BROKEN FLOAT

Thursday the 21st of September

Percy takes a pot of blue paint and stands beside me. I trail the paint brush across the cardboard and withhold the sigh desperately wanting to escape. Despite the fact we need more help, Percy does the opposite.

"Hi, Charlie."

"Hey, Percy."

Something cold splatters across my cheek and into my hair. I shoot him a glare and he innocently smiles despite holding the paint brush in the air.

"Oh, did I get you? I'm sorry."

"Samantha will skin you alive if you ruin this float."

"She doesn't scare me." He chuckles.

"You should be very afraid, especially if she's holding a clipboard and looking for volunteers."

Percy pokes my cheek with the paintbrush, and I just glare because I won't give into his childish antics. He turns to the float and grumbles.

"You're no fun, Charlie."

"Don't blame me, you're the one that suggested this idea. Jewels would have placed two chairs on the float since she can only be the centre of attention."

"But I would be sitting beside her, and I'd rather have some water to toss her into if she gets too close." He chuckles.

Samantha appears with shredded paper and sticks it on the wet paint.

"Do you have a dress for the Homecoming yet?"

"I bought this cute purple dress." Percy says in a high pitch voice, which makes Samantha roll her eyes.

"I was thinking about stay at home and eating pizza."

"We're going shopping after school, come with us."

"I have this gigantic float to paint."

"We're meeting out the front after school. I'll see you there." She smiles as she bounds away.

I look at Percy and frowns.

"Samantha has been like that her entire life." Percy laughs.

"Can you imagine her in a college interview?"

"She'd be running the school."

Something crunches and we spin around to find Jewels sprawled across the boat and the fountain broken.

"Someone didn't do this right otherwise it wouldn't have broken." Her eyes narrow on me and I roll my eyes.

"Are you serious? II had nothing to do with that part of the float."

"Someone needs to fix this. It's a disaster!"

Everyone is silent and I hate awkward silences. Guilt also consumes me because if it wasn't for me or Percy, we wouldn't be doing this complicated float.

"I'll fix it."

Percy frowns, but I shrug.

"It needs to be fixed this afternoon."

Perhaps this is a sign that I should stay at home?

Samantha wanders back and I bite my lip.

"Shop without me, I'll see what I have in my wardrobe."

"Whatever you do, don't turn up in jeans."

"I promise I won't."

"You shouldn't have to fix the float, you didn't break it."

"If it wasn't for me, the beach theme wouldn't be there."

"Actually, the beach idea was mine." Percy frowns.

"Are you volunteering to go back and fix it?"

"I would love to help you, but Noah has training scheduled and he will actually skin me alive if I miss it. He keeps reminding me about how it's tradition. His team won, our father won and even our grandfather won. It's a lot of pressure."

"I'm sorry they're pressuring you." I frown.

This explains his behaviour, and now I feel worse.

When the bell rings, Jewels gives me the key for the art room and Percy and I walk to woodwork. He wraps his arm around my neck and it slips to my waist.

"Are you really not coming to the Homecoming dance?"

"I know its lame, but I don't have a date."

"That doesn't matter."

"How many girls have asked you?" I laugh.

"Well." Percy awkwardly scratches the back of his neck.

"Percy and Charlie, its class time, get moving," Noah calls.

He sighs as I walk forward and his arm slips off my waist. I drop my things beside the word table and head to the storage room to collect my project. Noah follows me in with a gloomy frown.

"Why did Percy have his arm wrapped around your waist?"

"Would you like me to ask him?" I smile.

Noah crosses his arms and I roughly exhale.

"We're just friends."

He doesn't say anything, so I walk to the work bench and place the wood on the table.

The person I want to take me to Homecoming is Noah, and we can't, so what's the point?

* * * * *

I stare at the broken pieces and sigh. I have no idea how to fix this mess, but I hope a lot of glue will do the trick.

The door creaks and Percy steps inside with a charming smile.

"Shouldn't you be at practice?"

"I need a break."

"You don't need to help me, I also don't want to be the reason you get in trouble."

"I made the choice to come here."

"Percy."

He picks up the broken pieces and actually helps glue and paint so that it looks brand new. Once the water fountain is done, I sit inside the cardboard boat and Percy sits outside.

"Charlie?"

"Hm?"

"I was thinking about the Homecoming dance."

"Please tell me this isn't about helping there too? I already volunteered for this and the hallway, I can't do much more."

"I was actually going to-"

I step over the boat and my foot hits the cardboard and I fall forwards. Percy wraps his arms around my waist and the paint flies through the air and splashes on us.

"I'm sorry."

Percy's eyes glow with excitement.

He pours brown paint on my head and I shove him away. Percy falls back and crashes into the paint supplies. He opens a bottle of white paint and splashes me with it.

"What the hell?"

I scramble to find paint while Percy arms himself with bottles. Paint splashes across the desk as I chase him around the classroom.

I skid on the white paint and fall, which makes Percy laugh. I look up and he dumps glittery pink paint, so I throw orange paint and it splashes across his blue varsity jacket.

His smile widens, so I scramble to hide behind a desk. Percy follows with more paint.

He bails me against the wall with an evil smirk.

"You're trapped."

"So it seems."

I snatch the paint from his hand and pour it over his head. Yellow paint dribbles down his face and onto his shirt. I rub the paint into his hair and laugh.

He wipes the paint away from his face, then cups my cheek. He strokes my cheek, spreading cold paint across it.

Percy inches closer and I back up until I'm pressed against the wall. He grabs my other cheek and his lips hover dangerously close.

"Stop."

The door opens and Percy steps back and looks at the ground.

"Get to training, I'll deal with you later," Noah roars.

"Don't be hard on Charlie, I started the paint fight."

"Go."

Percy mouths 'I'm sorry' before grabbing his bag and leaving. Noah closes the door and takes a deep breath. He folds his arms and looks around the room.

"You said Percy wasn't a problem, I believed you."

"I didn't kiss him because the only person I want is you. I know you walked in at a bad moment, but I just told him to stop."

Noah roughly exhales and nods.

"Please believe me."

"I do."

He cups my chin and his warm breath fans across my lips.

"I want you Charlie and it's driving me crazy, and it's the reason why we can't do this. I'm your teacher and this is unethical. If you want to be with Percy, you should be with him."

"Noah." I frown.

"Clean this mess up and you won't have detention tomorrow."

I grab his hand but he pulls free and walks out of the classroom. I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath. Why does this hurt so much?