Chapter 6: I Swear We're Not Dating

So me and paige connected our genius brains to brainstorm this entire chapter in like two minutes so i bet i can write it in one night. Actually no, probably gonna get distracted heaps so we'll make that two nights. Don't get your titties in a twist I will update No Choice I just need to find time to sit down and work on it, I'm in a bundle with games and netflix and sleeping and school. Like honestly I have an hour in the morning then I'm at school all day then most days I have sports or practices and then I come home and sleep for a couple hours and then I stay up till 5AM either with the girls watching Netflix or playing games.

Chapter 6: I Swear We're Not Dating

"Artemis!" Percy yelled, jolting her out of her sleep. The girl sat up at lightning speed like her house was getting bombed or something. She looked to her right expecting to have to kick the shit out of Apollo for pranking her but instead the girl's face turned bright red as she saw Percy standing there.

He was shirtless with a red towel around his waist and a blue toothbrush hanging out of his mouth like a cigar. "Wakey wakey sleepyhead. You too." He said, muffled by the toothpaste as he nudged Apollo with his foot. The boy had been sleeping in a bundle of blankets on the ground next to her bed.

My bed?

Artemis looked down and realised that indeed this was not her bed. "Wha-huh? Where am we?" She asked in broken English as she looked around dazed and confused. Percy walked over and shrugged, still scrubbing his teeth vehemently.

Apollo, not even really realising he wasn't at his own home, got up and left for the kitchen without more than a weird noise of acknowledgement. As Artemis swung her legs over the bed to the floor she rubbed her face tiredly. "How'd I get here?" She asked, not really remembering the previous night.

Percy left to go spit out his toothpaste in the bathroom before walking back in, still wearing nothing but a towel. Now that Artemis was up he flopped down on the bed behind her and got under the blankets. "Ahhh, I missed this bed." He said in relaxation. Artemis turned as things started to come back to her. "Was that sky real or a dream?" She asked unsure.

Percy shook his head. "Real as the piss that stained this very bed here when I was a kid." He cracked, making Artemis cringe and look back at him with her eyes narrowed in slight disgust. "Gross." She complimented, to which Percy offered only a charming smile in response.

He continued with the story. "Well anyway after we talked you sorta just... fell asleep looking at the stars so I brought you inside so you wouldn't get cold." He told her, getting a bit flustered halfway through. Artemis was turned looking at him as she smiled slightly. "Wow... that was... nice of you..." She thanked, slightly embarrassed that a boy had carried her to bed and tucked her in like she was a child. Percy nodded absentmindedly. "Don't mention it." He told her, waving it off.

Artemis dug her phone out of her pocket and was dismayed to find it was at about 20% battery- it had been left playing music all the way to the end of the playlist, so about seven hours. She was also confused to see many many texts from her father, mother and sister, the ones from the first two being cries for a response and asking where the two of them were while the latter said simply you two are screwed. Artemis mentally cursed as she realised neither her nor Apollo had contacted their parents the night before to tell them where they were.

She opened the text from her dad to respond but was quickly cut off by her phone vibrating violently and her face appearing on screen with the little notification saying that Zoe was facetiming her. Artemis accepted without a thought and smiled at her best friend. "Hey Zoe!" She greeted, glad to have her mind taken off how much trouble she'd be in when she got home.

The girl made to say hi back but stopped in her tracks when she saw Artemis' camera. "Who's that?" She asked, and Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Who?" She asked, before immediately realising what she was talking about. She whirled around, noticing Percy was still laying face up with his eyes closed.

"Oh, that's no one! Just out neighbor!" She assured, and Zoe just had to clarify. "The one you said was really hot? I can see why, he's got a damn nice body and not a bad face. Are you two dating?!" She asked in excitement. Artemis had never so much as held a guy's hand before, let alone had a boyfriend.

Artemis shook her head violently. "No! He's just a friend!" She tried to convince her friend. She was surprised when two large arms wrapped around her stomach from behind and she felt a weight on her shoulder. "What are you talking about, Arty? Of course we're dating!" Percy said slyly, making Artemis' head snap to him.

She tried to deny it. "What?! No, we're not! Zoe, I swear we're not dating!" She pressed, but Zoe was smiling now. "Suuuure, Artemis. You're not dating, you just sleep with him in his bed while he's shirtless and let him hug you and call you, hehe, Arty." She cracked up in the middle of her sentence, and Artemis glared at the cheeky Percy from the corner of her eye.

