A/N: Just a short one-shot I thought of while at my school assembly this year. Might edit a bit later. By the way, happy 11/11/11! Depending on what time zone/part of the world you're in, you might have already made a wish at 11:11. I was listening to Stormy by Hedley, off their new album while writing this (: Amazing song, amazing people. Reminds me a lot of the Son of Neptune & Percabeth but that's a story for another time.
Disclaimer: yeah, you really don't have to do this but- whatever. RR owns PJO, not me.
Sitting in an assembly was hardly ever any fun. The only real good thing about them would be missing a class or two. Maybe it's math, maybe it's English. But when you can hardly ever sit still, and now you're expected to be completely silent out of respect… well it gets pretty hard.
The auditorium seats suddenly became more uncomfortable after the national anthem was finished. Percy shifted in his as the first speaker walked toward the stage.
"Welcome all parents, staff and students to our annual Memorial Day assembly. Here at Goode, we make an effort to try and recognize all soldiers who have fought for our freedom by wearing a poppy," stated the principal.
Percy grimaced. How could anyone possibly try and remember everyone when there was an entire world they had no idea about? It's not that Percy didn't appreciate the effort, but to say all was a little bit unrealistic.
"…war changes you, as we all know. Most veterans do not like to talk about what they had seen or done."
Would Percy be considered a veteran? He faintly remembered an assembly in one of the first schools he had been kicked out of. Most of them were a lot older than fifty. None were ever sixteen.
And as for not liking to talk about wars, the principal was right. Percy much rather liked happy things like hanging out with his super-busy best friend and girlfriend. Grover was preoccupied with his whole 'lord of the wild' gig. And he usually had to coax Annabeth into taking any time at all off of her architect schedule.
Someone coughed and Percy frowned yet again. War does change people. It teaches you to live each day as if it were your last. Because in Percy's screwed up world of gods and monsters and Titans (and maybe even Giants- if Annabeth was right), it could be.
The principal finished before handing off the mic to student council president. And then there was faint applause from the back of the room. There was a round of sighs and glares from the teachers all across the room.
As the students were reminded every year, you were not supposed to clap at this kind of ceremony. But there was always that one asshole that did and thought he was hilarious.
"Hi," said the peppy president that always reminded Percy of his first encounter with the cheerleaders/empousas at Goode. "… I will now hand it over to the choir."
The rest of the time went much the same way, with various clubs/groups putting something forth, people whispering, or leaning over to pick up dropped poppies.
"And now we ask you to please stand in silence. Take this time to remember..." There was a bunch of ruckus as shoes were scuffed across the polished floors. But after a few seconds it became quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Castor, Ethan, Beckandorf, Silena… Luke. Percy was suddenly thrown back into the day where they burned the shrouds. He gripped his necklace tightly, fingering his fourth bead.
Everyone around him looked bored and not one person even glanced at him. He was just a normal student, looking just the same as all the others. Not one person in the building knew what all the demigods of Camp Half Blood had been through, except maybe Paul.
He remembered his shock when he had first seen his father looking so old. The minutes seemed to stretch on when he remembered the gods fighting Typhon. And he thought of Annabeth looking pale, with the gash on her arm- because of him. He wondered how he could possibly ever forget.
"Thank you, please be seated," rang out the principal's voice. Someone coughed a 'finally' and laughter erupted from somewhere in front of Percy. He glared in the general direction of the comment. He thought of how someone he knew had probably saved that ignorant kid's life.
Three months ago, in the unknown (to mortals) Battle of Manhattan.
And to be honest, he was glad he wouldn't have to be the hero again. He was just a teenager that has a friendly hellhound and a Pegasus as 'pets'. Oh and a seemingly normal pen that is anything but normal. He did get some rather odd looks when he was caught shoving it into his shoe in gym. But then again, the Laistrygonians incident is not one he wanted to repeat.
And though the world was far from being great, it hasn't been destroyed, yet. There was finally going to be peace in his own life, at least for a little while.
Please review! :)