Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#38 - Acceptance Letters

Chapter 38 - Acceptance Letters
published: Monday, 12 August 2019

"What are you doing?"

Percy looked up blearily when the door clicked open, revealing Frank and Leo in their barista get-ups.

"Perce, it's like 3am," Leo said in disbelief. "Why are you doing homework?"

"SATs, remember," Percy said sleepily.

"Why are you stressing? You get your college offers back within the week, so even if you fail, you'll still have a school," Frank said in confusion.

Percy shook his head. "They give conditional offers sometimes. So even if I have the offer, there's a certain grade I have to get." He rubbed his hand together nervously. "And I don't even think I can get any offers. The tests were a disaster and the interviews were only okay."

"NYU, right?" Leo guessed.

Percy nodded. "And I have to get in, because Annabeth is a shoo-in at Columbia, so if I even want a chance to be in the same city as her, I need to do well in this." He pulled a face. "Studying sucks, believe me, I'm pretty close to giving up."

"Not looking forward to doing that next year," Leo said warily. "To be fair, I don't even think I'll be going to college."

Percy scribbled down the answer to one of the questions. "Thought you were thinking about M.I.T.?"

Leo shrugged. "Yeah, that's the dream, but it's expensive, plus I'd have to postpone the garage even longer."

"Until then, I guess it's more serving coffee for us," Frank grumbled unhappily.

The four boys had started sharing the apartment together, but the rent meant that they each needed to contribute around $900 a month. Percy's mum had given him a little starter loan, but they were basically on their own.

Leo has started fixing cars in a small garage he and Calypso opened up, but he working there around being a barista and school was tough. Frank was an apprentice chef, which was cool, but since he could only work part-time, he had to pick up odd jobs on the weekends.

Jason had a small fund his mother had left for him years ago, so he could manage by waiting tables at the same restaurant as Frank. Percy's lifeguard gig and his parents' help was just about enough.

The girls also shared an apartment, but because Piper's father was, well, very well off, he sometimes paid the rent off first, and then they paid him back after. It meant that Annabeth tutored crazy hours and Piper worked evening shifts in a boutique down the road. Hazel had discovered a talent in selling the gems she found in pawn shops, which made decent money.

"Go to sleep," Leo insisted, throwing a pillow and Percy. "Seriously, you're not gonna remember any of this in the morning."

"I will," Percy promised. "By, like, osmosis or something."

"You're supposed to be a biology major," Frank deadpanned.

"Shut up." But Percy did grab his stuff and trudge back into his bedroom.

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When the weekend finally came around, Percy was extremely ready to take a chill pill and just relax. His friends had all cleared their weekends and they were spending two days together to recover from their intensive weeks.

Of course, that was all ruined the moment Percy's letter from NYU arrived in the mail.

"Oh gods," Percy had groaned when he picked it out of the multiple envelopes. It was a formal-looking one with his name addressed on the front.