Okay. I just let out a big one. I went completely wacko on this chapter, having found just about 30 new ideas to go in this story. I only put in one this time.

So sorry it took so long, I was really busy. Ya know, end-of-the-year stuff, parents blocking Fanfiction, grades dropping, all that fun stuff. This chapter is quite possibly the longest one I've ever written.

I have good reason for all my story changes, you'll see them eventually. I have some really special stuff planned for this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. I only own Bellatrix Cooper and the Yancy Academy uniform.

Percy POV

Trix was looking way too awake for twenty-past-too-early in the morning.

Okay, maybe it was only 7:25, but, it was a Monday, and it was only two weeks until summer break.

Trix had done her hair differently today, in a bun held by a maroon elastic at the top of her head. She clearly hated it, how could she not, what with her face pulled back like the skin of a drum, which meant her annoying, high-pitched, 7th grader rich-kid roommate, Elisa, must've won a bet. Her glasses were straight, her bookbag over her shoulder, and her Yancy Academy uniform of a black, knee-length pleated skirt, a taupe blouse, and a maroon vest with the Yancy Academy crest on the breast pocket.

I was in my own uniform, which was a little, okay, a lot, less-than-perfect.I was wearing wrinkled black slacks that hadn't looked too dirty to wear twice in a row, a taupe button-down, and a maroon sweater with the Yancy Academy crest on the breast pocket. My maroon tie was undone, because I had overslept this morning, having studied for hours last night. My hair was messy, as usual, and I had forgotten my contacts in my dorm. Great. Now everything would be blurry for the rest of the day. Very few people knew that I wore contacts, and Trix was one of them. I glared down at my breakfast, tasteless waffles with glue for syrup and cardboard sausages, as if the stereotypical horrible school food were to blame for my own forgetfulness.

Grover, sitting next to me, wore much the same, only he had completely forgotten his tie and his shirt was white instead of taupe. He had on his rasta cap, which the teachers had given up on telling him to take off. His shoes were filthy, and he had the same breakfast as me. He took a long swig from his carton of milk, seemingly attempting not to eat the carton itself.

"So last night, Elisa was going on and on about how I should try to hook up her and Percy. I mean, it's no big secret that she likes you, and she seems to think that I have his special friend power that will allow me to make her like you, and re you gonna answer my question, or continue trying to set fire to the eggs with the lasers that will undoubtedly come out of your eyes at some point?" Trix' voice, dripping with sarcasm like a broken honey jar, knocked me back into consciousness.

"Whawazzat?" I asked, my tongue coming in last place for the coming-back-to-lucidity race.

"I asked what you were doing for the summer, smart one." She rolled her eyes, which had settled on a pale blue for the time being.

"I'm going to just spend the summer with my mom, maybe get a summer job. What are you doing, Trix?" I replied, ending with a question of my own.

"Well, I go to this summer camp where they teach us self-defence and all that shit." her voice was mezzo-soprano. My mother taught me the different musical ranges when I was a kid. "You should come this year, Percy." She said with honesty.

Hah. Like anyone would want to see me over the summer, except for my mum.

"I don't know, Trix. You know about my family's problems." I sighed dejectedly. "Maybe next year." But Trix didn't seem deterred.

"Oh, that's okay. It's free, except for the camp store. I really want to see you over the summer, you're one of my only friends."

I was speechless. She actually wanted to see me, weird little Percykins, who I thought only hung out with me out of pity, over the summer.

"You'd be the first to ever say that to me." I replied, speaking of how I never had any friends to miss me over the summer.

But if anything, Trix seemed even more excited. I looked at Grover out of the corner of my eye, who mouthed Is she vibrating? I nodded minutely.

Trix looked at my tie and raised a perfect eyebrow. "You're gonna be in trouble with the teachers for breaking dress code, mister." she fixed my tie for me, tightening it a little too much for my liking. I stuck one finger under the knot and pulled down was being slightly thoughtless because, without a doubt, she was planning on how to smuggle me to this summer camp in her overnight bag. "And you'll not be able to read the board without your contacts. So either go get your contacts and be late for class, or put on the glasses and be on time."

"How did you know I'd forgotten my contacts?"

"A series of minute changes in body language, Percy, as well as the fact that, when you're wearing your contacts, your eyes are slightly clouded over, and they're more blue that green due to the minute amount of pigment. I'm surprised Grover didn't pick the signs up." My jaw almost fell.

She had never outright done it before, but she had just called Grover stupid.

The worst part?

The insult had flown right over his head.