Percy looked at Zoe and grinned. "Hey, I'm Percy by the way. Artemis' boyfriend of one whole day." He greeted, still restraining Artemis as he chatted. Zoe waved. "Hey! I'm Zoe, Artemis' best friend. Only one day? She was talking a lot about you the day before. She said you had horses and a nice body? I can see why she thinks that." She noted, thinking back on how Percy looked laying in bed with the covers only up to his waist.

Percy smirked and gave the heavily-flustered Artemis a side-glance. "Did she now? Well that's nice to know." He said cheekily. Zoe was so curious about this new revelation, she wished she wasn't in class right then so that she could talk to them for a few hours. It was gonna be very annoying being two hours ahead of them.

"So have you two kissed yet? Or even, y'know, dunnit? I wouldn't be surprised considering you guys are in the same bed and one of you's naked." She asked, and Percy shook his head. "Oh yeah we kiss all the time, can't get off each other, but we haven't done it yet. And I'm not naked, I have a towel on!" He clarified, and the defeated Artemis' eyes widened as she realised that not only was he hugging her, but he was practically naked too. At that moment she became hyper-aware of the feeling of him, his toned body pressing up against her back, his big strong arms around her stomach, the side of his defined jawline interlocked with her neck. Gods, I sound like a fanfiction writer, she thought to herself.

Zoe's eyebrows were raised. "Wow, little miss prudence suddenly has a pretty steamy relationship. You know she's never even kissed a guy?" She ratted, making Percy look at her in slight shock. "Really? Didn't seem like it last night." He told her, making Artemis' face turn to fire.

Suddenly there was some calling from the hallway and they quickly recognized it as Sally. "Artemis, Apollo! Someone at the door for you!" She yelled, and Percy finally let go of Artemis. "Shit, okay, I gotta go Zoe. I'll call you again after school." She told her friend and hung up, but not before she heard her best friend quickly say "Remember to use protection!"

When she finally hung up Artemis turned to Percy and crossed her arms. "What the hell was that?!" She asked in outrage, and Percy just shrugged. "A friendly prank? Now what's all that about you never kissing someone?" He asked in genuine intrigue as she got up to go answer the door, making the girl groan in frustration.

When Artemis got to the door her twin and Poseidon were already there talking to someone, and as she looked out she saw a gloomy and depressing looking man wearing a khaki shirt with some patches on it and a belt with a visible revolver in its holster on his hip. He had shoulder length slicked back dark hair and a pair of aviator sunglasses on despite it being Fall and his black goatee twitched as he saw the girl appear.

"What's happening?" She asked, and Poseidon explained for her. "You guys forgot to call you parents it seems. Your dad called me earlier but I guess they must have called the sheriff here earlier. Oh, this is Sheriff Hades, by the way." He introduced. Hades looked at the twins in a mixture of boredom and annoyance. "Tell your mother to check the obvious spots before she tries to set the whole town on a Manhunt. She called three times before I bothered to pick up. Your father seems like he had the right idea at least. See ya round, Jackson." He sighed and left, bidding Poseidon goodbye as he went.

Poseidon wasn't mad of course. "You might wanna remember next time, huh?" He advised, and both Apollo and Artemis guiltily nodded. "Sorry." She apologized for the both of them. The Jackson patriarch waved it off and looked at the clock. "Y'all have school in half an hour so if you need some new clothes I'd suggest going home now." He said.

Apollo looked at his sister and shrugged. "I've got deodorant, I'm good." He said, and Artemis took the time to smell herself. "Ugh, I'm gonna go get changed." She said, grabbing her bag and heading out the door. Apollo stayed behind, intent on hitching a ride with the Jacksons.

Knowing she really only had time to get changed since school started soon, Artemis hopped the fence and power walked across the field. The Jacksons' side of the pastures that separated the two houses was full of cows, all spread out, so Artemis did her best to avoid the bovines.

Many cows and calves looked up as she moved past, some even getting up to jog further away from her. She felt slightly bad for disturbing them from their spots but at least she wasn't being chased by a bull or anything, not that there were any bulls there.

As she took another step, she heard a bone-chilling noise that forced her soul out of her body. Squelch.

Artemis looked down and lifted up her foot, spotting a massive pile of squashed fecal matter staring back up at her right before a pungent odor came over her. The girl's nose had an aneurysm as she twisted her leg to get a good look at her foot, and as she suspected, the bottom of her sneaker had a distinctive brown mark on it.

She sighed and put her foot back down, on a clean spot this time, and kept walking back to her house. "Great." She muttered to herself as she continued to wade through the meadow.

