Chapter 3: Say Hi to Everyone Percy

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.

Meriweather College Prep: Percy Jackson POV

Why the hell do I need to know what the radius is of a circle that's 25 cm in perimeter? Or how an angle in a triangle can be measured in several different ways? Really, why do they even teach math at all, why not stick with easier courses like English, gym, or history. Those courses I at the very least pass, well English may be on the line but I usually pass it. Math however, never in my life have I gotten above a 47 on a test...ever. 10 more minutes is all I can think at the moment, then it's lunch and I can go and finally relax, stop worrying about this course. It's the last test in the semester luckily, after this I just have a history lesson (which is on Greek mythology thank god), P.E., and science (ugh). Then schools out for the summer and I can spend 2 months just chilling and playing games on my computer.

The rest of the day went by fairly easy, I got perfect on the Greek mythology test. I don't know why but that stuff just clicks in my head no problem. I ended up winning the wrestling competition in gym class which was no surprise but after those two classes science happened. That's all I have to say about that. The walk home to my apartment was a few blocks, short enough for me to walk and not have to worry about the subway and it was nice to just stretch my legs everyday to and from school.

When I got to the apartment though, something was off. The door was slightly ajar and there were far too many voices in there. I got worried until I heard my mom say "Be quiet everyone, Percy will be home soon!". That calmed me down knowing that nothing was wrong but immediately I wondered who was in there, was it a surprise party for me for finishing school!? If so, I'm expecting hoe made blue cake and cookies, just saying. As I walked in though, it was definitely no surprise party, I had no idea who any of these people were. They all seemed in a small panic however, most of them not talking and just staring into space. Actually, when I walked in only my mom had seemed to acknowledge my existence. She came up and gave me a hug and asked to talk to me in private in the kitchen. Wen went and all she had to say was "These are a few of my…friends from out of town, their house was destroyed. They will be staying with us for a little while until their place gets rebuilt again.". Obviously I had questions like "Who are they?", "How did it get destroyed?", "Can't they stay somewhere else?". All she answered was "We'll talk about it later.". After that we returned to the over crowded living room and everyone got introduced. There was Henry who seemed to have a prosthetic arm (Hephaestus), A woman who seemed very proper named Heather (Hera), two who were obviously brother and sister named Arielle and Andy (Artemis and Apollo) and finally there was Paul, a man who seemed to love to dress as if he was on a tropical cruise (Poseidon).

After the introductions everyone kind of split off into groups and talked amongst themselves, something seemed very urgent. Everyone but Paul that was, he seemed very interested in me for some reason. He asked how I did in school, how old I was, what grade I was in. Eventually he started asking me about my past and that's when everything fell apart. I think my mom had forgotten to mention to everyone that she was married and that her husband would be home in about three seconds. My step-father (I don't know who my real one is, but it definitely isn't the slump she married) walked in and immediately we got into a rage. His name is Gabe but I call him Smelly Gabe because of his knack to smell horrendous all the time. He also kind of gets mad at anything and everything that doesn't go his way and a house full of strangers isn't his definition of a welcome home sight. He calmly pulled my mom into the kitchen and that's when sh*t hit the fan. All we could hear was Gabe yelling "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHY ARE THEY IN MY HOUSE?", he obviously blew his top and blamed my mom for everything like usually.

I don't think I have ever seen someone move as fast as Paul had at that moment. Next thing I knew was he ran into the kitchen and had Gabe out on the floor in the living room in a strangle hold. It happened so fast I wasn't sure what had happened but that Gabe finally got what he had coming to him. Can't say he didn't try to put up a fight, he was thrashing around in his arms but Paul was obviously in control, all he had to say to him was "You will never treat that woman like that ever again. I give you one night and you and all your belongings have to be out of here.". He said it in such a calm yet powerful voice that Gabe couldn't help but stop and think about what he just said. There was no chance h was going to go down that easily though, he was going to deny and fight until he was forcibly removed. I had the feeling Paul knew this to and when he let go of Gabe's neck he had already anticipated the punch that was coming and had his arm pinned behind his back at an unhealthy angle it seemed. He gave him one more warning: "One night, that's all. Another attempt to resist and you will be gone right now and not let back in. Your choice.". At that Gabe got up and left to his room calling Sally after him. Paul grabbed her arm before she could follow Gabe and just told her to stay in the living room, she didn't want to be with her husband right now.

