Calypso's POV
"Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

I smacked Leo's arm and gave him a look. "Tomorrow is a school day. What else would I possibly be doing?"

"Hm. Fair point." He wiggled his eyebrow. "Do you want to skip?"

I blankly stared at him. "Skip what?"

He snorted. "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. School. You want to skip school?"

I inwardly smiled but kept a straight face. "Why?"

He gave me an awkward laugh while scratching the back of his neck. "Because why not?"

I sat up from my seat and gathered my books. "As much as I would love to, I can't really skip school. And you didn't give much of a convincing argument now did you?"

As I got up to leave, Leo quickly got up to follow me.

"If a convincing argument is what you need, I'm the person for the job! I can be very convincing."

I turned to him and frowned. "I doubt that." I turned the corner of the hallway to find it empty, except for a couple making out by the lockers.

Which happened to be right next to my locker.

"Ahem."

They both looked up like they've been caught, which I guess they did, until they saw who we were.

"Geez Caly you scared me! I thought you were Ms.Dodds or something."

I gave her a soft smile. "Sorry. I don't mean to... intrude but my lockers right there and I need to put these," I slightly lifted the books in my arms up, "away."

Silena stepped aside to make room for me, and I could see in the corner of my eye Leo and Beckendorf talking.

"Why are you with Leo? I thought you hated him."

I stacked the books in my locker before slamming it shut. "I don't hate him. More like get extremely annoyed by every single thing that he does."

She giggled. "You know he kind of has a crush on you."

"You're not the first person to say that." I mumbled under my breath.

I sighed as I leaned back against the lockers. "Don't get me wrong, Leo's not a bad guy. It's just... I never 'get the guy' anyway. So why bother? Plus he's not really my type."

Silena smacked me in the arm and gave me a stern look. "I'm pretty sure you could get almost any guy you wanted. You're beautiful."

I blushed. "Thanks. But I genuinely think I'm cursed or something."

Silena crossed her arms. "I highly doubt that. That's not even a good excuse."

I sighed. "Trust me. It's definitely not an excuse. It's might as well be the actual reason."

She rolled her eyes. "It never hurts to put yourself out there. Give someone a shot..."

I raised a brow. "Give him a shot?"

She shrugged. "Doesn't have to be Leo. Could be anyone."

She nudged me with her shoulder and gave me a goofy smile. "Get back in the game."

I snorted. "I haven't 'been in the game' for what feels like millennia."

"Oh whatever. You get what I'm saying."

I glanced back at Leo, who seemed to feel my eyes on him and looked up, gave me a lopsided smile, before returning to his conversation.

"Yeah. I think I do."

I turned to her. "How does one get back in the game exactly?"

Silena gave a lighthearted laugh. "You just talk to them. It's not that hard." She motioned for Beckendorf to come over. "Honestly, no one would have ever really suspected us to get together. But we just got to know each other and...." She looked up at him and gave him a warm smile. "I'm really glad we did."

Beckendorf rolled his eyes but grabbed Silena by the waist to pull her in closer.

People like this make me want to gag but also envious of what they have.

I sighed. "Yes I get it. You both are literally the perfect couple. Quite unproblematic."

Leo slung his arm around my shoulders and grinned. "That will be us someday."

I shifted uncomfortably but I didn't move his arm.

Silena smirked. "Well, we best be off. Beck and I are going shopping!"

I look to the side and see Beckendorf giving a awkward smile.

"See you later!"

I watched as they walked away before Leo began to walk forward, pulling me along.

I grunted before pushing his arm off my shoulders.

Leo shuffled beside me. "Why so glum? I know it's disheartening, but someday, this McShizzle could be yours!"

I snorted. "Oh whatever."

As I walked towards our next class, I decided to make an very ill, spontaneous decision.

"Hey. Wanna skip?"

