Percy Pov

I unlocked the door agilely, and stepped inside. "Mom? I'm home n–what are you doing here?"

Thalia shrugged. "Dad said a 'family reunion', so….I'm here with Ellie –Jason has his date with Piper, so they'll join us later. Piper's basically family."

"He's got a date?" I asked. Though I was happy for him, I was also annoyed. Just a tiny bit. He got to be with the girl he wanted, while I had to be with Rachel. It wasn't fair.

"Yeah. Say hi, Ellie."

"Hi," she waved.

Ellie is Thalia's little sister. She's only just turned 5 a few months ago. "Hi Ellie," I smiled at her.

She raised her arms up. I sighed silently. I knew her long enough to know what she meant. "You're getting heavier," I said, folding the ruffles of her skirt down as I picked her up.

"I am. I'm a big girl," she said proudly.

"I'm going to call your uncle and dad home –they're outside right now," Thalia dismissed herself, leaving me with Ellie.

I shifted her to my other arm. "So…what do you want to do now?"

She jumped out of my arms. "I'm going to get something." She came back with a backpack.

"What's in there?" I asked, as she unzipped it.

"Can you read this to me?" She asked, holding out a book.

I looked at the cover. The Little Mermaid.

"Sure…but don't you want to read…um…" I shuffled through her bag. "How about Bambi instead?"

She shook her head. "I want to read The Little Mermaid."

"Thalia can read it to you when she gets back," I said, starting to put the book back.

"No! I want you read it. Thalia says she's tired of reading this book to me," she placed the book in my hands and looked at me expectantly. I looked at the book. "It's a good story," she told me. "It's about a mermaid who wants to be a human really badly."

Like Annabeth, I thought. She wanted to be normal. Right when the thought came, I shoved it away.

I opened the cover uncertainly. I wasn't a type of 'Disney Princesses' person…okay, I'll admit that I didn't really want to read a book where a girl likes a guy, and they live happily ever after. Real life wasn't like that. I'd only feel more alone. Which, of course I'm not. I have a caring, loving, girlfriend. Rachel. Yeah…not really. Right after I listened to the song Annabeth wrote about me…it made me feel hopeful. Until I reminded myself that she was around the world now, touring places and meeting a lot of new people.

I started to read, battling my dyslexia. "Ariel loathed to collect –"

"It's loved."

"Er, right. Ariel loved to collect treasures from the human world…" Once in a while, I'd mess up, and she'd correct me. I figured she memorized this whole book from reading it so many times.

"One day, she saw a… n-nan? Lying on –"

"A man!"

"A man lying on the sand, washed ashore."

I continued to read on, making mistakes. I was halfway through the book when Ellie interrupted, "That's silly. Why would Prince Eric want to marry the girl who he thinks saved him? He really should've kissed Ariel. I'm pretty sure he liked her, and I'm definitely sure she loves him." She sighed.

"I agree. People shouldn't be judged from what they did, at least not all the time. It leads to misunderstandings. Just like Ursula disguised as that girl," I stated.

"What does diskize mean?"

"Disguise. It means to pretend to be someone you aren't," I defined for her.

"Oh."

Thankfully, the back screen door opened. "We're back," my dad said, taking off his hat. "Whoo, it's hot outside!"

"Sure is. It's probably going to thunderstorm tonight, since it's so humid," my Uncle stepped in and took off his shoes.

"Oh, they're back. That's too bad. Well! I'll finish this book another day, okay?" I closed the book, feeling relieved.

"Okay!" Ellie said happily, taking the book from my hands.

I headed over to Thalia. "Did she make you read it too?" she asked, her voice splattered with exasperation.

"Yup," I sighed.

"Last week, she was obsessed with Beauty and the Beast," she rolled her eyes. "I guess I shouldn't be complaining."

"Daddy!" Ellie trotted over to my Uncle. "Percy just read this book to me! He's a really bad reader. Even I can read better than him!"

"More like you look at the pictures and have the descriptions memorized, but okay," I muttered.

"Dinner's ready," my mom called from the kitchen.

p~p~p~p

"How was your trip to London?" my Uncle asked me. The sound of silverware filled the room.

"It was –"

"Daddy, I want ketchup on my pasta!" Ellie complained.

"You may not have ketchup with your pasta, honey. Wipe your mouth with a napkin," he said, then turned back to me. "You were saying?"

"It –" I started to say.

"But daddy! I want ketchup on my pasta! It tastes good!"

"It'll ruin everyone's appetite, Ellie. Especially mine," Thalia told her, taking a sip of water.

