Blink… blink… blink…

I enviously stared at the computer screen, watching the mouse suddenly turn into a straight line, awaiting for a letter to make magically appear. I wanted to trade live with it. I could blink all day for you and it could do my life for me. I would be sleeping almost 24/7 and it could do my homework.

As I was sitting there, watching my computer screen, I am also waiting for that loud scream that is supposed to yell at me any second. That voice would come pounding through the hallway, smashing its way to my eardrums. I was scared. I am a senior in high school and I was afraid of my 5 foot tall step dad. His name was Gabe and I have the bruises to prove it to you. Well, to begin with Gabe isn't so bad. Actually… I take that back. He's an abusive dad and I'm going to say that right now. He beats me every day for not paying his gambling problems and makes the house smell like legit poop. Seriously, sometimes I smell poop in the living room. And don't even get me started on my grades. I know he doesn't give two rocks about my grades, but he yells at me anyways just so he can have a reason to hit me.

"Hey Boy!" said an ugly voice. Even from here, I can still smell his pungent smell of alcohol. "Come over here, we got some things to talk about!" I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the inevitable. After my mom died, and she entrusted my step dad to take care of me the house has been dirty, I keep on getting beaten and my school grades have been going up. Yup, you heard that right, my grades have been going up. A dyslexic and ADHD guy getting good grades, yeah, it's not that surprising, get over it. Ever since mom died when I was in seventh grade, I've been trying to accomplish what she wanted to do her whole life. To write a book. I have been trying to get ready for all the English classes to take and it was a pain. AP-English, AP-Literature, and even reaching Calculus AB, don't get me started on that waste of time. But I prevailed! I broke through high school's tests and passed with colorful rainbows. Getting a solid 3.7 GPA and barely making a 4 on my AP Exams.

"Hey! Stop daydreaming and start listening." Smelly Gabe shouted. He smite me with his knuckles against my stomach and slapped me across my face. "Listen! You little dick! Now that you are done with high school, you are probably going to search for a college to take in. Well good news! You are now staying with me, cause I got no money for school. I don't care if you got accepted to any UC or any whatever those fancy Ivy League school. I am never going pay for your college." He grabbed a loose bottle of beer on the ground and slammed it against my hips. The shattering blow made me gasp in pain as small shards punctured my rough skin. I quickly threw my large hand against the wall. The ugly man in front of me just gave a pathetic sneer. His ugly face appeared in front of me after he hit me once again with the broken bottle. I was on my knees for the tenth time this week. The ugly man seems to have let me go loose easily this time. He would usually try to gut my stomach with a bat once I'm on my knees but I only received a quick punch to my cheek.

I slowly crawled to my room after he walked outside to probably smoke another cigarette. I locked the door behind me and jammed an eroded chair up against the door. I grabbed a photo from my pathetic bed shelf and looked what I had before me. It was a photo of my mom and dad with little me as a baby. They looked so happy. I wish I could have remembered these moments. I was only three when my dad died in a car accident. My mom died right after she was diagnosed with cancer. Stupid Gabe couldn't even pay for the medical bills and my mom died without treatment.

I could feel the wetness welt up in the rims of my eyes. I sadly looked through the rest of the pictures and tried to relive the small memories me and my mom shared before she died. We use to go to this beach, Montauk. It used to be our place. A place we would go to, to get away from Gabe. She would tell me stories on how wonderful dad was before he died. He would always imagine himself as of the sea because he was named after the Greek god Poseidon. He would tell mom how he would make her the queen of all queens! Yeah, I guess my dad was weird like that. Whenever, my mom tells me these stories, I feel a sort of warmth spread through me. Almost as if he was looking down upon me right now, telling me everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine. Everything is going to fall in place. That someday, I would go to college to become a marine biologist just like my dad, my real dad, and write an awesome book just for the sake of my mom. But sadly, it would probably never happen.

