Percy was nervously ticking on the floor with his foot. He now knew what Piper had felt that one time Annabeth and Hazel talked her into performing on a talent show. Also, you'd think someone who went through something like that wouldn't do it to someone else. Alas, Piper was one of the people who signed Percy up for the Christmas School Concert.

It had been a few weeks ago when Percy had gotten a message from his choir teacher. At first, he hadn't understood all the blabbing about Christmas carols and singing in front of the entire school, but he had quickly gotten a suspicion that a few certain persons knew more about it. He had walked over to the nearest fountain, but did check of no-one was looking before he threw a drachma into the water.

'Annabeth, Sadie, Rachel, Carter and Piper,' he had muttered. The faces of his friends had appeared in the smoke - they were all in the same place, outside the school. Percy breathed deeply. 'What is this talking from my choir teacher about the Christmas concert?' He had asked. His four friends had visibly had trouble containing their laughter. 'Good question, Percy,' Rachel had said, before hiding her mouth behind her hand and ducking down. Percy had known enough. 'Why, though.?' He had managed to ask.

'Because you were such a good singer during the karaoke, you know, in the summer. We thought, the entire school needs to hear that,' Sadie had answered.

'Sadie, you weren't even present during the karaoke!' Percy had called out. The girl had just shrugged. 'I heard it was good, though.'

Percy had cut of the iris message. A small gasp had been behind him, but when he turned the around, the girl that was standing in the hallway had just whispered 'Fourth cohort, Vulcan.' before marching out of the hallway again.

Now, it was the moment of truth. Percy was wearing a smoking, and he was supposed to sing in front of his entire school, plus their parents. He knew his mom, stepfather and Estelle would see him. Percy hid his head in his hands. He wasn't very confident in his ability to sing. His mom had Always asked him to sing something for her when Gabe had been away. He had Always done that, because he knew his mom liked it. Yet, that was just in front of his family, not in front of a bunch of teenagers.

The choir teachers clapped in her hands, and the choir walked onto the stage, taking their places. Percy stood next to a girl from tenth grade, who kept giggling with her friend, and a boy on the other side, who had suddenly frozen up. He looked like a statue. Percy bowed his head closer to the boy. 'It is alright. They won't laugh, just, be relaxed,' Percy whispered. As he said it, he knew that it sounded weak, and not in the last place because he himself felt gitters in his stomach.

The curtain went up, but the group stayed silent while the choir teacher took her place. Their math teacher was supposed to play the piano, and there were no other instruments. Percy took the few spare seconds, which felt like eons, to scan the crowd. He saw his parents and his sister, he saw Annabeth with his friends. After looking harder at them, he saw that somehow Rachel, Piper and Annabeth had not just gotten Sadie, Carter and the other Goode and BAG students into the concert, but all of his other camp friends to. Grover winked at him.

Percy swallowed a lump in his throat as the first tones of 'Silent night' started. He took a deep breath, which he hoped no-one could hear (Because that would be embarrassing), and started singing. To his surprise, it went rather good. He was not the loudest singer, and some other voices seemed to slightly cover up his voice. The boy right next to him was still frozen like a statue.

They sang a few other songs, and it was over. Percy stepped back into the backstage area and felt a wave of relief go over him. He had sung in front of the entire school and it hadn't gone very bad! Percy started to smile, changed into his normal clothes and went to the gym, to get a free cup of chocolate milk and tell Piper, Annabeth, Rachel and everyone else that it hadn't been that bad.

Yet, he was stopped in the hallway by a teacher he didn't recognise. 'That was a good performance, Mr. Jackson.' Percy looked at him with squinted eyes. He had met so many suspicious figures in school that at this point he was just wondering what kind of monster was standing in front of him. 'If you say so.' The 'teacher' smiled. 'I recorded it. You know, the gods...' At that point, Percy realised who he was dealing with. 'Lord Hermes, just... please don't put it on Demigod-Hephaestus-tv. I don't even care if you show it to the gods.' Hermes turned back to his usual form, a thirty-something dude with brown hair, and pulled a colourful scarf out of his bag.

He put the scarf around his neck. 'I do love these scarfs. The brand is named after me, you knew that, Percy?' Percy sighed.

'Bye Hermes. There is free chocolate milk in the gym.' Percy walked away. His smile had turned into a frown - it is not like the god of Messengers ever listened to anybody, and he absolutely never listened to demigods asking him to not embarrass them in front of everyone.

Annabeth Pie, I saw your comment, and it will be the next video!