Home Is Where You Are

Chapter 18

I'm so sorry that I keep going MIA, but I have a lot of school work and other things, so I'm pretty busy. I'm going back to school soon, so I'll try to update as much as possible before then. Sorry! 

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Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoH, all of those credits go to Rick Riordan. 

Happy reading! 

Jade

Just then, something caught my eye. In the corner of the room, was a Goode swim team jersey. Quickly, I walked over to it. No one was looking at me, and no one seemed to care, so I took it off the hook. It smelt like the ocean - Percy's signature smell. Hurriedly, I took it back to my bag and stuffed it inside.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Someone demanded. I winced and turned around, expecting to see Annabeth standing over me, scowling. Instead, Charlotte Prestsy stood in front of me, her eyebrows raised so high that they were practically lost in her hair.

"Excuse me? I said, what do you think you're doing?" She repeated, "Give me the jersey,"

She stuck out her hand, and I noticed the difference in her orange wrist to her pale hand. I rolled my eyes. She was so fake.

"And why would I do that?" I retorted. I may be a social parasite, but I'd rather that than... whatever you call Charlotte.

"So that I can date Percy," She snarled. I rolled my eyes (again),

"No way," I sneered. She glared at me, but I didn't back down,

"Fine," She finally said, "But you and me are going to work together," I almost threw up in my mouth,

"Excuse me?" I shrieked, earning many looks from the other girls. Charlotte let out an exasperated sigh,

"Because I need a man on the inside," She explained, "and once we've broken those two up, Percy can decide between you and me," She finished smugly as if she already knew that he would pick her. I pondered this.

"What are you even gonna do to break those two up?" I said, a scowl plastered on my face. Charlotte shot me a warningful glance, "Fine," I told her. She nodded, apparently satisfied, and yanked the jersey from my hands. I wrinkled my nose. What have I done? 

Just then, the door to the changing rooms opened and Annabeth walked in. She just rolled her eyes when she noticed the stares that she was getting, and walked over to her bag. Quickly I got changed and dashed out of the door, not wanting to be there when she figured out her jersey was missing.

"Hey Percy, what's up?" I asked him. After coming out of the changing rooms, I had seen him leaning against the opposite wall - god he was gorgeous... focus!

"Nothing, just waiting for Annabeth," He replied.

"Who are these guys?" I asked, pointing to the five other people leaning against the wall next to him. He looked around and grinned,

"Well, Jade, this is Thalia," He said, pointing to the girl next to him with spiky black hair and a gothic look, "Then that's Clarrise and Chris," He said, motioning to the couple holding hands. The girl (Clarrise) looked like she was ready to beat me up, "Then there's Connor and Travis... or Travis and Connor, whichever is which," He remarked, pointing to two boys next to him. They were both exactly the same, right down to the last brown fleck in their blue eyes.

"Hi," I said, nervously. They all seemed to scan me before smiling back - some of them at least.

"I'm Travis," Said one of the twins, as he stepped forward and offered his hand,

"I'm Travis," said the other twin, "your Connor,"

"Yeah, and we already did the introductions," Chipped in Percy. Connor blushed and stepped back in line.

"So why are you guys waiting here?" I asked them,

"Because Kelp heads over here wants to wait for his girlfriend," Said the punk girl - Thalia.

"Hey!" Percy protested. I laughed. Percy smiled and the others shared a look.

"What?" I asked defensively. They all smirked at me. I scoffed.

"See you later, Perce," I said and walked off. I checked to see if any of them we watching, and when none of them were, I ducked behind a locker to listen,

"And Percy has another fangirl," smirked one of the twins - was it Connor?

"What?" Percy asked.

"She likes you, Fish breath," Said Thalia, "Do we have to spell it out for you?" I could only see half of Percy's face from where I was hidden, but from what I could make out, he was frowning,

"Jade doesn't like me! She's my friend!" he objected. So he doesn't know that I like him? Just then, Annabeth came storming out of the changing rooms.

"Your jersey's gone!" She told him. What a loser.

"What?" He asked

"Your Goode swim team jersey! It's gone," She explained.

"Let's check lost and found maybe?" He suggested. The others groaned,

"I wanna go home!" Travis said,

"Sally's cookies," Put in Clarisse. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll check lost and found, Annabeth, you take these guys to the car," Annabeth opened her mouth - probably to disagree - but the others pulled her along the corridor. I waited until they left and stepped out of my hiding place.

 I was about to go after Percy, when someone grabbed my arm. For the second time in about ten minutes, I turned around to see Charlotte Pretsy staring at me. This time, however, she had changed out of her Gym uniform into a very short pink crop top and very mini mini skirt, with white six inch heels and Percy's jersey over the top - how did that not defy the dress code?

"We need to talk strategy," She told me, before grabbing my hand and pulling me along the now empty corridor. When we had walked for a bit, we stopped in the parking lot and she started to talk. Until, that is, I felt a tap on my shoulder.