Hello my lovely readers. I would like to apologize for disappearing off the face of the earth for like, forever, and I'd like to say that I have a legitimate reason, but I don't. I'm lazy, and I'm pretty sure I have ADD or something...
This chapter is dedicated to Catherine Dale. Your review really made my day. It was the first day back at school today and I was a bit bummed, but after reading your review...Wow. Thank you. I based the character of Kayleigh off of someone at my school, so I know exactly how you feel. Welcome to the club (you get a badge and everything!) :D
Disclaimer: Nope. I'm not Rick. I wish I was, but then I'd be a guy. Awkward much?
CHAPTER 9
"Mom! I'm home!" Percy called in a sing-song voice as he opened his apartment door. His poor mother, she has to live with him all the time. As soon as I stepped into the hallway, I was greeted by the scent of freshly baked goods. It's most likely blue chocolate chip cookies. I thought to myself.
"I'm in the kitchen, dear," came a sweet voice from the room to my right. "I've made you cookies!"
Immediately, Percy dropped his things and ran into what I supposed was the kitchen. I followed, to see him kissing his mom on the cheek. She had long curly brown hair and warm eyes that sparkled with youth. She looked far too young to have an eighteen year old son.
"Have I ever told you that I love you?" Percy said, gazing at the cookies on the tray. Percy's mom laughed.
"At least once a day. Be careful, those cookies are hot."
Percy waved his hand, dismissing his mother's words. She smiled at me and held up her hand. She looked at me and, lowering a finger with every word, mouthed Five, Four, Three, Two, One.
"Owwwww!" Percy yelled. I clapped my hand over my mouth, trying (and failing) to stifle laughter. "These are hot!"
At this, I couldn't hold it in. I burst out in fits of laughter. Percy pouted as he fanned his mouth. Sally chuckled in amusement.
"Percy, you've done that every day for the past thirteen years, and you still haven't learnt. What is it with you?"
"I'm a Seaweed Brain, duh." Percy said "and I really like these cookies."
"They really are amazing, Mrs. Blofis," I said to Percy's mom, "he gave me one this morning. They were awesome. I really can see why he loves them so much."
"Why thank you," she said. She then turned to Percy and said, "Well?"
"Whe wah?" Percy said. I suppose he was supposed to say Well what? But his mouth was full of cookies.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked, "Honestly Percy, where have your manners gone."
Percy shrugged and went back to eating cookies. Boys, I thought. I held out my hand to Mrs. Blofis and said, "Oh, sorry Mrs. Blofis, I'm Gabriella Winnok. I hope you don't mind me coming over. Percy insisted."
"Not at all, dear," she said, taking my hand. "And call me Sally. Mrs. Blofis makes me sound old."
"We wouldn't want that," I smiled.
"It is so nice to see Percy making friends," Sally said as she put away her blue oven gloves, "there was a time when he couldn't make any friends at all."
"Mom," Percy groaned as he swallowed his third cookie, "please don't start on the 'let's all tell embarrassing Percy stories' again please. It was bad enough when you showed Annabeth my baby pictures."
My eyes glowed in delight.
"He has baby pictures?" I asked Sally. She nodded, but Percy cut in before she could say anything.
"Oh, no you don't. I have hidden that album in a place you'll never find it." Percy said smugly. Sally and I looked at each other and then back at Percy.
"It's under your bed," we said in unison. Percy glared at us and muttered I knew that was too obvious.
"Well…I'm going to hide it again!"
Sally cocked an eyebrow at her son's antics. "I honestly don't think that album will even fit in your underwear drawer."
"Are you psychic Mom?" Percy asked. This boy is just too predictable.
"No," Sally said. "I'm your mother."
"I'll just burn that book tonight."
"There is no way you're starting a fire in my house young man," Sally said. Percy frowned and muttered Darn!
Then to me she whispered, "Don't worry, I made copies."
I giggled and whispered, "I'll take you up on that."
She laughed and went back to our original subject. "Yes, poor Percy. In Sixth Grade, his only friend was little Grover."
"That is hard to believe," I said as I snatched a cookie from Percy's hand. I took a bite out of it and felt the warm chocolate chips melt in my mouth. "It's only the second day and he's already got a fan club."
"Okay," Percy loudly interrupted. "Come on Gabby, we've got homework."
Sally's face was priceless. Percy must really not want to talk about his 'fan club' if he was the one to suggest homework.
"Oh, and Mom," Percy said as he picked up his bag and dragged me along to his room, "Gabby's staying for dinner. Hope you don't mind!"
