Greatest Love Story- A Percabeth AU [On Hold]

Chapter 5

Percy's POV

When I walked into my math class, at the beginning of my third week of school, I knew it was going to be a bad day when Mrs. Dodds called me up to her desk.

"Hello, Perseus," she said, almost grimacing as she said my name.

"Um, hi, Mrs. Dodds." I responded, trying to mask my confusion. "Was there something you needed from me?"

"I need to talk to you about your grades."

"What grades? It's not even a month into the school year!" I blurted out, still confused about where this conversation was going.

She sighed and shook her head. "I have been informed by the administration that you must pass my class this year if you want to graduate.  The last two years have not shown that that will be easy for you. I have decided to find you a tutor."

"I wouldn't keep failing this class if you weren't such a b--" I bit back the word that I knew would only make things worse.

Mrs. Dodds apparently decided to ignore the fact that I nearly called her a bitch, and just continued. "One of my students from my senior class has already agreed to do it. She's a very smart girl, you could learn a lot from her. I want you to meet her in here after school today."

The day dragged on, and each hour that passed saw me dreading the end of the day even more than the last.

As I walked into the library with my lunch, I saw Nico, but as I was walking up to him, I saw him grin and wave over some blond kid that seemed to radiate sunshine. I frowned, concerned, for a moment, but it didn't last long because I realized I hadn't seen him that happy in years.

His mom died in some sort of freak accident when he was really little. At that point nobody knew who his father was, so he and his sister were put into the foster system. When Nico was 10, his father finally found them, and Nico finally had a family again. Shortly after that, though, his sister was killed. It was another freak accident. She and I had gone to explore some old buildings and she saw something she thought Nico would like, so she went to grab it. I tried to stop her, told her it was too dangerous. But she didn't listen. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the toy she had gone to grab, the floor beneath her splintered and she fell through. The doctors said she probably died before she even felt any pain. She was only 12 years old. Even younger than Nico is now.

I couldn't save his sister, but I will not let the same thing happen to Nico, so I'm protective of him. But this new kid seems to make Nico happy.

Still, I had to go over there to meet this kid and make sure he won't hurt my little cousin.

"Hey Neeks," I exclaimed, coming up behind them. Both Nico and the librarian turned to glare at me.

"Quiet in the library," the librarian snapped.

At the same time, Nico groaned and said "Percy! You know I hate that nickname!" The boy sitting next to him looked between us with some mix of confusion and amusement on his face. Nico turned back to him to explain why he knew me, a random senior. "Will, this is my cousin, Percy. He's a senior, so we won't have to deal with him after this year."

Will laughed and said to me "Hey, I'm Will. I'm Nico's..." He paused and looked at Nico. I looked at Nico too, just in time to see an almost imperceptible shake of Nico's head. "...Friend," Will finished, finally.

I raised an eyebrow at the apparent uncertainty about their friendship, but decided not to press them about it. Instead I said, in an exageratedly shocked voice, "Wow, Nico, you have friends? I never expected this!"

Our conversation continued for the rest of the hour. I decided that Will seemed like a good kid, and that he probably wouldn't hurt Nico. But they were definitely hiding something, so I definitely had to keep an eye on them for now.

As we were walking out of the library. I pulled Nico aside and whispered "hey, that kid seems to make you happy. I mean, I haven't seen you smile so much since before..." I trailed off knowing that he knew exactly what I was talking about, and that neither of us liked to talk about it. "Anyway, I like that kid, and I'm glad he makes you happy, but if he ever hurts you, he's dead."

"You sound like an overprotective dad to his daughter's first boyfriend." Nico laughed, but then his face fell. "Wait. You don't know... Do you?"

This was my second confusing conversation in only a few hours. "Know what? Nico, what's going on?" I asked with more than a hint of concern in my voice.

He looked relieved as he quickly hurried toward his class, shouting behind him to me. "Nothing, it's fine. Don't worry. I have to get to class."

That was weird. What was going on with him?

For the rest of the day I forgot about my earlier conversation with Mrs. Dodds. That is, I forgot until I walked past her classroom on my way to the door I usually left the school through.

Groaning, I turned around amd made my way back to the classroom that had been my personal hell for over 2 years. It was not an easy task in the crowded hallway, since every student in it was going the same way-- toward the door out of the school.

I walked into the classroom and didn't see anyone in it aside from Mrs. Dodds.

"Hello, Perseus," she said in her falsely kind voice. "Your tutor must be running a bit late. Go ahead and take a seat. I'm sure she will be here in a moment."

Almost immediately after I sat down, the girl who would be my tutor for the rest of the school year walked through the door, apologizing for being late.

So, I'm sure you already know who the tutor will be, but if you don't, you will find out soon, I promise.

I couldn't help but put some solangelo in here, but right now (as far as our two narrators know 😉) they're just friends.

I'm pretty sure this was my longest chapter yet (which might be partially due to the fact that I've been working on it (on-and-off) for 10 and a half hours (unlike the last two, which were both written over the course of a few hours in the middle of the night)). Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions (either about my writing itself, or directions the story could go). I already have somewhat of an idea of where the main story will go, but I am open to suggestions of minor things that could happen on the way to the end I have planned, and of things that could happen to other characters (for example: solangelo. I know some of what will happen to them eventually, but I don't have a full plan of what will happen in between now and then, so suggestions are definitely welcome). If or when I will use those suggestions may depend on a lot of things, but I will try to work in as many suggestions as I can (if I get any, lol).

I hope you liked it!

💖💖Cam