||alex||
I sat on the edge of the pool with Grover, watching Percy as he sat at the bottom of the pool, calm as I'd ever seen him. He always seemed so at home in the water. I looked over at Grover. "How long has he been in there?" He looked at his stopwatch and gave me a big grin.
"Nine minutes, 42 seconds and counting."
"Shouldn't we get him out? What if he-"
"Alex, relax, Percy's got this. I mean, you know who he is. The water is where he belongs."
"Well, the human part of him can still drown." I said, looking back into the water. Just then Percy stirred and looked up at Grover and me, smiling with his beautiful cyan blue eyes. I felt my face get warm as he went back into relaxation mode and continued to sit. It was another minute before I realized Grover was looking at me. "What?"
"So, am I going to be invited to the wedding?" I punched Grover in the shoulder and pulled my knees into my chest.
"Shut up."
"He'll never know if you don't tell him Alex. He's a demi-god, not a psychic."
"Very funny."
"You can have little demi-god babies! They could have his freaky underwater ability and your whole sunlight, fire thing. It'll be great." I punched Grover as Percy came to the surface.
"Grover! Please shut up!"
"Alexandra Kari Jackson, it has a nice ring to it-"
"What are you two talking about?" Percy asked as he hopped out of the water.
"Nothing." I lied. "Grover's just being an idiot, as usual." Percy smiled, god I loved his smile, it was one of those smiles that makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. He pulled himself up onto the side of the pool as I handed him a towel.
"So, what did Grover do this time?" Percy asked. I felt heat snake up my neck as Grover and I looked at each other. We both then looked back at Percy and replied with a simple,
"Nothing." Percy just laughed and stood up, drying himself off and looked at Grover.
"How long was that?" Grover eyes god huge.
"Ah man! I forgot to stop it, but probably a good eleven or twelve minutes. What do you think Alex?" I smirked at Percy.
"Maybe ten." He smiled and flipped his towel at me, spraying me with water. "Very funny. Besides, I can stare into the sun for longer then you." I teased.
"That is not a talent, that's stupid." Percy joked. I pretended to be hurt as he walked into the locker room. Grover just gave me a stupid grin again.
"Maybe ten." He said, mocking me. I chuckled.
"Shut up Grover." As we walked back out to the front of the school's pool to wait for Percy I zoned out, thinking about my dad. Grover must have seen my face drop just the slightest bit, because he tried to make me laugh.
"So, you two sharing a room yet?"
"Shut up Grover!" Grover glanced at his watch.
"Well, I got to head home. I trust you can watch Percy until tomorrow?"
"Yeah. See you Grover."
"See you." Grover started to leave, but he stopped and turned back to me.
"Alex," I looked up at him.
"Yeah?"
"If your dad was such a player, getting a hold of Percy shouldn't be a problem." He teased. And then he was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I'm Alexandra, better known as Alex. Best friend/ half protector of Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and one of the many, many children of Apollo, God of the sun. Thought all those Greek myths were just stories? Wrong. There are hundreds like Percy and I, although, none of us ever see our God parent. We're stuck with the mortal ones because of a law Zeus passed that forbid them from seeing us. I've never met my dad. He never really wanted me to begin with. A kid would cramp his style I guess. I never even knew who I was until after my mom died in a car accident when I was twelve. That's when I was sent away to Camp Half Blood, where they keep all us Demi-Gods, for a year. I was told that, since I'd known him all my life, I would help Grover in protecting Percy. Since my mom died Percy's mom let me live with them, although I paid my own rent and the only reason I got to stay with them was because Percy's mom and my own had been friends all their lives. I'd had a crush on Percy since I was nine, although we'd always only been friends, and he had no clue. I made sure of that.
As I continued to space out Percy came out and tapped me on the shoulder. "What're you thinking about?" He asked, sitting down next to me. I let out a long sigh and took of my glasses, cleaning them on my sweatshirt.
"Just, my dad." I bit my lip. "And how I wish I could talk to him just once." I pulled out the only thing I had from my dad, a small ancient Greek coin, with him on it of course, attached to a chain. Percy reached over and took the coin, holding it up to his eyes.
"He sure had a thing for Apollo."
"You have no idea." I muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." I grabbed my backpack and hopped to my feet. "Let's go home."
When we got back to the house we were greeted by Percy's dumb ass of a step dad. He growled at us as he grabbed another beer and flopped down on the couch. I went into my small room and tied my hair up into a high bun. I was almost done with my algebra homework when someone knocked on my door. "Come in." I said. Percy stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and sitting on my homework, grinning from ear to ear. "Can I help you Mr. Jackson?" His smile dropped as he leaned back against the wall.
