LOL…so I did disappear off the face of the earth. But I have good reasons for it!
1. High School
2. Marching Band (colorguard!)
3. I'm lazy?
IF YOU LIKE K-POP: LOOK FOR RANDOM SUPER JUNIOR/2NE1 REFERENCES
IF YOU DON'T LIKE K-POP: …disregard this author's note
Percy opened my door of the Percy-mobile (sorry grouchy feminists! He walked faster than me! I swear, I know how to open it myself!) and I got in. He put the car on DRIVE and we headed off to the post-office.
"Do you think Hera will accept our story?" Percy asked nervously.
"There's only one way to find out." I replied, "Though the quality of our writing is pretty poor, the whole plot isn't bad because it makes her and Zeus seem happy together."
"Wouldddddd youuuuuu marrrrrrrrrry meeeeeeeeeee?" Percy sang loudly, though he was in tune. I was shocked.
What's that supposed to mean?
I thought you were a bad singe -
I happen to be the main soloist in choir.
LOLLLLLLL
Percy reached over and tugged my ponytail not so gently, "Why do you always seem to be surprised when I do something intelligent or something unrelated to being a dumb jock?"
"I don't do that!" I protested.
"Yeah you do. Who do you think I am? Just a fighting machine with no personality? Do you think that I have no emotions?" Percy was really on a roll now.
"Perc - " I started but once he started, he wasn't going to stop.
"And furthermore I'm the best guy out there and you never seem to notice!" he finished just as we pulled up in front of the post office. Somehow I knew we weren't talking about me potentially stereotyping Percy anymore.
Percy got out of the car and slammed the door before walking away with a huff, without waiting to see if I was coming. I sat there for a few seconds in shock trying to process what happened. What did he mean when he said he was the best guy and I never noticed? I mean, he could freaking hear my thoughts! Pretty much all I thought about was him! (okay, fine, and logarithms but that's completely besides the point). Maybe he was going through a rough moment of teenage angst? Or what if…someone was manipulating his emotions? When you're a demigod, there are always gods, dead titans, and monsters trying to turn you against your best friends. I thought back to a page of notes in Daedulus's laptop:
Specialized monsters (and sometimes the gods themselves) often turn the best of comrades into enemies by finding small annoyances teammates have with each other, and augmenting those feelings of irritation. It is suspected – though not confirmed – that this was the reason for the fallout between Troy and Greece.
There obviously was something going on here. I got out of the car and walked into the post office. I saw Percy leaning sulkily leaning against the wall and a woman who had to be Hera reading our story. She looked up as I entered.
"How nice of you to join us, daughter of Athena." She said coldly. For some reason, Hera never called me by my first name. Apparently I wasn't special enough.
I nodded politely, "My pleasure, Lady Hera." UNTRUE.
BE POLITE. JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PISSED AT ME DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN BE A BITCH.
I stared at Percy, my jaw hitting the ground. He'd never said anything that blatantly rude and obnoxious before. He'sbeingcontrolledhe'sbeingcontrolled was my mantra as I tried to avoid homicidal thoughts.
I took a deep breath before turning to Hera, "I trust you found our story satisfactory?"
Obviously not bitch. It sucked cuz you wrote most of it. OH MY ATHENA THAT BOY WAS SO GONNA GET IT WHEN THIS WAS OVER.
"It was awful." Hera said her voice as sharp as a knife. Then she ripped our paper into little pieces before setting it to fire, "However you – unfortunately – have passed the Hera challenge."
I stared at her, dumfounded. She just told us our story was awful, destroyed a night's work of hard work, and told us we passed?
She must have noticed my look of confusion because she then said, "Obviously the Hera challenge wasn't writing this idiotic story. I'm Hera, Goddess of Marriages and Good Matches."
I must have still looked clueless because she sighed, and then said, "Good matches. Compatibility. Not throttling Perseus right now, despite the fact he is thinking very unflattering thoughts about you."
I paused before saying carefully, "So the Hera challenge was proving that Percy and I are compatible?"
"In a sense." She said loftily. Then she snapped her fingers and Percy fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I rushed over but she stopped me, "When he wakes up, he'll be the regular Jackson you are used to. Manipulating his emotions to be negative towards you seems to be a difficult task. Perhaps you are destined to be blessed by me."
What, was she crazy? Us getting married? No way…besides I seemed to be in love with him and didn't notice. Hera rolled her eyes, "For a child of Athena, you are incredibly thick. Anyways I don't have time to wait for Perseus to wake up. In the name of family, Artemis and Apollo are being forced to work together on their challenge. They should be arriving shortly." And she vanished. The gods seem to enjoy poofing in our poor demigod faces.
"URLKJSDLFKJDFKJDSAGGGG." I heard from the floor. I turned to see Percy waking up and rubbing his eyes, making him look like a cute little boy.
I'm not a boy! I'm a MAN.
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah right."
He stood up and stretched, "That's right. I'm so manly, that you could take lessons from me. I'd make a man out of you. Actually wait no. I don't want you to be manly because I like it better when you're girly. But not like pink glittery giggly girly. More like totally awesome girly. Like a girl, not a dude. Like you. Comprende?"
"Uh…sure." Maybe he was still confused. I filled him on the Hera thing and his eyes widened in outrage, "You mean we did all that extra writing for nothing!"
Face-palm. Ladies and gentlemen, Perseus I-saved-Olympus Jackson was not upset that his emotions were being tampered with, thereby turning him against his best friend. Nooooo he was mad that he did extracurricular writing.
That's not true!
I looked at him.
Okay fine…maybe a little…
Sigh. Seriously, I really know how to pick the love of my life…
YOU HAVE A LOVE OF YOUR LIFE? THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE YOUNG LADY. NO DATING UNLESS YOU HAVE MY APPROVAL. AND NO GUY WILL EVER GET MY APPROVAL CUZ YOU'RE TOO GOOD FOR ANY DUDE.
"Aww…" maybe I should 'fess up, now?, "Don't be stupid Percy, the love of my life is yo - "
"WHY HELLO THERE." Artemis's voice boomed throughout the room, "NICE DAY ISN'T IT. NICE SINGLE LADY NOT CONFESSING OUR FEELINGS DAY. THOSE FEELINGS SHOULD JUST GO AWAY." Apparently Artemis still hadn't let go of the fact that I hadn't joined the Hunters.
Poof! Apollo joined us, "Calm down sis. Sorry, sorry for her, Thalia just left the Hunters? So she's a bit angry." Understatement. Artemis was glaring Percy down and he was hiding behind me.
I cleared my throat, "So what's our challenge? And if you don't mind me asking, how many teams are left?"
"Let's see. Only you and Percy and Matthew and Drew." Apollo said, counting off on his fingers, "Apparently everyone else dropped out." Lies. It was probably Drew's charm speak.
"The challenge will be to head down south to Texas, find one of my sacred cow ranches and make a musical collage or playlist commemorating Artemis and I." Apollo announced proudly.
"AND IF THE SONG 'SINGLE LADIES' ISN'T INCLUDED, YOU FAIL." Artemis snapped before disappearing.
"Good luck!" Apollo winked and vanished.
I guess we were heading down south, to ye old lone star state.
So I was just wondering…are there any international readers? International=not America lol
And I don't know when I can update next...but hopefully soon! :)
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