Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the lyrics to the songs in these stories, or the songs Independent and Crank That.(I don't know if this needs to be in here, but just to be on the safe side so I don't get sued I put it in here.)
Summary: IT'S SPRING BREEAK! This story is post TC, from Percy's POV.
Percy plans to have over Annabeth and Grover. They're coming to visit while his mom is on a date with Mr.Bowfis, but somehow, word gets out about their little get together, and soon, about half of Camp Half-Blood is gathered in Percy's living room! His mom comes home and finds something that will not please her. But before this happens, a god will appear making a not so grand entrance. Plus, what's a PJO story without some good old Percabeth!? Okay, please read and review!
Inspiration: If you are a fan of the show Everybody Loves Raymond, you will recognize something in this story from one of my favorite episodes!
It was spring break. Finally. Thank the gods. I thought it was never going to get here. Ever since I started attending Camp Half-Blood, I developed a love for spring break. Spring break meant only two more months of school, and that meant only two more months until camp!
Usually, this alone was enough to get my heart beating faster, but then I thought about the fact that I would be spending a few months with Annabeth and my heart rate practically doubled.
I know what you're thinking. I know. I seem more like the sort of guy who goes for brunettes.
Okay, see. Here's the thing. I've known Annabeth for a while now, and to be perfectly honest, when we first met, we didn't get along well, since her mom sort of caught my dad, Poseidon, in her temple with his girlfriend, Medusa, and turned her into a terribly ugly person. Annabeth always had come off to me as a know-it-all and was (still is now that I think about it) sort of bossy. But we managed to work things out, and we actually became really close. We became more than that. We became good friends. But lately, I've been having feelings for her that aren't exactly within the lines of friendship. Around Christmas time, when I went on my third quest, I was really sad when she fell off a cliff. (Well I would like to think that I would be sad if any one of my friends went tumbling off the edge of a cliff, but you get what I mean). I was sure I was going to tell her how I felt, but then Athena, who also happens to be Anabeth's mother sort of ruined what I'd been working towards. But when I replay this whole situation in my head, it was probably good because I'm not sure she felt the same way towards me. It probably saved me a whole lot of embarrassment in the end. And most of all, I did not want to risk our friendship.
So after Athena's warning, I really tried to look at Annabeth as just my good friend who also happens to be a girl, who I think is pretty cute, and smart, and pretty, and totally funny. But it wasn't
working out. Whenever she looked at me with those deep gray eyes, I felt totally lost. She would hug me, and I didn't want to let go.
But I had to.
We kept in touch through e-mail, since neither I nor she had Facebook or MySpace. She would send me pictures of herself just to let me know what she was up to. And I did the same for her.
Today was a really special day because not only was it spring break, but it was also the day that Grover and Annabeth were coming over to my house. Since my mom was going to be out late on a date with her boyfriend, Mr.Blofwfis, I had the house all to myself so my mom said that I could plan to have some friends over. Immediately, I choose these two, since I don't get to see them all year, considering they would have to fly all the way out here. Well not Grover. Annabeth, though.
This way, we would have time to catch up on each other's lives before returning to camp for the summer. I had been looking forward to this for a while.
I had already spent most of my day cleaning the house, since I didn't want my friends to think I lived like a slob or something, even if that was half true.
As the day went on, I got more and more excited about catching up with them after what had felt like so long.
At about six o'clock, the doorbell rang. I ran to answer it quickly, then decided that I didn't want to look as if I had nothing better to do other than wait around for them, even though that was exactly the case.
I swung open the door. And standing there, right on my front step, were my two best friends who had been there for me through everything, and who would possibly be the only true friends I would ever have. There, standing in front of me was Grover and Annabeth.
"Hey G-man!" I said, my eyes flashing with excitement. "How have you guys been?" I asked as they walked into my house, both grinning at me. Grover took off his hat (he kept on his shoes and pants, thank the gods) and his coat. He gave me a punch in the arm.
I turned to greet Annabeth, but she was already in my arms. She was giving me a giant hug. Not a romantic hug, but a friendly type of hug. Yet still a hug. Grover stood there watching, always expecting something more to happen. It never did.
