my multichapter percabeth highschool au! I’m super excited for this and I hope you guys like it! this story alternates between Percy and Annabeth’s point of view.
“Can you guys shut up?” I asked for what felt like the thirtieth time that class. Of course, they didn’t. They never did. I saw Ms. Price raise a thin eyebrow at me from behind her clunky computer screen. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I tried my hardest to continue my work. However, it was pretty difficult when I felt a rubber band hit the back of my neck. A small stinging pain washed over me, and I turned in my chair.
“Seriously, cut it out,” I called. Of course, that wasn’t what I wanted to say, but swearing in class would get me in a whole lot more trouble than I could afford.
“Jackson, stop talking! Last warning.” The grumpy old teacher snapped. I pursed my lips to keep from doing that stupid thing I always did. You know, open my mouth just a little too big and say or do something dumb? Yeah, kind of a Percy Jackson trademark at this point. In the corner of my ear- wait, that didn’t make any sense. Peripheral hearing? Was that a thing? Just out of earshot? In the back of my mind?
Whatever, it didn’t matter. Very faintly, I could hear a couple snickers. Now, this pissed me off for several reasons. First of all, I was not having a good day. I’d burnt my eggs this morning and the coffee was bad, traffic made me 20 minutes late, I’d totally bombed my algebra test, Grover was sick, and they were threatening to kick me off the swim team if I didn’t get my grades up.
Secondly, I knew exactly who was laughing at me, with their stupid little giggles and jabs and god I hated them. They never even got in trouble, either! Ms. Price thinks I’m bad, she should see these assholes. Except she did, and she never said a single god damn word, as they sat and ridiculed everyone around them. Mean, rude, and a bunch of other words that mean literally exactly the same thing. Clarisse La Rue, Drew Tanaka, Octavian Solace, and Ethan Nakamura were all my worst enemies, for obvious reasons.
Anger boiled in my blood. Deep in my stomach, I felt little bits of rage coil up. I urged myself not to do anything, not to say anything. It wasn’t exactly working, though. Imagine putting a crap ton of magnets together in a container. Sure, they might stay apart for a few seconds, but eventually, magnetic pull brings them together. And once one snaps into place, another one follows, and another after that; before you know it, your magnets are one big blog that I like to refer to as a shit storm.
A fight was not something I could risk right now, especially since it would likely get me suspended. Trying and failing to keep my breathing steady, I pushed my pencil harder into my notebook. The paper tore, and the graphite broke. Gripping the pencil tightly, I felt the little coil in my stomach twisting tighter, and tighter, and the thing about twisting something as fragile as Percy Jackson’s temper is that it’s bound to break.
Admittedly, I didn’t actually have a plan. They were all sitting way too far back to straight up punch, and I didn’t have anything to say, specifically. So, I did what anybody should do in a hard situation. Turning in my chair, I pulled a weird face, scrunched up my nose, and tilted my head back and forth to mock their laughs.
“Jackson!” Shit, I thought. “Get out of my classroom!” Not wanting to risk any more trouble, I did as I was told. Drew winked at me and waved like all bitchy girls did, by wiggling their fingers and giggling. Groaning, I stuffed my notebook into my backpack. As I was doing my walk of shame out of the room, I got handed a pink detention slip. I could practically hear the snickers even down the hall.
Not gonna lie, I was surprised to see her in detention. To my knowledge, she was a great student and a star on the volleyball team. Didn't seem like the type to end up in trouble, but I'm not here to judge. After all, I'm on first name basis with all the ladies in the office. Not that I'm a bad kid, I just don't get a lot of lucky breaks. Plus, my grades kinda suck, and I constantly ask how many more credits I'll need to graduate.
Annabeth and I should have been in the same crowd. I've never been sure why we weren't; we were both technically jocks. She'd never been the most popular girl in school, but she got along with everyone. A talent I wish I possessed. I'd talked to her a couple of times, just in passing. You know, 'how hard is the social test? What are we doing in gym? Is that writing assignment due today?' stuff like that.
She was pretty cool. Pretty, too, but that's a different matter. She sat towards the back of the room, her nose in a book. I thought about sitting as far from her as I could, so I didn't have to distract her, but she was the only other person in the room. Sliding into the seat next to her, I propped my bag against the table leg. I debated whether or not to talk to her.
I probably should, right? I mean, I can't just sit next to the girl and not say anything. That's weird. She's probably noticed me by now. I have to say something quick.
“What are you in for?” she asked me when I turned to say something. I turned towards her and leaned on the bar connecting my chair and table.
“Ms. Price is a bitch,” I said simply. Annabeth grimaced and nodded along. Golden princess curls fell in front of her face. Her shoulders shifted and I could tell she was about to turn away.
“What about you?” I butted in as she reached for her earbuds.
“I got caught selling my test for 20 bucks,” she answered, shaking her head.
“What’d you need 20 bucks for?”
“My drug habit,” she replied nonchalantly. My eyebrows crawled upwards.
“I’m kidding, Percy,” laughing, she began sketching something in the corner of her notebook.
“Shame,” I said, trying to start the conversation again. “I know a guy.”
For the rest of detention, we played games of tic tac toe and add-on. She won most of them, but I still had a good time. We even found a little MadLibs pad under my desk. Tears were shed while trying to choke back our laughter. We got yelled at a couple times by the student teacher, but he eventually just gave up. I'd never noticed it before, but Annabeth had really grey eyes. I don't know what colour I thought they were, but I wasn't expecting that. She had some freckles, too.
One of our add-on games ended up being a pretty rude drawing of Ms. Price. Drawing a witch's broom wasn't my proudest moment, but it made Annabeth laugh pretty hard, so it was worth it. She poked my cheek and told me to lose the smirk. I thought it was more of a cheeky grin, personally.
I must've been lost in thought for a second because when I looked at my hand, there was a little flower in the middle of it.
"Don't tell me," I started, dreading the answer. Giggling slightly, she nodded and held up her thin black sharpie. I let out a groan and felt my head hit the cool plastic of the desk. When I raised my eyes again, her nose was back in her book, earbuds in. As always, I came unprepared, absolutely nothing to do. Reaching into my bag for something very specific, I grinned in triumph when I felt it.
A small ballpoint pen that somehow always washed off right when I wanted it to. If there was one lucky thing in my life, it was this pen. I pulled the cap off and began to doodle on my hand. It started off with one flower, next to hers. You could definitely tell who drew what. My lines were shaky, and my petals didn't line up perfectly. In frustration, I began to draw another one.
Soon enough, a whole field of flowers was littered across my hand. I realized what I had done and licked my thumb, quickly trying to wipe it off. Of course, the one time I did something embarrassing I was near a pretty girl, the stupid ink didn't come off. I let out a shaky breath.
Annabeth must have heard my panic because she yanked out her earbud and looked at me, eyebrow cocked. When she saw my hand she grinned and poked my bicep repeatedly. Clinging onto whatever hope I had left with this girl, I hid my face in laughter. She let out a shrill 'Awwww!! Percy has feelings!'
Annabeth was… something else. Witty, chill, a laugh that sounds like a bell… I shook my head. I could not afford to go down this road right now. Once she'd quit poking me, I squared my shoulders away from the girl to my right and let her read in peace.
