Troubled

13

chapter thirteen
percy

Life was awful.

Sure, I didn't expect life at a flipping boarding school for troubled kids to be amazing, but it was awful. The schoolwork was too hard, and with Annabeth refusing to talk to me, that made it even worst.

We sat near each other in practically every class. Apparently fate hated us or the fact that Annabeth always sat in the back of the classroom, where the open seats were.

"Today we're going to start a new project," the teacher announced, blabbing on about some new project for English class, or Spanish class, or maybe even Science class.

I obviously wasn't paying attention and, by the look on everyone else's face, no one was either.

"You will be working with your desk mates," she announced. She announced the partners, pointing to them as she said their names.

Then she pointed a bony finger at me. "Ahh, Perseus. You and Annabeth."

Every teacher here called me Pursues, no matter how many times I corrected them. Since it was my 'official' name on the school files, that was what they called me.

Annabeth flared her nostrils as she peered at me and then back to the teacher, folding her arms and shaking her head. "Ma'am, I can't work with Perseus."

Annabeth refused to talk to me after the football game. Actually, she refused to talk to anyone after the football game.

The only people I saw talking to Annabeth with a response was Thalia and the teachers, but she usually only managed a whisper to the teachers.

"Why not? And personal drama is not a reason," the teacher snapped back as she handed Annabeth the rubric for our assignment.

Annabeth groaned as she accepted the piece of paper, her eyes scanning over it.

"So, when do you wanna work on our project?" I asked, peering over at the paper in her hands. "What's it about?

"Colleges," Annabeth shot back briefly as he moved the piece of paper out of vision range, still focused on it intently.

"Wanna work on it tonight?" I asked. She shrugged. "I mean, I'm free tonight. I know you're busy tomorrow since it's homecoming."

She shook her head. "I'm not busy tomorrow. How about I just do it all and you can just slap your name on it? I'm fine with that."

I laughed. "Annabeth, I think that's called cheating."

She squinted her eyes at me and sighed. "Fine. Be at my dorm at five, and be prepared to work, okay?"

I nodded and grinned as she shoved the piece of paper into her bag and got up the second the bell rang.

That night I made my over to the girl's dorms, getting many odd looks from other students. I finally found the dorm I knew to Annabeth's and knocked.

The door swung open to reveal Thalia, Annabeth's roommate who I'd never met face to face before.

She was nearly my height with choppy, jet black hair dyed several different colors. She was dressed in ripped jeans, a t-shirt of a band I'd never heard of, and a leather jacket complete with several pins, all saying messages like death to Barbie.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the dorm. "This is the girl's dorms, get out."

I heard Annabeth sigh from inside the room as she walked over to the doorway, peering at me from behind Thalia. "Chill, Thals, he's here to work on a group project."

Thalia rolled her eyes as she swung the door open, letting me in. "Gee, great. Men in our dorm."

"Hey, I'm not too thrilled about it, either," Annabeth shot back as she led me over to her side of the room. "Thalia, it's nearly five, you should get going now or you'll be late for the concert."

She shrugged as she peered at me, bringing her face uncomfortably close to mine. "I don't know, maybe I should stay and chaperone with him being here."

Annabeth ushered a grinning Thalia away and out into the hallway. "Sorry about her. But you had to be five minutes early, huh?"

"It's okay, I was just very eager to start this project," I shot back.

"Oh, shut it, Jackson," she said as she sat down at her desk, pulling the crumpled rubric out of her backpack. "You can just sit, uh, anywhere on my side of the dorm. Thalia hates people touching her stuff."

I nodded as I sat down on Annabeth's neatly made bed. "Dully noted. Now, what do we have to do for his stupid project."

"College research," she explained as she reread the rubric. "Or just general after schooling planning."

I laughed. "Gee, great. Let's see...I probably won't get into college, knowing my grades and general lack of money. I'll probably end up moving back to the city and, uh, I dunno, serving all the celebrities their morning coffee?"

"Really?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm way too clumsy to be waiter. I'll probably get a job cleaning or something lame like that."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Be serious or I have to actually write that all down."

"I am being serious!" I protested.

"You don't wanna go to college? Not even community college?" she asked.

"Nope," I shot back. "High school is enough for me. I don't want to subject myself to more torture. And, like I said, I can't get in anyways. I just wanna get through high school."

"Yeah, well, I think you have potential," she told me matter of factly. When Annabeth said things, I often tended to believe them by the tone of her voice, so for a minute I felt hopeful. "Percy, you can't give up on yourself. I'm not letting you."

I laughed. "With grades as bad as mine for the first three years of high school, I don't think I could even get into community college."

Annabeth shook her head. "I'll help you. Maybe if they see perfect grades this year they'll see that boarding school helped or something. I don't know, but I'm not letting you give up on yourself."

"Annabeth, you're insane," I said, a grin growing on my face. "You wanna be my tutor?"

"I didn't say tutor," she retorted. "I'll help you, though. Seriously. Come here anytime, just ignore Thalia. Now let's get this assignment finished, okay?"

Maybe life isn't so bad after all....