Okay, my first PJO story… thingy. So… I hope this is good. Honestly, I don't care if I get reviews. Just doing it for fun.

I got up in the morning, feeling sleepier than ever. I didn't even want to get up if it wasn't for my alarm clock. This day was the first day of ninth grade… and my birthday. I couldn't be more miserable than that moment, having my birthday at the beginning of the school year. I was supposed to turn 15 at this day and I wasn't feeling so excited about this. Honestly, who would? The most boring, unexciting day is your birthday? It just sucked being me.

I snoozed the alarm clock and got up. When I turned around, I saw mom standing at my door with the door half open. I couldn't see the expression on mom's face since I was still half asleep.

"Good morning, Natasha," mom said. After she said that, my vision got clear and I could see a smile on her face. I couldn't understand why she was happy. Was it because of my birthday? I don't see why people get happy when it's someone's birthday. I mean, I never get happy. It's only a day where you age one year and that's it. Besides, mom never smiled because of such a thing. Was it because it's the first day of school and I get to go for, what, 8 hours maybe? I never understood mom. "Special day isn't it?" She added.

"What's so special about it?" I asked her.

"One, it's your birthday," mom said, which seriously shocked me. "Two, it's the first day of school. Three, your aunt is coming."

"Really?" I asked with excitement in my voice. Mom nodded. My aunt rarely came to our house and I hardly ever saw her. The last time I saw her was more than one year ago. She was a fun woman who I had a lot of fun spending my time with. She'd always see me with a smile on her face. But I knew behind that smile, she was in pain. Her husband died two weeks ago. He was a cop who got shot when trying to catch a criminal. She found that out when he never came back home from his job. The next day, there were news on the newspaper about a cop dead after he was shot with his picture. Ever since, my aunt was sad. She rarely smiled. And when she did, I could see the pain in her eyes. She was trying very hard to hide them, but it seemed hard. It seemed really weird that she'd come this month to… anywhere actually, but I didn't care as long as she was coming. It was something good since she never moves from her house.

"Okay, get up and get ready for school." Mom said before she closed the door, giving me privacy to change my clothes.

I got changed quickly to one of my red shirts and dark blue denim jeans. By the way I always wear, you'd see that I'm not really that girly. Okay, maybe I liked to accessorize and stuff, but I'm not very girly.

I went downstairs to be greeted by my brother, who was 3 years younger than me. He hugged me and wished me a happy birthday, which was very unlike him. When I turned around, I saw my mother giving my brother a 'thumbs up', but quickly hiding it. Now I see. Mom told him to do this. It doesn't seem strange anymore. Then my little eight-years-old sister hugged me. That I was not surprised of. She wasn't a very annoying sister. She was a kind of child that loved seeing people happy. She was the kind one in the family.

I excused myself to go outside after that. I went outside where my friend, Lily, and I would usually meet. Today, she looked even happier than usual. She even got herself prettier. Her light brown hair was curled and she wore a blue sundress. This was really weird since I never saw her wear a dress in those 9 years we were friends in. That was something we never wore. We had a lot in common actually. Especially since we both had the same color of hair and eyes; both were light brown.

"Why are you wearing jeans?" She asked.

"Uh, because I want to," I said, making it sound more like a question than a normal sentence.

She sighed. "You're hopeless."

I laughed. I knew she wanted me to wear a dress, but I didn't feel like it.

"Come on, birthday girl, let's go start our freshman year." She said, taking my wrist and walking with me to school.

First day of school wasn't very exciting, but we did meet this senior named Grover. We met him when we were lost in the hallways and needed help. Something was weird, though. When he saw us, his expression got weird. I didn't know how to explain it, but it just got weird. The rest of the day went pretty boring, I guess.

But later on that day, I walked around with Lily to see Grover talking with a dark haired, tall boy. They mentioned us and some guys named Chiron and Mr. D.

If this was the first day, what about the other days?

We decided to shrug this off and just continue with this really miserable day.

I sat down on the couch, exhausted from this day. Today, as I expected, they threw me a party at house. For something Mom prepared, it wasn't lame. It was fun. Mom invited some of my middle school friends, some guys that I found attractive (question is, how did she know about them…?). The house was full of decorations, balloons, music, food… you'd name it. Normally, I would've stayed sad and grumpy, but I felt really good. What made it better was that Mom left to get my aunt, so we were alone with all of the other teenagers. Lily and I danced with some cute boys afterwards, which was a miracle since no boy ever paid attention to us. The party was great. Very great.

Then, when everyone got tired and exhausted as I was, they left me and Lily in the house to clean up the mess. When mom arrived, I saw my aunt behind her and hugged her.

When I let go of my aunt, she said, "Huh, I guess I missed the party." I smiled. "Happy birthday, Natasha."

I thanked her, and then went upstairs since it was getting pretty late. I guess I was happy.

But the day after that was the most shocking day of my entire life…

So, this was just an introduction. I hope it's okay.