The Seven In High School

We Get The Royal Treatment

PIPER

"Thanks." Piper said cheerfully to the cab driver. He grunted and drove off. Typical New York cab driver behavior.

Jason slipped his hand in hers and craned his head to look at the tall building in front of them. The sunlight reflected off his glasses, sending a blinding flash at the back of Percy's head.

"Fancy." Leo grinned.

"Fancy? It's-it's-beautiful! It's magnificent! It's-" cried Frank.

"An architectural wonder." breathed Annabeth, awed. "The structure! The fixings! The alignment of the windows!"

"Um. Yeah. Awesome windows." Percy said, before Annabeth could start talking about the window glazing and beams. Piper had asked Annabeth about architecture before, and she had talked about diagrams and blueprints until Piper had trouble keeping her eyes open.

Seriously. She loved Annabeth, but she would be a good bedtime story.

"The Mantello Building." Piper read from the shiny plaque beside the door and the snazzily dressed doorman. She looked up at the building again, hardly daring to believe that they were going to live there. She hadn't been in a lot of places like this, since her dad never took her with him on his movie tours.

"Leo, you sure you read the map correctly?" Hazel asked.

"Yes. And the keycard says: The Mantello Building." Leo said.

The Mantello Building was very modern-looking, a structure made of steel and glass. It stretched upwards, the bright sunshine hitting it and flashing a blinding ray of light in Piper's eyes. There were lots of glass windows built into it, and the top floor had balconies. The building curved gently near the top, making it slightly S-shaped.

"Well. Let's go in!" Percy said. He planted his foot on the white-brick doorstep and the doorman moved, quick as lightning.

"Excuse me, young sir, but you need to be either a resident or an authorized visitor to enter." said the doorman.

"No prob, dude. I got this." Leo said, giving the doorman a smile. "We are residents."

"You all-residents?" the doorman smiled coldly.

Piper instantly knew that she disliked the doorman very, very, much.

"We are-Ryan, is it?" asked Leo, looking at the doorman's gold nametag, which really read Reynolds. "We have proof." He whipped out his key card and held it under Reynolds's pointy nose.

Reynolds took the key card and examined it carefully. When his eyes passed over the words 'Penthouse' they bulged out unattractively. Piper felt like summoning magic makeup for this guy.

"My sincerest apologies, sir. Welcome to the Mantello Building." Reynolds said while flashing a smile and opening the door.

***

"Whoa." Frank breathed, once they'd stepped inside the lobby.

The lobby was all white marble and dark wood. White couches populated the room. A flat-screen plasma television was placed in front of each cluster of couches. Behind the dark wooden desk at the front sat a smiling lady in a black suit. A crystal chandelier sparkled softly overhead in the warm light.

"Where's the elevator?" asked Annabeth

"There." Leo pointed to a corridor leading off of the lobby. They walked into it and found another beautifully decorated room. A wooden table holding a ceramic vase of flowers was placed between two elevators. Another crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling.

"Close your mouths and press the button already!" cried Leo.

Hazel pressed the UP button hesitatingly. The button lit up green and the numbers displayed above the metal door started decreasing rapidly.

The stainless steel doors of the elevator slid open soundlessly. Piper stepped in first, because she was the least awed of them all.

Inside the elevator was an elevator operator, wearing a similar uniform to Reynolds, except shinier. His whole self seemed to smile when he saw them.

"Ahhh! Welcome to the Mantello Building! Please, monsieurs, mademoiselles, enter. I am André. Andrew in your American." He bowed slightly.

The rest of her friends in the elevator seemed to perk up a little at this cheery French elevator operator man. André looked about thirty-ish. He had shiny, greased back, black hair like the guys in one of her housekeeper Tabitha's favorite movie. Please? Peace? Cheese? Oh, Grease. Yep, that was it.

The doors closed. Piper looked around at the interior. Red carpet, mirrored walls, marble top and air-conditioning. The whole apartment building was more like a hotel.

"Which floor?" André asked cheerily.

"Uhhh..." Jason stammered.

"Here's the key card." Piper said.

"Penthouse? This is on the 30th floor." Andrè said, checking the card. He beeped the card against a scanner and pressed the button labeled '30'.

"Your key card, mademoiselle." he said, bowing.

Leo grinned. "Hey, Andy, look at my key card. Is it, um, normal?"

Andrè took Leo's key card and looked at it intently. "It is pairfait, monsieur. Here you go." He bowed to Leo.

"Ow." Leo said. He shot Hazel a look, rubbing the side of his ribcage.

A ringing sound rang through the elevator. The doors slid open.

"We are here, monsieurs, mademoiselle. Please, welcome to the Mantello Building." Andrè smiled. He bowed once more.