Why is Everything so Loud?! (Fem. Percy)

Lunch And Reopened Wounds

Dad stared at the meager amount of food on my plate. "Percy, are you sure that's enough food? You barely ate this morning."

"I'm fine. Just the after effects of the fever."

"I'm not an expert in mortals by any standard, but isn't the saying feed a cold, starve a fever? If the fever broke, you should eat now that your body has fought off the illness."

"Just because the fever broke doesn't mean I magically don't feel like crap. It'll probably be a few days until I get back to normal." Hopefully by that time, the gods will have left.

He nodded slowly before starting to eat. It took longer than it should've to eat the small amount of food I had. Dad had finished with his by the time I was halfway through.

"Scared I'm going to steal food?" I raised an eyebrow.

Dad chuckled and shook his head.

I looked at the other tables. Hermes and his kids were throwing food at each other. Aphrodite was doing her kids' hair and makeup, by hand.

"I talked to Chiron earlier and he said it's okay if you miss some of your classes if you're with me. He can get someone-"

"No. I'm not letting him put someone in charge that thinks they can teach better than me. The last time he did that, well, that's why I dont have a class in the morning."

And if he does find someone better at teaching than me, then he'll replace me and what do I do then? Teaching others to fight is all I'm good for. A weapon teaching others to fight.

"You work hard, I doubt one day will hurt anything."

I clenched my jaw. One day hurt a lot of things. One day killed so many people and damaged the relationship between the camps to the point where we ignore each other.

"Plus, the water should get rid of the rest of that illness."

"I already missed one day of training. I'm not letting those kids miss anymore. Wouldn't make me a very good role model."

"Since when have you cared about that?" Dad smiled.

Despite it being a joke, a pang shot through my heart. "Since I started training new campers." I pushed my plate away from me and I stood up. "I'm going to head to the arena. Hopefully I don't have anyone from Cabin Five."

I didn't go to the arena. I snuck into my cabin and locked myself in the bathroom.

Why'd I have to make that stupid request?

I sighed and shrugged my jacket off, relishing the cool air against my skin. I looked at the bandages wrapped around my arms, at the red soaking the bandages.

"Shit." I mumbled. Need to change these before it starts bleeding through my jacket. Probably should have changed them awhile ago, but only had the ones Dad used. I was keeping those on hand for an emergency.

I undid the wrapping, peeling the bloodied cloth away from my arm. I turned on the water and tossed the bandages into the sink. A heavy weight settled in my stomach and I pulled the blood out of the bandage. I let it run down the drain before shutting off the water.

It dried the moment I touched it and I rewrapped my arm.

"Percy?

"In the bathroom! Be out in a second!" I grabbed my jacket and slipped it back on. Before I opened the door, I did a quick once over of the room. Nothing.

"I thought you were going to the arena?" Dad asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Some things can't wait. Don't want Toxic Shock Syndrome. And if you don't know what that is ask Athena. Now if you excuse me, I need to go teach some kids how to kill stuff." I twirled Riptide around my fingers.

Thankfully, my beginner class is by far the easiest one to teach. They're scared and confused enough that they usually won't try anything stupid and they'll hang onto most of what I say. Today turned out to be one of the days where somebody would try something stupid.

"Watch it!" I jumped infront of a girl, blocking the swing. I winced at the sharp vibrations. I shook off the discomfort, and I disarmed the kid. "You don't attack fellow campers with real weapons, unless you're sparring with someone who knows how to fight or using practice weapons. You should only attack monsters like that and chances are your going to be smelled out before you get that close."

"Percy, you're bleeding." Nyssa said, placing some new swords on the rack. She finished before walking over. "Did you get hit?" She knelt and looked at my pant leg, which was soaked in blood.

"Reopened something I got this morning. My dad doesn't go easy. He wanted to heal it, but this will remind me to watch my legs."

Nyssa nodded and got up. "I've got to get back to the forges. The new swords are there." She pointed at the sword rack. She walked away.

"Wow, like I didn't see you put them there before thinking to check on the person with blood pouring down their leg." I grumbled. I sighed and looked at the kids. "That's all for today. Go bug your parents."

Sandals hit the dirt behind me. "So are you going to listen to yourself and bother me?"

"It's not bothering you if you keep trying to get me to do stuff." I turned and looked at Dad. "Besides, I need to fix up my leg again."

"You shouldn't have been putting that much weight on it." His tone sounded near accusatory. I swallowed and took a small step back. Great. Here comes the lecture. He'll tell me I need to be more careful and blah blah blah.

To my surprise, he tossed me a chocolate bar.

"I, uh, I asked Athena what that was and...anyway, I got you some chocolate."

I opened it and took a bite. "Thanks."

"Glad you like it. I forgot to tell you earlier, the campfire's cancelled. Something about Apollo getting into an argument with Hephaestus. So that means you'll have free time."

I took another bite of chocolate, ignoring my dread. I'm running out of excuses.

Guess who probably should be studying.

Me.

Also...here's to hoping I'll get other chapters done today cause I'm staying up past midnight to watch anime.

I'm gonna feel dead tomorrow but it's worth it.

See yah