Scars of My Past

Chapter 19

"You know, I already miss vacations." Leo muttered as he brushed monster dust from his pants.

"Diddo." Percy grumbled.

"Agreed." Hazel sighed. "It's literally been less than a day and we've already got monsters on our tail."

She was right. They're plane had landed late last night and it was nine in the morning the next day. The coffee machine was sadly broken and rock paper scissors determined that Leo, Hazel, and Percy would be the ones to go get coffee. They had been sent to trudge through the city to go get Starbucks. And of course monsters had to attack them.

So that's how they ended up in an alley near Starbucks covered up in monster dust. Their vacation had ended too fast.

"Ok, ok, let's just go get some coffee." Leo muttered. "I have plans."

Hazel wiggled her eyebrows as they kept walking. "With who? A little special someone named Calypso."

Leo hummed dreamily which caused Percy to snort. Leo glared at him. "No I have an invention I'm working on and I would really like for it to work by the end of the day. Oh and don't look at me like that Perce we all know how you get when you look at Annabeth."

"Yeah but at least I'm not afraid to admit it." Percy whispered to a grinning Hazel.

"Come on. I'm thinking the others won't mind if we talk a little bit in the cafe before we leave." Leo said.

"Outside or inside?" Percy asked.

"Outside." Hazel said. "We're still going through this pandemic. Even if we can't get sick because we're demigods doesn't mean we can't spread the virus to others."

"Alright fine. Come on Leo, Hazel."

And so they went. Starbucks wasn't as full as it usually was. Usually there was a pack of teenagers and couples and adults all milling around even if the pandemic was going on. Today it was just empty. Which was okay with them and it didn't really matter since all they needed was their coffees and a nice table outside. Leo got a caramel mocha while Percy got a white chocolate mocha. Hazel just went with pure black coffee stating that it was the original and nothing could beat it.

They sat in silence for a while just examining the area. There were cars driving by everywhere and there was a lot of noise but somehow it was calming to Percy. It just felt normal. When he was little he would walk to school and back and people would be yelling at each other from the other side of the road like it was just another friendly conversation. It felt good to see that the city hadn't changed at all.

It felt like home.

"What are ya thinking about Perce?" Leo asked.

Percy shook his head in response. "Nothin. Just... thinking."

"Hmm." Hazel hummed. She looked at him for a moment. "Ok. Well I have a problem."

"Spill, carino."

Hazel rolled her eyes. Leo had gotten into a habit with calling people little nicknames in spanish and nobody understood. Calypso didn't mind because she knew his love was only for her but the nicknames had started to get annoying for everyone else.

"Alright let's get back to my problem shall we? School."

Oh. Yeah school had been a problem for Hazel. She would have to retake years of high school and possibly middle school seeing as she had come from a different time and teaching was different nowadays. Nobody was really forcing her to take school but if she didn't then she would have a hard time getting a job from anywhere outside of the camps and she wouldn't be able to go to college for whatever job she wanted to go to.

"Is it worth it? Should I go to school? I mean I could just work at a cafe at Camp Jupiter or something. Besides, school takes too long. I'd probably be dead because of a monster attack before I even graduate high school."

"How morbid." Leo commented.

"Yeah, I agree with Leo here. You're usually rainbows, glitter, unicorns, and rainbows. What's up with you?"

"I just want to know I'm making the right decision. Frank thinks it's a good idea but then again his grandmother would probably kill him if his girlfriend didn't finish middle school. High school dropout is bad enough but this would be middle school dropout."

Percy put his hand on Hazel's arm. "We don't know you'll be put in middle school." Hazel grimaced. Percy sighed. "Look, you'll be fine Haze. You'll make the right call. You know what's right and we'll always be here for you."

"Yeah." Hazel smiled at him wearily. "Thanks."

Leo blew out a breath. "Who knew you were so good with words hermoso." Hazel frowned and Percy snorted.

"'God, hermoso? Carino? Handsome? Dear? What is up with you and all the spanish love nicknames?"

"Wait? Love nicknames? You've been giving us love nicknames this whole time? And since when do you know spanish?" Hazel asked both Percy and Leo. Leo raised an eyebrow at the other boy as if asking the same question.

Sometimes it puzzled everyone how little they knew about him. There were times when they would play a normal game of truth or dare and on either of those choices a touchy subject comes up. They really needed to know more about each other. The people who knew the most about Percy were definitely Annabeth and probably Nico and Thalia.

"I speak spanish."

Leo choked on his drink. "What?" He spluttered. "All this time I've been giving you love nicknames thinking you couldn't understand only to find out that you speak spanish? Are you fluent?"
"Yeah I'm fluent."

"How? Like did you learn in school?"

"No, my mom was born in Mexico and she taught me spanish." Percy supplied as he took a sip from his coffee.

This had come as a shock to the other two. Percy had trouble reading english and nobody bothered to think that he might be able to speak more than one language. "So... you're latino." Hazel asked. Percy nodded in confirmation. Leo scoffed. "Is there anything you haven't told me?"

Percy smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah. There's much more. That's the cost of having me as your friend. Now come on. The others are hopeless without their coffee."

They got up and threw away their cups without argument. It was the joy o having Percy as a friend. Every day held a new secret, a new uncovered mystery and every day was a blessing to be able to be alive with friends all around you.

Done! I know it took really long but I hope you like it.

Please leave suggestions I'm thinking of wrapping it up soon because I'm running out of ideas.

Thank you for reading! Love you guys!