When I let go of her, I stepped back and looked at her. She was wearing dark wash jeans, and a gray shirt synched at the waist that matched her deep gray eyes perfectly. Her long blonde curls hung down her back and rested on her shoulders. There was an awkward silence as I realized Grover had just caught what I was doing.
"So……."Annabeth said.
I led them to the kitchen to get soda and snacks.
We talked and caught up. We talked about how school was going, recent attacks, how excited we were for camp. We talked about many things. Everything. Everything except my growing feelings for Annabeth, the nearing war, and the prophecy that promised that when it all came to an end, I would be in the middle of it. We usually tried to keep the subjects light. There was so much stress we constantly faced, being half-bloods. When we got together we just joked around so that we didn't have a panic attack by the time the actual war came. After all, that was when we really needed to go into panic mode.
A few minutes later, my mom walked out the door. Finally, we could start talking and being louder. The evening was going great. That is until the doorbell rang for the second time that night. I walked to answer it going down a checklist in my mind of who it could be even though from what I knew, we weren't expecting any more company.
When I swung open the door, I've got to tell you, I was surprised. I didn't expect to find the Stoll brothers at my house, or Silena Buldegard, from the Aphrodite cabin. Apparently they thought they were invited to my house or something. Actually, they referred to it as a "party".
What the heck? I didn't tell anyone else about this except Grover and Annabeth. Why would they think were invited, or even want to come? And where was this rumor about a party and my house coming from?
But I let them inside. I felt that I had to. I mean, I would truly be a bad person just to let them sit outside or tell them to leave.
This was a mistake, I guess. About an hour later, almost all of Camp Half-Blood seemed to be gathered in my living room!
At first, I was excited to see some of them, as their presence brought back memories and fun times at camp. But after the doorbell chimed for about the tenth or so time that evening, I was getting less excited, and more confused and angry. By this time I had found that thanks to Grover, who had accidentally told "just a few" people about going to my house for the evening, our house was being used for a party area.
There were kids from every cabin in my house. Even the Ares cabin. Clarisse was there, in my house! Since when does she get off being an ass to me, then coming to my house and eating my food? Oh right! I remember! She doesn't!
A bunch of kids had brought their iPods, and had plugged them into my ihome. They had turned just switched the lights off, and were dancing in the dark. They had turned my home into some sort of high school/middle school mixer!
I walked out of the kitchen into the family room where a too load bass set the beat of the rap music that was know being blared in the background.
"I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T," the rap artist shouted.
I looked around my house. Kids were jumping up and down, grinding each other, eating, making out on my couch- OH MY GODS! SILENA WAS LIKE ON TOP SOME GUY WHO I COULDNT SEE THE FACE OF. OH MY GODS, EWW, OH EWW, WHAT THE-? OH GODS!
I quickly averted my eyes, trying to look anywhere but there. I did not want to see what they were going to do next, that I was sure about.
"Guys!" I shouted. "You can't be so loud. The neighbors just called and said to turn down the music!"
Man, this was out of control. I had to get them to calm the hell down.
But I was so annoyed, and I had to get away from that music and all the making out happening directly on top my furniture, so I walked to my room. I almost ran to my bed, then collapsed, letting my knees buckle from under me. Letting out a big sigh, I closed my eyes.
When I opened them a few minutes later, I could see that someone was standing in the doorway. I looked up. It was Annabeth.
"Can I come in?" She asked, more unsure of herself than usual. Wait, I thought. This Is Annabeth. Since when is she unsure of herself?
"Yeah, yeah," I began.
She walked over to my bed, then stood there awkwardly for about ten seconds.
"You can sit down," I said. "If you want to, I mean."
She looked at the space next to me on my bed. The walls to my bedroom must be paper thin, because I could hear the music and kids yelling from out in my living room.
I looked up at Annabeth who had her head tilted downward, looking at the floor. Then, suddenly, she quietly laughed to herself.
"What?" I asked.
It took her a minute to pull herself out of her train of thought. Then she responded, "This is funny, isn't it? Like, one second, it feels like we have such normal lives, just like regular kids, and the next, there's an out of control party here with all of camp reuniting in your house, catching up."
