Percy Jackson

The worst part of the talk with the principal and counselor was that Paul had to be there and it just constantly felt like he didn't want to be there.

Which makes two of us, but again, it's not like I was there because I was in trouble. It was just to tell the principal what happened before probably going home for the day or something. It wouldn't take longer than the hour.

Like, he found me on the ground and in pain. You'd think he'd be more worried.

"Alright, hi, Percy," Principal Winters said as he walked into his office. "sorry, I had to talk to a parent before this. I hear Paul found you laying on the ground outside his classroom? What's going on?"

A big reason why I wasn't expelled last year, besides Paul, was Principal Winters. He's not a demigod but he's clear sighted and might have a young child that isn't at camp yet that's a demigod so when Kelli and her crew attacked me, he knew what really happened and let me stay.

"So I had uh, I just finished eating lunch," I told the three adults, trying to not let the pain in my side take over because he kicked me hard. "And I ate lunch in Paul's room because it's quiet in there and it's not like he had a class anyways at that point in time. So after I finished eating, I went to go throw my lunch bag in my locker and make sure I had what I needed for my classes, but as I was heading to my locker like right after I left the room, I accidentally bumped into Tony Anderson, he's a senior on the swim team, and it was just an accidental shoulder bump because I misjudged how far to move over, but he like, slammed me against the lockers and yelled at me asking how I dare touch him and whatever and then he punched me a few times and I was too shocmed to like... Respond and I figured that if I did it'd just be worse for me and then he pushed me to the ground and before I could run away he kicked me in the ribs and they still hurt so... Yeah. It happened in the hall so there should be security footage, right?"

"And you're sure you weren't picking a fight?" Paul had the audacity to ask like I wouldn't pick a fight with the marriage license that hasn't come in the mail yet.

Ever since I found out that I had to do summer school back in May, he's been ruthless with anything at school.

As if I do anything. I used to cause trouble and sure, sometimes monsters show up.

But I need to graduate if I'm going to live that long.

"If I was picking a fight, I wouldn't have been on the ground long enough for him to kick me," I reminded my step dad. "You didn't even know me the last time I got in a fight that I started!"

"You never know."

No, Paul, I do know. You just don't believe me.

"Either way, there is security footage, I'm just waiting for the clip to come in since it takes a few minutes to figure out which camera and what time it was at," the principal cut Paul and myself off. "So as long as what you said matches the video, we'll bring Tony in later and discuss consequences with him, alright?"

I nodded my head.

Since we were waiting, the counselor stepped out to sign a few papers for a student that showed up, and after refreshing like a million times, the email with the video attachment showed up.

"Oh! Bless our security member for working so fast," Principal Winters said as he adjusted his monitor so we could all see and it's crazy that my story lined up with what happened, right?

Really surprised Paul that I remembered how I got beat up.

Watching it was a bad thing for me to do, though, because watching my body hit the ground and seeing the kick—

You deserved that, brat.

Resurfaced him for the first time in a while, and hearing his voice again made me tense up because he shouldn't still be here.

I can hear him, in my head, but he's supposed to gone. Dead.

Mom turned him to stone 4 years ago, so why is he in my head? That's wrong.

Does Medusa actually kill you? Or is it temporary?

What if there's just a time limit and he's alive again? Trying to find Mom and I because their divorce was only legally allowed because he was dead but if he isn't then they're still married and her marriage with Paul wouldn't get approved and it would be voided and Gabe would never let her get divorced because if she even tried—

Is he touching my shoulder?

There's a hand on my shoulder and I don't like it and I can't focus to see who's it is and I don't remember who I'm with right now but if I'm in school, Gabe could show up and legally claim to be my guardian so if he's here right now then he found me and I can't stop anything he might do and he's probably going to be really bad when we get home and if Mom isn't home he'll like, get physical and I'll have to buy more concealer because I'm low anyways, but I honestly think it'd be easier to kill myself at that rate.

That's always an option.

No it's not, my brain protested. The gods aren't done with you so you can't die yet, even if you want to.

I hate being a demigod.

The hand left my shoulder, and the next thing I actually remembered was sitting in the counselors office on one of her comfy chairs with a blanket wrapped around me that was very soft and nice.

The counselor? Not in here.

She was in the hall, though, maybe talking to somebody or taking a call, I couldn't tell.

I was tired, though, and the blanket and chair were very tempting.

If it wasn't for her walking in within two minutes of me being alive again, I would've fallen asleep.

"Hey, Percy," Ms. Anne said in a very soft tone as she shut the door and sat in her chair. "How are you feeling?"

It took way to long to process what she said or asked.

"Hm— oh. Tired."

"Tired?" She repeated and I nodded my head, knowing she'd have to like, file this because she's a mandated reporter and whatever. "That makes sense, you out of it for a while. Last period just started. Your mom is here, too, Principal Winters is just telling her about what happened at lunch and about what happened during the meeting, okay?"

I nodded my head.

"Do you want her in here at all?" Anne was very nice in giving me that option because Paul and Mom are different answers. "Because of what happened during the meeting, I just have to ask you some questions to follow up. Especially since, while I know you've had an anxiety diagnosis, it hasn't processed in our system yet so it's considered extra concerning. Do you want her here for those questions?"

Again, I nodded my head.

So we waited for a bit, maybe like fifteen minutes. But she just let me draw and we put on calming music and did our own things so I could wind down until Mom showed up since I said I wanted her here because I did. I wanted my mom.

The questions weren't super hard and it was mostly just about how anxious I usually am compared to what just happened and what I remember of it and how I'm feeling now, and then asking how frequently this seems to happen and a few others questions.

And maybe it's stupid that I was honest, because I lied when she asked if I've ever or recently had suicidal thoughts.

But I didn't lie when she asked about self harm.

Mostly because I didn't think I could lie and have her believe it when she can look at my arms. It's not magic and I'm too lazy to use Mist to cover it.

That confession? Won me an automatic 72 hour observation hold in the children's hospital because it's the closest hospital to the apartment and school.

So maybe I should've lied, because I'll be lucky to escape this place without a false diagnosis.

The only good thing they gave me upon arrival? The socks.