Fatal Flaw (a Percy Jackson AU)

Don't Replace Me

Clarisse
   In History, the teacher droned on and on about wars. I could care less. Right now, Chris was in a war with himself. He was getting better, but the first day of school was a little too much for him. He kept muttering on about strings and mazes. I raised my hand. The teacher called on me. "Can I take Chris to the counsellors?" I asked.
   The teacher nodded and I guided Chris to the counsellors. He was mumbling on about how he was lost. I squeezed his hand to reassure him. "I'm here for you," I whispered as I knocked on the door to Grover's office while holding Chris's hand.
    Grover cans oh and gave me a smile. He wasn't hobbling as much as normal. "What do you want Clarisse?" he asked.
   "It's Chris," I said. "He's been mumbling on about strings and being lost. I'm afraid for him."
   "Okay," Grover said. "I'll talk to him, but you have to leave."
   "What?" I said in an outraged tone. "He needs me with him."
   Grover's gaze softened. "I know you care about him more than I care about enchiladas, but you need to go back to class," Grover said as he shut the door.
   I fumed as I stalked back to class. It wasn't fair! I wanted to be by Chris's side. I couldn't bear to see him in pain. As I walked back to class, I realized that I didn't just care about Chris; I loved him.

Chris
Strings are falling
Ever loosening threads
Falling
Falling
Alone
Clarisse
A squeeze on the hand
A walk
A smile
Clarisse
Don't leave
Love

Katie
"Why are all the presidents mean?" a student asked.
Our teacher, Ms. Bookworm-who preferred to be called Ella-gave the student a smile. "They lived in a society that is very different from ours," she said. "The presidents were raised to believe things that are contradictory to what we believe today."
"Why did people vote for George W. Bush?"Connor asked.
I fumed as I heard his name. He fired my mother! What an executive he was. "Al Gore actually got more votes in Florida, which was the deciding state, in the end," the teacher said. "The case went up to the Supreme Court and they decided that George Bush was the president."
"Does that happen a lot?" Connor asked.
Ella gave him a smile. "No, it doesn't," she said. "The bell is going to ring soon. Read all of chapter one by tomorrow. We will have a pop quiz."
    The bell rang and we headed to our final class of the day: Welding. I sat down beside Travis and his brother right before the bell rang. "Hi class!" the teacher said. "My name is Tyson Riptide and I like peanut butter! I know you kids like exploding things, but in this class we want to be safe. Make sure you follow the rules because these tools are very dangerous. Today, I will just share the safety information you need to know. We will start our first project next class."
At dinner, I noticed Ms. Bookworm and Mr. Riptide sharing a sandwich. Ms. Bookworm's face was as red as her hair as Mr. Riptide complimented her. I took a bite of my sandwich and began working on my algebra homework. By the end of dinner, I was finished, unlike Travis and Connor who were goofing off the whole time. I had to tell them to stop talking about Kim Jong-Un memes for about half an hour. It was very aggravating. The bell interrupted Travis's rant about how Kim Jong-Un kept trading nukes for food. With a relief, I left the class and the chattering boys behind.