Alex was having a pretty decent summer even before he set the neighbors dog on fire. It wasn't really his fault, but he did think about shutting it up, and then it just kind of… incinerated.

But we should start at the beginning, huh? Right at the beginning of summer…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Look flashbacks~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School had just gotten out for the summer, and Alex made plans to go both camping and boating with his friends. He gave one last kiss to his girlfriend McKenna before driving home. Like most other teenagers, he got online and started playing Call of Death with some of his friends. This night, however, he went to bed early because he had a headache. During the night, however, he had a nightmare about the fire that killed his family when he was a kid. He awoke in a cold sweat and spent the rest of the night trying not to fall back asleep.

The next morning is when he found out what really happened during the night when he accidentally lit his pants on fire. He was screaming and flailing around, but the fire spread nowhere else and didn't seem to harm his pants. Eventually, after an hour of this, he passed out from exhaustion, even though he had done nothing to cause him to be tired.

His summer went like this for the first few weeks, until he figured out how to control it. It largely reacted on how he felt, which meant on sick days it occasionally caught his entire head on fire.

Two camping trips and seven boating trips later and his neighbors get a dog. This brings us back to where we are now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dog didn't even have time to yelp before it turned to ash, even that evidence blowing away on the breeze. When it happened, Alex stumbled back, almost falling off the edge of the balcony. He had been so used to the fire not hurting him that he had almost forgotten the deadly power behind it. The dog was similar to a reality check, life was giving him a slap on the face.

He spent the rest of the day locked in his room, playing video games and focusing on not setting his hands on fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~McKenna~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her summer went pretty well at first, then progressively got worse. The last day of school was normal for the start of summer. Alex talking about the camping trips, the tubing, then giving her a lasting kiss that made her stomach flutter. She then got on the bus and went home. That night, she had a horrible headache, so she took aspirin and read a book for about an hour or so. When she finished, she turned out her light and went to sleep. That night, she had a dream about a dark room, occasionally pierced by a ray of light when the flap on the side shuffled. The cold and the dark were so real, it was almost as if she was back in the cage. Ske awoke crying in the middle of the night and refused to sleep for the rest of the day. However, when night fell, she could see in the dark. Bewildered, she went inside and turned off the lights. When it should have been dark, it was almost as if the moon was another sun, allowing her to see every part of her room. For the first time in eleven years, she went to be without any lights on.

The next morning she woke up early, ready to go on the last camping trip to the mountains with Alex and the rest of their gang.

At 7:45, Alex pulled up to her house in his Corvette.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Alex again~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Alex drove up to McKenna's house, she was already waiting with her bags and heavy winter clothes. When he stopped the car in front of the house, she started walking towards the car, a smile on her face.

"Hey beautiful," Alex said, rolling down the window.

"Need a hand?"

McKenna smiled and walked up to the window, leaning down to give him a kiss.

"Get my stuff for me, will you?" She asked.

Alex rolled his eyes as he got out of the car.

"You're lucky you're cute." He replied as he went to get her bags.

"Love you too!" She shouted at him as she got in the passenger seat.

Alex shook his head as he picked up her bags and carried them to his car.

He threw them in the backseat, as his trunk was already full.

Once that was finished, he crawled back in the driver's seat.

He looked over at McKenna and smiled.

"Ready for a road trip?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jordan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jordan pulled out of his driveway in his 1996 Chevrolet impala at 7:30 am. He planned to get to the mountain ahead of time so that he could start to pack up all of the stuff he had thrown into the back of his car, as he was too lazy to pack it all up beforehand. The moment he got out of his neighborhood, he took off down the highway towards Mount Mitchell in NC. He would get there by 8:45, a good fifteen minutes before the designated meet-up time at 9:00, and the start of the trip at 9:15.

I have plenty of time. He thought to himself as he sped up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hunter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunter was racing down the road in his 2019 Kawasaki 400 motercycle when he got a call.

"Hello?" he asked, wondering who else was up this early.

"You do know what day this is, right?" He heard Jordan say through the phone.

"Yea, it's Wednesday. SHIT, IT'S WEDNESDAY!" He shouted before hanging up and spinning his bike around in the opposite direction. He immediately sped off towards his home, pushing the motorbike to its limits. Hunter had always been bad with dates and timelines, even though he was rather smart. This showed today, however, as he hadn't even started packing for the trip.

Shit shit shit shit. He kept thinking to himself.

I'm going to be so late.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my own story, not a PJO fanfic, sorry.

LOOK! Alex is back, and his dad is still rich.

This will have some aspects of PJO, but no Greek gods.

Four out of five characters have been introduced so far, as I kinda pushed this one out.

If your new, check out my other story, One Hell of a World (SYOC closed)

See ya next time,

DragonsHero2