Annabeth
When I walk downstairs the next morning, I'm greeted with cries of "Happy Independence Day!"

I cringe. It's too much noise and too early. I sit down at the table. Percy passes me a glass of juice and a plate of strawberries.

Poseidon's here for breakfast, which is an unnatural occurrence. I'm not sure about his place in the system; he isn't evil, like Carol, but he isn't someone I could trust, like Percy or Thalia. He's like Luke, come to think about it.

Usually, breakfast involves screaming matches between Percy and Thalia, double-dog dares to eat bacon dipped in chocolate milk or some other odd combination, or creating elaborate structures out of leftovers. (I won with the Golden Toast Bridge , though Percy came in a close second with the Leaning Tower of Bacon.) Sometimes the kitchen staff came out and competed with us. Silenna and Luke joined us in the dares, and Grover was kind enough to judge the Architecture competition. It's warm and informal and reminds me of light.

Today, it's cold and foreign, and very quiet. Silenna hasn't poked her head out of the kitchen, Percy and Thalia haven't shared snarky words, and Grover stands stick-straight in the corner of the room, just as formal as he had been before Percy convinced him to relax.

"Morning," I mumble before dipping a berry into my juice. I can feel Poseidon's eyes on Percy and me, noticing how we interact with one another.

Thalia, shifted from her seat at the head of the table, sits across from me. She takes a sip of her coffee, nibbles a piece of cinnamon-sugar toast. Her eyes are sending me signals, like 'what are we supposed to do?'

Poseidon sips his coffee and sets down his paper. When he begins speaking, I jump at the sudden loss of silence.

"As you know, we are hosting a get-together this evening in honor of the formation of our country. I do not expect you to spend all night with the adults being bored," his tone is light, "I ask that you spend the first hour there, to be polite to our associates." He clears his throat. "Afterwords, you may have your own party. I only ask a few things: no illegal substances, no injuries, and no going upstairs to the bedrooms. Is this clear?"

Percy swallows his bite of pancake and nods.

The rest of the meal passes in silence until Poseidon excuses himself for last-minute preparations. Then it turns into every other morning- screaming, placing bets, arm wrestling, and flying toast.

After we help clean up the mess (Thalia, in her victory dance, spilled the pitcher of juice, not the mention the toast bits), we head to our rooms to get ready. Later this afternoon I'm supposed to help inflate pool stuff. Thalia's supposed to help Silenna decorate the rec room and out front. I'm not sure where Percy is, maybe in the kitchen or something.

I slip on a white cotton sundress and flip flops before heading outside. The dress was something Carol got me, knowing I hated it. It does have its perks, though- it's light, cool, and I don't care what happens to it. I take a step into the hallway when a voice calls my name.

"Hey, Annabeth." Percy. I turn around and smile; he's changed out of his pajamas, too, into a blue t-shirt and khaki shorts. He catches up to me and we walk down the stairs. "Nice dress. Travis and Connor are outside waiting. If they get..." He pauses, searching for the right word. "Er, fresh, just give them a good kick. They can be complete assholes, but they mean it in a nice way." He leads me outside, telling me about the two brothers. They like to pull pranks, maintain the yard, and took 1st and 2nd place in the State track meets when they were in high school. "Oh, and they like to pickpocket." That's nice to know. Sounds like I'm dealing with 20-year old men who have the maturity level of thirteen-year-old boys.

"Annabeth, meet Connor and Travis." Percy motions to the two.

"Hello." "Hello." They both say. Their voices sound familiar. Ohmygods, they're...

"Do you think it's funny to make prank calls before ten a.m.?" I nearly shout. They both break into a fit of nervous giggles. "Huh? Is that amusing? You're such dickheads!"

"That's what she said."

They're so immature, it's almost comical. If I didn't want to rip off their faces and glue them to a horse's ass, I'd find it funny. Maybe.

Percy looks confused. "Did I miss something?"

"Is a gynecologist the funniest thing you could think of? Because let me tell you: it wasn't amusing."

"Gyne- what?" Poor Percy. I'll have to explain later, after I kill the Brothers Idiots.

"I'll tell you later." I say tersely. 'Later' as in 'once the world is 2 asshats short.

"Um, okay? I'm going to go inside now. You two-" he points at Connor and Travis- "be nice." The second he's in the house, the brothers share a devious glance and start ordering me around.

"Get to work, Annabeth!" Connor directs, gesturing to a pile of inflatables and an air pump for a bicycle. He's got to be shitting me. That'll take hours. I raise my eyebrow. Connor raises his back.

"Damn you both," I grumble, grabbing the air pump. If I hurry, I might be able to get the work done in three hours. Maybe. Thankfully, Travis tosses me an automatic one as they go to trim flowers or whatever out front.

Four hours later, I've barely accomplished anything but getting sweaty.
Gods damn these inflatables. The air pump-hose-thing won't connect, and once I finally get it attached it won't sustain the connection long enough to get much air in. I can now see why no one else wanted to do the job.

"Hey."

I look over my shoulder. It's Percy. "Hey." The air pump blower nozzle thing won't go to the air hole of the inflatable dolphin. I try to line it up right, but every single time I turn on the air pump, it won't inflate.

"Let me help. See, you put the nozzle here..." And the dolphin inflates. Percy grins. "So, are you going to change, or go swimming in that?" He motions to my white tank dress. "There might be some complaints."

I punch him in the arm. "You're such an ass."

"I try. So, we have to stay at the adult party until 7:30. Then we can come over here."

I nod. "And it starts at six, right?"

"Mhmm." He fiddles with my hair, wrapping strands of it around his fingers.

"Okay, that's the last one." I stand up, shoving his arm off me. "I guess I've got to go get changed, huh?"

A/N: Special Thanks to DragonClan for reviews on, like, every other chapter or so!

Next chapter is the 4th of July Party! This is a scene I KNEW I had to include, and it here's the teaser quote! :

"Red, white, blue's in the skies. Summer's in the air and baby, heaven's in your eyes." -Lana del Rey, 'National Anthem'

thanks SO MUCH for reviews! -Winter'sFangirl