A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Twenty One

Peter had spent the last two weeks going through life like a normal teenager. He went to class, hung out with Ned, and ignored his problems until they went away. He hadn't spoken to Hestia in the two weeks after their conversation. He had thought about it for hours and realized she was right. Acting like that it didn't happen didn't change the fact that it had happened. By running away from the Greek world he was dismissing the sacrifices made in the Second Titan and Giant Wars. Despite his conclusion, things were still awkward with Hestia. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know if he even had to say anything.

These thoughts were swirling through his head as he made his way back to class. The hallway was empty except for a student walking towards him. As they got closer, Peter realized it was Liz and he could feel the heat rush to his face. He hadn't spoken to her since the trip to DC, where they had exchanged a few awkward sentences.

"Hey," he called out. "I thought you had calculus fifth period?"

Liz gave him a soft smile as they met in the middle of the hall by the trophy case. "Yeah, I was just doing some homecoming stuff."

He awkwardly nodded his head. "Cool, cool. Um... look, I want to apologize for almost missing the Decathlon."

"Peter, it's fine, you were sick. Last week, Decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died," Liz reassured him.

"Yeah, I know." His heart started to pound. He could hear a few different voices in his head, all of them contradicting each other. But the voice that stood out the most was Annabeth's, asking him to move on, to not be stuck loving a ghost who couldn't return. "It's just, I feel like I almost let you down because... I like you."

Liz smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I know. You're terrible at keeping secrets."

Peter huffed out a laugh. "You'd be surprised."

A moment of awkward silence passed before Peter realized that she wasn't rejecting him. He decided to take a risk and ask her out. "I-I know that you probably already have a date to homecoming-"

"Actually, I was so busy planning it that I never really got around to that part," she cut him off.

"Would you want to go with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'd love to," Liz beamed at him. Her cheeks were red and he admired the way that the light filtered through the window to frame her face. He stared at her for a few seconds past socially acceptable before a blush bloomed across his cheeks.

"I'll text you," he said, trying to move past the awkwardness.

"Cool."

"I'm actually going that way," he told her, the heat in his cheeks increasing. He walked past her, flashing her another smile. Once she was behind him a giant grin broke across his face. It quickly turned into a look of panic when he realized that he had no idea what he was going to wear.

He managed to get through the rest of the day with minimal panicking. As soon as the bell rang he ran out of the room towards the front of the school. He was halfway to the bus stop before he remembered that he was supposed to wait for his cousins outside. He groaned and pulled out his phone to send them a text on their groupchat as he continued to the bus stop.

He quickly typed out, "Forgot about you guys so I'm at the bus stop and not dead."

Nico, whose name was Death Breath in his phone, was the first to respond, "Wow, rude."

Thalia, also known as Pinecone Face, texted back almost immediately after Nico. "How could you leave me here with this idiot?"

Percy chuckled at their antics but didn't respond. It felt like five years had passed before his cousins eventually made it to the bus stop right as the bus was pulling up. The trio got on the bus and it quickly pulled away. He had to brace himself as it swerved dangerously into oncoming traffic. Beside him, Nico was also looking sick.