Mortals Meet Percabeth

Thea Evans

The hallway buzzed to life with the ambient noise of students milling about. The sound of shoes padding the floor. Teenagers minding their own businesses and rushing to their first periods. She can't believe she's saying this but she kind of missed this. She got sick of her house and her room after being confined to it for days.

There was a familiar voice calling her. She can feel her mouth stretch into a shy smile. The butterflies in her stomach made it harder to conceal her emotions. She turned around to greet the owner of the voice.

There he was. His black hair in its usual windswept state. His troublemaker smirk already in place. And his sea green eyes looking at no one else but her. Seeing him had made her breathless. He had always been breathtaking. She could feel her heart beat louder and faster. Her warm face was probably red. She hopes he doesn't notice.

"Hey Percy" Thea greeted. They walked together to their homeroom classroom. "You missed a lot of schoolwork last week." Percy said. "Oh really?" Thea replied, hoping he wasn't serious. "You missed five quizzes and Mrs. Hatter decided she wanted to give us a ton of homework about the lessons last week." Thea sighed, defeated. Well, she has a lot of catching up to do. She just had to be absent last week. It's not her fault she was sick with the flu.

"Should you be going to school though?" He asked, a bit of concern in his tone. "Why not?" She curiously replied. Using the back of his hand, Percy touched Thea's forehead. She froze. If he didn't hear her fast and loud heartbeats, he definitely heard it now. Oh God. He's not making it easier. "You're kind of warm and your face is red."

She was panicking mentally. Quick, quick, quick. Come up with a believable excuse. " I... uhh..." Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

"It's-" Brrrriiinggg. Saved by the bell. "The first warning bell." Percy mumbled. "Mr. Whittaker is gonna kill me if I'm late again."

Thankfully, he didn't ask about her flushed face again. As soon as they got to their homeroom class, they were immediately seated at their designated seats (but not before Mr. Whittaker shot Percy a warning look). They didn't really talk during the period, seeing as they sat across the aisle from one another. So after the bell rang, they bid each other a quick goodbye before heading to their respective classes.

-

It's Saturday, late-afternoon. There are a few clouds littering the sky. Not enough to be considered either overcast or cloudy. As much as she would like to go outside, she spent most of the day inside. Ellie, her best friend and self-appointed tutor, was helping her catch up with all the lessons and schoolwork that she missed last week. They have already finished most of the subjects. All that remains are the essays for her English class. But Ellie has refused to do more work until they go out, get some fresh air and grab a bite.

They find themselves walking home with bags of burgers and fries from the nearest McDonald's and just mindlessly chattering so that they won't bore themselves to death before they can get back. Talking about everything and nothing at once. There was one topic that Ellie seemed to avoid. Whenever Thea mentions Percy, Ellie would look nervous and try to smoothly change topics. It was like she wanted to say something about him but chose not to. And neither of them pointed it out.

It was around the sixth time Thea mentions Percy that Ellie decided to acknowledge her discomfort at the topic. Ellie halted in her steps, forcing Thea to stop too. They were in a less crowded area so there weren't many people on the street. Ellie locked eyes with Thea before looking away, eyes downcast and searching. Thea knows this look. It's the look Ellie has whenever she's looking for the right words to say. And when Thea saw the hesitation in them, she became all the more nervous. "Thea, about Percy..." Ellie started. Of course, she knew about Thea's crush on him. Ellie was the first person to notice when she developed her crush. Ellie was actually the person who made her realize she had a crush on him. Ellie lifted her eyes. "There's something you need to know...." Ellie drifted off, seemingly staring at Thea. Or rather, at something behind her.