Fangirl School (Percy Jackson)

GITTB, Year Three

I hung out with Jacqueline a lot throughout August. I found out she had a habit of dropping random lore from her family and childhood, and a surprising amount of the random things she said involved Mitchell.

I told her about Lucas and Delphine, and she didn't have anything to say other than "Aren't they a little young?"

On September 1st, I pulled on my purple t-shirt and jeans. Fiona, Delphine, and I had decided to dress like the Chipettes from Alvin and the Chipmunks for fun. I was purple, Fiona was green, and Delphine was pink.

"You know what I love about this school?" Delphine said as the usual "Good morning, everyone! Welcome back to Fangirl School! Please find your fandom's bus and take it to your school building. Have a great day!" played over the PA.

"What?" Fiona asked.

"The fact that we don't have cliques," she said. "No snobby cheerleaders or jocks or 'nerd kids.' We're all the same. Well, there's also the separate group of girls who are bit-bleeep!"

We turned to see Jacqueline and Mitchell, grinning widely, Mitchell holding his bleeper button.

"Didn't catch that one on time," he said, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

There was a round of hugs and high-fives as we greeted them. Delphine and Fiona didn't know them that well, but I did, and I was so happy to see them again.

"How have you guys been?" I asked.

"That was the most boring summer of my life," Jacqueline said at the same time Mitchell said, "I went to Italy."

"Italy? That's so cool," I told him.

"Yeah. I cosplayed my Camp Jupiter shirt and everything," he replied.

"His family offered to bring me along," Jacqueline grumbled, "but my darling mother said no."

Mitchell patted her arm. "There, there."

I realized that, for the first time, Mitchell was taller than Jacqueline. She'd always been a couple inches taller than him, and the mess of red curls on her head certainly helped her look taller, but now she was at eye level with his nose.

Jacqueline seemed to realize what I was thinking, because she said, "I know. Laugh it up. He's taller than me now."

Mitchell smiled and leaned his elbow on her shoulder. "This feels so good. She started getting taller than me when we were ten, and now I've finally caught up."

Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "The bus is gonna leave without us. Come on."

She dragged Mitchell away, still teasing her. Fiona stared after them.

"Not to sound whiny," she said, "but I want what they have."

"Don't we all?" I said. "Also, I really think we should get on that bus."

We found the Titan's Curse year bus. This time of day was always the most messy, because every single person in every single fandom was in this same courtyard. We had eighteen-year-old Harry Potter fans mixing with terrified eleven-year-olds in the Hunger Games fandom. It was such a mess, most of the time we didn't even bother to meet up until after we'd taken the bus to our building.

Delphine made her way to the back of the bus, where Lucas and Walker sat. Lucas was sporting a Minecraft t-shirt and was heavily engaged in conversation with Walker, who sat by the window. Fiona and I followed.

Delphine sat on Lucas's other side, taking his hand. Fiona sat next to Delphine, and I sat by the other window.

The ride wasn't long. The longest bus ride I'd ever taken in this school was exactly five minutes long, and that was to the main school building for the Fight For The Fandoms.