Hi! This is my first Percy Jackson Fanfic, and my first on this website!
Please feel free to critique my first chapter, but don't criticize. Oh, and especially on grammar, spelling, etc., please tell me if I have made any mistakes.
And REVIEW! Yes, if you could please review, that would be GREAT!
I, sadly, do not own the Percy Jackson. *sob* Or Camp-half blood or any of that. *another sob*
Hope you like it!
-Calypso C.
p.s. This is after TLO.
My math teacher tries to eat me
My name is Ella Read. Let's just get this over with, and then you can send me the asylum.
I'm a demigod.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking, you're crazy! But I'm not. Really.
It all started when I was twelve, the age when most half-bloods start attracting monsters.
My middle school was your typical building of terror, including evil teachers, mean backstabbing friends and popular people who think everyone else is poop! Yee-haw.
Now let's just get something straight here. I'm not popular. At all. So, of course, I got teased. Her name was Helen.
Helen was four foot seven, with shoulder length brown hair, and eyes that shone likes suns, but in a bad way. She commanded seventh grade. End of story. Of course, I was new that year, so everyone had already 'bonded' during sixth grade. So, I ask you, how in the world was I supposed to know she was the queen bee? I'm not psychic. Even if I was, I most likely would have said it anyway. I don't like bullies. Can't stand them, never will.
So basically, I got on her bad side. It was fun.
On the first day of school I was wearing old navy jeans, and a blue T-shirt. My auburn hair was braided over my right shoulder, like normal, resting on my chest.
I walked in my classroom, and plunked myself down next to her. Her eyes glared up at me (because, and let me tell you, I was taller than her by about 8 inches. Do the math) and she said, "You can't sit there."
I rolled my hazel eyes. "Uh, yeah, I kinda can. Ms. Garni said to sit where ever we wanted."
"But I say you can't. Move. Taylor is sitting there." Helen growled.
I raised my hands in a truce, "What's your problem? You have an empty sit on your other side." I probably should have just moved, I mean, what's the big deal? But I don't like to be bossed around by kids. Specifically popular people. And yes, I could just TELL that she was. From head to toe, she looked the part. And sounded like it. I just didn't know she was THE queen bee.
Anyway.
"Emily is sitting there. Move, loser." That made me mad. Really mad. Mad, beyond mad.
Then, unfortunately for me, but fortunately Helen, Ms, Garni waddled in the room. I stormed up and sat in a seat two rows back.
I pulled out The Brooklyn Nine and began to read inning three. I ignored the whispers of geek, nerd and dork.
I'd like to say that I just shrugged it off. But I didn't.
After an hour of whispered taunts, class was over. In the hallway I said, "sour-headed cur." I don't think she actually understood what it meant, but by the tone of my voice, I had the feeling she knew she was being mocked.
Whoever put together the schedules was complete idiot. Although I'm sure they didn't know half of what was going on. I had first, second, third, fourth, lunch, free time, fifth and ninth block with Helen and her gang (consisting of several more girls, in addition to the infamous Taylor and Emily.). Whoo-hoo.
During Language arts, they teased me.
During Social Studies, they mocked me.
During Science, they ridiculed me.
Are you starting to see a pattern? I am.
At lunch, I finally made my escape. I quickly glanced at all the tables, and choose one with a few girls that looked nice. I sat and unpacked my lunch (turkey sandwich, apples, cucumbers and a cheese stick) and said, "Hi."
Yeah, I know! Lame, lame, lame, but that was the best I could do right then. A few girls said hello back, but some just looked at me. A red head girl with a black tank top on (which HAD to be violating the school dress code) spoke. "So you're new, huh?"
I was tempted to roll my eyes. But that's not very friendly, is it now? No, it's not. And I figured I need some friends. "Yeah. We moved here from Ashville, North Carolina. NYC is very different from the mountains." The girls raised their eyebrows. Great. I bet now they will call me a 'country hick'. Surprisingly, the red head just announced, "My name is Callie."
A brunette joked, "Yeah, it's short for Calpurnia!" I had to laugh at that.
"Really?" I asked.
Callie rolled her eyes, "My parents are a bit…odd. Anyways, that's—"She pointed to brunette who had made the joke."—Grace, and Katie across from Grace, Margret is next to Katie and Sally is next to me."
Besides Callie and Grace, all the other girls were blonde. This didn't make me feel out of place though. Soon, we were chatting and laughing so much that we didn't notice Helen walking over. Callie had called Helen's posse, 'the chick clique'. Get it? They are chicks, as in hot, but also as in chicken, which are dumb. I thought the name very appropriate.
"Ah, I see you found some…friends." Helen turned and walked away, but we could still here her mutter, "Nerd."
My face flushed, it was bad enough to have them taunt when it's just me, but with possible friends? Worse, way worse. I blinked, and stared at the clock. It was almost time to go.
Callie sympathetically put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. We all have had that treatment before. You get use to it."
But I knew I never would.
Weeks passed by, and Helen and Co. didn't relent from pestering me. Every day, especially at free time, where the teachers were chatting, not paying attention the students, she would come over and make fun of me. A few of her favorites were:
My clothes. "I can't believe you don't wear ANY designer. So lame!"
