A Deal with a Player

Chapter 4: The Lunch Table

Percy POV

I was so stupid. Why did I take the damn deal? It was a horrible idea considering the medical benefits I got from having sex. After all, it acted as my alternative pain relief since my body rejected normal drugs.

Furthermore, my chemo dosage and intensity would increase in December to see if we could get some positive results with a new regimen. Grover was pretty much yelling at me for the past two days. I knew that if it weren't for my bone cancer, he would happily be on board this deal, but my life was at stake here. I was knowingly messing with my treatment methods. 

My mother came into my room as I doubled over into the garbage can again. All my food was coming out of my stomach and not in a healthy way. 

My mom, Sally Jackson, gently rubbed the hair out of my face as I leaned back against my bed rest. 

"How are you feeling, honey?" 

"I've been better," I replied with a weak smile. These were the side effects of taking chemo this morning. My cycle went two weeks on chemo and two weeks off chemo. The two weeks that I had chemo were torture, and sex helped with that. 

I had a trailer in our apartment parking garage where I did my business with my girlfriends. I knew my mom wasn't comfortable with my pain relief methods, but she didn't oppose it either. Nonetheless, I didn't bring my girlfriends home ever. 

My mother gently brushed my hair as we stayed in silence. 

In a few minutes, nausea rose again as I spilled my guts into the garbage can. I hated it when people, including members of my family, saw me like this. The instant someone knew about your disease, they treated you differently. Like all of a sudden, being kind no matter what becomes more important than your thoughts on the person. 

People lose their previous experiences and opinions of the person because they have cancer, which was wrong. 

I didn't want that. 

I didn't want people treating me any differently just because of one aspect of my life. Cancer didn't make me or my identity. It was a challenge that I'm trying to overcome, and I wasn't going to let the cancer change how people saw and interacted with me.

"Mom, do you think keeping cancer a secret is a mistake?" I asked. 

"No, Percy, cancer has affected your life enough. It shouldn't affect how other people see and treat you because that's too much loss/pain." 

I loved my amazing mother. She understood me. 

Gods, I was really stupid for making this deal with Annabeth. Sex helped me survive the effects of cancer, and I had given that up for three months. I didn't have a problem with apologizing to all the girls, but I didn't want to accept that cancer took away my ability to uphold my promises. 

My loyalty dictated that I never broke promises, so I couldn't break the promise that was this deal. I couldn't let my cancer have that much power over me. 

***

My muscles strained as I did push-ups in the school gym. School hadn't started yet, but Beckendorf and I usually worked out every few mornings. Cancer made you very sick, so it took an effort to stay fit and strong looking while fighting a disease. 

"So, Perce, you made a deal with Annabeth Chase."

"How'd you know?" I asked. 

"Are you kidding, bro? The whole school knows. It's the hottest gossip currently," he said laughing. "So, are you going to stick to it?"