-𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 2-
𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔭𝔭𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔲𝔭 𝔞 𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔩𝔶
The McCallister twins set off to a water fountain for lunch, hoping that no one would notice they were from the school of degenerates. Grover huffed, out of breath, as he tried to reach them without saying anything.
He would hate to have to yell out 'hey, McCallister's!' or something, as he didn't technically know their names yet.
His mission was going great. So far, Percy hadn't been found by any monsters, he was so good at protecting him, and he'd already found two other half-bloods. They'd give him his searcher's licence in no time.
The boy didn't hide his relief when they'd stopped to sit down.
As he reached them, trying to keep his cool, Paige seemed to finally notice him and smiled.
"Oh hey." She looked around for a second. "Where's your friend? Thought you two were attached at hip."
Grover gulped, he could do nothing but stare.
This girl... she could pass for a princess- wait no, a goddess, in his eyes. She had pale skin, but it looked beautiful in the light (not that there was much, due to the brewing storm overhead). Her eyes were a deep brown, they pulled you in just enough that you never wanted to look away.
After only a few seconds, though it felt like hours, he heard a fake cough from a meter away, causing him to glance over at the boy she was always with. He too shared her pale skin, but his cheeks were scattered with soft freckles everywhere. The boy had caramel eyes, not the same as hers but they too had the same affect. They were warm, and soft.
Nothing like the accusing glare he gave him, realising Grover had been staring at his sister a little too long.
Paige saw the glare and lightly elbowed him in the gut, turning to give the newcomer a welcoming grin.
"You can sit with us if you want." Again, it felt like his throat was closing up any time he tried to talk. "He won't hurt you."
It took him a moment to realise she was talking about the still glaring boy next to her, causing him to nervously laugh and take a seat on her right.
Gods, he was so thankful he didn't bleat or anything like that.
"I-" his voice unintentionally cracked. "I'm Grover."
The girl smiled again.
"I'm Paige, this is Nicholas my brother. He's usually more... approachable. Sorry."
No he's not.
But she wouldn't tell this boy that.
Grover anxiously glanced at Nicholas, just to see what his reaction was now that he'd introduced himself.
His eyes had finally released that nerving, threatening glare, and had instead turned to show boredom as he looked away to stare at the ground.
"It- it's no problem."
He thought about maybe asking her how she knew that much about Greek mythology, hoping that her or her brother already had some insight on who they were, but he knew they didn't deep down. The power coming from them nearly matched Percy's.
Nearly.
If they knew who they were, monsters would have already nabbed them off the street.
Before he could think of something else reasonable to ask, that wouldn't sentence him to another staring competition with her brother, a figure had arrived in front of them, both brows raised him question.
The look clearly said 'who are these kids and why are you sitting with them?' and he almost didn't want to answer.
Paige, however, was ready as she could ever be.
This Jackson kid, or whatever, had nearly showed her up in the museum with his knowledge. She almost wanted to gloat that she'd gotten something wrong and he hadn't.
So, she'd take the higher road and introduce herself.
Finally.
"Hi, I'm Paige."
The black-haired boy seemed uncertain at first before nodding and saying, "Percy."
He looked over at the other new student at their school, seeing how he hadn't even glanced up to see who it was that had joined him. He was just staring at something on the floor, intensely you might say.
Weird.
"That's Nicholas. I think he's in a bad mood."
Oh sure.
That sums it up perfectly.
First, he hasn't slept in days because he's scared of what he'll see. Next, he begs not to come on this trip because he'd been having bad feelings about it for weeks but is forced to go on it anyway. And then, to top it all off, he gets asked a question about something he knows nothing about, and is made to look stupid in front of everyone, while his twin sister gets everything right and looks like a genius.
Yeah.
He's in a bad mood.
"Oh. Right. Can I sit here?"
She had this bright grin on her face, one that never left apparently (much to Grover's pleasure) and nodded incessantly.
"Of course. Nik, budge up."
Nicholas rolled his eyes but moved anyway, allowing Percy to sit next to his friend.
Grover looked to the black-haired boy, "Detention?"
"Nah," he said, awfully aware that he'd had the twins attention on him and his conversation. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."
The other kid hummed in deep thought, but stayed silent for a moment. Paige thought he was going to say something really insightful before he went "Can I have your apple?"