My make-up. "You don't wear make-up? Well, someone is childish."
My town. "You're from the country? Hick!"
My family. "Where's your mom, huh? Did she run away when she saw what you looked liked?"
Besides Callie and her friends (and I only had lunch and free time with them), there was only two things that kept me from skipping school. My dad and Mr. Brakken.
It was true; my mom had left me right after I was born. My dad would always say, "Not dead, just a prisoner in war." I didn't believe that. Maybe she was alive, but she left us. She had abandoned us. She had deserted us.
My dad had done the best he could, trying to raise me, but face it, a girl needs a mother. Luckily for me, one of my schools had a health class, so we didn't have to give me 'the talk'. But my dad didn't understand ANYTHING about being a girl, and he was pretty busy with his inventions, so there was much time. I grew up learning not to care about clothes, make-up and all that girly-girl stuff. I just lived without it, and I turned out fine. Although Helen would say otherwise.
My teacher, Mr. Brakken, taught social studies (in other words, history), and spent most of the year teaching us about the Greeks. I have to say, it was really interesting, and I liked learning about all the gods and stuff, but school was never that easy for me.
I had a case of dyslexia, and ADHD. The words on the page swam around in circles, and it would take me forever to read chapters. The ADHD caused me to wander off, in my own world, thinking about random things, like, how they got lead inside a pencil. I mean, really! How do you insert the lead, inside the pencil, without any visible cracks?
Anyway, Mr. Brakken made the class fun, on review days he would challenge us sword point against chalk, to write on the board the name of every Greek person who ever lived, their parents, and what god they worshipped. It was fun, even though my spelling was so off, I had to say the name instead.
So by the time the end of the year was rolling around, that had become my favorite class.
Callie was right in some ways, I did get used to Helen's teasing, at least a little, but it was still hard not to flare up and punch her in the face.
Soon, it was exam week, then summer. I tried to study, but I just couldn't. My mind kept wandering off, thinking about weird things that had happened to me before. And let me tell you, there were a lot.
For instance, when I was six, my dad took me to a raptor center. We toured around, but my favorite birds were the owls. I could have sworn they were talking to me in my head, but I knew that that wasn't possible. When I left they said, "Goodbye, gentle queen."
Or when I was eight, my school took me on a field trip to a battle museum and somehow I ended up in the weapon section, with all of the knifes out of their cases (glass ones I might add).
And—well, I could go on all day, but you get the point.
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep my mind on track. I threw my math textbook against the wall in anger. Then I sighed. I picked up my Greek one instead, and started studying. I glimpsed through chapter one, and starting reading chapter two, The gods.
The gods were very important to the Greek Empire. They each represented their own 'element', emotion or such. For instance, Apollo was god of the sun, along with music, and healing. His twin sister, Artemis, was god of the moon, maidens, and the hunt.
The Greeks would sacrifice part of their meal- the juiciest or most delicious part-in the fire, for the gods. While they did, they would pray to them in thanks.
Gods were said to be able to take any form that they wish, whether it be a man, woman, dog or fire. Sometimes, they would 'come down to Earth' and have affairs with mortals. Their offspring were called demigods.
At the word demigod, I felt this tingling over my back. Like a shiver, but more…scary, I guess. I sighed again, put the books down, and flopped on my bed, then fell fast asleep.
The next day, the first exam day, I felt cheerful, even though I had gotten no studying done. But I had no idea what would happen.
During lunch Helen, Taylor and Emily came over to our (and by our, I mean mine, Callie's, Sally's, Margret's, Grace's and Katie's) table and smirked. "Well, well, losers. Look what Ella is wearing! I mean, a T-shirt? And you haven't worn a skirt all year long. Why doesn't your mom give you fashion advice? Oh wait, I forgot, she left you because you were so ugly."
I took a deep breath, stood up, and stormed away outside. Lunch was almost over anyways.
I sat down on one of the benches. Behind a tree. And a trashcan. I didn't want Helen to find me; I think I would have done one of two things,
a) cried,
Or b) punch her in the face.
But she did find me. She did. Helen started ranting on about how ugly I was, how my clothes were so drab and how my mother was right to leave me. Insult, after insult, after insult. Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore. I let out a call, which startled them, and a dozen owls, white, black, speckled, brown and many more colors, came flying toward them.
My first thought was, are they going to poop on Helen?
Sadly, they didn't. Instead they pushed them to the ground, and clawed at their backs.
I think Ms. Garni saw. Yep, she did alright.
"Ella. Please come with me, now." Ms. Garni cackled. I mean, she really cackled. It was a little unnerving, but I shrugged it off.
"What? I didn't do anything!" besides summon a dozen birds to attack the meanest girl in school
.
"Do you think wouldn't figure it out? You can't hide from us!" Then, suddenly, she began to change.
Her skin grew dry and brittle, her eyes turned into purple flames, and her body stretched out until it was long a slithery.
I'm pretty sure I screamed something like, "Ahhh! You monster!"
She cackled some more. Then charged at me, but before she could reach me and tear my heart from my body, an arrow sprouted out of her chest, and she dissolved into dust.
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