He's A Jerk, But He's Cute

Itching Powder

Rachel's P.O.V

I woke up the next morning to the smell of... pancakes! And burning toast.

Tossing my covers off, I looked towards the table and saw Piper, Annabeth, and Percy all very quietly arguing over said burnt toast.

"Ahem," I said and walked over to the table with a small giggle. I missed days like this. The peacefulness of them.

Percy smiled a bit bashfully and tossed me the burnt toast. " 'Morning. I tried to make toast but your toaster sucks major ass."

Annabeth shoved him and he stumbled forward laughing. "You suck ass, Seaweed Brain, don't blame the toaster."

Piper handed me a plate of pancakes and threw the burnt toast away. "We actually woke up early enough to go to breakfast for once! But Leo went to the Starbucks in the library with Reyna--"

"He's totally smashing Reyna, by the way," Percy interrupted.

"Totally," Piper agreed. "Anyway," she continued, "While he was there he saw Octavian. And Octavian asked him about you," Piper said.

I sat down at the table and cut up my pancakes. So, if he was asking about me he's okay, I thought. But why is he asking about me? He would never ask about me...

"Rachel," Percy called, waving a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Rach--"

"Yeah, sorry, " I said and waved his hand away. "It's just... things with Octavian are just really weird lately." I stuffed a piece of pancake in my mouth. "And him asking about me makes things even weirder, " I mumbled around the mushed up food.

Piper picked up a comb from the desk and some hair mousse. "Well, there are more complicated things for us to worry about right now, " she sprayed some of the foam into her hand and ran her hands through my hair, fingers getting caught in tangled curls. "Like fixing your hair."

I laughed and ate some more pancakes. "No clue what I'd do without you weirdos."

-

When I walked into my first class, everyone was crowded in the corner of the room as someone hacked and coughed like there was a softball stuck in their throat. 

Usually, I avoided these types of things but I noticed Octavian sitting calmly at his desk with a smirk. Once he saw me, he waved and nodded over to the crowd.

I looked over the heads of more than half the class and saw Hunter, red faced and teary eyed, choking with a cup's worth of spilled coffee in his lap. I couldn't help myself and laughed out loud, quickly stifling it as I walked back over Octavian and sat down in the next desk next to him.

"Oh, my God, " I wheezed, "what'd you do?"

Octavian gave his best evil cackle and took out an empty seasoning bottle from his pocket and handed it to me. 

I read the label, "Ghost pepper chili powder... " I gasped and broke out into a giggling fit. "This is the hottest pepper in the world... And you put it in his coffee."

"Damn right, " Octavian said. "And  he's hungover, so he's extra sensitive to shit like that right now."

Octavian did a gentle bow. "I accept my award for being an absolute genius, thank you."

I shook my head, still laughing and looked back at Hunter who was all but sobbing now as he fanned his tongue. 

Just then, Mr. Langdon walked in his typical bad mood. "EVERYONE, IN YOUR DESKS, NOW!" He slammed down his briefcase and stormed over to Hunter's desk.

Hunter swallowed and sighed, "I'm not in the mood to deal with the chronic stick up your ass, Langdon, " he said and wiped his face on his soiled shirt. 

Exasperated, Mr. Langdon pursed his lips and pointed to the door. "Principal's office, Mr. West. It's where you tend to spend first period anyway."

Like the rest of the class, I had to cover my mouth to hide my laughter as Hunter stood and walked out of the door, covered in coffee and still sniffling. After that, Mr. Langdon was pissed for the rest of the class but it didn't matter much to me. Octavian I passed notes about what we could do to mess with Hunter and Devon. In the end, we decided we were going to fuck with them until they begged for mercy. Maybe we weren't going to out them like a bunch assholes, but we certainly were going to give them a taste of their own medicine. 

 -

At lunch, for the first time, Octavian and I sat together. Along with my friends, Connor and Travis. They were twin (not really) pranksters who were a little too eager to help us in our revenge. 

"Itching powder, " Travis said.

"It's like the holy water of pranking, " Connor finished.

Octavian nodded and took a fry from my plate. Usually, I would kill anyone who did that. But he was a new... friend... so I made an exception. 

I scribbled itching powder onto the list of things we were going to with a smile. "Ever seen Heathers, Octavian?"

He shook his head and my jaw fell loose. "Oh, my God, you've missed out. We're so watching it later... anyway, major spoiler, the main character kills Heather because she's a popular asshole and then people start living in anarchy at the school without a leader. It ends with a boy trying to bomb the school and then ends up killing himself. "

"Well, " Octavian said. "Guess killing Hunter and Devon can be scratched off the list. Sadly." 

I laughed and looked over at Hunter and Devon who were chatting with Percy and the rest of the swim team. I never understood why Percy hung out with those jerks in the first place. Nevertheless, he was there today to distract the two from Octavian since apparently, he wasn't "allowed" to hang out with me. Ridiculous. 

"So, " I said and closed my notebook. "Tomorrow we start with the top of the list, right?"

He nodded. "Yep. I'll send in an anonymous message to the principal in the morning. " He smiled, pretty eyes smiling with him. 

What?

I've always said he has nice eyes.

I smiled back, "Be careful, Octavian."