Prisoners

THREE

Once we'd finished with the tour, I turned around to the crowd of boys that flooded the halls, peeking in at the cells we lived in.

"Alrighty, any questions?" I asked. I pulled out my knife and began shining it on my pants leg, ignoring the three or four hands in the air.

"That's what I thought. Now, you're at the end of the tour, so if you would please go to the cafeteria for lunch, that'd be great," I said loudly. What? I was hungry!

They left without any argument. Only Percy and Leo stayed.

"Geez, you know how to scare people," Leo said, crossing his arms. I grinned. "Hey Leo, are you a mechanic or what?"

He grinned. "Are you kidding?!"

"Oh fuck, here we go," Percy muttered.

"I love it. I've been building all my life. When I got jailed, I found even more stuff to tinker with! This big guy, Beckendorf, who's in Two, is like, my mentor --"

"Alright, Valdez," I said, laughing. "Well, we have a problem with the laundromat, come and look --"

I led him down the hall to the laundromat. Percy followed. Leo picked up a black lacy bra that had been left by someone. "Mr. McSchizzle likes this place."

I slapped it out of his hand. "Cut it out. The washers stopped working this morning. I was wondering if you could fix it?"

Leo ran his hand over the washers, examining them. Then he stood up.

"Yup, the engines burned out. You got any tools?"

I smiled. "In the janitorial closet, Third Quadrant."

Leo ran off.

When I realized that Percy and I were alone, the room temperature seemed to rise about twenty degrees.

He scratched the back of his head nervously. I looked at him for a while before asking, "So how many years have you served?"

"About three. Since I was twelve. You?" he asked. He gave me a grin that honestly made me feel weak at the knees. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Uh, seven years," I replied. His eyes widened.

"How old are you?" 

"Fifteen. You?"

"Fourteen."

I smirked.

"Ha. I'm older than you."

Percy rolled his eyes.

I began dancing around him. "I'm older than you, I'm older than you..." I sang.

He sighed. "I turn fourteen in August."

"Aha! We'll have to throw you a party!" I exclaimed. "My birthday was a couple of days ago, though, so I'm only about a month older than you."

He grinned. "Ha. So we're basically the same age."

"Except that I'm older than you," I reminded him.

He sighed and ruffled his hair. "I get it, I get it."

"Aw, is little baby Percy ashamed of his birthday?" I simpered, laughing.

He glared at me. "Alright, Annabeth."

I smirked. "Touchy. Right. So, tomorrow, we're going to the city."

He looked a little taken aback at the sudden change of subject. "You're allowed to do that?"

I smiled deviously. "No."