Just High School

Chapter 9 - - Percy

Despite the fact that he had decided to move on, the week after the dance was torture for Percy. He kept imagining Annabeth's ecstatic face after Luke had kissed her, and the way she'd looked when he'd first pressed his mouth to hers. It didn't help that he continued to run into them all over the school, holding hands, laughing together, eating together, he'd even seen them kissing in the stairwell. Finally, though, he bottled up all the emotions he felt and shoved them deep down inside, and focused on his other friends, including Rachel. They spent a lot of time together because of swim team, and he really enjoyed talking and messing around with her. She seemed to realize that he didn't feel anything romantic for her, because she hadn't approached him at all after the dance. Percy had overheard part of a conversation between Silena and a girl he didn't know, and they had said that Rachel had been very disappointed after the dance. He felt kind of guilty about that, but there was nothing he could do. He just wanted to be friends with her.

The excitement that had carried Percy through the first few weeks of school had vanished after Annabeth's rejection, and now school just seemed to drag on and on. He spent the week complaining and looking forward to the weekend, and then spent the weekend moping around his house. Occasionally Jason or Grover or Leo or another of the boys asked if he wanted to hang out, but other than that, Percy's social life had dropped to 0.

His mom and Paul had noticed, too. He'd intercept worried glances and once or twice, his mom had tried to talk to him. Percy really didn't want to talk about it, though. It was embarrassing enough to be rejected by a girl he liked without going into the details of how she'd immediately started dating one of Percy's friends. His friends had also noticed something was wrong, but refrained from asking about it. Until one Saturday afternoon.

Percy had been watching cartoons all morning (childish, he knew, but he still liked them) and he toyed with the idea of going out as he munched on his sandwich during lunch. He kind of wanted to go wander around the nearby park, that would be fun, but what if he ran into Luke and Annabeth? He didn't think he could face seeing them kiss again. With a sigh, he decided that he'd stay here after all, maybe see if there were any new shows on Netflix. Then the doorbell rang.

Wondering who it could be, Percy walked over and opened the door. He was greeted with the enthusiastic faces of Jason, Leo, and Tyson. Oh, boy. What were they doing here?

"Hey, Percy! We're going bowling. And you're coming with us!" Tyson said excitedly.

"Yeah, we decided you've done enough moping around," interjected Leo. "Sure, Annie's dating Luke right now, but you know high school relationships, they last like 2 weeks at most. But in the mean time, you're not impressing her by hiding out in your house. That just makes you look dumb."

"Since when was Leo the designated romance counselor?" Percy asked. "He's never even been in a relationship!"

"Hey!" Leo threw a punch, which Percy dodged easily, laughing. However, for all his teasing words, Percy was genuinely happy to see them. And, admittedly, Leo was right. He wasn't impressing anyone by acting like a social outcast.

"Okay, I'll be out in two seconds," Percy said, hurrying back into the apartment to grab his phone and shoes. His mother smiled when he told her that he was going out, and Paul's voice followed him out into the hallway: "Don't get into too much trouble!"

"How are we getting to the bowling alley, by the way?" Percy inquired as they rode the elevator downstairs. Leo and Tyson both turned to Jason, who shrugged.

"That was your job!" Leo exclaimed. "God, we give you one task and you can't even do it!"

"It's okay, calm down, we can just take the subway," Percy suggested, and the other boys nodded agreement.