CHAPTER 2

It was Thalia.

Thalia was my cousin on my dad's side. We used to hang out all of the time when we were kids. Then my mom married Gabe. Gabe reeked of smoke and alcohol and his smell filled up the apartment. I was embarrassed of him, so I stopped inviting Thalia over. Then she wouldn't stop asking why and I stopped talking to her all together. I didn't know she went to school here.

Annabeth walked over to her and a bunch of other 7th graders that were with her. Thalia hugged her, meaning my enemy, or "lab partner", and my cousin were really good friends. I don't know why, but I didn't budge. I didn't know what to do. Should I say "hi"? No you idiot! You ignored her for four years! Four freaking years! And you never told her why! She will kill you! Just as I was finishing that thought, Annabeth blindly pointed towards me, probably complaining about my behavior in class. Thalia looked over in my direction, and she looked right at me. I saw her punk black hair, her Aerosmith T-shirt, black jeans like the ones Nico would wear, and her electric blue eyes, most likely filled him hatred. Run you idiot! So I did.

I glanced back while sprinting for my life in the opposite direction. She was barging through crowds of people, knocking them over while cursing. I knew I wouldn't last long. Thalia was always faster than I was, and running wasn't usually my thing, even if it meant getting killed by my own cousin. I made it to Nico at the end of the hallway where we were supposed to meet. "Percy, what's wrong, why were you running?"

"Nico," I huffed, trying catch my breath. "We have to get out—"

Nico eyes grew really wide. I turned around and then was immediately tackled to the ground by my long lost cousin. Then she starting beating me up, like I predicted. Thankfully Nico caught by her by surprise and was able to push her off. I got up quickly and covered my face before she could throw another punch.

"Thalia! I am so-" I was tackled again. This time it was different, she tackled me into a hug. I knew she must have missed me, but not this much. It didn't last much longer thankfully; otherwise it could have gotten awkward. She pulled away then slapped my arm, really hard.

"Why have you been ignoring me Kelp Head?!" Just a little nickname she came up with, because she knows I like to swim. "You've been ignoring me for four years, and I want to know why, right now!" she exclaimed angrily. Well I might as well tell her the truth now. People were starting to stare in our direction, enjoying the show; and I didn't really want word to get out that I had gotten beaten up by a girl.

I took a deep breath and started the story, but I didn't look at her. "Look, it was my stepdad okay? He was trashing the apartment, and I didn't want to invite you over to that. He's a jerk, and I hate him, so much. I was also really embarrassed of him. Then you wouldn't stop asking me why we couldn't go over to my apartment like we used to, and I didn't know how to tell you. I'm really sorry Thals, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I still didn't look at her. At least I didn't have this feeling of guilt anymore.

She hugged me again after thinking it over. This one wasn't as long.

"I forgive you, I guess, just don't do it again." I nodded vigorously. I certainly will not ever be doing that again. Then I turned to Nico, who seemed to be staring at Thalia. Wait, is Nico drooling? No way, he doesn't like my cousin, or does he?

"Nico, this is Thalia. She's my cousin, and she's in 7th grade." Nico smiled shyly and Thalia waved at him. Then Nico worked up the courage and said to her

"Is that an Aerosmith T-shirt? They're awesome!" Thalia smiled, she replied

"Hell yeah! I got to see them in concert. They were amazing." Nico smiled even more and they continued their conversation on rock bands. Then I saw Annabeth running towards us, probably to see why Thalia acted like a wild animal on the loose just a moment ago. She had someone with her, some guy who looked like he was in Thalia's grade. He had had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. They finally caught up to us and Annabeth said

"Thalia, what in the world! You just ran off while knocking down everyone in your path!"

"Including me!" The 7th grader said.

"Sorry Luke. Didn't see you there; along with everyone else." Thalia said naturally, as if she's done it before. Annabeth turned toward me, and looked a little confused. Thalia wrapped her arm around my shoulders coolly, and introduced me.

"This is my cousin Percy, who I haven't seen in four freaking years! Percy, meet Annabeth and Luke." Before I had a chance to say anything, Annabeth said

"This is your cousin?! This is the guy I told you was annoying me in class today!"

"Hey!" I protested. "You've got that the wrong way around!" I glared at her, and she gladly glared back. Thankfully, this Luke guy broke the tension.

"Well, like she said I'm Luke. Luke Castellan, nice to meet you." He seemed nice enough. I caught Annabeth looking up at him, practically drooling over him. I would be using that as blackmail later. I forgot about Nico, who seemed really uncomfortable.

"Oh, and this is Nico." Nico waved really shyly, and gave me a look that said let's get out of here! Meeting three people at once I knew was a little too much for him to handle.

"Well, we need to go. We have to get to the station." I gave Thalia one last hug and gave Annabeth one last hard glare. Nico said goodbye to Thalia, but not to everyone else. Nico and I got in the subway, and I decided to bring up and interesting topic.

"So, you like my cousin, right?" I grinned mischievously towards him, he panicked.

"What? No, no I don't!" My smile turned into a frown.

"You don't like her? What's wrong with you?!" I said in a pretend angry voice. He panicked again.

"No, I do like her Percy! I really do—" I interrupted him.

"Aha! So you do have a crush on her!" Nico's face turned a light shade of red, which was really noticeable because his skin was so pale. I got him.

"I got you. You should tell her how you feel." Nico looked at me in surprise.

"You would be okay with that?"

"Sure. It's not like she's my sister or anything."

"Maybe I will, but I don't know how-"The subway stopped. It was Nico's turn to get out. He told me that he would see me tomorrow. I said goodbye. Grover didn't ride the subway with us. He rides his bike to school, something about saving the planet or whatnot. It finally came to my stop, and I strolled home. I opened the door and was greeted with Gabe's nice cologne of Scotch and cigars. How lovely.

"How was school punk? Get kicked out yet?" He said with a hoarse tone.

"No Gabe, I'm afraid I didn't. So no sending me to that military school you were telling mom about." He glared at me.

"Not yet, punk, but I know you'll screw up eventually." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure Gabe." I started to head upstairs, when Gabe's rough voice called out to me

"Before you do anything, punk, I need to clean this mess up before your mom gets home." I looked over to the poker table, where Gabe would gamble with his friends all day. It was covered it chips and dip, burnt out cigars, empty scotch glasses, dirty poker chips, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't want to touch. I should have put it in a better way, but because of my ADHD, I had no patience.

"Clean up your own crap Gabe."

I started to head back upstairs, but before I made it to the top, I felt a big meaty hand grip the back of my shirt. He yanked me down, I stumbled backwards. I must a done a couple of flips or something before I got to the bottom, because once I landed on the hard wooden ground I felt a few cracks and pops in my spine. That is not going to feel good in the morning.

Did I miss something when I introduced myself earlier? Let's see, my name is Percy Jackson, I go to Goode Middle School, oh right, and I have an abusive stepfather.