Let's face it, I shouldn't give myself update deadlines. I'm really bad at making them happen. So from now on, I'll just update whenever I happen to finish a chapter, which is probably what I would have done anyway, since I start school next week.
I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro. I love this keyboard so much compared to the one I've been using all summer. That one had weird keys that I had to press really hard on for it to register. My fingers were all cramped up after typing on that thing XD
This is a short Author's Note for me, isn't it? I ran out of stuff to say already? Okay, I'll say one more thing. I hate my new locker. The lock is hard to turn and the bottom of it is all bent and weird. Someone in the grade above me told me "Oh, I think you got one of the guys' lockers who hated their locker last year!" ...Great, that was exactly what I needed to hear, wasn't it?
Hats off to MidnightEevee, Myseybee, and PJO rulz for reviewing the last chapter! If no one has told you yet today that you are awesome, then I'm telling you now: You are awesome!
The mean kids were picking on me again.
They stole my hat, and were throwing it around at each other. I didn't even really like the hat. I would've been fine with them keeping it; it was itchy and orange, but it was December. It was cold and I was freezing. I needed the stupid hat. It was kind of like that game we played in gym class, where two people were throwing a ball at each other and there was another person in the middle trying to get it back, but in gym it was fun. Now it wasn't.
One of them tricked me into thinking I almost had it, but then he stepped to the side right before I tried to shove him and I fell over in the snow. We were close to the edge of the playground too, where no one ever walks, so the snow was deep because there were no footprints.
When I got up, my face was numb and I heard voices arguing. I recognized a lot of them as the mean kids who stole my hat. I don't even remember their names for sure, because why bother? They were mean! And there was another one that I didn't know. He had dark hair and brown eyes, and when I thought about it, I realized I had seen him before. I think he was in my class.
I blinked to make the snowflakes get out of my eyes, and I saw the guy who just came making a frowny face at the mean kids.
"Give it back to him, guys!" he said.
"We were just playing a game," one of the mean kids said with a happy voice, like he was pretending he didn't do anything wrong.
"I don't think he thought it was funny," the kid crossed his arms. "Give it back or I'll tell."
"Fine," the mean kid said, throwing something wet and orange at me. My hat, which was now all soggy from being in the snow. If there was one thing the mean kids were scared of, it was getting in trouble. One time I tried to say I'd tell on them, but they just said they would beat me up more if I did.
The mean kids left, and they didn't look happy that their game got ruined, but I was relieved.
The guy who made them give my hat back came over to me and helped me get up from the snow. I had kind of forgotten I was still laying in the snow bank, and the knees of my pants were soaked, making my legs really cold. I pulled my hat back on, not caring that it was a little wet. I was shivering all over.
"Forget about them, they're annoying losers," the guy who helped me said.
"But they're annoying losers who stole my hat," I said. "I needed to get it back."
"That's true," the guy said, shrugging. "So now we need to make them feel bad about it. How can we get them back for being mean to you? That's how I got them to stop picking on me. I just put a bunch of spiders in their backpacks." He smiled. "It was so fun."
"I don't want to get in trouble," I said quickly. If I got caught playing a prank on the mean kids I'd be in trouble, and if the teacher told Mom, she'd be sad.
"We won't get in trouble," he said confidently. "If they can get away with doing all this bad stuff, we can do one prank."
"Well… okay," I finally decided. I did like the idea of getting back at the mean kids for picking on me all the time.
Then the bell rang for recess to be over, and the guy who helped me said, "Okay! Cool! We'll talk about it later! Or maybe you could come to my house sometime?" Then he smacked his forehead. "I forgot to tell you my name! It's Jordan Harton."
"I'm Percy Jackson," I said.
"Well, hey, nice to meet you, Percy!" He grabbed my hand and shook it. Then he ran down the hill back into the school.
After the whole class got our coats and boots off, we all lined up to go to choir class. I used to kind of like choir class. It was easy and if you sat in the back you could get away with sleeping for a little while. That was good on the days where it took me forever to fall asleep, because the night before Gabe and his friends stayed up watching sports until two in the morning.
Then, before our fall program, the teacher, who always had her hair in a tight bun and wore too much makeup, made me try out for a solo in one of the songs, and afterwards announced to the class that I sang like a wounded whale.
I didn't like choir class so much anymore.
I sat in the back, because that was where the heating vent was, and I wanted to sit right in front of it because my pants were still wet.
Then someone sat down next to me. I turned around and looked at them right away, because I didn't usually sit with people. It was the guy from recess, Jordan Harton. I guess he really meant it when he said we should get the mean kids back. That made me kind of nervous, but kind of happy too.
"Hello, Percy Jackson," he said. "That is your name, right?"
"Yeah." I didn't know what else to say.
"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked, looking at me funny.
"Um… I'm sorry?" I said. No one had ever told me I didn't talk enough before.
Jordan laughed. "No, it's fine, I was just, um what's the word, observing."
