⊹₊⟡⋆

Lila started out the window, deep in thought.

Percy lightly nudged her, "Whatcha thinking about?" Percy titled his head, gently.

Lila turned to him, her amber eyes meeting his green ones. Percy looked at her, her cheeks a gently rose color, something special about her was that her cheeks were always rosy. Her blonde hair flowing down her shoulder, a mix of straight and curly hair.

"I'm thinking about killing Nancy." Lila stated, glaring at the red haired girl. Nancy was hitting Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny, and he cried when he got frustrated.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew Percy or Lila couldn't do anything back to her because they were already on probation.

"I agree. you take the back, i'll take the front." Percy mumbled nodding as him and Lila did a hand shake.

Grover tried to calm them down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.

"That's it." Percy started to get up, but Grover pulled him back to my seat. Percy sat back onto the seat with an annoyed eye role.

"You're already on probation," he reminded percy. "You know who'll get blamed if anything
happens."

It was true, maybe they had gotten in trouble a couple times...Like that time Percy punched a student for making fun of Lila's hair or that time Lila fought a student for making fun of Percy's bruises. That wasn't even half of it...

Or when they vandalized that one teacher's office.

"I'll gladly take the blame if it's worth giving Nancy a beating." Percy glared at the ginger.

Grover sighed, "Just leave it. Nancy will be Nancy." Grover shrugged, as Lila took some of Nancy's lunch out of Grover's hair.

"She's so annoying, her and her stupid red hair," Lila muttered, "what a disgrace to Ed Sheeran and Ron Weasley." she added as Percy bit back his smile.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding them through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. She didn't know how these stuff had lasted millions of years.

Lila saw a statue, a sack of bow secure on her shoulders and her hand on a deer statue. Her eyes's looking the other way, narrowed. As if trying to protect the deer and all wild life.

Artemis.

Lila nudged Percy, "Look, look, look!" she pointed to the goddess, who happened to be her favorite. Percy turned to her, before looking at what she was pointing at.

"The deer?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows.

"No! Well, yes," she mumbled before pointing more clearly at the goddess. "Artemis."

Percy nodded, "Ohhh," Percy knew that Artemis was the girls favorite as she only listened to Mr Brunner when it was about her. "That's...cool." Percy shrugged as Lila rolled her eyes.

"That was barely reply!" Lila complained.

Percy turned to her, "You know for someone who doesn't like latin class, you sure like what we learn in the class." Percy said, pointing to her interest of learning greek myths.

Lila was about to argue back but she saw an Aphrodite statue, she gasped before pulling Percy to the statue. She imitated the statue's pose. Her left arm on her hand, her right across her chest.

Percy looked between her and the statue. "Wow." He said, his voice a mix of sarcasm and genuine emotion.

"I hate you..." she mumbled, teasingly before dropping her position.

"Love you too!"

⊹₊⟡⋆

Mr Brunner had gathered them around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides.

Lila tried to listen, she really did! but everyone was talking. Percy tried to tell them to shut up but Mrs. Dodds kept giving him 'The evil eye' as Percy and Lila called it.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and Percy turned around and said, "Will you shut up?" Lila didn't know if he meant to say it so loud but it came out that way. The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" Mr Brunner raised an eyebrow, questioning giving Percy that teacher look which made Lila shiver.

Percy face was totally red. He said, "No, sir." shaking his head and Lila bit back a laugh.

"Percy's not wrong..." Lila mumbled under her breath, looking at the floor trying to defend him but not get in trouble at the same time.

"What was that Miss Everhart?"

"Nothing!" Lila shook her head, sending the teacher a forced smile as she quickly turned her head again.

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you guys will tell us what this picture represents?"

They looked at the carving, Lila let out a sigh of relief as she recognized the picture. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" Percy spoke before she could.

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.

"Well . . ." Percy racked his brain to remember. "And he did this because . . ."

Lila saw a chance to speak, "Kronos was the king god, and—" Lila spoke immediately getting cut off.

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Titan," She corrected with a cheesy smile. "He didn't trust them, who were gods. He thought they would overthrow him because of a prophecy. So he ate them." Lila said, as Percy looked surprised because normally Lila complained about how boring learning the myths were.

"But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus
grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—" Percy continued for her.

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind them.

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won." Percy finished as there were some snickers from the group.

Behind them, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications,
'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Jackson and Miss Everhart, Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. She looked like she was about to explode. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He seemed to have radar ears.

Percy turned to Lila expecting her to get them out of the mess. "So..." Lila started, racking her brain. "Uh..in the real world you might..."

Percy rolled his eyes before shrugging. "We don't know, sir."

"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed.
"Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson and Miss Everhart. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his
remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch."

"I don't think I have an appetite anymore..." Lila mumbled. Percy gave a small nod.

"Mrs.Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.

Grover, Lila and Percy were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said,"Mr. Jackson and Miss Everhart." They both knew what was coming.

Percy told Grover to keep going. Then they turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told them. Lila furrowed her eyebrows gently, not understanding what the big fest was.

"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it.
" Mr Brunner corrected. "What you learn from me is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson and Lila Everhart."

Mr. Brunner had always expected them to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that they have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. No—he didn't expect them to be as good; he expected them to be better.

Percy mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. "Sorry..." Lila mumbled under her breath. Mr Brunner sighed before he told them to go outside and eat my lunch.

