Homework:
"Whoa," Walt smiled and munched on a chip. "I haven't seen you give that look to a homework assignment since the Tangent Disaster Workpage of last semester."
Percy snorted. "Tangent Disaster Workpage?"
"You laugh only because you weren't witness." Sadie clenched her teeth. "Walt knows."
"I know." Walt agreed. "So, what's got you so worked up?"
"Greek. Mythology." She spit out the words. "Where the family tree is one freaking giant scribble."
"It's not that bad," Walt chuckled. "I'll bet Egyptian mythology is worse."
"Greeks really give us a run for our money." Sadie shook her head ruefully. "There's no way they could actually remember all of this."
"That's why the Romans downsized. Smart move, if you ask me." Percy put in helpfully. "Hang on, did you just call yourself an Egyptian?"
"I mean, I'm pretty sure you'd have to sit down and make an effort to create a religion this confusing." Sadie continued, ignoring Percy's inquiry.
"Come on, what are the questions? I'll help you." Walt offered, popping another chip into his mouth.
"I'm supposed to create a family tree of some Titans, the 12 Olympian gods, and some of their kids. I have a list of names to include, but there's no way I can do this in time."
"We can do it. When is it due?" Walt asked.
"History. Next hour." Sadie told him.
He sighed. "Procrastinator."
"I know, I know." Sadie said. "I'll never learn, though, so spare me the talk. Let's start with Athena. I like Athena."
"Sadie, you're not gonna want to jump right into the mess." Percy advised wisely, having suffered through this assignment about a million different times in a dozen different classes. "I'm speaking from experience: start with Kronos and Rhea. Work your way down."
Some Chick:
Leo eyed the chick from across the mall.
Sleek black hair cut short, sharp amber eyes lined in black, and fists he just knew could throw a hard punch. There was an air to her… a strange, different air.
Oh, yeah, she would definitely beat him up if approached.
But, still, who was he kidding? He was Leo Valdez. He lived to be killed by girls like her.
He began to saunter over, but was stopped.
"Leo, how many times have I told you? Stay where I can see you."
His latest foster mom.
"Come on, sweetie. I'll bet Bill has dinner ready by now! Let's go buy these clothes and get home."
Leo sighed. "Yeah, home. Dinner. Sounds great."
She chatted on. "Who was that girl you were staring at?"
"No idea."
"Oh, I thought you might've known her from school. Speaking of school, are you making friends?"
"Yeah," he answered. "Just who do you take me for? I'm Leo Valdez. Who doesn't want to be friends with me?" Quite a few people, actually.
"You should invite someone over!" Code for: I just want to make sure your friends are the right kind of friends.
"Sure." He wouldn't, though. He was planning on running away once his 'new family' had gone to bed.
Hey, that girl's got company … who is that?
Leo examined him. Not old enough to be her dad, but surely still too old to be her boyfriend? Wait, no. He had a boomerang. That expanded the acceptable age gap by at least five years, didn't it? But he was still too old for her, even with the boomerang.
Okay, that made absolutely no sense. Stop thinking, you're no good at figuring these kinds of things out. Just go talk to her.
"Leo!" His foster mother called. "Come on!"
"Coming on." He shook his head. There would be other girls to get beaten up by. He could let this one go.
But he sort of regretted not introducing himself to the guy with the boomerang.
Just in case you didn't get it : The girl was Zia, and Leo hasn't been to camp yet. This all takes place before HoO, but some of you wanted those characters, so I gave you some Leo.
Christmas Spirit:
Percy leaned against the window frame, watering can tipped over a window box of moonlace. The delicate flowers were blossoming despite the bitter cold of Christmas Eve.
Percy lifted his eyes from the window box and up toward the sky. It wasn't cloudy, and the moon shone with full force down on the busy streets of Manhattan. Across the river, Percy could make out the shapes of Brooklyn buildings, strung with Christmas lights.
Lost in thought, he didn't really notice what he was tracking until after it had crossed the moon. Large and hulking, pulling a sleigh-like something behind it…
"Percy, close the window." His mother said.
Percy shook his head. Taking one last look at what was very likely a monster, Percy slid the glass back into place.
"What were you looking at?" His mother inquired.
"Santa's sleigh."
-0-
Sadie leaned out over the edge of the boat. "Whoop! Take that!"
"Ho, ho, ho!" Felix threw a snowball at a pedestrian down below.
Carter winced. "Guys, I think Freak's getting tired. We should be heading back."
"Nonsense." Felix laughed, looking at the griffin. "Freak is fine."
"You're just a goodie-goodie. All this snowballing action is tugging at your conscience." Sadie smirked and threw a snowball at him.