He blinked once. Twice. Then rapidly and scrunched his eyebrows. "Did I just hear myself correctly? Calypso. The goody two shoe rule follower just asked me, Leo Hottie Valdez, to skip?"

I shook my head. "Yes it does seem foolish now that you say it out loud. Perhaps we should just go to class..."

He grinned and grabbed both of my hands and brought me close. "You're not getting away from me that easily."

He only towered above me by an inch or two, but I began to feel something weird settling on the bottom of my stomach before it quickly went away.

I gently pulled away, but not letting go of his hand.

I slowly pulled him towards the exit and gave him a genuine smile. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"So, where do you want to go?"

Leo gave me a cheesy smile. "Anywhere, as long as I'm with you."

I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the chest. "Hardy har. I'm starving."

Leo smirked. "I know just the place, Sunshine."

Before I could protest the pet name, he pointed up the a sign that read 'Island Paradise'.

He pushed the door open and I was immediately welcome with bright colors and delicious smells.

It was almost unsettling how much it felt like my previous home. "Woah. What is this place?"

He grinned. "I'm going to take that as a sign you like it. It's just a place where people like to hang out and such."

I couldn't shake the familiar feeling. "It just seems like I've been here before."

Leo shrugged. "It only opened a few years ago. It's based on some greek myth or something like that."

I shrugged. "It just feels so much like... home."

Leo laughed. "Maybe you're the girl in the myth who's trapped on an island."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but think about how close he was to the truth.

Leo stalked over to the cashier and leaned on the counter.

"Wassup Nyssa."

The girl at the counter gave Leo a funny look.

"What're you doing here? I thought you had class or something."

He grinned. "Oh I totally do. I'm skipping."

Nyssa snorted. "Okay. What do you want."

Leo didn't seem discouraged by her response at all, and continued to keep his stupid grin plastered on his face.

"I'd like a pizza please. And... whatever the lady wants?"

I bit my lip to prevent the smile that already began to spread across me face. "I just want some dino chicken nuggets please."

Leo's face contorted to one of surprise. "You want dino nugs?"

I crossed my arms. "Well, yeah. I just recently tried them and I'm literally in love."

"Okay will that be all?"

Leo groaned. "Yes Nyssa. No need to be so serious all the time," he glanced at me. "Am I right?"

Nyssa put a blank expression onto her face. "You're the worst step brother ever."

Leo frowned. "I'll tip?"

Nyssa gave us a small smile, which I didn't even know she could do, before ringing us up.

After we paid, we sat down at a table.

Leo began fidgeting with a paper clip, but looked up at me.

"You know, every time we talk, we're always talking about me. I don't know anything about you, Sunshine."

My heart skipped a beat. "There's not much to tell."

Leo spun the paper clip on his finger and scoffed. "Utterly ridiculous. I want to know the tea. The drama. Like, where the heck you and Percy came from, because I still don't know."

I laughed. "Honestly, I've always been homeschooled. But Percy moved to San Francisco and kind of got stranded at my house."

He snorted. "How the heck did he get stranded at your house?"

A guy walked towards us, placing the food at our table and smiling before walking away.

I grinned. "Let's just say he was hiding. Yeah we kind of just hit it off. But then he lost feelings. And somehow we remained really close friends."

Leo frowned, holding his pizza. "Who in their right mind would let go of you? Imagine."

I gave him a look before throwing a french fry in his face, which he gracefully caught with his mouth. "What about you? Any secret romances I should know about?"

He attempted a wink, which looked ridiculously cute, but ultimately failed. "Only you."

I struggled to suppress a smile. I knew this was only temporary, but I decided to let myself have this one day.
I could scold myself another time.

I popped a dino nugget into my mouth. "Well, you can't be telling people about it if it's a secret, now can you?"

Leo's mouth gaped slightly before plastering a big grin. "It'll be our little secret."

hi! sorry for the long delay, but i hope you enjoy this. i've actually enjoyed writing this, i love caleo.
i hope all of you guys are doing well! <3