This might be helpful for my future fanfictions and references:
Let's say Percy turned 16 in 2010.
That's 15 in 2009,
14 in 2008,
13 in 2007,
12 in 2006,
11 in 2005,
10 in 2004,
9 in 2003,
8 in 2002,
7 in 2001,
6 in 2000,
5 in 1999,
4 in 1998,
3 in 1997,
2 in 1996,
1 in 1995,
and he was born in 1994.
THANK YOU FOR ALL FOLLOWS, FAVORITES, AND REVIEWS!
Aloha! I am back with more. (Don't kill me for not updating sooner!) Okay, for some weird reason in my mind, Katie and Percy are super close, best friend close, so I'm going to write about how they meet. And I'm going to have a slight (okay, not so slight) twist. (BUT IT INVOLVES PERCY'S PAST!)
Warning: OOCness all over! Also, mentions of abuse, and idiot, violent kids. This also might—okay, maybe not might-be totally depressing.
Read and Review!
RICK RIORDAN OWNS THIS! HAVE I NOT MADE MYSELF CLEAR YET?
Meeting New People
Katie Gardner's POV
September 29, 2001.
I whooped and cheered as the rider held fast to the wildly bucking horse, a huge stallion that no one has ever managed to stay on for longer than thirteen seconds. For my seventh birthday, which was today, my daddy had brought me to the annual rodeo. He was a volunteer, too, so we were right next to all the animals. Of course, some of the animals were mean and would bite off my fingers, but the other portion was nice.
I peeked over my shoulder to see my favorite horse—my horse—Cupcake. People had always asked me why her name was Cupcake. Well, she looked like a cupcake; with her red tinged fur and pitch black hair, she reminded me of the red velvet cupcakes my grandmother always made on Halloween. It had taken a while for me to convince my daddy that her name should be Cupcake, but he finally gave. Thus the name Cupcake was born!
I was broken out of my remembrance by Daddy, who was pounding his fists on the fence I was standing on and screaming: "No! No! No! He needed two more seconds! Two more! Then he would've had the record! Two more!"
I poked my daddy in the arm. "I bet you could've done that."
He smiled warmly down on me. "I don't think so, sweetheart."
I gave a confused look. "Then why're you mad that he didn't last two more seconds? It's not like he gave up."
"Well sweetheart," he started, "I guess I was upset that he didn't try harder."
My face scrunched up in thought. "But Daddy, there is no such thing at trying really, is there? You either do or don't, right?" Score one for genius girl! I cheered to myself.
My daddy blinked once in shock and once in surprise. "I guess you could but it that way, but…"
I had already fazed him out. "Look, Daddy! The bull! They're bringin' out the bull!"
Daddy chuckled quietly under his breath. "Yep, they're bringin' out the bull alright."
I watched in awe as the bull stormed out into the center of the dirt-covered field. I waited anxiously for the man with the red cape to walk in with the furious bull and dodge all its availed attempts, but that didn't happen. Instead, a young boy, about my age it seemed, ran in. He was wearing faded jeans with holes in the knees, a plain black T-shirt, large sunglasses, and a gray beanie.
It is summer! Why was he wearing that? He's going to get a heat stroke or something! I thought to myself.
I quickly shook the thoughts from my head. There were bigger matters to attend to. Like, for example, the boy was untrained to survive a bull charging at him at full speed, but he was stuck in a rodeo where a giant bull was about to trample him to death.
Yeah, not good.
Daddy started shaking the fence and shouting for help or an experienced person. He rattled the fence again, bobbing me back and forth. "It's stuck!" he bellowed, panic raising his voice. "The fence, it's jammed!" My daddy pulled me off the fence. "Honey, go over there"—he pointed outside the entrance—"and wait."
I felt myself walking towards the entrance, but turned back to watch the boy. And I just couldn't turn away.
He was confusing, and I wanted—needed—to know, to not be as confused.
I watched as the boy stood completely and utterly still, minus the twitching of his fingers, waiting. The bull charged, yet the boy didn't move.
The bull was closing in.
Ten feet…
Seven feet…
Five feet…
The boy got into a stance.
Four feet…
Three…
Two…
One…
The boy sprang up into the air just as the bull was about to smash him into a Boy Pancake, and latched his fingers around the bull's meaty neck. Suddenly he rotated around the bull's neck and was sitting on its back.
What is wrong with this kid?