I decided that I hated Trix. She sat next to me in Pre-Algebra, our second-to-last class of the day, whizzing through the final exam like the teacher had accidentally given her the answer sheet in place of the blank test. She looked like she had never been calmer in her life. Her mechanical pencil never ran out of graphite, in fact, I never even saw her push on the end for more. Everyone who was even remotely fazed-out from the test instead were sniggering at the blue-framed glasses on my face. It's not like they were thick-rimmed or square-framed. They were just normal, metallic cobalt-framed bifocals. I couldn't concentrate; everyone but Trix and Grover were giggling at my glasses like they were seeing the funniest thing in the world. But even Grover seemed to find it amusing.

Traitor.

My face burned. Not with embarrassment, but with ill-concealed rage. Trix put down her pencil and glared at me, as if to say Dammit, Princess, pull yourself together. They aren't worth it. And she was right. I took a deep breath and went back to work, managing to finish third, but second if counting the guy at the back of the room with a cheat-sheet. Goes to show how smart the other kids are at Yancy. Grover finished at about the same time as Nancy Bobofit, who was surprisingly smart. Little-miss-perfection-teacher-lady-of-doom Mrs. Kerr collected our tests after the cheat-sheet kid finished with his retake.

The bell went, and we all trudged to our next class; Latin. Thank god. The only class where I had an A.

The class went quickly, and I was 100% sure I had aced the test. I threw an arm around Trix's shoulders, tearing her painfully from her book. "C'mon, Trix. Smile a bit! We're about to graduate the 9th grade!"

Just about anyone who looked at us would think we were only in 7th grade, but we actually just looked really young. Trix and I were both 14, and I was almost 15. Grover was just a really advanced 13 year old.

Trix let out a small smile that I would say was shy if I didn't know her better.

"Haven't you read that book before?" I gestured to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in her hands. She pushed my arm off and nodded, her face the color of a ripe strawberry. I forgot that she wasn't used to physical contact. She still wasn't use to me being all touchy-feely, as I always had been. My mom raised me to revel in kind physical contact. Trix hadn't had a mother growing up. "I'll talk to my mom about that summer camp, okay?" she nodded again.

We had been off school for a good week when the wolves came knocking.

Gabe was turning somewhere around one-million that night, and he had gone out with his poker buddies to some hotel and casino in Vegas. I think it was called something with a flower in it, but I was focused mainly on the fact that he would be gone for two weeks. My mother answered the door, looking down at the pack of wolves on the doorstep of our tiny apartment, before looking at me with both pride and despair in equal measures. She told me to go pack a bag and grab a sleeping bag. I would be gone for a while, and I would be sleeping outdoors.

I saw Trix wave at me from the front door before I went to pack. I had never seen her in a t-shirt and jeans, but she looked much more at home in this outfit than she ever was in the school uniform. Her shirt was a deep, royal purple with what looked like the tops of a gold laurel wreath and a line of four letters splayed in the same color. It was covered up mostly by a fluffy black jacket, just like my navy blue one hanging by the door. The jeans she wore were slightly faded, and she had on a pair of well-worn black hiking boots that probably would've done well as soccer cleats at the same time.

I would've loved to bring with me everything I owned, but to my dismay, it was impossible to fit my entire room into the big black duffle bag Mum had pulled from the hall closet. I emptied my dresser of all the clothes I'd need, then grabbed a photo of me and my mom from my bedside table. I had the strangest feeling it would be a while before I saw Manhattan again. I shrugged into a pair of well-fitting jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. I put on sports socks and dug my almost too-small hiking boots from the bottom of the closet. They were wrapped in a puffy, navy-blue, outdoor sleeping bag, which I tied to the top of the backpack-like duffle, before shoving my feet into the boots. I was wrong before, and they actually fit perfectly. As an afterthought, I packed my favorite pair of tennis shoes, zipped up my bag, sent a glance over my shoulder at my still-looking-the-same bedroom, and closed the door for the last time in what I felt would be a very long time.

I was standing in the front hall of the tiny apartment I had called home for the past twelve years. My mother had pulled the hairband from her brown-grey hair, the curls falling to her shoulders from what was a messy bun. She held out a puffy blue jacket, which I shrugged on and probably broke the record for the longest amount of time taken to put on a jacket. I slung my heavy pack over my shoulder, almost toppling backwards from the sheer weight of it all, before putting the second strap over my other shoulder. the padding of the jacket helped on the shoulders.

'Mom, where am I going?" I asked her, my voice all of the sudden sounding childish. She smiled at me, now glowing with pride.

"Percy, you're going to go and train. You're going to learn to be a hero." She patted me on the shoulder and kissed me on the cheek, then nudging me out the door. I sent one last look at the apartment and my mother, before the door was closed and I was about to go camping for the first time in my life.