Percy Jackson Oneshots

Amara Davies - Tratie

For @lillianiskindakool. I changed it slightly but I think it's all there. Enjoy!

I could feel his arms around me, helping me limp down the hall towards the nurse's office. It was a nice feeling, his muscles holding me as upright as I could be in my dazed state. The hallway kept swimming in front of me, only his body heat letting me know the right way up.

I felt my knees give way underneath me and heard him grunt as he took more of my weight. "Wow," he mumbled, "you're really not well."

My eyelids drifted down, my hazy mind slowly coming to the conclusion that I needed them open to be able to see and pushed them back up. Nonetheless, I could feel sleep tugging at me, enticing me into its warmth. Finally, I could just make out the door in front of us, only a few steps away.

The nurse rushed out to meet us, her figure a collage of colours in my eyes. Travis transferred some of my weight to her, although continued to help me into the room and onto the bed. "Thank you," I mumbled as I allowed myself to drift finally. The last thing I saw was his smile.

When I awoke later - I wasn't sure how long later - Travis was just walking into the room where I lay. At the sight of him, I could feel my day light up. As soon as he saw me awake, he smiled that million-watt smile that seemed to be reserved for me, making my heart flutter more than I consciously knew it should. Yet, I couldn't help the way my chest lifted and all my problems seemed to disappear anytime he was near.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he greeted, my heart giving a happy kick at the nickname. I slowly blinked, sleep still pulling at my eyelids. "How're you feeling?"

I moved my arms underneath me to push myself into a sitting position, pulling one hand up to rub at my heavy eyes. "What time is it?" I asked, my words slurring too much for my liking.

He smiled again, smaller this time, as he took a seat on the opposite bed. "It's about eleven," he replied, allowing me a moment to comprehend that I had been asleep for barely two hours. "How was your nap?"

I smiled at him, the usual spark of humour sitting in his eyes. "It was very refreshing. Thank you for being here for the end of it."

The humour grew, taking over his entire face in the form of a cheeky smile, the small dimple on his right cheek and the crinkles at the corner of each eye. His expression suddenly turned serious, his hand coming to rest on my leg. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

I rolled my eyes at him and fell back onto the pillow with a groan. "I don't want to go back to class," I mumbled.

"I get that. I'm just glad I have a free period for the next hour."

Jokingly, I rolled my head towards him to give him one of my famous glares. In response, he only chuckled, moving to stand up. "Right, now that I've checked up on you and made sure you're still alive - you're welcome by the way - I'm going to do some actual work."

Not believing a word, I shot him a questioning look, only getting a cheeky smirk in reply before he disappeared out of the room. Barely a second after he left my sight, the school nurse appeared, ready to do the full checkup. (Or at least as much as a school nurse could)

She finally let me go in time for my final class of the day - maths. The main redeeming part of the class was that I was sat next to Travis, and the fact that it was maths. Call me a nerd as much as you'd like, but I've always loved the way the numbers always came together and made complete sense. Nothing was ever speculated, nor did it have to be. It was definite in how everything was formed, and equations always excited me.

This was not true for the boy sat next to me, however. Often, he would rely on me for an explanation or the answer. If it was anyone else, I would be reluctant to help, preferring everyone to put the work in for themselves, but this was Travis. I couldn't say no to him!

By the time the final bell rang, my head hurt in a good way, and Travis had his genuine smile back on his face. He had a lot of smiles - his jokey one, the cheeky one, a sarcastic grin, the one he seemed to reserve for me, and his genuine smile. His genuine smile was the most rare of that list, only coming out when he was super excited for something to come. It was usually involuntary on his part, and anyone who saw it couldn't help but smile back at him.

When the bell finally rang, he was already packed up and was out the door. I quickly followed after him, wondering what could have him so excited. In the carpark stood a girl I didn't recognise. She was leaning against her car, looking around as though looking for someone. Somehow, I had beaten the rest of my friend group (which consisted of Travis and his brother, Connor) to the carpark, both of them having paused at their lockers on the other side of the school.

I took the time to look at the newcomer. In the afternoon sunshine, her brown hair shone and her eyes looked lighter than they probably were. From this distance, they looked a murky brown, but I knew that they were probably in reality a darker chocolate, about the same colour as my hair. The car she was leaning on matched her black shorts, the bright orange of her t-shirt standing out in the otherwise simplistic look. 

Glancing behind me and not seeing my friends, I took the opportunity to walk over and introduce myself. "Hi, I'm Amara," I said, holding out my hand to her. "I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

She looked surprised at my act of kindness and took my hand, giving it a quick shake before hers dropped back to her side. "Katie," she replied, her voice small but sweet. "And no, you wouldn't have seen me around before. I'm just here to pick up my boyfriend. I don't know if you know him. His name is -" 

Before she could tell me, a cry of "Katie!" came from behind me. I turned to see Travis drop his bag and run towards us. Connor stood beside his fallen bag, rolling his eyes. Upon seeing that Travis wasn't stopping, I stepped out of his way. As he bundled Katie into his arms, I felt something prick at the back of my eyes.

I wiped angrily at my blurry eyes, a plan already forming in my head. "So I take it this is the Kathryn you always talk about, Trav?"

At my voice, Travis pulled back slightly from the girl and turned to look at me. "What do you mean, Am? This is Katie. I don't think I've talked about her before, even though we've been going out for years. Oh don't look at me like that Gardner," he said, looking back down at the girl in his arms.

I squinted, pretending to think about something. "Are you sure? She was just telling me about her boyfriend called Josh. And it seems oddly suspicious that you've never even talked about her and she's suddenly just - here," I reasoned, shrugging slightly to punctuate my point. As I spoke, Katie ripped herself from Travis' arms and stood just beyond him, her eyes glued to me in an angry stare.

"I'm sorry," she said in a sickly-sweet voice, "what was that?"

"You heard me," I replied, stepping towards her bitchily.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but I've been at a camp and too busy to come to a school just to prove to someone that I exist." She put extra contempt on the final word, spitting it out as though it was poison.

"Well maybe you should have, because Travis sure seems to have forgotten between visits from your precious little camp," I spat. "He's been rather friendly lately." I put emphasis on the word friendly, hoping to get the hidden message across. Beside us, Travis' eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean, Amara?"

I turned on him. "You know exactly what I mean. Helping me to the nurse, being there in your free period, that special grin you have..." I trailed off, hoping my tone would get the rest of my sentence across.

He gave me a lopsided look, almost as if he was trying to work out what I meant. "I'm not sure what you mean, Amara."

I gave a huff of annoyance before turning on Connor. "You know what I mean, don't you?" My hands were planted securely by my sides and I fought back the tears threatening to ruin my picture-perfect anger. Without making eye contact with me, Connor merely shook his head and sent a concerned look in his brother's direction. "Fine," I huffed, turning on my heel to head home. They didn't deserve me anyway, I chanted as the tears finally spilled.

I barely talked to them ever again.