Author's Note: Hey, guys! Happy New Year! I hope everyone's ready to break in 2013! I know I am.
So I have this nice little one-shot for you guys. Inspired today, and written today. My Sally feels were activated through my family's tradition of cleaning up on New Year's Eve. So I'm sorry that this isn't a prompt yet; I promise Jiang-Mei's is almost done. I just had to do this—spur of the moment, seriously.
Dedicated to my family, who taught me this awesome tradition!
Disclaimer: I'm not the trolling-genius whose initials are R.R. But the tradition is my family's.
New Year's Eve
You know how most people do "spring cleaning?" Well…I have a version of that, in the dead of winter. You see, my mom had kept this tradition when I was little—every New Year's Eve, the house had to be cleaned, because it was bad luck to meet the New Year with a dirty house. While I was living with my uncle, he and I continued it in his small apartment, and after he was gone, I continued it.
So New Year's Eve morning, it was time to get to work. My fourteen-year-old chuckled as he put his breakfast dish in the sink. "You ready to get to work, Mom?" he laughed.
I smirked. "I'm ready when you are," I said. "You get the dishes while I strip the beds down to wash the sheets, 'kay?"
"Sounds like a plan," he grinned, pushing his sleeves up. I knew Percy would be fast with the dishes; I guess it was one of the perks of having Poseidon's kid. I took a deep breath as I went into his room first. One of the non-perks of having a teenager was the perpetually messy bedroom. I pulled the blankets, sheets, and pillowcases off and threw them in a pile before gathering the laundry.
As I was moving on to my own room, Percy was walking up to meet me. "Anything else for me to do?" he asked.
I thought about it for a minute. "Yeah," I decided. "Get dressed and give me your pajamas so I can wash them."
He laughed. "Okay."
I called, "If you hurry, we can go to Times Square this afternoon for the New Year's Eve party!" Everyone's seen Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve on TV: the performances at Madison Square Garden, the glittery glasses and hats with the New Year on them, the confetti, and all that good stuff. One of the perks of living in Manhattan was having all that go down a subway's ride away. The only problem was that people lined up for that ever since the afternoon to save themselves a place. So we would have to be done with everything in our apartment before leaving. That's why I liked to start bright and early.
"Awesome!" Percy called back before leaving to get dressed.
I smiled. I looked at the digital clock in my bedroom—10:24 AM. We could totally finish everything before like, four. It was a small apartment with two people in it. After I stripped my own bed, I gathered my stuff with Percy's and headed downstairs to the laundry room. I heard Percy's voice behind me—"Let me help you. I'll carry my stuff down."
"Thanks," I told him.
"No problem," he murmured.
Together we took our stuff downstairs and started the washing machine. As we walked back upstairs to our apartment, I noticed how much more mature he looked now than when he was twelve, how he'd gotten taller and more muscular since training at camp, and I'd finally persuaded him to get a haircut so his hair wasn't constantly in his face anymore, and his voice was deeper. I know, it's kind of random, but it happens sometimes.
Percy caught me looking him over. "What?" he chuckled.
I shook my head. "Nothing," I said. "I'm just thinking about how much older you look now, that's all."
"Is it the gray hair?" he joked, pointing to streak of gray he'd gotten from a quest before Christmas.
I laughed. "No, it's not," I promised. "You're just growing up." I sighed, opening the door to the apartment. "I feel kind of old."
Percy smirked, playfully pushing my shoulder. "You're not old," he said dismissively. Then his green eyes brightened. "By the way," he added, "are you inviting Paul?"
I blinked. "To what?"
My son smirked. "To the Rockin' New Year's Eve party at Times Square, where else?"
Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it, but as soon as he suggested it, I really did want to bring Paul along. I'd been dating him for a while, and he was a great guy. And the best part was that I'd gotten Percy's stamp of approval (not that I needed my son's permission; I just wanted him to be okay with it after forcing him to deal with Gabe for so long).
I could feel myself blushing, and I guess Percy could see it, because he took my hand and placed the phone in my palm. "While you take care of that, I'll put the new sheets on the bed." He left with a wink.
I sighed. Man, I love that kid, I thought to myself, grinning. Then I looked at the phone in my hand and took a deep breath. I dialed the number with ease; I'd memorized the digits without meaning to.
Paul said he'd be over by three-thirty, which gave Percy and me three hours to clean the place. The work was tedious and tiring, so we distracted each other with random conversations.
"Any New Year's resolutions?" I asked Percy as we polished the furniture.
His brow furrowed. "Haven't really thought of any," he admitted. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Can I have two resolutions?"