I got off my bed with heavy tears and looked through my laptop. I checked my calendar just for giggles. I had work this whole week. Thank the gods. I was planning on saving up to live in my own apartment. I have been working two jobs since the beginning of senior year, one at the library and the other as a babysitter across the street. I know, wow Percy! What a good boy you are, already working two jobs. If I could have it my way, I would've burnt down the library and fed the kids frogs because it is a pain in the ass to take care of two hyper twin boys. Also, sorting out books when a mean blonde is yelling at you all the time about sorting it wrong is a just a sore thumb. Only good part is that she is actually quite worth the eyes to look at. If you know what I mean…

I turned off my computer after checking my bank account. I persuaded the twins parents to help me make a bank account. I told them it would be easier than counting $150 a week than just writing your signature. I already have $8400, even after working for most of the school year and past summers. It's still not enough though. I want to save up to buy get at least some sort of degree. Even with all of my grants, scholarships and financial aids I tried for, I still have to pay a year and a half for my college. Stupid me, why couldn't I get a 4.0 GPA. My friend Grover agreed to let me stay at his place until I finish my classes. What a trooper he is. I met Grover back in sixth grade. Back then we only had each other for friends. With my scrawniness and his leg problems, we were the biggest losers since middle school to senior year high school. Luckily, his parents aren't abusive and actually have money to pay for Grover's college and apartment. Starting on my birthday, August 18th, I won't be living with this pile of dump. Hopefully, by then, I'll be sleeping on a cold, clean bed sheet with silence all around the house.

I'm a morning person. It's not that I enjoy being a morning person… Gabe is. The walls in the apartment are as thin as paper. I hear Gabe at six in the morning throwing his head off in the bathroom from getting too drunk the other day. I lazily throw my feet against the cracking floor and slowly walk towards my bathroom. I grabbed a pair of jeans along with a red jacket and quickly slipped it on over the library's uniform. I slowly dropped to my belly and looked under my bed, grasping a black back pack, full of life necessities, well if you count blue candy as a life savior than sure.

I grabbed a rusty watch from my backpack to keep me updated with time. I silently opened my window and slipped out to the open air. What sucked about this part was that my mom's apartment was pretty far up. I think we were on the 9th floor and that meant I had to do some parkour. Fortunately, with months of practice I was able to find a route of awesomeness down.

Finishing my ninja skills, I jog to a nearby bike rack and unchain a bike that my friend Nico gave me. He was an old friend of mine in middle school, but ever since his sister died, he had to move in with a distant relative in California. I quickly climbed on to my bike and biked to a public library where I begin my day with that crazy blonde. The ride from the apartment to the library was a thirty minute ride, but who can ride with an empty stomach? With an additional 20 minutes to get a small snack and saying my good mornings to the daily farmers market, I was usually right on time for work. I chained my bike up against a tree in front of the library and slowly walked towards the large glass doors. I grasped the handle of the door only to find it locked. I glanced at my watch and saw I was barely a minute late. Soon enough a tall figure stood on the other side of the door with a menacing glare. Like seriously, the chick could make a grown man cry.

"Hurry up and get in! A summer school class for middle schoolers is coming in today. They are taking a field trip to the library today to check out a book about the Odyssey. They are going to take notes and…" The blonde was fiddling with the library keys trying to multi-task by speaking and opening the door at the same time. "WE are going to supervise them and help them with reading the first book of the Odyssey." I sighed inwardly as we had to prepare the day ahead of us. I began setting up tables for the little rascals as my co-worker began digging out sets of Odyssey books and placing them down on each seat. What kind of teacher brings their students to a library for a field trip? At least go to McDonalds or something.

"So when are they coming Annabeth?" I asked after checking my watch. It was already 10'o clock and no sign of short people.

"Right about… now." Annabeth timed. Suddenly a large school bus was parked in front of the library. It took up half of the road as it parked near the side walk. When the bus' doors opened, at least thirty midgets like gangsters came out. I was shocked to see a little kid already piercing his face with hideous rings. Like holy sh*t this was a bus full of the mafia. The lousy kids came barging in noisily only to be silenced by what look like a huge military general. The huge lug-nut of a summer school teacher just grabbed a book from Annabeth's hand and took a seat in the large chair in the front. The little delinquents just grabbed a chair and slouched like no tomorrow. These kids were something that's for sure.

What made me even more weirded out was the fact that Mr. Lug-nut had a voice of a chipmunk. His squeaky voice did not flow with his body. His voice was so high that it would probably make Alvin and the chipmunks look like Morgan Freeman. As squeaky lug nuts finish the first book, he asked, no wait, he threatened his students to take notes and ask for me and Annabeth for any help. Things were going smoothly until Mr. Lug-nut had to go outside for an urgent phone call. This left us with the little bastards. Luckily though, the teacher was still in earshot distance to the kids so he was able to shout out squeaks of joy if they made too much noise. But that was not enough. The kids liked to argue with us, and it just so happens that fighting back with great comebacks were my thing.

