Excuse the several typos that may or may not be a part of this chapter. I just couldn't type for some reason while I wrote this, and I'm really not sure why.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

[TRIGGER WARNING???? Really just talking about everything Chris said last chapter so let's say: mentions of suicide, alcoholism, bullying, etc.]

His sister.
*****

Jason really just sat there with his mouth slightly agape, not exactly knowing how to explain to his sister that he somehow managed to beat up the guy that nearly killed his newest friend. He assumed that he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't exactly be proud.

Then again, Jason wasn't quite proud of himself at the time either.

Chris and his mother left the office and, much to Jason's confusion, walked away from the front doors. It took him a moment to realize that they were probably headed to Chris's locker, which meant he was most likely going home.

That was not a good sign for Jason, especially considering he was technically the one that started the physical fighting.

Thalia sat down next to Jason, and the two practically ignored each other for the small amount of time it took for them to be called into Mr.
Olympus's office. (I temporarily forgot I named him that, whoops. It's really bad but there's no turning back now😂)

The two sat down and faced Jason's ancient principal's face before he spoke, "Welcome, Miss Grace and Mr. Grace. This is certainly an odd situation."

Jason shifted uncomfortably in his seat, only vaguely aware of his sister's expression of complete and utter boredom. She didn't know what the hell happened, just that Jason did something and that she had to leave work to come talk about "disciplinary matters".

It was at times like these when she missed have a parental figure the most.

"Jason, you've kept quite a clean record, haven't you?" Mr. Olympus questioned, flipping through Jason's file for any sign of rule-breaking in the past.

"Yes, I think so, uh...sir," Jason replied awkwardly. Talking was and probably never will be Jason's field of expertise.

"So this is very out of character for him, is it not, Miss Grace?"

Thalia snapped out of whatever daze she was in when she realized she was supposed to speak. "Um, so I still really don't know what happened. But the whole sudden act of rebellion or whatever he did is, ah, 'out of character' from his usual golden boy persona."

Mr. Olympus raised his eyes to Thalia and set Jason's file down. "There appears to have been a fight in the locker room during gym class between Jason and another student."

Thalia held back her scoff, but not her amused expression. "Yeah, sure, because Jason would fight another kid."

"It happened, Thalia," Jason said with a sigh.

"Why?" His sister asked, her curiosity peaked as to what could've pissed off her brother so much.

Mr. Olympus interrupted. "The other perpetrator has claimed that they said merely one thing about your friends before you took violent action."

So nobody knows what else he said. About Reyna, Thalia, Luke, Percy, his parents.

"Yeah, he just...just called them freaks and I...," Jason couldn't formulate the rest of his statement.

Mr. Olympus nodded. "And you felt that was severe enough to start a fight?"

Jason shrugged after a moment. "I don't know, I just...my friends are nearly all I have, sir."

"Well, Jason, this appears to be your first major violation of our rules, which means no suspension or expulsion is to take place. You may go home for the rest of today, though. However, protocol does call for detention after school all next week. And, of course, one 'strike'." The school had always used the classic "three strokes, you're out" method with what were considered major violations of the regulations. From what Jason had heard, though, it isn't very often actually put into use. People had spoken about kids who'd received so many strikes yet never saw true punishment.

In other words, Jason could probably pick a few more fights and still be completely fine.

"Thank you, sir," Thalia expressed her gratitude in an obviously fake tone of happiness.

Then they left.

The car ride back to their home was a kind of quiet Jason hadn't experienced before he'd met Percy. It was the kind of silence that just yelled out a message. However, the message Jason was picking up at that time was certainly a lot less favorable than the ones he endured with Percy. Those brought a certain sense of calmness within Jason, while his current situation just made him feel anxious.

Upon walking through the front door, Jason promptly tried escaping to his room.

"Not so fast, little brother," Thalia stopped him, gesturing for him to come sit down with her.

Jason sighed, spinning on his heels and walking over to Thalia. He sat as far away as he could, still desperate to avoid the awkward condemnation he was about to receive from his sister.

"So what the hell happened today, Jase?" She asked with a surprisingly calm look on her face.

Jason half-assed a reply. "I mean, you heard the principal, Chris Rodriguez and I just got into a fight."

