𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑻𝑾𝑶 ━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑵𝑬

𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐓𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 complain but she really had to right now, actually she would love to. She was currently stuck in the parking lot of Westover Hall which was way too punky for her if you'd ask her but what could she do, absolutely nothing. She cursed at how cold it was outside, the words of the father coming back to her mind.

   "You should have brought a jacket, Iris." said her father, rolling down the window as his daughter got out of the car. "It's gonna get colder."

   "Nah, I'll be fine." she replied waving him goodbye. "Love you, dad."

Now, here she was, freezing in her baby blue long sleeve cropped shirt and light blue washed parallel jeans. "I'm so fucking stupid, of course, you choose not to bring the freaking jacket. Gods, dad was right, its freezing!"

She sighed, looking around to see if her friends had arrived. Seeing as no one had arrived, the girl went back to her phone, going back to playing her little games. Only then, she heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. 

   "Oh, thank the gods." she sighed and jogged towards the now parked car. "It took you guys long enough; I'm freezing because of you."

Annabeth and Thalia were both getting out of the car, while Iris stopped in front of the two. Annabeth immediately going in for a hug, laughing at her best friend's state. "You should've brought a jacket, you dumbass."

   "I know, I know." replied Iris shrugging. "I figured that out a little too late."

Whilst this was happening, Thalia was thanking Percy's mom for dropping them. The latter kept asking if they would need or needed anything, she was worried of course. But, of course, Percy ended up yelling a bit to calm her down, she looked hurt, which meant Iris would give him a piece of her mind after she's gone.

   "Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."

She turned to Iris and smiled brightly. The two had become quite close quite quickly. "Iris! Hey! How are you?"

Iris went in to hug her and said, "I'm good, how about you, love?" The duo laughed. Until someone, came out of nowhere and spoke. 

   "Do I get a hug and a hello too or is that too much to ask?" said Percy, smirking at Iris, the fifteen-year-old boy couldn't help but silently love her annoyed face. 

   "Oh hey, Jackson, didn't see you there, not that I wanted to." said Iris sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. 

   "Always such a ray of sunshine, aren't you Iris?"

Sensing the duo's passive aggressiveness starting, Thalia decided to intervene and said, "Your mom is so cool, Percy."

   "She's pretty okay," he admitted. "What about you? You ever get in touch with your mom?"

   "If that was any of your business, Percy—" Thalia argued, she was sensitive about certain topics, this being one of them.

   "We'd better get inside," Annabeth interrupted. "Grover will be waiting."

Thalia looked at the castle and shivered, then looked back at the others. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."

   "Nothing good," Percy guessed, looking up as well. 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐀𝐊 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃, letting the four of them step into the entry hall in a swirl of snow. The place was huge, the walls were lined with battle flags and weapons on display, Iris could have sworn they were in a museum but seeing as it was a military school, this was no surprise. 

   "Whoa." said Percy.

   "Yeah. . ." whispered Iris as she turned to the boy with an equally as shocked face, but upon seeing that he had in fact seen her, she turned quickly towards Annabeth. But something felt off, she couldn't place her finger on it but it felt dangerous.

Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, as Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where—"

The doors slammed shut behind them. "O-kay," Percy mumbled. "Guess we'll stay awhile."

   "Great, just what I wanted," said Iris sarcastically while the boy through her a glare. 

Strangely there was music echoing from the other end of the hall, it sounded like dance music, or maybe some sort of party music. They stashed their overnight bags behind a pillar and started down the hall. 

Well, they hadn't gone very far when there were footsteps heard on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept the group, they looked old. They both walked stiffly and stopped in front of them.

   "Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

   "Um..." Percy started. "Ma'am, we're just—"

   "Ha!" the man snapped, which made everyone jump, and for Iris to look at him weirdly. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

But then Thalia stepped forward and snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Iris felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room. It washed over all of them making the banners rustle on the walls.

   "Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember, I'm Thalia. And this is Iris, Annabeth and Percy. We're in the ninth grade." 

The male teacher narrowed his two-coloured eyes, the man seemed to be hesitating.

He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "Iris. Annabeth. Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

Before anyone could answer, some other footsteps were heard, and Grover ran up, breathless, looking at the group. "You made it! You—" He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"

   "What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man. His tone made it clear that he did not like Grover at all. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."

Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I, I just meant, I'm so glad they made. . . the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"

Dr. Thorn glared at them, he looked even more disgusted when looking at the group, but then Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are notto leave the gymnasium again!"

They all left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the thing to do. Grover hustled them down the hall in the direction of the music.

Percy asked in a low voice, "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"

   "You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?" said Thalia as if it were the most obvious thing. 

Percy sighed and got silent, whilst they arrived at the gym. "That was so fucking close." Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"

Annabeth, Iris and Thalia all hugged Grover, who smiled at the three and gave Percy a high five. It had been months since they last saw him, he'd gotten a little taller but otherwise he looked like he always did when he passed for a human.

   "So, what's the big emergency?" Percy asked.

Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."

   "Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. 

   "Here?" asked Iris, to which Grover nodded. "In this school?"

   "A brother and a sister," he said. "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parent age, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."