"Hey I need help." Asked Student #1. "How do I write notes?" The kid was obviously trying to cause problems because the way he talked was just stupid. He would purposely try to slur his voice and roll his eyes at every answer I gave him.

"Well first you ne-" I tried to help but he would keep cutting me off.

"Tried it…"

"But you got to d-"

"Nope doesn't work."

"Analyze the-"

"Too long of a word."

"Okay, so you want to play this game huh?" I asked, getting pretty pissed off. "Let's start with something easy. What is the first thing that comes into your mind about the Odyssey?"

"Penis" He answered with pure mockery. If I didn't hear the word so often by Gabe I probably wouldn't have understood what he was trying to say under all that stupid slurring and choking noise.

"I asked you what you were thinking in your mind, not what's in your mouth." I stated calmly. "Why don't you take it out of your mouth and start working you little pimp." A silent 'ohhh' and a row of 'burns' came towards the kid. I just smiled in my little victory but I guess the kids were determined to win the war with their stupid remarks.

"Are you a girl?" Student #2 catcalled. At first I thought they were talking about Annabeth who was arguing with a clown-chick but I soon came to realize they were pointing at me.

"Haha, the big guy doesn't want admit that he's a girl." Student #3 wailed in glee. What is up with these kids, can't they just shut and do homework and shut up? "I can't wait to screw him up later. Hey, hey! Come over hear."

Usually, I wouldn't even bother putting up with this guy, but because he's asking for it, I'll follow his joke. I reached his desk and asked what he needed.

"Oh… pssht, I was about to tell you a joke about my dick but it was too long for you girlie." Said starky student. He laughed at his own joke and soon his whole table joined along. I bent down on one knee to try and reach eye level with him, but he was so short that I was taller than him on one knee.

"Wow, that's funny!" I said sarcastically. "Well you know I was about to tell you a joke about my pussy, but you'll never get." I smiled casually as I walked away ready for the next student to challenge themselves. But things were starting to get a bit heated. I was beginning a war right now. I didn't want to beat all these kids. It would just be sad and probably hurt there sorry egos. Every person I went against was getting more random and hectic. Like seriously, are you trying to bring my mom into this? Did you just seriously go there?

"Hey would you be mad if I screwed your mom?" student #26 asked. Right then and there I just wanted to sock the piercings off of his face.

"No…" I said. Just going along with what he had next.

"What about your sister?" I didn't want to ruin his joke and say I don't have a sister. Plus I already have a great comeback!

"No…"

"Huh, what then?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"We'll just be even." I said, giving him my best casual smile, trying to hold in my laughter from all of their faces. What can I say? I'm just hella good!

The morning continued with me owning these little scrubs. I won't lie, this was actually fun. I know it's wrong but these kids probably deserve worse.

It was already, 2 o' clock and I was now biking to babysit the twins. I won't lie, this morning was pretty fun. I even had Annabeth crack a couple of smiles and laughs. As I was unchaining my bike, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I spun around surprisingly faster than I expected, my body was probably expecting a smack down with those little kids. But it was just Annabeth. Plain old Annabeth… smiling?

"Hey, um, that was pretty funny back there." She seemed to be relieved after saying that. Her hands were in a small fist but it was obvious she was holding a small paper between her iron grips. I don't know but lately, she's been acting nicer towards me. I mean, I'm not complaining, but it's just… weird.

"What do you have there in your hand?" I suddenly blurted out. I usually wasn't like this, but the curiosity inside me just exploded.

"Um, oh this? Yeah um, one of the kids just left it on their tables and I just picked up to throw it away." She said.

"So you came all the way outside to throw away a piece of paper…?" I asked, trying to understand her logic.

"Um, yeah." She said smoothly. She walked away towards a nearby trash bin and threw it away. As she was walking back to the library, she did something to which I never would think she would do. She waved good bye to me. Girls are weird…

When everything seemed like no one was looking, I walked towards the trash can and thanks the lord, it wasn't dirty. I found her note and unraveled the paper. It was a row of numbers and at the bottom it said: "Call me."

I don't get it. So owning little kids gets you a phone number? Girls are weirder.

I shoved the paper in my pocket and climbed back on to my bike and rode to a large house, ready to take care of two hyper-active kids. I once again chained my bike to another nearby tree and walked towards the large wood doors. You know a family is rich, when you see large wooden doors. Especially when the wood is polished and glossy, then that's when you know, damn these people are freaken rich. But that also means that you better take some pretty good care of their kids.

