"I really don't wanna go to classics." Annabeth sighed. "The chapter we're doing is so boring."
"At least you didn't have to go to history and whatever you had second period." Piper said.
"Yeah- the meeting was kinda fun." Annabeth said.
"Apart from the spider." Will nodded.
"Yup. Can we skip classics?" Annabeth asked.
"Please! I know nothing. I also didn't do the homework. And I can't remember the teacher's name." Leo said.
"We're seniors. Let's just skip. No one will catch us, hopefully." Will said.
"Is that a good idea?" Piper asked.
"Yes." Will, Annabeth and Leo said simultaneously.
"Alright, alright. We'll skip."
They stayed under one of the staircases, just chatting, since no one would look there. Well, so they thought. About half way through the class, they were laughing so loud they didn't realise Mr.D was walking down the stairs. He obviously heard them and looked under the stairs, which quickly stopped their laughter.
"Are you students?"
"No." Leo said dumbly. Piper sighed.
"What are your names?" Mr.D asked.
No one wanted to answer, but Annabeth finally did.
"Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Will Solace and Leo Valdez."
"Grade?" Mr.D took a sip out of his Diet Coke. Leo didn't want to know how many cans he drank per day.
"Seniors." Will said.
Mr.D pointed to Leo. "Is this one a freshman?"
"Hey!" Yes he was short, but not that short.
"Oh, did he come from the middle school nearby?"
"Oh come on! I'm a senior." Leo groaned.
"Eh. Sure, if you say so. Well, detention for skipping."
"When? Where? With who?" Annabeth asked.
"Uhm. With Coach Hedge, in the library, this evening." Mr.D said, though it sounded like he was playing Cluedo. Leo expected him to say with a wrench or with a lead pipe next.
"Now go to class." Mr.D walked off.
"The library isn't so bad. We'll probably just be cleaning shelves." Annabeth said once Mr.D was gone.
"Yeah. And we'll be together." Piper smiled.
"With Coach Hedge." Leo muttered.
• • •
They stayed under the stairs until the bell rang, even though Mr.D told them to go to class. They started walking to gym class, Will off to biology. Lucky Will.
Coach Hedge had clearly been told about the detention, because he kept glaring at Piper, Annabeth and Leo. That wasn't the worst part of gym, though.
Leo thought Jason and Drew were bad the previous week. Well, now was ten times worse. They were acting like a cringe sixth grade couple. Reyna, who was standing beside them, rolled her eyes and went over to Percy Jackson and Frank Zhang. One of Jason's friends communicating with Percy Jackson? Not something you seen everyday.
Hedge blew the whistle. "Gymnastics week, everyone."
Well, anything was better than soccer week.
• • •
Gym passed quick enough, thankfully. Reyna and Annabeth were the only ones who did any actual gymnastics. Everyone else really just watched.
They started walking to computers. They met Will in the corridor on the way.
It was weird suddenly becoming so close to Will and Annabeth. Piper was Leo's only friend for so many years. He was friends with Will before and he was glad they reunited.
They sat together in computers. Will was practically picking up the monitor to show his friends some photos from Star Wars or Star Trek or something. Leo always got them mixed up. He hated Star Trek.
Malcolm Pace was trying to get Annabeth to listen to him.
"Malcolm, I know. But someone's trying to scam me on Animal Jam." Annabeth said, staring intently at her computer.
"Annabeth, you're eighteen." Malcolm muttered.
Nearby, Rachel Dare was standing and shouting across the classroom to her friends. The teacher cleared his throat, but Rachel didn't listen.
"Mr.Dare," the teacher finally said. "Sit in your seat and be quiet."
Leo hoped he'd misheard, but the room seemed to freeze. Rachel looked over to the teacher, mouth opened slightly. Leo looked over to his friends. Annabeth was gripping onto the computer mouse, a stern look on her face. Will leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, but looked like he was ready to beat someone up. Piper's eyes were wide.
Rachel's friends looked ready to start a riot.
"Sit down." The teacher repeated.
"Sorry, 'Mr.Dare' must be absent today." Rachel said.
"Sit down now."
"Not until you call me the right name."
Leo didn't know why the teacher didn't just call her Rachel and get on with life. He was a grown man, he should've known better. Rachel wasn't going to backdown.
"You are what you're born as."
