Chapter 36 - My Future, Our Future
published: Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Percy glanced up at the clock and groaned internally. Why was it that, in class, time passed like a snail, but he could blink and miss his entire weekend?

1 hour of the English lesson had been delegated to writing essays about their ideas for the future. It was a follow-up to the Careers Convention, and just the beginning of the responsibilities they'd take on in senior year.

So far, exactly 9 minutes and 54 seconds of the lesson had passed, and Percy's mind was as blank as it had been at the beginning.

He didn't know what to do. Truly. Most people, by this age, already knew the field they wanted to go into, or specific job.

Casting a glance over his shoulder, Percy saw Reyna writing concentratedly, eyebrows drawn together as her neat scrawl covered the page. Of course, Reyna had always had a solid plan for her future — become a business executive, rise to CEO.

Turning his head slightly, Percy saw that even Luke was writing proudly. Christ, if someone like Luke was better at this than Percy, what was wrong with him?

Staring at the page in front of him, Percy turned his gaze to the prompts on the sheet.

Think about...
1) Subjects you enjoy
2) What interests you
3) Your goals in life

Yeah, Percy didn't have any answers for this.

Start simple, he told himself.

What subjects did he enjoy?

English was fun, because Mr Blofis was a cool adult, like, one of the adults who didn't freak out over his ADHD and actually seemed interested in helping him.

But the subject? A vivid mental image of reading Shakespeare for the rest of his life slipped into his mind, and Percy shuddered.

Maths wasn't even an option. In fact, as soon as he thought about it, Percy almost laughed. He desperately wished one of his friends — especially Annabeth — was in his English class. Outsider input would be useful.

Biology was an option, Percy supposed. He liked the subject, liked studying it — except that, he couldn't imagine himself doing it for a career.

Biologist was too...boring. That was the word. Every career he'd been told about was too mundane.

Moving on to the second question — 'what interests you?' — Percy paused. What interested him?

Annabeth, he almost wanted to write. A smiling to himself, Percy made a mental note to tell her about it.

Seriously though, what interested him? Swimming, but that wasn't a career option. The ocean, the sea, all that, had always interested him — but again, not as a career.

Percy made a small note in the top right corner of the page; 'marine biology (?)'.

Then, his goals in life. Holding in a derisive snort, Percy pondered over it.

What were his goals in life?

In the short-term, Percy wanted to go to college. Sure, lots of people didn't think it was essential, but he'd been saving up for this since he was a kid, and it had always been the best option to get out of Gabe's radius.

Then, of course, his long-term goals; kick Gabe out. Stand up to him. Get his mother out of that house with that dead-beat guy and give her the world, because, frankly, she deserved it.

So for that, he had to...make money. Yeah, this was going great.

Percy buried his head in his hands. This was already more concentration than he was used. More thinking, Annabeth would tease.

Okay, he could do this.

Kicking Gabe out would require...what? Going to the police? The thought made Percy shiver. But then the image of James' face flashed through his head, and Percy paused.

Huh.

Detective.

He stared at the page in front of him. It probably said something that 'Detective' jumped out at him more than any of the other jobs he'd heard of.

James had offered to help him no matter what the situation was, and Percy appreciated it. And if anyone else was ever in the same situation as he was with Gabe, Percy would want to help them. Becoming a detective, joining the force, would enable him to do that.

Below 'marine biology', Percy hesitantly wrote 'detective'. Now, that was an idea.

<<< >>>

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Please stop before I punch you," Jason whispered.

Annabeth ceased fiddling with her pen, flushing when her best friend shot her an exasperated look.

"Sorry," she sighed. "I don't know where to start." Glancing over at Jason's work, Annabeth marvelled at how much he'd written in half an hour. Design and business, Jason had decided.

Annabeth was exhausted from last night. She'd gone over for dinner at her dad's place, which had been fun — more enjoyable than any time she'd spent with him in the recent months — and only gotten home late.

This new routine was difficult to settle into, but Annabeth had to admit that Helen and her father were much better off co-parenting out of a relationship. She could already see the changes in both her parents — Helen looking more awake and lighter, her father less tense and smiling more.

