Friends With Mental Issues (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

The Insane Sane Group

   It wasn't as if the people in the room noticed Percy there. They continued going about their activities without the silence that normaly accompanied meeting someone new. Nope, they most likely didn't care what someone's first impression of them was... Since they were all in a special facility.

   They were all spread out in a circle, playing what looked like a game of cards. Although, Percy had never seen cards that had cartoon pictures of Greek gods on them, if that was what they were. And they all seemed to be arguing all at once. "Guys." Percy looked over at Nico, who had a hand on his forehead in a facepalm.

   A beautifuly charming Native girl was the first to notice Percy. She smiled sweetly at him and Percy gave a nervous smile back, not sure which type of crazy she was supposed to be. But then she looked back to a blond haired guy sitting next to her, who was staring intently at the cards. She patted him on the back softly, then leaned in and whispered something in his ear.

   The guy recoiled, horror on his face. "Piper, what the actual frick?!" Oh. Piper. According to what Nico had said, she was the sociopath. Well, now that he had seen her with that devilish grin on her face, Percy doubted he'd ever think of her as something else.

   Percy switched his attention to the other side of the room, where a girl with blonde wavy hair was pointing at the corner, screaming that there was a spider. "Leo! Leo, kill it with your electric thing!" A guy sitting next to her, who looked Mexican and had curly dark hair and tan skin, looked at her with distain.

   "Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? And besides, there is no spider. Calm the frick down." The girl swatted him with her cards, a scary type of anger in her eyes.

   "There is too a spider, and I'm going to make it burn in hell since you're too much of a wuss." She huffed and slammed her cards down, crawling over to the corner and screaming, ducking as if something was flying to her head. "Frank! It's the kind that can fly! Someone make that bitch die," she screamed, taking cover behind a small African American girl who looked at the other girl curiously.

   "Annabeth, I don't think we had the word 'bitch' when I came from. What does it mean?" A tall Asian guy covered the girl's ears, giving a pointed look at the blonde girl who was apparently named Annabeth.

   "Don't say those words around Hazel! And I don't think I can kill your imaginary spider because I apparently don't have enough self-confidence." Annabeth huffed, crossing her arms.

   Leo, the Mexican guy, grinned evilly. "At least you can remember crap, Frank. Unlike Jason." The blond guy that was sitting next to Piper, frowned.

   "At least I don't have mommy issues," he said, frowning and looking at Piper, who nodded enthusiastically, the devil grin still on her face.

   "Oh, so you remember that! Wow, I'm kind of offended. In fact-" Nico walked in to the room fully and swatted the Mexican's head.

   "Leo, stop talking." The guy who was apparently Leo made a face, then, collectively, everyone noticed Percy, who was standing awkwardly by the now closed door. He kind of wondered if he could back out and tell Chiron that working with crazy people was so not his job.

   "Luke?" Annabeth asked, crawling closer to Percy. He instinctively took a step back, but found that the wall was blocking any kind of escape.

   Nico sighed tiredly. "Annabeth, not every new person is Luke."

   "Well, he could be named Luke," she mumbled angrily.

   Totally ignoring her, Nico looked over and directed a lazy finger at everyone as he spoke. "Piper, stop whispering psychopathic things into Jason's ear." Piper shrugged, leaning back into a reclining position. "Leo, at least try to kill an imaginary spider." Leo seemed like he was about to protest, but Nico had already moved on. "Hazel, the word 'bitch' is used to describe a person you don't like, or it could be used as another name for a female dog." Hazel nodded, still looking confused. "Frank," Nico sighed defeatedly, "At least try to act like you lack self-confidence." Frank shrugged and gave a small smile.

   "So, is Mr. Coffee done lecturing?" Piper said, looking bored. "Because I've got sociopathic tendencies to attend to." Percy looked at Nico, who looked at Percy with a roll of his eyes, as if saying, crazy people. Can you believe them? 

   He walked over to Hazel and plopped down beside her, leaving Percy standing by the door. Not sure of what to start off with to introduce himself (it seemed as if Nico had left him to fend for himself), Percy cleared his throat. "Uh, hey guys, my name is Percy Jackson-"

   "Here, last names don't matter much. So we'll just call you Percy," interrupted Hazel, who seemed nice enough. And the least crazy, in Percy's opinion.

   "Oh, ok." Percy gulped, still unsure of what to say. "So yeah, I'm Percy, and I'm apparently related to Chiron. So Chiron called me up and asked me if I could help out with you guys because all of you are apparently stubborn and won't listen to professionals. And I said sure why not because helping insane people has been my life dream. Really. There is no sarcasm there," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

   There was a loud beeping noise causing many in the room to jump. Everyone turned their heads (well, everyone except Percy, who was just following along) to glare at Leo, who held a rusty buzzer thing in his hands. "Sorry, guys, but I just wanted to alert you that here we have a social outcast with no friends standing in front of us. We should treat him kindly since he is in fact one of us."

   Percy was instantly mortified. But as everyone cast him their curious glances (with the exception of Nico, who looked bored and ready to fall asleep), he became a little less mortified. They didn't look crazy, and they were just as Chiron had said; they were like regular teenagers, except a bit more crazy. Literally. "Oh, yeah, it's my honor to be considered one of the crazies."

   "Don't be rude," Piper said, crossing her arms. Across their nightmare of a circle, Annabeth scoffed.

   "You can't even feel emotion." Piper smirked a bit, then faked being scared, pointing at Hazel's shoulder.

   "Oh, look, a spider." Annabeth, squealed, covering her face. Then her head shot up and she glared at Piper, who was smirking evilly. She was about to get angry when she was interrupted by Jason, who had been watching the scene with concern.

   "Guys, we're meeting a new person. Let's try to be nice to each other." Frank raised his hand. Jason sighed, looking over at Frank. "Yes?"

   "I don't think I have the self-confidence to that." And then, the whole room burst into laughter, releasing whatever tension there was in the room. Percy found a smile making it's way to his face, even though he wasn't sure why. Maybe because  he felt like he belonged, for once. Even if he was with people who are in a facility for reasons they weren't scared to admit.

   Leo got up from his place on the floor, brushing off his jeans and standing beside Percy, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "See? We aren't all that crazy. Sort of. We're just..." He paused, putting a finger on his chin and thinking.

   "The sane among the insane," Annabeth said, giving a smile to Percy. And, to Percy's surprise, everyone gave him a smile, even Nico. And he had never thought he'd think this, but the smiles of the crazy people among him were the best he'd seen in a while.

   "The Insane Sane Group!" Leo said, snapping his fingers. "Yeah. I think that's the best we've got, right?" Everyone kind of shrugged, muttering things in agreement.

   "Well, I think I feel better about hanging out with you guys... Now let's get this therapy session started," Percy said, sitting down in an empty place in the 'circle' they had for play cards. And with that, the Insane Sane Group told Percy just how they'd gotten to be in this very special facility.