Admiration
Hazel showed me her artwork today. I never realised how good she actually was – she gets all the shading right, the light, the size of the features … I can barely draw a ghost.
Anyway, I admire her more and more every day. So that's why I decided to write about Frank.
I associate Frank with admiration for two main reasons. The first one is easy: I love the guy.
Frank's the best boyfriend any brother could want their sister to bring home. He's sweet, protective, friendly, humble, scared of me … what more could you want? And, of course, Hazel likes him. That's what matters most.
Also, in general, Frank's possibly the best person I've met. He doesn't have any dirty secrets or regrets, he never judges, he seems to love everyone else unconditionally (I mean, within reason. Not anyone like Hera … or Leo…) He's like this jovial, clumsy puppy you can't help but to love. And sometimes, I mean that literally.
Also, I admire the way he deals with everything. Your life is tied to a stick? If you're not Frank Zhang, you've hidden it, and yourself, in a cave far far away by now. But not Frank Zhang. He's got it tied in this little bag on his belt, and he's still able to be at ease with the world. You can turn into practically any animal, including a dragon? Most would fly around all day, torching trees for fun. But Frank's favourite transformations are into small, cuddly creatures, because (he actually said this and everything) 'most days, he doesn't feel soft enough'.
Now I'm not trying to say Frank doesn't have any faults. He does. He puts the shower gel into the cupboard when he's finished with it and makes it impossible to find. He turns into animals in his sleep. He has absolutely no clue what to do when presented with a child (I mean, he's worse than me. That's really bad.) But for anything that matters…
He's the ideal boyfriend, friend and person. But there's another reason I associate Frank Zhang with admiration.
He seems to admire everyone else.
He awes over Annabeth's brain, wows at Jason and Percy's supernatural abilities. He's amazed by Leo's mechanical knowledge (although he doesn't always show it) and was completely knocked away by the stable of pegasi at Camp Half-Blood (barely ever leaves the place). But the great thing about Frank is that none of this admiration ever seems fake or forced. He's literally just in wonder of practically everything.
I'm not trying to show him as one of those suck-up admirers. Frank's not like that. He's so funny and friendly with the way he compliments you, it's a while before you actually realise how much he's just said about you, and the level of admiration that follows it.
But he brushes it off like nothing when anyone awes at his powers, or compliments him on battle strategy, or anything of the sort. You can always tell he's pleased, but he's always not believing it, turning the attention off himself.
About four paragraphs ago, I listed one or two of Frank's faults. But there's only one, really, that has any impact…
Frank Zhang doesn't admire himself enough.
At this rate, they'll find me dead in my cabin from a cuteness overload, holding your diary!
Jason! It's not a diary! And believe me, I would be very happy if you were to die right now!
You wouldn't really, you love me on the inside. I should know, I reread the first chapter every time I open this book :P
Ugh. You despicable person.
Nico, you spelt wonderful wrong.
Hi again!
Thanks to everyone for all the amazing reviews! They really made my day.
As a response to Lanvender5687's question, this level of posting is incredibly frequent for me. Occasionally, they can get to be months apart. But I am working on that!
Also, the anxiously awaited Will chapter will be here in all good time. I'm thinking of ending this on a Will chapter, to sort of tie everything together. I foresee about six more chapters, maybe, before I conclude this tale (for now, at least). But hey, at the right I'm updating, six more chapters may take another year!
Flamingo
