We were waiting on the bleachers for Coach Hedge. After last night's dinner with Will, I felt oddly at peace. Will was one of the definite faces I had towards Percy's staggering magic number. Being able to feel comfortable around him made me feel like I achieved something. Said blonde was lounging on a bench, eyes closed, face happily tilted toward the sun to soak up its warmth. The cheerleaders were finishing up their practice, a few of them standing on the sidelines. Trejean was chatting up one of the said cheerleaders. The Asian girl flipped her hair over her shoulder as Trejean leaned over the railings.
"Do you think she knows he's already engaged?" Will asked, cracking an eye open to stare at Percy's replacement.
"Some days I wonder if even he knows," I answered, making Will chuckle.
Trejean Watts was a decent football player at least, not that decent of a person, though. He was the only child of a very wealthy man. His father's allowing him to do things like pierce his ears and growing out his hair at college, and only college. The day he graduates, he is expected to slip into the role of heir and take over his father's business, a bride of his father's choosing at his side. That's why he was technically engaged, even if he's never met the girl before.
I could see why the girls loved the attractive blonde, complete with a dimple on the chin. He was a serial flirt, although I've never seen him actually take anything further than flirting. He at least respected his unknown fiance enough not to physically cheat on her. I didn't know what to make of the guy. Some days he seemed cool. Trejean was in Leo's engineering course with him, and he gets really excited when he's talking about motorbikes. Other days he just seemed disconnected from the world, like he thought everything was beneath him.
Nobody could live up to Percy, though, no matter how hard Coach tried. Percy just had a different air about him when he played. The moment the ball slipped into his hands, the entire team felt a shift. We felt lighter on our feet, felt a sense of hope fill our chest. I've tried my best, as the quarterback, to somehow get that sense of hope and confidence back. I've wanted to be more positive and motivating, but some days it comes off as forced. It's so cliche, but you really don't realise what you've got until it's gone.
The empty void left by Percy was felt by the entire team. I was, at least, having more luck with the team actually listening to me than Luke was. Ever since he injured Percy, Luke was public enemy number one. I've been playing more full games because of how the team revolts whenever he's playing.
"Is that...?" Connor asked, jabbing Travis in the side and pointing to the entrance of the field. Travis lazily rolled his head to look to where his brother was pointing before his face lit up, and he was on his feet.
"Aquaman!" the two screamed as the bolted towards my boyfriend, crushing him in a hug from both sides. Trejean stopped his conversation. He stared at Percy, jaw clenched, and eyes flashing dangerously. Instinctively I stepped in between the two.
"Hey, pull any good pranks while I was gone?" Percy asked beaming.
"Nah, our main target disappeared somewhere," Travis said, looking around.
"Oh, there he is!" Connor grinned as he gave Percy another hug. Percy laughed and then held out his hand.
"Wallet," he said, raising an eyebrow. Both Travis and Connor muttered curses as they handed him back his wallet.
"Have you come to save us?" I heard Connor ask and cringed. Sure, we weren't playing as well as we did and semi-finals were gonna be fucking tight, but we could still get to the finals.
"No," Percy rolled his eyes when both twins pouted at him. "I just wanted to talk to Jason real quick."
"We don't need you anymore, Jackson!" Trejean called, and Percy raised an amused eyebrow at him.
"Oh, calm your tits, Trustfund," Will snapped. "He's just here to talk to his boyfriend." I chuckled as I made my way down the steps to Percy.
The team knew we were dating, especially since the Stolls made a very loud announcement in the locker room yesterday. Leo had gotten his money from the betting pool without a beating. He had to buy the booze for the New Years party, though, so he probably wasn't going to see a cent of his winnings.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I could have just told you tonight, but I had to come down to catch Piper anyway," he explained with a shrug, and I smiled at him.
"I'm always happy to see you, Perce." He smiled as he continued to bounce nervously from one foot to the other. "Is something wrong?" I asked cautiously.
"Your father's assistant called me." He slipped his hands into his pockets and bit his lip. I had to put a pin in how cute that was.
"Ganymede called you?" My mind was already supplying me with various scenarios as to why my father would be reaching out to Percy.
"Yeah, he needed some information to buy me a plane ticket." Oh, gods. My father wanted to ship Percy off to a war infested country.
"A plane ticket?" I asked, trying not to panic.
"Yeah. Your father is flying me to Florida for your semi-finals." He was smiling, but it looked slightly panicked.
"That's...nice of him." I was suspicious.
"Very nice of him," Percy agreed stiffly.
"So you're gonna watch the semi-finals?"
"We are," Percy nodded, and I froze.
"We?"
"Yeah. You're father is insisting I watch the game with him." All at once, I understood Percy's panic.
