Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#38 - Acceptance Letters

He called his parents right after to tell them that it had arrived, but he couldn't bring himself to open it.

Leo and Jason took turns trying to peer through the small window on the front, but they could barely make out the text, even with their dyslexia.

"It's too small to be an acceptance letter," Percy said with dread. "It's a rejection, it has to be. I'm going to be unemployed and die a homeless person!"

Piper calmed him down immediately when she arrived by forcing him into some peaceful meditation. Hazel joined them when she came over.

Around 4 in the evening, Annabeth walked quietly into the apartment clutching three envelopes, all of them torn open.

Percy was still staring at his own letter, fighting an internal battle on whether to peek or not. He felt like his entire life depended on this one moment, which was a lot of pressure to put on this.

"I've got my letter from NYU," Percy rushed once he saw Annabeth. "And I can't open. I physically can't. It's too big of a deal — what if something's gone wrong?"

Annabeth sat down next to him and exhaled. "Uh, yeah, no. It's fine, I'm sure." Her voice sounded so faraway that Percy gave her a strange look.

"You good?" he checked.

Annabeth blinked. "Yeah, yeah."

"You've opened your letters," Percy realised. "Oh my gods, did you get in? Dartmouth? Columbia?"

Annabeth winced. "Well..."

The door was shoved open as the others walked in, Calypso with them.

"You still haven't opened it?" Jason demanded. "Come on, Percy, you're killing yourself and me!"

Percy picked up the letter and turned it over in his hands. "You really think I should open it?"

"You have to at some point," Calypso pointed out.

Percy took a deep breath and tore open the flap, pulling out the folded sheet inside. "Dear Mr Jackson," he read aloud. "We are happy to inform you—"

The room erupted into cheers.

"I knew it!" Hazel said triumphantly, delivering a giant hug.

Percy laughed as he got pats on the back and group hugs all around. He collapsed onto the couch with a sigh of relief. "That was the single more stressful moment of my life. And I've almost died, like, fifty times."

He turned to Annabeth with a bright grin. "Well, now that I'm in NYU, did you get your offer from Columbia?"

Annabeth swallowed. She closed her eyes. "Percy, can we talk in the hall?" She fiddled with the envelopes hesitantly.

Percy felt his heart skip a beat. Something was wrong. Annabeth was strangely quiet, and she seemed to be turning some idea over and over in her mind. "Yeah-yeah, sure."

As he followed her out, Percy threw a frantic glance over his shoulder. The last glimpse he caught was his friends exchanging puzzled and fearful looks.

"Okay, what's going on?" Percy asked nervously once he door had shut behind him. "Did you not get the offer from a Columbia?"

Annabeth fidgeted silently. "I did. And Dartmouth."

"That's great!" Percy cried, enveloping her in a hug. "That's what you wanted, right?"

She paused. "I didn't just apply to those two."

Now it was Percy's turn to fall quiet.

"I applied to, uh, Harvard," Annabeth confessed. "It was a shot in the dark — I didn't expect for a moment that..." She looked down at her feet.