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"Chrysanthe I am extremely disappointed with you." Mr. Brunner said looking me in the eyes.

He had called me to his office the day before we were to leave this school for the summer holidays, the only difference between me and the rest of the students would be that I wasn't going to be coming back here. The school had already sent my mom a letter, explaining that I wouldn't be invited back next year because of poor marks and bad behavior. Although it was mostly because of the behavior, I wasn't really complaining about not coming back, but I felt really disappointed in myself that I had let down more than one person.

My mother had worked so hard to get me into this school, which would have been extremely difficult considering my past. But she still managed to convince them to let me come here, under the promise that I would be on my best behavior. And I had been. For the first three months.

But I felt like I had let down Mr. Brunner the most. He was the only teacher who hadn't given up on me (probably because I bet he's seen cases like mine before). It was like he understood what I was going through. He believed that I could pass all of my exams. But I failed 1, English, and I was pretty darn close to failing others.

And that was why I was in his office (well part of it), looking into his saddened eyes. I had been found at the edge of campus near a creak experimenting with my water powers. I have kept my discovery of my heritage to myself and planned to until my mom felt comfortable telling me. I felt as if I shouldn't have figured it out, so, with the exception of the experiment, I 'went' back to believing that my bed, named pork chop, is 'Thy God'.

"I'm so sorry sir. I tried my hardest, I really did." He smiled sadly at me.

"I believe you. But sometimes, doing our hardest won't always be enough in the real world." I looked down at his desk. I wondered if there was a double meaning behind that, because surly I wasn't the only demigod out there. There were probably monsters like Mrs. Dodds attacking them and I suspected that at least one died every year.

Noticing I haven't given Mr. Brunner I asked, "Then what else do you want me to do?"

"Persevere." I looked back up at him with determination.

"Then I promise you that I will always keep going. No matter what happens, I will never quit." Mr. Brunner smiled sadly at me and leaned over his desk as much as being in a wheel chair could allow.

"Never make a promise that you cannot keep."

"How do you know I can't keep it?" I have gotten this far. I added silently.

He sat back in his chair and indicated with his towards the door, ignoring my response. "I think it would be best if you got back to packing. You will be leaving right after breakfast tomorrow morning." I nodded my head at him and left the room.

When I was in the hallway I frowned. Why did he say wouldn't I be able to keep my promise?

…

Everyone seemed to radiate excitement the next morning. People could barely stay in their seats during breakfast and it only got worse when they started to call out which buses people would be on. Everyone seemed extremely happy that we were leaving this hell hole.

People had already made plans on how they were going to spend their holidays. Since nearly half of the school had rich parents, it was no surprise that most people would be taking a month long cruise around the Caribbean, or spending the summer months at a summer home that their parents owned in Venice, Italy. I had felt a little embarrassed when someone had asked me what I would be doing for the summer, especially after boasting about their parents had promised that they would be spending time in Paris so that she could attend a summer modeling class.

But, still even thought I was a little embarrassed I proudly stated I would be working at Murray's auto repair and used cars as a mechanic. I had been helping Murray (The owner obviously) with the auto repair part of his business since I was 8, but he didn't start paying me until last year. The girl I told that to just look at me for a second then turned away disgusted.

…

I smiled in relief as I watched the school that had kept me prisoner, for what seemed like a long time, fade into the background.

"We're finally leaving." I said to Grover, but the massive grin that I had on my face disappeared as I saw the sadness on Grover's face.

"Hey cheer up Grov. This won't be the last time you'll see me." He looked up at me, his chocolate brown eyes filled sadness.

"But what if it is?"

"It won't be, I promise." He shook his head dejectedly.

"How can you promise that?" I laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"Because I am the amazing Chris Jackson, now cheer up. I don't want the ride home to be so depressing." But still he didn't smile.

"Can I ask you to promise me something?"

"I don't know can you?"

"Chris please don't joke now, It's important." Grover looked so serious that it wiped my smile clean of my face.

"Okay?" I answer came out as a question. Mainly because I felt curious about what has him acting so serious.

"If anything happens to you that seems," He paused for second, looking for the word he wanted. "Abnormal. I want you to call me."

Demigod stuff, to keep up my act I said, "That's all?"

He nodded.

"For the love of the Simpsons Grover, you had me worried there for a second." He managed to give me a weak smile.

"Here's my number and address." He handed me an official looking white business card. It read:

Grover Underwood, Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800)009-0009

What's a keeper.

"What is this, some sort of business?"

"I guess you could call it that." I closed my eyes for a few seconds.

I really wanted to go there and what there would be. But I was going to be working at Murray's I had promised him and I wanted to help mom pay the bills. I always felt bad whenever I saw my mother looking like she could start crying at any moment when she saw her bills. I wanted to help her and earn what money I could.

