percabeth: forever and always

part 13

Emma POV: I pull up at the school just as the bell rings and everyone runs out. I tell the kids to stay put and walk to the gate.

"so you here to collect your kid?" I spin around and smile

"hey Juniper! no I'm collecting Zoe because annabeth works late on Fridays and well highschools finish later than primary school so Percy can't collect her either" I say

"ohhhh. I'm collecting me and Grovers daughter" Juniper says shocking me. I'm about to say something when Zoe sprits up to me.

"hey Zoe! ready to go? talk to you later juniper!" I say as I walk to the car with Zoe who sits in the far back seat and reads a book. she's so like annabeth that way in my opinion.

"okay guys who wants a happy meal?" I say happily which is followed by a chorus of

"ME!" from the backseat. I laugh and try to remember all the orders at once

"so three chicken nugget happy meals with milk, cheese burger happy meal with water and for myself a chicken nugget meal with diet coke no ice" I say, smiling and after paying and handing out the food I drive home so we can have a picnic in the garden. after the food the kids run off and play but Zoe seems a bit too quiet. she sits on the swing from a tree branch that came with the house and swings absentmindedly and keeps her head down and sniffs every so often. I walk over to her and sit on the ground next to the swing

"hey" she says looking up and I notice the tears in her eyes.

"hey what's wrong?"

"my teacher is a bully and all the other kids are too" she says, trying not to cry. I reach over and hug her tightly like I used to when she was younger.

"don't worry about them. they're just mean and all you have to do is ignore the mean stuff they say alright?" I say to her as she wipes her eyes with her sleeve

"well there is one nice girl in my class and we sit together and we're friends" Zoe says happily. just as I'm about to reply there's a knock at the door. I open it and smile

"hey Percy"

"hey Emma" awkward silence and then

"HI DADDY!" silena and rian and Zoe all run out at one time

"hey guys! ready to go? thanks for minding them. must've been a handful" percy says, laughing.

"nah. they were good as gold" I say, laughing as I close the door.

"mommy?" I turn around and look down at Bianca who's looking up at me with a drawing in her hand.

"I drew this for you" she says handing it to me. I look at it and smile.

"its brilliant. you know what? I'm going to hang this on the fridge so I can see it every day" I say, hugging her tightly. she hugs me back and I stand up with her clinging onto me as I walk into the kitchen and hang the picture on the fridge.

"want to make cookies?" I say as I put Bianca down.

"YAY!" she cries excitedly. I grab the ingredients, equipment and aprons