"Why?" I squeaked.
"Well, apparently the LGBT community didn't find the press conference on his new standings truly convincing. Now he needs the media to see him not only supporting, but embracing his son's LGBT relationship," Percy parroted Ganymede's speech. I could tell by the tone.
"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," I sighed. "I'll call my dad and cancel. I can't believe he's trying to drag you into all this shit."
"No, Jay, I'll do it." I frowned at him. "Family's important, and that includes your dad. Besides, I'd get to watch you play." Percy took my hand in his. "You don't have to deal with this alone, anymore."
"But it's stressing you out."
"Jason, I'm gonna be meeting your father alone." His smile looked pained. "Of course I'm fucking stressed out about it. But I'm gonna man up and do it because I don't want to stress you out even more. I just wanted to tell you what was going on."
"I love you so fucking much." Percy's smile instantly morphed from pained to sincere.
"I love you too," he said, and I couldn't stop myself from tugging on his arm. I pulled him closer and kissed him. I heard a couple of wolf whistles from behind us, but I didn't care.
"Wow," he said as I pulled away. "Anyway. I should catch Piper before she leaves," he pointed towards the cheerleaders who were making their way off the field.
"Sure, see you tonight?" Percy smirked at me as he started walking away.
"Yeah, and we'll see who's the last one standing," he winked before he turned away and jogged towards a beautiful, Native American girl with braids and feathers in her hair. I turned back to the bleachers only to be met with several knowing smirks. I smirked right back at them. How could I not? I was dating Percy motherfucking Jackson. Nothing could touch me because I had him in my corner, and he had me in his. The mere thought was made me smile wider.
Looking up at the team, I couldn't help but notice a change in them too. Apart from Trejean scowling and Luke skulking in the corner, most of the guys were smiling again.
"Alright, cupcakes!" Coach boomed as he walked onto the field. "Semi-finals are around the corner, which means I need to finalise the team for the game. To help me decide, we're doing fitness tests today." Most of the guys groaned as we walked onto the field. I was still smiling, though. I even had a little spring in my step.
"Yeah, I'd be smiling too if I had Percy sucking me off every night," Luke sneered as he lined up next to me and my smile faltered. I had hoped he would keep to himself like he usually did these days. Luke did it quietly enough so that no one else would hear him, though. He couldn't risk the team hating him even more. He gave me a sombre look.
"He's going to get bored of you too, you know," he said, sadness flashing in his eyes. "And then he'll leave you to drown in nothing but the memory of his eyes."
"We're different, Luke," I said, and he huffed a laugh.
"You honestly think you're the only poor bastard that's fallen in love with Percy Jackson?"
"No," I answered truthfully. "I know I'm not the only one in love with him. I am the only he loves back, though. And I'll do everything in my power to keep it that way." He opened his mouth to say something, but Hedge cut him off.
"Right," Coach called as he and his assistant set out markers and timing gates. "You'll start with a 40-yard dash. You'll have three attempts, and we'll be using your best attempt. Let's get our quarterbacks out first. Luke, you're up."
Luke stepped up to the marker, stretching out his muscles as he went. The start sounded, and he was off like a bullet from a gun.
"Four point six," Coach called. Luke didn't seem happy with that as he made his way back to the start. He bent down and shot off a second time as the gates beeped.
"Four point four two," Coach called happily. "Not bad, Castellan." Luke walked back to the start, a fiery determination in his eyes. He set off for his third and final time.
"Four point three four," Coach called before he turned towards the Stolls. "You two better beat that. I can't have my quarterback outrun my wide receivers." He then turned back to me. "Grace, you're up." Luke bumped my shoulder as I stepped forward.
"Let's see if you can beat me," he sneered in a challenge, and I knew he wasn't just referring to the speed test. I readied myself as I waited for the beep. Never in my life had I wanted to shut someone up as much as I did at that moment. The beep sounded, and I was off. I made it over the finish mark soon after, and yet not quite fast enough.
"Four point five nine," I heard Hedge's voice over the roaring of blood in my ears. Luke smirked at me as I walked back to the start. The beep sounded again and moved a little easier this time, my muscles warming up.
"Four point four five," Hedge called, and I clenched my jaw. Luke was looking absolutely too smug as I made my way back. I took a deep breath, mentally willing my body lighter, my limbs stronger. The final beep sounded, and I took off. Everything faded to nothing as I flew over the finish mark.
"Four point three one," Coach roared, and I locked gazes with Luke who was fuming. "That's exactly the start we needed from our first-string quarterback, Solace you're up." Leo trotted up to hand me a bottle of water as I walked to the sidelines, passing Luke.
"I will always beat you," I said before brushing past.