The Olympian Of McKinley High

Chapter 11: Family

Percy was running behind. His alarm clock had decided that it wasn't going to work that morning, thus leaving Percy in a panicking mess twenty minutes before his first class started. He heard his bedroom door squeak open as he hurried to throw a shirt on to hide his scars. He turned to find Quinn's face in the doorway. She was dressed and ready with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

They hadn't really talked since their encounter on the front porch yesterday. Percy didn't know what he wanted to say to her about it and it was clear that Quinn didn't either.

"You should go back to Glee Club." Percy said out of the blue as he started to pack his bag for the day. Quinn flinched at the sound of his voice against the silence that had settled.

"Why is that?" Quinn asked, her voice a little hostile. She crossed her arms as she continued to stand and stare from the doorway.

"Because they're your family." He said with an obvious tone to his voice.

"They are not my family." Quinn denied but Percy had seen the way she sometimes looked at the group of kids in the halls. Percy had also seen the way her eyes had grown sad right before she set the piano on fire in the courtyard.

"Then you obviously don't know the definition of family." He said as he zipped his tie-dyed bag closed.

"Oh and you do?" She challenged fiercely. Her eyes held anger in them in a way Percy had never seen before. It wasn't like the fire he saw in Clarisse's every now and again. It was different. Percy couldn't put his finger on it. The anger spread into his own as he stepped towards the girl with a steely calmness.

"Family is when a group of people you care about stick by your side, even in the moments you're not at your best. Family doesn't end in blood, nor is it about blood. Family are those who don't care if they see you down or not in a good mind set, but they stay beside you and try to help anyways. The real question that you are avoiding is; will I accept their help. Puck asked me how I know you and if you're okay. He seemed genially concerned, and If that's not family then I don't know what is."

Percy paused in his rant to look into her eyes again. They had lost most of their fire and were just staring back into his now. Percy shook his head and recaptured his thoughts.

"Family has been the only thing I've ever had my whole life. I've never had money, but because I had my family, I was the richest man on Earth. To throw something like that away is both stupid and ignorant." Percy turned away from her and walked towards his bed again. He picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder before he turned to look at the pink haired girl again. He started to walk out of his room but just as he was about to pass her in the doorway, Percy turned to look at her one last time. "If it wasn't for my family I wouldn't be alive today. They have saved my life so many times. I could never repay them." With those words, Percy turned back around and walked down the hall.

He said a quick goodbye to his mom before he headed out to Quinn's car. He had briefly considered walking to school to avoid the awkward tension with Quinn, but he only had ten minutes left before his first class started. He didn't want to be late on only his third day of school.

He waited for a minute before Quinn finally appeared on the front porch. She walked to the car and got in without a word. The drive was just as quiet and tense as Percy had predicted. He tried to ignore it as best he could by watching the houses pass by out the window.

They finally reached the school with only a few minutes to spare. Percy was ready to jump out and make a run for the school, but his attempt was squashed by the sound of the car doors locking. Confused, Percy turned to look at Quinn beside him.

She had a small smile fixed on her face, one Percy couldn't quite read. As he stared back, the smile only grew.

"Thank you." She said kindly as she continued to stare into his sea green eyes.

"For what?" Percy responded stupidly. This resulted with a quick laugh from the girl next to him.

"For helping me realize that I need my family." Quinn continued to smile as she watched Percy piece everything together.

"So you're going to join the Glee Club again?" He asked slightly hopeful. She nodded.

"Yes, but under one condition." She said as she held up her index finger to further specify. At Percy's confused expression again Quinn's eyes sparkled a little. "You have to join with me."

Percy's eyes grew large with surprise. His face rather resembled a deer in the headlights of an approaching car. He was so shocked that he struggled to come up with something to say. Quinn shook her head slightly as she chuckled.

"You said that I should join so that I'm with my family. Well, you're my family now Percy." Quinn smiled again as she unlocked the car doors and got out, leaving a frozen Percy stuck in the passenger seat.

He was so late for class.

***

I owe @SamanthaPerry0 for all of the help she gave me with this chapter. Thank you so much!!

This chapter was posted pretty early by my standards. Want to know why? Because I was running behind and I actually missed the bus today. I got bad karma from writing this chapter. :3

If you enjoyed reading this chapter please consider voting and leaving a comment! Is anyone else curious about whether or not Percy will be accepted into the Glee Club? See you Thursday!