New Rome || COMPLETED

Chapter 26

There is a sharp rap on my door, startling me out of my dreamless sleep.

"Come in." I call, my voice hoarse.

An older man walks in. I instantly recognise him as he director of the university.

"Here." He tosses me a black sweatshirt, a black long sleeve shirt, and some jeans. Wrapped inside is a water bottle and a loaf of bread. Bread. Since when did this become prison?

"Go shower. You're filthy. At sunrise, come to the forum." He glares at me, turns on his heels, and walks out.

I do what he said. Dressed in my prisoner clothes, hair still wet, I eat the loaf of bread and drink the water. Usually on mornings like these I moisturize my face with a special lotion, but I don't have access to that now. Oh well.

I walk to the forum, watching my dad's sun convertible full up in the sky. I pause, then walk up onto a wooden podium, which is in the center of the forum.

Sleep deprived people start to file in. I see A Anthony Reeves, my former friend, in the crowd. He glares at me. Wow, what a friend.

The school director, Daniel Sharp, the dude with the bread, walks up to the podium.

"Andrew Aarons, you are charged with breaking into Marcus Davidson's and Rowan Flood's dorm room, stealing about half of Rowan Flood's clothes, and, for some reason, stealing a pair of sunglasses." This earns a few laughs from everyone else.

"You also damaged Javier Holder's property in ripping his very expensive TV off his wall, and putting it into Rowan Flood's and Marcus Davidson's dorm room. You attempted murder of a fellow student Perseus Jackson, as well as putting Perseus under false accusations. You injured and traumatized the mascot, and assaulted student Annabeth Chase. Do you have anything to say?"

I've never been in trial or seen a trial happen, so I just shake my head. "Then you are hereby exiled from New Rome and Camp Jupiter." Sharp says.

"Any last words?" He asks. I figure I have to make these count.

"Yes, sir. Annabeth! Percy is Greek and speaks bad about the gods!" I shout.

Annabeth laughs. Sharp looks like he's about to say something, but Annabeth interrupts him. "Andy, I'm Greek too. And I talk bad about those b****es all the time."

What? My world just dropped. What? Annabeth -- Greek? How could I have ever loved her? Yup, I definitely don't love her anymore! And disrespecting the gods? I don't need anyone like her.

I throw my head back and laugh. A crazy laugh, a madman's laugh. Because I've gone crazy. All this trouble, for a Greek girl. I'm officially losing it.

"Exile me!" I shout, waving my arms around, giggling madly. "Please! Ha ha!"

Sharp frowns. "You would be executed, but your mother's family name carries a lot of weight." He warns.

I just laugh.

"Alright then." He says. Gently taking me but he arm, he leads me away, next to the border. The crowd follows.

Sharp mutters some sort of prayer to the gods, and suddenly I find myself feeling like I've been electrocuted. I glance around. There is no camp, or university, or anything behind me. Just a field. With dandelions.

Happily I skip off to pick some dandelions. I rip up handfuls of them and toss them into the air. I'm laughing so hard I can't even control myself. I roll onto my back like a doggy and laugh and laugh and laugh until the world becomes tinged with shades of pink and orange, and I laugh and laugh and laugh.

This is the last chapter yaaaaaaaaaay!! Thank you all for reading!!

7-21-20