We Are Cursed (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 2

Chapter 5 || Piper

Piper didn't understand teenage boys.

Now, sitting at the lunch tables while Percy was busy cutting up his sandwich to make it look like a fish while dying his sprite blue, while Jason was busy wiping his reading glasses with Piper's water bottle, and while Leo made a hat out of plastic spoons, the only normal boy at the table seemed to be Frank. Well, she couldn't leave out Nico. That would be a crime.

Shoving her fork into her Caesar salad, she saw Annabeth's slightly amused expression as she stared at her boyfriend. Even if she had only known Annabeth for a couple months, Piper knew, being the daughter of the goddess of love, that Percabeth was a match made in heaven.

"Stop that, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth laughed as Percy started knotting her hair, knowing it'd take forever for her to get it out.

That's when Piper noticed three hotties walking over, their letterman jackets screaming "JOCK".

"Percy!" she hissed and he looked over at her. Following her eyes, he noticed the three jocks coming over.

"Shit," he murmured.

"Jackson!" one yelled.

"Hey, Roger."

Roughly pushing Nico off his seat, the jock named "Roger" sat down, elbows resting on his knees. Thalia got down from her seat to go help Nico up, who was rubbing his forearm and muttering curse words.

"You still up for swim practice later today?" Roger asked, taking a sip of Nico's apple juice like it was no big deal.

"Uh... dude, you knocked over the little nub," Percy motioned over to Nico, not even sparing his cousin a glance.

"A little bump in the way of the road," Roger chuckled. "Am I right, boys?"

The two other jocks hooted in agreement.

"Didn't expect Clark or Daniels to say anything different." Percy leaned back, a cold, sly, smirk plastered on his face.

Piper knew Percy was just acting, but it sent shivers up her spine every time she saw that villainous smirk.

"I've got a big bump in the road for them..." Thalia growled, getting up before Piper could stop her. "Shut up!"

All three jocks looked at her and Percy shot her a warning glance. He looked over at her and mouthed, "I won't be able to help you, Thals."

"What did you just say, little pretty princess?" 'Clark' mocked, his hazel eyes showing nothing but pure excitement.

"I said shut up! Leave Nico alone!" Thalia growled, glaring at them.

"She's feisty," Roger chuckled. "I like her."

"I hate you!" Thalia exclaimed, glaring at them. "Why don't you get your fat asses out of here and leave us alone?! Nobody likes you here, you shitheads!"

"Colorful language..." Jason muttered under his breath.

"Okay, now this chick is downright annoying..." 'Daniels' cracked his knuckles and glared at Thalia, as did the other boys.

Despite the looming boys, Thalia stood her ground, glaring at them.

"I said. Get. Away. From. Us."

"Jackson, why are you sitting with this loser?" Roger scoffed, looking at Thalia. "And all of these other losers--well, I mean Chase, this girl, and Di Angelo?"

Piper could see a vein pop up in Percy's neck as he tried to control his anger. To be fair, he was probably very angry and a little stiffening was very good acting already.

"Pity," he replied, the coldness slightly strained in his voice. "Which is why we probably shouldn't beat them up."

"You good, Jackson?" Roger slapped a hand over Percy's forehead. "Do you have a fever? You know us jocks don't talk that way."

Percy pushed Roger's hand away from his forehead and Piper just tried to imagine how dirty it must've felt. "I'm fine," he insisted. "But why beat up the poor kids if you wanna have a fight? They'll just fall over like dominos."

Roger had a look of consideration on his face. "Yeah, but what about the blonde and spiky princess over here?" He pointed to Thalia, who had her middle finger ready to stab his eye out. She reached for her locket but Piper quickly pushed her hand away from it, mouthing "no".

Piper could see the wheels turning in Percy's brain as he tried to think of an excuse. Inside, Piper knew with all this acting, his "characters" affected his own personality in every way possible.

"If they're this feisty, they'll just kill themselves if they have no one to argue with," he finally said. "Why waste your time when you could get a good crying reaction? Or maybe you could have the whole school come to watch while you make a kid cry and sob? You know out of Di Angelo, Chase, and Grace, that you won't find any one of them who sobs."

"Prove it," Roger said, looking at Nico. "Punch the kid in the face."

Piper felt her chest tighten as she looked at Nico, who was staring up at Percy in horror. Beads of sweat formed on Percy's face as he contemplated this fact. He couldn't use his watch, or it'd raise suspicion of the other students, and the mist only came out of his watch.

"Why punch this kid?" Percy pointed at Nico. "Why not punch some other wimp?"

"What's gotten into you, Jackson? You said that they wouldn't cry if they were punched and it wouldn't be a worthy reaction!"

"Why waste time punching kids who don't cry? Go punch someone who does cry!" Percy exclaimed.

"Are you growing... soft? Because you're one of the star players and if you grow soft we'll go at nothing to beat up the person who turned you that way."

Annabeth, Piper thought as she sneaked a glance over at Annabeth, who had wide, gray eyes full of fear. Percy looked to Nico with the 'I'm sorry' look and tensed his muscles, looking as if he was going to punch Nico full head on. Thalia had her eyes wide with regret, looking over at her cousin. Percy's fist went down and made contact with Nico's jaw as Nico's face turned to the side. He glared over to his jocks, trying to hide the guilt and anger in his eyes.

"Done. Happy? You get no reaction so go beat up some other kids who cry."

"Come sit with us at lunch, bro!" Roger whined.

"Tomorrow," Percy said. "I promised Jason I'd sit with him today. He's my cousin, after all."

"Fine," Roger sighed as his three goons walked away.

The moment they were out of sight, Percy's regular demeanor snapped on as he slumped down onto the bench, clenching his fist while he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't do that again, Pinecone Face..." he muttered, his eyes squinted shut. "I'm gonna go take Nico to the nurse..."