"Yeah," I said. "I guess I never really thought about it. How we are so normal in many ways, yet are still so separate from the rest of the world."
She looked up at the ceiling, then cocked her head in my direction, then back at the ceiling again.
"Don't you ever get scared, Percy?" Her eyebrows wrinkled. "I mean, don't you ever feel just plain fear for . . . for your fate?"
I tried to look at her, but I found it hard. So instead I followed her example, and looked up at the ceiling.
"Sure," I said. "How could I be who I am? How could I know my fate and not be scared? But I've learned I can't let it consume me. I have to live my life until it's over, until I'm sixteen, and just pray that I'll get to see years past that." I took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. "But of course, I would just be lying to say I didn't get scared."
She didn't respond to that. She didn't have to. Instead we just sat there in silence for who knows how long. After about five minutes, she put her head down next to mine. Then, what she did next shocked me. She reached over and hugged me. She hugged me hard, and this time she didn't let go.
No, it wasn't a romantic hug. But it wasn't a hug that made me think that our future held only a friendship. It was something that could maybe suggest a little bit more. Just not now, not tonight.
Then, I heard the door to my bedroom quietly creek open. Next thing I knew, a girl's voice that was none other than Clarisse's shouted, "Oh my gods, I think I just walked in on Percy and Annabeth having some sort of heart-to-heart, romantic moment!"
Her announcement was followed by a bunch of laughing, then Silena arguing with her to "leave us alone!"
Annabeth smiled. A look of embarrassment flooded over her cheeks. Without even looking at myself, I was 100 percent sure I looked the same way too.
We just sat there for about ten more minutes. It was so peaceful, just sitting with someone, and not having to feel like you need to say anything. We were just content with each other's company.
But that's when my signature bad luck kicked in.
I'd like to think there's a certain point in everyone's life when something so outrageous and unexplainable, and not-funny-until-later, happens. At these times, I always feel as though another form
of Percy Jackson is floating up out of my body, watching the real Percy Jackson from a bird's eye view, cracking up at his life story and the situation taking place.
At this point, I heard the unmistakable sound of wood and metal and gods knows what else, cracking and breaking.
Then, in what seemed like slow motion, I looked over at Annabeth. Her gry eyes were double the size, her mouth preparing to drop open in disbelief of what she saw.
I looked down at my feet and saw a piece of what looked like my wall lying on my shoe.
When I looked up from where I was sitting, there was by no mistake a car sitting in my bedroom. A fucking car had crashed through my bedroom wall.
As if things weren't already freaky enough, the last person who I expected to see in the world stepped out of that car, casually opening the door, wearing his usual wife beater. Seriously, you will never guess who it was.
And no, it was not Kronos.
The door to the red sports car opened, and out stepped the Apollo, god of the sun.
"Whoa, dude. Where the hell are we?" Apollo said, as he looked around in amazement.
Then, stepping out of the passenger's seat of the car emerged the goddess of love, Aphrodite.
"Apollo!" she yelled. "You suck at driving! Next time, I will take myself here! " She sighed. "I just knew it was bad luck when that freaking camera broke. Apollo, do you think I depend on my camera that helps me see mortals up close too much? Do you think I, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, have become too dependent on some technology system of mortals?"
"Hey, don't blame me. You told me to get you to these two love birds fast, and I did," he said as if nothing at all was wrong. As if my house wasn't in ruins. "And I would prefer to keep my opinion on your little camera device to myself." He paused, as if to say he was done, but I guess he wasn't. "And don't even talk about my driving skills! I drive quite well, thank you very much! I drive the fucking sun chariot every day, and I believe I know how to drive. You just give bad directions, constantly yelling for me to turn one way, then suddenly changing your mind, and pointing in the other direction. And this, Aphrodite, is the result of your poor map reading skills."
Annabeth and I just stared. That was all we could do at this point. I mean, I was in shock from the situation, and angry beyond hell, but even I knew enough about the gods to know that you didn't blame them for anything, yell at them, or accuse them of doing something less than perfect. So I did the only thing I could do. I kept my mouth shut.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You're not supposed to say that in front of them! Remember the plan!" Aphrodite said, whispering as if we were some dumb sort of animal species that were oblivious to her comments.
