I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
"I don't know what to tell you, Mrs. Jackson. Your son is just too volatile," the principal of yet another boarding school said distractedly into the phone. "He won't be allowed back next semester." Sally Jackson swallowed hard.
"I understand." But she didn't.
Percy was completely used to rejection. The snotty rich kids, the sneering adults—it was all a part of his life. A little slice of personal hell, a permanent pebble stuck in his shoe. They rejected him because he was stupid and weird; they rejected him because he was different. But now…
Now he had Camp Half-Blood, where almost everyone had ADHD and dyslexia; where you were all connected to one another. You weren't just friends, or unlikely acquaintances. You were family.
There were disagreements, and not everyone got along. In fact, mostly everyone hated at least one person, some people going as far as hating a whole cabin. Percy didn't care, though. Families are messy; theirs more than most. They yelled. They gossiped. They straight-out fought.
Percy couldn't dream in having a better one.
He only worried that one day he'd be too weird for them, too. Would they not like him anymore? Would they throw him out, like all the other places he'd ever been? His lips quirked up into a bitter smirk.
Probably, he thought. One little slip...
The twelve-year-old would just have to try to not let anything hit the fan. This family was worth it. And maybe, just maybe, Percy was worth it too, with his never-ending slip-ups.
Something to clean out the cobwebs.
~Loyalty