I opened my eyes and looked over at Grover

"I'll call you if anything happens." Grover's answering smile was enough to take my mind off the troubles that I knew was waiting for me back at home.

The rest of the journey felt slightly tense to me, but Grover didn't seem to notice as he carried on chatting cheerfully about how excided he about this summer. He had said that he was looking forward to spending time with me outside of school.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wouldn't be seeing him that much. I know it sounds spiteful, even after I promised him that nothing would change. I needed to be working 10 hours a day at Murray's for extra money so we don't get kicked out of our apartment and I also need to pay off a friend of Murray's for parts for 2 cars that I am rebuilding (A 1969 Cadillac convertible and A Mustang 1967 Shelby).

…

Grover and I stood at the bus stop and watched as the bus pulled away from us. It felt strange to be back in New York, but at the same time, it felt welcoming. I smiled to myself, it felt good to be home.

"It's good to be back isn't it?" Grover asked, I nodded.

"Yeah, it is."

"I've got to go to the bathroom. Wait for me, then I'll take you home." I frowned at his tone. Was he seriously ordering me to wait for him?

I fake smiled, "No problem."

I'm not proud of what did next, but I was really upset with Grover. One thing you should never do is order me around. Did he think that I was incapable of going home myself? Plus, I was already annoyed at the fact I had to see my drunk fat-ass of a step-father.

Well he's not going to see someone when he got out of the bathroom.

I took my skateboard out of my backpack and set off to home.

I felt really bad about doing this, but like I said. I was upset, and when I was upset. I normally found myself doing irrational things, like ditching Grover for example. But hey, like people always say, you learn from your mistakes.

…

I know I've already spoken about her, but I think I should probably tell you more about my mother before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson, and she had to be the kindest woman I know. She did so much to make sure that I was happy and had an education, that it seemed like she had no money to spend on herself.

When my mom was fifteen, her parents died in plane crash, and it was because of that, we never actually got to go to place outside of the U.S. It's not like we had major vacation's anyway, it was mostly tips to the beach, but it would have been nice we could have had the option to travel further (Although, I wouldn't go near a plane, I mean they weighted at least a ton but managed to fly, one could easily crash.)

Because her parents died, she had to move in with her uncle, her only living relative so he could pay for her schooling. But in her senior year, he got cancer. So my mother dropped out of high school to look after him, that meant that she couldn't sit her final exams and get the marks she needed to go to college or university and get a degree.

Eventually, though, her uncle died. Now she was alone, with no collage degree to get a job and no job that actually paid well. But like my mother always says, there's always a ray of hope at the end of a dark tunnel.

After the funeral, she had been crying at the beach her parents used to take her too when she was a child. And, well, long story short. That's how she met my father. She said that he had gone up to her, a complete stranger at the time, and comforted her.

And um… she became pregnant with me, But seven months into her pregnancy, my father supposedly had to go away on an over sea's journey. And since that night, she hasn't seen him since.

"He was lost at sea." She always told me whenever I asked about him before. (keep in mind at this time I was trying to ignore what I learned at school. I am talking about the demigod thing, not all the other stuff.)

I've never seen a picture of him, but according to her, I'm all she needs to remember him by. She always tells me that I have the same black hair as him, as well as the same sea blue eyes. I was, apparently, an exact replicate of him. But obviously, I had more feminine features.

But when I was a toddler, my mother decided to get married to a drunk fat-ass. Gabe Ugliano, or smelly Gabe as I had started to call him when I was six. I personally think that Smelly Gabe fits him more than his real name, he smelt worse than a sewer, and it didn't seem possible. But it seemed Gabe had been able to do it.

He was the manager of an electronics mega mart, but I think he was fired a long time ago. He is horrible all he did was eat, drink, and play poker, USING the money that mom and I earn. Don't get me wrong he had been nice to us when we first met him, but that lasted for about thirty seconds and he started to show his true colors. He was what some, would call a 'Grade A World Class Jerk'.

The only thing he cared about was his camaro. I still don't understand why she hadn't left him ages ago or why she married him in the first place. My mother kept saying that he was good to us.

I had arrived at my apartment building. As I entered the apartment, I was met with the sight of Smelly Gabe and his Poker buddies, once again, playing poker in our front room.

"So your back are ya?" I ignored his question as I hung my jacket up in the hall, and looked around expecting my mom to come and greet me.

"Where's mom? Still at work? "

"Yeah. You got any cash?"

This was how I was always treated by him whenever I came home from school, whether I was in the city or not, it was never 'How was school?' or ´Have you had a good day?' To Gabe, it was always about the money.

