chapter two - camping trip
part 2 of my multichapter percabeth fic! so sorry for the wait! I hope you guys enjoy!
part 1
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This is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid hot bus, stupid gross leather seats, stupid yelling teenagers. The bus made a quick stop, and I felt my stomach lurch with the nasty fast food the teachers had bought us. Even with both headphones in, my music was drowned out by yelled dares and obnoxious laughs. Literally every last one of my friends were riding the other bus, or somehow convinced their parents to let them stay home.
God, I wish.
Teachers at Goode had always complained about being in the middle of the city. So, once a year, they rounded up as many students as they could and shoved them all on a four hour bus drive to the middle of nowhere. And, just my luck, my step mother, Helen, thought it was a super good idea. You kids never go outside these days, blah blah blah.
Don’t get me wrong, I love camping. That’s not the issue here. My issue was the smell of sweat, and tuna fish from that one girl’s sandwich. Rubber bands getting shot up and down the aisle to hit people in the back of the neck when the leaned a certain way, and that dumb game where people yell increasingly inappropriate words at varying volumes until someone looks their way.
Stop thinking about it, I told myself. Just close your eyes.
And so I did.
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I assumed the bus had taken a sharp turn or something, causing the bags next to me to fall. By the time my eyes peeked open again, one arm was lodged between a few backpacks. Sitting up quickly, I scanned the seats in front of me for any sign of life. When I didn’t find any, I groaned and shifted, peeling my legs off the sticky chair. At the new angle, I could see a tan hand resting on my shoulder. Following it up, I was met with the cool and unmistakable green of Percy Jackson.
Just as any girl would tell you, Percy was hot. No other way to put it. I’d never quite been sure he was my type, though. Besides, when girls go after him, they almost always come back empty handed. I didn’t know if it was because he didn’t have time for a girl, or he simply didn’t realize they were hitting on him. Rumours go round every once in awhile that he’s gay, but they always get shut down fairly fast.
“Everyone elected me to come and wake you,” he chuckled. I tried my hardest not to yawn, but my mouth opened regardless. Holding out his hand, he helped me up.
“How long was I out?” I asked him, rubbing my eyes. Once I’d moved, he reached down and grabbed my sleeping bag, swinging my backpack over his shoulder.
“A while. You missed the announcement,” with that, dread bubbled in my stomach. I raised my eyebrow and gestured for him to go on. With a shake of his head, almost as if to say, oh, silly me, he began walking off the bus, pulling me behind him. “We aren’t allowed to visit the other campsite this year.”
Now I groaned for real. This was so stupid. I had to spend the next 48 hours with the people on my bus, nobody from the other one. Laughing, Percy said “Hey, am I really that bad?” and I grabbed my sleeping bag from under his arm, jogging lightly ahead of him. He grunted in surprise, and then sped up to keep up with me. The soft breeze ruffled up his hair as he and I fell into step.
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“Come on,” he whined. “Join the game! You’re like, the best player here. We need you!” There wasn’t much to do at our campsite. Luckily, Percy’s friend Jason had brought a volleyball with him, and there was a net near the lake that some poor suckers left behind. According to both of them (and everyone within the general vicinity), it was an absolute shit show. Jason had played on a team in 8th grade, but other than that, the only experience people had was gym class.
As much as I tried to escape my fate, Percy was persistent. Eventually, I gave in. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, then wrapping his fingers around my wrist. He pulled me along towards the edge of the lake, where the volleyball teams sat in the sand, disgruntled. A girl I vaguely recognized as Piper McLean sat up straighter as she saw me approaching.
“Thank god!” she cried, jumping up to high five Percy. It was like the team got a sudden burst of energy, all rising to their feet in excitement. Jason and his team tried to suppress their groans, but the louder Percy mocked them, the more they complained.
“This isn’t fair, she’s probably the best player in the whole school!” one guy from the opposing team cried as I got in ready position. I let a small smirk fall on my face.
“Yeah, and she’s on our team! Suck it up, Travis,” Percy called. He strolled up to the net for rock paper scissors, and waltzed back to the serve line without a care in the world. I’ll admit, his serve wasn’t the best I’ve seen, but it made it over the net. Jason bumped it, a girl named Reyna hit the ball with a quick set, and a senior I knew to be Charles Beckendorf spiked it over. You could see in his eyes, clear as day, he’d thought he’d won.
People always said ‘it was like slow motion.’ Except, I didn’t think that was true. The ball was still fast, I was still conscious of my surroundings. Instead of zeroing in on the ball, it was like I was hyper-aware of everything, from the smell of sea-salt from Percy next to me to the sand denting as I moved forwards. The silence that rang out after I called the ball. It was fast, but I was simply faster.
My team cheered as I hit the ball back up in the air, and I took extreme pleasure in the slacked jaw of Jason’s team.
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“Guys, I think I’ve discovered my calling,” Leo said as he handed me and Percy our s’mores. “I might be the best marshmallow roaster, like, ever.”
“Make me one!” Piper called, trying to tune a guitar. Her tongue stuck out in concentration. She turned a peg one way, but would turn it farther backwards once she saw the result on the crappy tuner. “I give up, this is impossible.” Percy made grabby hands, careful not to lift his precious guitar over the roaring fire. Expertly, he switched the pegs back and forth to make it in tune.
“I didn’t know you played,” I said. His cheeks turned a little red, but he nodded as he pulled a pick from the top of the strings. I wiped melted chocolate onto my jeans and leaned onto my elbow, slanted, as if to see him better. Quietly at first, he began to strum a soft melody, one that I’m sure everyone found very familiar. I grinned into my palm and motioned for him to get louder. Eyes rolled, but he did what I said.
“Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo, here comes the sun, and I say, it’s alright.” His voice was soft and deep, smooth as silk. Heat rose to my cheeks, and I cursed myself. I held my hands out and played it off as if the red was from the fire. The song continued, and soon everyone was singing. Hell, so was I. I sounded awful next to Percy. He smiled at me when he heard me singing.
The rest of the night was full of campfire songs and more s’mores, stupid jokes and Percy’s giant hoodie sitting on my shoulders. I decided that maybe, Percy and his friends were actually pretty cool.
part 3 coming soon