{I wrote parts of this author's note over the course of several days, so it's more of a mess than this chapter is, somehow. Have fun reading it.😂)

Oof, so I feel I should explain why this chapter is just so, like, terrible?? We all know I probably won't publish this chapter in this week unless a miracle happens, but up until whatever Sunday's date is (the twenty first?) (whoops it's the twenty second), I'm living in what my director refers to as hell week. For all you non-theatre folk, the week before the show is called tech week, and basically what you do is run on a less than desirable amount of sleep for seven days straight.

Fun.

But obviously now it's over.

Anyways, I've been busy with that. Plus, I really only write after ten PM (idek why) or whenever I happen to go to bed. This was written in the middle of the night as many of these chapters are, but instead of how I normally write them, I was half braindead for the majority of this chapter.

So yeah. The chapter can't be saved, but here ya go.😂

"Food."
*****

The trio consisting of Jason, Leo, and Piper abandoned their books and bags at the table immediately after they finished all their homework (after getting their snacks, of course). Leo and Piper had resorted to challenging each other in Mario Kart in their tween-like manner they both embraced with stubborn pride, obviously bringing Jason into it. The former suggested they invite Percy over-to level the CPU to actual person ratio-with a joking wink at his blonde friend, who glared back at him with an 'are you five?' look on his face.

Piper laughed at the two, remarking as she set up the system, "Reyna told me you and he texted through your entire history class."

"Why does everyone seem to find that important to point out?" Jason asked with a sigh tagged on the end.

"I mean," Piper began, "history is your favorite subject."

"Which I don't get," Leo interjected, "because history is just so boring."

"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, or something like that," the female of the room stated.

Leo shrugged. "In my defense, not everything that happened in the past was bad. Like, I could invent pizza 2.0 just by repeating history."

Jason shook his head, not bothering to debate with Leo about how he couldn't invent pizza again, regardless of how improved it may be. Instead, he obliged with their wishes and sent a text to Percy.

Jason: Are you free to come over here?

It was about six or seven minutes before his text tone sounded in the generally quiet room.

Percy: wish I could

Percy: busy tonight though, sorry

Jason: It's fine, Piper and Leo just wanted to even out our numbers.

Percy: see you tomorrow?

Jason: Of course. See you then.

Percy: yup

"He's busy," Jason informed the other two. They'd finally set up their game successfully, and Piper tossed a controller at the tallest of the three. After a brief moment or two of fumbling it around, Jason finally got a good grip on it.

Leo laughed at him. "And this is why you quit baseball."

"I quit when I was, like, ten, Leo. Calm down," Jason responded, sending a fake glare at the other boy.

Piper flopped into a comfortable position on the couch. "I was fucking amazing at softball."

"Keep dreaming, Pipes," Leo remarked.

*****

Percy hated his apartment with such a passion that it couldn't even be considered healthy anymore. The majority of the people that came and went through the aforementioned living space certainly didn't help, either.

Gabe was scheduled to play poker and whatnot with their landlord, Eddie, and a couple other people whose names Percy didn't care enough to remember or even learn in the first place. Percy typically tucked himself away in his room to avoid any potential conflict with Gabe or his 'friends'. Oftentimes, he even locked his bedroom door and took a trip through his window and around Manhattan.

However, between the beatdown from Chris and the proceeding abuse from Gabe for getting into trouble in the first place (as if he totally wanted to), Percy didn't really think he was in the proper physical condition for a vacation out the window. So he lay in his bed, trying his best to tune out the yelling and cursing from the other room. He gladly would've gone to Jason's house to avoid every person in his apartment. Percy was actually rather surprised when Jason just accepted his 'I'm busy' excuse instead of asking further questions. Percy was nearly 100 percent sure Jason knew Percy wasn't busy, for he really had nothing to be busy with.

Maybe he doesn't care after all.

Percy shook his head at his inevitable pessimistic thoughts, turning to lie on his side. He knew he had to have some kind of faith in Jason and the vast majority of his friends. They were really all he had right now besides his mother, of course. Speaking of his mother, Percy just really hoped she wouldn't come home before Gabe passed out for the night.

Quite frankly, his stepfather sucked at gambling, and he was always quite irritable with Percy and Sally because of it. Percy didn't want his mother to end up beaten to the point of being nearly immobile like he had been days before. He even surprised himself when he managed to get through the school day. Every step he took shot pain through his body, but his Percy managed to barely do anything more than wince throughout the day.

Maybe all that pretending was finally having some kind of positive effect.

At least, if you ignored why he was constantly lying in the first place.

Percy had yet to understand why his mother married Gabe in the first place. While it, thankfully, never got physical between Percy and his stepfather before the two were wedded, Gabe still treated Percy was if he were worthless.

And maybe, Percy pondered whenever he thought about the harsh words and insults Gabe seemed to genuinely enjoy throwing at Percy when his mother wasn't around.

He was right.

Lmao I'm so sorry for whatever this is. The next one will hopefully be better, oof.

Bye, kids.😂