Percy's room was simple. It had a window looking out to the inner city and a bed with (surprise, surprise) blue bed sheets. A fish bowl was in the corner of his small nightstand, sitting next to a picture of him, Annabeth and another girl with black hair and blue eyes. I recognised her from somewhere. I stood there, looking at the picture until I realised that she was the girl from my dream.
"What's her name?" I asked Percy as he kicked off his shoes. He looked at me and then the photo and then he smiled.
"That's my cousin, Thalia Grace," he said. "We are so similar it's scary. The year that photo was taken, Annabeth," he paused, trying to figure out what to say. "Annabeth…wasn't around. Thalia made the mistake of calling me Seaweed Brain. That was one fight I'll never forget."
"What happened?" I asked, suddenly interested.
"Well, I jumped on her and we had this massive fist fight," he sighed as if he was having a delightful recollection.
"Well, Mr. Wonderful Memory," I said, taking out my books and putting them on his bed. "I think it's time for homework."
"Wait, what?" Percy whipped around and I smiled innocently. Well, as innocent as I could muster.
"You're the one who suggested it," I said in my defence.
"I didn't actually mean it," he whined.
"Oh," I said, amused. "Well, if you don't want to do homework with me, would you rather I go and look at pictures with your mom?"
That got him into study mode. He whipped out his notebook, sat down at his desk and began his music homework. I laughed and rummaged around my bag for my copy of Romeo and Juliet. I flopped down on his bed and opened it to my scene. I still can't get over the fact that Scott plays Romeo. It's going to be so un-romantic.
After about half an hour, Percy got up from his chair and turned to me.
"I'm just going to talk to Mom for a minute. You stay here."
I nodded my head and turned my head back to the script. I gazed over my lines.
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
Oh my God, I thought, I hate my life.
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Who talks like this anyway? I rolled my eyes. This is way too sappy.
I got bored with that, so I got up from Percy's bed and wandered around the room. There was something interesting about this place. I looked around and couldn't figure out what it was.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I opened it up and saw a text from Mom.
Hey Gab, it read, hope you're okay. Don't forget to be polite and be home by eight.
I smiled. It was reassuring to know that she was thinking about me. Not seeing her very often gave me a sense of both independency and loneliness.
I quickly replied, saying that I wouldn't forget my manners, that Sally is lovely, and that I'll get Percy to bring me home by eight.
I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and that's when it hit me. I turned around to give the room a quick once-over and my suspicions were confirmed. Percy was definitely not a normal eighteen year old boy.
There was no technology in his room! That is definitely abnormal. Come to think of it, I thought, I've never seen Percy with a phone or anything else like that at all. I definitely have a lot of things to ask him about.
I walked out of Percy's bedroom and down the hall, following the sound of Sally's voice, but I stopped when I heard what she was saying.
"…how can you be sure?" I heard Sally say. Be sure of what?
Most of their conversation was drowned out by the sound of a cooking show on the television, but I could make out some of what Percy was saying.
"…ADHD and dyslexia…recruit for camp…"
Recruit for camp? I thought, what does that even mean? And what has me being ADHD and dyslexic got to do with it?
"Can't you hide it a bit longer?" It was Sally's voice this time. "…discuss with Annabeth…she's dealt with…coming soon…call Chiron…"
Chiron? As in the centaur?
Feeling like I was intruding, I slowly crept away. But before I got back to Percy's room, I could have sworn I heard the words 'her father'.
It was five o'clock and both Percy and I were getting seriously bored of our homework. I had given up on Romeo and Juliet twenty minutes ago. All of that romance made my eyes burn. I groaned and put my pen down. It didn't look like Percy was having too much luck with his Music homework; he was frowning and his page was covered in an untidy scrawl.
"Okay," I said. Percy looked up from his sheet of paper questioningly.
"Okay what?" he asked.
"You and Annabeth," I said. I really wanted to know more about her.
"You're so bored that you don't have anything to do but to ask me about my love life?"
I glanced at my copy of Romeo and Juliet. I looked back at Percy. I think he caught the drift.
"What is there to say?" he asked. "I love her, she loves me. There's not really much else to say is there?"
"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed. "What happened when you first met? When did you realise that you liked her? When was your first kiss? When did you ask her out? Why –"
"I get the idea. One question at a time. Please!"
"Fine," I grumbled, "when did you realise you liked her?"
Percy smiled grimly. "We were fourteen. She went missing for a month and I insisted that I go and look for her. My – er – aunt told me that it was, and I quote, 'A quest for true love.' I didn't believe her, obviously. It seems like everyone knew we were going to get together except us."
He glanced at the door, making sure no one was around. He leaned in and added, "Paul even told me that Mom had started planning the wedding."
I laughed, big and loud. That seemed like Sally alright.
"Next question," I said. "When did you two get together? You said it was on your birthday. What happened?"
