You know how much you like the idea of a fic about Percy and Grover's time at Yancy together?
Nows your chance to write a little bit of it! That's my request! ^^
YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS 👹👹👹👹👹 *becomes the monster* (I had so much fun writing this tysm) also disclaimer this is LONG
Tagging people who agreed with me in my post where I asked for yancy academy recs (I became the rec): @modawg @merryberry56 @halloweenisbetterthanchristmas7 @faithandalaptop @halothenthehorns @river-childoftheocean
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"You have to IM me every chance you get, okay?" Annabeth said, handing me all of my books. "And remember my training."
I fidgeted in my seat, almost exploding out of stress. "Training?" I yelped. "You mean the Mean Girls movie you made me watch? Annabeth, it's a high school movie. I'm not going to high school."
"I don't know!" Annabeth cried out, as the Delphi strawberry van pulled in front of Yancy Academy. "Look, I've not been to school in years. All I remember is that it's a social warzone. It's a survival of the fittest type of situation." she said, in her usual steely voice. She handed me my crutches. "The fate of that demigod in there depends on it. Your career depends on it. Good luck, soldier." That didn't help my stress.
After getting off the van and bidding a heartfelt goodbye to Annabeth, I searched for the entrance for ten minutes only to realise it was a big door right in front of me.
I shuffled inside with my crutches to see a bustling hallway. There were so many kids running around. I felt my anxiety turn on. How could I find the demigod here? Deep breaths, Grover, deep breaths.
"Hey, it's the new kid." I almost jumped out of my skin. I slowly turned around. A girl who looked like she was in my grade with fiery red hair and freckles all over her face was staring me up and down. Beside her was, what did they call it? Her clique. Immediately the demigod stench hit me. That was easy.
"Oh! I didn't know they accepted people like...you here." she said, with a mean smile. "Like...what do they call them? Disabled people?" She started to giggle with her friends, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes already. With anxiety pounding on my head and the overwhelming demigod smell that was burning off my smell receptors, I let out a sob. This was not easy.
"Oh great, now he's crying. The scrawny little disabled boy's a wimp. Who could've guessed? Hey, you should meet--"
Suddenly, a growling voice from behind me rang through the air.
"Seriously, Nancy?"
I turned around and saw him. He was a short kid who looked the same age as Nancy. He seemed to have been in the background, monitoring the situation the whole time. He had a messy mop of shoulder-length black hair, an oversized hoodie that definitely went against the dress code, and green eyes that screamed danger.
"I don't know why they accepted people like you here." His eyes narrowed. "Like...what do they call them? Morons? Yeah, definitely."
Nancy let out an offended squeak, but the dude didn't stop. "You know what? Maybe you should know how it feels. Why don't I help YOU get some crutches? It's easy, all I have to do is break your--" Nancy shrieked and ran away, calling out the names of every teacher she knew. The boy started to walk away quickly.
I felt my heart beat relax, but the strong demigod smell still lingered from Nancy. I looked to the boy and started running towards him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I cried out. "I'm Grover Underwood, and it's my first day here, and--"
The boy turned around and said casually, "It's cool. Don't mention it." He kept on walking. I tapped his arm. He glanced back at me, and met with my signature big sad brown eyes.
"Will you please show me where my classes are?" I pleaded. "You're the only one who looks nice enough to help me."
The boy looked thrown off, and glanced down at himself as if checking to see whether he was still him. He shifted awkwardly. The big brown eyes seemed to have worked. "Uh, of course. Yeah."
Good. My plan was set. I'd follow this guy for a few days, just to get used to school. Then I'd ditch him and focus on getting Nancy to camp. I have a year. I could do it. I think.
"What's your name?" I asked.
He held out his hand. "I'm Percy," He looked guarded again. "But most people know me as the local candy dealer. If you need some of the good stuff, come to my dorm right before curfew. Don't tell anyone though."
He sounded completely serious.
The last time I had to deal with this kind of a gremlin was when I first met Annabeth. For a second, I wondered how they would get along if they met, but then I remembered that they would never meet at all.
"You coming, Grover?" I silently prayed to every Olympian. "Yeah!" I weakly exclaimed, before following him.
