High School For Percy

The Message

Liam's POV

"Hey, Fish Boy!" I hollered to get Percy's attention.

"Dude, what have I told you about the nicknames?" He turned around towards me obviously annoyed. He took off the gym bag he had slung over his shoulder and threw it into his locker with a bang. 

"Your girlfriend got to call you a nickname," I retort remembering the day before.

"Are you my girlfriend?" He began to rifle through his stuff in search of his swimsuit. I walked over to my locker and did the same.

"I could be."

"I'm flattered. But taken," he mocked. He seemed to get more frustrated in his search. 

"Yeah, if I were you, I'd hold on tight, she's way out of your league," I said as he finally found what he was looking for dramatically pulling it out of his bag and reading the note attached. He chuckled to himself. "What's that?"

"Note, says 'I knew you'd lose them'. And don't think I don't know how out of my league Annabeth is. She once refused to take a test because it was an insult to her intelligence and almost got us killed," he answered. I laughed a little. I wasn't sure how to take the last comment. If it were anyone else, I would've brushed it off as an exaggeration, but for some reason, I felt like it wasn't a metaphor in his case. We both finished changing before speaking again. Over the sound of bare feet against the wet floor tile as the swim team filed out of the locker room, Sam called us both.

"Liam! Percy! Have you guys seen Benji? He owes me ten bucks, I kind of need it so I can pay back this other guy that I owe fifteen bucks to. On a completely unrelated note, do either of you have five bucks I could borrow?" He smiled sheepishly. 

"No to the five dollars, but I saw Benji earlier today. He was on his way to the office I think," said Percy. 

"Damnit," said Sam with disdain. He pushed open the locker room door before it closed after the last few guys left. We all made our way over to the benches where Alice, Erin, and Paige sat talking. You could hear Paige's sharp surprise at every twist and turn in a story Erin was telling with facial expressions and gestures attached. Alice seemed amused and was the first to wave us over. She took a bite out of her pear. 

"What's up, guys?" she offered while chewing on her food.

"Not much," I responded before Coach Hedge came out of his office with a strange look on his face. Percy seemed to notice and looked at the coach questioningly.

"Jackson, come here, I need to talk to you," he says. Percy stood up quickly and walked over, increasingly agitated. 

"What's wrong? Did someone-" he glanced over his shoulder to realize we were still within hearing distance. "You know," he finished carefully. 

"Annabeth called and-"

"Shit, is she alright? Was is the cows again? Did she-"

"She's fine, family emergency, she'll be in Boston for the next few days," he cut him off with a glare.

"Family emergency? Which family? I should go, maybe I could meet her there, Argus still owes me a favor I could get a ride from him," he started to turn to go still mumbling something about family emergencies.

"Get back here you idiot, the other family. Now sit your butt down, your almost an adult, act like it, hero!" He sat. The loud commands had drawn the attention of a few more swimmers that had wandered in. 

"Yes, coach," Percy mumbled dejectedly. Alice seemed to be thinking about something. Her eyebrows slightly crunched together and her analyzing gaze flicked between Coach Hedge and Percy carefully. 

"Hero?" she whispered to him. Percy flinched. He had become very distracted. His leg was bouncing, he was watching the clock and twiddling a pen in his fingers, he didn't seem all there. When Alice spoke, the rest of the group seemed to think about the comment Coach Hedge had made too. He had called him a hero.  

"What?" he said and looked around at our confused faces. 

"Coach called you 'hero', why?" asked Erin. Percy suddenly became very interested in the clock again. 

"Uhh..he did? I didn't notice." Erin gave Paige a look that said they were going to plot something. Paige smiled. I had a little pity for Percy at that moment, but it subsided as coach began to bark orders and get us in the water. 

Time lapse to after practice

"Percy, wait up. Do you want to go to the burger place with me and Sam, it'll be just the three of us, anything could happen," I asked him. He turned a glanced at his watch. He seemed jumpy. 

"I don't know, probably not," he sighed.

"Let me guess, you don't want your mom to worry?" said Sam as he crossed his arms. 

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't. Do you have a problem with that?" he challenged as he deliberately stopped slouching and rose to his full height. The guy could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be. 

"It's kind of pathetic. Like coach said, you're almost an adult," I said. He opened his mouth to say something when a shout from the door stopped him.

"Hey, Jackson!" It was Coach Hedge. Percy seemed to recognize the voice too and groaned.

"You're here to convince me not to do it, right? You think I'm being rash, is that it? Don't think I can take care of myself?" 

"I know damn well you can take care of yourself, I was there too, but I was also there when you got out. You are making a rash decision, and I wouldn't be a very good protector if I didn't try to stop you. So call her first. Maybe she can get some sense into your thick skull," he said with a deep sigh leaving me with more questions than ever. Percy had deflated. His breaths were shallow and labored like each one had to be thought about or he would replace them with screams. "Sorry to bring it up kiddo, I just don't want to see you hurt." Coach reached out an arm and patted Percy's shoulder. Percy tightened. The air around him seemed to respond. He took a deep breath in and the world tipped into it. He held it. Coach's eyes flicked with fear, Sam took a step back. It was like I was watching through a filter, a dark one. Percy looked grainy and far away, the air was dense around him. He looked at Coach Hedge. I couldn't read his expression, but Coach seemed to relax at it. 

Percy let out his breath. "You're right, sorry," he said. The air went back to normal. 

"'Course I'm right, ain't I always?" Percy made a sarcastically unsure sound. Coach chuckled.

"Hey, can you call my mom and tell her I'll be home late?"

"Depends, how late?"

"Couple of hours, I'm going to a burger joint with these two," he said.

"Maybe the girls if they get out of there ever," I supplied. 

"Okay, don't make me have to come and find you again, got it cupcake?"

"Please, no offense, but you'd be the least of my worries," laughed Percy.

"I heard she flipped you," said Coach.

"She did. Right in front of everyone. It was adorable." He readjusted his bag on his shoulder and grinned.

"Charming, see ya tomorrow Jackson." He walked back into the school and left the three of us there waiting for the girls to get out of the school.