"No. Sorry." I picked up my bag, which I had dropped onto the floor in the hallway, and made my toward my bedroom.

"Don' try an' lie to me. You took a cab from the bus station here, probably paid with a twenty, so you probably have six or seven bucks left." I glared at Gabe.

"Your gonna hand it over or what?"

"Wrong, I am completely broke and I rode my skate board here."

"I don' like the attitude, after everything I've done for ya, ya could at least teat me with respect."

"Everything you've done for me? All you've done for us, was make our lives worse. We were fine until you came along."

"Don' give me that. I gave ya mom and ya a house didn't I?" I scoffed at him

"Oh, you mean the house that mom and I pay for, sure you did." Not bothering to wait for his reply I stalked towards my bedroom, where I would happily wait until my mother came home from work.

I almost groaned when I saw the state of my bedroom. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised really, but who knows how long it would take me to clean it.

When I had left to go back to school after Christmas, Gabe had decided to turn my room into his 'study'. And just so you know, Gabe's version of a study is not a welcoming sight. Old pizza boxes covered the floor and my bed, some still had some of the pizza left over in them, but know they had turned green with mould and empty crushed beer cans were littered over every surface in sight.

I made my way towards the window, hoping to the fresh air would get rid of the stale beer smell that lingered over my room. After opening the window and turned to face my room before whimpering pathetically. This would take forever to clean.

I made my way over to my bed with the intension of having a nap before actually cleaning this mess, but unfortunately, that changed after I had laid face down on my bed. I had kicked everything off the bed first of course, but it wouldn't have made a big difference. The pillows smelt of stale alcohol, pizza and sweat.

I sat up on my bed and buried my head into my hands, this was going to take forever to clean and get the smell out of my room.

…

I had just finished tying the last of the trash bags, that held the lovely presents that Gabe had been kind enough to leave for me, when the person I had missed the most when I had been away walked into the room.

"Hey sweetheart, how was school?" There my mom stood leaning against the kitchen door frame, with her long wavy brown hair done up in a messy ponytail and dressed in her Sweets on America uniform.

"Mom," I moved towards her. She opened her arms wide and pulled me into a tight hug. It felt so good to hug her again.

"I have missed you so much." She seemed to pull me tighter to her.

"Mom, I'd like to breath." She laughed before letting me go. I took an overly exaggerated breath which made her laugh harder.

"Look at you! You've grown so much since Christmas. And I swear you're getting even more beautiful every day." I looked down and blushing.

"I think you need glasses mom."

"My eyes are as clear as they were the last time I saw you. Don't take yourself for granted." I smiled shyly at her. No matter what she said, I couldn't see it. She grabbed my hands and led me over to the small round kitchen table.

"Why don't I make us something to drink and you can tell me about school."

We sat in the kitchen for what felt like hours, drinking the juice she had made for us and eating away happily on the blue jelly beans she had managed to get from work.

A few months after they had gotten married, Gabe had claimed that it wasn't possible to have blue food, so my mom had ended up going out of her way to prove him wrong. She had made tons of different types of food so far, blue chocolate chip cookies, blue pancakes, blue cakes, the list goes on. Eventually, looking for blue food had turned into a game for her, so we had ended up making a lot of blue food together.

"You've been busy since you got home haven't you?" I looked up and saw her looking around the kitchen with surprise.

"Why didn't you wait for me to come home? I could have helped you." I shrugged.

"I wanted a nap, and I wasn't going to sleep in a room that smelt like stale beer and pizza."

"Well I hope you don't mind waiting a bit longer to take that nap."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I was hoping we could go away for a few days, starting tonight." I sat up straighter in my chair, giving her my full attention.

"Where do you have in mind?"

"Well," She drew the word out longer than necessary

"Yes?" mimicking her words

"How does Montauk sound?" M face broke into a huge grin.

"Really?" she nodded her head.

"For three days, it'll be just the two of us, in the same cabin." I squealed and almost leapt across the table to hug her. We had been going to Montauk since I was 7. It was one of the few places that my mother and I could go to where we could spend time together, just the two of us. I drew back from my mother and looked at her with so much excitement, I felt like I could burst.

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as you've packed and when I have changed out of my work clothes." I hugged her tightly once more and started to run to my room.

"I won't be long."

I was barely out of the kitchen when Gabe's voice shouted from the front room.

"Sally- Where's my bean dip?" I looked at my mother with sad eyes, hoping she would ignore Gabe's order for his bean dip.

"It's alright. Go ahead and start packing, I have some made already so all I have to do is heat it up." I nodded my head solemnly before smiling with glee. I was getting away from Smelly Gabe. It might be for a short amount of time, but at least I wouldn't have to cope with being in the same room as he is for at while.

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