"Did your mom ever tell you not to say anything bad about him?" He asked.
"Huh?" He looked at me with his brilliant eyes.
"Your mom, did she ever tell you that you weren't allowed to say anything bad about your dad?"
"We never talked about him." I admitted. "I don't even know what he looks like to be honest."
"Well, considering you look nothing like your mom, I would assume a lot like you.
"Yeah, she said that. Except he was blonde and had really curly hair. That I've heard. And he was "inhumanly beautiful." Gag me."
"So, what else did she say about him? Percy asked.
"Why?"
"Because I'm just as curious as you are. I mean, I've known you forever, you met my dad before he left, but I've never met yours."
"I don't remember meeting your dad."
"Me neither." Percy said, his smile dropping even more. "I don't remember anything before he took off."
"I'm sure he had some reason. At least he stuck around for a while. And your mom loves you as much as two parents."
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP? THE GAME'S ON!" Percy's step dad hollered from the other room.
"Which is why I don't understand why she stays with THAT IDIOT OF A STEP DAD." Percy said, yelling the last part into the other room.
"You little… NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!" I grabbed Percy's wrist and lead him to the fire escape outside my window. This was an age old routine. We ran up to the top and Percy's step dad gave up the minute he got to the window. We chuckled and made faces at him, leaning over the side of the roof. He snarled at us, then got this sick smile on his face. "Alrighty then. Have a nice night on the roof! He said, locking the window from the inside. Percy and I ran back down, pretending to look worried as he laughed at us. When he left we rolled our eyes and climbed back up, pulling out the sleeping bags we hide up there for when this happens. As we laid down, looking at the sun set the sky on fire, I thought about my dad again. What I would give to just meet him once. Just to know the man that my mom was so in love with that she didn't even blame him when he left. She blamed herself for not being able to keep up with him. I let out a long sigh.
"Why do you get so sad when you look at the sun? I mean, usually it kind of makes people happy." Percy teased. I chuckled, looking into the sky.
"You know how, when you're in the water, you just feel like you're at home?" I asked.
"Of course." Percy said. "For some reason, I think about my dad even more when I'm in the water."
"That's how I feel when I'm in the sunlight. It makes me think of home, and my mom, and my dad."
"Your mom was a great lady." Percy promised me.
"I know, I just wished my dad had seen that too." I said, staring at the asphalt. We just talked until the moon was halfway in the sky before Percy asked me about Luke.
"How's that guy you met while you were living with your grandma?" My grandma was my cover story for Camp Half Blood. Luke was the son of Hermes, and he spent the entire year I was there trying to convince me that Percy would never feel the same way I did for him. He, of course, was telling me this because he wanted to be with me, desperately. There was a long pause before I gave Percy a huge grin. " I'm going to bed, night." I said, pulling my sleeping bag over my head and rolling over so my back was to Percy. He grabbed my shoulder and rolled me back over.
"Nice try. You've been tip toeing around mentioning him for over a year now. Is it because he did something about "being obsessive?"" I punched him softly.
"You've been reading my diary again?"
"How else am I going to learn Galician?"
"Obsessive doesn't translate directly. What did I write?"
"Ser tolo." He said, slaughtering the pronunciation.
"That means 'being crazy' but close enough." I said. "Besides, you should get a translator or something and keep out of my diary."
"Why do you write it in Galician of all languages?"
"Because I thought no one would know what the hell it was." I said, "But now I'm going to have to find a new language, maybe Latin."
"I saw my name a lot." Percy said, I felt my face get warm. "Most of the time next to either oblivious or idiot, or both." He smiled at me. "So, back to the crazy guy. Why your sudden change of heart?"
"You would understand if you met him, I mean, he's nice…"
"Isn't that what you girls are always saying that's the only thing you want? God you're impossible to please." I smiled.
"If you'd let me finish, he's nice, and he likes me, but it's his reasoning for why I should be with him that's kind of iffy." We were both quiet for a while before Percy spoke again.
"What does "Eu o amo" mean?" He asked.
"Stop looking in my diary!"
"I will if you tell me what that means, because it's all over the place in there." Percy said. I let out a long sigh.
"It means I miss him." I usually talk about my dad in there, so, that's why it's in there so much.
"Oh." Percy said, clearly disapointed. He smiled at me. "Well, sleep sounds pretty good right about now, so goodnight."
"Goodnight." I rolled away from Percy and felt the world lift off my shoulders. One of my many talents is that I am actually the worlds best liar. But what Percy would never (hopefully) know is what "Eu o amo" really means,
Is 'I love him'.