During the night nothing too eventful happened. I learned some what a few of the visitors did for work and found out that they were all pretty nice people. When everyone had gone to bed my mom ended up sharing my room with me as she didn't want to go to her bed with Gabe and all the other spots were taken by the visitors so I got the floor and she got my bed. We talked for a while about school and her work at the candy store and Grand Central Station, but after a few minutes I couldn't hold it back any longer and started asking about her visitors. I found out that they actually showed up at our apartment a week ago asking if they could crash here but she told them they would have to find arrangements for a week until I'm done school.

She told me "They came here at about 2 p.m. a week ago and they all seemed really distressed which make sense. Their home was destroyed by some kind of explosion.".

"How do you know them though? Why did they come here?".

"They are friends from a long time ago like I said before and they came here because they asked. Please, no more questions tonight Percy."

With that they went to bed but I couldn't help but think how protective Paul was of my mom. There was some connection there and I'll find out what it is. Another thing that boggles me is why he was so interested in my life, he asked about all the schools I'd gone to, who I was friends with, he even asked my what my birthday parties were like in previous years. Needless to say but he went way more in depth than someone who was just trying to make conversation. It was weird but I'm still thankful for him dealing with Gabe. My step father had caused me and my mom so many problems I am indebted to Paul; he did my family a favour.

The Next Morning

The last we saw of Gabe was when he left with 2 duffle bags full of his stuff and left his wedding ring on the dresser. That morning when everyone had gotten up and started moving around, there were a few loud knocks on the door and it sounded like voices yelling on the other side. Every single one of the visitors had frozen as if they were made from stone and looked at the door. I have no idea what they were scared of, if anything it was probably just a few people in a drunken state banging on all the doors, I just ignored it and moved along my daily routine. The banging stopped in just a few seconds anyway and everyone relaxed back to normal, still confused as to why they looked so terrified though.

Later that morning I had decided to go in my room and play a few of my games on my computer to kill some time until lunch. As I was walking to my room I couldn't help but overhear a few of the guests talking, I think it was Heather, Arielle and henry. Their conversation intrigued me right away as they were talking about what I had understood as Greek mythology, just my favourite subject ever (as I actually understood it perfectly). I only got part of the conversation though because I didn't want to be caught.

Heather was telling the others "Olympus will be rebuilt, don't worry".

"But what if Zeus can't be freed, Kronos can't e beaten without him" Henry said.

"A way will be found, don't worry. We won't take this sitting down.".

Arielle jumped in at this point, obviously the upbeat member of this group, "We have the strength ourselves to at least attack back, don't worry. Like Hera said, we will deal with this.".

At that point I walked away as quietly as possible. That conversation didn't make any sense, they talked as if they knew where Olympus was and that it was destroyed. I'm not an expert at English but I caught the word "we" being used as if it was their job to fix the destruction. That and I am pretty sure that Arielle had called Heather Hera, that was absurd considering Hera was the queen of the Olympians and only in a myth, must be a joke or some type of game they were playing. I figured I'd just settle down and lose myself in my games.

When I came back out for lunch, everyone seemed to be relaxing and just enjoying the peace and quiet. I'm pretty sure I smelled grilled cheese being made for lunch. As soon as mom had come out to announce that lunch was ready, Paul jumped off the couch he was sitting on, looked at the door for a brief second and yelled for everyone to get down, jumping at my mom and I. Next thing I knew everyone had jumped down for some reason, Paul was on top of my mom and I and I had no idea what was going on. Then I heard the explosion and saw the door come flying off. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what had caused the explosion.

To Be Continued

Please comment on how the story is going so far. I have a plot forming in my head but it is definitely possible to shift it a little bit to fit your recommendations. Thank you for reading!

-Alternativewriter