Another Chance

I make Alecto my bitch

I was currently sitting beside Grover on the school bus on the way to the museum. The past few weeks had been surprisingly uneventful. I've had no detentions in any of my classes, not that I care about them, but it was a nice change. Even Ms. Dodds grudgingly had to admit I was doing well in my classes. It was amusing to watch her grit out a compliment while digging her nails in her palms so hard, they drew blood.

As I was musing about the past days, I felt a wad of goop strike my hair. I sighed. It seems Nancy was still carrying her obsession of peanut-butter and ketchup derby.

I turned my head to find the same with Grover's hair. I narrowed my eyes. "Grover!" I chided. "I told you to tell me if Bobofit bothers you." Even if Nancy was better acquainted with me in this timeline, no one messes with my friends.

Grover flushed and mumbled something inaudible. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What? I didn't catch that." I asked.

Grover sighed. "I thought you didn't care. Because Nancy is actually nice to you."

I stared at him incredulously and smacked his head. "OW!" He protested.

"Are you kidding me, Grover? Just because she doesn't bully me doesn't mean she can bully my friends. Seriously? Just because I changed a bit in the last few days as an effort to improve and lose grudges doesn't mean I would just watch my friends get hurt by someone else, much less my best friend." I ranted. Did Grover think I wouldn't defend him? Seriously?

Grover blinked. "Wait. I am still your best friend?"

I glared at him. "No, of course not." I said sarcastically, "Why else would I hang out with you all the time, eat lunch with you, sit next to you in all the classes and talk with you all the time?"

Grover looked at me in disbelief and then flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, Perce, I don't know why I said that. You're my best friend too. I guess I didn't want others to fight my battles for me. Not after..." He trailed off sadly. My eyes widened, realizing he was talking about Thalia. I seriously wanted to slap the self-deprecating guy and tell him Thalia's supposed death wasn't his fault but I couldn't. That would raise way more questions than I wanted to answer. But I empathized with him. He didn't want any of his friends to get hurt because of him again as did I.

I shook my head and said, "It's fine G-man. I bet you'll find who you're looking for someday."

Grover's eyes widened as I panicked at what I blurted out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You aren't supposed to know about Pan yet. I mentally slapped myself as Grover took a shaky breath. "Bla-ha-ha, w-what did you s-say?" He squeaked out.

I put on a confused mask and asked, "What?"

"What did you say about finding someone?", He repeated shakily, his face pale. I gave him a fake funny look. "I said you'll find what you want one day. As in you'll find peace in your life. Hmm...now that I think about it, it does sound philosophical and rather ominous. That's why you freaked out, right?" Damn, that was an excuse worthy of Hermes.

Grover hastily nodded. "Y-yeah, of course. T-that's the reason. Hehe." He laughed nervously. Gods, Grover can't lie for his life.

I rolled my eyes and was about to ask him about some homework when I was rudely interrupted by a wet plosh at the back of my head. I took a deep breath and turned around to find Nancy with a 'deer-caught-in-headlights' look with a piece of sandwich in her hand. It honestly took a whole lot of willpower not to laugh for Grover's sake, because the look on her face was utterly hilarious.

"Nancy," I said in a warning tone. "What are you doing?" I spoke out slowly.

She gave out a sheepish smile and a nervous laugh. "Sorry, Percy. But I wasn't aiming for you!" She pointed out hastily. "I was aiming for the scrawny kid."