A Killer Among Us

Chapter 2

The next day
Leo
"Valdez, are you listening?" Mr. Brunner's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Um yeah. Totally." I lied, my head shooting up.
"Okay, what did I just ask?" He asked, folding his arms. My eyes flitted across the board, covered in numbers, letters and signs.
"Um, find X?" I guessed. The whole class erupted into fits of laughter. I grinned, knowing that that had been the wrong answer. Mr. Brunner shook his head in annoyance, but there was a slight glimmer of humour in his eyes.
"No, Mr. Valdez. I asked if you could open the window." I felt my cheeks heat up.
"Oh." Will laughed from his seat next to me. I stood up, pushing the window open before sitting down again.
"Way to go, Leo." Will whispered. I opened my mouth to shoot back a reply, but the bell rang suddenly. I let out a small sigh, stuffing my books into my bag.
Gods I hate Mathematics.
"What do you have next?" Will questioned.
"Metal work." I answered, smiling.
Yay, a class I actually enjoy.
"Oh, cool. See you at detention then." He waved, disappearing into the sea of students. I stepped into the classroom as the second bell rang.
"Almost late, Leo." Mr. Hephaestus, or Mr. H as I call him, said, smiling from his desk. I grinned, taking my seat at the back. Mr. H is my favourite teacher here. Calypso stumbled into the class, blushing.
"I'm so sorry sir. I got lost." She stammered. Mr. H smiled warmly.
"It's fine. Go take a seat anywhere you like." Calypso looked around, our eyes locking. I felt heat rise to my cheeks as she smiled that perfect smile of hers, making her way towards me.
"Hey. You're the only one I know in this class." She whispered, sitting in the empty desk right next to mine.
"That's the only reason you sat next to me? Ouch, I'm wounded." I whispered back, holding my hand over my heart. She let out a soft laugh.
"Alright class, today you will just be creating something small from metal. It can be anything. You will be working with the person sitting next to you for the rest of the year. Alright, you have forty five minutes. Start now." Mr. H said, leaning back in his chair.
"Still don't know your way around here, do you?" I teased. Calypso just elbowed me softly.
"I've only been here a week!" She protested. I laughed.
"Okay, okay. What should we make?" I asked.
"A flower." She said imediately.
"A flower?" I stared at her disbelievingly. She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Why?" She asked.
"I am so not going to build a flower!" I said.
"Why not? Oh never mind. What do you want to build then?" She asked, rolling her eyes.
"A dragon." I answered.
"A dragon? No." She folded her arms, her lips raised in a small smile.
"Fine. But I want fire." I whined.
"Then I want a bird." She countered. A thought popped into my mind.
"A phoenix!" We said simultaneously, then laughed.
"Great minds think alike." She joked.
"Yep. Now let's get started." Working with Calypso, everything seemed to fall into place perfectly. Time spent with her went so quickly, that the lesson was almost over already. As I hammered the beak on, she started flattening and curling the tail feathers with incredible detail. She started humming subconsciously, which totally knocked my concentration way off. I stared at her, the humming enchanting me.
Gods, she's beautiful.
She looked at me and I quickly looked back at my work, ignoring the obvious red blush on my cheeks. She smiled, continuing on the feathers.
"Hey, what did the big chimney say to the little chimney?" I asked suddenly. She looked at me questioningly.
"Aren't you too young to smoke?" She smiled, a small, melodious laugh escaping her mouth.
"Oh my gosh. That is the worst joke ever." She shook her head.
"Yeah, but that's why it's funny!" I protested. She rolled her eyes.
"Okay. Tell me another."
"Okay. Do you want to hear a corny joke?" I asked. She looked at me. "Millies!" She snorted, flicking a piece of loose hair out of her face.
"Oh, you're such an idiot." She smiled, shaking her head slightly.
"That's why you like me." I joked. She looked down at her work, connecting the last feather to the body of the phoenix.
"Times up." Mr. H called. I studied our flawlessly made phoenix, its tail and wings covered in fake, metal flames. The bronze bird glinted in the light, the incredibly realistic details shimmering. Mr. H walked along the tables, appraising only a few of the best students. He stopped at ours, his eyes widening in surprise.
