Well hello there. I'm sorry for the super long wait on this update. I had planned to post earlier, but then my teachers kept giving projects and my volleyball team was preparing for a qualifier. I was in Indiana all weekend and I was dead tired. And then I got back and got more work and writer's block so...I have a lot of excuses behind the curtain on the right.

So have a chapter, I guess? It's gonna suck, just brace yourself.

He also regretted doing so, if you were wondering.
*****

To put it simply, Leo avoided Jason as best as he could the next day. Piper and he had returned to the teenage hell on Earth that people called high school. Piper's routes to her classes typically didn't cross with Leo's in that day's arrangement, but Jason was definitely an issue.

He also never responded to the Latino's messages. Not the calls, texts, not even the few e-mails he tried sending.

Lunch was the most difficult time for Leo to truly prevent contact with his blonde comrade. And, like many of his classes sophomore year, he failed.

He thought he was in the clear until his shoulder was grabbed and his whole body was spun around. He was face to face (well, not really, Jason was a lot taller) with his friend.

"Okay, what'd I do wrong this time?" Jason asked him, retracting his hand.

Leo sighed. "Just a reply would've been nice yesterday, Jase."

"I didn't have my phone," he informed his shorter friend.

"Jason, you always have your phone."

"Well, I...I lost it. You can ask Piper. We were up all night looking because Thalia stormed out earlier that night, and you know...," he lowered his voice, "you know how I feel about not having it around when she's gone."

"Did you find it?"

Jason shook his head. "She was home when we came back, though."

"If that's really the case, you might wanna talk to Percy later," Leo replied, knowing the blonde well enough to tell he didn't seem to be lying.

"Why? What happened to Percy?" The taller of the two asked worriedly.

Leo took a deep breath. "Normally I'd tell you no big deal and explain, but it might be better if you just go see for yourself. I was gonna bring books he left in his locker and notes and whatnot after school. You should go for me, if you don't have anything to do."

"Leo, what happened to him?"

"I was told not to talk about it around school, Jase."

The blonde sighed, nodding his head in understanding. "Fine...yeah, I'll go later. But who's gonna take you and Piper home?"

"I can find us a ride," Leo smiled faintly before bringing his companion to their usual lunch table.

*****

After school, as Leo opened Percy's locker using the combination he'd been texted earlier, Jason stood by with an anxiously tapping foot. The blonde had gotten the address from Leo and was currently getting the things he was going to take with him.

"Leo?" Jason uneasily started conversation.

Leo opened the locker, handing a few things to Jason before closing it. "Hm?"

"Where's Chris?"

The shorter of the two faced his friend. "Suspended," was Leo's only reply as he re-shouldered his backpack and walked off to the parking lot (to get into whose car, Jason still didn't know).

Jason sighed, following Leo's path out of the building and going to his own car. He turned on the GPS for Percy's apartment and was on his way.

Now, Jason had no idea what to expect, but he knew to expect something bad. Chris was suspended, Leo wasn't allowed to talk about what happened, and Percy was stuck in his apartment for some reason.

He didn't know how any of those could be because of a positive event.

Nevertheless, Jason drove to Percy's complex. He tried focusing on the last time he drove Percy home only to realize that the surrounding events of that drive weren't exactly the most pleasant either. He took the stairs in order to give him time to calm himself down. From what, though, Jason was unsure.

Arriving at the Jacksons' door, Jason froze. He would rather not face whatever had happened to Percy, who Jason believed got treated in ways he didn't deserve.

And he didn't even know the least of it.

The blonde took a deep breath, cautiously knocking on the door. Optimistically, Jason prayed for a smiling Percy, maybe with a cold or something to explain his absence, to open the door. Realistically, that didn't happen. Instead of his fantasy, he was greeted with a woman that appeared to be between her mid-to-late thirties or early forties, who happened to seem very perplexed.

"Sorry, we weren't expecting anybody,"she apologized for her confusion with a inquisitive tone present in her voice.

"I'm, uh, a friend of Percy's," Jason responded with the same tone.

He was surprised to see the woman's expression light up upon hearing this. "Of course, come in. Let me help with some of those books."

The two placed the textbooks and loose papers on a small stand near the door. "He's in his room. I think that he might be asleep, but he'll probably be fine once he knows you're here. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Jason," the blonde replied.

The woman's eyes widened ever so slightly. "You're the one I spoke to on the phone a while back, yeah?" After seeing Jason nod, she continued. "Thank you for taking Percy in that night, I really do appreciate it."

