The bus hit a bump in the road, not helping the awkward tension in the air. We were travelling on a bus to Maine. In particular, a resort town called Bar Harbor. We had received a message from Grover saying that he had found two half-bloods living in a nearby boarding school.

What made it awkward was that there was a newcomer on our team. Well, not a newcomer, but a newcomer for me . You see, six years ago, Thalia was nearly killed trying to get to Camp Half-Blood. (Camp dedicated to raising demigods, long story.) Her father, Zeus, had turned her into a tree to preserve her. Then, earlier this year, Thalia was poisoned, leading me and Annabeth (Grover was in the middle of getting married, again, long story) to sail to the Sea of Monsters in search of The Golden Fleece. We healed Thalia, but it ended up working better than we thought it would, causing her physical body to be restored.

Now, Annabeth and I were on our first quest with the newly restored Thalia: to extract the half-blood children from their school and get them to Camp Half-Blood. Of course, there was a lot of distrust right off the bat—something, something, a prophecy that one of us could destroy Olympus. You know how it is.

“I’m gonna use the bathroom.” Annabeth announced.

“Don’t fall in.” Thalia teased.

Annabeth rolled her eyes before walking to the bathroom at the back of the bus. That left just Thalia and I in our seats alone. She was tapping her knees a lot. Maybe she’s still on edge about the prophecy, like me. “So… did you hear anything from outside when you were a tree?” Thalia scowled at me. Smooth, Percy, real smooth. “Sorry.” I mumbled.

After a few seconds, she responded. “I heard things, but… they were distorted. Sometimes, I could hear what people said and even who said it.” 

“That must have been hard.”

“It’s no biggie.”

“You were trapped as a tree for six years, and it’s ‘no biggie’?”

She scowled again and went back to tapping her knees. After a bit of time passed, Annabeth returned to our seats, sitting down in silence. The bus hit another speed bump, and I could’ve sworn I saw Thalia squirming. 

“I’ve gotta pee.” Thalia said. While her words were blunt, there was a twinge of nervousness in her voice. She got up and went to the bathroom.

I noticed Annabeth opening up her cell phone, which was strange because we’re not supposed to have those- they attract monsters like moths to a flame. But upon closer inspection, it was an ancient (Okay, probably five or six-year-old) phone, and she was just opening up “Snake”, so it was likely OK. After less than a minute, Thalia returned. I didn’t think about it too hard, but Annabeth raised an eyebrow and said, “That was fast.” Athena’s wisdom, I suppose.

Thalia looked away from Annabeth. “Just… didn’t take long.”

Annabeth looked at her suspiciously but ultimately didn’t say anything more. More time passed, and I noticed Thalia’s knees bouncing throughout it all. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said she still had to pee. Before long, Annabeth spoke up. “Okay, you obviously still have to go. Why didn’t you?”

Thalia blushed. “I did go.” She mumbled.

“No, you didn’t; you keep squirming and fidgeting around. You’re desperate, and it doesn’t take a daughter of Athena to notice. Right, Percy?” 

While she was talking, I kept sinking deeper and deeper into my seat. The last thing I wanted to think about was my rival(?) being desperate to pee. I probably said something really intelligent like, “Nugh hugh.”

Thalia groaned and rolled her eyes. “ It was too dirty. ” She whispered. 

“What?” Annabeth asked.

“The toilet was too gross for me to go in, okay!?”

“I was just in there, Thalia. It looked fine to me.”

“It wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, but it was still too gross. I had to back out.”

“You went outside all the time when we were on the road!”

Nope. I definitely shouldn’t be hearing this. I sank deeper and deeper into the seat, trying to tune out the conversation to no avail. “That’s different.” Thalia argued.

“How so?” Annabeth crossed her arms.

Thalia avoided eye contact and blushed. “It just is.”

Annabeth began to smile as if she was starting to be amused by Thalia’s nervousness. “You’re telling me you were barely phased by monsters that were hunting us, but public bathrooms are where you draw the line?”

“Shut up.” Thalia’s entire face was red from Annabeth’s teasing.

“Fine. You sure can hold it for the next hour?”

“I’m sure.”

At this point, I was tempted to start teasing her too, but I decided against it. We returned to silence, with the occasional interruption of Thalia shifting her legs. I resigned myself to just watching Annabeth play Snake. After about fifteen minutes, I heard Thalia let out a whine. I looked up to see her holding her crotch, shaking slighty. Annabeth ignored her, having seen her as a lost cause. I decided to speak up. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“The fuck do you think, Percy!?” Thalia shouted.

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat. “I was just trying to be nice.”

Thalia’s face was filled with guilt. “Sorry, I know this is a weird phobia I have.” She chuckled. “My dad’s the king of the gods, and here I am, scared to use a slightly dirty toilet.”

“I don’t think it’s weird. I get grossed out by public toilets, too. But I guess living in so many boarding school dorms kind of got me used to that.”

Thalia snickered at that before letting out another whine. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Crap, a little just came out.”

Annabeth sighed and paused her game. “Sorry for teasing you. It’s okay if you… y’know, don’t make it.” She was Blunt and wise as usual, which is what I loved about her. Wait, what?

Thalia’s face turned bright red. “Of course I’m gonna make it!”

“If you say so.” Annabeth rolled her eyes as if she already knew Thalia’s fate. Maybe The Oracle had given her a prophecy about Thalia peeing herself. The thought of Annabeth going to the mummy and getting a prophecy about a demigod peeing themself almost made me laugh, but I managed to resist.

Thalia continued to struggle in silence for a few more minutes. There was a subtle gasp, and I looked over to Thalia. On her jeans, a wet spot began to form, spreading down into the moquette seat below her. It created a noticeable round dark spot on it. Her eyes were watery, as if she were holding back tears. I probably shouldn’t have watched it, but something kept me watching. “G-gods damn it… How did I let this happen!?”

“It’s uh… it’s alright?” I probably sounded really stupid.

Annabeth looked to her side with an “I told you so” expression written on her face. “We’ll get you new clothes when we get to Bar Harbor.”

Thalia sniffled. “I’m the oldest here. This shouldn’t have happened to me.”

I resisted the urge to say, “ Because most people use the bathroom when they enter one. ”

“You held it as long as long as you could,” Annabeth commented. “that’s commendable.”

Thalia chuckled “Not exactly a Herculean task, but thanks.”

Annabeth, Thalia, and I talked for the next hour or so, dancing around the fact that Thalia just peed herself. We eventually reached the town, where Thalia hid in a gas station bathroom until we returned with clean clothes bought from a nearby shop. Thalia and Annabeth came out of the girl’s restroom with clean clothes, Thalia still looking embarrassed. “Hey, you two? You don’t mind if we just… keep this between us, right?”

“No problem.” Annabeth and I both said in unison.

“Thanks. Anyways, in what direction was the school again?”

“North.” Annabeth replied. 

“Okay, north we go.”