Chapter 3: Past Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson! DAMMIT NOW LEAVE ME ALONE! JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS MISSING YOU DISCLAIMER YOU CAME BACK TO HAUNT ME!

Percy's POV:

I was in my car driving back to work. 'Looks like I wasted my time,' I thought as I made a turn at the stoplight. It was just my luck that I had to see Rachel there. I turned on some radio music, to find some Christmas songs being played. I was going to go crazy, just because Thanksgiving just ended doesn't mean that Christmas is the next day! I turned to radio off, I was pissed that's for sure. My phone suddenly started to beep. I concentrated on driving as I plugged an earphone into my right ear. "Hello?"

"It's Grover. So did you pick up your sister yet?" The voice on the other side asked me. Grover was one of my closest friend since middle school, but he was a bit order than me. He was actually already planning his wedding with his fiancé, Juniper. They made the perfect pair.

"Hey," I said a bit exhausted. "Nah, she told me she could get home by herself." I told him. "Rachel's back though." I mumbled.

"What? Rachel Dare?" He asked me with an unbelieving tone in his voice.

"You know any other Rachel?" I asked sarcastically.

"What does she wants now?" Grover asked ignoring my remark completely.

"She wants to get back together." I told him simply.

"What did you say?"

"I shook her off, I didn't want to get involved with her anymore." I told him, sighing a bit. "Problem is man, I was about to drop all the act and take her back." I groaned.

"Perce, Rachel was cool, but you can't forget, she was the one that left you. Dude you could've died on that day and it didn't help that you went a bit loco after she left." Grover reminded me.

"I know man," I said, grimacing at the memory. "Anyways, how's your wedding coming along?" I asked him eager to change the subject.

"Juniper already have her dressed all picked out, I'm just waiting on my tux." He told me. "You are still going to be my best man right Perce?" He asked me for the billionth time.

"Dude of course!" I grinned, as I parked my car into the company's employee parking. "Well, I'll talk to you later, I'm back at work." I told him as I took the key out.

"Okay, I'll catch up with you later, you feel like going out for a drink later on?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I haven't had a good drink in a while." I mumbled. "You going to call up Nico and the Stolls?"

"Yeah, I'll call them up, I'll meet you at the regular place later then." Grover replied and hung up.

I ended the call and took off my shades as I stepped out of the car. I grabbed my coat from behind my seat and swung it over my shoulder as I slapped the door closed.

"Morning Mr. Jackson." I heard a familiar voice greeting me.

I looked over to my right to see my secretary standing there with a familiar warm smile on her face. Her long brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing her normal attires, a formal shirt along with a pair of dark brown pants. She was in her late 30s and was simply the next best thing to an older sister. Of course here at the office she treated me with respect because I'm her boss even though I insist her on calling me by my first name. Despite her being my co-worker of some sort… she's one who actually gives me occasional advices despite not really knowing what was wrong with me. Surprisingly, she knew about my past with Rachel… of course not in full detail, but that Rachel left me.

"Morning Michelle, did anyone call me while I was gone?" I asked her as I turned on my computer.

"Ms. Collin left a memo, with the construction of the new aquarium. Also there's a bit concern on the ocean's pollution," I sighed as she told me this. Thanks to my friend Grover (no sarcasm here) I've been a bit worried about recent changes in the area of pollution. With all the oil spills and littering, all the creeks have been flooded. Michelle handed me a file regarding ocean pollution.

"Thanks Michelle," I looked over the file and grimaced. "Do you have the file for the construction on the new aquarium?" I asked her.

"Yes, I'll hand them to you later." She told me. "Will you be calling Ms. Collin?" She asked me.

"I'll get back to Ms. Collin later." I told her. "You can get back to work now." Michelle nodded and shut the door as she left.

