just gotten done talking to god knows who and had just sat down.
Of course, they took the last two open spots on the couch. The only spot left for me was the loveseat. The only issue was Annabeth Chase was sitting there too.
It was a tight squeeze, but I went for it anyway.
Annabeth smiled at me ever so slightly as I sat down. Her hair conflicted with the blue loveseat, and the color made her eyes pop even more than they usually did. When I sat down our legs brushed against each other. Annabeth sat crisscrossed and her knee rested very lightly on my thigh.
It was enough for my heart to beat two times faster than it had previously. It was annoying that Annabeth made me feel this way. No matter the situation with Luke, and mine with Rachel, she always made me nervous.
A text popped up on my phone.
Rachel: hey Percy, are you at Piper's?
Percy: yeah, I just got here a minute ago. Grover's already drunk, and a little high I think.
Rachel: All alright well I'm upstairs, I'll come down.
Well fuck. Perfect timing.
I couldn't just get up from where I was sitting. That would be way too awkward. But as I looked at the door, I realized Rachel was the least of my worries.
"Why are you touching my girl, Jackson!" Luke said already making his way towards me.
As soon as I got up, all the air in my body had disappeared. God damn this guy could through a punch. I was barely able to get up to my feet in time to see the second punch coming straight for my head.
I was a little more ready for that than I had been for the first punch (that's not saying a lot though). I ducked and felt the punch go over my head, that would have probably been a Percy Jackson Bedtime punch.
I pushed Luke, and he stumbled back a couple of feet and almost knocked over the TV. I heard people telling us to chill. I heard Piper begging us to stop fighting. I heard everything. But I didn't care.
I had seen red, all the anger that Luke had caused over the past two years was bubbling up. At some point, I'm just unable to stop, no matter what people say or what the ramifications are.
At that moment, I only wanted one thing. And that's to see Luke bleed.
I sauntered forward, my fist raised high as all the battles against Gabe had taught me. I threw a right hook, Luke blocked it. This was not his first time in a fight, but it wasn't my first time either.
Progressing forward, I threw a jab and it connected. For a second Luke was stunned. The look on his face showed me this was one of the first times he had been punched before. Usually, people went down after two hits from Luke. Not me.
"Luke," Annabeth screamed with tears in her eyes, " he was just sitting by me. Nothing was happening!"
"Shut the fuck up Annabeth! Go to my car. Let me finish teaching this loser a lesson, and we can go."
If it was possible to make me more pissed, Luke had done it.
"Don't talk to her like that! She's not your property, Luke."
As he went to grab Annabeth, we had moved just a couple of feet away from me, I intercepted his arm. I was pushing him back.
"She's my girl Percy. Stay out of this." Luke barked back at me.
"Hey dumb fuck, you're the one who brought me into this. We were just sitting next to each other. She told all of us that you had broken up, again she is her own woman Luke. You can't keep treating people like this and not expect to get knocked out."
Luke turned all his attention towards me, staring at me with a look of pure hatred in his eyes. My body told me to run, but I held my ground.
As quick as I could blink he pushed Annabeth back and ran towards me. He was closing the small distance between us down at lightning speed. He tackled me, sending me to the table.
Shit, that was a nice table too.
As he got atop of me and tried to throw punches, the best I could do was block. A view made contact, sending pain into every part of my face. Finally, I was able to kick him off me.
I stood up and put all the strength I had left into one uppercut. It landed right on his chin. I felt like I had almost broken my hand, so I can only imagine how Luke felt.
Jason and Nico pulled me back as I tried to run at him.
I kicked, trying to get away from Jason and Nico. "Fuck you, Luke, you're scum! I never should have trusted you!"
They pulled me apart, and the last thing I noticed in Piper's living room was Katie, Silena and Piper taking Annabeth upstairs.
She was crying. At that moment my heart broke. I had promised never to hurt her.
But here I was. Bloody hands, and tears starting to pool around my eyes.
Rachel looked at me with fear in her eyes.
I had fucked up.
"Dude, Luke is a loser. None of that was your fault." Jason said.
Jason had pulled me into the secluded kitchen. Leo, Nico, Will, Grover, and the Stolls surrounded me.
Will spoke up, "Percy. I hardly know you, and I can tell you wouldn't do that without good reason. He was being a dick to Annabeth and to you! You are totally in the right."
I had only met the guy a handful of times, and he was already sticking up for me. No wonder Nico hung out with him so much. I was really lucky to have friends like this, but I wasn't thinking about that right now. I could only think of Annabeth and Rachel.
It wasn't fair that both of them were upset. I was the one who got punched, not Annabeth. I have no clue why Rachel looked at me like that. Like I had just beat up some old dude. Luke came after ME... not the other way around.
"Thanks, Will, I appreciate it. I still feel like shit though, my face hurts. Luke knows how to throw a punch." I replied while holding my jaw.
Leo smiled. "There is only one cure for a hurt face." He pulled out a big glass bottle. It was a brand of tequila I'd never even heard of before so I'd assume it was really good.
"Tequila!"
We took a lot of shots. After my 4th or 5th, I forgot about everything that had happened. We started talking about the Knicks, which was not a good idea after 5 shots. Eventually, Leo got a hold of Piper's WIFI, which resulted in him connecting to her living room's sound system.
We drunkenly rapped 'Freestyle', (only Charles rapped the whole song, most of us cannot do it word for word if you get my drift) which I am sure none of us got right. Leo turned on a Latino mix and shed some tears when 'Que Vuelvas' came on. Piper decided that was enough music from Leo and turned back on some party mix.
Everyone slowly filtered out of the living room. As Rachel walked into the room, Jason gained a sudden interest in the theater room. He walked out, leaving the red-haired girl and me alone. Her eyes were hard to read, and the expression plastered on her face did not help.
"Percy, we have to talk." She said softly.
I may not be good with girls or relationships, but I knew those words. Those were not good words.
Rachel sat down next to me, "Why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
The smile she made was one with a tinge of sadness like she was looking at a puppy who had torn up a pillow. I didn't exactly appreciate that, but I'm sure It was accurate after I had 5 shots.
"Sitting that close to Annabeth and defending her, those are normal things. You're a great guy Percy. I wouldn't expect anything else."
Rachel turned away, thinking carefully about her next words.
"If it were just those things, I would understand. But, it isn't those things that make me realize this will never work. It's the way you look at her Percy." She turned back towards me, smiling.
"Rachel..."
"When you look at her, I can tell nothing else in the world matters. I'm not dumb Percy, we just don't have that. I don't look at you like that, and you have never looked at me like that. I like you, Percy. You're nice, you're cute. But you're not who I should be with. We both know that." Just as quickly as she came in, she left. Leaving me with my mouth open, and looking like I had just seen a ghost.
I think I had just been broken up, which was confusing because we had never been together.
Author's Note
Hey all, I hope you liked this episode. I feel that Rachel is hard done by a lot of pjo fans, so I hope I did her justice.
I like the way this story is going, but any suggestions are very much welcome! So leave a review!
My girlfriend and I put Bud, her family dog, down today. So again, say hi to the sun and stars from Bud.
Love you all!
Ciao
