It's Friday, Friday, gotta update on Friday! ...Yeah. I can stick to a schedule! Yay! Does anyone know what PJO event is taking place next week? *everybody raises their hand* THE SEA OF MONSTERS! I'm probably NOT going to go see it, actually, because I really hated the first one and I would be so sad if they messed up the second just as much. I really hope they won't go all the way through the Last Olympian. *fingers crossed* But I'll rant about that later. Right now, here's a chapter!


I actually didn't get in huge trouble after what happened at Christmas. I guess Mom was happy I was alive after I told her what happened to me, and I wasn't supposed to know this, but I heard Mom call the school and she sounded mad. I guess they never told her I ran away. That's kind of stupid, really, because if anyone could find me it was Mom. I tried to run away from Montauk in August, when I found out Mom was marrying Smelly Gabe, and I didn't make it past the beach.

It was weird going back to school in January, because Ryan hated me even more. And I don't think my teacher really liked me that much anymore, either. Maybe it was because she never got to have that serious talk with me. Or maybe it was because Mom made her look stupid.

But it wasn't really that different than it was before, except some kids who I'd never talked to before would be nice to me. Mom said it was because they looked up to me for being brave. I don't know. I never thought what I did was brave, and I guess my teacher didn't either, because whenever she heard someone talking about what I did in December, they had to go sit in the hall for a time-out.

The thing that happened in January wasn't so good, though. We had a reading test, where we went out in the hall with the teacher and read something, and she gave us a grade about how good we read, or something. I wasn't happy about that. because I didn't like reading. I wasn't good at it, either. So when it was my turn to take the test, I walked into the hall all grumpy.

"All right, Percy," the teacher said in a kind voice that didn't go with her face. She gave me a piece of paper with some words on it and told me to read as far as I could until she told me to stop. She took out a timer and pressed some buttons, then told me to start.

The second she said that, I looked down at the paper and tried to read what it said, but I couldn't make it out. My brain felt kind of fuzzy, like I couldn't think straight, and the letters on the page looked all floaty.

"I... um..." I strained my eyes to be able to see what it said, but I couldn't even talk because I felt like my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. "J.. Jack and Mary..." The letters were changing places or something. They wouldn't stay in one place long enough for me to read it. I could feel my face turning red. At least this wasn't in front of everyone. But I still felt stupid. Why couldn't I read? Was there something wrong with me?

Then the timer beeped, and I threw down the paper. I wanted to be done with this dumb reading test already. I could feel tears starting to come. I would have to hold them back as well as I could. I'd feel even stupider if I started to cry over a reading test.

My teacher was frowning. There was something wrong with me, I knew she was going to say it. She was going to say I had a bad disease that made me not be able to read, and I was going to die, and... and...

"You may go back to the classroom, Percy," was all she said. What? Why? Wasn't there something wrong with me? I couldn't read!

I went back to the classroom like she told me to. But I still felt stupid.


When I got picked up from school that day, we didn't go right home or in the direction of Mom's candy store. I've started paying attention to that stuff ever since Christmas.

"Mom? Where are we going? To visit one of your friends?" I asked. It had been a long time since we visited Mom's friends. She said it was because we didn't have time.

"No, Percy, we're going to go visit the doctor," Mom said.

"The doctor?" I repeated. "Why?" I didn't like the doctor. Everything was too clean and too white.

Mom sighed. It was the sigh that she always did when she was about to get a headache. "I got a phone call from your teacher today," she said. Then I started getting all nervous again. Did she tell Mom about how I can't read? Was the doctor going to tell me that something was wrong with me? "She said we should make an appointment with the doctor, and I agreed, because she was right. You'll just have to do some tests, and that's all. Nothing scary, nothing hard."

She was trying to calm me down, but I didn't want to be calm. Well, I did, but I couldn't. I had a sickness, I knew it for sure now.