I looked at the file she just gave me, to be honest I've never seen myself as a business man that oversee constructions. However, I made sure that these constructions were eco-friendly, one because Grover would kill me if otherwise, and two I would be hurting the sea animals. Since small I've taken a liking to the water. This probably explains why all my constructions are related to the ocean in many ways. Three years ago I probably wouldn't have even tried to do anything for the company, and rather spend my time playing computer games than turn in paper work. However now, I'm pretty much of what you can say a workaholic, it just distracts me from everything else.

I picked up the phone, "Can I speak with Ms. Collin?" I asked into the phone.

"Please wait a moment." The receive answered and I heard the call being transmitted to the next line.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Collin, this is Percy Jackson, from SeaShakers Incorporation." I greeted her. "I'm calling about the construction of the aquarium, and I was wondering if you're still interested in selling us the piece of land." I asked her. The piece of land I'm referring to was a dump that was used for people to litter. I hated the place, it was filled with garbage and I was determined to make that place to have a better purpose.

"I see, but with the excess amount of trash on the land, you can't do much." She told me. I knew she was persistent in keeping the land. From what I heard it was her dead husband land.

"Ms. Collin, you should think about it, I will still pay you in full amount, I will spend my own money in cleaning up the place." I tried to convince her. "I would be more than happy to go over my plan in what I'm constructing in that piece of land." I told her.

There was silence on the line, "I'll take up your offer to go over what your plan is before I agree to anything." She told me.

"Is there anytime that you can meet me?" I asked her.

"Tomorrow at noon, I suppose you know where the piece of land is." She told me.

I smiled, "Yes ma'am, I'll see you tomorrow then." I told her and hung up. "Michelle!" I called for my secretary. "Prepare the draft of the proposal on the aquarium for me! Just the written one," I told her. We didn't have the plan for building the aquarium yet, because we have yet to find a suitable design for the place, but I already have an idea in mind. "Have Michael prepare the draft." I told her as she poked her head through my door.

"Yes sir."

I spend the rest of the afternoon looking over my files reading over the draft that Michael have written. I took a sip out of my coffee and looked up from the file. "Michelle?" I sighed and stood up from my chair. Instantly I had to rebalance myself. "Damn… I've been sitting here for too long." I mumbled as I walked towards the door of my office. "Michelle?" I called again, noticing the office was empty, and I was probably the only one left inside the building…well…minus the night security. I checked my watch and mentally cursed as my cell rang. "Hello?

"Dude Percy where the hell are you?" Nico's voice blared into my ear.

"Sorry lost track of time." I mumbled.

"Well… get your ass over to the bar!" Nico yelled back and hung up.

"Nice talking to you." I mumbled sarcastically.

I quickly turned off my computer and took a look at my messy desk. "I'll clean that tomorrow." I told myself, even though I knew I probably will never clean it. I quickly put on my coat and grabbed my keys heading out to my car. The next thing I know, my car was parked in front of the bar. I was pretty much a regular at this so I was not surprised when I saw the bartender come out to greet me.

"Percy! Nice to see your back here!" Pollux greeted me. I've never actually been close to Pollux but after his brother Castor died and Rachel's problem, I've been hanging out at the bar a lot and we got some talking time.

I gave a nod towards him, "How's the business?" I asked him as I took off my coat.

"The usual," He replied. "How about you?" He asked.

"Still working on the aquarium." I told him. "I might get the land deed done tomorrow."

"That's great," He exclaimed clapping me on the back. "Now come on in Percy, the guys are waiting for you."

I grinned and follow him into the bar, "Pollux, I'll take the usual." I told him as he gave me a nod and went off to grab my drink.

The first person I saw sitting down was Grover, my oldest friend, the guy getting married soon. He had curly hair on top of his head and an innocent face, but don't let that fool you. If he sees you littering even a little bit, he'll be going into rage mode, and his eyes starts popping out like crazy. He just sat there sipping on his drink as if he had all the time in the world. Unlike us, Grover is much more patient and surprisingly the only one that's settled down with a girl. I'm not sure what he really works as, but he goes all the way around the world teaching people about the importance of nature. Compared to all of us, he's the mature one, I guess it only makes sense that he's older than all of us at the age of thirty-one. "Hey G-man." I greeted him.

