Title: To Be A Leader (Alternate Universe)

Bigger Summary: 20 kids are taken to Camp Half-Blood, where they have 10 days to learn how to become better leaders in society or in general. Each one of them already has problems that they must try to overcome during the course. (See why I didn't use this summary?)

Genre: Romance, Humour, Friendship, and maybe a little Hurt/Comfort.

Rating: T for a bit of mild swearing and some references. There's nothing too bad, though (I'm not going to drop any F-bombs or anything like that).

Pairings: Mainly Percabeth, with Jasper, Frazel, Leyna, and Tratie and a few tiny hints of Clarisse/Chris. There may or may not be some Thalico, depending on how it fits in.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the idea. (Can anyone please tell me why we have to do a disclaimer? I honestly don't know...)

Author's Note: I've been toying with the idea of doing an AU multichap for a while, and then one day this came to me and I was like "I have to write this". I haven't seen any other stories like this, but if there is one I did not copy it; this idea was entirely my own. Some characters (ie: Percy, Jason) may seem OOC, but that is just because I had to tweak them in order for it to work with the plot. So now, without further ado, here's the first chapter of To Be A Leader!

CHAPTER 1- MY COACH HELPS ME SKIP SCHOOL

PERCY

The whistle blows, and I dive into the water without a second thought, my arms propelling me forward so fast that I'm sure I looked like a blur from above. Slowing down right before I hit the wall, I pull myself out of the water and grin at the team of dumbfounded boys staring back at me. "And that is how I managed to break twenty-three school records in my sophomore year alone."

One of the younger boys in line, a shrimpy kid with a seriously bad case of acne, looks at me dubiously. "I thought you were supposed to be running tryouts for the Grade 9 swim team, not showing off."

I smirk at the boy as I grab a towel from a nearby rack. "Well, coach wasn't very specific. And I figure that since only about three of you have the upper body strength to make the team, it would be pretty pointless to teach you to do things that you'll fail at anyways. Hence the showing off."

"Hence the fact that you're yet another steyotypical jock who only cares about himself." Another boy mumbles.

I shoot him the signature Percy Jackson glare and pick up my clipboard. "Look, Michelle-"

"It's Mitchell." The boy glares back at me, but since he's only five two and is as thin as a railing, I can't take him seriously.

I wave my hand in the air dismissively. "Does it look like I care? Look, I don't want to be here. But as senior captain, it's one of the many dumb things Coach forces me to do. So why don't all of you idiots get into the water and try not to kill yourselves, cause then that means I have to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork that I really don't feel like dealing with right now.."

The pimple-face kid from before chooses now to speak back up. "Why are you so worried about paperwork? Is it because you can't write?"

There are a couple "ooohs" from the other shrimps and I roll my eyes. The kid's got guts, I'll give him that. But those guts are what's gonna get him killed pretty soon. "Just get in the water."

"No." The idiot says defiantly.

In two strides, I'm up in the kid's face. "Ok, listen up. If you don't get in the pool within the next three seconds, I'll give you a Speedo wedgie so hard you won't be able to have any kids."

To my surprise, the kid just laughs, instead of quaking in terror like I expected him to. I frown and turn back around, just in time to see my swim coach standing there, a furious expression on his face.

Damn.

"Jackson, what were you thinking?" Coach Hedge snaps, slamming a folder down on his large mahogany desk. "I asked you to run the tryouts, not torture the kids!"

"Those sound like the same thing," I say lazily, pulling a bottle of water out of the small mini-fridge to my right. "Plus, it's not like anyone went home crying!"

"This time," Coach snarls at me. "If you're going to be captain, you need to start becoming more of a leader! Stop messing around and get your head screwed on tight. The boys have been coming to me, you know. They want you demoted." He pulls a few files out of the folder and waves them in front of my face. I realize they're all complaint letters from that stupid "Issue Box" at the front of our school. And, stamped on every single one of them in bright red letters are the words Percy Jackson.

I smirk. "Aw, you guys even have a special stamp for me!"

Coach frowns. "This is serious! I'm honestly debating whether or not to listen to all of the complaints."

I almost do a spit-take with my water. "What! You can't do that!"

"Yes I can." Coach says grimly. "What happened to the small, scared boy who came in here freshman year and astounded us all? That's the kind of person I want leading my team. Not someone who's far too cocky and sleeps around just for the fun of it- don't give me that look Jackson, even us teachers know it's true- and is just plain lazy! I don't want that for my team."

I roll my eyes. All of those things were true, but so what? I'm a teenage boy; cut me some slack. "So I suppose you're going to kick me off the team now?"

"No," Coach Hedge says, surprising me. He reaches into the folder on his desk and pulls out yet another item- a small orange pamphlet. "I'm giving you one last chance."

I take the pamphlet and read the front. It's got a picture of a winged horse- a Pegasus or something- on the front, surrounded by the words Camp Half-Blood. Underneath it, in smaller print it says helping to bring out the hidden leader in your child.

I stare at Coach Hedge incredulously. "You want to send me to some stupid leadership camp?"

"Either that, or I'm demoting you." He grins at me, and I can tell he's been planning this for a while. "Take it or leave it, Jackson."

I flip through the brochure, mildly interested. There's a lake, and what looks like a large fire pit area, complete with volleyball nets and all. It looks more like a steyotypical summer camp than the hellhole it actually is. "So how long will this thing be?"

"Ten days," Coach looks happy that I'm considering it. "You'll miss one week of school."

That settles it. Missing a week of school and getting to relax by a lake all day? "I'll do it."

So... how was it? I've been working forever on this chapter and I really hoped it paid off!

As far as reviews go, I will accept both positive reviews and CC. Flames are also allowed, but honestly, if you're going to leave a review just saying "ur story sux", then that's just sad. If you honestly do think it sucks, please tell me why (ie: Your story sucks because the plot is really unoriginal and all of your characters are OOC). To which I will reply "Thanks for telling me that- I'll try and make my characters less OOC in future chapters". I'm not going to go on some huge rampage over a couple bad reviews, cause I'm not generally like that :).

Anyways, I think I've drawn this A/N out long enough, so... review please!

-Jace ;)