Half-Blood Means Two Things || Marauders Era | Percy Jackson ||

|| 12 - I'm Going To Kill My Owl ||

"SQUAWK!"

I was on my feet, fists up, ready to punch whatever thing was making that ungodly noise.

My eyes were open and took everything in less than a second -- one of the few positives to having ADHD.

Thea fell out of her bed in surprise, wrapped up in her duvet like she was a burrito; Emilia shot up straight in bed and screamed something about roosters and fake eye-lashes; Rowan swore and sat up so fast, she smacked her head on her bent knee; Lily muttered something about five more minutes and threw the duvet over her shoulder. And at the center of all the chaos?

Squawk.

"You stupid bird." I glared daggers at my stupid owl. "You're not a freaking rooster!" I chastised, pointing a finger at him. Squawk just blinked at me and then shot forward to bite me as if to say, I beg to differ. "Stupid bird," I mumbled.

I turned around, running a hand through my hair -- only to have it get stuck in knots.

"SQUAWK!"

I swear to the gods, before school is out, I'm gonna kill that bird! I vowed, jumping again in surprise. How could something so small make so much noise?!

Thea was still thrashing around on the ground, Emilia was looking around, wide-eyed but disoriented like she wasn't awake yet, Lily was still under her blankets, and Rowan -- she wasn't in her bed. Where was she?

I found out a moment later when I got tackled from the back. I stumbled forward a few feet, disoriented and confused as to who was attacking me.

"Charlie!" Rowan squealed, her arms around my body, pinning my own arms to my body. It was fortunate for her that I was still drowsy, or else I might've flipped her and broken one of her bones.

Lily popped out from under her blankets, dried drool on her chin. "Charlie?"

"You're not dead!" Emilia said with a wide grin.

"Agh!" Thea grunted from in her bundle of blankets.

"Yeah, yeah!" I said, pushing out of the hug with a chuckle. I wasn't a big hugger. My heart warmed at all of their beaming faces. They didn't know me that well, but their concern made me want to grin like a moron and do a happy dance.

"SQUAWK!"

And of course, my stupid owl had to ruin the moment.

"I hate your bird," Thea said, finally out of all of her blanket. Half of her hair was pressed to her face and the rest was sticking straight out.

"I hate him too," I said with a groan.

"It's bloody dawn," Rowan said with an annoyed glance at the window that showed the sun barely peeking out over hte mountains.

"I really hate your bird," Thea corrected.

I shot them all a sheepish smile. "Sorry -- Squawk's not the brightest owl in the world," I said with a roll of my eyes, shooting my owl an irritated look.

"You named your owl Squawk?" Emilia said incredulously. While everyone else looked miserable and zombie-like, Emilia barely had a hair out of place.

I groaned again. "Yes. Yes, I did." It seemed like a smart thing at the time. Story of my life, I thought to myself.

"Why're you here, Charlie?" Lily asked, pushing herself out of her bed. She wiped the drool off her chin and ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame it, but only succeeded in making it even frizzier.