Favorite : Change for the both of us

Chapter 33

We only have six more days off school before school begins again, unfortunately. I'm not extremely worried about it, because I'll be around Annabeth and Grover, however I kinda know that I'll be getting a lot of attention. When I was abducted with Annabeth we were plastered all over the news in hope that someone would find us. Many people have already recognised our faces in the streets. Everyone in schools is going to be asking us insensitive questions and I just know it. Even though the teachers warn everyone at the start of the day not to ask us about it, they do anyway.

"So, Percy – what did that creepy granddad of you do to you exactly?" Luke asks during break, annoying sliding over to us with his friend Chris. I roll my eyes at him.

"Gee, Luke, I don't know," I say, scratching the green cast on my arm. "He certainly didn't break my wrist or anything,"

"Did he beat you up?"

"Why do you want to know?" Annabeth asks, arching an eyebrow. And is it not obvious anyway? Fading cuts and bruises are still littering my face and arms, clearly in sight of everyone. My arm is broken and I'm still stuck walking with a limp. Annabeth is the same.

"Just curious," Luke says, sitting down on the picnic bench opposite us. He grins, as though he can tell he's bugging us and bringing back harsh memories. "Hey, I heard Percy nearly died,"

"He did die," Grover cuts in harshly, shocking me, and the others. "For about a minute, his heart wasn't working. He was shocked back to life,"

I wince, but shoot Grover a grateful look anyway. Maybe that sort of thing will scare them off?

"Really?" asks Chris, looking eager. "Cool! Did it hurt? Did you see the Grim Reaper?"

Or maybe not.

Annabeth scowls at them. "None of your businesses," she says. "This conversation is over. Now do us a favour and leave us alone,"

"It's a shame he didn't stay dead," Luke grins, ignoring her.

I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not the kind of person to be offended by insolent little boys like Luke. Whatever they says about me, I don't really care. It's what adults say to me that hit home. I tend to only react when it's my friends being offended. So, I'm not mad at Luke, I'm just annoyed.

Annabeth and Grover, however, are fuming.

"Why you little-,"

Before I can react, Annabeth lunges at him. I grab her around the waist, struggling to tug her back. Before I can, Annabeth punches a tooth right out of Luke's mouth, sending blood splattering across his face and he knuckle.

"Hey!" Chris yells, jumping at Annabeth. Grover stands in the way and pushes him back. For a skinny, crippled boy, he's very strong (I know from the arm-wrestling competitions we've had) and Chris falls right on his butt. Luke whines in pain, clutching his mouth.

Regardless of the situation, the sight is oddly satisfying. "Next time you think about saying something to me, Luke," I say to him, still holding on to Annabeth to make sure she doesn't try to land another hit. "Check my friends aren't around. And vice versa,"

"You might want to leave before I make charms out of your other teeth," Annabeth growls, still looking murderous. Luke glances at us, eyes flaring with anger and disgust and surprise, before standing and, for lack of a better word, scurrying away. He runs right to the teacher, who directs him inside to the first aid room without even asking what had happened.

Once Luke disappears from sight, Annabeth relaxes. I slowly let my arms fall to my sides and Grover sits down.

"Hey, thanks for that, guys," I say, before either of them can talk.