lookin' up now ('cause i am royalty)

(4/5) i accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher

A/n: [TRIGGER WARNING for a small description of skin-picking in this chapter. It's not too much detail, but I just wanted to point it out. I used to do exactly what's being described in this chapter, so I just wanted to warn people about it just in case. I'll put ⚠️⚠️⚠️ emojis before and after this section if you would like to skip it. It has no real bearing on the scene or plot of this chapter.]

[TRIGGER WARNING for a brief mention of bullying and racism. There will be many mentions of bullying throughout this fic and there might be some mentions of racism as well. If you are trigger by either (but mainly bullying), this fic might not be the best for you.]

Ages for reference (27):

10: Nico
13-14: Bianca
15: Jason, Piper, Leo
16: Percy, Grover, Rachel, Annabeth
18: Luke
21: Silena, Beckendorf
22: Thalia
24-26: Triton, Persephone, Mellie
37-38: Sally, Hera, Chiron
42-44: Zeus, Amphitrite, Paul, Frederick Chase
47-48: Poseidon
49-50: Hades
52-56: Coach Hedge
☠️: Kronos

I went after Mrs. Dodds.

Percy groaned, hiding his face in his hands. 'Please don't do anything stupid. Please don't do anything stupid.' They were in a museum, what could Percy really do? A lot, his mind answered. There were certainly paintings, pottery, and other fragile artifacts lining the walls and exhibits, as well as many closed-off areas that Percy could get into trouble going into.

Percy didn't go to museums very often, and when he did, it was mainly for a school trip. He and his mom weren't able to pull together much money for extra activities, so when they did, they usually went to the movies or other things like that.

"At least you're willing to do whatever it is Mrs. Dodds wants you to do to make up for pushing Nancy. Whether you did it with your hands or not." Sally said to her son, trying to raise his mood even slightly.

"Yeah... but I don't think I even did anything," Percy pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Even in this weird place, he couldn't escape getting in trouble.

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale-

As if on command, Grover also paled. His face drained of color, fear pooling in his stomach. Grover didn't know why he was scared, was it Mrs. Dodds? Yes, their principal was intimidating almost 24/7, but Grover never felt as scared of her as he did just now.

And she wasn't even here.

Rachel must've noticed his pale complexion, as she sent him a worried look. She thought he might pass out, that's how pale he was.

-Cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.

"Why is Grover acting like you should be scared of Mrs. Dodds?" Poseidon asked his son, knowing better at this point than to assume anything. When it came to Percy, anything was possible.

Percy had already proven he could be dedicated, like when it came to swimming, but could also drag his feet through every step of something, like some of his and Triton's early lessons.

But Percy, still mad about Poseidon's comment from earlier about his mom not emailing him everything, chose to not respond. He turned his head away from his father slightly. He heard Poseidon sigh, but say nothing else before he continued reading.

Percy thought this was the best course of action. At least, for now. It would be tough to keep it up for very long as his father would surely try to talk to him more, but Percy was done. If Poseidon still believed it was fine for him to be an absent father, then that's just fine. Percy would show him what it felt like, all those years. Knowing his father was out there, knew about his existence, even, and just chose to not be there.