CHAPTER THREE ——
PARKER BECOMES A
LATIN TEACHER !
┊͙ 🖋️ ˖ . *. ⋆
( "what? do i need to
say it to you in french?" )
PARKER THOUGHT SHE WAS LOSING HER MIND.
For the last few weeks of the school year, everybody seemed to be playing some kind of trick on her. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr— a perky blonde woman whom Parker had never seen in her life until she got on the school bus at the end of the field trip— had been their pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.
She didn't know when or why the entire school decided to pull the world's most frustrating prank on her, but she wasn't going to be convinced that Mrs. Dodds was never real.
Parker was prone to 'hallucinating' things, as adults would call it. Though this time was different, Mrs. Dodds was her teacher for almost a year.
The only thing keeping her from going absolutely insane was Percy.
As disgusting as Parker thought that sentence was, and she would never directly tell him that, Percy was the only person who believed Mrs. Dodds was real. He was just as confused as she was when this Mrs. Kerr lady showed up out of nowhere.
Parker hadn't really spoken to Percy since the museum, besides the time their teacher forced them to be partners in science class. Even then, Percy got annoyed and called Parker a control freak so they ended up doing their own work while unwillingly sitting next to each other.
And Parker couldn't stop having nightmares.
Her dreams were always either visions of old memories or extravagant and unrealistic visions, which she always figured was a result of her ADHD imagination. But these nightmares felt too realistic. She would wake up in horrific places and Mrs. Dodds made an appearance most of the time. Her evil scowl, black leathery wings, and deadly sharp claws would try to kill the girl.
Parker would wake up in a cold sweat every night. The lack of sleep got to her. It was harder to focus and she already had an issue with paying attention. She had to try extra hard to keep her grades up. At least there's one positive about not having friends, she thought. More time to study.
Her mood also shifted, becoming more irritated than ever before. Sometimes Parker would ask to go to the bathroom and instead just head back to her dorm room because if she didn't, she suspected she'd end up causing unwanted trouble.
She left the troublemaking to Percy.
Even though Parker would be given warnings for leaving classes, she was still enrolled at Yancy Academy. For the first time in her eight years of school, she'd be going to the same school for two years in a row... an actual school.
Parker spent all her free time studying the week before her exams, making sure she knew the answer to every possible question that could be asked. Parker wanted to prove to her aunt Amelia and her stupid stuck-up family that she wasn't just a 'bad kid.'
The night before the final for Mr. Brunner's class, Parker sat in her room reviewing the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology textbook. She had already highlighted everything using her study system, each colour highlighter representing something different. Yellow was for important ideas, pink was for key terms, blue was for definitions, green was for important figures, and red was for the things she didn't understand.
Luckily, there was no red in this textbook.
Reading was always hard for Parker growing up, it was as if the letters on the page would pick up and swirl around like a storm on the paper. It was incredibly frustrating. The highlighters helped her, the different colours made the black letters pop more.
Percy had also attempted to study for the final.
Key word: attempted.
He got so frustrated he ended up throwing the textbook across his dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling his head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. Percy thought there was no way he was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.
He paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside his shirt. Percy remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.
The boy took a deep breath and picked up the mythology book. Percy was never one to ask a teacher for help. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he thought, he could give me some pointers. At least Percy could apologize for the big fat F he was about to score on his exam. He didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with his teacher thinking he hadn't tried.
Percy walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.
He was three steps from the door handle when he heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, "... worried about Percy and Parker, sir."
Percy froze.
He wasn't usually an eavesdropper, but something about his best friend talking about him and a girl he despised to an adult that peaked his curiosity.
"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"
"We would only make matters worse by rushing them," Mr. Brunner said. "Percy— at least— needs to mature more."
"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—"
"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."
"Sir, they both saw her..."
"Their imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."
