Troubled

5

chapter five
percy

I'm not scared of empty threats.

The 'headmaster', Mr.D, was clearly not qualified for his job. That was apparent. And his vague, empty threats about me being in his office made me feel as if he hated being here more than I did.

After a long and boring talk about lodging, sports, curriculum, and the students (which he seemed to hate), he sent us out of his office, claiming he had a very important phone call soon.

Important phone call my ass.

"Do you want me to help you find your dorm? I can stay overnight, too, if you want me to. I don't have work tomorrow and I saw a motel nearby—" my mom started.

"No, mom, it's fine," I interrupted as I shoved my hands into my pockets, clearly annoyed. "You've done more than enough, I think I'm just going to settle in."

She nodded wearily. "Will you at least let me help you find the dorms?"

Even though I wanted to decline her offer, I couldn't say no as my mother looked practically heartbroken.

After rushing into several wrong buildings and even ending up in the girl's dormitory (much to my horror), we arrived at a room designated to be mine.

"Well...this looks cozy," my mom said with a hesitant smile as we entered my room.

My mom had a tendency of trying to make anything seem positive. If she saw a bad situation, she always found the best of it. No matter what.

The room was tiny, to say the least. It was a tad bigger than my bedroom at home, but that wasn't saying much.

The walls were painted an insane asylum white and two beds were crammed on opposite sides of the room, a worn desk shoved in next to them.

"Oh, so you'll have a roommate! How nice!" my mom said, a smile on her face.

I placed down my bag on the empty bed. The other side of the room gave me a sense of what my roommate was like through the recycling poster on the wall and the giant hoard of tin cans on his nightstand.

"Do you want me to help you get settled?" my mom asked as she remade the ancient looking bed and fluffed the pillows.

I shook my head. "Nah, Gabe'll probably be demanding dinner soon, so you should get back."

Before my mother could respond the door swung open and some kid, which I assumed was my roommate, walked in.

He had redish brown crazily curly hair and wide brown eyes. His face was dotted with freckles and he was dressed in a bright orange t-shirt.

"Oh, am I intruding?" he asked awkwardly, his entire face turning red. "I'll just..."

"No, no, it's okay! This is your room, right?" my mom said, grinning at the boy.

He nodded as he awkwardly shuffled across the room towards us. "Grover name. I mean, my name's Undergrove. No, Grover."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Grover," my mom said as she shook his hand. I stood, clearly mortified, on the other side of the room.

"Mom, you were just going, right?" I asked as I grabbed my mother, my eyes flashing dangerously.

She smiled kindly before waving at Grover one last time. "Alright, well, I'll see you Thanksgiving, okay? I love you."

My face turned bright red as I felt Grover's stare on my back. "I...I love you, too, mom. Bye..."

She smiled one last time before closing the door, leaving me and Grover alone.

"So...you're new here?" Grover asked, his voice breaking.

I nodded as I slumped down on my not so surprisingly uncomfortable bed. "Yeah, what about you?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I've been here for a while. You're going to, uh, like it here? Probably. I mean, once you get over the smell and Mr.D it's decent. You want a tour?"

"Uh, I think I'm good for now. Thanks, though," I said.

"Well, I just had to, uh, grab this, I'm going down to the football game. Wanna come?" he offered as he picked up some weird pipe looking thing.

"What's that?" I asked as I pointed at the pipes in his hands.

He held them up and grinned. "Oh, these are my red pipes! I play them for band at the games. You should really come."

I shook my head. "I'm not too into football."

Grover sighed. "Too bad. I'm not really, either, but the games are fun. A lot of craziness goes down. Last time the quarterback tripped over a cheerleader, nearly broke her neck."

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? I thought quarterbacks were supposed to be graceful or something."

"Not ours, he's somewhat a mess," Grover said with a light laugh. "Anyways, I've gotta get back. You sure you don't wanna come?"

As he offered yet again, I couldn't help think about what my mom would say. She would scold me for decking Grover's offer, no matter what it was.

"You know what....sure."