She reached her front doorstep and took off her shoes, proceeding to enter her new house. At the sound of the sliding glass door opening her mother rushed into the room and towards her. "Artemis! There you are! We were worried sick about you, why didn't you come home?!" She yelled, checking her over for signs of kidnap or injury.

Artemis, in annoyance, pushed her hands off. "I'm good, mom. We got tired and stayed at the neighbors'. Apollo's still there." She informed her mother, just as her father walked in. "We know. I already called, but not before someone called the police and put us on bad grounds with the sheriff as complete timewasters." He narrowed his eyes at his wife, who looked offended.

"Well, I'm sorry for actually worrying about our children!" She scoffed, and Zeus brushed her off. "Well anyway, c'mon. We'd better go. Have fun at school, Artemis." He said quickly, walking out the door with Hera in tow.

Artemis went up to her room to get changed. She threw on some deodorant in place of a shower and checked her schedule. Gym second period, perfect. The deodorant would have worn off by second period anyway so she could blame it on the physical exercise and then use the showers afterwards.

Artemis, knowing it was fine outside, wore a black tank top and some grey cargo pants with a dark green hoodie to keep herself warm. From her dresser she grabbed a roll of Hubba Bubba tape and popped it open, taking a bite out of it as she walked out of her room down the stairs. Yes, she ate Hubba Bubba gum like a bar, fuck you that's why all you OCD pricks.

As she hit the bottom stairs she checked the time and saw there was ten minutes till school started so she whipped out her phone and, after trying to turn it on for twenty seconds, realised it was flat. She cursed and grabbed her bag, running out the front door.

As she looked across the field, she sighed in relief as she saw the girls and Apollo were still there, only for the three to get in some sort of golf cart and speed down the driveway. She waited patiently for the sound of them rolling down her driveway for about a minute, but when it never came the girl groaned. "Fuck it. Fuck this!" She yelled, in a bad mood from her mom, her phone, and now being left behind. She couldn't even text them to say they left her behind. So she just went back into the house and turned on the tv, laying on the couch with the sliding door open and her shoes kicked up on the armrest- not the shit stained ones of course, as she continued to munch on her Hubba Bubba.

She flicked the channel to Family Guy and watched for a couple minutes, laughing sometimes at some good jokes but unfortunately most of them fell flat. She would get to school eventually, but she wanted to wait ten minutes before beginning the almost an hour trek. No doubt she'd miss almost the entirety of first period but it was classics- a subject that she, Percy and Aphrodite only chose as a throwaway subject because nothing else looked good.

She got up and walked to the fridge, intent on finding something to fuel herself in place of breakfast before she began her walk. She fished around inside for a bit. Her parents had done groceries the day before while she was at school, so there was plenty of fresh food in there for her but her teenage brain sought out the already-opened pack of Red Bull and snatched a can. She threw the fridge door shut and opened the can, downing a third of it in one swig.

Then Artemis heard some rumbling in the distance before the clear sound of a diesel engine could be heard loudly outside. She heard a light beeping like a small car was outside honking at her, which didn't match the sound of a diesel engine. Confused, considering that didn't match her parents' car, she went to check it out.

She was shocked to find a familiar teen standing outside next to a cobalt ATV, which was running. Percy smiled and waved at her as she came out the sliding glass door. "I'm here to pick you up, ma'am." He grinned, making the girl narrow her eyes. "This isn't some prank to make it seem like we're dating again, right? I don't want to show up to school and for you to tell everyone how much we kiss." She queried.

Percy laughed and shook his head. "No, no. My pickup broke down, I guess it croaked overnight. I'll have a look at it tomorrow. The girls took your brother on the side-by-side. I got the four-wheeler and you." He said, pointing at her enthusiastically. "Now c'mon. Wouldn't wanna be late." He said.

Artemis brushed him off. "I don't care about being late, do you?" She asked, and he shook his head. "No." He offered, and Artemis nodded. "Good, wait there. I'm gonna go have breakfast." She said, rudely turning to go eat cereal.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Hell no, I'm not waiting fifteen minutes for you to eat some cocoa puffs. C'mon, we'll go to the diner. They got some killer shakes." He suggested, and Artemis sighed. "Only if you pay for it."

Percy agreed and hopped on, beckoning her over. Having never ridden an ATV before, Artemis was extremely hesitant, but sat on the back anyway. She looked around for a seatbelt or something, anything just to make herself feel safer, but there was none. She didn't even have a helmet! Suddenly Percy took off and she nearly went flying, but the girl managed to save herself by wrapping her arms tightly around Percy's chest and yelping slightly.

