Chapter 2: Hold Tight, Wait Til the Party's Over

My mom is actually the best person in the world, and she's the perfect example that the best people have the worst luck. When my mom was five, her parents died in a plane crash and she was raised by her uncle, who didn't care about her at all. Then her uncle got cancer and she had to quit school to take care of him, and when he died he left her with no money, no family and no diploma. The best thing to ever happen to her was meeting my dad, and he left too. She doesn't like talking about him but he was apparently rich and important, and they weren't married. But then he left to sail across the ocean on some mission and didn't come back.

He was lost at sea, she always told me. Never dead, just lost at sea.

My mom worked odd jobs and took night classes to get her diploma; she never complained or got mad once but, I knew it was hard for her. Eventually she married Gabe Ugliano, the worst mistake of her life. He smelled of mold and sweat, and we never got along.

When I got home, he was in the living room playing poker with him friends. ESPN was on the television and beer cans were all over the floor. He didn't even look at me but I knew he knew I came in. I looked around and asked him where my mom was and he told me she was working and asked me for money. With his money he bought cigars and beer, and with mine he paid off his debts.

"I don't have any cash," I told him.

"Oh really? Well you took a taxi here from the bus station and you probably paid with a twenty. So that means the seven bucks in your pocket is mine kid." he scoffed.

"I hope you lose asshole." I said throwing the money on the table.

"We got your report card kid, I wouldn't act so smart." He yelled as I left the room. I slammed the door to my room, which apparently became Gabe's office. His muddy boots were on my windowsill and it reeked of cigars and his cologne. I thought of Mrs. Dodds, and I felt my legs go weak. I had the feeling that something was still looking for me.

"Percy?" I heard my mom call. She walked into my room and a smile lit up her face. "You've grown up so much!"

She sat down next to me and gave me a bag of candy. Whenever I came home she'd bring me home a bag of free samples from the candy shop she works at in Grand Central station. She wanted me to tell her everything I hadn't mentioned in my letters and she didn't mention once me getting expelled. She didn't even seem to care about it, all that matter was that I was doing alright.

From the other room I heard Gabe yell, "Sally, how 'bout that bean dip?"

God, I hate him. My mom deserved to be married to a great guy, not this ass. To make her happy, I tried to make my year at Yancy sound great and that the expulsion wasn't too bad because I lasted almost a whole year at the same school for once. I made great friends and my best class was Latin, and we went to the museum; which brought Mrs. Dodd's to my mind.

"What's wrong? Did something happen at the museum?" my mom asked.

"No." I lied. I felt bad lying but I knew I'd sound insane if I told her the truth.

"I have a surprise for you!" She smiled. That was the best part about my mom, she never pushed. "We're going to Montauk beach!"
"What? When? For how long?" I smiled. I loved Montauk, and my mom and I used to go every year before Gabe said there wasn't enough money.
"Once I get changed, for three days and three nights, same cabin." She smiled. Of course, Gabe ruined the moment, but my mom handled it. When she was ready, we got in Gabe's Camaro and my mom floored it.

My mom and I have a thing for blue food, so we sat around our fire with our blue corn chips, blue jellybeans, blue saltwater taffy and all the other samples she brought from work. My mom told me how when she got enough money she was going to quit the candy shop and write books.

Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about my dad. He was always on my mind when we went to Montauk because this was where they met. She told me what she always told me; he was kind, tall, handsome and powerful but he was also gentle. She told me I have his green eyes and his black hair and if he could see me, he would be so proud.

Why would she say that? Who would be proud of a dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ average?

"How old was I.. I mean, when he left?"
She stared at the fire. "Percy.. he was only with me for one summer. This beach and this cabin."

"But he knew me as a baby right?" I asked.

"No." she sighed. "He knew I was having a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."

He never saw me.. I thought, but that's impossible. Whenever I thought of my dad, I remembered a warm glow, even a smile. I always just assumed he knew me as a baby, though my mom never told me. Suddenly I felt angry. How could my dad just leave? My mom loved him and he left without even seeing me, his own son. He stuck us with smelly Gabe, and now I was going to get sent away again and make my mom deal with him.

