Chapter Text
"Nico? You okay dude?"
"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm good." Nico di Angelo was shaken out of yet another daydream by Percy's question.
"Where'd you go this time?" asked the taller boy, laughing.
"Not school. That's where, Jackson." He replied, lightly punching his friend on the shoulder.
"Oh shit, Nico's beating Percy! Someone call the popo!" yelled Jason Grace, sitting down across from the two at the picnic table.
"Jason, leave them alone, you doof." laughed his girlfriend Piper, ruffling the blonde's hair and sitting down.
"Where's everyone else? Are they ditching us?" Percy asked, not looking up from his phone.
"No, Frank and Hazel are picking up the food, Annabeth and Reyna are on their way from class, and Leo and Calypso are skipping today." Piper replied, snatching Percy's phone.
"Hey! Give that back! And you forgot to mention where Luke and Thalia are, Pipes." Percy yelled, turning into laughs.
"We're right here, Seaweed Brain." Thalia Grace, Jason's sister, chimed in, pushing Percy's head. She and her boyfriend, Luke Castellan, sat at the adjacent table, as the current table was almost full.
This group had been together for years, at least the core members. That consisted of Percy, Nico, Luke, Jason, Thalia, and Annabeth. Next to the group was Leo Valdez, a younger kid Jason had taken under his wing, who was followed by Hazel Levesque, a sheltered girl from New Orleans who fit in easily with everyone. Soon after came Frank Zhang, the Chinese-Canadian-American, Calypso Atlas, the flower child, Piper McLean, the beauty queen with a brain and Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, the quick-tempered fighter. Despite seeming to be the most mismatched group, these teenagers completed the group, giving everyone a perfect counterpart and a best friend.
"Jason, heads!" The blond barely had time to look up before a Saran-wrapped sandwich hit him right in the face.
"Really, Frank? Why do you always throw it to me?"
"Sorry. Okay, not really. It's pretty funny." He distributed the rest of the food, laughing at Jason's failure. Hazel followed him with drinks.
"Remind me again how you can drive, Frank?" Luke asked, his mouth full.
"We get our licences earlier in Canada and I guess is transferred when I moved." The dark haired teen replied,tearing open the plastic on his food and practically inhaling it.
"Slow down, Frank! You look like you're going to choke!" shouted Annabeth Chase, walking over with Reyna. The two hadn't confirmed they were dating, but everyone knew.
"I'll be fine, Wise Girl."
"Luke I swear to God if you eat my sandwich again I'll skin you alive and feed you to my dogs." Reyna warned, snatching the food from his hands.
"Do it, you won't." He challenged her. In response, she backhand slapped him, loud enough for the whole courtyard to hear and sure to leave a mark.
"I hate to say this, but you were kind of asking for it." Thalia said in between laughs.
"So, before anyone else makes Rey angry, can we hang out this weekend?" Percy asked, using this opportunity to both avoid any deaths and make plans.
"My parents are gone for the week, so we can all hang out at my house." Jason offered. His mom was a surgeon, and his dad was a software designer, so needless to say his house was a decent size for the entire group to stay in.
"Yeah, that works." "I can vibe with that." "Lit." Everyone murmured their agreement and headed to their class as the bell rang.
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"Well. It seems like this weekend will be quite an interesting one, that's for sure." A woman's melodic voice said softly. Before anyone could see her behind the tree, she vanished.
"Did one of you say something?" Percy asked his friends. They all shook their heads no, and he just shrugged, assuming he'd just head something else.