The Greatest || Percy Jackson

things i didnt know until recently: my teacher is apparently not human

Maddox couldn't really explain the thing she saw. It was huge and flying, but she couldn't see all of it, like she was missing half the picture. She had almost convinced herself that her brain was just messing with her, when Percy spoke up from the seat behind her.

"Do you see that, Maddox?" he asked.

Maddox hesitated, not knowing if he was looking at the same thing she was, but sure enough, when she turned around, his eyes were trained on the same spot where she had seen the flying thing.

"Yeah," she said, turning to look a Percy, "But I can't see all of it."

"Neither can I," Percy said, turning away from the window and looking into Sophia's hazel eyes.

"This isn't normal, right?" she asked, scooping her hair over one of her shoulders.

"I mean, not for other people," Percy answered, shrugging.

She turned around and looked over at Grover, who was on her left.

Grover was a shaky little guy, who seemed nervous all the time. He always looked around wildly, like he was being followed by someone who was trying to murder him. He had curly red hair, and a wispy goatee. He looked too old to be in sixth grade, but he was there anyways.

"I'm tired," she whined.

She let her head fall onto Grover's shoulder. Grover looked down at her, startled, but he relaxed just as quickly. He left her head there so that she could fall asleep, but before she could close her eyes, a chunk of something landed in her hair. She pulled it out, and she saw that it was a piece of one of Nancy Bobofit's peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches.

Maddox groaned in annoyance, before standing up, firsts clenched she stepped out into the aisle, glaring at Nancy. Before she could walk any further, Percy grabbed her wrists and pulled her into the seat next to him.

"No," he ordered, "You can't. One more mess up, and we're done."

Maddox sighed deeply, trying to get rid of her urge to rip Nancy's hair out. She settled into the seat beside Percy, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.

If she ripped Nancy's hair out, she would get expelled. If she got expelled, her dad would not be pleased.

Her dad wasn't very nice in the first place, and being expelled would make it worse. He was strict and mean, and Maddox didn't really like him a whole lot. She wasn't under any abuse, so she couldn't really complain. Of course, she did anyway.

Percy knew all about that, of course. He knew all about her life. He knew her father was a hard-working man, but pushy and arrogant. He had heard all about her two younger brothers—twins—who annoyed her to death.

Percy knew that Maddox was unhappy with her home life. He knew that if she had a chance to live with someone else, she would probably take it.

"Do you have anything to get this out of my hair?" she asked him.

Percy immediately went to rummage through his backpack, fishing out a tissue.

"Here, turn around," he said, motioning for her to turn her head.

She looked away from Percy, letting him wipe the peanut butter and ketchup out of her hair. He would mumble, "sorry" anytime he tugged too hard, and try to be gentler.

Percy finished up and tucked the tissue into the side pocket of his bag. Maddox turned back to face forwards.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem."

Maddox turned to look at Percy again. She sighed as she looked at him. He was tapping his fingers on his knee as he bounced his leg up and down. His eyes were trained on window.