When December Ends

3

Disclaimer- I don't own PJO

A/N- This is a tribute to the Sandy Hook tragedy that happened on December 14th. I don't take this event lightly or any school shooting/tragedy. This is a dedication for my friend whose cousin was in Sandy Hook at the time.

Thalia was Percy's cousin? Percy was Thalia's cousin? I knew Thalia for years, and not once have I heard of a cousin. Sure, I've heard of and met Nico Di' Angelo. Nico was a year younger than us and was a freshmen. We hung out with him at lunch.

However, she never said she had any other cousins. I was shocked. Not only by the fact that Percy was Thalia's cousin, but the fact that Jason had no idea.

Thalia and Jason were brother and sister. But when Thalia said that Percy was her cousin, Jason was shocked. Jason had no idea about Percy. I wondered how Thalia seemed to know and why she avoided Percy. She never mentioned him and when I suggested to go sit with him, she immediately refused.

"Why didn't I know this?" Jason snarled.

"I'm sorry, Jason," Thalia apologized. "It was a supposed to be a secret."

"Why?" I questioned, crossing my arms.

"Because my dad and his dad didn't exactly agree. Poseidon went missing when Percy was born and Zeus agreed to not have any connection with them. He didn't care," Thalia explained.

I was shocked. Percy's dad went missing? Why didn't Mr. Grace care? I've met Thalia's dad many times and he was so nice. Intimidating, yes. Mean, no. He was pretty cool. Mr. Grace could be uptight but he was never mean or unjustified.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? I'm your brother!" Jason yelled.

"Because, Dad made me swear not to tell!" Thalia retaliated.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "So," I stated. " You leave him in the dust and ignore him completely even though he's in your blood?"

"If you say it like that, it sounds so bad!" Thalia groaned.

"That's because it kind of is," I said.

Thalia sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I feel awful." She muttered.

"Thalia," I said and she looked up. "Does Percy have a brother?"

Thalia just paled, tears threatening to spill out. She shook her head frantically and tried to bite back sobs that were caught in her throat.

"Thalia, what is it?" asked Jason.

"Tyson," she choked out. "His name was Tyson."

I felt my heart shatter. Tyson Jackson, a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. This was so wrong. So bad. Percy. His brother was in the school? That's impossible! Or was it?

"His brother… Oh god," I muttered out loud.

"Yeah," Thalia said. She had known about Tyson.

I thought back to the song he sang on Friday. 'Green and White' it was called. I finally realized the point of view. He was singing to his brother. The world seemed to crash on me like a tidal wave. I couldn't help the single tear that pooled on my cheek.

That's why he never smiled. That's why his eyes were haunted seas of green. Jason patted Thalia on the back who was now crying. Her eyeliner poured down her cheeks but neither of us cared.

"I have to talk to him." I announced before turning on my heel and starting down the hallway.

I made my way through the thin crowd of students. I headed towards the Cafeteria, immediately looking at the back corner. I was right, there sat Percy Jackson. He twirled his infamous pen and stared at the empty table in front of him.

I made my way over through the lunch hall and plopped in a seat right in front of Percy. His leg was propped up in a spare chair next to him. His black hood was up and the shadows prevented me from seeing his face clearly. He didn't look up at me, and instead just kept twirling his pen.

"Percy?" I asked.

He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and stared at me. When he lifted his head I could finally see his face. An ugly bruise decorated the right side of his face. His eyes were blood-shot and he looked so tired.

"Oh my-" I exclaimed. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine," he waved me off. "Walked into a pole."

"You walked into a pole?"

"I'm a clumsy person," he passed off.

I didn't want to pester him about it. Especially after what I just learned. I sighed and looked up at him. He looked sadder than ever. I knew I was going to regret this.

"Listen, Percy," I said. "I know that Thalia's your cousin."

He looked surprised at first, before relaxing his face with a wince. "Thalia told you, I'm guessing."

"How'd you know?"

"She sucks at keeping secrets. I'm surprised she's kept this one so long," he muttered, still twirling his pen.

"Oh," I said, shifting in my chair. "I also learned something else…"

He lowered his head, slugging his shoulders. It was almost as if he knew what I had meant. I sighed and ran my hand through a loose piece of hair that was hanging from my ponytail.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "No one deserves that."

He rubbed a hand over his eyes and looked back up at me. "I was there. I decided to bring him to school."

I sighed and toyed with a loose string off my jeans. This was really hard to take in and just hearing him say it broke my heart all the more. I looked up into his eyes and he looked into mine.

I scooted my chair over to his left side and I rubbed my hand up and down his back. At first, Percy tensed, slightly backing up. However, when I kept rubbing his back, he relaxed. He didn't look at me, but instead kept staring at the table in front of him. I leaned his head into my shoulder and felt him shudder.

