PLEASE NOTE: The correct way to deal with snakes is NOT to 'close your eyes, whack first, and ask questions never'. The correct way to deal with snakes is to leave them alone.
It was a bright, sunny day at Havenplant Middle school, and Mari and Will were skipping class.
Mari had skipped class a lot in primary school, especially if that class was maths. The teachers had usually ended up yelling at her to leave because she was moving around too much in her seat or accidentally zoning out anyway, so skipping class just moved things along quicker. This wasn't her first rodeo. But she hadn't ditched school since before Camp Half-Blood. Unlike every adult Mari had ever lived with, Naomi actually paid attention to Mari's report cards, and she definitely wouldn't be happy. It was also easier with Will there - at least now, she wasn't struggling alone. And Will would probably never ditch a class in his life, unless it was a dire situation.
Will was ditching with her.
It was a bit of a dire situation.
Everything had been fine at first. The teacher had taken attendance and Mari had zoned out because she got distracted doodling poppies in her textbook. Will probably would've kicked her to get her attention but she was pretty sure he'd been in his own world too, scribbling out plans for some kind of honey infused burn tonic. Mari hoped Aristaeus was ready to lose his entire store of the stuff. At some point, Mari had zoned back in at the sound of a door slam. The teacher had left the room. Mari frowned and turned to the girl on the other side of the table, a Wendy-something.
"What's happening?" She'd asked.
"Were you listening at all?"
"I, uh... got distracted."
"Whatever." Wendy rolled her eyes. "Not my problem if you don't wanna try."
Mari had wanted to say she was trying, but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever heard someone say about her school performance. Besides, in the grand scheme of her life, one pissed off 6th grader didn't come close to important.
Then Ms Cline, their science teacher, had walked back in, rolling a huge red cart with her. The red paint was chipped and there was a huge white sheet over it, like the kind that morticians used to cover bodies. Ms Cline smiled at them all, and ripped the sheet off.
Mari went rigid. Next to her, Will took a sharp intake of breath. They exchanged horrified looks.
A huge blotchy brown snake glared back at them. It looked hungry.
"This is Lola!" Ms Cline announced. "The nice folks at Austin Zoo have let us borrow her for the day, we're gonna-" She was interrupted by a hiss. The snake had curled into a pre-leap position. Its forked tongue flicked between Mari and Will, like it was trying to decide who to bite first. Ms Cline frowned, prodding at the glass of the cage (she wasn't a very good science teacher). "That's strange. The Zoo assured the science department that Ball Pythons were very gentle."
Ball Pythons? As if this couldn't get any worse! The snake slammed its body against the glass, like a very scaly battering ram.
Nope! Mari remembered thinking. Absolutely not! Fuck this.
Ten seconds later, she and Will were dashing out of the class, to the sound of angry hissing and one angrier science teacher, saying something about needing a hall pass.
"We're leaving, don't get your knickers in a twist!" Mari snapped at the snake. Looking back, that was a bad idea. She hadn't meant to direct that at Ms Cline, but she was definitely going to get in trouble for it anyway.
YOU ARE READING
Melpomene (PJO)
Fanfiction𝔹𝕆𝕆𝕂 𝟚 As it turned out, Mari was actually living a nice, normal and more importantly safe(ish) life somewhere sunny. Most of the time. Nobody was more surprised about this turn of events than she was. Problem was, things aren't ever that simpl...