It must've been a common occurrence or something, as Percy gave it to him without hesitation or confusion.
They all sat in a peaceful quiet for a minute, watching the traffic drive by slowly, jams clogging up the roads.
It was only disrupted when a stream of water came flooding down on Paige's head, dripping down her hair and face like she was the fountain they sat on. When the moment of shock passed, they had all realised it came from a bottle. And the bottle was in the hands of a boy.
Percy had seen him hanging around Nancy all day, and he assumed he did it by her order, or was doing it to impress her or something like that.
He felt angry, but it was nothing like what he saw in her brother's eyes.
Percy had automatically looked over at Nicholas to gage his reaction, seeing nothing but a hatred filled glare aimed at the boy who had been standing there laughing his head off at what he'd done.
"Oops, sorry. Maybe you should ask your gods to help dry you off?"
It seemed that had set something off in Nicholas.
Grover and Percy watched with wide eyes as he stood up and got close to the boy's face. Despite being shorter, the look on his features was enough to make the bully falter.
He was prepared to shove him, punch him maybe when a soft voice echoed in his ears.
"Nik, don't, it's alright."
The McCallister boy turned to see his sister looking at him pleadingly.
He clenched his jaw but sat back down nonetheless, his breathing heavy as he tried to calm himself down.
Cockily, the bully sneered, "yeah Nik, do as the crazy girl says. Maybe her gods will bless you too, huh?"
With that, he walked away.
Or tried to at least.
Paige, Percy and Grover had been staring at Nicholas, wondering what he was going to do. But he didn't do anything.
Nothing but glare at him.
Internally, he'd been wanting to fight him. Tell him exactly where to stick it. He may not exactly care about the stupid Greeks or whatever, but nobody could ever embarrass his sister like that.
It wasn't fair that he could just walk away, not when he'd just humiliated her like that.
His glare hardened as he tried to control his temper.
And then the bully had tripped.
On thin air.
Or maybe, if they'd been watching him instead of the angry twin to their right, they would have noticed his shoe lace undo on its own. As if an invisible force had pulled it right from the knot.
He fell right to the ground, skidding his palms and knees through his jeans.
Nancy laughed at him with her other friends on the other side of the area, grinning mockingly.
Grover frowned.
What a coincidence.
Only demigods never have coincidences.
Paige smiled softly at her brother, rubbing his shoulder.
"Thanks for trying to stand up for me, but you can't keep doing this. I can protect myself."
Nicholas nodded silently, still keeping his gaze on the boy who had poured water over her. He'd managed to get back up, and had a red blush on his face after he realised everyone was laughing at him.
Grover had noticed that none of the three had thought anything of his trip. How it had happened out of nowhere.
Maybe it was for the best for now.
Paige was still muttering things to her twin when a shadow leered over the four.
Nancy stood their with a smirk. She'd been bullying Percy and Grover since they arrived at the stupid school, and had realised that her 'friend's' plan had failed at humiliating the group enough.
So there she was:
dumping her half eaten lunch in Grover's lap.
It was then that Percy had realised what Nicholas had felt only a few moments earlier. That glare, the hatred behind his eyes, he knew that this must've been what he felt.
But still, he tried to calm himself down.
Maybe karma would get to her as it did to that boy.
He didn't remember touching her.
Pushing her.
Honest.
And the twins could vouch for him when he said that he never laid a hand on Nancy Bobofit.
It was like one second, she was laughing at them, and the next she was in the fountain, screaming "Percy pushed me!"
Paige and Nicholas stood abruptly, Grover next to them as they tried to make sense of what had happened.
Other students had started surrounding the group, whispering amongst each other, as their algebra teacher somehow materialised next to them, the usual cold look on her face.
"Now, honey-"
Percy had a defeated yet confused look on his face as he cut her off, "I know. A month erasing workbooks."
Paige frowned too, only now it was about the punishment he seemed to get often. She hadn't realised kids were actually reprimanded for their actions at this school. Not properly at least. Many kids, her brother included, did many things that she would deem, inappropriate school behaviour and get off with a warning.
Most the time.
What was it about Percy that made teacher's care enough to punish him?
"Come with me."
"Wait!" The twins looked over to see Grover in a state of absolute fear. "It was me, I pushed her."