I rung the bell twice and waited patiently for the parents to open the door. As the doors open, I was greeted with a quick hello, as the parents barged pass me and left for their car. It may sound rude, but that's how bad these kids are. They are so misbehaved and bad that their parents can't even handle them.

I walked inside to be smashed with a barrage of questions. I was only two feet inside the house and the kids were already asking me if I can play some games with them.

"Hey, Percy let's play some Ratchet and Clank!" said annoying brat #1

"No Percy! Let's watch T.V., we just got the Avengers movie!" annoying brat #2 said. Now that I think about it, I probably should be getting a pay raise soon.

"Hey guys, I can only do one thing at a time with you guys, plus don't you guys have homework or so-"

"HOMEWORK!" The stupid twins screeched in unison. "It's summer break, we don't have homework! Ain't nobody got time for that!" The twins just laughed some more at their fail mimicry and began hopping back to the living room. I walked to the kitchen where I found a note specifically for me. It was the usual:

Cook anything you want for the kids, they eat anything. Be back at 7:00 p.m…

-Chase Parents.

I searched their fridge in search of making something for dinner. Surprisingly, there wasn't much food. Only some left over spaghetti and some half-ass made tortillas. I was about to cook something, already being 4:00, before I heard a loud thump coming from the dining room.

"The fu-" I was interrupted by a loud obnoxious voice from behind.

"Oh Percy! I need some help!" I turned around to see Matthew jumping up and down. The only reason I know it was Matthew and not Bobby was because he always wears green. Bobby wears blue all the time.

Matthew dashed back into the living room and up the stairs with me tailing right behind him. I usually don't go into the bedrooms but I had to make an exception with this one. Matthew opened the door and I was not shocked at all.

The room was a mess. I know the brothers had a step sister that came every weekend to watch them, and I knew she slept in the house. Luckily the room was pretty plain, nothing huge or important, only an upside down table and large drawer fell on the ground, spreading much girlie stuff that I should probably never touch on the ground.

"Percy, we are too young to touch this stuff." Bobby said.

"Yeah! Daddy said to not touch, Annie's stuff!" Matthew said, trying to stifle his laugh.

"Well what makes you think I can touch Annie's stuff too?" I said. These kids were really getting on my nerves.

"Daddy didn't say you couldn't touch Annie's stuff. So start cleaning!" The boys laughed at their stupid antics and began making pressuring to clean up the various bras and panties strewn across the floor.

"You better pick it up or we are going to tell mommy and daddy." Bobby giggled. He pulled out his IPhone out of his pocket and began recording. "Chip chop! C'mon, start cleaning up!"

I sadly grabbed a bra between my index finger and thumb and quickly dropped it in the floor. I wasn't expecting the bra to feel weird. I don't know how to explain it but it felt very slippery. Eww. Trying to buy myself time for the inevitable, I fixed the table and placed the drawer where I thought it was supposed to go. Then, I began bra picking.

The more I felt them, the more eager I was to drop them. They felt so weird and I felt like a dirty man. The bras were so, like… ew. I didn't know how to explain it. It wasn't made out of regular fabric like my boxers. It felt like… ew.

"Hehe, wait until we show Annie this." Matthew smirked. His devious hands probably already texting his step sister of my framed dirty doing. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't stand myself thinking of doing something so disgusting. I snatched the phone from both the devil twins and deleted the video before it could be sent. Whew… close one.

"Alright guys, stop messing around, we need to eat dinner soon!" I bravely finished off the last couple of panties and bras and urged the kids downstairs. It was already 5:30 p.m. and I still haven't cooked anything. I opened the fridge and began improvising.

"Well boys, tonight we are having spaghetti stuffed inside burritos!" I announced. The boys cheered and began helping me with dinner. Soon dinner was set and the boys were waiting at the table on their phones.

"Hehe, Annie is going to be so mad…" Bobby said.

"Yeah, she is going to be pissed." Matthew whispered.

"Who's going to be pissed?" I asked.

"Annabeth!" They said in unison. The both held up their phones for me to read. It seems that the boys also took pictures and sent it to their sister. The text went a little like this.

Who is he? – Annie

Our babysitter – Twins

Tell him to meet me at the front of the house at 6:00. – Annie

I'm screwed…

So this is only a start of this story. I actually, like, genuinely enjoyed writing this and I tried to make sure I made no possible mistakes. I still probably did… Anyways, I hope you enjoyed some of the witty comebacks and of course the story.

-Zodiak