The bull stopped abruptly, the boy clinging fiercely to its neck. After a couple of seconds, the bull still tense, the boy loosened his grip and stood. He was standing on the back of a rampaging bull!
My eyes widened as the bull, much like a bucking horse, raised its hind legs high in the air. The boy went flying, quite literally. He soared by the clouds, higher and higher, reaching the sun. Then he began to fall over to me, closer and closer, until wham! The first ever flying boy decided to fly straight into me.
I shoved him off with an emphasized, "Ouch!"
He rolled to my side and quickly scrambled to his feet. "Sorry," he muttered. "Couldn't see you." He fingered a shiny, silver, chain that was attached along his belt line.
Really, that was the only clean thing about him. This kid looked disgusting.
"Oh, it's okay—" I started, but I never finished, because the boy had turned and fled away, dragging his fingers against the fence.
Who did that?
He threw open another fence, the one that led to a horse, a horse with midnight black hair and tinged-red fur. Not caring to put a saddle on, he clambered on it and dug his heels into the side. "Go!" he ordered.
The boy rode off… on my horse.
I stood there momentarily, shocked out of my wits and sent into a short stupor. When I finally came to my senses, I sprinted off and leapt up on a saddled mare. I dug my heels into her side unnecessarily hard, and she bolted out of her wooden box of hay. "Get back here!" I shouted.
The mare—one I recognized as Lightning—that I was riding turned out to be the fastest horse at the rodeo, so I happily/angrily caught up with the boy, who was riding my horse.
There was no way I was ever going to let this go, because no one stole my Cupcake.
Lightning ran up besides Cupcake, and I reached out my left hand to slap the boy upside the head. Sadly, he turned and snatched my hand before I could hit him.
Of course, something wrong just had to happen just then.
The boy—for now, officially Boy-With-The-Beanie—lost his balance when he had stopped me from doing my justified duty, and tipped over the side of Cupcake.
Guess who he pulled down with him? Me!
We both tumbled over and over, rolling and smashing into each other like two colliding snowballs or bouncy balls. We just wouldn't—couldn't—stop.
"Ouch!" I shouted as we finally, after years and years and years, stopped our mad tumble weed tumble. Blinking out the dirt and dust, I opened my eyes, only to be in the most embarrassing position of all time, even by a seven year-old's standards. I was lying on top of Boy-With-The-Beanie's chest, our noses tip-to-tip. I quickly flung my head back, openly disgusted with the closeness of it all, and attempted to get up off of him. Only thing is, I could only separate us by about half a foot.
His stupid chain was wrapped around my waist.
I not so kindly jabbed him in the side with my cowboy boot. I shivered after I did, though, because it felt like I had kicked his ribs. That's when, with me having to be so close to him, I noticed a lot of things. I probably had felt his ribs, because he was so skinny—no, skinny was an understatement; this boy was literally just skin over bone. His face was all angles; his eyes, or what she could see around his sunglasses, were sunken; his arms looked like they would snap from the weight of his skin, or even the weight of the air; his legs didn't even look like they could carry Boy-With-The-Beanie's weight, no matter how little that was. He was also, scarred—bruises circled his wrist; long, faint, white scars snaked up his arms up to his shoulders; little burns made random dark spots along the inside of his arms; his kneecaps had angry red marks that covered them completely, like they were skinned, only ten times worse; and, worst of all from what I could tell, his eyes had little, almost invisible scars and bruises, traveling all the way around them, like an angry hoard of ants were crawling up behind the dark sunglasses to his eyes, but ended up scratching him all over in the process.
I was quite thankful when Boy-With-The-Beanie finally roused from his temporary stupor. I didn't want to find any more bad things.
He groaned as he held his head, and I noticed a rather large knot forming on the back of his head. Another bad thing, I thought silently to myself, a shiver sparking up my spine. "What happened?" he asked, standing slowly, only to be stopped by his stupid chain that was now wrapped around me. He stiffened, and slowly swung his head to face me. "Oh, this isn't good," he murmured.
I gulped. "Well, aren't you going to take it off?" I motioned to the silver chain, which sent rays of sunlight in every which way from the setting sun.
Boy-With-The-Beanie scrunched his eye brows together. "No." He still stood there, rigid as a tree, but I could tell he wanted to get away, to leave.
So why was he not trying to leave?