"Not mine!"

"Well, of course not yours."

"But you said everyone's appetite. Everyone includes me," Ellie said matter-of-factly.

Thalia finally gave up, and sighed.

"My trip was really good –most of it," I finally got the chance to talk.

"Oh, I'm sure. London is beauti –" my Uncle started.

"How come I can have sauce on my pasta, but not ketchup?" Ellie interrupted.

My mom was trying hard not to laugh.

"That's a good question," my dad chuckled.

Ellie looked pleased with herself. "Ketchup and pasta sauce are both made of tomatoes," she added. "They look alike."

Finally, my mom got the ketchup for Ellie because she refused to eat her pasta without it.

"Yay!" she squealed, as my mom handed her the bottle. "Ketchup!"

"Did you go to the London Eye? That's a wonderful –" my Uncle got interrupted for the thousandth time.

"Daddy! This tastes weird," Ellie frowned. "I don't like it."

"Well, I thought you liked ketchup with pasta, honey."

"I only wanted to try it," she protested. "And I decided that I don't like it."

He sighed. "Well, next time, don't put ketchup on the whole thing if you're going to just try it sweetie," he said, taking his daughter's plate reluctantly. "As I was saying, the London Eye is a wonderful place to visit. It –"

The doorbell rang. "That's probably Jason," Thalia stood up, and ran to get the door.

"It better be him. It's already past 7:15," my Uncle looked at his watch. "Well, anyways, it has a gorgeous view at the top."

"I would've gone, except I was forced to go to art museums," I told him. "It wasn't so –"

"Percy? Rachel's here!" Thalia called from the door.

What? I thought silently. I ignored my parents' questioning looks and dismissed myself.

"Hi, Rachel. So, what's up?" I decided to start it in a friendly way.

"Hi Percy! I was wondering if I could come over!" Rachel gave me a huge smile.

I glanced back towards the dining room. "Well…" you're kind of already over, I wanted to say. "Sure. Absolutely –uh, we're having dinner."

I sat at my seat, Rachel sitting next to me.

"Who's this?" my dad placed his hands together, trying hard not to smile.

"Oh! Mom –dad –Uncle –this is Rachel," I swallowed with difficulty.

"Nice to meet you," Rachel smiled.

"You look like Ariel," Ellie stated.

"Thanks, you little cutie pie! Percy, who's this!"

"That's Ellie, my cousin. Thalia's sister," I said.

Rachel glanced over at Thalia, who was picking at her nails. "Oh. Really? That's…nice," she said. I knew they didn't like each other very much.

My mom got up to get another bowl of pasta, and it got pretty silent.

"So," my Uncle said, "what were you saying about being forced to go to art museums?"

"Oh, um…" my face felt hot. I wasn't very good at improvising, and Rachel was staring at me. "Did I say that? I meant to say that I wasn't forced."

"Ohhh. I see."

The rest of the dinner was really awkward. Rachel butting into our "family reunion"? Everything was quiet.

The doorbell rang again. This time, it was Jason and Piper.

"Jason, I told you to come before 7:15!" my Uncle scolded.

"We got stuck in traffic," Jason explained.

It got even more awkward when my mom went to go get her camera to take some pictures of "the cute couples".

She made me and Rachel pose for like ten hours.

"Percy, put your arm around her shoulders. Like completely. Okay, that's good. Smile! Tilt your head towards her. Okay, smile! No…I think it'd be better if you put your arm around her waist. Yeah, do that…"

For Jason and Piper, they probably were more neutral, being a real couple, so it didn't take as long.

"So cute!" my mom looked at the pictures, then passed the camera around.

I couldn't help thinking, as I looked at the picture of me and Rachel, about Annabeth, and how I'd feel if she was in Rachel's place.

(I'm trying really hard not to say 'Here's your chapter!') Ok. Ahem. The chapter is here! I hope you liked this one! How's your summers? Mine's going GREAT! Just had my show! Thanks for all the followers and reviewers –my gods -175 followers and 133 reviews?! :O :O :O thanks guys! I don't really know the 'cookie thing' (has anyone else seen them around in fanfiction?) (:.) something like that heheh. You know what? I'll give you guys hearts instead - 3 3 3 Ta da! For you! Okay, now, I'll stop. Bye! Oh YEAH! I almost forgot to answer a few of your questions. This story is probably ¾ done now, and it might end around 45 – 50 chapters. ;) Sorry for this long boring speech! Get ready for some more drama/excitement/what else, coming up next! –Sophia