Summary:
Annabeth needs outdoor credits to make it into the college of her dreams. Percy is given his last chance at redemption at school with extra credit. Piper needs to be away from the city or her dad might discover her secret. Jason's mother in an alcoholic and he's being abused. Hazel was taken away from her mother because of child neglect, but the foster care is so much worse. Frank is bullied because of his weight and his love for animals. Leo has been constantly running after the death of his mother. What is the solution to all of their problems? The library's teen "Desert Adventure" program! They each win the lottery for the trip, but less than 24 hours after getting there, they get lost. Now the eight teens (the seven plus Calypso) must survive on their own in a harsh African desert.
The idea for this story just popped into my head while I was writing my other one. It's an AU and none of the Greek Gods exist in this. Happy Reading!
Annabeth POV:
"What am I gonna do?" I asked my dad, walking down the streets of San Fransisco with my family. I had just found out that I needed an outdoor credit to get into the college of my dreams and I didn't know how I was going to get that just a few months. My dad and I had to find a solution. We searched every website, every store, every magazine for something.
Eventually my stepmother decided that we needed a little break. She had insisted we come with her, Bobby, and Matthew to the new water park that had opened nearby. The whole time Dad and I had complained about it being a waste of time. If only I had known that the "silly trip" was how we found the solution to our problem, neither of us would've complained and would've had fun.
As we were walking by the library, a man holding flyers ran in front of us and announced, "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
Dad and I looked at each other, not believing our luck. "How do we sign up?"
The man handed us a flyer. "Fill out this information and get a parent's signature."
I quickly filled it out and Dad signed it. We handed it back to him.
"Thank you! Good luck!"
Percy POV:
No. No, no, no, no, no! This can't be right. I'll never pass with this grade! I let my head drop into my hands. Why an F? I could've passed with even a D!
I had this last chance to prove myself. To show that I could graduate, that I didn't need to repeat Senior year. And I fail it.
My whole swimming career was dependent on this test. If I didn't graduate, then the swimming scholarship I was offered would be taken back. Mom and Paul didn't have the money to send me to college!
I took a deep breath to clear my mind so I could think. The only option left was to ask to retake the test. I walked over to the teacher's desk after the rest of the class had left.
"Mr. Brunner, could I maybe retake this test?" I proposed.
Mr. Brunner looked up from the book he had been reading and sighed. "Percy, I already compromised to make this test worth your entire grade."
I fidgeted. "I know sir, but..."
Mr. Brunner's scrutinizing gaze lingered on my face. "I suppose there is one thing you can do. But remember my boy, it is the last."
"I'll do it! Please!" I pleaded.
He nodded. "Alright." He booted up his laptop and turned on a video. He gestured for me to watch it with him.
A man appeared on the screen and announced, "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
"You want me too enter the program?" I asked.
"Yes, but that is not all. You must write a paper about what you learn from your experience there. That is, if you are chosen from the lottery." Mr. Brunner reminded me.
"How do I sign up?"
Piper POV:
I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. "I have to go study with someone at the library. Bye."
"Bye Piper," Dad said from behind me.
I head over to Silena's house to practice. Silena was my friend and her mom was a singer. I often got singing tips from her. I loved to sing, but Dad didn't really think well of singers. He believed them all to be fraud. I could never tell him because he would be extremely disappointed.
On the way, I passed the library. I was just walking past it when, "Where are you going Piper?"
I turned around to see my dad standing behind me. "I thought you were going to the library to study with a friend?"
I turned back around to see a man holding flyers a few feet ahead of me. "I was going to check out some of his flyers."
I walked over to the man and asked, "What are these for?"
"Well," he began, "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
Still shoken up by my near miss I asked, "How do I sign up?" He handed me a flyer to fill out the information. When I was done, I handed it to my dad to sign. He signed it and handed it to the man.
"Where's your friend?" Dad asked suspiciously.
I entered the library and saw a girl of about thirteen sitting on a beanbag reading a book. I walked over to her.
"Hey. Ready for your tutoring lessons? Sorry I'm late."
She looked up confused, but I motioned quietly to her about my dad behind me. She seemed to understand.
"I've been waiting for you!" she exclaimed. I heard my dad leave. We burst out in giggles.
"Thanks for helping me out. My name's Piper," I told her sincerely.
"No problem. You were in trouble. I'm Hazel."
Jason POV:
Mom was more tipsy than normal. Or maybe I'm not as used, having just come back from boarding school for spring break. My sister Thalia had left as soon as I got home, because, while I was at boarding school, she had to take care of Mom. Because, you know, it would be tragic if she died.
Thalia came back a while later with groceries. Mom didn't mind Thalia like she minded me. Apparently I looked like Dad, so all of her anger on him leaving was take out on me. Because of that, Thalia tried to make sure I wasn't home long.
"Why don't you go to the library?" Thalia offered. I agreed and hurried out of there. I often felt bad about leaving Thalia alone, but whenever I tried to argue, Thalia shut me up somehow.
At the library, a man approached me. He was holding flyers in his hand. He started talking, "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
This was the perfect oppurtunity to get away! I quickly filled out the form and ran home. Thalia forged our mother's signature (she had gotten good at that) and I ran all the way back to give the man my form.
Hazel POV:
I left the my foster home before dinner to go to the library. The library was my safe haven. Often my foster family ignored me, so life was kind of a bore.
