Dreams, Drama, But not Demigods II A Percy Jackson Genderbend Highschool AU

Bullying Problems and New Friends

Nickel's POV

SLAM! My arm shakes with pain. Being shoved to the ground, hitting my arm hard enough to bruise wasn't such a big deal. I'll be fine. Dam, it hurt though. I looked up at Danielle's sneer. Her face was long, she was scrawny and tall, and her eyes were the color of a magazine swimming pool. She looked easy to take down. Danielle was not.

There is something you feel when you look at someone who has treated you like shit for two years now, a powerless sense. I told my stepmom, and she told me to "JuSt iGnOrE HEr" which by the way actually makes the person madder because they want your attention. 

I crawl away into the janitor's closet once she's gone and turn on the dim light. I was shoved harder than I thought, and my arm was starting to go purple. I can't let Danielle catch me alone again, though, so I just find a cold metal strip and lay my bruising arm over it. I'm missing gym right now, but I'll be fine. 

Fourty-five minutes later people start walking back into the locker room. I hear a perky voice say "Is the light on in there?" Whoever it is goes to open the door. 

An athletic, blond girl and a slender black-haired girl look at me. Oh, crap, Jessica and Penelope, these popular girls all decked out with boyfriends and whatnot, come to save me. I've had to deal with cruel popular girls in middle school, but highschool's a bigger battlefield. Are they the nice type, or the mean one? My head is spinning with all the possibilities when one word shatters my thoughts.

"Nickel?"

I look up. 

"Are you doing alright? Geez, that's a nasty bruise on your arm. What happened?"Penelope asks, looking genuenly concerned.

I cover my arm with my sleeve.

"I'm okay. Now. Thanks, though."

I push past them and walk to my next class.

Penelope's POV:

I  can't focus in class because I'm thinking of that girl from gym. Jessica knew her name, but I've never seen her before. It was weird, I suppose. But it's not like I could focus on anything important anyway, with he having the ever frustrating ADHD. By the time lunch comes, I get busy enough to forget about it though, also an ADHD thing. I get distracted too easily. 

I sit at the table I have all week, with Lea, Peter, and Anderson. Having friends from my last school come to Olympus High feels really great. Jess isn't here yet though, but we'll wait. I got out my lunch, a turkey sandwitch and five blue cookies, a Sally Jackson specialty. Unfortunately, there was an even five. Great, not everyone has an excuse to take one. I might as well put up a "Free Cookies!" sign on the table. 

Jessica walked in with her lunchbox in hand, practically dragging the girl from earlier along. "C'mon Nickel, my friends are good people." I heard her say as she got closer. Nickel sighed, knowing she couldn't fight Jess's inner mom, and sat down a foot away from Jessica. 

Oh crap, I thought, realizing I only had five cookies. I couldn't give one to Nickel if she wanted one. Dang it, I care too much about my friends and I wanted to give them my lunch. Now I was faced with eternal conflict: Do I share my cookies with my friends? Oh no...

Luckily, I was able to bring myself back to reality. 

"So, what classes are you in, Nickel?" Anderson asks, trying to start a conversation about what he knows best.

Nickel smiles a tiny little bit, and I realize how lonely she must be without friends or anybody. "I take honors English, but normal for the rest of them." she says quietly.

Anderson nods. "I'm in your honors English class, maybe you've seen me?" he says with a joking hint to his tone, which is rare to my all too serious boyfriend.

Nickel blushes a little on her pale skin, but it quickly vanishes. 

"So, Nickel, how are you with a toolkit?" Lea asks, in her blunt and upfront way that's actually pretty funny sometimes.

"Awful." Nickel says, still quiet but a little louder, more comfortable. 

We go around, asking her some stuff. Peter asks about her romantic life, Jessica asking about her tastes in music and things, and I ask about her hobbies. We sit around the table talking about Her and ourselves and all that, trying to make her feel comfortable. By the time lunch is over, we are all intrigued by the mysterious Nickel Di Angelo and happy to let her into our group for as long as she wants.

And one thing I know for sure: there is pain in those eyes.