Leo wasn't good with 'organic life forms' but he could feel the tension in the room. Frank Zhang spoke in front of the whole class for what must've been the first time. Even though he was 'popular', he was really quiet.
"You are what you're born as? I bet your parents were real proud when you were born then. 'What's the gender? Is it a boy or girl' 'it's a fucking asshole'."
Leo had to hold back a laugh. Rachel Dare wasn't the person to hold a laugh back. She laughed loudly.
"You two are going to the principal's office!" The teacher yelled.
"Mr.D. Shiver me timbers." Rachel laughed, walking out the door with Frank.
"Ramirez-Arellano, you're the student president, yes? Take them to Mr.D."
Reyna glared at the teacher, clearly mad at what he'd said to Rachel, but she left the classroom.
[RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE]
She wasn't going to show it, but she was upset with what the teacher said. She laughed it off. Frank knew better. He was comforting her when Reyna Ramirez-Arellano walked up to them.
"I'm really sorry about what just happened, but I need to take you to the principal's office." Reyna frowned. "If you want I can let you go, that teacher was really being a dick."
Rachel shook her head. "I don't wanna get you into trouble. Let's go see Mr.D."
Reyna simply nodded. Rachel could instantly tell she was mad at someone.
"Are you okay?" Rachel couldn't help but ask after walking for a few seconds.
Reyna sighed. "Yeah. Just pissed at what our teacher said. I'm sorry again."
Rachel's people reading skills weren't as great as Grover's, but she had been friends with Grover for all her life and picked up a few things. "Are you sure it's just that?"
Reyna looked over to her. Frank was walking right behind them.
Reyna swallowed. "Yeah. I'm okay, really. Just Jason's friends being annoying."
"Damien and Sherman?" Rachel asked.
"And now Drew. And whenever Jason's with her he's different."
"Yeah," Rachel nodded. "Drew's a bitch."
"Sherman and Damien are worse."
"Frank will beat the shit out of them." Rachel smiled.
"What?" Frank said. Rachel just laughed.
"Please." Reyna said.
"Seriously though, what are they saying to you? You seem really upset." Rachel didn't want to seem stuck up or nosy, but she didn't like to see people upset.
Reyna pressed her lips together. "They keep like- asking me out. Mostly joking, but still. It's almost like they refuse to believe I'm lesbian. I've told them to stop so many times. I have hit them, that was funny. But it feels like the only way I can get them to stop is to have a girlfriend- and I don't necessarily want that right now."
"Fake it. Make up someone." Rachel suggested.
"That wouldn't work. Sherman and Damien would need proof. They never shut up."
"Hm." Rachel muttered.
"I'll be fine. We're almost at the office." Reyna walked up some stairs.
"Fake date someone? I don't know."
"That wouldn't work. Nobody's gonna 'fake date' me, just so Sherman and Damien will leave me alone."
Rachel looked back at Frank. "I will. I hate Sherman and Damien. I'm a great actress."
Reyna smiled softly. "I appreciate it Rachel, but there's no need."
"It will work! Then, when they give up, we'll fake a massive break up. Really dramatic. Violins in the background. Then they'll know you really do only like girls."
Reyna laughed. "That could work."
"It will! Can I faint during the break up? Reyna I know you slept with my sister! I thought we had something-" Rachel tried and failed to make herself cry. Both Frank and Reyna were laughing.
"I'm asexual, so-" Reyna said in between laughs.
"Yeah, and I don't even have a sister."
Reyna laughed even harder.
Rachel was disappointed when they stopped outside Mr.D's office.
"Alright, seriously though. If you do need me to make Sherman and Damien back up, I'll happily do it. If you want. We'll need to plan so sit with us at lunch." Rachel really did want to help Reyna out. Reyna was a really nice person.
"Thanks, Rachel." Reyna smiled. "I better go back to computer class. Unfortunately." Reyna walked off.
"Are you sure 'fake dating' Reyna is a good idea?" Frank asked before they walked into the office.
"Hey, I'll help anyone who needs it. It'll only be for like two weeks."
[LEO VALDEZ]
Lunchtime came and Leo went to the canteen with his friends. There were people surrounding Percy and his friends' usual table, asking what had happened after Frank and Rachel went to the office. Frank and Rachel were most certainly proud of themselves. Percy and Grover were feeding their egos with plenty of 'hell yeah's and 'boom!'s. They sounded like ten year olds, but didn't seem to care.
Frank explained how they'd got detention. With Coach Hedge. In the library. That evening.