I was too angry to ask. I just let my steam out in a fury of shouts, which probably wasn't a smart thing to do. "What do you mean, 'No'? First you steal my horse, then you ride my horse that you stole to the middle of nowhere, then your stupid chain gets tangled around me, and you won't at least try to take it off! Don't you want to—I don't know—leave?" After my rampage, I stomped my foot and yanked on the chain. Then the chain made this weird snapping noise, and suddenly the boy twirled a three-sixty as the chain slipped through his belt loops and landed on his butt.
My eyes widened as the chain flew straight at me. "Oh, no," I whispered, all emotion put into my shocked facial expression. "This isn't good."
I was right. The chain wrapped around my arms like in the movies, and I flopped over onto my side with a thud. So now, arms tied to my side and legs becoming tangled as the chain slid down from my waist, I laid on the dusty ground. "You are so dead to me, Boy-With-The-Beanie!" I shouted at him as he stood.
I watched as he stood there, not moving an inch to help me, head tilted to the side, hands grasping uselessly for his chain. He adjusted his beanie and his sunglasses, which had slipped down his nose. He opened his mouth, and in a soft, kind voice, he asked, "Need any help?"
"Noooo…" I drawled, sarcasm practically dripping from my mouth.
He smirked and got down on his knees, wincing slightly at the not so subtle landing. "It might take a while," he warned.
I swallowed my anger. "Well, if it's gonna take a while, why don't we get to know each other. I'm Katie, Katie Gardner."
He hesitated. "Michael." He looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth. I always heard that kids smiled when they lied, but this kid didn't even look slightly bothered.
I lowered my eye lids. "You're lying."
"What makes you say that?"
"My internal senses are tingling, and you paused. Give me your real name, the one you go by."
Again, he hesitated. "My real name?" I nodded. "Percy, Percy Jackson." He looked like he had just committed the world's worst sin.
I scrunched up my eyebrows. "That's a… different name, but I kinda like it."
Percy snorted. "Really? Most kids teased me to no end. My step-dad called it stupid, like me."
I jumped slightly at the venom and hate that he said it with. "Oh, well, I like it. It's different. Like me. And I'm guessing you're different, too. In a good way, that is."
He raised his eyebrows before bending over to take off the chain, sliding his fingers against the cool metal. Not a man of many words, I see.
I shivered as he slowly took off the chain. What was he doing? Percy looked up at me, as if I had said my question aloud. Apparently, I had.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Oh… it's just… ummm… the way you're taking off the chain. Why don't you just look at it to figure out where it's all tangled, instead of what you're doing now?"
He sat up again, postponing my escape. Percy raised his left eye brow, so I could just see it over the top of his sunglasses. A look of utter seriousness was on his face. "Guess."
I felt this nagging feeling in the back of my head, like someone was telling me what to do, and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. Why he was wearing sunglasses, even though he was my age; why he never seemed to actually look at something or someone, only face it; why he had dragged his fingers along the fence; why he was taking off the chain he was, instead of just looking at it to find where the knots are.
But I had only heard of people like him. Daddy had always explained that there were people like him, out in the world, but it had seemed fake, unrealistic. How could someone not be able to do the simple thing of looking?
But here was a living, breathing example. Right. In. Front. Of. Me.
I sucked in sharp intake of cold air that dried the back of my throat. "You're—you're blind."
Percy nodded. "Yep," was all he said before he went back to guiding the chain off of me.
Everything was silent for long minutes, except for the quiet, random clinks his chain as he glided it off me and the one command of, "Stand."
After I was free, Percy stood and looped the chain through his belt loops, and then he waved and started walking away. I ran after him. "Wait! You're just gonna leave? Just like that?"
"Yep, pretty much." He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"But—you can't!" I clasped my hands onto his bony shoulder and turned him to face me.
He shrugged. "Sure I can. I'm doing it right now, aren't I?" With that he slid my hand off him and began sprinting away from me. Really fast.
I didn't pause this time; I just ran. Noticing there was no way I could catch up to Percy—because for such a scrawny kid, he was fast—I hopped atop Cupcake, who, thankfully, had found a small patch of grass and decided to stay. I dug my heels into her side, and we were off, speeding up next to Percy in no time. I leapt off of my trusty steed onto Percy, and we did yet another tumble weed war.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" I couldn't tell who was yelling and shouting and yelping, all I knew was that we kept bonking heads and eating dirt. Finally we stopped, Percy flopping next to me, our shoulders touching.
