Beyond All Expectation (Percabeth)

Chapter 20: Detention

Percy POV:

"But teachers are saying she didn't attend any of her classes toda-" Mr Terminus was saying. 

Coincidentally, Annabeth chose to walk through the school doors in that moment. The principal paused and stared at her, then his watch. 

"What time do you call this, Miss Chase? School has just finished, not started. You've missed all your lessons today without explanation," he said sternly. Annabeth stared at the two of us with an open mouth; clearly she hadn't been expecting to see us here, and she had never been told off by a teacher before. "Follow me, both of you, to my office."

I followed the principal in silence, trying not to look at Annabeth as we walked. 

"Um, Percy, I've been meaning to-" She whispered.

"-I thought you said we shouldn't talk ever again," I hissed back at her, and I walked a little faster to get away from her. I tried not to think about what she had wanted to say. When we got into Mr Terminus' office I slumped down on one of the chairs opposite him and did my best not to look angry or hurt. But seeing Annabeth really sucked. 

"Am I in trouble, Sir?" Annabeth asked nervously. 

"Yes, you've skipped an entire day of school, Miss Chase, of course there will be consequences..." He looked at Annabeth's frightened face and his expression softened slightly. "Detention... but I'll keep it off the record, of course. You've got a perfect record, Miss Chase, and I wouldn't want to ruin that for my best student."

Annabeth frowned. "But I had a detention a few weeks ago because there was a fight in my class-"

"-And I know you had nothing to do with it!" He chuckled. I frowned at them both. "Again, we kept you off the record for that one. Look, as long as you attend the detention I know that you'll be paying for your actions blah blah blah... but I wouldn't want to ruin our - um, your - perfect record."

She leaned back in her chair, relieved. "Thank you, Sir."

"B-But... that's not fair! Loads of people in that class had nothing to do with it and it was put on their records-"

"-You were the one in the middle of the fight and you didn't even have to go to the detention! You've never been to a single detention in your life because of swimming practice!" Annabeth spat quickly, and I glared at her as angrily as I could. She stared back at me with a look of venom. Well, there was my answer; she still hated me. 

"Right, well I see what Mr Jackson was on about," Mr Terminus muttered. "I'll get to finding a replacement right away. You said you didn't want Leo Valdez, is that correct?"

I looked away from Annabeth, feeling uncomfortable. "Yes, that's right, I don't want it to be any of my friends. I was hoping it could be someone from outside of school?"

"I'll have a look," he replied, looking down at a list of names on his desk. 

"I'm sorry, what's going on?" Annabeth leaned forwards again. The principal peered at Annabeth sternly over his glasses. 

"Mr Jackson brought it to my attention that the two of you haven't been seeing eye to eye recently, and that you were also doing all his homework for him," he rifled through a pile of paper in front of him and produced seven sheets of paper. They were all my homeworks, each marked with either a C+ or B-, and one was even labelled with an A-. "This is all your work, Miss Chase, and not Percy's. When I asked you to tutor Mr Jackson I was not expecting you to cheat for him."

Annabeth's face dropped. "I-I didn't-"

He held up a hand to stop her. "-Don't worry too much about it, Percy explained that he paid you extra to do the work for him. So he will also be attending the detention with you. But, I understand that it would be better that we stop you from tutoring Mr Jackson any further. I'm finding him a replacement."