foreshadow || a percico story

• Chapter 5 •

As the days passed, soon enough high school was in view again.

But Percy knew better than to complain.

He could finally get a chance to meet Nico again, since he was being distant for no apparent reason. 

Percy was worried, but the world is a little blurry. Or maybe it's just his eyes.

*   *   *

As the light filled in the room, a form shifted on the bed.

All of a sudden, the serene silence of the morning was broken by the alarm clock blaring.

Percy groaned, sitting up and turning off the source of the cacophony, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He felt a little slow, so when he realized that it was his first day of his last year of high school, it hit him right in the face like a brick.

He didn't want to swim that sea again, not after he'd gone down the deep end two or three times. Being late on the first day was a death wish.

"Percy!", he heard his mother shout from the kitchen. As the house got filled with the sweet intoxicating smell of blue pancakes, it filled his lungs as if he were drowning in the scent.

"Coming!", he yelled back. He threw on some clothes; his orange summer camp t-shirt just to rub it in the teachers' faces, some khaki shorts and a dark blue jacket that kept him warm in the school's ice cold classrooms.

He raced down the stairs to where his mother was. At his view, she smiled. "Sleep well?"

Percy nodded even though he still felt drowsy from staying up all night thinking about Nico, but he decided to spare that little detail out. The gorgeous brown-eyed boy rarely replied to his texts, which haunted him like the plague. Just after one encounter, the guy had managed to get under his skin and fill his mind with his presence.

A blush creeping onto his cheeks, Percy shuddered. Maybe he would meet Nico at Goode today. From his knowledge, he was still attending the same high school.

"Do you need a ride?", his mom Sally interrupted after he finished eating his stacks of blue pancakes drowned in maple syrup. His step-dad Paul Blofis, a sympathetic-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair, looked up from his newspaper. The silver ring on his wedding finger glinted under the sunlight, and Percy smiled at it. He was glad his mom had finally decided to re-marry four years ago.

"I can bring him." he said, smiling at his step-son while ruffling the hair of Estelle, his three-year-old daughter. She smiled cheekily and clasped her father's hand, rubbing circles on it.

Pushing his plate away, Percy grinned at him. "Yeah, thanks. That would be great."

Sally glanced up at the clock. She made a facial expression that screamed 'welp'. 

"Well, you better hurry, because if you don't leave in five minutes, you'll be late, and nobody wants that."

Rolling his eyes playfully at his mom's worry, Percy smirked with a glint of mischief in his eyes, sparkling brightly. "Sure, Mom."

As Paul got up from his chair, Percy did the same, snatching up his bag while doing so. "Let's go."

*   *   *

"Bye Percy!", Paul called out from his car. Slamming the door of the shotgun seat, Percy grinned and waved away.

He couldn't wait to see Nico.

*   *   *

"Hey man, what's hanging?", Jason welcomed his summer camp friend, clapping a hand onto his back with a little more force than intentioned. Percy smirked up at him. "I'm good, thanks. Can't wait to have you around for a month."

Grinning from ear to ear, Jason's eyes glinted with happiness and anticipation, adding even more to the already jovial atmosphere. "Can't wait to have you around next month."

The black-haired teen gave him a lopsided smile. But it quickly melted into worry as he scanned the lockers, scanning the room with his sharp eyesight, scouring for any sign of the boy who haunted him for the past two weeks.

"Hey, have you seen Nico?", he asked Jason hopefully. But instead, the latter furrowed his brows in confusion, frowning slightly. "What do you mean? He's attending my school."

All hopes leaped off Percy's heart and went straight through the marble floor. "W-wait... what?"

Jason nodded, with obvious uncertainty in his eyes and a million questions running through his mind. Finally, he asked, "Are you his friend?"

Looking embarrassed, Percy took a sudden interest in his shoes. "Uh  yeah, actually. Knew him for a while now." he said, trying to hide his flustered tone but failing while doing so. Jason raised an eyebrow at the obvious blush in the green-eyed boy, but decided not to question him as his friend would probably melt into a puddle of embarrassment.

"So... how's it with Piper?", Percy questioned, popping the 'p', anxious to change the subject. Averting his gaze, Jason looked down. "Er, we broke up." 

Percy put a hand in a reassuring manner on the blonde's shoulder, making him look up. "Hey bro, it's okay. Annabeth broke up with me two weeks ago."

Snapping his head up, Jason studied Percy's face with disbelief. He didn't even seemed fazed, but he still had a slight shade of pink tinting his cheeks. Yet his voice was earnest.

Rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously, Percy tried to avert his gaze from Jason's stunned expression. But the blue-eyed teen just continued staring at him wide-eyed, refusing to believe the truth. "R-really?", he spluttered out.

Percy and Annabeth had always seemed like the power couple, the unbreakable, the strongest. But now that he thought about it, they didn't seem to spend as much time together as before but he thought it was because of the new campers who just joined their summer fun. More friends, the merrier, right? Apparently, not so. During their nights out, Percy didn't gush about how amazing his girlfriend was as much anymore. His mind always seemed elsewhere, like he was waiting for something else. Somewhere else. Someone else.

But a thought lingered at the back of Jason's mind, nagging him every so often, making him feel self-conscious. Something didn't feel right. Why did Annabeth break up with Percy when it was obvious that she was head-over-heels for him? Always stealing glances, giggling at every of his jokes, and acting jealous at every of his encounters with other girls. She was the backbone of the relationship. Percy had told him once that he dated his friend Rachel for a week because she was easier to be around than Annabeth, but when she found out that he asked Rachel out before her, she lost her mind on him. Percy only had eyes for her since then. But not anymore, Jason guessed.

"Yeah... anyways, let's go to class.", Percy interrupted him from his thoughts as the bell rang.

But Jason still smelled something fishy in the whole affair.

hey guys!

anything u want to get off ur mind? comment! vote! whatever u want lol

i take constructive criticism, so try to be nice pls

ok byeee

-drakonator