Fangirl School (Percy Jackson)

Preparations, Talks, and Stages

I caught Delphine's arm when she was leaving. She tried to pull away, but I held on tightly.

"Wait," I said. "We need to talk."

"What do we have to talk about?" she said exasperatedly. "You're with Lucas. My crush. Congratulations."

"I'm not," I promised. "Hear me out. Please."

She hesitated, but then nodded. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm not with Lucas," I said slowly. "That hug was out of context."

"Care to enlighten me?"

So I told her. I told her what had happened when Lucas came over. I told her about all my talks with Jacqueline and Mitchell and Walker and how I'd tried so hard to stay away from Lucas.

Delphine was silent for a moment. "And he knows?"

I nodded. "You're a teensy bit obvious."

She groaned. "Great. I don't know if I can ever face him again."

"He's known for a while," I told her, trying to help. "I don't think he's ever judged you because of it."

She was quiet for another moment. "Okay."

I blinked. "Okay?" For my weeks of stress and overthinking, all I'd gotten was an okay?

"I don't know what to say, Y/N," Delphine said. "But, I believe you. I just have no idea what to do about Lucas."

"You could ask him out," I suggested. "He already knows you like him. Heck, I'll ask him out for you if you like."

"No. I'll do it."

I blinked again. Delphine was surprising me a lot today. "You will? Actually?"

"Yeah. I mean, what's the harm?"

Gotta admit, I wish I had her boldness.

"You get him, girl," I said with a smile. She laughed.

"By the way, what did happen with Janet in the bathroom?"

She told me all about how Janet had been bugging her and texting her. I took her hands. "Delly, why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. "We got so busy with the Fight For The Fandoms, then you had that panic attack. I didn't want to worry you more."

"Delly, please tell me next time, or Fiona. Don't hide things anymore."

"I won't. As long as you don't either."

"Okay. I promise."

"Me too."

Phew.

~>♡<~

I asked Mrs. Golde about updates on the Fight For The Fandoms the next day during homeroom. It was Wednesday.

"You're in luck," she told me. "Mr. Meyers just called this morning. He's arranged a meeting for you and the rest of your friends with the founders of Fangirl School on March 1st."

March 1st. We had barely three weeks to prepare. I thanked Mrs. Golde, then told Delphine and Fiona.

"Awesome!" Fiona said. "It's much more time to prepare than we had last time. I'm going to look up the names of all the founders so we can address them properly."

She hurried off ahead of us, muttering to herself. I leaned closer to Delphine. "Did you ask him out?"

"Not yet," she said. "I think I'll do it Friday so I won't have to face him for two days if he says no."

I didn't know what to say to that, which was great, because Walker pulled me aside.

"So?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "How'd it go?"

"I talked to him," I replied. "It just didn't turn out the way we wanted it to."

"Really? How so?"

"Can you meet me in recess so I can explain it to you and Jacqueline at the same time? I'm tired of repeating myself."

He shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."

Lunch went by smoothly, except for the fact that Jeveskia was still glaring daggers at me. Lucas and Delphine seemed perfectly fine.

At recess, I caught up with Buy One Get One Free. Celine wasn't with them, which was good. Walker came over after a bit, and I relayed what happened to all three of them.

Jacqueline burst out laughing. "That's just unfortunate."

"I know! And the fact that he knew she liked him all along! I was right!" Walker added.

Mitchell, our reigning sensitive soul, patted my shoulder sympathetically. "Out of context stuff sucks. Like that one photo Jac has of me that she keeps threatening to send to everyone."

"You look adorable!" Jacqueline teased.

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "This is why I'm Get One Free. No one Buys this One."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I patted his arm and told them I needed to go find Lucas and make sure he was okay after everything that happened yesterday.

He was on his laptop in a corner. I plopped myself down next to him. "Whatcha doing?"

"Digital Design homework."

"Ah. The worst kind."

Usually stupid little things like that drew a laugh out of him, but his face stayed completely monotone.

"Is everything okay? You know, after yesterday?" I asked him, worried now.

"I don't know." He closed his laptop. "I almost destroyed your friendship. I don't know how I slept last night."

"Lucas, how many times do I need to tell you you didn't," I insisted. "Delphine was upset anyway. She only walked off because Janet was bugging her. Trust me, we're good now."

"Positive?" he asked. He smiled when I nodded. "Thanks, Y/N."

And we watched Minecraft playthroughs on his laptop until the bell rang for no particular reason.

~>♡<~

Once Fiona had gotten the list of founder names, it was work, work, work. Rephrasing our original argument. Assigning lines. Memorizing which founder was which. We did our usual lineup of Jacqueline and Mitchell, Brandon and Fiona. But I added a new pair: Lucas and Delphine. Delphine beamed when I said that. I told everyone it was because they looked appealing together, but both of them knew better.

Walker and I were soloists, since I was the leader of the whole thing. For almost the entire months of February, three times a week after school everyone would pile into my car; Jacqueline sitting shamelessly on Mitchell's lap, Brandon and Fiona squeezed together in the middle seat while they were all blushy, me and Delphine fighting over space while Walker and Lucas vibed in the passenger seat (Walker called dibs, and he grabbed Lucas's arm and pulled him next to him before he could say anything.)

The argument was made. PowerPoint presentations and backup PowerPoint presentations were made. Lucas had even gathered some clips with some clever code-hacking trick to access the platform the school had used to stream the reenactment.

Delphine and Lucas had also entered a stage of some sort. Why I wasn't very sure, but he'd said yes when she asked him out, and they'd actually gone on a picnic date in the park. Delphine had even straightened her hair for the very first time just for the occasion. The stage they were in wasn't a talking stage, but it wasn't dating or just friends either. But I could tell it was very delicate, so I mostly backed off from Lucas, hanging out with the Package Deal plus Walker; only one left in stock, he called himself.

By February 29th we were ready. We were fully prepared to finally bring justice to the small fandom that is Percy Jackson. And all the others.

We were going to fight for the fandoms.