Hi people! I have decided to make Max mortal, after a LOT of reviews. I guess I am back on my normal updating schedule, but I will be starting at least one other fic soon. Here's the next chapter for you guys!

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own PJO. I am sad. Rick Riordan owns PJO. He is happy.


Some time had passed since I became Junior Captain. Percy and I had drifted apart, but Alex was still sort've my friend. It was the week of State, and we were going against some school called Tellershey K-12. It was supposedly named after a famous historian named Annie Tellershey, as my mother told me, but seriously, who CARES? Not me! I knew that if I won more of my races than Percy, I would become the new captain. He should have been really scared. He should have known what would happen, but alas, he wasn't looking for it.

"Max? Are you ready for school?" My mom asked at breakfast. "It's your last practice till State this weekend!" She tried to sound excited, but it just sounded like she was tired from her job. She did something with plants, not that I cared. I managed a weak nod and whispered,

"Yeah Mom, I'm very ready. Percy Jackson's butt is getting kicked." She smiled.

"You're right, it is."

I walked the two miles to school that day instead of taking the subway, just for a little warmup. I saw Alex and a guy on the swim team I had become friends with, Anthony (Tony) Todd.

"Hey Joe!" I called out to him. "What up?" He ran to catch up with me.

"Max!" He shouted. "Rumor has it that Percy has a girlfriend!" I rolled my eyes.

"So what?" I asked. "He can have a posse of girls for all I care. I have a girlfriend too, you know." We had arrived at Goode and went our separate ways.

"See you at Lunch, Max." Tony said

"See you," I murmured back.

Classes were, like always, super boring. In Math we were studying error probabilities and power, something I had already learned in my eighth grade statistics class. In Science, we were studying owls again. Mr. Grumpet said that we'd be dissecting owl pellets next time. Who would want to do that? I mean, EW! Owl barf, anyone? In English, Mr. Blofis made us read The 13 ½ lives of Captain Bluebear, a book about a bear who did weird stuff. For homework, we had to read about his first three 'lives' and write a report on how they differ. Do I look like a homework machine? NO! When I brought this up to Mr. Blofis, he basically said,

"You are today, Max. Please sit down."

Lunch wasn't much better. Tony, Connor, Sarah, and I sat down together like we always did. Sarah and Connor were dating, but Tony was single. I felt so bad for that man. No girlfriend, no life! And I had the best girlfriend of us all! We talked about who had a crush on who, and who was never going to get a girlfriend.

"Honestly, I'm surprised Max has one," Tony said.

"Oh, shut up," I replied. "You don't even have a girlfriend, while I do!"

Connor and Sarah just snickered. Lunch and the rest of the day was boring with a capital BORING after that.

"You ready for practice?" Tony asked at the end of the day. We walked down to the pool, but before we could change into our swimsuits, the coach stopped us.

"Kids, this is our last practice before we go to State." Coach Natare announced. "So, instead of doing normal practice, we are doing some dance!" What?! No one does dance at swim practice! That's false advertising! "The gym is all set up for us, because I don't want anyone slipping and getting a concussion on the wet floor in here!"

Apparently everyone else liked doing ballet, so I couldn't even sympathize with anyone for having to do it. I was surprised to see Percy doing pretty well, so I knew I had to step up my game. I made my tondues faster, my releves higher, and my pas de chat's pointier.

"Max, don't go so fast." Coach said. "You're not a professional, or even an amateur, so you don't need to do that. You're sickling your feet on your releves, and that's going to seriously hurt them." I rolled my eyes and did what he said. I felt stupid doing ballet, and I hated how much everyone else loved it. After practice, I asked Tony something.

"Have you ever done that in practice before?" Tony had been on the team before, so he should know.

"Oh yeah. Wasn't that awesome?" Tony replied. "He used to make us do it once a week, but then he got in trouble with the school for hogging the gym, so now he just makes us do it before a big meet." I shrugged.

"Seems pretty boring to me. We never had to do anything like that in Germell." I replied. Tony shrugged.

"Have to get home. Mom's gonna get mad at me." He ran off, leaving me in the parking lot.

I had forgotten my subway pass, so I texted my mom to pick me up. While I was waiting, I saw Percy and some girl, probably his girlfriend, over in the far side of the parking lot. Huh. She had curly blonde hair just like Annabeth. They kissed. Nah, definitely not Annabeth. She wouldn't cheat on me for that loser. The girl looked at me with piercing grey eyes. Just like Annabeth's.


So. Ballet stuff. Tondues are the things where you stick your foot out in front of you, releves are where you go on your toes, and pas de chat means step of the cat and you do this weird thing with pointy feet. I would've done other dances, but I only know ballet. If I got something wrong with The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear, it's because I haven't actually read it, I just found it on my shelf and was like, "Oh! I should make Max read this book!" ALSO! 16 reviews last chapter! I am so happy!
Reviews:

HoO Storys: You are totally right. Percy probably shouldn't be on the swim team. But, it's my story and I can do whatever I want! (I still love this review)

Potatoqueensnow: I'm so sorry! But a lot of people voted to make him mortal, and I have to please the masses. But a demigod dream when he isn't a demigod, now that could be interesting...

Guest: Yeah... Keeping Max in the dark is probably a good thing.

JoeBob: I hate waiting too. Max and his mom are *cough* delusional *cough*

Tbrucks: Sorry. He is mortal. Glad you think it's awesome, though!

Anaklusmos: Don't worry, Max will get his soul crushed! I don't have e-learning, because of weird laws, so I have used that time for writing!

Guest: Yes, mortal it is.

Guest: Now why would I make him captain?

Anonymous/Guest: I would love to hear your ideas!

Guest: It would be hilarious if the girl he thought he was dating was his sister! Sorry, though, he's mortal.

faegrace: Due to the fact that you yelled at me with caps lock on, I have decided to keep him mortal. And the fact that a lot of people want him to stay mortal.

Blackthornfam13: I love your KOTLC human story! Gershwin-Mellendorf was named after a guy who went to random parties in the eighteenth century and ruined them for the people who actually got invites, so not great. Sorry, but he's mortal. Also, if his mom's cookies were better than Sally's, would Sally let her be alive right now?

Booklover: If he was a demigod, it would be cliche. But I love cliche! Thanks for the poll/review thing.

poseidonsdaughter1982: Don't worry, he's not a demigod. At least, not right now... I love making people wait for me!

Athena: I was literally writing answers to the reviews when I got your review. Now I have to change the review number from fifteen to sixteen. Anyways, you don't have to say anything! I remember the first time I was on here, only like, a month ago. :p

If anyone counted the reviews and noticed there was only fifteen answers, that's because blackthornfam13 submitted two reviews and I only wrote one answer. I think at this point the author's note is longer than the actual chapter! I'm sorry to blackthornfam13, guest, potatoqueensnow, and Tbrucks for making Max mortal. Everyone else wanted him to be a normal human being.

Bye people,
KittenLuv/ThatGirlWithaCat