Scaring the mortals

The time when Percabeth graduates from High School

Author's note: I don't know how high school graduation works in the United States, so I wrote as it is here in Brazil.

And so, the year passed, and, finally, came the moment that all the students of senior year were waiting for:

The graduation ceremony (they were also waiting for the party, but it would be one week after the ceremony, so...).

The graduates had to arrive earlier so they could put on the graduation gown and organize themselves, so they weren't there to receive their guests.

Of course, Percy and Annabeth were expecting their mortal families (especially now that Estelle had been born and is a cute baby that preferred Percy's lap to their mom's), Tyson and the sea family (that had made clear that they would not miss this for anything in the world).

What they didn't expect was that Athena would show up too.

All the other families felt the tension between her and the other family, but neither of them started a scene, so nobody commented.

The graduates were called to enter, by alphabetic order. Annabeth's eyes widened when she saw her mom and Percy smiled (and blushed a lot) when the sea family and Tyson clapped loudly (luckily, Estelle, who was asleep in Rhodes' arms, didn't wake up).

Then the director made a huge speech about the school's values and the students' journey until then and that the journey would continue, before passing the microphone to Paul who had been chosen as the class patron.

- Dear, students, parents, family members, friends, and teachers. Good evening. We are here today to celebrate a milestone in the lives of these young people. They are finishing High School and starting a new phase of their life. New teachers, new friends, and new responsibilities. I'm not going to lie and say that it is going to be easy, there will be challenges along the way that they will need to solve by themselves, but if they are truthful to themselves and put in some effort, they can achieve anything. During the years that I taught this class, I saw them laugh, cry, learn, grow, and evolve. And this journey will continue.

He paused, smiled, and continued:

- And although looking at the future is important, so is looking at the past, learning from our mistakes and with the mistakes of those around us, and chance for the better. This way, you will achieve things that you never thought to be possible. To the graduates, I would wish you luck, but what you need isn't luck, but determination and strength to face what is to come, and you already have that. Thank you for these years and I hope that this new phase you are starting will be full of success.

At the end of the speech, everyone clapped. The next speech was from the class speaker, Delilah, who talked about all the weird stuff that happened that year, about the laughs they had together, about the victories that they achieved in the competitions, about the future, hopes, and dreams.

At the end of her speech, there was another round of applause and then the names started to be called so they could receive their diploma.

When Annabeth was called, the sea family, Tyson, her mortal family, and Percy's mortal family, applauded excitedly, while Athena applauded calmly but with a smile.

When Percy was called, the sea family used a blue confetti thrower, while applauding loudly. Estelle, who had woken up at her daddy's speech and was now in Triton's arms, was fascinated by the confetti.

And so the ceremony was over, and the graduates threw the cap up, celebrating.

Joining their families, they took pictures with them and their friends.

Athena stayed only for a single picture with Annabeth, before looking sadly at Triton (since he was Palla's dad, and she was Pallas's friend before accidentally killing her while training) and leaving.

The couple took pictures with Tyson, Estelle, Sally and Paul, Annabeth's family, the sea family, everyone together, just the two of them, and a variety of combinations in each photo.

Percy took pictures with the other graduates from the swimming team, and Annabeth did the same with the graduates from the Decathlon team.

After taking plenty of photos, the big family After taking plenty of photos, the big family went to dinner in a pizzeria (Percy had discovered that Triton had never eaten pizza), and, while Bethy and Kym conspired with Annabeth's mortal siblings about pranks, Amphitrite conspired with Sally, Rhode, and Annabeth's stepmom about the clothes both of them would wear at the party (all of them agreed that they should match), Poseidon talked about river, lake and sea cleaning projects with Paul and Frederick, and Tyson worked on some mechanism, Percy and Annabeth allowed themselves to forget, for a moment, all the worries about their unwanted future and simply enjoy the meal.

Author's note 2: Percy and Annabeth graduated from High School, but there is still the ball and some extras with teenager Estelle and the couple meeting old classmates. So keep tuned.