The Player's Proposal

12: The Punches

Percy POV

Algebra 2 with Ms. Dodds was my least favorite subject. The whole notion of connecting letters and numbers into one subject was too much for me. Also, Ms. Dodds is a fury. At least, she reminded me of the demon creatures from greek mythology.

If you give her some claws and bat wings, she'd be the epitome of a monster.

"MR. JACKSON," she screeched.

My head snapped towards her. Due to my ADHD, I lost my train of thought and got stuck watching some birds outside. This class is just so boring.

"Are the birds outside more important than math?" she asked. Ms. Dodds walked towards my desk in a second. Her cold gaze fixed me into my seat.

"Sorry, I got distracted," I replied quickly.

I didn't want detention today. Gabe told me to be home early, and I couldn't flake on his requests. That would lead to a disaster. Please, please, Ms. Dodds.

Her stare narrowed on my face before she leaned forward. It felt like the whole class was holding their breaths. No one liked Ms. Dodds. As a result, the students are always quiet and serious in this class.

"DETENTION, Mr. Jackson," she exclaimed. "This will be a double detention, so you will stay two hours after school."

"But, I can't. It's Friday, and I have personal obligations," I expressed even though I knew that it was useless. Ms. Dodds was an unforgiving devil.

"Don't make me add another hour," she hissed.

With that, Ms. Dodds turned around and walked back to the front of the class. She kept muttering about how she hated these kids and how they'd end up on the streets. Yup, this was the type of teacher that Goode High has.

I bet that every school has a hated teacher similar to Ms. Dodds.

My attention turned to my arms. I hadn't received a beating in a few days, and my bruises fully healed, thank the gods. However, fear bubbled in my stomach. I couldn't shake the nerves from my chest at what Gabe would do.

I decided to skip detention later. What would the school do? They'd just give me another detention on a different day. That was better than experiencing Gabe's wrath.

Fortunately, after Algebra, I have lunch.

Lunch is the best part of my day because I get to hang out with my friends. Our lunch table was always bustling with activity due to its large size and interesting characters. When you put Leo, the Stolls, and Thalia together, all hell breaks loose.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, where did Grover and Juniper go?" Annabeth asked.

"Grover's family is visiting his grandparents. They're going on vacation over Christmas break, so Grover's family wanted to visit them beforehand. Juniper tagged along because she never met Grover's extended family," I replied while sitting next to her.

I also loved lunch because I get to see Wise Girl. We don't share any classes because she's a genius who takes all APs. Even if we were arguing or fighting, I appreciated our interactions. They felt exciting and satisfying.

"Where do they live?"

"Grover's grandparents live in Florida. They are very nice people, but they're old so they moved to the South where it's warmer."

"Do you still have grandparents?" Annabeth asked shockingly.

I wasn't expecting that question. However, that's been happening more recently. We be getting into more personal conversations, which emphasized that we were getting closer as friends.