The New Immortals

Piper plays with loombands

CARLOS

'Ok, let's start with something easy. Mr Danvers, what is the atomic mass of carbon?' Mrs Quarlen snapped.

'Sorry, what?' I blinked, turning to face her. Oops. Did I get distracted again? I mentally smacked myself. I'd been fine in class until she turned up.

'No? Can you, Miss Manners?'

'Twelve, Miss.' The teacher's pet gave a sickly smile.

'Well done, Miss Manners. As for you, Mr Danvers, if you bothered to pay attention in class instead of drooling over Miss McAndrey, you might have a chance of passing the pop quiz tomorrow. These are elementary level questions, and if you can't answer these then maybe you need some after school practice? Of course, Miss McAndrey would be invited as well...'

Piper and I turned simultaneously scarlet, as the rest of the class erupted into giggles. Mrs Quarlen scowled.

'I don't know why you're laughing, class. Unless the idea of a pop quiz is funny?' There was a sudden silence as the second part of what she'd said sank in. Then groans replaced the laughter. Oh-so-perfect Tabitha Manners just smirked.

After class, I decided to follow Piper outside. Today was the day. I finally had enough courage to ask her out. Apparently, she'd been turning guys away, but they were all douches. Complete scumbags. Piper McAndrey deserved a guy who would treat her like the princess she was. (yes I know very gushy deal with it.)

Piper walked to the edge of campus, collapsing down behind a tree and pulling her phone out. I lingered a little way away behind some bushes, waiting for my chance. She called someone, put the phone on speaker and pulled out some loombands, fiddling with them absentmindedly. The phone rang through a couple of times, and then the call connected.

Piper: Hey Jace.

Jace: Piper? What's the matter, baby?

Who was Jace? And why was he calling her baby? A nasty feeling started building in my stomach.

Piper: Ugh, just not really very happy here. The teachers suck, the girls are bitches and don't even get me started on the guys. Could you transfer? I don't really wanna do this alone anymore.

Ok. Um. Ouch.

Jace: Is the great Piper Mclean finally admitting she needs help?

Ugh. This guy didn't even know her name. Couldn't he distinguish between a world-famous actor and his... what was she to him? He'd better not be dating her, he sounded worse than all the guys at our school put together.

Piper: Jason.

Oh. It was Jason, not Jace.

Jason: Ok. sure sweetheart. I'm on my way. Hang in there.

Piper: Thanks. I knew I could count on you.

Jason: Of course baby. By the way, this entire conversation was on speakerphone and my math class heard every word. K bye.

Piper, a panicked expression replacing the lovestruck one on her face, started yelling into the phone, but the call disconnected. Rude much? And what sort of school lets the kids call people in the class? I mean, this Jason guy sounded weird. One minute he's a grade-A douchebag, the next he's addressing her with sweet nicknames and offering to drop everything for her. Oh well. I guess I'd see him next week. Or tomorrow. Actually, when was he gonna turn up?

Strangely, Piper muttered something under her breath, picked up her phone and newly-made bracelet, and started heading towards the car park. What was she doing? It would take at least a day for Jason to disenroll in his current school and enrol in his new one. But by the expression on her face, she expected him to arrive in a matter of minutes.

The best course of action seemed to be to ignore the peculiar phone call and do what I'd approached Piper to do in the first place. I hurried to catch up with her.

'Hey... um... Piper?'

'Carlos, hey.' she smiled sweetly at me, her pearly whites flashing teasingly.

'I was, um, wondering if maybe you'd, uh, want to maybe-' She stopped suddenly, her kaleidoscope eyes full of pity.

'Oh, Carlos, you seem really nice and all, but I have a boyfriend.'

'I know, but he seemed really rude, and you deserve so much better, and I was hoping-'

'You eavesdropped on my phone call?' She sighed. 'Whatever. Jason isn't rude, you must have misunderstood some of the things he said. We have a lot of inside jokes, you see. I'm in a happy relationship. Now I'm sorry, but I've really gotta go.' She shot me an apologetic smile before legging it down the path towards the car park.

PIPER

The conversation with Carlos had replaced all the weight my heart had lost on the phone call with Jason. It was upsetting when the shyer kids asked me out. The bullies I had no problem putting down - heck, they needed a hit to the ego. But when it was clear that when the more nervous boys - and girls - were using all of the limited confidence they had on someone who was taken, it hurt to say no. I promised myself that I'd ask mom to do something about it.

I was just reaching my destination when a sky-blue Mercedes convertible skidded into the middle of the car park. I smiled. Jason.

He slid smoothly out of the car and, ignoring all the eyes on him, jogged towards me. I threw my arms around him as he kissed me on the forehead.

'You needed me?' He asked, so softly that the eavesdroppers around us couldn't hear.

'Yeah. Thanks.' I replied, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and starting towards the school building. 'We should probably get you enrolled.'

'No need.' A familiar voice said from behind us. We froze. The entire parking lot froze. Then someone yelled,

'Oh, my Gods! It's King Perseus!'

We spun, staring at Percy as every other person within earshot dropped onto one knee, head bowed. After his filmed coronation at Goode, he'd become insanely famous overnight. I doubted there was more than 1% of the global population who didn't know his name and face, and he'd built up quite a fan base in the week since he was revealed. This included merch, fan clubs and multiple book series about his life.

'Hey, guys.' Percy smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

'When... Why... what...' I stuttered.

'Why are you here, Perce? How are you here, actually?' Jason asked.

'I.. um... water-vapour travelled. It's like shadow travelling, but with, uh, water vapour.' Percy sighed. 'As for why I'm here, well, I need a council, and you guys are part of the seven, and-'

'Percy, are you asking us to be on the Olympian council?' I interrupted, incredulous. He nodded.

'I mean, I don't want it to be called the Olympian council, and I don't want us to be known as Olympians, but yeah, essentially.'

'Then what are we waiting for?' Jason stepped forward and gripped Percy's hand in his free one. 'Let's go.'