sasha thought it wouldn't be that hard to convince percy that mrs kerr had been their maths teacher since christmas and not mrs dodds.
bullshit.
every so often, sasha noticed percy would spring up a mrs dodds reference, trying to catch someone, anyone out. everyone always looked at him like he was a raving lunatic, so at least sasha got a couple laughs out of the struggle.
to be honest, percy probably would have fallen for it. if it weren't for grover.
grover is a terrible liar.
whenever percy would mention mrs dodds to him, he would hesitate, then stutter out some half-assed claim that he didn't know who percy was talking about. sasha mentally face-palmed everytime.
percy never bothered to ask sasha.
although, he was not acting as hostile towards her since her awkward attempt at getting him not to follow mrs dodds on the cursed field trip. sasha didn't really know how to feel about the development.
the gods were still fighting up in olympus, and it was only getting worse. one night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in her dorm room. thankfully, grover dragged percy to come tape up the empty frame and donate some extra blankets, which percy did not seem too happy about. a few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in hudson valley touched down only fifty miles from yancy academy. one of the topics they were studying in social studies was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in the sudden atlantic storms that year.
gods, zeus was really starting to piss sasha off at this point. did someone steal his godly lollipop or something?!
whilst percy wasn't being outright venomous to sasha anymore, he had somehow become even more aggravating to deal with. his grades were straight-up crashing, his temper had gotten worse and he managed to get sent out of almost every class.
just wait, it gets worse.
one day, their english teacher asked percy for the millionth teacher why he was too lazy to study for the spelling test, and he completely lost his shit. he called the teacher a 'shoddy old dickhead'. to be honest, the insult didn't make complete sense to sasha but it sounded insulting enough. fair enough though, sasha thought. she would curse a teacher for making fun of someone's dyslexia as well.
unfortunately, that had sealed the deal. perseus jackson would not be invited back to yancy academy the following year.
grover and sasha were sitting in mr brunner's office the evening before their final. the daughter of apollo wasn't that worried about the paper. she was practically raised with these myths. many of the half-bloods at camp could understand latin with effort but it was more difficult compared to the ease of greek. however, sasha's brain seemed able to understand latin to a similar fluency as greek.
sasha could remember vague flashes of family members speaking latin to her at times. telling stories from myths or of her great-grandmother's adventures. only those descended from her great-grandmother alexandria though.
it was strange to sasha. she felt she knew so much yet so little about her great-grandmother. and it seemed mutual (sasha knows she's dead but yet somehow...). alexandria had written in her will for heosphoros, as well as plenty of her money, to be inherited by sasha when she passed. and even though sasha wasn't born until the day alexandria died (super weird as well by the way), she had specific requests for sasha to be named after her - sasha is short for alexandria. her mother wasn't too fond of the poshness of alexandria-
sasha was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard grover say, "i mean, a kindly one in the school! now that we know for sure, and they know too-"
"uh, don't even lie. you have definitely known this whole time. at this point, its right under our noses. and everyone elses. things are getting messier by the second. you can't seriously try to delay it longer," sasha interrupted. the entire situation was starting to get on her nerves and she was getting impatient and irritated.
"we would only make matters worse by rushing him," chiron reasoned. "we need the boy to mature more."
he was attacked by a fury, for gods' sakes. i think matters are pretty much at their worst at this point, sasha desperately wanted to retort.
but grover piped up before she had the chance. "but he may not have time. the summer solstice deadline-". he stopped himself, glancing at sasha cautiously.
"what deadline?" sasha asked with narrowed eyes. she couldn't believe chiron was still leaving her out of information, despite being at camp longer than pretty much anyone.
chiron ignored her completely. "we will have to resolve without him, let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."
"sir, he saw her..." grover persisted.
"he doesn't have any ignorance left, chiron. how could he?" sasha said as she crossed her arms. percy knowing sooner meant going to camp sooner, and that was all sasha wanted right now.
"leave it to his imagination," chiron still insisted. "the mist over the rest of the students and staff will be enough to convince him."
"sir, i can't...i can't fail my duties again," grover choked out, his voice dripping with sorrow and regret. "you know what that would mean."
sasha placed a hand on her friend's shoulder to provide comfort. "you haven't failed, grover. and you won't ever," she told him reassuringly.
"she's right," chiron said kindly. "i should have been more cautious. now, let's just worry about keeping percy alive until next autumn-"
a loud crash sounded from the hallway. sasha's hand darted to heosphoros.
the three moved silently as they each unsheathed their weapons. sasha twisted the crown of the watch and a golden bow appeared in her hands. a quiver filled with matching gold arrows appeared strapped on her back. chiron took out his archer's bow and grover his reed pipes.
with cautious steps, they slipped out of the office, weapons out and eyes open, ready for anything out of the norm. they scouted a few steps down the hall.
"nothing," chiron murmured. "my nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."
"ours neither," grover agreed, placing his reed pipes back in his pocket.
"go back to your dorms,"chiron told them. "tomorrow's a long day of exams for you two."
sasha pouted like a child, "don't remind me." grover shook his head with a smile and pulled her away to the dorms.
sasha hesitantly turned her bow back into its watch form, following grover slowly.
she could have sworn she saw the light bend around a figure in the supply cupboard...
the next afternoon, sasha was suffereing from severe back pain after being rooted to an uncomfortable chair for 3 hours straight. she was just finishing up her latin paper when chiron called out to percy.
sasha winced in anticipation of what was to come. chiron really needed some lessons in communication.
"percy," sasha could hear from across the room, "don't be discouraged about leaving yancy. it's...it's for the best."
his tone was kind enough, but his choice of words weren't the best. and sasha wasn't the only person able to hear the conversation. from a couple seats to her right, nancy bobofit mocked percy by making little kissy motions with her lips. sasha could see percy roll her eyes at nancy's antics, then shift his gaze over to sasha, probably expecting a similar delight at his failure, but she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.
sasha didn't like perseus. but she was not cruel. she had experienced enough expulsions herself to know how awful it felt.