"Can we not do the whole girl talk thing?" Percy pleaded. "It was bad enough back at camp."
"No," I said. "Now answer my questions."
Percy sighed. He knew that it was no use fighting with me. "Well, I suppose it really began when she 'disappeared' for a while. I was out of my mind with worry. After we found her and she was back at camp, I think everyone expected us to automatically start dating. But no, we were just in that awkward stage. It was like that for about a year. It got even worse when she kissed me."
"She kissed you?" I asked. How thick can this guy be? "And you still didn't ask her out."
"I was a little pre-occupied," he said. Then, he shook his head. "But that's not the point. A couple of days before I turned sixteen, there was an…accident at camp. People died. One of her…" he gulped. "One of her old friends sacrificed himself to save everyone. His name was Luke. He…he made some pretty bad choices, but he died a hero."
It was terrible, hearing what Percy had gone through. It seems like he had a pretty messed up childhood.
"Who was Luke?"
Percy smiled grimly, his eyes showing almost every emotion I could name, and even some I couldn't. "Luke was fourteen when he met Annabeth. She ran away from home when she was seven and he and Thalia," he pointed to the photo on his nightstand, "found her on the streets. She liked him. As in like him. He left everyone the summer that I came to camp. Annabeth couldn't believe it. She kept defending him, even though he was gone. When he died," Percy shook his head. "He was like a brother to her. He helped us realise our feelings before he died.
"That night, Annabeth had made me a blue birthday cupcake. I didn't realise that it was my birthday until she mentioned it. I was going to ask her out, but then she started talking about how Rachel had broken up with me, which was stupid, 'cause we weren't even dating –"
"Wait," I said. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare?"
"Yeah," Percy said, surprised. "Do you know her?"
"Well, yeah," I replied. "At least I used to. She was the only one that was remotely nice to me. That was, until she left. She's at Clarion's, right?"
Percy smiled. "Yeah, her father shipped her off. We were friends in our freshmen year. You might remember that." I did. The two were inseparable that year.
"She comes to camp now, so I see her every summer. Annabeth hated her. I think it was because we got so close."
I rolled my eyes. "Gee," I said. Please note the sarcasm. "You think?"
Percy smiled sheepishly. "She did kiss me once. A week before by birthday."
"So you see her a lot then?"
"Yeah, and after me and Annabeth –"
"Annabeth and I," I corrected.
"Whatever. After we got together, they became friends."
I smiled and nodded. Rachel didn't seem to be the kind to hold grudges. I wondered if she still liked to paint, and if her hair was the same. But I hadn't finished interrogating Percy yet.
"So, when's your birthday? It seems like it's rather important."
Percy nodded and smiled. "Believe me, it was."
He was quiet for a while, and then he said, "August 18th."
"Huh?"
"My birthday. It's August 18th."
I laughed. "That's hilarious!"
Percy scrunched up his eyebrows. "How?"
"I'm totally older than you!"
"Seriously?"
"Yep," I said proudly. "I was born on the 10th of June."
"Aww, man," Percy said. "Everyone's older than me. Annabeth, Thalia and technically Nico is too. It sucks!"
"Aww, poor wittle Percy," I said, patting his head. He grumbled curses in what I recognised as Greek.
A few seconds later, Sally poked her head through the doorframe and smiled. "Kids, it's time for dinner." She looked at Percy and saw his frown.
To me she said, "What's up with him?"
I smiled smugly. "He's sulking because I'm older than him."
Sally laughed and shook her head. "Poor baby," she said, chuckling. "Dinner is on the table and Paul won't be back until eight-thirty, so you'll have to use your car to take Gabriella home."
"Seriously?" Percy droned. "That piece of junk doesn't even run properly."
"Well, unless you want to walk…" Sally trailed off, leaving the question hanging in the air. As if on cue, thunder clapped and rain started to fall. She smiled and walked away.
"Come on then," Percy said as he clapped his hands on his knees and got up from his chair. He straightened his books and papers and I followed suit. We walked out of his room and down the hallway, to be greeted with the overwhelming aroma of Sally's cooking.
So...Love it? Hate it? Let me know!
I'm still working on the next chapter, and since someone requested longer chapters, you might not hear from me for a while. But I will update as soon as I can.
I'm going to do a poll/quiz question at the end of each chapter, so here's number 1
Which demigod are you going to marry?
a) Percy Jackson
b) Nico di Angelo
c) Leo Valdez
d) Travis Stoll
e) Connor Stoll
f) Jason Grace
g) Luke Castellan
I would marry Percy, but that means breaking Percabeth up! So...I choose Nico.
See you soon my lovelies!
(Can we get a couple more reviews here? Pwease? I would like to get 25 before I update)