"Boys in the back, if you will please save your conversation for later," the choir teacher said. Jordan stopped talking and we both looked up to the front.
When school was over, I was waiting on the front steps of the school to get picked up. I wasn't wearing my hat, even though I wanted to because it was really cloudy and starting to snow. I just didn't want to get it stolen again. Jordan wasn't there to help me this time, he had to ride the bus to get home. But he had given me a piece of paper that said his address, and told me I should come over to his house on Saturday - tomorrow.
"Hey, there you are! We've been looking for you!" a voice called. I didn't think it was meant for me, so I ignored it, but I looked up when I heard footsteps right in front of me. I guess it was for me. It was the mean kids.
"Still think you're so cool without your friend to help you?" one of them said.
"I think we should pick up where we left off," a second added.
I stood up fast. maybe I could fight them. There were three of them, but I was fast. Maybe I could do it. Maybe I didn't need Jordan to help me prank them to get them to stop being mean to me. I could show them!
A car pulled up, and I was so distracted I probably wouldn't have noticed, but it splashed slush all over my shoes and went through them. Now my socks were wet along with my pants. Great. But in the car was the most welcome face I've ever seen. Mom.
"Gotta go, guys, we'll have fun some other time!" I said, grabbing my backpack and getting into the car as fast as I could.
"Oh, Percy, did I get snow all over your shoes when I pulled up? I'm sorry," Mom said when she saw all the slushy junk I was tracking in to the back seat.
"That's okay," I said. I was too relieved to feel bad about getting wet. Best timing ever, Mom.
Mom asked her usual question - "How was school today?"
I was about to say my usual answer - "It was fine" - when I remembered the piece of paper I had in my pocket. "I met a guy today. He wants me to come to his house tomorrow."
"Really?" Mom asked. She looked surprised. I guess I should be kind of embarrassed that she was surprised I had a friend. "Where does he live?"
I took out the paper and tried to read what he wrote, but dyslexia is stupid. So I just handed it to Mom instead.
"I can't read it right now, Percy, I'm driving," Mom said, but while we were at a stop light she grabbed it and put it in her bag. "We'll see about tomorrow."
At least she didn't say no… right?
Mom ended up letting me go to Jordan's house, so at noon on Saturday I was right at his front door step. I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer, like Mom told me to do. It was manners, she said. Other manners I had to do while I was at Jordan's house were not eat too much, not break things, and be polite.
It was Jordan who answered the door. "Hey!" he said. "My mom wants to meet you! Get in here!"
I did, and I took off my shoes right at the door - another one of Mom's manners.
Jordan's mom was in the kitchen, and he yelled over to her, "Mom! My friend is here!"
His friend? He meant me? Even though I didn't mean to, I started smiling for some weird reason. I guess no one at my old schools would have called me their friend. My only friend was really Mom.
"I could hear the doorbell, Jordan! Bring him in here, I want to see him."
We walked into the kitchen, and something smelled really good in there. I had to remind myself that this wasn't my kitchen at home, and I couldn't just take stuff, because that was bad manners.
"Hello, your name is Percy, isn't it?" Jordan's mom asked. She looked all fancy, nothing like my mom. But she was smiling, so I guess she was nice.
"Yeah. I'm Percy Jackson," I said.
"Nice to meet you. Now Jordan, go bring him to your room or something. Have fun and don't bug your brother!"
"What are we going to do now?" I asked Jordan when we left the kitchen.
"Bug my brother," Jordan said.
"But your mom said-"
"I know what my mom said," he told me. Then he smiled. "I was there, y'know. But my brother deserves some bugging."
After we were done bugging his brother, who was fifteen and Jordan was right, he did deserve some bugging, we went to his room and planned our prank for the mean kids. I was pretty happy with it in the end. We even ate cookies! They weren't as good as Mom's, duh, but cookies are cookies, aren't they?
I forgot what time it was when Mom came and picked me up, but it was almost dark and when we got home, the apartment was empty and dark.
"Where's Sm- um, Gabe?" I asked.
"Probably at the bar," Mom said. She was using the voice that she used when I did something she didn't like, so I guess she didn't like Gabe going to the bar. "Did you have fun with your friend today?"
"Yeah!" I said. She called me his friend, too! Did I actually have a friend? It's kind of sad that I'm this excited about it. Everyone else had friends in kindergarten.
"Good, he seems like a nice boy," Mom said, nodding. Then she hugged me and told me to go to bed.
I could hardly fall asleep, I was that happy. One thought kept running through my head: I have a friend!
I hope the page breaks aren't in the wrong places. I went through this in a hurry trying to put them in the right place so I could get this updated faster! A quick note about Percy's choir teacher who made a brief appearance in this chapter: In Battle of the Labyrinth on page 180, Percy says that the Sphinx reminds him of his third-grade choir teacher!
Also to people who will be like "Grover was Percy's first friend blah blah blah!" Jordan won't be around long, so don't worry. :D