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than Lila had ever seen over the city. Lila figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been
weird since Christmas. There had been massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. Nobody wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. But nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

Lila, Percy and Grover all sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. Hoping nobody recognized they were from Yancy. "Detention?" Grover asked.

"Nah," Percy said."Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off us sometimes. I mean—we're not a genius. Maybe she is, but i'm not!"

"I am a genius just not in latin." Lila nodded, hyping herself up.

Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when they thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make them feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?" Percy nodded, not having an appetite.

Lila noticed as she looked down to her blueberries, knowing Percy loved blue food. Plus, she wasn't that hungry anyways. "Here." she tossed the blueberries to him. Percy smiled at her, thanking her before popping one in his mouth.

Lila fidgeted with her ring, the brown bag made it look like she had a lot of lunch in it but in reality she had only packed herself some blueberries.

In a blink of an eye, Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her minions—friends. Lila guessed she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in
Grover's lap. "Oops." She grinned at them with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted orange juice over her face.

Lila clenched her fist about to speak up when suddenly Nancy was sitting on her butt in the
fountain, screaming, "They pushed me!" Mrs. Dodds materialized next to them. Most of the kids were whispering.

Lila sighed, knowing she was gonna get in trouble as she didn't even try to defend herself. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure her favorite Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on them. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if they'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester."Now, honey—"

"I know," Percy grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." Lila nodded her agreement.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said, as she turned her figure back towards the museum.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."
Lila furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding why he was covering for them, Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.

"But—" Grover started again, his voice trembling as he looked up to the unliked but terrifying teacher.

"You—will—stay—here." Mrs. Dodds spoke, her tone showing that it was the end of the argument. Grover looked at me desperately.

"It's okay, man," Percy told him.

Lila nodded in agreement. "Thanks for trying." she forced a smile Grover's way.

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at them. "Now." Mrs. Dodds put a shoulder on Lila shoulder, forcing her to start walking toward the museum.

Nancy Bobofit smirked. Percy gave her his deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare as Lila flipped her off without Mrs. Dodds noticing. Lila turned back to Mrs. Dodds who was already in the museum entrance, Percy and Lila shared a look of confusion. How'd she get there so fast? Mrs. Dodds gestured hurry up impatiently.

"She's probably going to make us buy her a new shirt for Nancy..." Percy whispered to Lila, who immediately groaned.

"What?" she groaned more. "I don't have money. Plus, i'm innocent I didn't do nothing to Nancy."

"Can this day get any worse..." Lila mumbled, Percy nodding his agreement.

Oh, it could.

They followed her deeper into the museum. When they finally caught up to her, they were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for them, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she spoke, her eyes still glued to the greek gods, her grip on her arms tightening.

Lila immediately covered Percy's mouth before he could say anything dumb. "Yes, ma'am. We apologize..." Lila mumbld

Mrs. Dodds tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket."Did you really think you would get away with it?" The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. Lila had to remind herself that she couldn't hurt her, she was a teacher that was illegal.

Percy gently removed Lila's hand, "We'll—We'll try harder, ma'am." Lila nodded. Thunder shook the building.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson and Lila Everhart," Mrs. Dodds said."It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

Lila turned to Percy, their eyes meeting. Her blue eyes asking. "did you do anything?" and his green ones saying, "no!"

Lila thought about stuff her or Percy did, could it have been Percy stash of candy or the fact that they visited each others dorm after curfew or maybe it's the fact that Lila cheated on her math test?

"Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, We don't..." Percy started.

"Your time is up," she hissed. Then suddenly she changed. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

Then things got even stranger. Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunged at Lila. Lila dodged her barley, her talons almost slicing her cheek. Mrs. Dodds attacked again as she tackled Lila. Lila tried her best to Mrs. Dodds at bay, her hands pushing her away. She snarled, "Die, honey!"

"Some help Percy!?" Lila yelled. She looked at the boy who was frozen in fear and shock, a bronze sword in his hands?

Percy seemed to snap out of it because he ran to Mrs. Dodds and swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.

Hisss!

Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the
spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching them.

Lila sighed, as she just let herself lie on the floor. Percy let out a sigh of relief as he helped the blonde up, the sword was no longer there just  a ballpoint pen in his hand. Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but them.

"That...that was wild..." Percy spoke.

⊹₊⟡⋆

They head back outside, still shaken up and the fact that it had started to rain didn't help! Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still
standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her friends. When she saw them, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

Percy said, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!" They blinked. Lila furrowed her eyebrows at Percy who was equally as confused. They had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. Lila asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. Percy asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at them. Lila and Percy looked at each other knowing that Grover was messing with them.

"Not funny, man," Percy told him. "This is serious." Thunder boomed overhead. They saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

"Our only other witness." Lila pointed, Percy nodded as they went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted.

"Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson." Mr Brunner said as Percy handed Mr. Brunner his pen.

"Uhh sir," Lila said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stared at them blankly. "Who?" Mr Brunner titled his head.

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." Percy replied. Mr Brunner frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned.

"Percy, Lila. There is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

Percy and Lila exchanged another look for maybe the one hundred time today, their eyes furrowed.

━━━ 𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗿𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 ₊˚ʚ

i. this is so long

ii. a few cute percy and lila moments

iii. wdym it's only WEDNESDAY?