"It's brilliant. Well done, both of you. Leo, you've really outdone yourself this time. It seems Calypso is just as good with metal as you are." He smiled, walking past. Calypso and I hi-fived each other.
"Nice job." I appraised. She laughed.
"You too." The bell rang, signalling the end of the day. I picked my bag up, swinging it over my shoulder.
"What are you doing until detention?" Calypso asked.
"I don't know. I think I'll just go to a diner or something. You know, to kill time." I shrugged.
"Hey, can I come with? I've got nothing better to do either." She asked.
"Sure, I don't mind. Hey Annabeth! Want to come with to a diner until we go to detention?" I called out, seeing my blonde friend. She smiled, grabbing some books from her locker and packing them neatly into her bag.
"Sure. Wait, there's Thalia. You mind if she comes?" Annabeth asked. I shook my head.
"It's fine."
"Hey Thals! You coming?" She called. Thalia shrugged, pocketing a small bottle.
"Where?" She asked, walking towards us.
"Just somewhere to kill time until we have to come back to school. You in?" I asked. She nodded.
"In on what?" Percy's voice surprised all of us.
"Jeez, don't sneak up on me..." Annabeth trailed off, staring with wide eyes at Percy's face. A big purple and blue bruise stretched across his temple, disappearing into his hairline.
"What happened to your face?" Calypso gasped. Percy chuckled.
"Oh, it's actually a dumb story. I was skateboarding and I had to swerve out of the way of a car. My board hit the sidewalk and I fell, hitting my face. It was stupid of me, really." He rolled his eyes, laughing at himself. Thalia laughed too, then everyone but Annabeth was laughing. She just glared at him suspiciously.
"Well, at least it's not as bad as when Jason got hit in the face with a brick!" I snorted. Everyone burst into fits of laughter again.
"Or when he tried to eat a stapler!" This once again caused us all to laugh hysterically.
"Oh my god, please stop. You're killing me." Calypso had tears of mirth running down her face.
"Or the time he asked Coach Hedge why he calls us cupcakes..." Percy trailed off, laughing too hard to continue.
"And... and he threw a cupcake at his face, yelling," Thalia continued. Everyone but Calypso said at the same time, "That's why, Cupcake!" Causing everyone to collapse from laughter.
"Okay guys, jokes aside, what were you talking about?" Percy asked, calming down a bit.
"We're going to a diner until detention. You in?" I asked. He grinned.
"Sure." I caught a look in his eye that said,
"Better than going home."
I knew that look, because that's what I saw every time I looked into a mirror. The look in my eyes that said,
"It's all my fault. It's my fault that I live with a terrible foster family. It's my fault that I'm alone. It's my fault that she's dead."
"Alright. Are we going?" Thalia asked.
"Yeah, let's go." Calypso and I stood next to each other, in the lead. Annabeth and Percy walked behind us, trading friendly insults.
"Maybe you should read a book for once in your life, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.
"Well if you take your nose out of your books for once, you would see that there is a spider on your shoulder." Percy said simply. Annabeth's eyes widened and she shrieked, ripping off her jacket and throwing it to the ground, stomping on it.
"Jeez Annie, I was kidding." Percy laughed. Annabeth sent him a glare.
"NEVER KID TO ME ABOUT SPIDERS!" She screamed. Percy held up his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay. Sorry." He apologised. I laughed.
"Wouldn't they be a perfect couple?" I whispered to Calypso. She smiled, glancing back at them. They were now once again trading friendly insults.
"Oh, come on Wise Girl. I'm sorry about the spider joke."
"Whatever Fish breath." She shot back. Percy looked offended.
"Fish breath? How dare you! I don't even eat fish!" Calypso laughed.
"Yes. They definitely would make a cute couple." I snuck a glance at her, her amazing eyes shining in the light.
"I know someone else who would make a cute couple." Thalia's voice gave me a fright.
"What? Who?" I asked. She just gave me a playful wink.
"It's a secret."
"Aw, come on! Tell me!" I whined. She laughed.
"Nope!" She skipped away.
"Why is she so happy today?" I wondered out loud. Percy went silent for a moment, before continuing his playful banter with Annabeth.
"Percy? Do you know?" I questioned him. He went silent again.
"Look, Thalia has a rough life. I wouldn't blame her for what she does and neither should you."