"You can have as many as you want," I laughed. "Why two?"
Percy shrugged. "I was thinking I could have a mortal resolution…and a non-mortal resolution, you know?"
I nodded, though I wasn't sure what a demigod's New Year's resolution would sound like. "Okay…" I mused. "What's your 'mortal' resolution?" I asked with air quotes.
He thought about it for a few seconds. "Uh…" He chuckled. "Try to do well on my SSAT," he decided.
I nodded. "That's a great one," I agreed. The SSAT was basically a middle-school version of the SAT; while the SAT was for rising college freshmen, the SSAT was for rising high school freshmen. "And your 'non-mortal' resolution?"
His eyes turned darker all of a sudden, like he'd just thought of something unpleasant. But he tried for a smile. "Try not to blow up my school," he answered with a laugh.
I frowned, trying to read his conflicting expression—I could tell something was bothering him, but his nonchalant smile was covering it up. "Something wrong?" I asked.
Percy shook his head innocently. "No, why?"
"You look worried about something."
He shrugged. "I'm not worried about anything."
I dropped it. It took a lot of work to get him to tell me about anything that bothered him relating to…that side of his life. In a way, I appreciated the way he just wanted to protect me and my feelings; he didn't want to worry me about anything. But I was going to be worried anyway, and it sort of hurt me when he didn't open up to me. It prevented me from helping him. But I let it go; he always told me, eventually.
Percy was quick to change the subject. "So…how about you? What are our resolutions?"
I thought about it. "I guess…to get closer to my diploma, as always," I told him. "And to finally start my book."
He smiled. "Cool. As long as I'm first to read the manuscript."
That touched me, for some reason. Percy was a dyslexic, so reading was really difficult for him. He hated reading. The fact that he wanted to be the first to read my story made me so…grateful to have a son like him. I gave him a hug right then and there. "Of course you'll be first; who else?"
He playfully rolled his eyes, trying to escape my hug. "Mom, not a big deal," he laughed. "Lay off."
"It is too a big deal," I smiled. "But come on; let's finish this work."
After three hours of washing, dusting, vacuuming, and folding laundry, Percy and I finally had the place sparkling. We sat side-by-side on the couch, totally exhausted. Percy rested his head on my shoulder. "I'm ready for a nap," he muttered.
I smirked. "Me too," I admitted. "But Rockin' New Year's Eve, remember?"
"Yeah," he murmured.
I hauled myself to my feet and pulled my son to his. "Come on," I said. "Paul's on his way over."
About an hour later, Paul came in, shook Percy's hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. We took the subway down to Times Square, where thousands of people were already waiting for the glittering, glistening ball to start falling. It was getting dark, and snow was starting to fall. But we were ready to go with our hats and fake New Year's glasses.
We enjoyed a few sets by a couple of new artists that I wasn't really familiar with, but whom Percy was head-banging to. By the time 11:59 rolled around, everyone was cheering in excitement, and the countdown clock began:
59…58…57…56…
Paul gripped my hand. His nose was red with cold. "You ready for a new year?" he whispered in my ear.
"Even if I wasn't, ready or not, here it comes," I sighed with a smile.
44…43…42…41…
"Those lights are so distracting," Percy murmured, his eyes fixed on the ever-changing colors. "I'm not sure whether my ADHD is aggravated or entertained."
Paul and I laughed.
30…29…28…27…
I clenched my fists and let out the breath I'd been holding. It fogged up in front of me. I wondered what the New Year would bring, what it would be like. What would happen? Would there be any new faces? Would I lose some old faces? All sorts of thoughts were crowding my mind as I squeezed Paul's and Percy's hands in mine. Manhattan counted down with one voice—
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two—
And then one giant cheer.
Percy through some glittery confetti into the air as Paul pulled me in for a kiss, which had my head clouded for a good twenty seconds. Then I wrapped my arms around my son, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Did midnight catch us with a dirty apartment?" he joked.
"Nope," I giggled. "So we've got some good luck for this year."
After that, Percy insisted on a group hug to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.
I was inspired to do this because, usually, my whole family gets up and cleans for a few hours, with my mom initiating it. But this year, my mom had to work, and my dad was out all day getting groceries for our soup (yum!) so my little sister and I did it all by ourselves. Man, that was exhausting work. Mom, I seriously have found a new appreciation for what you do. Thanks so much!
Guys, my mom and dad were so HAPPY when they found we'd done it! That feeling of doing something good for someone else without him or her asking…it's incredible. My sister and I are so happy we did it.
Thanks, guys!
~Mandi2341