Chapter 3: I made friends?

"You sure were a cute kid Percy," Annabeth grinned at him.

So far throughout the movie Percy was in a state of deep embarrassment. Having to watch a movie about himself when he didn't know cameras were around and doing things like scratching his butt when he thought no one was looking or picking his nose, and to have all the campers watch was making his current situation very awkward.

Not to mention he honestly didn't remember any of what was going on in the movie. And from the looks Conner and Travis were sending him, neither did they. It must have been the mist trying to hide this particular stage in his life because whenever he tried to jog his memory back to this, he was faced with a blank wall.

Percy was nervous about what the movie would reveal. As he watched, it was like a puzzle was being put together right in front of him as he tried to piece together the blank slates.

Percy resumed watching the movie with a red face, shifting nervously in his seat.

The choir sang a few warm up songs like, "My Bonnie" and "Doe a Deer." Percy tried to keep up with the others but he didn't know the words to the song and he still wasn't comfortable singing. So, for most of the warm ups he mouthed everything instead of singing.

"Okay everyone, as you all know this is the start of a new term. Last year at the world choir competition we only placed 3rd. I've taken the time to write a few new songs that I know will blow the judges away!" Mr. O then began to teach the choristers the lyrics of the first song.

Everything was going smoothly until in the middle of the lesson Percy began to smell something awful. It smelled like rotten meat that someone threw up and then let sit in a hot room for a year. A few moments after Percy smelled it the whole room was in motion. Everyone was standing up and fanning their faces.

"Hey hold on! I was in the middle of teaching! Sit down at once!" shouted Sir. O as he tried to bring order to the now frantic choristers. He stood in front of the one door to the room trying to block everyone from leaving.

"Aww who died in here!" someone shouted.

"Sir O did you kill someone?" joked my seat neighbor Christopher.

"Sir O why would you store the body in here? You know you're supposed to use a freezer," added my other seat neighbor Aaron.

"Ugh seriously guys, this is immature," said a chubby boy with blond curly hair in front of me,
"Very immature! Now my sinuses are flaring," said the boy's twin brother covering his nose and taking deep breaths.

Everyone was scurrying around trying to breathe as Sir O remained in front of the only door. Also since there were no windows the smell seemed to increasingly get worse. Aaron began trying to forcefully move Sir O from the door frame by punching and kicking him, unsuccessfully. The curly haired blond twins were lying motionlessly on the floor. A few boys were on the ground rocking back in forth with what looked like tears streaming down their faces. And Percy noted through all the commotion that Connor and Travis were conveniently missing from the room

"SILENCE!" shouted Sir O.

Everyone immediately shut their mouths. Though, Aaron continued punching him in the gut, stopping only when a surprisingly strong Sir O picked him up with one hand.

"Connor, Travis you two are so dead," Sir O whispered menacingly with a crazed look in his eyes.

Then he rushed out the room as the rest of the choristers gladly followed after him. Percy and the now conscious curly haired blond twins were the only ones remaining in the room.

"Well that's the end of today's practice," one of the twins said to him, "I'm Castor by the way. I'm 9."

"I'm Pollux," said his brother as the three of them exited the room.

"Hi I'm Percy. Connor and Travis sure are crazy, my mom is friends with theirs so I know they do this stuff a lot," Percy said politely to the two seemingly sane twins.

"Yeah! They do this all the time. I'm surprised Sir O hasn't killed them by now, he always says he is, but the worse that happens to them is kitchen duty. You'll get used to it," said Castor nonchalantly.

The three walked to where all the angry shouting was coming from in the kitchen near the front of the house. The kitchen was a good sized room, but was a bit cramped with everyone in there. The walls were painted pink with a dark green trim and had flower print along the top. There weren't any tables in the room just a granite counter with a sink, stove, dishwasher, and fridge.

Percy pushed his way through the small crowd that was formed in the kitchen and saw Sir O holding both Conner and Travis upside down by their ankles. The sibling's mouths were covered in what looked like chocolate and underneath them were the remains of a cake.

"So let me get this straight, you planted 20 stink bombs in the chorus room, then snuck out while I wasn't looking to steal our dessert for the evening?" Questioned a very pissed off choir teacher. His teeth were gritted and face red. He looked really scary to Percy, different from his earlier arrogant mannerism.

"Well, we also ate some of the lasagna that was cooked," Connor or Travis said impishly.

"It wasn't very good though, too salty," added the other.

Sir O wasn't amused, "Kitchen duty until the summer for the two of you."

"What?" they both screamed at him, "That's no fai-!"

"Quiet! You both are just like your father. Always up to no good," muttered Sir O.

The twins grimaced in response to his statement. Percy was confused, as far as he knew their father was absent from their lives just like his own.

"Everyone in the dining room, we will eat what's left of the lasagna and you can thank the Stoll brothers for your lack of dessert," Sir O said dropping the brothers on the ground.

Everyone groaned and thanked them sarcastically. As Percy was about to enter the dining room he was stopped by Sir O.

"I need to discuss some things with you real quick," He told Percy ushering him into the chorus room that still had a faint scent of the stinky odder.

"First I've already talked to your mother and we've discussed how she needs someone to watch you on days when there is not chorus practice and when we get out early. For that reason I already discussed this with a few parents of the other kids, you will be allowed to go to Michael's house, Christopher's house or Castor and Pollux's house. They all live near you and will be able to drive you home. Okay?"

"Yup," said a now depressed Percy, taking in what the man said. He knew that his mom's new job at the candy shop would affect the time they spent together but he didn't realize just how much time they would be apart.

"Cheer up young fellow, when I was young I was alone too. A father too busy to spend time with me unless I was singing, a mother who only lived to hear me play the lyre, and eight sisters who followed my band spreading the word of my music," Sir O said while gazing into the distance as he told his story as if the memories truly pained him.

"So you weren't really alone," Percy stated, "Your family was always around you."

"Yes, well I was trying to cheer you up kid," Sir O said grumpily as Percy broke him out of his trance. "Anyways, I also wanted to tell you that your voice is marvelous. It really is, I don't lie. I know you're new and I normally give solos to the older boys, but I want you to sing solo in a few songs. I want you to be a lead vocalist."

Percy gasped at the sudden news. Before today the most he sung were Beatles songs with his mom in the car.

Sir Oh continued, "This means you're going to actually have to sing in practices. No more mouthing the words or you can join Connor and Travis in kitchen duty. Understand? Also, because you're going to solo in our next competition you and me are going to have private sessions every day until I feel you are caught up."

Percy nodded and then Sir O left the room to join the others in the kitchen, leaving Percy shocked and horrified.

Castor & Pollux – sons of Dionysus