Cludeo strikes again.
"They're in detention with us." Piper noted.
"Hm. Wonder how that will go." Annabeth muttered.
For some reason, Reyna was sitting beside Rachel instead of at her usual table.
Jason didn't look too happy about Reyna talking with the other group, but he was sitting with his other friends and Drew. Ew. Drew. Ew.
Drew (ew) said something about how it wasn't a big deal and Rachel should've just sat down. She wasn't necessarily being transphobic, though it didn't seem right. At all.
"Ohh hell nah." Will whispered.
Leo watched as Percy got out of his seat. Since their tables were beside each other, Percy had obviously heard Drew's comment. He walked over to her, yelling at her. He had a point. Getting misgendered purposely was a pretty big deal. Leo felt real bad for Rachel.
Jason stood up to get Percy to stop yelling at Drew. Leo pushed his way through the small crowd to be able to hear clearly. It wasn't hard, since people were moving away from the boys.
"Back up-" Jason was saying, stepping in front of Percy. Piper managed to get beside Leo, who was practically at the front of the crowd.
Percy continued yelling at Jason while Drew melted into the crowd to get away. Grover was helping Percy while Reyna had moved back over to Jason and was trying to get him to stop.
"Dude, just sit down," Leo heard Reyna say over the noise. "Drew deserves it."
Jason ignored Reyna, fighting even more with Percy. Percy threw the first punch, Grover still hyping him up. It wasn't long before they were throwing punches back and forth. While Reyna was trying to get her best friend to stop, Grover was highly encouraging Percy to continue. It caused a bit of a mess.
Teachers came quickly. Mr.Blofis pulled Percy away from Jason. Coach Hedge was helping, in his own special way. (By saying their lucky he doesn't have his baseball bat). Once Mr.Blofis thought Percy had calmed down, he let go, but Percy lunged at Jason again, making Jason want to fight back. Though the teachers were trying to calm them, it was Reyna whisper-screaming at Jason that stopped him. Rachel was talking to Percy. Leo could barely hear her.
"Please don't fight for me. That won't solve anything." Was all Leo heard, but she seemed to be calming him down.
Hedge and Blofis decided to send the boys to the principal's office once they were sure they'd calmed down. Grover insisted on going too, saying he was part of the fight. Leo thought he was dumb, but Mr.Blofis took the three boys.
"What if Mr.D gives them the same detention as us, Frank and Rachel?" Annabeth asked once Leo and Piper found her and Will again.
"Well," Will replied. "Detention will be eventful."
———
Word count: 2062
———
A/N: idk what's going on in this chapter but hmm a lot of people getting detention together 🤨🤨 what a coincidence. This is craaaaazayyy. Who would've known???
Anyway
LEO TIMELINE
Ages 0-7
Leo is the child of Esperanza Valdez and an unknown man. Although his mother, and presumably father, are Mexican, Leo was born and raised in Texas. As a kid, he'd be left with babysitters a lot. (@ tía Callida, though you ain't been mentioned yet. You're not rlly important). He had two best friends, Will and Cal. When he got a little older, he started spending a lot of time with his mother in her workshop. During them days he decided he wanted to be a mechanic, just like his mother.
Age 8-9
One night when he was eight, Leo was working with Esperanza. He went outside, waiting for Esperanza to lock up. Leo was waiting for a while when he seen the workshop go up in flames. The oil made the flames spread faster. Leo's left arm got badly burnt that night, but he was dragged away screaming and crying.
His only other living relative was his Aunt Rosa who lived in Alaska (in this au she's Sammy's mother cause it makes sense).
Leo moved to Alaska for about a month, but kept 'messing things up'. Rosa kicked him out. Over the next year, he was taken by social workers a few times, but always managed to run away.
Ages 10-12
Leo spent two years sleeping in sewers, dumpsters and on the street. He was eventually caught and taken to an orphanage in New York. He was forced to start middle school, where he met Piper.
Ages 13-17
Before her eight grade, Piper stole a car and was sent off to wilderness school. Leo didn't want to spend 8th grade without her and also stole a car (reallll smart). He was sent to wilderness school with her. They both regretted it, it was terrible, but they were together. After that, he stayed mostly out of trouble. He'd still run from the orphanage, it was the only way to keep ahead of the sadness, but he'd always return. He couldn't leave Piper. Now he's in senior year woo.