"Sup' Percy," He looked up. "Nice to see you finally made it." He retorted.

I ignored his remarks, "So where are the others?" I asked him as one of servers brought me my drink.

"Connor is hitting it off with one of those girls." Grover told me pointing towards a table where I saw the younger Stoll flirting with a girl. "Travis is over there trying to flirt with Katie…" Grover sighed. "Mark… I said trying…" I suppressed a grin as I glance at Travis getting another slap from Katie.

"Where's Nico then?' I asked him.

"That little guy?" Grover barely looked up. "He's still bummed over something. Over there just drinking." Grover pointed towards a familiar person just sitting alone. I knew all about his sister's death, for a while he hated me for it.

Of course it was five year ago, and Bianca was helping me with a construction of a bridge when there was a problem with one of our machines. I offered to go fix it, but Bianca ignored me and just rushed in to get the workers out of there before the machine explodes. That incident alone left many casualties and one death, Bianca. Just thinking about it, made me guilty. I remembered at her funeral, Nico wouldn't stopped glaring at me, he blamed it was my fault for even thinking of making her going in there. I didn't blame him. He got involved with the infamous drug dealer a while back, Minos. I tried to talk him out of it, but of course… he didn't listen. He blamed me for his sister's death. When Minos successfully blamed the trouble on Nico, almost forcing him to go in jail for a good ten years, I came to help him out of it. He still hated me then, but he held some sort of respect for me. Afterwards, we finally tracked Minos down and the drug dealer got sent to jail under many crimes. Nico… well let's just say, he haven't been the same since then. He stopped with the drug, but I couldn't help but feel that he's always depressed and sad.

"Great… He's going to get himself drunk again." I groaned. "I should've told Pollux to not give him too much alcohol." I mumbled, knowing that I would be the designated driver with this drunken group. "I'm going to go pull him over." I told Grover as he nodded. I took a sip from my drink and walked over to Nico. "Hey man." I greeted him.

One work about Nico before you meet him, he's emo… well… I like to refer to him as emo. He's younger than me about a year, and despite his personality now… he used to be one of those happy-go-lucky kid. He works as a criminal investigator, and on his free time he usually likes to visit the local cemetery and help out.

Nico looked up and gave me a nod, "Looks like the workaholic made it." Nico remarked sarcastically.

"Don't blame me… I just lost track of time." I tried to defend myself.

"Sure… that must be it." Nico rolled his eyes. "So what's the occasion for calling us today?" He asked me as his shoulders slumped over.

"Just thought we guys should get a drink once in a while, plus with Grover and his wedding, we probably won't have these guys night much anymore." I told him.

"Make sense." Nico nodded drinking down his whole cup.

"So how many did you drink already?" I asked sitting down on the stool next to him motioning Pollux to get me a glass.

"Six." He told me.

"Six cups and you're barely getting drunk." I clapped him on the back.

"Six bottles." He corrected me.

I stared at him in shock. "Man… you're crazy," I shook my head. "I think you have enough." I grabbed my drink from Pollux and with my other hand I dragged Nico back to our table. I threw him down to the seat as Travis and Connor headed over, Connor with a grin on his face, while Travis with a scowl.

Let's just say that the Stoll brothers are not really what you would call reliable. You give them something… expect it to be the death of you in a few days… literally. Even though those two looks like twin… (and don't tell them I told you this) but Travis is older. You could barely tell them apart, except one of them have longer hair than the other. Since I've known them, these two have always been pranksters… but weirdly enough… they never got caught. There were a few suspicions but not enough evidence to pin it on these two. Connor have always been the flirt and possibly the most daring (or just plain stupid) of the brothers. Travis on the other hand, even though he'll never admit this, was always crazy about Katie Gardener (a local gardener specialist) and is rumored to be the mastermind of all their pranks. Overall... a Travis Stoll plus a Connor Stoll equals major trouble.