"And I noticed Parker..." His voice got quieter as if what he was saying was frightening. Percy couldn't make out what he said until he raised his voice again. "Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again. You know what that would mean." Grover sounded choked with emotion.
"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen the teacher for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Parker and Percy alive until next fall—"
The mythology book dropped out of Percy's hand and hit the floor with a thud.
Mr. Brunner went silent.
Percy's heart hammering, he picked up the book and backed down the hall.
A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than the wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. Percy opened the nearest door and slipped inside.
A few seconds later he heard a slow cop-dop-cop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside the door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down Percy's neck.
Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke.
"Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."
"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have
sworn..."
"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."
"Don't remind me."
The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. Percy waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.
Finally, he slipped out into the hallway. Instead of heading back to his room with Grover, he found his way to a specific single dorm.
He raised his hand to knock, then hesitated. Then raised his hand again... and stopped himself. His brain was yelling at him to just knock, but his body which had been beaten up and embarrassed by a certain girl a few months ago was telling him to run.
He knocked.
On the other side of the wall, Parker was startled. Who could be knocking on my door at night? She thought. Nobody ever cared to come to see me. Curious, she stood up from her bed and walked over to the door, opening it to see none other than Percy Jackson. He held the same textbook in his hand that was open on her bed.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Parker asked.
"Hello to you too," Percy replied. Parker almost slammed the door in his face but she wanted to know what had brought him here, so she waited for an elaboration. Percy's face changed into a serious expression. He was rarely ever serious, so the girl was immediately on edge. "Parker, can you just push all your hatred and spite down for just a moment and let me in? I don't want anyone else to hear."
Parker was almost as surprised now as she was when Mrs. Dodds showed off her nightmarish dragon cosplay. "Maybe if you asked nicely."
Percy sighed. "Parker Pérez, can you please let me into your lovely dorm room so I can speak to you?" He spoke in a tone a toddler would use to convince their parents to buy them a new toy.
"Fine." She agreed. "But make it quick, I'm studying."
Percy nodded and stepped into the room, glancing around at everything on the walls. Parker was lucky enough to get a single room, so she was able to decorate it any way she wanted. There was a bunch of her personal art on the walls, along with a few band posters. Two guitars sat in the corner, next to a drum set— an electric drum kit because they're quieter. The acoustic guitar and drum set belonged to the school, since apparently, Parker was one of the only kids at Yancy who enjoyed creating music, so she could keep things in her room for extra practice. "You play instruments? When do you have the time for all of this?" Percy seemed shocked like he had just assumed Parker was someone who didn't have any out-of-school interests.
Art was like an escape for her. It's like a cozy retreat from the noise of everyday life, where she can express her feelings and lighten her load. Blank pages become a mirror for her thoughts, giving her a break from the constant noise in her brain.
And playing instruments like the drums not only sounds cool... but was great for when she was angry.
"Yancy has an after-school music program if you didn't know. But ignore it. Don't get distracted." Parker said while Percy completely disregarded her, picking up her personal black and white electric guitar and staring at it. Parker rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna tell me what's so important? I don't have all night."
"Right, yeah." He put the guitar back, trying to find the right words to use. "I was struggling a bit trying to study for the final tomorrow, so I went down to Mr. Brunner's to ask for help, but Grover was in there... and they were talking about us."
Parker's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Us? What did we do?"
Percy was just as puzzled. "I don't know. I didn't hear everything, but the first thing I heard was Grover say that he was concerned for the both of us." He explained. Parker couldn't think of a logical reason Grover would be worried about her. Percy was his best friend, it'd make sense to worry about your best friend. "It was hard to fully make out, but he started talking about how it would be dangerous for us to be alone this summer, and how there had been a Kindly One in the school."
"... What?" Was the only word that managed to successfully come out of the girl's mouth.
"What, what? Do I need to say it to you in French?" Percy sarcastically replied.
Parker threw the red highlighter at his head. "Do you know how ridiculous you sound?... Lame prank, Jackson. Next time come up with a better name for a monster than a Kindly One."