********(time skip of a month)*******************
I was never going to get used to school life. It was a nightmare. Apparently, you have to do work even after school? What level had humanity sunk to? I missed camp, eating soda cans, and sleeping on the green grass of the forests. Why weren't mortals like that too?
I mostly stuck to Percy's side the whole month. He was mostly indifferent to me, but I guessed he was still in the process of warming. That didn't stop us from having lunch together silently, watching the television in our dorm room silently and sitting together in class silently.
Every once in a while, Percy would just be staring at me as if trying to figure me out, and sometimes he would make conversation shyly. Nancy, well, she wasn't bothering me when I was with him. But seeing the way that she glared at us, I could tell she was going to start again any day now.
One day, we were sitting together at our usual lunch table. Nancy was sitting across the room, and I could still feel her demigod smell radiating strongly. I'd made a bunch of theories and I had reached the conclusion that she was probably a super powerful Ares kid or something. But Ares kid never had that powerful of a scent....
After finishing our lunches, Percy took out a notebook and furiously started to scribble something with his legs shaking. "What's wrong?" I asked.
He looked up at me, and his usual narrowed eyes were widened with genuine fear. He started rambling. "Well, I have this English homework that I have to finish for Mr. John's class and I procrastinated and now the next class is English and I can't figure out what this says, and I--" He stopped.
"Wait..." I said. "You can't read that?"
Percy averted his eyes. A blush spread on his face. "I...I can't read and write. It's this thing called dyslexia. I can't sit still either. ADHD. I guess I forgot to mention. Or maybe not. I just didn't want to be judged or something? I don't know." My heart rate went up. ADHD? Dyslexia?
I looked at him surprisedly, trying to ignore the sirens going off in my brain. "I'm really happy you felt comfortable enough to tell me. And... I would never judge."
Percy suddenly looked at me, his eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Of course! I could help you with reading things out for you or keeping you on track with your schedules if you'd like." Just then, Percy smiled for the very first time. It was a pure, brilliant smile and it was a side of him I'd never seen in the one month of me knowing him.
Suddenly, I heard Nancy's voice from behind me. "Hey, 'special' kids!" Suddenly, I felt the demigod aura overwhelming my senses. I looked back at Percy, and his eyes were narrowing. The smell grew stronger and stronger as Percy's face morphed into a glare.
"Nancy, I'm warning you right now."
"The mental kid," drawled Nancy. Percy didn't respond. "And the crippled kid. How cute!" Then Percy snapped and flew at Nancy. A bunch of kids gathered around to see the fight, while I looked on in fear, realising that the smell was coming from Percy. It was genuinely hurting me every time he threw a punch. This wasn't normal
The situation escalation when I heard a pipe burst somewhere and the violent sound of water gushing out. Oh. my. gods. "PERCY JACKSON!" I heard the principal's voice over the intercom. "TO THE PRINCIPAL'S ROOM. NOW."
Everyone started laughing as Percy kept himself together and stormed out of the room. He glanced at me, and for a second they were broken, guilty and maybe even scared that I wouldn't like him the same way anymore.
I went back to my dorm after school and I found myself pacing the room anxiously. The ADHD and dyslexia. The strong smell whenever Percy was conveniently in the same place as Nancy. The bursting pipe. Percy Jackson wasn't your average weirdo candy dealer. He wasn't a normal demigod either. I needed to tell Chiron and Annabeth immediately.
Then, it hit me. Percy was in the principal's room now. If he got expelled, it would mean that I failed. And though I was obviously scared to fail at my job, a part of me didn't want Percy to be expelled out of pure concern. I had gotten attached to Percy. We weren't just satyr and demigod. We were friends.
I tried to keep myself calm. Then, I heard Percy's footsteps walking up to the dorm. I whipped around to see the kid weakly smile up at me. "Hey, I didn't get expelled. Can you belie--" I was so relieved, I tackled him in a hug before he finished his sentence. "Good. I don't want you to pack your bags and go away, Percy. I want you to stay." I mumbled in his shoulder.
I pulled away quickly. Percy's eyes were shining and he had a wide grin on his face. "Seriously?" he giggled.
"Yes." I clutched his arm tightly. "You, sir, are not getting away with stuff like that again. Not on my watch." Not when my license depends on it, I thought.
Not when the fate of your life depends on it.
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thanks for reading <3 !! and as always, constructive criticism is always accepted!
