Chapter 2: I hate singing?

Percy smiled sheepishly at the angry man trying to ease the impending tongue lashing that he was about to receive.

"What in Hades took you so long?" The man yelled at him in a British accent, "I been sittin out here for 20 minutes. There are other kids to pick up y'know. I was tryin to be nice like the boss said to be and pick ye up first but if ye gonna be an arse about it I should've left ya."

"Uh, you could've left, I wouldn't have minded!" Percy said with a nervous grin. He was disappointed the man didn't take the hint and leave him like he wanted him to.

"Get on the bus now! Boss is gonna have my head bringing all of ya there late y'know, and y'know whose fault that is?" The man asked him as he continued to glare.

"….Mine…." Percy said sheepishly. He was starting to not like this man.

"Yes yours. Now, get on the bloody bus!" The man shouted as he pushed Percy forward.

The bus wasn't like a normal school bus. In fact the bus was more like one of those big white vans that seated a lot of people. As Percy shuffled to a seat in the back he noted the candy bars and sheets of paper strewn all over the floor.

"You don't keep the bus very clean," Percy noted out loud by accident, his ADD made him blurt out things without thinking sometimes.

"Ah shuddup!" Shouted the blond man whose name Percy didn't know.

Percy taking the hint remained quiet. They passed neighboring schools in Percy's area to stop at a brick building in the middle of a busy area. Standing outside where Conner and Travis Stoll. They looked like twins but were actually brothers. Connor was 10, Travis was 9. Percy thought were just as crazy as himself.

They were always getting into trouble, in fact they were a bit ahead of Percy in getting kicked out of schools. They were once kicked out of three schools in the course of one school year. They were also expert trouble makers. Which often time involved him whenever he and his mother visited their apartment. They had blond hair and upturned eyes that always made them look like they were up to no good, which in many cases was true.

"Cleepy! Why did you take so long?" One of the brothers shouted as they both boarded the bus, Percy still couldn't tell the two apart.

"Asclepius , " corrected the bus driver that Percy now knew as Asclepius or Cleepy, "Blame the little squirt back there, makin me fall behind schedule. Lousy kids," the bus driver said motioning towards Percy who could only smile cautiously as the two twins focused their sinister blue eyes on him.

"Percy!" they both shouted in unison.

"Nice to see you," said one boy.

"Is your mom making you come?" asked the other.

"Do you even know how to sing?" asked the first boy. Percy was starting to get confused.

"We don't!" shouted one of the brothers.

"Well we didn't," corrected the other.

"Anyways don't tell anyone about this-" began one of them.

"I won't!" cried Percy trying to answer one question before either brother began another, "I won't if you don't tell anyone about me doing this."

"Agreed!" Both brothers said in unison.

The "Choir Bus" made 12 more stops picking up a total of 17 kids. Most of them ignored Percy, a few casually asking his name.

After what felt like an hour because of the constant chattering of all the other kids and a few back-and-forth arguments between Cleepy and the Stoll brothers, they finally arrived at their destination. As they exited the bus Percy took in the pale green house that some of the kids were now jogging to enter.

The house was not in the best condition, especially amongst all the nice houses of the suburb. The stairs were wooden and rotting, the door screen was falling apart, and the lime green paint was chipping off all over the outside.

"Common Percy, we're already late. I don't think the O man is gonna be very happy-"

"Not that he is ever happy," interjected one of the brothers.

"About us showing up late," finished the other brother.

Percy nodded as he rushed off the bus and followed Conner and Travis into the now crowded house.

The front door leaded into a big open foyer that was painted white with a gold trim. Everyone was throwing all their school bags and coats onto the ground.

"Put your stuff down here," explained one of the twins, "we're going into the back to start singing now. We normally sing first, then have dinner, and then do our homework together."

Percy placed his book bag and fall jacket onto the ground. Then he followed the Stolls into a room in the back that looked like a living a room. It was very big, it had to be to fit all of the boys in the room, and it was painted the same color as the foyer. On the side of the room next to one of the walls was a huge shiny black grand piano. In front of the piano there were chairs placed in 3 rows. Percy sat next to Conner and Travis only to be grabbed from his seat.

"You must be Percy," said a tall man with neatly combed dark wavy brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing very nice clothes compared to everyone else in the room. He had on navy blue dress pants, a white dress shirt and a golden tie.

"I am Sir O," said the man.

"Sir O?" asked Percy as he tried to hide his laughter, he'd never heard of anyone referring to themselves as Sir.

"Yes, Sir O. Anyways, you can't sit there, I have to test your voice first to place you in the right seat according to where your voice range is," explained Sir O.

"Oh. Um, testing 123, testing 123," said Percy tentatively, hoping this was the test Sir. O was talking about.

Sir O laughed at him as he steered him towards the grand piano. Sir O took as seat on the piano bench and played a few scales impressively as he held his head up and closed his eyes for a dramatic effect.

"Now sing what you here," Sir O said and then he started playing the C major scale.

"W-wait, I-I can't!" Percy stuttered.

By now the room was completely silent as all the boys were in their seats watching the scene before them. Percy was terrified as he quickly looked at everyone in the chairs staring at him, and back to the weird man playing scales telling him to sing in front of everyone.

Percy was a brave guy, but that was only doing "boyish" things like running a mile in 4 minutes or swimming five laps at his school's pool without having to take a breath. Singing was a girly thing, wasn't it?

"Ah, nervous aren't you Perseus Jackson. It's okay, everyone here was once just afraid as you," said Sir O as he patted Percy awkwardly on the head.

Percy nodded, took in a deep breath. If the others could do it, he could too. He wasn't chicken.

"Now!123 go!" Sir O said as he began playing C major scale again, one note at a time.

Percy sang each note timidly as Sir O went up and down the scale. Finally after the second time going up and down the scales Sir O stopped.

"Beautiful voice Percy! Of course not as beautiful as mine… But beautiful! You are soprano 1. Sit down next to Aaron and Christopher," said Sir O, motioning to the only empty seat in the room.

"Now let's sing!"

AN:/ Thanks for the reviews! Also just to note:

Connor and Travis –Hermes's kids

Aaron- Ares's kid (my only original character, I just liked the name Aaron for a child of Ares but think of him as a nicer Clarisse)

Christopher Rodriguez- Hermes's kid