"I know that," Thalia said with a sigh, "I just don't know why."

"He said that too."

She shook her head. "Jason, you've dealt with people...people calling your friends freaks for years. You always stand up for them, I know that, but you're just not usually...violent about it."

"People change, Thalia."

"No, we're not having that conversation again. I'm not asking you to pour out your guts and feelings about why you hit him, because I know that 'damages your manliness' or some shit, but I just want a real explanation and not whatever Chris told your principal."

"'Damages my manliness'?" Jason repeated her words with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up and answer," Thalia replied with a breathy laugh.

All the traces of a smile on Jason's face vanished. "He just said stuff about you and Reyna."

"And?"

"And that's it."

Thalia gave him her classic 'are you kidding me' look. "Jason, you and I both know Reyna can handle the people who don't like her. And I'm sure you've probably heard stuff about me for years-"

"I really haven't, Thals. People were too busy looking at me like they had something to be sorry for to insult you. Nobody ever mentions it, and I obviously preferred it that way." Jason cut her off with a slightly aggravated tone.

"Sorry for the shit I put you through, Jase."

Jason immediately glanced at his sister to assure her that he felt no negativity towards her for her actions. "No. Please don't...just don't blame yourself."

A paused drifted in the air for a moment or two before Jason spoke again. "Um, he mentioned Percy and mom and dad, too."

Thalia had to resist to the urge to sigh and roll her eyes at the mention of their parents. Their mother was gone, and she couldn't care less where her father was right now as long as he wasn't close to her and Jason. Especially the latter.

Percy, however, had brought about some mixed feelings from Thalia as his friendship with Jason progressed and even beforehand. She went from curiosity to confusion to concern and all the way to suspicion even. He seemed alright enough, and Thalia admittedly noticed a tinge of herself when she met Percy. Plus, although Thalia realized soon after her argument with her brother that this shouldn't affect her view on Percy, he hadn't been at therapy since Thalia became aware of his existence.

Whether that was a good or bad thing, Thalia didn't know.

"Was Percy in the class too?" Thalia asked.

Jason shook his head warily. "He, uh, hasn't been at school the past two days."

"Any reason why?"

Jason paused, his gaze towards the floor. After having so many conversations with Jason, Thalia had learned to assume he was just simply thinking of how to respond.

He began with an unsure tone, "Um, back on the day Piper and I weren't there and we thought Leo was bringing by notes but then told Piper he couldn't. He and Percy apparently, I don't really know the whole store since Leo didn't tell me and I didn't have enough time with Percy, Chris found them somewhere on the way over here, I guess. And supposedly long story short, he hasn't been at school since."

Thalia took a moment to put together the choppy sentences Jason just gave her. "Is he okay?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know...I went to visit him yesterday and he just looked so...I don't know."

Sure don't know a lot of things today, do we, Jason? Thalia thought about the redundancy of her brother's statement.

"Thals...Chris today, he told me how he could've easily just...just killed Percy, and I can't help but feel I could've been there to protect him if I wasn't making such a big deal over some stupid argument that shouldn't have had any effect on me in the first place...and what if he was dead now? What if the last step he took was on the way here all because I didn't feel like going to school? Gods, Thalia, am I really that awful of a person?" He looked up at her expectantly.

She blinked away what were definitely not forming tears and shook her head before standing up, walking over to Jason, and promptly wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "Listen to me, Jase," she said, pulling away to make eye contact, "you couldn't have prevented anything that happened that day. And you said you visited him. I'm assuming he wasn't angry at you at all?"

Jason nodded. If anything, Percy seemed more concerned for Jason's mess of a personality at that time.

"Don't put it on yourself, Jason. For my sake and for yours."

"Okay, Thals."

Well it's been like a month and a half since the last chapter. I just really didn't know how I wanted to show this scene without it sounding awkward as hell.😂

Obviously I failed at that whole not awkward thing, but I made it like seven hundred words longer than normal so enjoy that at least😂

Sorry for the excessively long wait. Updates should be just a bit faster since I'm on summer break (don't quote me on that). Unless my intense writer's block catches up me with me😂

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And I hope everyone is having a great summer. If you're one of the cursed people still in school/at work, I pray for you😂

Byeeeeee!