PERCY - He's the new guy, a bit of a trouble maker, and all the ladies love him. He plays football so he can be friends with the jocks, but actually likes to swim. He can have his choice of the girls, but a certain blonde in his friend group catches...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Beauty Queen," Leo says, a smirk on his face.
"Repair Boy," Piper retorts. We all laugh.
At the beginning of lunch, Leo had decided that we all needed nicknames. For what reason? God only knows.
Leo had dubbed himself Leo Mcshizzle Man Bad Boy Supreme, but there was no way the rest of us were calling him that. Piper came up with Repair Boy, because Leo was always tinkering with contraptions. He had serious ADHD, and was usually breaking apart and rebuilding a fidget toy.
Leo turns to Frank, who was sitting on the other side of him. "Chinese Canadian Baby Man."
Frank chokes on his apple juice, "What!?"
I laugh, quickly turning it into a pretend coughing fit when Frank glares at everyone. Leo just ignores him, "And Hazel, our Golden Girl, obviously." Hazel blushes, leaning into Frank. We had been joking that Hazel was our friend group's "golden girl" for years, because she has near perfect grades, and has never had a tardy or a detention. Also when we were in middle school, she had a fascination with the metal, and it was all she ever talked about. Not to mention she has pretty gold eyes (that Frank would not shut up about when the two of them first started dating).
Leo looked at Jason, an evil grin in his eyes. Before Leo could open his mouth, Jason had already spoken.
"Yes, yes, I know," he said grumbling.
"Sparky!" Piper giggled, grabbing her boyfriend's hand, and kissing him on the cheek. When Jason was little, he had gone out during a thunderstorm with his big sister, and had practically gotten electrocuted. Last year he had accidentally told us, and we (mostly Piper) had been calling him Sparky ever since.
Leo looked around the table for his next victim. His face lit up when he saw Luke. Uh oh.
"Let's see...." Leo rubs his hands together like an evil scientist.
"No," Luke says, plain and blunt.
"But," Leo starts. I cringe, knowing there is no way this will go well.
"NO," Luke repeats. His voice is firm, with a dangerous undertone. I don't think any of my friends can tell, but I certainly can.
Our lunch table had gone silent. "My name is Luke, L-U-K-E," Luke growls. The rest of us get the message loud and clear. He is not to be messed with.
Piper looks at me, mouthing the word sorry. I pretend not to notice.
An awkward silence follows, and I just want to crawl in a hole. My boyfriend caused this, after all. Luke gets up, glaring at the rest of us. He leans down, whispering so only I can hear.
"Don't you dare mention this again, you hear me," his voice is deep and gravely, a sound that used to make cold shivers run down my back, but now is the soundtrack to my nightmares.
"It's bad enough I'm forced to sit with your stupid little friends, and listen to their nonsense, but if anyone finds out that they tried to give me nicknames," he draws in a shuddering breath, and he doesn't have to finish the sentence. I've heard the other part enough. You'll get it.
He leans back, a stiff smile on his face. "Kay?"
I nod, forcing bile down my throat.
"I'm going to sit with Ethan." He waves at the rest of our table, who have been quietly watching our exchange, before walking over to Ethan and the rest of his goons.
I hate that he's friends with Ethan, although I knew he didn't really like my friends when we started dating. He sits with them at lunch, and will occasionally come to Friday pizza, when I ask him too. So, he tolerates them. But, then again, it's not like I want my friends to drink with him over the weekend.
"Seaweed Brain," I say. I'm not really sure why I said it, maybe to break the silence, but all I know is that for the last couple weeks, I've thought it was the perfect nickname for Percy.
Everyone stares at me, and I'm suddenly embarrassed. I can feel Luke's stare on the back of my head, but instead of mumbling never mind, I'm surprised to find myself elaborating.
"You know, as a nickname for Percy," I say, blushing.
I've already made a fool of myself, so against my better judgement, I keep talking.
"Because, he likes the ocean, and his head is full of kelp," I smile, and to my relief, everyone starts to laugh.
"Wise Girl," Percy beams, clearly proud of himself.
"Really Perce?" I laugh, "that's a pretty mediocre nickname."
He pouts, "I thought it was pretty good!" We all laugh, and if i'm being honest, it feels good to let go, even if it's just for a minute.
"Beauty Queen, Sparky, Golden Girl, Chinese Canadian Baby Man, Seaweed Brain, Wise Girl, and Repair Boy," Leo says, "the Super Seven!"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