"Glad to see you're here, Perce." Connor greeted me as he jumped over on one side of me, his brother doing the same.

"Nice to see our little Percy have grown to be such a delicate worker." Travis mocked sobbed as I got squeeze between the two brothers.

"Guys…" I sighed. "I'm older than you." I mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah," They both said as they sipped a drink.

"So why are you here so late, Percy my man?" Travis grinned stealing my drink before I could make a grab for it.

"Uh… work?" I replied with a strong urge to knock him out and get my drink back.

"You are seriously working too much Percy," Grover suddenly spoke up. "This is the first time in weeks that we've seen you… for more than five minutes that is." Grover stated.

Connor laughed, "Like you have any rights to talk, you've been busy with your woman G-man."

"Juniper got a hold of this guy on a leash!" Travis grinned and gave his brother a high five.

"Very funny." Grover mumbled sarcastically. "I've been busy with a new tree planting project." Grover stated.

"Sure that's it! Come on man, you're wedding's in a month or so and you're still thinking of tree planting?"

"It's call saving pigs like you guys from dying in this polluted world." Grover stated with a disapproving frown.

"We're not pigs!" The Stolls cried.

"We're simply sophisticated human being." Connor stated.

"That require a bit amount of fun in a while." Travis smirked.

"Your fun is everyone else's torture." I grumbled.

"Wow, you seem a bit down today Mr. Jackson." Connor told me.

"He must've bumped into his ex or something." Travis joked.

I grimaced hoping no one would noticed, but Nico suddenly spoke up, "Looks like he did bump into someone unfortunate." Nico narrowed his eyes.

"Who might the lucky lady be Mr. Jackson?" Connor asked faking the polite voice.

"Rachel…" I mumbled under my breath.

"DEAD ON!" Travis grinned giving his brother another high five.

"Rachel Dare?" Nico asked suddenly.

"Exactly what I asked him." Grover mumbled.

"What exactly were you doing at the airport Percy?" Connor grinned mischievously.

"Picking up girls?" Travis suggested.

"No, I'm sorry, but I'm not a flirt like you guys." I retorted back. "I was picking up my sister." I told them.

They stared at me, wide-eye, "YOU HAVE A SISTER?" The Stoll brothers asked, as Nico spit out his drink and Grover just simply stared.

"According to my dad… yeah." I replied emotionlessly. "And guys…. It's half-sister." I informed them.

"Woah back it up there Perce!" Connor said almost seriously. "You have a sister… how old is she?" Connor asked with his thinking face on.

"Not sure, but my retard of a father said that she's a bit younger than me." I told them.

"Is she hot?" Connor asked. I was about to slap the guy when Nico slapped Connor in the back of his head. "DAMN DUDE! What was that for?" Connor glared at Nico.

"You're such a flirt…" Nico mumbled.

"Since you're not interested I think I'll take a shot at Percy's little sis." Travis joked.

"So you're interested?" Nico shot back and nodded in my direction. "I guess we could tell Katie-"

Travis stood up in alarm and put a hand over Nico's face."I'm just kidding!"

"You'd better be." I grumbled taking another sip.

"Wow Percy getting overprotective here." Connor grinned.

"So why did she suddenly appeared in your life then?" Grover asked curiously.

"Apparently, she's studying at some university, I think something Columbia…" I scratched my head trying to remember.

"Wow… unlike Percy… his sister's a nerd." Connor joked.

I glared at him as he casually took another sip of his drink as if not seeing my expression. "Anyways… she's suppose to be living with me and such, because it's my dad's command." I murmured.

Connor laughed, "I guess this means that Percy won't be bringing home any girls to his house anytime soon."

"Where's she from?" Grover asked suddenly.

