black winged angels // pj

ten

Throw it out the park

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'Don't be seen, it's dark'

The game was tomorrow, and Percy didn't even seem excited. I was probably more excited than him, and I only knew half the rules. Whenever someone asked me to explain it to them, I said 'Quarterback throws the ball, offense catches it and runs as far as possible until he's tackled', even though that is not the rules, but an extremely toned down version of the game. Personally, I wasn't the hugest fan of football anyways. I would've forced him into rugby but they only do rugby for girls and I was too late to try out. The team was all over him, Percy Jackson Quarterback Supreme, the guy that was gonna win the cup for us, or no pressure. I was trying to remove some of the pressure, but I'm not his Mother.

It was almost zero days until the Valley Cup game, and you could feel it in the air. The girls were all squealing and talking about who was taking them home after the game. Half of them said Percy, and then looked at me and gasped, like they thought they were a challenge. I just raised my eyebrow. There was more hype and more hype and I forgot what this was all like. I thought it a bit sexist, as the boy's big game was a lot more important than the girl's big game, but I guess you just had to roll along with it.

Percy didn't seem any more into it throughout the whole day, and I had to tickle him to remind him that the bell rang. He kissed me goodbye and we both walked opposite ways, but I wasn't sure he knew where he was going.

//-//-//-//-//

It was the big day today. March 10th. Formerly known as national napping day, the date of the 5th Golden Globes (1948), and Chuck Norris' birthday. But to Bristol, it was Valley Cup day. Everyone in the whole damn town knew it, especially us. We wore our school colours, orange and white. You put face paint on and just accepted it (even though it was kinda ugly let's be honest).

The school day went on for half of the day, and then the rest of the day was off. Then it was March Break. Throughout the school portion, I caught Percy before he was given his pep talk by his Coach. This was good, because I wanted to give him one.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

Percy looked at me, confused. "Of course I'm fine. Why are you asking?" He was getting defensive.

I rolled my eyes, aware that he thought he was the best liar ever. "You just seem a bit off. I'm sure it's nothing. Enjoy yourself, okay?"

I kissed him again, for good luck. I heard a couple 'awws', but I was too concerned to glare at everyone huddled around us. I put Percy's last year's football sweatshirt back on, and walked to the field to get my reserved seats.

The game was amazing. We won 34-18, the whole team seemed really put together. Thalia's little brother, Jason was hosting the party for after the game, and it was within walking distance of the field. Percy hoisted me onto his shoulders after taking his equipment off, laughing and screaming with the rest of the school.

Jason had ordered excessive amounts of pizza that we ate probably too much of, but the pizza was a blessing to our stomachs compared to the variety of alcohol people had brought. It was only 4 PM, and people were already drunk. I drank a bit, but I was watching Percy too closely to get caught up in anything extremely wild. Then it was 9 PM, and he disappeared and I gave it five minutes. During those five minutes someone challenged me to shots, and I obviously obliged. Then those five minutes turned into fifteen, because I was Annabeth Chase and did not pay attention (clearly).

I must have had some Spiderman drug infused into my drink, because I felt like I had Spidey-senses while trying to find Percy. They led me to the spare bedroom's washroom.

I opened the door quietly, and saw Percy sifting some pills between his fingers. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"These were Thalia's, weren't they?" He said, almost a whisper.

I thought about it for a second, and saw the letters 'THALIA GRACE' in bold, black printing. A tear forced its way out onto my cheek. I nodded.

"What were they for?" I asked him, still talking very quietly.

"Same thing as me, I'd guess. She had plans before you guys ran away." Percy said, throwing all the pills in his mouth.

"NO!" I screamed, as loud as I ever had most likely.

Percy hadn't swallowed them yet, and tears were now pouring down his face.

I calmed myself down, relearning how to speak English. "Just hear me out, okay Jackson? If I didn't prove anything to you, you can fucking do it."

He slowly spit them back into his hand.

"Percy, you've saved my life more times than I can count. If that hasn't proven anything else, it's proven that it's worth it. Okay? We're all full of shit. Do you remember telling me that? You can't kill yourself. If you can't find another reason to live, make it me. Live for me, Percy. For fuck's sake, I need you."

He played with the pills in his hands. "It's just, the stress. You know? All these teams and my mom wanted me on every damn one. You go to all the practices and put all you got into it and then she starts yelling at me about my marks. She's convinced I have a drug problem, and I can't convince her that I've never done any of them. She has high hopes for me but won't pay for any of them. Every single person in our school thinks I'm perfect and that I effortlessly do well in everything and I'm sick of all of it!"

Percy looked down for a second, realizing what he had gotten off his chest. "It would just be better without me." He finished, quietly.

I walked over to him carefully, sat down and wrapped my arms around his waist. I rested my head on his shoulder from behind him and whispered a couple words to him, repetitively. 'Do it for me.'

We sat there for what felt like and probably were, hours. I could hear some people downstairs ask where we went, but they shrugged it off thinking we were having sex. It was better that way.

It's what's on the outside that counts, anyways.