With that, Jason mentally confirmed that this woman was the previously unidentified 'Sally Jackson' on Percy's phone. He also found that his mother (he never received affirmation on that one, but he felt it was pretty obvious) was a lot more talkative than her son. Jason wondered what Percy's father was like...

His thoughts were put on pause as he was lead back to Percy's room. It was a small apartment, so it wasn't too long of a trip. His mother opened the door, and Jason took a deep breath before following after her. All he could really make out in the dim light of the room was a figure on the bed.

Sally walked over to the bed and knelt down. "Jason's here to see you, honey."

Percy transferred his gaze from his mother to the blonde boy standing awkwardly in the doorway. He couldn't seem to stop the smile that crept onto his face, either. His mother stood, beckoning Jason over before leaving the room. She flicked on the lights on her way out.

Jason overtook Sally's previous spot on the floor, sitting down. Reluctantly, he made eye contact with Percy for a split second before gasping quietly.

"Percy, what happened?" He asked in the same tone his mother did when she'd come to the school to bring him home.

The boy's ever-present black eye was still there, but it had darkened immensely since the last time Jason had seen it. His nose took some bruising as well, appearing a bit larger than usual. A couple cuts were visible on his cheeks. Percy's teeth were still intact, thank the gods, but his lips were painfully severed.

Although he didn't use them enough to hurt them much more.

Jason sighed, realizing that he was only looking at a minor percentage of the damage.

"Oh my gods...Percy, I-...I'm so sorry. I don't know why-," Jason began to apologize, but Percy was quick to stop him. Wincing, he gently touched the blonde's shoulder, successfully shutting him up.

Percy truly didn't see why Jason blamed himself for the situation. Yes, he was absent the day it occurred, but Chris would have done this eventually. He probably would've done it a lot earlier if Jason, Piper, and Leo hadn't stopped Chris and Ethan the day they met. Those two genuinely hated Percy's guts, putting it simply.

"I had...a long night before school that day," Jason informed Percy. The green-eyed boy was aware that Jason was still subtly trying to apologize, but he let it slide knowing he would probably be the same way.

"It's just, I had a fight with my sister about something, and she left the house. And then I lost my phone and started freaking out because I don't like being separated from Thalia when she's upset in person, much less without a phone to contact her at all. So Piper and I looked around for, like, a few hours before we came back home. Thalia was home when we got back, thank all things holy, and she said we could find it in the morning. Then she went to bed because I think she was still angry at me, but I couldn't sleep because I was still thinking about what she said at dinner. And, oh my gods, Piper saw the whole thing and I was a mess, and-," Percy gently stopped the boy's rambling again before he upset himself again. He despised seeing other people upset, especially those he cared about. He'd always tried to calm people down when they're like that, but without any verbal comfort, Percy tended to fail.

As he did everything else.

Jason nodded at Percy's halt of him spewing words. There was silence for a moment.

"Percy?" The blonde restarted a conversation. Percy made eye contact as a sign he was listening. "Why...why do they hate you so much?

With that, Percy looked away and the room returned to silence. Before Jason could say anything else, the door creaked open and Percy's mother stuck her head through.

"Percy, honey, he's home," she said.

Jason inquisitively scrunched his eyebrows together as Percy sighed.

With a sympathetic smile, he turned to Jason. "Jason, why don't we let Percy rest up another day and you can come see him as long as you want tomorrow?"

The blonde nodded, still a bit confused. Turning to Percy, he said goodbye with a smile before getting and up and following Percy's mother out of his room. She closed Percy's door behind them before escorting Jason to the exit.

"Thank you for visiting, Jason. I'm sure he probably feels a bit isolated being stuck here," she told Jason, opening the front door.

Jason nodded, stepping out of the apartment. "Of course, Mrs. Jackson. Thanks for, ah, letting me in, I guess."

She smiled at Jason, not bothering to correct him on his formality. "Goodbye, sweetheart."

Jason waved before watching the door close and making his way to the stairs.

Who was home?

OKAY HELLO. Hope you all somewhat enjoyed that, maybe??? I'm aware that it's been over a month and I'm trash, but I'm on spring break all week! While I'm going to be in Louisville between Thursday and Sunday and can't write, I'm hoping I will get a couple chapters written between my two books. And, hey, I actually have a plan for the next chapter instead of randomly making things up!

I'm sure you'll probably all have incredibly mixed feelings, which is great.

Anyway, HAPPY EASTER if you celebrate it. If you don't celebrate it religiously, then I hope y'all get some chocolate and probably eat it all that day like I will. (Ngl, I just realized that Easter is tomorrow and not further away, whoops)

Goodbye, my children! Have a good day/evening/afternoon/night/et cetera!