I have a two important words I'd like to say: I'M SORRY! I didn't update yesterday like I was supposed to. I hate my computer's electronic guts. I already did the extra chapter on Wednesday, and I was still planning on doing the normal Friday chapter, but last night, right after I logged into my account, my computer decided to go all Professor Umbridge on me - "You know I really hate children!" - and refused to make the Internet work. For about ten minutes I just stared at the "No Internet Connection" sign thinking about how I was letting everyone down, and I felt really bad about it. :( Anyway, this is a really short chapter, and it's kind of thanks to Mandi2341 that I wrote it, because she reminded me that Percy and Sally weren't as close as they maybe should be.

REVIEW RECOGNITION (which I've been really bad about lately :P) Thanks to creamtherabbit77 and a Guest for reviewing chapter 5, The Minun for reviewing chapter 6, Percabeth-Fan-02 (Guest) for reviewing chapter 2, and Mandi2341, Maerad-of-Pellinor28, and Myseybee for reviewing both the last two chapters. It really blows me away that you guys actually like reading what I write and take the time to let me know! (Well, except for the Minun who just told me a story about pants. But he helps me on some of my Hunger Games stories so thanks for that!)


It was pretty boring now that I couldn't go to school. Not like I wanted to go back, I really hate it there, and everyone hates me there too, so I guess it's all even and stuff. But something to do would be really nice.

I tried to read, because I thought maybe if I read a lot it would be easier, but all it did was give me a headache. I couldn't go watch TV, because Gabe was always in the main room with his friends playing poker, drinking beer, and watching ESPN. I tried to go watch TV downstairs only once. When Gabe started pounding me, asking for money, I got the hint and didn't come back.

On a Friday at the end of May, I was laying in bed and wondering if I could hibernate like a bear. Maybe I could hibernate all summer until I went to my new school. I couldn't fall asleep, though. I wonder how bears do it. I can't sleep very long, and trying to fall asleep means laying still, which for me wasn't going to work.

Then Mom came in and saw me laying on my bed. "Are you sick?" she asked.

"No, I'm not sick," I said, rolling over to look at her. "I feel fine."

"Do you want to come get some ice cream with me?"

I sat up right away when I heard that. "Don't you have to go to work?" I hoped she would say no. I hadn't gotten ice cream with Mom in... well, in a long time. More than a month, for sure. Before Mom married Gabe, we went and got ice cream and sat in the park and talked all the time. But now, every time we drove past the ice cream stand, we didn't have time. We had to go home, or we had to go to school, or Mom had to work.

"No, the store is closed for Memorial Day weekend," she told me. I forgot about that holiday. I never really knew why it was a holiday, though. It seems like we have a hundred holidays to celebrate the people who die in a war!

"Okay!" I hopped out of bed and put on my shoes. "Can we go right now?"

Mom smiled at me. I hadn't seen her really smile in a long time, I realized. I guess since I wasn't doing very good, I didn't notice Mom wasn't either. "Yeah, we can. Go get in the car, I'll be right there."

We drove to our usual place. It was a little stand, that had pictures of ice cream cones with faces on the sides and the front. It looked really dumb, and it was called Lucky's Ice Cream, which I know sounds kind of shifty, but the ice cream was good. We both got our usual. Mom's was mint chip, and mine was the cool one that was mostly blue, but had all the colors. Then we got the stickers with the smiling ice cream cones on them to show that we were there. I had a lot of them in a box under my bed.

After we had our ice cream, we walked around to a small park and sat at my favorite bench. It was my favorite because there were two lions made out of rocks on both sides of it, which was really awesome.

For a while, we ate our ice cream in silence, then Mom talked. "Percy, we haven't done this as much lately. I'm sorry, I missed it too."

"Yeah," I said, trying to eat my ice cream fast enough so it didn't melt everywhere. It was hot, so it was already starting to. "But we never had time."

"That's right, we didn't have time," Mom said, looking at her ice cream cone like it was really interesting. "I promise we'll have more time to do this in the future. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it until it was gone."

"It wasn't gone," I said, frowning. "Us getting ice cream can't be gone." I thought about the collection of stickers under my bed. "I'd remember it until I die." I meant it, too.

"So will I," Mom said, finishing her ice cream and crumpling up the wrapper that was around the cone. "There might be a time when we're never going to be able to do this again."

"I know," I said, because I did. I knew. Kind of. "When I grow up." That was right, wasn't it? When I grew up, I'd get a job and then I wouldn't have time and Mom wouldn't have time either. Why couldn't life have more time? "But that's in a long time."

"You're right, Percy," Mom agreed. "That is in a long time. Don't grow up too fast, though. I need my son around a while longer."

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm not going away soon," I promised. "I'm staying right here." I almost added, no matter about Gabe, but then I remembered that marrying Gabe meant a lot to her, and I shouldn't get in the way. So I wouldn't. Mom was my favorite person in the whole entire world. If I told her about the guy secret, it would just make her sad. Gabe would beat me up, too.

"And I'm very glad," Mom said. We threw our cone wrappers away and went back to the car. While we were driving back to the apartment I felt kind of sad, because being at the park with Mom was the best thing I've done in a really long time.

I put my new sticker in the box with all the rest. Maybe my life wasn't great, but it was good enough, and those stickers were my reminder.