She felt her face burn bright red as she was unable to let go, paralyzed by the fear of going flying off the back. It was like being in the back of Percy's pickup only if he was speeding and there were no walls around the tray.

They drove for a few minutes, coming within the town borders and passing all the buildings on main street. Halfway down main street, a few buildings down from the turnoff to the street that the schools were on, Percy swiftly turned left into a parking spot on the side of the road, in front of some place that looked like was built in 1954.

It had a sign at the top with busted LEDs saying Hestia's Diner, a charming place. The two of them hopped off and Percy made sure to bring the keys. They walked into the restaurant and Percy quickly ushered her to a booth before the breakfast traffic would come and steal it. Immediately a blonde woman in her forties or fifties came over with a notepad. "The usual, PJ?" She asked, and he nodded. The waitress then looked at her expectantly, but since Artemis had no idea of the menu Percy ordered for her. "She'll have the same."

Artemis could breathe a sigh of relief as the constant vibrating from being on the four-wheeler was dying down and it finally felt like she wasn't going to fall over. They waited in silence for a few minutes before their strawberry milkshakes were delivered to them. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Whipped cream?" She asked in disbelief. Who the hell still had whipped cream on their shakes? Percy shrugged, wanting to change the topic.

"You should get some quads. They're fun as hell." He recommended, but Artemis was unsure. "I think I'll need more practice before I can even sit on 'em for more than ten minutes. You drive like a fucking maniac." She glared, and Percy laughed.

"It's all good. I've been riding 'em since I was four and I've only broken three bones. Well, sixteen if you count every rib instead of counting them all as one." He grinned cheekily, not doing anything to cool Artemis' nerves about quad bikes. She stared at him with a deadpan expression as he sipped his drink.

Percy leaned over and snatched the menus from the table to their left, handing one off to his friend. Artemis skimmed over it, and most of it looked great. There was stuff for every meal, whether it be a good ol' cheeseburger for lunch or a roast dinner, there was nachos and chicken nuggets and pumpkin pie too. "I usually just get a burger. What do you want?" He asked, and Artemis shrugged. "Are the nuggets any good?" She asked.

Percy scoffed. "What kind of a question is that? Chiccy nuggies are always perfect. Well, to be honest I'd rather an apple pie over nuggets any day at McDonalds. Depends how much I guess. I'd rather a 10 pack of nuggets but three apple pies then yes please. But you can always get one of those 50 pack things which are great for Friday nights after sports." He ranted, amusing Artemis slightly.

They placed their orders and chatted a bit more. When their food came they continued to chat, only this time there was a lot more of Artemis jokingly telling Percy to use his table manners and him blushing and swallowing his food. After they finished and Artemis was impressed which the quality of the food, the two of them left and chose to walk around the corner to school instead of drive the four-wheeler all the way around.

Needless to say they were late to Classics. When Artemis walked in the door twenty minutes past the bell their teacher, a small Indian man who looked alot like Gandhi with hair and clothes, had half a mind to detent her on her second day at school. When Percy walked in the room it was a whole different story.

You see, schools are insanely corrupt. You can stab a kid or bring a gun to school or even do something as outrageous at show up twenty minutes late but if you're the quarterback or halfback or just any star player on the football team at the very beginning of the football season, any patriotic teacher isn't going to burden your training time with silly little endeavors like detentions or suspensions. That applies to your friends too.

That, kids, is why it is the best strategy in both prison and high school to become best friends, and maybe even lovers, with the big and strong and popular guy there, not that the two were lovers yet or even that Percy was the biggest, strongest and most popular guy at school, but we're heading into semantics here.

Okay fine, Paige. I did the diner scene but it was a bit rushed. I'm having burgers for dinner and that whole part made me very hungry so enjoy this while I eat my bjorgers and watch the Gandji movie in peace. Also I like how I'm pretty much writing this story for like two people at this point. DW DW No choice will be updated next. Also fun fact I might have given my girlfriend permanent brain trauma from that time I whacked her in the head with a hammer a month ago because two nights ago she kept throwing up and was really sensitive to light and all around had symptoms of a concussion despite being careful with her head recently considering she had it bandaged for like three weeks like a fuckin sweatband. So yeah, sorry Kiara. I guess I gave you brain damage. My sister hit me three times when she found out.

Word Count: 3882