I could tell people were staring at us but I didn't care. I felt terrible. I'd hate to admit it, but I was pretty popular at Goode. I knew everyone and I at least have talked to them once. But I never even heard of Percy. I think it's because of Thalia. She obviously didn't want any one to know about her connection with Percy. She must've made me avoid him on purpose.

I looked back at Percy when I felt his body slightly tremble. When a wetness met my neck I realized he was crying. My heart officially shattered. I wanted to mentally scold myself for caring so much about someone I pretty much just met. But how could I ignore this? He just lost his brother and not to mention he was shot!

I continued to rub circles in his back as he silently cried. I looked over to the other side of the cafeteria and saw Thalia, Jason, and our other friend Rachel staring at us. Thalia looked away as soon as our eyes met. I glanced at Jason before looking back to Percy.

His muscles tensed, as if he was alarmed by something. Percy pushed away from me lightly, checking his watch. His face paled tremendously and he went to stand up.

"What's wrong?" I insisted, going to stand up too.

He just ignored me, wiping his cheek furiously. He straightened up, getting his leg of the chair and turning to leave. I scrambled after him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Percy flinched backwards slightly, scared of my touch. I sighed, looking up at him with sympathy.

He shrugged my hand off his shoulder and kept walking towards the double doors.

"Percy! Percy, wait." I called after him.

He didn't turn around but he did stop and mutter, "Don't tell anybody."

I was frozen in my tracks. The temperature seemed to drop and I was left there, staring like an idiot. My eyes began to burn and I realized that I wasn't blinking. Percy had limped out of the cafeteria and no one seemed fazed by his exit. I sighed and debated wether I should follow him. I was forced not to when people started calling my over to the table where Jason and Thalia were.

I grabbed my lunch and went over there, forgetting about Percy's untouched tray. I sat down across from Jason and Thalia, next to Rachel.

"What happened?" Jason questioned.

"He-" I paused. Then, I remembered what Percy had said before he left. Don't tell anybody…

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Nothing… He had to go," I muttered.

Jason seemed to accept it, to my relief. I glanced at Thalia who had earbuds in her ears. Her head bobbed to the beat of the music and I could tell she was listening to Green Day. I sighed and picked at my salad. I wasn't really a fan of salad but my step-mom insisted that I ate healthy. Part of my just wanted to jump in a basin of cotton candy. Anything to get my mind off of Percy Jackson. I didn't want to think about him, or what he had been through… Or did I?

Lunch ended and the rest of the day seemed to drag. Jason, Thalia and I continued our stupid conversations and debates during class and we walked home together. Their house was before mine so after they went home, I was left by myself.

It wasn't too long of a walk but it seemed like forever. Now that I didn't have Thalia and Jason to distract me, my mind trailed to Percy Jackson.

His perfect jaw line and perfectly tanned skin made me just want to eat him. His deep sea green eyes made him look so young and innocent. Other than haunted scarred glow they had to them, he was stunning. The floppy mop of black hair was breathtaking.

He looked thinner, however, than most boys his age. I could never truly tell, thanks to the huge hoodies he wore. The nasty bruise looked relatively new, too. I sighed, reaching my front of my house.

The house was relatively big with its white exterior and shingled roof. The front doors were like church doors, wide and fancy. It rested near the beach and we could walk there in like five minutes from my backyard.

The whole back of the house was technically all glass, overlooking the rough New York coast. I was pretty rich, my dad being an engineer for NASA. However, he did travel a lot, so I didn't get to see him for a long period of time.

Anyway, when I entered my house, I deposited my shoes on the floor. My step-mom called out for me but I ignored her and went straight to my room. Her offer for an after-school snack were tempting but I decided to just pass it.

I slammed my bedroom door behind myself and sprawled out on my bed. My walls were a grassy green and my carpet was white. I never was allowed to bring food or drink upstairs in case I spilled anything but I was sure to keep a stash stowed away. A tall mahogany dresser stood in my corner with a full mirror on it.

My bed was tucked in the back-middle of my room and a window over looked the top of it. I glanced out and looked at the calming sea. I saw a figure in all black sauntering across it. He or She wasn't with anybody and their head was hung. I shrugged it off and dug into my backpack. I gasped when I pulled out a notebook. Percy's notebook.

I promised myself that I wouldn't look in it but I had forgotten to give it back. Now it was here, sitting on my duvet. The spine of the notebook was abused and tattered but the comp book was still in tact. Scribbles were on the front of it and I read them, Property of Percy Jackson.

I sighed and picked it back up. Around the cover were random sections of sea creatures of random people. A small sketch of a tree was tucked in the corner of the cover and the leaves were all shaped like hearts. It was a really good drawing.

Disappointed in myself, I flipped to the first page and began to read.

Done! Sorry it took me a while to get up and thank you all for the reviews! :) It means a lot! Let me know what ya'll thought and I'll update as soon as I can.

A/N- I noticed some major typos in Chapter One so I fixed those, BTW.