I hated that my mother had been taken from me. She may not have had the best parenting skills, but she was family and I still missed her and New Orleans, our home. The fact that accomplishing her tasks had been the only thing I had known, made it so I often didn't know what to do with my time. I had been homeschooled, if you could call it that, so my social life was nonexistent.
In front of the library door, stood a tall man. He was holding flyers and he stopped to smile at me. "Hello young miss."
"Hello. What are those flyers for?" I wondered.
He gave me an enormous grin. "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
That sounded interesting! Finally something I could do in my time. I took a flyer from him and went inside the library. I set it to the side and found a book to read. I sat down on a beanbag and had just opened my book when―
"Hey. Ready for your tutoring lessons? Sorry I'm late."
I looked up surprised. Were they talking to me?
I saw a pretty Cherokee girl in front of me. She gestured behind her where I saw a man who resembled her. I assumed he was her dad and that he was checking on her.
I played along. "I've been waiting for you!"
Her dad left and I started giggling at the trick we had just played. She laughed along.
"Thanks for helping me," she said smiling warmly. "I'm Piper."
"No problem. You were in trouble. I'm Hazel."
We talked for a little while in which time I found out her dad was some guy named Tristan McLean. She was surprised I didn't know him.
I left in a few minutes and filled out the form. I got it signed from my foster mom and ran back to the library to turn it in.
Frank POV:
"Mr. Elephant's leaving. The question of the evening. Will he be able to fit through the front door to make it out?" I heard the boys laughter behind me as I left school. My face burned with humiliation.
I wanted to cry, but Grandma Zhang would scold me and tell me to be a man. I had tried starving myself once, but one of the boys found out and ratted on me, which got me another scolding from Grandma Zhang and a year's worth of trips to the guidance counselor.
I was in a Catch-22. The only thing stopping me from going into depression was food, but food was always the cause of the bullying and the reason I could become depressed. I felt like I was being ripped apart. Every word, another seam cut. That's why, when the man came up to me with his offer, I leapt at the chance to get away.
I was passing the library
"Hello sir. Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
With not a moment of hesitation I said, "I'd like to sign up, please."
Leo POV:
The wet straw beneath me did nothing to stop the uneven bumps of concrete digging into my back. I rolled over, hoping it would be a more comfortable position, but no such luck.
Even if I did get a nice bed, it would do nothing for my lack of sleep. I was constantly haunted by the memory of her. The guilt was seeping through my bones. I was a murderer and even worse, I had killed my own mother.
That awful day's events came flooding through my thoughts like a burst dam. There was no stopping it, no controlling it. I remembered the feeling of fire in my hands, the heat of the blaze. I remembered my mother's screams of terror and how she sobbed. The one thing I could not remember was how she had gotten locked in the burner. Had I done that too? I had always assumed it was me, but it had been eight years.
My aunt Rosa had turned my remaining family against me, so I was sent to foster home after foster home. I was on my sixth time running away.
Sighing, I pulled myself off the dirty alleyway ground, knowing sleep was impossible. As I wandered the streets, I found myself in front of the library.
"Hello sir."
I whipped around, startled. There stood a tall, lanky man holding out a flyer.
"Would you like one?"
"Umm... What is it?" I asked hesitantly.
He smiled at me. "I have a whole speech just for that question." He cleared his throat and began: "Do you need outdoor credits for college? Or maybe you just need to get away. Well then the library's newest teen's program, "Desert Adventure", is the right thing for you! Enter the lottery to win a free trip to one of Africa's deserts. You can explore and learn! The results will be broadcasted on Channel 13 tonight."
"So what do you say? Can't hurt to enter."
I looked at the flyer for a few more seconds. "Uh...y-yeah. L-let me just..." I grabbed the flyer from him and he handed me a pen.
I filled out the information and then saw it required a parent's signature. I slipped away for a moment, forged my mom's signature, and handed it back to him.
This was bound to be interesting.
That night, the whole city tuned into Channel 13, with the exception of Leo, who watched through some guy's window and Percy who forgot. The fate of eight young people would be decided tonight.
The host a.k.a. the man handing out the flyers appeared on the screen. If you're watching this then you're probably hoping you'll be one of the eight teenagers chosen for Desert Adventure! Our winners will be announced now."
"First winner: Annabeth Chase!"
A father and daughter's cheer could be heard over the honking of traffic and the blasting music.
"Second winner: Percy Jackson!"
Percy wasn't watching, but his teacher, Mr. Brunner, sighed in relief.
"Third winner: Piper McLean!"
It was decided by her father that a party would be thrown in celebration of her victory.
"Fourth winner: Jason Grace!"
Jason and Thalia partied in silent, so she didn't wake up their mother.
"Fifth winner: Hazel Levesque!"
Hazel cheered for some much needed social interaction.
"Sixth winner: Frank Zhang!"
Frank fainted, making his grandmother yell at his unconscious body.
"Seventh winner: Leo Valdez!"
Leo couldn't believe his luck. He became so excited, that he got caught and was chased through the city by a middle-aged man in pajamas.
"Eighth winner: Calypso Titan!"
Calypso watered some flowers in celebration.
"The winners are expected to arrive at the airport at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who signed up. Have a great night!"
The other chapters will NOT be as long as this one. Technically this was the prologue... I think... Nevermind.
I am very bad at updating with a schedule (I get distractedXD) so this will be updated whenever I finish writing.
Bye!