Leo sighed as he sat in the principals office, Percy and Nico were just as anxious.

  "I'm guessing the others noticed my absence?" Leo broke the uncomfortable silence as he fiddled with the loose strings of his jacket.

  "Yeah, we all were looking for you," Percy said, he watched as Mr. Chiron spoke on the phone in the other room.

  "Why do I have to be in here?" Nico complained as he kicked his feet slowly against the legs of the chair. "Why couldn't anyone else be here?"

"It's because you found Larry," a man spoke as he entered the room. He wore a Leopard-print Hawaiian shirt and looked hungover.

"Actually, it's Leo-"

"Whatever." He turned to look at Percy, his brows furrowed, "Who are you."

"Uhm, I'm Percy Jackson. I just moved here this week-"

"Peter Johnson, eh?"

"Percy-"

"I'm Mr. Dionysus, blah blah blah, I'm the dean."

   "Ok," Percy responded. Mr. D reminded him of his step-father, which wasn't at all a good thing.

  "Come on Logan, we need to have a chat." Mr. D walked into the office, Leo followed behind him. Mr. Chiron exited the office and looked at Percy and Nico, who didn't look all that thrilled to be where they were.

  "I apologize for him, he's not too fond of teenagers," Mr. Chiron sat down across from them and sighed, "He inherited this school, his father used to own it until he passed away about a decade ago. Mr. D had no choice but to take over as the dean."

  "Oh, That sucks." Percy wasn't very good at small talk, especially not with adults. Mr. Chiron was definitely kind and caring, but Percy just couldn't fully let himself trust the guy.

  "Mr. Di Angelo, I'll let you go back to class. I'll ask Mr. Jackson the questions I needed to ask."

  Nico nodded and stood up, "Thanks." He pushed open the door and walked out of the small building and out into the outdoors. Percy was almost a bit jealous of him, but he was more worried about Leo than he was about getting back to class.

   "So, how have you been adjusting here?" Oh joy, he was starting to ask about Percy.

  "Fine, I guess."

  "That's good," Mr. Chiron sat up. "I can't help but worry about you. I worry about all my students, especially Mr. Valdez at the moment, But I do worry about you."

  Percy didn't really know what to say to that, whether he should be concerned that Mr. Chiron has already begun to worry. No one has every really worried about Percy, except his mother of course, and he supposed Grover worried as well.

   "Your records show quite a few expulsions, all but one were for the same thing."

  "Yeah, I know."

  Mr. Chiron stood up and picked up a folder from his desk, he flipped through it until he reached whatever page he was looking for. "Sixth grade you were caught on the roof of your school and was expelled immediately, seventh grade you were caught dealing drugs, ninth grade you were caught twice and expelled both times, tenth was only one time, and then once more a few weeks ago."

  Percy didn't speak, he knew what happened. He knew the full story, Mr. Chiron didn't.

   "I have to wonder why you would do any of that, especially when every drug test you were given came up clean."

  Percy sighed, "I needed the money, ok?"

   "Right, but I don't think you ever got any of that money for yourself."

  "What are you trying to imply here? That the money just magically disappeared?" He sat up and furrowed his brows, "It's not that hard to understand, okay? I needed money and there was no other option, no one would hire me for any jobs, I did what I had to."

  "And where did you get the drugs from? You knew them, didn't you?"

  Percy didn't speak, he couldn't bring himself to. He knew Mr. Chiron probably knew the whole story by now, he didn't think anything he could say would change his mind.

  "Listen, Mr. Jackson, it's almost the end of October, holidays will be starting and you'll have many times where you go home, if there's something wrong at home-"

"Nothings wrong at home! My parents love me, they want the best for me! Stop accusing them of doing something they didn't!"

"I'm just concerned, your school records and your step-fathers criminal record gives off a lot of red flags." Mr. Chiron set the folder down and sighed, "I just believe that something isn't right about your situation."

"And what do you know? Look, Gabe had a rough patch with the law a while back, it's nothing to worry about! He's the reason my Mom is able to afford an apartment!"

Lashing out was something Percy did more than he wanted to, but it was a natural instinct for him. When he felt overwhelmed or cornered he'd just start arguing, it was all he could do.

"I guess this is a bad time," Leo said from the doorway, Percy turned to look at him and sighed.

"Ah, Mr. Valdez. Did Mr. D say you could return to class?"

"Yeah, Percy can come too, Mr. D said he didn't have any questions for him since I explained everything."

"Alright then, you both should head to class." Mr Chiron gazed at Percy for a moment before looking back at Leo, "Please don't ever do that again."

Leo nodded, "Don't worry, I'm good now." He looked over at Percy and offered a smile, "You ready?"

  Percy stood up, "Yeah, let's go." Percy looked at Chiron one more time before exiting the building, they made eye contact.

  "So, what was Mr. Chiron talking to you about? It sounded pretty serious."

  Percy shrugged, "He was Just jumping to conclusions, that's all. So, how did Mr. D react?"

   Leo shivered, "Let's Just say I'm never trying it again, I don't wanna be alone with an angry Mr. D ever again."

  Percy nodded, "Yeah, he gives off bad energy." Percy looked over at Leo, he looked calm. "What exactly happened?"

  "I tried to run away, pretty dumb of me, right?"

  "Why would you want to leave?"

  "I don't really know," Leo sighed, "I spent so long here, I felt so isolated. I felt like I didn't deserve having the friends I did, I felt like if I left then things would be better. I ran all the way to the border and I... I just couldn't."

  "How long were you there?"

  "Well, I left a little after you spoke to me, walked around for a few hours and then stayed at the border all morning. I kept trying to walk just a few more feet, but I couldn't move. Then I heard you and Nico and knew I couldn't leave, I couldn't leave everyone here."

  Percy nodded, "Did you know you would be leaving when I spoke to you last night?"

  "Yeah, that's why I said everything I did. I thought maybe I could tell my story to you so no one else had to explain why I ran away. I also wanted to help you, you seem like you have something bothering you and I wanted to try and help." Leo stopped walking in front of one of the buildings and sighed, "This is my class."

Percy nodded, "Yeah, you should get to class. I should get to mine-"

"Just so you know, Mr. Chiron is usually right about his assumptions." And with that, Leo opened the door to his class and vanished, leaving Percy alone with his thoughts.

Percy sighed and headed to his class, his mind raced with thoughts about everything.

His step-father wasn't a good man by any means, Percy was all-too aware of this fact. He'd always deny it when someone confronted him on the matter, but Mr. Chiron seemed convinced that Percy was lying. That was worrying to Percy, very worrying. All his life no one would listen to him about Gabe, not even his mother. Eventually she found out, but at that point it was too late and she couldn't leave him.

  Percy opened the door to his class and sighed as heads turned to face him. Oh what a day it has been.

______\\\___

Hi I posted again.

Anyways bye-bye next chapter is gonna introduce some asshole characters, have fun

<3