"From what I heard… I think it's California." I said thoughtfully.

"MAN! I AM SO GOING TO YOUR HOUSE EVERYDAY JUST TO LOOK AT YOUR SISTER!" Connor the flirt grinned. "Californian girls are hot!" Nico simply just knocked Connor in the head again. "Dude stop hitting me!" Connor yelp as he saw Nico's glare.

"Dude, bro code!" Travis warned his brother. "We do not date our friends' sisters." Travis said with a solemn face.

"You were just thinking about it just now!" Connor countered.

"Difference… mines was a joke!" Travis replied.

"Sure cause you love Katie." Connor teased his brother as Travis tried to not look like a red tomato.

Naturally we all ignored them. "So how'd you run into Rachel?" Nico asked bringing the topic back.

"Airport…" I trailed off as Grover leaned back relaxing in his chair.

"She asked him to take her back." Grover told them.

"Did you at least slap her for asking that?" Travis asked suddenly serious. I knew as much as a joker Travis was, he was serious and committed to relationship.

"No, I almost took her back man." I groaned.

"Such a weakling man, if she leaves you again, you're going to be so absorbed into your work even more than you are now." Connor stated.

"Dude, just leave her!" Nico growled which startled me almost making me jump out of my seat. I look at the younger guy a bit surprised having not seen his anger flared in a while. "She hurt you, I don't give a shit about her and you shouldn't too." Nico had a reason to be pissed. He knew better than anyone here what happened that day. He was with me when she left me. That was when it happened, the death of our two friends, I blame it on myself, but Nico blames it on Rachel for some odd reason. After that incident I was traumatized, unable to drive for almost half a year, and according to my friends, I was in a coma for three months. Despite the situation that I was the one hurting, Nico was even more pissed than me. I guess it was because his sister died that I was his only family figure since his parents was already dead.

"Nico calm down." Grover said nervously, he knew it was not good that Nico was mad. Unfortunately, my friend here holds his grudges very deep and rarely forgives anyone. On my case to get him to forgive me… even that alone… me saving his future… took almost two years for him to forgive me.

"Why are you getting all worked up Nicky?" Connor joked trying to ease up the tension. "How about I hook you up with some people?" Connor offered.

"No thanks," Nico huffed. "I like to have my privacy." Nico mumbled and for the first time I noticed that Nico never really had a girlfriend before. Even when we were in school together, based on his looks and somewhat popularity, he could've easily get any girl he wants. For some reason, he never bothered checking out any girls like our man-whore Connor here, or desperately chasing after one girl… like our friend Travis here. He rejected every girl that asked him out and claims that he likes his privacy, or he likes being alone. Suddenly his phone gave out a little beep and he quickly grab it before any of us could read it. "I have to go now…" He told us.

"Are you sure you can drive in that state?" Grover asked him.

"You drank six bottles." I added.

Nico grinned that scary grin of his, "I meant six bottle of apple cider." He gave me a weird look.

"Where are you going then?" Travis asked. "Girlfriend's calling you?"

"No…" Nico said almost right away. "I just got some trouble at work." He told us. "There's a new lead on this assignment we've been working on." He gave us that crooked evil grin. "I'll see you guys later."

"Looks like our Nicky have grown up to be a wonderful criminal investigator." Connor said acting like a fake dad, but soon stopped as Nico glared at him.

"Okay okay!" Connor held up his hand. "So how about I give you this girl's phone number?" Connor offered as Nico just simply glare at the poor guy again.

"I already told you, I like my privacy!" Nico informed us once again. "I'm perfectly fine as being a single man."

"Sure you are…" Both Stoll brothers gave Nico a knowing smirk.

"Whatever, I have to go now." Nico said grabbing his phone from the prying eyes of the Stolls.

"Well we'll see you later man." I clapped him on the back.

Nico nodded, then as fast as the wind he sprinted off towards the exit.

"Well… he sure does seem to be in a hurry." Travis remarked.