When we got to the doctor, we sat in the waiting room for a long time. It was really hot in there. I was too old for all the toys they had on the tables, and I would feel like a little kid if I started playing with them, so I picked up a book. Just to see if I still couldn't read, or it got worse. I guess it was the nervousness that made it worse, because the letters were more floaty and jumpy than usual. I always knew I wasn't good at reading, but I never thought there was something wrong with me. I think I'd rather just be stupid.

Finally they called my name. "Percy Jackson!" Mom stood up and I did the same. We followed the person in the white coat - what's with the white coats anyway? And why white? Blue was better. - to a normal looking doctor's room. Is that what you call it? A doctor room? I'm not sure, really. We sat there for a while. Mom answered some questions.

Then the doctor came in and asked Mom more questions. After she answered them, he asked me stuff. Just stuff about what happened when I read, how the letters looked. Mom was right, it wasn't hard. Even though I felt stupid trying to read, I had no problem just talking normally.

The doctor left and we waited around for a while. I kept looking at the posters on the wall, even though I didn't want to because they had weird pictures of the inside of people's bodies. I was kind of glad I couldn't read the words on them.

When the doctor came back, he was smiling, and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. He started by saying, "Good news, it's not anything serious, like a brain tumor or other mental disease."

So there was nothing wrong with me? Then why couldn't I read?

But he wasn't done talking. He continued, "However, Percy does have ADHD, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder."

I think disorders are bad. I don't know for sure what they are, but I think they're bad. I glanced over at Mom, but she didn't look surprised or worried or... anything.

"They are pretty common disorders, and once you're used to it, you can get along fine. It only takes some adjustments, and of course, it will never be easy to read or sit still for too long."

Well, maybe that's not too bad. I didn't like reading, and I also didn't like sitting still.

The doctor said some more stuff, but I wasn't really listening. I was just pretty happy that I wasn't going to die. Who cares about reading? Who cares about sitting still?


Smelly Gabe and Mom got in a fight that night. It was interesting to watch, but I didn't really like it, because they were arguing about me. It was interesting because I'd never seen Mom yell at Gabe. When he was being a jerk, she usually tried to ignore him.

When Mom told him I had ADHD and Lexi something and that other thing, he started freaking out, saying that they should put me in a mental hospital or send me to a special school. Mom tried to tell him that tons of people have it, and she wasn't really mad yet. She started getting mad when Gabe pointed a chubby finger at me and said loudly, "I don't want a... a retard in the house!"

Mom said I wasn't a retard, I would just have attention problems, and soon they were both yelling. I didn't know Mom could be that... scary. If I was Gabe I'd be smart and stop arguing.

I knew retard wasn't a nice name. It was what people called Daniel Miller in my class. He was weird, and would never talk to anyone, and was always coloring the sky green on his coloring pages. He acted like he couldn't even hear us. It was weird. Still, I don't think they should call him that. I'm not going to be his friend or anything - he's way too weird - but I'm not mean to him.

After Mom and Gabe's fight was over, Mom took me up to my room, told me I wasn't a retard, that Gabe didn't mean it, that he was just surprised at the news. (Like I believed that.)

"Why didn't you seem surprised?" I asked. Not once did she look surprised, not when I was answering questions, not when the doctor told us.

"You're not going to like my answer," she replied.

"Oh... what is it?" I asked, even though I thought I knew what it would be.

"You'll know when you're older," she said, and I almost said it right along with her. I heard that way too much. What's so good about getting older, anyway?


So... I don't have ADHD or dyslexia, so I don't know how they'd diagnose it or test for it or anything, so the doctor's office part might not be accurate. I tried to make it as generic as possible so I didn't get too much wrong, though...

ALSO! THANK YOU TO CREAMTHERABBIT77 AND A GUEST FOR TELLING ME THAT I SCREWED UP! Percy does have ADHD and ADD, but he ALSO has dyslexia, which is what made it hard for him to read. I feel like such an idiot now :3