   "Siblings? Wow that's rare." said Iris, Annabeth nodded.

   "Monsters?" asked Percy.

   "One." said Grover who looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what the fuck to do!"

Grover looked at Thalia desperately, to which Percy looked away though he was caught by Iris, it was true that Thalia had more experience than any of them with fending off monsters in the real world. So, she understood why Grover would be asking her.

   "Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?" 

Grover nodded. "Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"

   "Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."

   "Amazing, just what we needed!" whispered yelled Iris. 

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 that the kids went crazy for the party, well it was no joke that they did go to a military school, so she understood. But this was beyond what she had been expecting. There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each other's faces, or trying to strangle each other with the paper streamers taped to the walls. 

Some girls moved around in huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly coloured pants and heels. There were some bad outfits though, and Iris would judge them based on them. 

   "There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angela"

The girl wore a floppy green cap, while the boy who was obviously her little brother, they both had dark silky hair and olive skin. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something.

   "They don't really look like they know?" asked Iris, as she turned to Annie.

Annabeth in turn asked Grover, "Do they. . . I mean, have you told them?"

Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger so that wouldn't really be helpful."

   "So, let's grab them and get out the heck of here," Percy said. "I don't like this stupid place."

   "No one does, I don't think the kids here even like the place." said Iris. 

Percy started walking forward, but Thalia put her hand on his shoulder, the vice principal, Dr. Thorn, was near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. 

   "Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."

   "How the fuck do we do that?" asked Percy rudely, to which he received a jab from Iris's elbow. "Ow, what in the―."

   "We're four powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids." said Thalia.

   "Dancing?" Annabeth asked. Thalia nodded, she then cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt. "I did."

Iris slowly brought her hand up and placed it on his shoulder in a joking manner, "There, there."

   "Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?" said Thalia.

   "Whose Green Day?" asked Grover. 

   "Never mind. Let's dance." said Thalia.

   "But I can't freaking dance!" said Grover. 

   "You can if I'm leading," Thalia said. "Come on, goat boy."

Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor. Annabeth and Iris smiled, Annabeth then turned to her and gestured that she was going to get some drinks. Iris nodded. 

   "So. . ." Percy tried to think of something to say. "Um, done anything lately?"

Iris turned to him and frowned, he looked at her and nodded his head, wanting her answer. "Oh, my gods, Jackson."

   "What? I'm just asking. Chill." said Percy, rolling his eyes at her.

   "I went snorkelling in Miami." said Iris, sighing. 

   "Really?" said Percy, surprised that she answered him. "Wow, never saw you as an ocean type of girl after last year." 

   "Trust me, I wouldn't be, but I've always loved the ocean." answered Iris, she looked over in front, not turning to look at the boy. 

Percy chuckled, leaning in a bit closer. "Maybe next time I'll catch you surfing in Hawaii or scuba diving in the Maldives."

Iris scoffed, shaking her head. "Dream on, Percy. You might as well imagine me bungee jumping off the Eiffel Tower while you're at it."

   "Hey, you never know," Percy teased, nudging her gently. Iris turned and glared at him. 

   "Hey!" Thalia called to them. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins. Annabeth was talking to a brunette girl near the drink stand. 

   "Dance, you, guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."

Percy looked at Iris, "Well?" Percy said.

   "Um, who should I ask?" asked Iris, looking around the gym. She spotted a tall blonde guy near the stage and pointed at him, while walking away from Percy. "Ill ask him."

Percy sighed and murmured, "Me, you should've asked me."

 "𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘'𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄" 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇. She had come running towards everyone and yelled out to Iris who had been dancing. Iris turned and scanned the area, Percy joined them, when he heard the yelling. "What?" asked Iris and Percy at the same time.The two half-blood kids, Bianca and Nico, were no longer there. 

The door next to the bleachers was wide open and Dr. Thorn was nowhere in sight.

   "We have to get Thalia and Grover!" Annabeth looked around frantically. "Oh, where the fuck did, they dance off to? Come on!"

   "I'll go this way." said Iris not waiting for the boy to answer her. 

She ran through the crowd while Iris turned and looked around for the others. Though Annabeth had disappeared while the Percy and Iris had gone on their own to find the others, Percy turned a full circle, looking for Iris or Annabeth, Thalia and Grover. 

Instead, he saw, lying on the gym floor, was a floppy green cap just like the one Bianca di Angelo had been wearing and near it were a few scattered trading cards. Then he caught a glimpse of Dr. Thorn as he hurried out a door at the opposite end of the gym, steering the di Angelo kids by the scruffs of their necks.

He knew Iris and Annabeth had gone to find the others, and so Percy ran after them. The Di Angelos were in danger. They might be long gone by the time he found his friends. Percy knew monsters, he could handle this himself, well that's what he thought he could do, so he took Riptide out of his pocket and ran after Dr. Thorn.

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the 1st chapter for act 2 of LOVE STORY everyone, lysm ❫
❪ . . . This is about 2.7k words ❫
❪ . . . PLEASE tell me how you guys feel about it ??❫
❪ . . .PLEASE don't be a ghost reader, comment and vote, I love to reply to everyone and interact with my readers, love all of you darlings <33 ❫