I released a long breath of air. "Owww…" I groaned, struggling to stand. After a much needed dusting for my capris, I looked up to see Percy was already running off. Again. "Get back here!" I shouted, chasing after him. I seriously didn't know what kept me following him; usually I would let it go. It's not like I knew him all that well. But there was something about him—like he would change my life. For better or worse, I didn't know, but I was willing to take the risk. He just had this aura, like he'd been though everything and he knew everything. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but he did seem to know a lot, even more than her grandfather, and he was a doctor.
Percy glared over his shoulder—wait, I had to remind myself that Percy couldn't see, much less glare, but it felt like he had. "What?" he barked, turning to face me.
I paused, hands on my knees, panting. "Why are you leaving? Why not stay? I could ask my dad. See if you could live with us."
An emotion I couldn't quite place flashed over Percy's face. It looked between a mixture of pain, hate, and mostly, fear. He unconsciously swiped his thumb under his eye. "No." His face became impassive. "I'm fine."
I forged onward. "No, you're not. When was the last time you even had a shower, slept in an actual bed?"
He gulped. "None of your business," he snapped, his face hardening, like his façade was breaking.
"Right, like it's none of my business. Something kept me after you, and I'm Not. Letting. You. Go. No matter how much you hate it, hate me." I lowered my eye lids to slits. "As my daddy would say, 'I'm too stubborn to let something go, once it's in my head.' You're stuck with me. Deal with it." I crossed my arms defiantly.
Percy raised his eye brows in surprise. "Oh, really? What makes you say that?" A snort of air blew his beanie off his head, and I giggled.
I pointed at the horse towering behind him. "Cupcake. Cupcake's keepin' ya here." I pointed at the other horse that had clopped up behind him. "And Lightning. Lightning's keepin' ya here, too."
Percy wrinkled his nose. "Fine." I jumped up and pumped my fists in victory. "But only for a little while." That slightly killed my mood, but only slightly.
My mood rose back up, however, when I heard the rumbling of an old pick-up truck. "Daddy!" I yelled, grasping Percy's hand and dragging him over to the source of the noise.
"Katie?" He climbed out of the car and scanned the area for me.
"Here!" I yelped, beginning to pick up my pace. I heard soft footsteps behind me and guessed that Cupcake and Lightning were following.
I heard Percy mumble: "If either of those horses stomps off my foot, I blame you."
I giggled, too happy at seeing my daddy and convincing him to stay to care. "Come on!" I tugged him along. "I'll ask to see if you can stay with us. He'll probably say yes."
Turns out we didn't have to go the whole way to my daddy, because he met us halfway, my grandfather in tow. Daddy bent down onto one knee. "Katie!"
I let go of Percy and raced to him, jumping up into his welcoming arms. He squeezed me tight and I felt myself melt into his embrace. Finally, knowing I had to ask sooner or later, I pulled back from my daddy and walked back to Percy, taking his hand.
"Daddy," I started, "meet Percy. Percy, meet my daddy. Grandpa, meet Percy. Percy, meet Grandpa." After the introductions, I stared deep into my daddy's eyes. "Daddy, can Percy stay with us, just for a little while?"
He jerked back in surprise and scanned Percy over. His eyes widened, like he was thinking, Why would I take this kid in? He looks homeless. What if he hurts my daughter?
I lightly touched my daddy's forearm. "Percy's nice, Daddy. Really 'n truly." I made my eyes go wide. "Pwease," I begged. "Let him stay with us, just for a whittle bit."
He sighed in defeat and looked up at my grandpa. "Okay, he can stay with us, just for a little bit, but I still have to notify the police."
At this, Percy jerked his hand away from mine and began stepping back, muttering, "No, no, no, no. I will not go back there, not until I'm ready." He made to turn and run off, but I snatched his arm just in time and yanked him back to me.
I glared at my daddy, and then whispered in Percy's ear. "No. I'll make sure no one comes to get you. I told you already, you're stuck with me, Percy."
Percy visibly relaxed, and breathed out a sigh of relief through his nose. He nodded. "Okay."
Daddy, obviously shocked by the event, stood shakily and gestured to our pick-up truck. "Well—Percy, did you say?—why don't you just go into our car, and my dad and I will hook up the horses so we can get a move on." I started leading Percy to our pick-up—hello, he's blind, people—when my daddy spoke up again. "You, Katie, wait out here." He pointed right next to him. "Come on."
I shuffled over to him and looked guiltily over at Percy. "Yes, Daddy?" I asked.
