The Light and the Dark

♧︎ One♧︎

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Dick laughed at a joke his friend told him. He turned to corner to see kids circling two kids fighting, " Why are kids never whelmed?"

Dick turned to put his stuff in his locker, his friend Cody lightly hit him on the arm. " Um, Dick?"

He sigh, pinching the bridge of his, " It's Percy, isn't it?"

Dick didn't have to turn around to see Cody nod his head to know that it was. Sighing, Dick closed his locker and elbowed his way to the center of the circle were Percy and some boy were fighting, pulling hair and headlocking each other. Dick stepped into the circle and pulled Percy off the boy, " Percy, stop!"

Dick didn't want to be mean, but he found Percy fighting all the time a bit annoying. She only picked fights because people would pick on him, like he couldn't stand up for himself. True, he never had before, but he never got the chance. Percy always butted in and got into a fight, leaving Dick to come in and save her from getting in trouble. Nonetheless, Dick saw a teacher coming and pulled Percy in the crowd, accidentally pushing another kid forward making him fall on his face. Percy let out a snort, " He's going to get in trouble."

" Better than you, if you get in trouble again you'll get expelled." Dick sighed. He didn't feel good pushing the boy, but he didn't want his best friend to get in trouble. Percy has been by his side since his parents death. Percy's situation was worse, because her dad left her by choice. And Dick was pretty sure that her stepfather was abusing Percy and her mother. But he couldn't do anything about it. He hated feeling helpless, it reminded him of the night his parents died. Helpless to do anything but watch.

" What's so wrong with that?" She asked, leaning against the locker beside Dick's. Percy was annoyed and it was clear that Dick was just poking the bear. " I'm pretty sure Gabe will love sending me to a military school."

" But then you would leave, and then we wouldn't be friends anymore."

" So, you think that me leaving with end our friendship?" Percy asked, scoffs, then starts walking away.

Dick sighs and closes his locker, then runs up to her, " That's not what I meant, Perc. It's just that we won't be as close and...you're my best friend, I just don't want to lose you."

" Dick, you could never lose me." Percy rolled her eyes and walked off.

" No offense." She stared at him, warming Dick that he was walking on thin ice, " You seem to be in a very good mood today."

" Well, yeah, my dad came to my apartment yesterday, talked to me alone." Percy stuck her tongue between her teeth and her lip, with a fire burning in her eyes. Her was drumming her fingers on her legs as an angry vent.

" You seem pretty whelmed. What did he say?" Dick asked.

Percy shrugged, " Something about how he regrets having me and he's sorry I was born. Apparently my life with be worse since I'm his kid and he came as a warning."

" You're in sixth grade, what do you mean worse?" Dick asked. Once again he felt helpless. Percy's life was a mess. A broke family, a jerk stepdad, being kicked out of schools left and right. While he had the opposite. A rich family, a nice adoptive father, and being able to stay in once school. Sure, his life wasn't perfect, but it was better than Percy's.

Percy glared at Dick, rolling her eyes. Percy often rolled her eyes, and Dick wondered if someone would get eye problems from doing it so much. Percy only rolled her eyes when she was being sarcastic or she was in a bad mood. This was definitely the later, " Oh, you know, being an ADHD, dyslexic with a broke house, with a stepfather who spends all the extra money and then some on poker. Who is always being shipped away because she can't stay in a damn school, what could possibly be bad about."

" Percy, are you okay?" Dick asks.

The girl released a harsh laugh, " Just peachy."

The raven haired demigod stormed off, trying to get out of Dick's sight. When she was positive she was, Percy bolted for the girl's bathroom. The lonely girl locked herself in a stall, wanting to disappear. Tears ran over her cheeks and Percy didn't even try to stop them or wipe them away. She heard pipes groaning but she dismissed it, thinking it was some other bathroom or the kitchen needing water. Percy rolled up her sleeve, tracing the lines. She couldn't believe that her life would get worse. She was twelve, and she was already cutting.

But what Percy didn't know, is it's going to get a lot worse than an abusive stepfather and a broke family.

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