They were still on good terms, of course, and Annabeth found that they actually got on better now than before. It was almost a month since they filed for divorce, and Annabeth surprised even herself when she said that she was feeling...good about it.

But she was getting off topic. Her mind had been doing that — drifting away from the task at hand — for the past half hour, in a very Percy-like way.

Truth was, Annabeth didn't know what she wanted to do. All her teachers had informed her that she had the academic potential to be a high achiever in just about any field she chose, all excited for her to choose theirs.

Annabeth knew she had options — she was smart, and that tended to help in decisions concerning the future. But she didn't know what she wanted to do. Sure, people expected her to go into STEM, but things like engineering had never really interested her — those were much more Leo's thing.

But she also wasn't that into the humanities or languages. Geography made her want to cry.

So what did she want to do?

Annabeth had written down a few notes beside the prompts.

Subjects she liked (or didn't mind); History, Maths, English, Chemistry

What interested her; (she left that one blank)

Her goals in life; good job security, good income, stability, an exciting career with room to grow

Annabeth paused. She wanted Percy in her life too, but she couldn't exactly write that.

Annabeth didn't know how likely it was that she and Percy would last long, seeing as just about all the odds were against them, but she hoped they would at least give it a shot.

She hated the idea of leaving him alone with Gabe, with all the things in his life she couldn't protect him from.

Annabeth frowned. That was a goal, wasn't it?

Help people, she wrote. Protect the people who can't protect themselves.

Her gaze flickered back to her notes on the subjects she'd written. English, History, Maths and Chemistry were a large spectrum, but if she really thought about it, the first job that appeared in her mind was lawyer.

Annabeth mulled over that for a moment.

Law. She'd never really thought about that before, but it fitted everything she wanted perfectly.

Good job security. Hell, lawyers earned more than most people. It required a high level of education, and it might sound lame, but Annabeth enjoyed learning about things that actually interested her.

Political science was one of those. And lawyers aided in legal decisions, which meant that she'd actually have the power to help people like Percy. She was just a teenager now, but in the future, she might be able to make an actual difference in the lives of other people who experienced that kind of domestic abuse.

Using her privilege and her brains to speak up for others was something Annabeth could see herself doing. It was the obvious choice, and for a moment, Annabeth wondered how she'd never even thought of it before.

The career I've landed on currently is one in law, she wrote. It would enable me to help people, something that has become very important to me in the recent year. The subject itself also interests me, as a debate topic and in improving eloquent speaking skills.

Once Annabeth got into it, her brain kicked into high gear and by the end of the hour, she'd written half a page more than Jason, who just shook his head at her in disbelief.

"Good choice," he remarked when he peered over and read the first few lines of her essay. "I could see you as a lawyer."

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks." Now that she had a solid career choice — which she had only become more sure of within the lesson — her brain bombarded her with a billion and one options for her future. Universities, jobs, an idea of what her 10-year plan would look like.

When the bell rang, Annabeth exited the classroom, eyes searching for Percy as his own class filed out of the room next door to her.

"Annabeth," his voice materialised, and Annabeth spun around to grab onto him, everyone being bumped along the corridor between the mad rush of students.

"Hey," she said breathlessly. "What'd you write?"

Percy grinned. "Detective."

Annabeth arched an eyebrow. "Surprising, but it makes sense." Percy in the police academy — it made more sense than she'd expected.

"What'd you put?" Percy asked curiously. "Something difficult and high-up, I'll bet."

"Lawyer," Annabeth answered.

"Look at that," he chuckled. "I was right."

—*—

To all my wonderful readers, I just want to acknowledge that I do not condone the actions of the policemen who murdered George Floyd, nor the police brutality or unjust killings of black people all over the world.

I made the choice for Percy's arc to reach his decision to become a police detective long before all this happened. He definitely wouldn't commit the same actions, and in my opinion, would help to weed out the bad cops in his ranks. He wouldn't tolerate any racial-induced violence or murdering people simply because of the colour of their skin.

Don't ever think that his dream to become a detective means that he would accept any of that.

Thank you, and I hope you understand that. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to put them below.