Soulmates

Chapter Eight

Percy was... stressed, to say the least. He didn't study when he should have, and it was coming back to bite him. But studying wasn't what was stressing him out. Well, it was, but his primary stressor was the fact that he was stressed. Stress leads to anxiety, which leads to images, which leads to a panic attack, which leads to the school yelling at him and Mrs. O'Leary for being "disruptive."

    And to add to the mix, he took a geometry test with Mrs. Dodds as his teacher, and she puts up a time limit.

    She's really supportive of disabled kids.

    Mrs. O'Leary seemed to notice his mood and licked his face multiple times.

    "Percy Jackson." (I knew something was up... When I heard my name get yelled.)

    Percy looked up to see Mrs. Dodds glaring at him and his dog. "Get your animal under control."

    He nodded and looked back at the proofs. He had them all memorized, courtesy of Paul, Jason, and Hazel, but finding out what the fucking problem said in the first place was getting harder by the second.

    He'd gotten to the last question by some miracle, but naturally, the last question is the most challenging question and worth the most points, so he couldn't rush this.

    As if it were summoned by Percy's desire to get a decent grade, the bell rang, causing him to scribble random properties, postulates, and equations. He handed in the paper, mentally cursing himself for taking so damn long.

    He wandered around the halls, regretting his decision to choose Physics. He had one math class and then a sciencey math class right afterward.

    Why did he have to know about Newton's Laws other than that one Hamilton lyric everyone talks about? Why can't he just curl up next to Mrs. O'Leary and go to sleep instead of waking up at eight every morning?

    Why did he have to go to school?

    He couldn't find another answer except for parents needing a break, which is understandable.

    But, because parents need a break, he had to memorize the formula for kinetic energy, and he wasn't happy about it.

    He plopped down near the back corner of the classroom, where Mrs. O'Leary had a view of the window and wouldn't bother anyone. She didn't bark at the sight of people; she simply wagged her tail. At school, at least. In the apartment, she barked at anything and everything.

    Mr. Hoffman, a grouchy, old man, grunted as the late bell rang. "Alright, class. We're doing vocabulary today. You can listen to music if you'd like. I will let you get your phones from your locker if you didn't bring them. And, yes, you can work with a partner."

    He passed out sheets of paper around the classroom as I slipped in my headphones.

    Mr. Hoffman gave Percy a long list of words accompanied by a bulky textbook. How fun.

    Percy blasted Aerosmith's Toys In The Attic as he opened the book to the last hundred pages. There were about twenty-five words on the list, each with elaborate meanings that needed to be written down. He didn't want to write any of it down, but it was fifty points, and he couldn't afford to get a shitty grade on that. He looked at the first phrase: a closed system. He sighed and scanned the book for the words.

    He went through the next few words and phrases like this before a girl tapped his shoulder. He turned to see a girl, the same girl Mrs. O'Leary licked only two days before.

    "Can you get my pencil?" she asked. "It fell by your desk." She pointed to the fancy-looking mechanical pencil.

    Percy handed it to her. "This pencil is worth more than my life savings."

    "How much is that?"

    Percy smiled. "About 20 bucks," he said.

    "That's a lot of money," she said.

    "It took me all seventeen years of my life to get there."

    The girl laughed. "I'm Annabeth."

    "Percy."

    Annabeth sighed. "Why does Hoffman make us write down the meanings of words, even though half of them aren't related to the unit at all?"

    Percy shrugged. "Maybe he got hungover and doesn't want to teach us anything."

    Annabeth went red and covered her mouth. Odd, muffled sounds came from her. "What?"

    "That was the only reason I could think of."

    Annabeth smiled as the bell rang.

    Percy shoved the paper in his pocket and grabbed Mrs. O'Leary's leash. "It was nice meeting you," he said before rushing out the door.

    Percy ran across the school to get to his next period. He hated that none of his class were next to each other. He was only given four minutes to walk from one side of the school to the next and get through the labyrinth of people in the halls. He wished the teachers would be more considerate on that small degree.

    Another thing he hated was learning about dead guys who shoved slaves onto ships to create a country only to discriminate against them. Many others know this subject as US History.

    He didn't care for dead guys; all Percy needed to know was how to survive in real life, not how real life came to be. He especially did not want to pay any tribute to racist assholes. But, the school district thinks otherwise, and Percy had to deal with it. The only good part about the class was hanging out with Hazel.

    He didn't know how Hazel managed to deal with the bullshit some kids say in that class about the founding asshats being "right for their discrimination."

    But, he had to. He needed a good grade. He needed to graduate. He needed to save his parents from the stress. He needed to make them proud.

Heyo

I've been really tired

I've been writing the HP crossover prequel. I'm pretty sure I'm two chapters in (I just started actually writing it today)

I'm going back to school tomorrow and I don't want to.

The lyrics were in parentheses because I was lazy today.

Again, if you want any info on the crossover comment below. I'll give you as much info as possible that isn't a big spoiler.

That all for today y'all

Love ya!