"okay sir," percy grumbled, turning back to chiron.
sasha sent the centaur a violent message with her eyes over percy's shoulder, shut up, shut up! percy's embarrassment was clear even from behind him, something chiron caused with his shakespearean way with words. note sasha's sarcasm.
"i meant..." chiron wheeled himself back and forth, trying to find a way to not hurt the boy's feelings. "this just isn't the right place for you. it was only a matter of time."
oh fuck me. sasha facepalmed.
"right," percy rolled his shoulders, growing more irritated by the second.
"no, no! not-" chiron protested, "oh, confound it all. what i'm trying to say...you're not normal, percy." you've got to be shitting me old man. "that's nothing to be ashamed-"
there's no way, that after months of trying to convince chiron to tell percy he was a demigod, he was about to blurt it out in front of the entire class - who were obviously eavesdropping.
"thanks," percy interrupted bitterly. "thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."
"percy-" chiron tried.
but the boy was already gone.
finally, the last day of term. sasha went about packing up her stuff, bouncing around her room excitedly. summer meant camp.
the rest of the girls in her dorm were discussing their summer plans. one of them was going to brazil. another was touring europe. they were juvenile delinquents, like sasha (not really). but they were rich juvenile delinquents...also like sasha (but again not really).
sasha had the money left from her great-grandmother and her mother. her mother's gigs - though few - made a lot of money, and her mother died before sasha reached an age where that kind of money was needed. her great-grandmother also somehow had a shit-ton of money, a combination of the wealthy laurier family line, and her own success as...something. sasha didn't really know to be honest.
thanks to this though, sasha was set. although she didn't get full access to the fortune until she turned 18. the only money she could access was her monthly allowance dispersed by the bank and the money her aunt spent on sasha's education.
when it came to sasha's turn to tell her summer plans, she answered honestly. "i'm going to my usual summer camp."
"oh," one said, "that's cool. i guess."
then they went back to the conversation. sasha wasn't really going to miss any of them.
sasha stood waiting patiently in front of yancy's entrance, goodbyes already said. she had been planning to take the bus with grover and percy so that her and grover could make their way to camp together, but annabeth had asked sasha to pick some stuff up from her house to bring to camp.
so sasha was waiting outside yancy's for a familiar white suv to pull into the street. the van had "Delphi Strawberry Service" with a strawberry vine logo plastered on the side, since it was the one they used to deliver the strawberries around.
what? camp had to be paid for one way or another.
the window on the driver's side rolled down and sitting behind the wheel was sasha's older brother, lee fletcher. lee was one of the inhabitants from cabin 7 who took the most after their father apollo. he had sandy blonde hair which swept over his head, he had a chiseled chin and jaw, and his smile was blinding, lighting up any room - physically and emotionally. lee was sasha's second favourite sibling and her co-counsellor for cabin 7. he was giving her a lift home then to camp since sasha was too young to drive.
lee stepped out the van and approached sasha, squeezing her in a hug then ruffling hair, ugh. "hey, sis. how you doing?" he asked, flashing a grin.
sasha just rolled her eyes at him, though she didn't fight the wide smile on her face. she truly loved lee.
lee grabbed sasha's bags and led her back to the van. he loaded the boot then opened the door to the passenger seat, letting sasha slide in. just as lee was sliding into his own seat behind the wheel, sasha heard a mischievious giggle from the back of the suv.
she whipped her head around, recognising that adorable sound anywhere. "will solace!"
the young boy jumped forward out of the shadows and wrapped his arms around sasha's neck.
will was the youngest current member of cabin 7, at just 9 years old. he had bleach blond hair - which was starting to seriously need a haircut, baby blue eyes, the cutest little smile and giggle- "oh my gods, you lost a tooth!"
the young son of apollo nodded proudly, puffing out his chest, taking it as a queue to tell her the story of how it happened. he was sasha's favourite sibling.
sasha looked over her shoulder subtly, so as not to disrupt will's storytelling, and whispered at lee, "what is he doing here, lee?"
the older teenager shrugged nonchalantly. "he begged me to come. you try say no to that face."
sasha rolled her eyes but let him off the hook. he made a strong point.
sasha's gaze drifted over lee's shoulder looking through his open door, having zoned out of will's story by now. she spotted grover and percy making their way out of the school now.
"will, that's lovely honey. why don't you keep telling me the story as we drive."
will nodded enthusiastically. lee just stared at her skeptically. sasha never stopped will's rambling - she was the most patient with him out of their whole cabin.
sasha desperately wanted them to leave now. she had been prohibited from telling anyone other than annabeth about percy. so no one actually knew that she was going to the same school as grover. and they weren't going to find out.
unfortunately, lee took too long to close his door, still inspecting her inquisitively. sasha's eyes flickered back up to grover and percy. percy must have felt eyes on him because his head lifted towards her, making intense eye contact.
sasha broke it immediately. she leaned over lee, because the dick can't move his lazy arse in time, and pulled the door shut, trying desperately to fight the heat rising up her cheeks.
"hit the gas, lee," sasha ordered. lee raised an eyebrow but obeyed, and the big building of yancy blurred into the distance. sasha looked up into the rear-view mirror to address will. "go on, honey, keep telling me your story."
so they drove through the city, talking about anything and everything. well, mostly will. sasha forcefully ignored lee's suspicious stares.
will conked out in 20 minutes, his cute little snores filling the van. sasha couldn't help but smile at her little brother.
chapter 2!
will and lee have my whole heart.
thoughts?