"Dude… he's an investigator, his research could decide someone's life man." I told him as I stared at Nico's retreating form. "But you're right… he does seem to be in a hurry." I mumbled.

"Well… let's go find us some ladies then!" Connor and his sick mind spoke.

"Connor, you need to stop being such a flirt." Grover mumbled.

Connor shrugged that off easily, "Girls dig the guys who make the first move man." Connor grinned. "Speaking of flirting…. Travis… some girl is flirting with you." Connor informed his brother as a girl winked towards our table.

"Chill man, as long as it's not Katie, Travis won't even lift an eyebrow for that girl." Grover told him with a knowing smirk

I managed a half smile that Travis have a thing for Katie. "So she's still kicking your ass these days?"

"Just slapping my face now…" Travis mumbled.

Grover let out his weird laugh, "A little improvement there." Travis glared at Grover, who shrugged it off without a second thought.

Connor quickly ordered up some drinks, "So… shall we drink?" Connor grinned mischievously as he poured some in his glass. "Cheers man!" We each took a drink out of the glass, mines being of course non-alcoholic.

I sighed as I was finally alone in my car after dropping off three drunken men. I parked my car into the garage and closed the door down, turning off the engine. I opened my door and walked towards my house to see the lights were on and the living room was filled with luggage. I walked into the room, looking for my half-sister. I was expecting a girl with black hair like mines, but came upon a blond haired girl with princess curls sitting on the kitchen chair and taking down notes from a book. She was dressed simply in a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt with her hair tied up in a ponytail.

The table was messy as if she spend her whole life living here, each inch of my kitchen table was filled with loose papers. Her body posture was tense and focused as if she didn't notice anything but her notes. I smiled a bit, she was actually beautiful, being the daughter of such an asshole father. Then again… my dad was not exactly bad looking, but this girl… she looks nothing like my dad or me for the matter… almost the opposite.

Suddenly her head shifted towards my direction probably sensing someone looking at her and her eyes widen in shock.

So… how was this chapter? Good? Bad? Horrible? Awesome? This ones a bit longer than the other two because I had to describe some stuff a bit… well….. I felt like blabbing haha not that you guys really mind the longer chapters right? anyways….. did I portray the characters (Grover, Nico, Connor, and Travis) okay? READ AND REVIEW!

Anyway I had a great time yesterday so I was all hyped up to write another chapter for you guys. Hanged out with a couple friends yesterday and I was being King Kong over at some park that I keep on calling "Flowers Park" (not the real name of course) And yes I was a retard, and my friend said I was going to die if I keep on climbing XD but you gotta admit climbing is fun. Anyways… the only downside of yesterday was… you guys know how I always somehow break my earphones/headphones… now it came to bikes… dammit… well I'm going to spend next week fixing my bike…. Wish me luck…. Oh yeah… you guys know how I love music? Got any recommendation for me? I'm pretty much rampaging through youtube looking for music at the moment XD

Thanks for all the reviews guys! They made my day!

Kiransomers: Thanks! Haha well I don't like how Annabeth's heart fluttered when he winked as much as you do… but it has to be done… cause even the most tom-boyish girl would be happy when a hot guy wink at them… even if that guy is Luke, and also added to the part where Annabeth was crushing on Luke in the book…. So it had to be done my friend… sad but at least she met Percy… even though I left you at a cliffhanger XD

Playitagain: haha well maybe not the everyday thing, but I had break this week and this is the third update that's a start XD but I can't really promise updates as much next week since I'm getting back to school and staying at school late for practices,

C-Nuggets N.L. : I love your pirate story! Haha thanks for replying to all my review in the long message :D Loved your picture, makes Percy seems mysterious, haha but don't worry you got a follower now! Don't lose hope! There will be more followers soon with that epic story of yours!

Song: Solo- Jason Chen Great SONG! I love listening to his song! Great voice and song!

Agent Astro Zombie