"I'm being serious, Parker! Grover mentioned not having a lot of time. Something about a summer solstice deadline, whatever that means. Then Mr. Brunner said: "Now let's just worry about keeping Percy and Parker alive until next fall." What if we're in danger? We're the only ones who saw Mrs. Dodds!" He raised his voice, giving the girl a feeling that he wasn't lying.
Parker didn't even know what to think. "Why should I believe you?"
Percy glared at her like he was moments away from ripping his black hair out. "Because why would I ever come directly to your room to prank you? I don't want to go back home to my mom with another black eye!"
Parker hummed in response. "Fair enough." She thought for a moment. "I mean, there's only a few weeks until this year's summer solstice, but why would Grover be concerned about when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky?"
"I don't know. That's why I came here. I thought maybe you'd know something."
She shook her head. "I've never heard the term Kindly One before and honestly I don't want to think about it right now. I need to focus on this exam." Parker sat back on her bed and pulled the textbook onto her lap, signalling to Percy that it was time for him to leave.
He just stared at her like he was mentally contemplating saying something. "This is not my proudest moment but uh..." Percy closed his eyes as if what he was about to say physically pained him. "If you're not going think about our impending doom, can you um... help me study for the exam?... I'm dyslexic so I have a hard time trying to read everything."
Parker didn't know what she was expecting him to say, but it wasn't asking for help. She never knew dyslexia was another learning disability they had in common. "What's in it for me?"
Percy thought for a moment. "Bragging rights if I get a good mark." He suggested, but didn't get a response. "Bragging rights and a bunch of free candy."
Parker huffed. "Fine."
PARKER ACED THE LATIN EXAM.
Turns out, her misery of teaching Percy a year's worth of lessons in a few hours helped her remember everything. Things stick with you once you explain them like you're teaching an infant how to say hello.
After three hours and over a hundred questions, Parker finally finished the test. There had been two or three people who had finished before her, one of them being Grover, though the classroom was still fairly full. She stood up and handed the completed exam back to Mr. Brunner, who sat quietly at his desk. "Thank you, Parker." He took the papers with a small smile and a look of approval. "Stay safe this summer. I will see you next year."
The way he said to stay safe made her feel uneasy. As if everyone else knew something dangerous was going to happen except for her. Parker put on a smile and nodded before leaving the room.
She headed down the halls, on the way to the dorm rooms while she contemplated the meaning of life. Percy's talk of trying to stay alive until the fall and Mr. Brunner's summer safety warning had her feeling like there was a grim reaper trailing behind her at every moment.
Directly after Parker pictured the personification of death waiting for her, ready to slice her in half with a scythe, She heard footsteps running up from behind.
She felt a wave of fear wash over her until she turned around and saw Grover running up toward her. "Parker! Glad I caught you. I wanted to give you this." He handed her a small card that resembled a business card. It read,
𝓖𝓻𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓤𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝔀𝓸𝓸𝓭
𝒦ℯℯ𝓅ℯ𝓇
ℋ𝒶𝓁𝒻-𝒷𝓁ℴℴ𝒹 ℋ𝒾𝓁𝓁
ℒℴ𝓃ℊ ℐ𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝒩ℯ𝓌 𝒴ℴ𝓇𝓀
(800) 009-0009
The font made Parker's eyes burn. "Half-blood hill?" She questioned. She had lived in New York for a few years and had never heard of it.
"Yeah. It's my summer address. I, uh... I thought maybe if you weren't busy this summer and wanted someone to hang out with, you could hang out with me." He offered a small smile, almost seeming a little nervous.
Parker placed the card in her pocket. She appreciated Grover's effort in trying to be her friend. "Yeah. I probably won't be doing much. I might take you up on that offer." She smiled back.
Grover seemed happy with that response.
AUTHOR'S NOTE !
parker is literally me.
canadian representation
💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
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