Frank

The first quarter of the year passed and now fall was turning into winter. Frank wasn't going home for Christmas or Thanksgiving or Spring Break or anytime besides Summer, so he got to chill with Hazel, Annabeth, Leo, and Calypso when people went home for the Holidays.

"You guys will not believe this!" Percy yelled, running into their dorm room with a letter from his mother in his hand. "Gabe is going to Vegas with his Poker buddies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's just going to be me and mom for both of the holidays! I haven't gone to church in years but I feel as though I should get on my knees and praise the Lord!"

"That's awesome Percy!" Jason said happily.

"Dude, that's great! By the way, you never tell us anything about your stepdad but I can already tell he's a piece of garbage," Frank said. Percy never mentioned him, but the anger in his eyes when he mentioned his name and the joy in them when he talked about his mom told a lot. He could piece the story together.

"Ah, Vegas," Leo said. "The place where pieces of garbage hang out like my Aunt Rosa and Percy's stepdad. Should we set them up on a date, Perce?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Percy said with a grin. "Pieces of garbage deserve other pieces of garbage to make them happy."

"Well, Leo and Frank, I guess you guys will have to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas without us," Jason said.

He had gotten a letter a couple of days ago from Thalia apologizing for running away and asking if he wanted to come to her apartment, which she shared with Luke, to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with them. Jason forgave her and agreed to visit them because they still lived in New York and close to the school. They invited Annabeth too, but she was still a little upset and chose to stay behind like she did every year. Frank could tell that her pride was keeping her from forgiving Luke and Thalia. I love Annabeth's fatal flaw. Hubris. The fatal flaw of Bellpheron, Theseus, Otera, and Achilles. So awesome.

"I think we'll manage, right, Frank?" Leo asked with his elfish grin.

"We'll be fine," Frank said. "You guys have fun with your families and we'll enjoy the holidays with our C.B.S.T.T. family."

"That's a relief," Percy said. "Wouldn't want you guys starving for our company."

"As if," Leo muttered. But his grin was still there. It seemed that he smiled way more than he did before he came to C.B.S.T.T.

He started talking about the pranks Travis, Conner, and himself were planning on pulling this Christmas and how he would fly drones with mistletoe over unsuspecting couples that he wanted to get together. Frank would be lying if he said he didn't want to witness this.

Jason asked if they wanted to grab the girls and do some stuff, but Leo, Percy, and Frank shot him down. Whenever they hung out with the girls, Jason always hung out with Piper instead of them.

"Bros before...unsavory word referring to females that is very untrue and derogatory that I will not use," Percy said. "My mom taught me well."

"You always hang out with Piper instead of us," Leo said.

"This is official bro time," Frank said, walking over to the door and blocking it.

"Okay okay! Sorry guys," Jason said with a laugh. "But just a heads up, Percy and I have fencing practice today." Coach Hedge and Mr. Quinn ran the fencing team because they found it was very effective at helping kids let go of aggression. Hazel and Annabeth were on the team as well while Piper, Calypso, Frank, and Leo politely declined. It wasn't their cup of tea.

"Wanna play some cards before we go to practice?" Percy asked, jumping off of the top bunk and grabbing the deck from his duffel bag.

Everyone started to call out games to play. Jason wanted to play BS, Leo wanted to play Mao, Percy wanted to play Spoons, and Frank wanted to play poker with peanuts. After a bit of arguing, the idea of Mao was struck down along with spoons. The first game was confusing, and the second could become violent.

"Well, we would have to grab the peanuts from downstairs," Jason said. "So we should just play BS since we have the cards."

They all agreed and started to play. The rules were simple: Everyone sits in a circle and deal out of the entire deck of cards evenly to each player. The person with the ace of spades starts the game by placing the card in the center. The game moved clockwise with the next person placing all of the number 2 cards in the center even if they have none of them. The game is really fun so you should look up the rules and play it. I'm not going to describe the rest of the rules in the chapter but trust me when I say it's an awesome game.

"Two fours," Frank said, placing his cards.

"BS!" Percy yelled. Frank smiled and flipped over his cards to reveal two fours. Percy begrudgingly took the entire deck, putting him in the last place. "Curse you Frank Zhang!" he said with a shake of his fist.

"Oh hey, you pronounced it right!" Frank said happily. It was always hard to get people to pronounce his last name right and he was happy his efforts with his friends did not go to waste.

Everyone kept playing until finally, Jason had caught two people BSing, Leo had gotten the deck once, Percy had gotten the deck again, and Frank had one card left.

"One ace!" he said triumphantly as he placed down a five of hearts.

"BS!" Leo yelled.

"No, Leo why!?" Frank moaned as he took the deck.

"That's how you play the game!" Leo said.

"Your turn, Jason," Percy said.

The game was over five minutes later, Jason winning. After some arguing, they agreed to play Mao and the game that ensued was hilarious.

But no discussing the rules of Mao.

One of the rules of Mao is no discussing the rules of Mao so I'll shut up about the rules of Mao. Have a good day my lovely lovely readers.