Sign of the Times

BYE JAKEY!

"So," I say. "What's the situation?"

"Two half-bloods," Grover replies.

"Any monsters?" Annabeth follows up.

"One that I know of. He won't let me get to them, every time I get close he gets in between us. With winter break coming up I think this is our last chance to get them out because I don't think he will let them leave!" Grover makes a scared little BAAAAA noise. Ha, that's funny.

"And they are at this dance?" Thalia asks.

"Yup, right inside the gym."

"Then let's go inside."

It is so much worse than I could have imagined. There must have been 200 kids all packed in this tiny gym and they all looked either too excited to be here or too excited to get back to bed. All the dudes were trying to injure or kill each other in some way, shape, or form while the girls looked like a pile of ants surrounding a crumb. The crumb being some poor little boy who came subject to their ribbons, bows, and harsh colored makeup.

"Wanna go get a makeover, Water Boy?" I ask, nudging him closer to a nearby pack of girls.

"No, I think I will have to pass on this one," he grumbles.

"Those are the kids." Grover nods towards two kids, a girl looking a little younger than us and a boy a lot younger. The girl was holding the boy's hand tight as they stood off to the side. The girl looked absolutely miserable while the boy was talking and bouncing in place a bit. "Bianca and Nico DiAngelo."

"Do they, er, know?" Annabeth asks.

Grover shakes his head. "You know how it is, they know and all the sudden every monster in a ten mile radius also knows. I was waiting until I had the opportunity to get them out."

"Then let's grab them then get out. It is gross as fuck in here." He takes a step towards the kids but Thalia grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"Look," she says. Dr. Thorn had walked in between us and the kids, giving us a smile. "Don't look at him or the kids. Act like you belong and try to throw off his scent."

"How?" I ask.

"I don't know, dance, eat the snacks, mingle. Just do something instead of standing here in a pack looking all suspicious."

I grab Annabeth's hand, dragging her towards the snack table as Thalia drags Grover to the dance floor. I hear Grover say something along the lines of "I have hooves! I can't dance!"

"Oh that's gonna be a mess," Annabeth says, laughing.

"Oh, who cares. What really matters is that I saw these chocolate covered pretzels and I want one." We get to the table and I grab one of the chocolate pretzels. I take a bite, practically moaning at the taste. "This is the real magic."

"Girl, I know you did not just moan at a fucking pretzel," Annabeth says.

"You eat nothing but white bread for a while and see how much you like the taste of real food."

She goes to say something but gets interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind me. I turn towards the sound and see a dude, maybe a year or two older than me.

"Can I help you?" I ask, trying not to sound mean.

"Yeah, I could use some help on the dance floor." He shoots me a smile and I have to choke back a laugh. Dude has no rizz.

I go to say no but Annabeth pushes me towards him, whispering, "You gotta blend in."

I give him a forced smile, replying with a, "Sure! Sounds fun!" He reaches out his hand and I take it, shooting Annabeth one last glare and flip her off before going out on the dance floor with him.

Some song about being a mirrorball, whatever that means, comes on and guess what? It was a slow song. Great.

"So," the dude says, putting his hands on my waist signaling me to put my hands on his shoulder. This is awkward. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Taylor," I tell him, the first name coming to my head. "What's yours?"

"Jake." Ugh, he looks like a Jake. "I don't think I have seem you around, Taylor. Are you new here, or just visiting?"

"Oh, I snuck in, don't tell anyone!" I say, giggling for the show.

"Your secret is safe with me." He gives me a smile. He seems nice enough. Ish.

I look over to where Thalia and Grover are dancing. Grover keeps stepping on her feet and she was laughing like a maniac. I wish I had this on video because I could watch this mess for forever.

Next to Thalia and Grover was Annabeth and Percy dancing together. I stick my tongue out at Annabeth who is smirking at me. Percy was looking over here as well, but he wasn't looking at me, he was glaring right next to me.

When he finally looked at me I rolled my eyes at him, trying to convey what a dipshit this dude was. He had began telling me about how rich his daddy was and how he is going to the Caribbean for winter break. I responded with a "no really!" or a "so cool!" every once in a while. Ah, to feed the male ego. Percy just looked away. Weird.

"Where are you from?" Jake asked, finally finished talking about himself.

"Oh I am from Connecticut. I move around though sometimes." His eyes widen as if he had a lightbulb moment, something I doubt happens often.

"Oh, shit! I knew I recognized you!" My heart stops and I step away from him. "You're that crazy chick that was like tied up at a playground in Florida! What's the name? Emelia!"

"No." Deny, deny, deny. "That wasn't me."

"It totally was!" he whips our his phone, pulling up a picture of me running away from the cops. "Nobody knew what happened to you! I need to get my buddies over here! Aye-" he gets cut off from getting a knee to the balls.

"You tell anyone you saw me and I will hunt you down and ruin your entire life," I threaten in a sweet voice. "If I dropped off the face of the Earth once after escaping the cops, I think I can do it again!"

"Emelia!" I hear Annabeth yell from across the gym. I look over to where the kids were but they were gone.

"Shit," I mumble. I give Jake one last look as he stood up. "Bye Jakey!"

I run over towards Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, but not Percy. "Where is Percy?" I ask.

"That little shit!" Thalia says, eyes wide, before taking off towards the door.