Apollo didn't seem to be minding Aphrodite to much attention, because his response to this was totally ignoring her. He cocked his ear to the left of himself. Suddenly I realized what he was doing. If you know your Greek mythology well, you will recall that Apollo also happens to be the god of music. He was checking out the songs playing in my living room. I was so out of it I didn't even pay attention to what was playing at the moment. This little party's music hit list was a minor problem at the moment.
"Very nice," Apollo commented. "I love this song! Can't get enough of it."
Then, just when you think your life cannot get any weirder, it does.
Apollo suddenly was standing in my room, busting out in the latest Soulja Boy dance, Crank That. I could hear the words in the background, and for some reason, I had an urge to get up there with him and break it down.
Okay, wow. You never heard me say that.
It's just that at this moment, Apollo looked so real. For a second, just a second, as he was doing the superman, I almost forgot he was a god. Back deep in the corners of my mind I wondered if really the gods were just regular ordinary people, nothing special about them, except for the fact that they pretty much ran the world.
But back to this messed up story that just so happens to be my life.
Aphrodite's reaction to this was an eye roll; something the girls at my school do a lot. The ADHD part of my mind that was somewhere of in space wondered if Aphrodite will forever be a teenager at heart, falling in love for the very first time.
"So how's it been going, Percy Jackson. I haven't heard about any big trouble you've gotten yourself into since your last quest." Apollo remarked.
"Honestly, Apollo! Now is not the time for some small talk conversation! We have to leave, now." Aphrodite said, her voice stern in a way that said she was in no mood to mess around.
"Okay. Well guys, this has been sufficiently awkward." Apollo smiled for some reason, though I had trouble trying to figure out what he could possibly be smiling about.
And with that, Apollo and Aphrodite, as well as the sports car, began to sparkle and emit this glorious beautiful golden light, more glorious than anything you have ever seen. I knew by this point in my life that when a god began to glow, it was best you look away if you didn't want to get burned to ashes by seeing their truly divine form.
I looked over at Annabeth. She was staring at nothing. Thinking most likely, knowing her, and probably plotting some way to fix this whole mess. But by the looks of the situation we were in, I had my doubts that even a daughter of Athena could get us out of this mess.
I stood up from my bed and walked into the kitchen and living room, afraid of what I might see: People running for their lives.
Actually, everyone was calling their parents and leaving. They did not want to be a part of this mess, and I couldn't blame them.
Annabeth stood at my side looking confused and angry. She didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.
Within about an hour everybody was cleared out of my housed. Grover had gone home. The only other person left was Annabeth. I had called my mom to mention to her that there had been a major blowout party at our house, and that there was a minor whole in our wall. And guess what? She thought I was joking. It took me about five minutes to convince her that no, I was not joking, that her son was actually telling the truth. There was indeed a whole in the wall. Of course once she figured this out she came rushing home from her date. I figured that I would mention the fact that two of the major twelve Olympians had paid a little visit to our street as well, because I didn't want all this information to result in a minor heart attack.
Me and Annabeth settled down on the couch to watch a movie after we finished helping my mom pick up the pieces of my wall from my bedroom floor. I had decided that I was not going to mention (at least not tonight) to my mom about the whole god visit. Maybe some other time, but right now she already had enough on her plate considering we would need major reconstruction of the wall in our house that Apollo driven into. Correction: The wall in our house that Apollo had driven through.
Well anyways, that was my weird spring break. But it pretty much matched up to the rest of my luck. I wish I would have know what was coming though; taken this as some sort of warning for the events that would take place in the future. But looking back on it, nothing could have prepared me for what was coming.
A/N: Okay, so that's it! I purposely tried to make the ending build up to The Battle of the Labryinth; make readers even more anxious for the fourth book that we've all been waiting for, for so, so long. I hoped you liked it, though. I will write more fanfics that pursue the relationship of Percy and Annabeth. I purposely kept them apart in this one with some tension, leaving off where the Titan's Curse seems to have left us.
Please review, because I respect everyone's opinion who takes the time to review, and will consider your adivice!
-thegodsarealive