OMG! 700+ VIEWS! YAY! THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! :D I can't believe this! And thanks for all of the reviews and everything! But when school starts again, I might have to go to updating 2 or 3 times a week. Thanks again! All of your support means so much to me! Sorry for major OOCness and typos! Happy reading!

Percy

As I walked away from the two girls, I couldn't get the image of the stunning (and scary) gray eyes out of my head. I could see that there was some sort of trapped emotion inside of them, but I couldn't figure out what.

Thalia was seemed pretty cool. She was pretty terrifying, but other than that, it seems like if you get on her good side, she's not so bad. I couldn't understand why she was so insistent about not calling the ambulance, though. It's true that we didn't really end up having to, but still... there had to be some reason behind it.

I walked back to my new house, and walked inside to greet my mom, Sally Jackson. She was in the kitchen making cookies. Blue cookies.

"Hi Mom!"

"Hey, Percy" she said walking over and giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Did you have a nice walk? Do you like the neighborhood?"

"Uh, yeah, it was pretty good. I bumped in to two girls who are going to the same school as me. Literally. They're in the same grade, too."

"That's good. Are they cute?"

"Mom!"

"Just givin' you a hard time. What are you going to do for the rest of today?"

I shrugged. "I think I'll just go unload things from the truck."

"Okay then, while the cookies are baking, I'll help you unload."

We went out and started bringing more boxes into the house. After about half an hour, another van pulled up with more boxes and furniture. The truck driver asked my mom to sign a paper and I noticed her flinch when he stuck out the pen for her to take. I felt bad for her.

Before we moved here Mom's now ex-husband, Gabe Ugliano, had abused her a lot. She finally got up the nerve to get a divorce and we moved here to get a fresh start, plus there was a great writing school she could go to. She's always dreamed of being a writer but Gabe's always held her back. But Gabe has made her lose her trust in most men.

We finished unloading the van that we were originally unloading, and before we started the van that just arrived, we went inside to eat blue chocolate chip cookies. Now, most people might say that it's very unmanly for a teenage boy to eat his mother's blue chocolate chip cookies, but me my mom and I have been through a lot together and I would do absolutely anything to make her feel happy.

I grabbed a cookie off the tray and stuffed the whole thing in my mouth at once. I chewed and quickly swallowed before saying, "Mmm! Mom, those must be your best batch yet!"

Sally laughed. "You say that every time!"

"Then it must be true every time!" I said, popping another cookie into my mouth.

She laughed again. The sound was like music in my ears. Back when she was still married to that fat pig, I hardly ever saw her smile, much less laugh.

"So, Percy, how do you feel about starting at your new school on Monday?"

"Mom, I should really stay and help you unpack." I wasn't trying to get out of going to school. I really just wanted to help her.

"That's okay. I wasn't planning on doing much unpacking on Monday, anyway. I thought I'd go and turn in the rest of my papers for the writing school."

"If you're sure..."

"We can do some unpacking when you get home from school. Besides, you should go ahead and try to make some friends."

We finished eating and went out to unload some more things from the van. I was just about to carry in my fourth box when I heard a door open then close. I looked over to the house next to me and I saw the girl, Thalia I think was her name, walk out. She caught me staring at her and waved.

"Hi! Again," she said.

I nodded and waved. Then she starting running down the street. Wait, no. She wasn't running. She was skipping. Strange girl.

My mom chuckled. "Who was that?"

"Uh, some girl named Thalia. I met her when I was going around the neighborhood."

"Strange girl," Mom commented.

I burst out laughing. "You read my mind."

I brought the box in, and since it was labeled 'Percy' I brought it up to my room.

I opened the box and dumped everything out. There were some clothes and stuff, but at the bottom of the box was a photo album with pictures of me when I was very little. I hadn't looked through this thing in such a long time, I'd forgotten that I even had it. Mom must have packed it for me.

I opened it to the first page.

The very first picture was of my mom in the hospital after she had just had me. She held me in her arms, her eyes full of love.

After that, there were a few more pictures of just me and my mom in the hospital. When I turned to another page, my heart nearly stopped.

The picture was of me, my mom, and my dad. Not Gabe, but my real dad. My father had died a few years ago when he went out on his boat. A sudden storm hit him and he never came back.

Anyway, the picture showed me standing up for my first time. My parents looked so proud of me. Mom looked so full of happiness.

The next page had pictures of the first time my parents had ever brought me to the beach. My green eyes were sparkling in the sunlight as I looked at the huge mass of water with wonder.

The rest of the pictures were either with me and my parents at the beach, the lake, or pool. I used to love water and swimming. Until the ocean stole my father and ruined my life.

I shut the book closed and laid back on the floor. I stared up at the ceiling and wondered what my life would be like right now if dad was still here. Better than this, that's for sure.

I looked at the mirror that was attached to the wall and saw pain in my eyes. An image of stormy gray eyes flashed in my mind, and suddenly I figured out what had been trapped inside of them. Pain. So much sadness that keeps building up everyday. Annabeth had lost something important to her. No,someone. And I would know, because what I saw in her eyes is exactly what I see when I look in the mirror.

Sorry for the shorter chapter and OOCness. I hope you liked it! But thanks again to everyone who's read this and liked it and everything! PLZ check out my profile! :) I wouldn't have kept writing this story if it wasn't for you guys encouraging me so just thank you so much! And even if you're a visitor to this site pretty plz review! :D