Percy Jackson Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

2013

After Christmas came and went, the joys of finals revision came upon me and ruined my life. Mom was trying to convince me that a swimming scholarship wasn't all that good if I didn't have the grades to be accepted into a university and get said scholarship. So, yeah, life was fun for pretty much all of spring. I was inundated (I'm not sure how I remember that particular SAT vocab word) with tests and work and tests and work. It was my literal definition of hell.

Clint was also drowning in prep for his (first) SAT as well, so all was not well in Free-time-and-Friendship-ville as neither of us had enough time for anything other than work.

January and February passed by, cold as ever, and my ass freezing off. Then March arrived and with it my college acceptance letters. That's right, plural. I know, I was just as shocked when they arrived, especially when I found out that one was from one in Virginia: out of state. I had an out of state offer to study Marine Biology with a swimming scholarship and bursary. It was a god damn miracle.

I was over the moon. Clint was less so, but it was understandable; he was essentially losing one of his few allies in a world that had proven that it was constantly out to get him. I couldn't blame him at all for how much he grumbled when he found out.

"The University of Virginia? That's a long way." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm still going to be on the East Coast; it's not like I'm in Alaska or, I don't know, Oregon."

"It's still, like, a long way. I'm not just gonna take a walk over to Virginia if I wanna say hi, am I?"

"You know, there are these amazing inventions called Skype and FaceTime if you're missing me that much. I've got this opportunity, dude. Might as well give it a shot. If I drop out after a week, then at least I tried."

Clint shrugged. "Fair. Just don't expect me to join you there."

I shot him a look. "But you're going to stay in school?"

"School, yeah. I'm not going to voluntarily chain myself to college, though. I'd last a week, tops." Clint trudged through the corridor to where his locker was. "I'm going to look into finding a more permanent job, though. See if I can get somewhere like S.H.I.E.L.D. or the IMF. Wonder how you get an interview to join the secret service."

"I'm pretty sure that the IMF is a myth and S.H.I.E.L.D. is, like, desk jobs, but sure."

To my surprise, Clint let out a snort of laughter. "S.H.I.E.L.D.? Desk jobs? Pfft. You don't read conspiracy theories? Everyone knows that a company that's just desk jobs can't have that big a budget."

Okay, sure dude. "Don't they also mess about with new inventions and sell them to the army and stuff?" I asked. "Surely inventing needs a fairly big budget."

"Not that big, dude. Not that big. S.H.I.E.L.D. totally has an underground spy network."

"Whatever you say, mate."

"I'll get you proof eventually!"

"Ok, whatever you say. But I'm sure about the IMF. 'Your mission, should you choose to accept it."

Clint slapped me with a sigh. "Maybe, maybe. But S.H.I.E.L.D.? I'll prove you wrong, my friend. Just you wait!"

o0O0o

Eventually June came and I was freed from the shackles of high school; thank God. Like, yeah, the final day was a mess with at least three cars being flipped and at least six teachers covered in paint. And I may or may not have emptied a bottle of green food coloring into the swimming pool, much to the PE staff's horror. Pranks like that would usually get me suspended, but, given that I was leaving and never coming back, there wasn't a lot the teachers could do. Oh, and I helped to tinfoil the school minibus, because why not. We then covered it in sticky notes to make it look like some giant cosmic fish, because confuse, don't abuse (well, abuse a little bit if they're freshmen).