"So, you're sending me to another boarding school next year aren't you?" I asked staring into the fire.

Pulling out a marshmallow she sighed, "I don't know honey, we'll have to do something.."
"Because you don't want me around?" I asked, but once I said it I regretted it. Her eyes started tearing up and she looked over at me.

"Oh no Percy! That's not it at all! It's just; I have to send you away. You don't realize how important you truly are and I thought at Yancy you'd finally be safe, but I guess not."

And there we go again. Another person talking about my safety. What was out there that everyone was so scared about? And how did my mom know about it?

"I've tried to keep you as close to me as possible, but that was a mistake and there's only one place left where I know you'll be safe. It was a place your father wanted you to go... but I just can't do it."

"Another boarding school?" I asked.

"Not a school, a summer camp. But Percy I can't do it. I can't send you there knowing I may lose you forever."
"Forever? But if it's just a summer camp -" and then I stopped myself. Just seeing her expression made me realize if we keep talking about it, she was going to start crying.

Camp Half-Blood:

The sun beamed down of their faces. What a beautiful day, Jillian thought to herself. She was tanning on the dock with Silena Beauregard, a daughter of Aphrodite, trying to relax before archery. She propped herself up on her shoulders and looked around.

"Looking for Luke?" Silena smiled to herself. Jillian looked down at her and laughed.

"Nope, keeping an eye out for Travis and Connor. This is an opportune moment for them to prank us."

Silena scoffed, "They can do whatever they want, but if they ruin my bathing suit, there won't be enough ambrosia in the camp to help them."

Jillian laughed and looked down at her. Silena may be little, but she didn't doubt that she was kidding. She may look like just a pretty girl with her perfectly curled black hair, Coco Chanel sunglasses and bedazzled pink monokini, but if the Stoll twins ruined one thing about her, she probably would actually kill them. She turned around again when she saw them standing behind a bush.

"I see them, but they're not even looking in this direction. It looks like they're staring down Beckondorf." she shrugged.

"Poor Charlie won't even see it coming." Silena sighed lifting up her sunglasses and glancing over.

"Charlie? I'm sorry, did I miss when you two became on a first-name basis?" Jillian asked.

"We're not on a first-name basis, I just used his actually name once, is that a bad thing?" Silena said getting defensive. Before Jillian could respond, the subject was changed.

"So how are you and Luke?"

"Oh, umm..." Jillian sighed. "We're decent I guess... sort of."

"Uh oh. What happened?" Silena said sitting up and looking over at Jillian.

"Nothing with us, it's just - I don't know what's wrong with him. He seems so distant some days, but then the next he acts like everything's perfect."

"Have you tried asking him what his deal is?" Silena asked pushing her sunglasses on her head. "Especially the dream thing. Don't get me wrong Jill, I love you and Luke, but the screaming in the middle of the night, waking up the whole camp thing, is seriously ruining my beauty sleep."

"Well if you want to know what the dreams are about, ask Luke. He won't tell me. I've tried asking him what was wrong but he never wants to talk to me about it and he always puts it off, so I'm giving up trying to understand him."

Silena turned around and rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's because of her."

Jillian turned around, and saw Luke and Annabeth walking through the pavilion laughing. "Annabeth? No I highly doubt that's it."

"Who knows? Why tell you everything when he has Annabeth to talk to? It makes sense."

"Silena, if you're trying to get me to hate Annabeth, it's not working."

"Well it's not like she likes you! I mean clearly she's in love with Luke and resents you for being with him. I know love remember? Trust me, if you weren't with him and if she didn't give off the whole "sister" vibe, Luke would be all over that and she would not complain."

"Silena, stop." Jillian sighed. "At least he's talking to someone right?"

"Yeah, the competition." Silena chuckled.

"Alright we're done with this topic now. Why don't we go back to Charlie?" Jillian laughed. Silena laughed along and winked at her.

The power of the Aphrodite girls, Jillian thought. They have everyone love them, but it's rare they fall in love themselves. How nice that would be. To not fall in love, and save the heart break. And her thoughts ran back to Luke..

and Annabeth.