02- I remember why I gave up
||Percy's P.O.V.||
I WALKED NERVOUSLY to the front door of my mom's apartment. My hands are turning to stone, my feet turning to jelly, my footsteps on the floor matching the beat of my heart.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I hit my knuckles on the door softly. The door opened.
"Percy!" My mom cried as she hugged me with all her strength.
"Mom! I missed you guys!" I hugged back.
"We missed you too!" She said as she led me to the couch to sit with Estelle.
"Pewcyyyyyy." Yelled an excited one year old Estelle.
"Hey Estelle!" Percy said, hugging his little sister.
"Well aren't you two bundles of joy. I baked blue cookies!" Sally said happily, chuckling at her children's antics.
"Yay!" The two children of Sally Blofis cried out in joy.
"So Percy, last night when you IM-ed me... do you want to talk about it?" Sally asked cautiously.
"Yeah, she... um, told me that she didn't want to do it anymore. She said that I wasn't good enough, that she was going to live in Olympus now that she's a full-time architect and-" Percy said, a tear trailing it's way down his cheek. The pain of his break up now catching up to him. "-she said that I wasn't worth it anymore."
By the time he finished, tears were already marking his tan face.
"My baby boy! It was her loss, you are worth it Percy, you're good enough, you're Percy Jackson for gods' sake! Don't you ever believe anything that she said." Sally said, hugging her heartbroken son.
"Don't cwy Pewcy, Estelle is here!" Estelle said obliviously, hugging her crying brother.
Unable to say anything else, the three stayed silent, munching on blue cookies and waiting for someone to break the silence.
"So what are you gonna do now?" Sally asked, finally unable to bear the silence.
"Go to college, take up marine biology, get a job, probably some anti-smelling potions from dad. A normal life... probably." Percy replied.
"That's great! You still have your room here. You can stay as long as you want."
"Thanks mom."
•••
||Percy's P.O.V.||
It's been a few days since I told my mom my plans, and it's also due time that I tell my dad about it. So here I am, sitting in the bathroom and waiting for dad to answer.
"Hey dad." I said as the misty image of my father appeared.
"Percy! What can I do for you?" He asked.
"I was wondering if I could ask a favor?" I said to him, I'm kinda guilty in making my dad do stuff for me but I have no other option to choose from.
"Ask away."
"Do you have like an anti-smelling potion? Like for demigods? I'm leaving camp and getting a degree in marine biology." I said.
"Maybe Delphin has some, I'll ask him. I'll let Hermes deliver it for you."
"Thanks dad."
"It's great that you're making an effort to move on, if you need anything else, just IM me." He said.
"Thanks dad, Bye." I called out before swiping my had through the IM. One down, now I have to actually apply for college.
•••
"Hey, uh... can I get one of those forms please?" I said to the cashier, not making eye contact. (sheesh, eye contact is really hard to maintain, don't give me shit about it)
"What are you applying for?" She asked.
"Marine Biology." I replied, tapping my foot but still not looking up.
"Here." She said handing me a paper with blue lines from the stacks of paper in the desk. This is where I got a good look at her face, hmm, familiar.
"Uh... I don't have a pen." I said to her awkwardly.
"Huh?—oh sorry, here." She said, handing me a pen from the back that was supposed to go with the form.
"Thanks."
I few minutes have passed and I was about to finish the form, just simple stuff, birthday, age, name, address, level of competency or something. Pretty normal stuff, I guess.
"Uh... where do I submit?" I ask her.
"Just hand it over." She said gently.
When in the world did girls get so gentle to me?
"Thanks..." I trailed off, stopping a minute to look at her nametag. "Nancy."
Oh shit.
It clicked to me why she looked so familiar.
Nancy Bobofit? Is that her? I'd rather not dwell on that.
After realising that, Stepped out to go but I stopped dead in my tracks when she called out.
"Percy?"
"Er... yes?" I asked. (is she even allowed to do this? She's on a shift yaknow, even though there's like 5 other people just sitting here 'cause online forms exist)
"Been a long time." She said awkwardly.
"Yeah... I have to go, got to babysit my sister. Bye." I said to her, dam (hehe, dam) this is awkward.
Having nothing else to say, I sped off to go back to my mom's apartment.
I took a cab back to the building that I lived in at the moment, the 10 minute ride made me think about the bills my mom would get if I stayed, so I decided to move out as soon as I can get enough money.
"I'm home!" I called out.
"Welcome back! There's candy in the kitchen." Mom said, pausing the movie before standing up to hug me.
"Sweet!" I said, running to the kitchen and taking out a handful. (Or two, who knows?)
"Don't eat too much! You know what happens when you eat too much." Mom warned.
"Hey mom, uh... are there some apartments nearby? I was thinking of moving out. Since, yaknow, you have a lot of bills and I'm just being a bother for you." I said, sitting on the couch beside her.
"Percy! You will never be a bother, you know that. And I don't care about the bills, I just want you to be happy, don't worry about that, Paul and I have stable jobs, nothing to be worried about." She reprimanded.
"Thanks mom, but I want to repay you guys, and the only way to start is by me moving out, I'll visit a lot so you won't miss me." I said gratefully, taking her hands so that she'll understand my point, hopefully.
"It's your decision, but we'll definitely miss you." Mom said after a long moment of silence.
"I'll just look for apartments nearby, I won't live that far away, don't worry." I reassured her.
•••
||3rd Person P.O.V.||
A few months have passed and Percy had gotten in into college. His grades were mediocre at best, but at least he passed, right? No monster attacks since he drank that potion, though it's almost wearing off and he has to ask for another potion from his father.
"Hey Nancy." Percy called to his friend that he made in the last few months.
"Sup." She replied.
"Wanna hang out? There's no class tomorrow anyway." He offered.
"Sure, why not? I'll follow, gotta stop by the store to finish my shift." Nancy agreed.
"Cool! See ya!" Percy said before skating away back to his apartment block. (he doesn't take cabs anymore since he almost got discovered by a rogue cyclops)
•••
"Oh Gods! I'm sorry, didn't see ya there." Percy apologized to a person he bumped into.
"Watch where you're going boy!" The person replied.
"Definitely will... wait, you look familiar. Have we met before?" Percy said, noticing the striking her striking silver eyes and auburn hair.
"Maybe we have... Perseus."
1263 words
Hey guys! Thanks for reading this story, I hope you like it. And if you notice any errors or spelling mistakes, please comment so I can make this story better. Constructive criticism is always welcome!
~slummons