Fangirl School (Percy Jackson)

Lucas Crystalos

It was lunchtime on the first of March, where the bitter cold of winter was finally beginning to turn into the light breezes of spring. (Don't ask I'm feeling poetic)

At the lunch table, which Janet Lee and Antonio Rivera were officially banned from, we were talking as usual, gossiping and discussing the most random topics imaginable (today it was the perfect air conditioner temperature, we seemed to agree on 22-24) when the unusual occurred (although you've probably guessed it from the title).

A blond-haired boy I recognized as Lucas Crystalos from my Fanfiction Writing class came up to our table and asked, "Can I sit here?"

Everyone eyed him suspiciously. I knew most of the boys in our group didn't approve of him just because he looked like a player, if you know what I mean. More specifically, they were annoyed by his hair, because some of his golden locks fell into his eyes, which, in all honesty, I didn't find that bad-looking. It must've been annoying for him but he seemed to like it, since it stayed that way throughout the whole year.

But I thought he was okay. He was pretty nice when we did the Fanfiction Writing project together, always listening to the end to what I had to say before putting in his own input. He was pretty smart too, no surprise since he was in the advanced class.

"Yeah. Yeah, you can sit here." I motioned to the empty seat between me and Delphine on my left. He smiled gratefully and sat down.

The chatter resumed. Lucas was quiet until the subject turned to what we'd do with a robot. He started going on and on about the coding he'd put in to make it do and say certain things, including a few good roasts.

"So you can code?" I asked him as we walked out of the cafeteria.

"Yeah," he said. "And I can hack. If there's a password, account or WiFi, that you want, I can get it for you."

"Cool." I smiled.

We walked to Double Fanfiction Writing class together, and took his seat in the front while I went to the back.

After class, he caught up with me again, but I didn't really feel like going to the spot where I hung out with the rest of the lunch group, so I ended up walking all around the school with Lucas.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I cut him off mid-sentence. "Sorry for interrupting, but if I wait any longer I'll forget."

"Ask away." He smiled, seemingly amused.

"Why'd you come sit with us? Not that I'm not glad you did, but it's a little sudden."

"Oh," he looked down. "I've made very few friends this year. I didn't know it would be this hard. They've all got their groups and I didn't want to try to talk to them, I felt like they secretly hated me for some reason, or they're just being rude. But you're pretty nice. I've wanted to hang out with you guys for a long time, but I never had the courage. And since it's March, I thought, 'I don't want to go the whole year without making friends.'"

"Oh, wow," I was a little surprised because I thought he seemed popular, but I didn't say that. "I thought it was a dare or something."

"Nah. If it was, though, it would've been a dare that actually worked out. That wasn't embarrassing, I mean."

Then the bell rang and we had to go our separate ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I told Eloise that night over a video call. She was drinking hot chocolate and I had a feeling she wasn't listening.

"Elsie, are you even listening?" I asked, stopping at the part where he told me he could hack.

"Yes, I am," she looked up from her mug.

"What did I just say?" I asked.

"That he can get you any password you wanted."

"Good, you're listening," and I continued telling her.

When I was done, she simply said, "Lost two friends, made a new and better one. Keep him, though. He seems nice."

Someone called her name in the back. "Look, I have to go, okay? Bye!"

"Bye," I clicked off the phone.