Fangirl School (Percy Jackson)

Catch-Ups and a Suprise

Giovanni and Jeveskia stayed at our table, but didn't talk to us at all. Antonio and Xavier didn't seem to notice, or care.  

Winter break finally rolled around. Fiona, Delphine, and I arranged an online call on our laptops since we hadn't spoken to her since the school year started. 

"Hey, Els!" Delphine greeted once the call was on. I sat on my stomach in the floor of my room, laptop in front of me. Fiona, I could tell, was at her desk, because Fiona. Delphine– actually, I had no idea where Delphine was, because I'd never been to her house, but it was safe to assume she was in bed. 

"I thought my nickname was Elsie," Eloise said. 

"Yeah, an 'ee' nickname is kind of my thing," Delphine replied. 

Eloise rolled her bright green eyes. "So what's up?" 

"Well, we did the Get-Into-The-Book events, and Y/N won the Hunger Games," Fiona told her, polishing her glasses on her shirt. 

"Fun! My friend Grace won ours," said Eloise, grinning. "Congrats, Y/N." 

"Thanks," I said, trying not to think about the trauma that came with it. 

"Anything else? Drama? School work?" 

"Sort of," I said. "There's this whole thing with Jeveskia Peterson." 

"Start from the beginning!" Delphine said. 

"Well–" 

There was a knock on the door. "Hold on a sec. Come in!" 

The door opened and a familiar head popped in. Messy blond. Tall but not too tall. 

"Lucas!" I scrambled to get off the floor. "This is a surprise." 

"Your mom let me in," he admitted, grinning sheepishly. Wait– were those dimples? "Wait, I thought I texted you I was coming." 

I shook my head. 

He checked his phone then shook his head. "Wait. I texted my sister I was coming over. Sorry." 

"That's okay. Really," I said, still trying to figure out why he was here in the first place. I gestured to the laptop. "We were just talking to Eloise." 

"Who's we?" he asked, looking at the laptop. "And who's Eloise?"

Right. I had completely forgotten that Lucas had joined our group long after Eloise had gone back to London. 

"She was an exchange student from London back last year," I told him. I gestured to the floor in front of my laptop. "Come, sit." 

He got down on his stomach the way I did and we huddled close (but not too close) to the screen so we were both on camera. 

"Lucas!" Delphine's camera angle shifted dramatically, and I could tell she had sat up much straighter. She was furiously trying to fix her hair without anyone noticing, which I did. 

"Hey, Delphine," he said, smiling. "Sorry. I dropped in out of nowhere. Can I join you guys?" 

"Of course you can," Delphine said, giving up on trying to fix her hair and just smiling. 

"Eloise, that's Lucas," Fiona said. "We met him after you left." 

"Oh!" Eloise said, though obviously if she'd been talking with Delphine she'd know who he is. "Pleasure to meet you, Lucas." 

"You too," he replied. "What were you guys talking about?" 

"We were about to tell Eloise about the Fight For The Fandoms," I told him. 

"It's this thing Y/N came up with for fairness to the fandoms," Lucas said, turning back to the laptop. "We had a meeting with one of the dudes that started the Percy Jackson branch a while back. He said he'd arrange to let us meet the founders of the actual school. 

"Whoa," Eloise said, getting closer to the screen. "Why do you need them be fair anyway?" 

"They're replacing next year's Get-Into-The-Book event," Fiona told her. "They're letting the Harry Potter and Hunger Games fans meet the actors from their movies instead. Yet apparently, we can't have the cast of the Percy Jackson show come here." 

"Strange. We don't have that in London. Though that's a fine idea, Y/N," Eloise added, twirling a lock of hair around her finger absent-mindedly. 

"Thanks," I replied. 

We talked for a little longer. Theories about Janet just for fun (Lucas had his head tilted to the side in confusion throughout the entirety of that conversation). Eloise telling us about her friends and everything she'd gone through since we'd last talked. She seemed to have much less drama than we did. 

 Eventually, we shut off the call. Delphine seemed hesitant, and I was pretty sure I knew why, but eventually she ended it. I turned off my laptop, then turned to Lucas. "So what's with the surprise visit?" 

He seemed sheepish again all of a sudden. "I don't really know. I just wanted to hang with you." 

"Why me?" I asked, a little flattered. 

He shrugged. "You don't judge." 

"You think everyone else judges you?" 

"I don't know. I don't think the guys really like me that much. You know, Xavier and Antonio. They're sort of cold. And Brandon's chill, but I feel like he's judging me. Giovanni... well, he's Giovanni." 

I frowned. I knew at first most of the guys didn't like Lucas. There'd been a whole debate about his hair the first time we found out he existed. But I didn't know they were still doing that. 

"Look, I get it if you don't want to hurt my feelings, but I feel like you know something." 

I looked at him. He looked so sad. His voice was so calm. It always was. As much as I, in fact, did not want to hurt his feelings, I also couldn't bring myself to lie to him either. 

"I don't know if they actually don't like you," I said carefully. "I mean, they talked about your hair a bit, wayyy before they even met you. But I doubt you've ever actually done something. You're, like, the sweetest person ever." 

He gave a small smile. "You think so?" 

"Yeah," I said, and I meant it. "I mean, you're always helping me and being nice to me. You're awesome." 

"You've helped me too." 

"When?" 

"Wayyy back," he said, stretching out the wayyy like I had. "You were one of my first friends. You guys aren't the only ones who had drama at the start of the year." 

"Really?" I sat down now, patting the bed next to me. "Do tell." 

He sat. "Prepare yourself. It's a lot."