Jason Grace
As usual, during recess us rich kids (yes, rich, but not spoilt) pushed four tables together in the middle of the cafeteria and sat with one another, laughing and chatting. It was one of the things that I liked about us - anyone could feel a sense of belonging here. The rumor about the Little Big Three studying here at Goode turned out to be tre - they even sat at our table - sorry, tables. At the start of lunch, I had already spotted them at the far end of the cafeteria, and Kara waved wildly until they began making their way towards us (albeit with slight difficulties as they were mobbed by fans). I was especially excited to meet them in person because of one reason, and one reason only.
Thalia Grace was my sister.
When we were young, as in really young, our mother died in a car crash and my father sent me to live with Kara's cousins and their family - Reyna and Hylla Ramírez-Arellano and their mother Bellona, a successful children's author. So I hadn't seen Thalia in years.
When the three of them made it to our table, I took one look at Thalia and immediately saw her as the sister who had taken care of me and loved me when our father was too busy and our mother didn't care.
I could see it in her eyes - the shock which said, I know you. I walked right up to her and hugged her.
"Jason?" she whispered.
"That would be me."
She held me out at arm's length. "Oh, look, little Jason has grown almost… as tall as me. I haven't seen you for what? Thirteen years! Thirteen years Dad kept us apart… oh, Jason."
I could almost hear Connor and Travis Stoll, those troublemakers, recording everything and then storing it away as future blackmail material and I had to laugh. "Hey, Thals. Nice to see you again."
She squeezed me again, so tight that she practically broke my bones. "Ribs," I squeaked and she laughed and pulled away… only to see a very unwelcome face.
"Ooh, look who's found her long-lost brother!" Dyed Blonde aka Camille Knightley simpered as she swept past, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"Yes, I've found my long-lost brother," Thalia glowered.
"And he doesn't want some slut to ruin the mood," I finished, grinning smugly at the murderous look on Camille's powdered face.
"I am not a slut."
"Oh really?" Kara challenged from behind me.
"Oh, right, silly me," Piper McLean added with a silly-sounding, shallow giggle. "You've only had fourteen boyfriends in your life."
"Of course you're totally not a slut," Percy chipped in, and Camille growled under her breath. "I don't have so many boyfriends."
"No you don't," Annabeth agreed.
"You have two at the current moment," Reyna said innocently. "The other dozen were dumped months ago, as soon as you'd had your fun."
Camille's face turned red - or perhaps just redder, with the amount of blusher she slathered on. "You watch out," she warned. "You're just jealous that you can't find anyone who bothers to look at your ugly mug, let alone date you." This comment was directed towards all the girls in our (rather large) group. Ooh. Trash talk. I'm so scared.
Camille was about to sashay away when Nico announced loudly, "I'd be perfectly happy to date one of them" - he gestured at the girls sitting at our tables - "but never in a million years would I want to go out with you." He shot Camille a so there! look and she huffed and stormed off.
After that, we just went on with our lunch like on a typical day. But make no mistake - the Drew Crew would come knocking on our door. The Blondies could be taken down with a few objurgations, but Drew Tanaka was smarter and more manipulative than that. She could make you do what she said with a few taunts. And we would be in trouble.
.
Kara Lockhart
After lunch, I had music with Clarisse, Katie and Ethan.
My locker was next to Hazel's, and I glimpsed her waving a goodbye which said, Ha! You're late! as she turned the corner. I waved back and took the books out, rearranging some of them in order to accommodate the somewhat oddly shaped architecture textbook which I'd been holding.
As I turned, I saw this jock called Something-Or-Other - the boyfriend of one of the Blondies (I think it's Red Blonde aka Naomi) leering right in my face…
… which was unbelievably annoying.
What was wrong with these people? Octavian (oh yeah, that's his stupid name) had a girlfriend, for Zeus' sake!
"What do you want, Octavian?" I snapped.
He grinned suggestively in what was probably supposed to be a smooth move but instead looked desperate and pathetic. "I want you to come over to my place…"
Mistake. I should just have walked off.
"What's your freaking problem?" I felt like gagging. I shook my head in utter disgust, giving him a hard shove with my shoulder and an elbow to the stomach as I spun on my heel and headed to the music studio. Ugh.
Katie and Clarisse could sympathize when I told them about Octavian. Which was nice, but didn't make it any less irritating, how twerps like him thought they owned the world. Who would've thought that the Drew Crew weren't the only idiots in the school?
The rest of the day after that wasn't too bad, though. In music, we finally got our hands on those guitars (finally!) after a few weeks of singing a capella, which hadn't been very interesting. Ms. Calliope got us to compose our own songs in pairs, so Clarisse and I teamed up and wrote this cool song called When The Time Is Right. The lyrics went a bit like this -
It's never too late to begin again
When you see you aren't young no more
Rise from the dead
Sing your heart out to the fire
It's never too late to love
Damn the funeral pyre, we're free
If only you'd open your eyes you'd see
When the time is right we'll be toasting liberty
Cocktail party by the sea, we don't need money to be happy
Drunk on happiness, high on love
When the time is right you'll be dancing with the stars
When the time is right, party like there's no tomorrow
It's more than just a life
Fill up those champagne glasses
When the time is right, forget the losses
Be so proud of us, we're free
I said, damn those funeral pyres
Forget the pain and grief and liars
This is our time
Just trying our luck, but they say there's no more time
Well, I say
Damn the funeral pyre, we're free
If only you'd open your eyes you'd see
When the time is right we'll be toasting liberty
Cocktail party by the sea, we don't need money to be happy
Drunk on happiness, high on love
When the time is right you'll be dancing with the stars
When the time is right, party like there's no tomorrow
It's more than just a life
Fill up those champagne glasses
When the time is right, forget the losses
Be so proud of us, we're free
There is beauty in this chaos
We're drunk on love and high on happiness
Tonight
We can set the world on fire, we could always make it brighter
Promises and laws, break them all
We're so wild and beautiful
Dance on those tabletops, mesmerise me with your eyes
When the time is right, let go of everything
We're greater than you know
Give them our best tonight, 'cause when the time is right
We'll damn those funeral pyres, we'll be free
If only you'd open your eyes you'd see
When the time is right we'll be toasting liberty
Cocktail party by the sea, we don't need money to be happy
Drunk on energy, high on youth
When the time is right you'll be dancing with the stars
When the time is right, party like there's no tomorrow
It's more than just a life
Fill up those champagne glasses
When the time is right, forget the losses
Be so proud of us
I said, damn those funeral pyres
Dance on the tabletops
Sing your heart out to the fire burning wild in us
Ignite that spark
And set the world on fire
I got a sore throat trying to sing the thing. The whole song was only around three minutes long, and basically involved triumphant guitar riffs and a magnificent cymbal crash from Clarisse at the end. I simply shouted out lines with an added pitch variation. Sound familiar to you? Well, it was similar to my anthem Pride by the pop rock band Legendary Rebels. Singing it, I felt… well, unstoppable.
It was only after everyone had performed the song that Ms. Calliope dropped the bombshell - the international rock star known as Apollo (some of my friends were actually related to him) was launching a talent show, and anyone was welcome to go for the school tryouts. Only two groups max from each school could make it in.
There is a reason why after we performed it for the class, Ms. Calliope asked us to try out for the talent show.
AN: Thanks to all the reviewers, followers and favorite-rs! Since holidays are almost here, I'll probably post one or two chapters a day until next year. By the way, I wrote the song myself and Legendary Rebels is a nonexistent band. I do wish they were real though - in my mind they're totally awesome.