What had scared him so much?
Sure, she was a very scary woman, but still.
"I don't think so Mr Underwood."
"But-" he tried to protest, confusing the McCallister's. He was surely just going to get yelled at. Even if he hadn't done anything wrong, what was Grover so worried would happen?
"You will stay here," she ordered, pronouncing each word like she owned the world.
Percy noticed his friend looking at him desperately, knowing he was trying to find a way to get him out of this.
"It's okay man, thanks for trying."
He only looked away as Mrs Dodds barked at him to follow her.
Paige turned to Grover, trying to interrogate him about why he was so worried, so she didn't notice the short glare their teacher sent the twins.
But Nicholas did.
Despite it only lasting a few seconds at most, it sent chills down his spine. A foreboding feeling almost, like something bad would happen.
He grimaced slightly as he watched them walk away, only tuning into the conversation when they went out of eyesight.
"Are you cold? Do you need something to dry yourself off with? I think I have a spare-"
"I'm fine, Grover, but thanks."
The boy smiled at her, thinking about how she was so nice and endearing.
Nicholas fought the urge to scoff about how obvious he was. The guy seemed nice enough, but he wanted to protect his sister, whatever it took. Even if that meant scowling at sweet kid's who thought she was pretty or whatever.
They all looked up at the sky as it started to rain.
Heavily, may I add.
"Looks like me and Nancy won't be the only soaked ones now."
Nicholas rolled his eyes, opening his backpack as he heard Grover force himself to laugh at the joke. He wasn't sure if he faked it because he was so worried about his friend, or simply because he wanted to make Paige feel happy. Either way was unsettling to him.
First, the McCallister brought out a grey hoodie he packed, having a feeling it would be cold later on in the trip. He handed it to his sister, who took it without realising what it was at first. She looked down and shook her head.
"You take it, I'm already drenched."
She tried to give it back, but he'd already started rummaging through his bag again.
Sighing at his stubbornness, she pulled the jacket on, thankful for the warmth it provided.
Nicholas cringed at something as he took an object out, and apologetically handed it to Grover.
"Sorry man, it's all I have."
The Underwood boy looked to see it was a map, one of those big, thick ones. He thanked the brunet and held it above his head, hoping to hide himself from the big droplets.
They sat on the fountain for a few minutes, in silence. Paige had been fighting with herself on how to get her twin to accept the jacket back. He was already shivering, but held himself in a way that she knew he wasn't going to give in easily.
He'd definitely get sick after this trip.
Grover smiled at the two. He loved how protective Nicholas was of his sister, and how kind Paige was to him and everyone else. And despite his cold nature at the start, Grover knew that the McCallister boy was definitely as kind as her, especially after he gave him that map when it was all he had left.
Maybe he just kept it on the downlow to keep up appearances.
It didn't take long for Percy to come back.
Only now, he seemed shaken up. Confused. Dazed almost.
As he passed a very angry Nancy, she said that something that increased his confusion.
"I hope Mrs Kerr whipped your butt."
This was enough to gain the attention of the twins, but Grover seemed to be ignorant to it all. He looked guilty though, sad eyes and a frown.
"Who?"
"Our teacher. Duh!"
Paige glanced at her twin, raising a brow, as if asking 'what is she on about?'
Nicholas shrugged.
Percy rushed over to the trio, "where's Mrs Dodds?"
His best friend hesitated and kept his stare on the ground, but managed to get a small "Who?" out first.
The McCallister's looked at Grover like the boy was crazy.
"Not funny man, this is serious."
The way he said it, they knew he wasn't joking.
"Weren't you just with her Percy?" Paige had tried asking politely, but her confusion made it hard to hide the judgement in her tone.
"So you know who she is?"
The girl nodded slowly.
Percy huffed and went over to Mr Brunner, who'd disappeared for a little while but was back just before he arrived.
Sharing nervous glances to each other, the pair turned to Grover as Jackson spoke to their history teacher.
"Why are you messing with him? He seems really shaken up," Paige spoke to him slowly, confused why someone would do that to their friend.
He paused again, immediately feeling bad that he would have to lie to the girl. "I'm serious. There has never been someone called Mrs Dodds here."
Nicholas gulped.
He thinks he just found out why he had a bad feeling about this trip.