He looked up and spotted a nervous Percy standing awkwardly where I left him; Percy was circling the area with his hands outstretched, tip-toeing in a general direction, trying to find the car. Daddy sighed. "Percy, what are you doing? Just walk to the car. It's right in front of you."
Percy stopped circling and began walking straight, his arms still outstretched. When he had found the car, he slid a hand against the surface to find the handle and slid in. Before he closed the door, he sent my daddy what I imagined would be a blind-person-glare. And the scary thing was, it seemed like he was actually glaring at my daddy, like he could see.
My daddy shook his head and looked down at me. I couldn't help but feel bad for Percy, because everyone took seeing so lightly, like it didn't even matter, whereas he couldn't see, even if he wanted to, which he probably does.
I was pulled from my thoughts by my daddy asking me a question, a question I personally thought was rude. "What was he doing, Katie?"
I raised my eye brows at him, like I imagined Percy would, and said, "He's blind."
"Oh."
Oh yeah, Daddy, I thought venomously. Feel the guilt. Feel the guilt.
"Well." He cleared his throat loudly. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry if I offended you."
"Yeah," I said drily. "Now what did you want me to wait for?"
He waved me off. "It's nothing. Go get in the car with Percy."
I stalked off to the car and sat beside Percy. He bit his lip. "He thinks I'm going to hurt you."
"What?" I asked. Okay, I'd had similar thoughts, but it hadn't seemed a serious thought until Percy said it. I had a feeling Percy knew a lot of things, so if he said it, it had to be true.
Percy began to chew on his lip. "Your dad, he doesn't trust me."
"Okay, I get that."
He faced me, and I had a weird sensation that he was actually looking at me, blind or not. "He thinks I'm dangerous. Or that I'll attract danger. Or something like that."
I pressed my face against the window and watched as my daddy and grandpa attached the horses by a long rope to the back end of the truck. Daddy was flailing his arms around wildly and practically spitting fire at my grandpa, who was enduring my daddy's outrage with a clam stature. How he did, I'll never know. I only backed away when my grandpa—and I swear he did—looked me in the eyes.
"Why, though? Why doesn't he trust you?" I asked Percy.
He shrugged, a small movement of his bony shoulders. "I dunno. We'll have to figure that out."
I eyed him curiously. "You mean, you don't know?"
"Why would I know?"
I blinked in surprise. Wasn't it obvious? "It's just… you seem to know so much, even if you're young. I thought you would know, and I could learn stuff from you, and all…" I paused. "That didn't make any sense at all, did it?"
Percy chuckled and shook his head. "No, not really." A real smile formed on his face, not a smirk or anything un-genuine. "But I get what you're saying."
"Oh, okay."
A smug look came about his face. "You think I'm a genius."
"No I don't!" I protested. "That's not what I meant at all! I just said that I could learn stuff from you, 'cause, you know, you know stuff."
"Okay, okay. Calm down. I use my ears a lot more than you do." Percy clutched at his ears. "And, I knew what you meant. I think I can learn a bunch of stuff from you, too."
"Whaaa…? You, learn stuff, from me? But I'm just a kid, a seven year-old kid."
"And?" Percy pushed down my pointing hand. "Pointing is rude, by the way."
My mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. "How…"
Percy closed my mouth with a flick of his wrist. "I guessed your reaction. I wasn't born blind, ya know."
"Oh. Still, how could you learn stuff from me?"
Percy shrugged. Again. "Everyone learns something new every day, whether it's from someone you knew for a long time, or a new person, doesn't matter. Maybe you learned it all by yourself. You still learn."
I nodded like I understood, which I didn't. "No matter what I learn something new every day," I murmured. "Does meeting someone new count?"
Percy furrowed his brows. "I guess." He let out a snort. "Would you look at that, meeting new people is good, and I've been avoiding it for the past month." He laughed and laced his hands behind his head, covering the knot he got when we fell the first time.
Meeting new people, I thought, is important, because it helps people grow and change, and Percy Jackson, I'm going to help you change for the better. No matter how hard you try to stop me.
This did not turn out how I pictured it at first… Wow, it changed greatly from the image in my mind. Well…
Anyway… Yes, I AM EVIL. Because I did just do that, make you totally die like that and make Percy blind. Mwahahaha…
Oh, by the way, you know that little part in the beginning of tLT, where Percy says he sees a man with one eye when he was eight? That didn't happen.
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Peace and all that other stuff.
~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX