The cool afternoon of June 21st can be easily described as being the perfect summer day. If any moment were to be a Kodak moment, it would be this one. Families are picnicking in Central Park, enjoying the sun's warmth. Everybody seems to be outside, enjoying the first day of summer with the exception of only one person. Young Percy Jackson, who has decided to spend this beautiful day in bed.

His mother, Sally, has already been awake for hours along with everyone else in the city. She has all the curtains and windows open to let in the crisp, fresh air. Percy's room, on the other hand, is so dark that it would be hazardous for anyone to try and walk in the doorway. Having been in his room numerous time over the last sixteen years, Sally fearlessly opens his door and heads straight for his window without tripping on anything in the process. She draws open the curtains, allowing the bright sunlight to shine over the room. She turns back around and is horrified by the sight before her.

The room is a complete mess! Clothes are thrown carelessly onto the floor. Several of his dresser drawers are wide open with clothes spilling out of them as well. His closet is stuffed with junk and every single one of his hangers is empty. Probably because all the clothes are on the floor, Sally thinks to herself. She notices that every nook and cranny of her son's room has something crammed into it. She shakes her head, smiling to herself.

As she finishes surveying the room, she looks towards the bed. Percy is sprawled out, covering his head with his pillow. No wonder the sunlight didn't wake him up. His blankets are barely covering him and are almost all the way off the bed, soon joining everything else on the floor. The fitted sheet is only hanging on by one edge. Sally sighs. My son.

She walks over to the bed, stepping around the clothes piles as if she were jumping around bombs on a minefield. She sits on the edge of the bed next to Percy. She gently shakes his shoulder. Unfortunately, he just groans and slightly shifts his position. Sally purses her lips.

"Percy, wake up," she tells him, shaking him once more.

He groans again and flips over to face her, removing his head from under his pillow. "Mom? Why are you waking me up so early? I don't have to go to school yet. Summer just started last week."

She smiles, holding back a laugh. "It's almost 11:00 in the afternoon."

Percy's sleepy eyes widen a little. "No wonder it's so bright outside."

"Yes. It's time for you to get out of bed too."

"Ugh," he grumbles, dropping his head back onto his bed. "Five more minutes."

"Time to get up. You've been in bed all day. We need to leave soon, remember?"

"No, why? Where are we going?" he asks her, sitting up again.

"I told you Paul and I are going on our honeymoon this summer. You are going to camp until we get back." Yet again, he groans. "Enough moaning and groaning. You can't come with us and I don't want you to be here by yourself all summer. It will end up looking like this room. We've been through this already," Sally explains.

Percy sits up, rubbing his emerald eyes. "I know, but why camp? What am I supposed to do there?"

"Make new friends or you can just enjoy the sun and fresh air."

"Making friends isn't really an option for me. Grover is the only friend I've ever had. I won't be there long anyway because I'll end up blowing up the camp like I did to all my schools. You'll have to either bury my dead body or bail me out of jail."

"Percy," she calmly says, "the camp will be good for you. There will be plenty of people there your age. I'm sure you'll become good friends with some of them. You might even find a girl you like."

"Yeah, right. Every girl who has ever looked at me has had disgust in their eyes at some point. It's like the very sight of me could infect them or something. I might as well be a plague."

"Camp isn't the same as school though. Kids from all over the country will be there. I'm sure one of them will at least be interested. Who wouldn't love my little boy?" Sally says, using a baby voice at the end.

"Mom! I'm not a little boy anymore."

She smiles sadly. "I know. At least give camp a chance. We leave soon, so start packing."

"Fine," he gives in.

Sally leaves the room, heading back to their small kitchen. Percy flops back onto the bed, groaning once more. Then, he sits up and stretches. He hops off the bed, starting for the bathroom down the hallway. He takes a quick shower and goes back to his room to change into his clothes for the day. He shakes his raven black hair dry like a dog and chooses not to do anything else with it. He changes into a periwinkle blue shirt and khaki cargo shorts. Once changed, he begins packing for camp.

What will camp be like? Will we have to sing camp songs and make macaroni art like in all the movies? I hope not. Several thoughts similar to these run throughout his head as he slowly packs his clothes. To see whether the clothes on the floor are clean or not, Percy picks them up and smells them. A couple times he nearly gags at the ripe smell of some of his clothes. Whenever he comes across something that smells relatively clean, he sloppily tosses into his suitcase.

He digs deeper into a pile, coming across a pair of blue and white Nike basketball tennis shoes. "I've been looking for these everywhere!" He exclaims out loud.

In another pile, Percy finds a pizza box with a half-eaten slice of pizza in it. "Gross! I haven't been looking for that!"

Thinking he's packed enough stuff, he zips up his suitcase and lugs it out to the living room. Before he sets it down by the door, he nearly knocks over a lamp and one of the small end tables by the couch. Luckily, he catches the lamp and puts it back on the table as it tips over. Percy releases a sigh of relief. That would've been bad!

"Please be careful, Percy! Try not to break anything before we have to leave!" His mom calls from the other room.

"Sorry, Mom," he calls back, heading in the direction of her voice.

He walks into the kitchen, finding his mother cooking. A few dirty dishes are on the counter-top, but the rest of the dishes are either in the cabinets or in the drying rack next to the sink. Sally always seemed to keep everything clean and spotless minus the train wreck of a room belonging to her son.

"Have you packed everything?" She asks him.

"Yeah. Where's Paul?"

"He'll be here before long."

You may be wondering why Percy called his dad Paul. The answer is very simple. Paul is Percy's step-dad. Percy's real father has been out of the picture since Percy was a little boy. Paul was the principal at one of Percy's old schools. He met Sally during a conference a couple years ago and they immediately hit it off. They got married a few months ago, but decided not to go on a honeymoon until the summer. As if on cue, Paul walks through the door.