Paisley POV

We're here. We're actually here. We're in freaking California for the Battle Of Bands. My heart rate speeds dangerously high, before I'm able to calm myself down.

"Okay, one at a time into the rooms. Boy's you're on the right, girls on the left. Sally and I are just here across from the girls so if you need anything you know where we are." Aphrodite says, before ushering us inside our rooms.

We all pushed and shoved to get into the rooms and to get first dibs on a bed. In the race into the room, I stood on someone's toes, and got elbowed. If us girls were like this, I'd imagine the guy's next door are practically tackling each other.

Annabeth got the bed by the window, and Piper was next to her. Thalia next to Piper and Calypso next to Thalia. I guess that left the bed closest to the door and bathroom was mine then. Well, now I can take ages in the shower and get there first. That and get to the door.

I drop my bag on the floor by the end of the bed, before sorting out my clothes into piles. Pajama's, Shirts, Shorts, Jeans, Togs (Swim suit, if you didn't pick it up) and so the list goes.

I didn't want to give Tammy's clothes away. At all. That's why I was uncomfortable with it. I feel like I'm taking advantage of her death, which I wasn't. I miss her. And my brothers (All of them) and Mum. Not much I can do about it now, I guess.

Going into LAX airport made me scared. Not that I would ever admit it to anyone. I hated it because that's where my Mum died. Not the Airport's fault. I know, but still. If you were me you'd be scared too. I was scared because what if someone jumped out and killed me? I know its stupid.

"Paisley? Are you okay? You've been staring at your suitcase for fifteen minutes." Calypso says in a hushed voice so no one hears her, which I'm thankful for.

"Uh, yeah I guess." I say, "I have to go and talk to Sally." I excuse myself from the room and knock on the room door Aphrodite said they were in.

Sally opens the door and I bolt into her arms.

"Shh." She says, stroking my hair which I let out as we were walking through the hotel before in the race to find the rooms.

As much as I didn't show it, I loved Sally. She understands that she can't be a replacement for my Mum, because even though my actual Mum is dead and is clearly not ever coming back, I still consider her my Mum. Sally understands that. She knows, and she cares. She willingly took me in when I had no where to go, other than with my oldest brother back to NZ which I didn't wanna do. She kept me under control, and knew when to loosen the reigns to give me space. I couldn't ask for a better step Mum.

"What's wrong?" Sally asks me quietly.

"I don't know." I say honestly. I wasn't upset about anything in particular, that I knew of anyways.

Sally sighs, continuing to stroke my hair.

"Hey Sally, which- What's wrong hon?" Aphrodite asks me. I shake my head and bury my face into Sally's shoulder.

"I think you're tired. We all are. We've had a long day, so you just shower and change into your pajama's. It doesn't start until tomorrow. We'llsort everything else out. Don't worry." Sally assures me, pulling back to move my long thick hair away from my face.

"Okay." I whisper in a quiet voice. "Thanks." I turn to face the door and return to my room.

As soon as I'm in sight, Calypso looks at me. "Is everything alright?"

No.

"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna take a shower and go to bed. I'm really tired." I say, repeating Sally's wise words of advice.

"Okay." She says, not convinced. "If there's anything we can do to help, just let us know. You can come to us for anything you know, right?"

I smile at her, before hugging her tightly, "Thank you, Calypso." I say, before leaving for the shower.

"Is she alright?" I hear Piper ask as I shut and lock the door. I stop listening after that.

"Sh! You'll wake her!"

"As if she's not a morning person."

"Not on Sundays!"

"Just leave her. She's had a crap few days."

"Shut up." I say, and stuff my face under my pillow, "You're all being awfully loud."

"See?"

"She's awake though!"

I sit up and hit the person with my pillow. "What's wrong with you?"

"Ouch! Stop assaulting me with your pillow! Jeez. Good morning to you too." Percy says sarcastically, rubbing his head.

"Good morning." I say, smiling.

"Yeah yeah. We have to leave in half an hour to get to the place where its being held. I don't know where but apparently it looks like the 'X Factor' stage and auditorium." Percy says, awwing.

"Cool." I say, heading over to the pile of clothing and picking out a pair of dark jeans and a black tank top.

Calypso is brushing her hair. Annabeth is reading, already dressed and ready, being the organized person she is. Piper is braiding her hair and I assume Thalia is in the shower.

"Well, I'm going to go back to my room." Percy says, leaving.

Well okay then.

We go to the 'place where its being held', and find it buzzing with people.

"We're not allowed in,"Sally says, "So stick together!" She says before the sliding doors shut behind us.

We all stand together as a team, when really we're two separate ones.

Nerves rushed through my stomach. I swear, today the butterflies decided to go into metamorphosis early and morph into dragons then held a party because they'd managed to change into dragons. Jeez. Calm down nerves. It hasn't started yet.

"Listen up! Doors are open. Please stay with your band. Fill the seats up row by row please, from the front to the back." Someone shouts over the top of everyone.

I fumble for the person next to me's hand, which happens to belong to Nico. He gives it a reassuring squeeze.

People flood into the crowded isles of the large auditorium. The sound bounced off the walls, making it louder than before. And it was pretty dam loud before.

A man was standing on the wide stage, mic in hand. I had a feeling he was running this. As we were seated, me next to Nico on the outside of my band, the man started to talk.

"Hello everyone. My name is Apollo, as if you didn't know. I'm apart of Olympus Records. I am also one of the judges. My good friend Hermes is the announcer, so I'll hand it over to him." Apollo says smoothly. I had a feeling he was quite relaxed.

"Hi, as Apollo said, I'm Hermes. I'm the MC of The Battle of Bands." Another person says, coming out of the wings. He had eyes that held mischief clear as day in them and unruly hair. He wore a red and black checkered flannel shirt and jeans.

"Okay, so today is the first day, as you all know. So we're all going to get to know each other. So, row by row, starting from the front, you're going to come up and talk about yourself, not that you don't do that already." Hermes says. "Front row first."

The person boldly climbs the stage. She has long midnight hair, kept in a tight braid. Her eyes held no laughter, only righteousness, and pride.

"My name is Reyna. I attend Jupiter High in San Francisco..."

And so the people go. I was getting bit bored, but some people's stories were interesting.

Eventually it was my turn. Everyone's eyes were on me, as I looked at them nervously.

"Um, I'm Paisley Brown. I'm from New Zealand. I am Fifteen years old. I have ten older siblings. Nine boys one sister. I am allergic to broccoli, roses, pollen and contact lenses. I love sports. I qualified for the junior Olympics in Track and Swimming, only I don't wanna go. I wanna be a motivational speaker when I'm older. And Percy over there is my youngest living brother." I say.

I ran off stage and took my seat, trying to aviod the stares of the people around me.

As Nico finishes off his 'speech' he walks over to me and takes my hand again. We're the last row, so when Jason finishes its over.

"Okay, so now we all know each other I have to say, tomorrow you're going to school. You will have a different schedule to the other kids attending because you're apart of this. We want to keep your education up for when you go back." Hermes said, earning a few groans. "But don't worry dear children. It's not that far away. "

A/N

Hey! Feel awesome with the rate I'm producing chapter's. Yay!

So, who's excited for them to go to school?

Anyways.

If you don't like my character, Paisley, I don't mind. I just wanna say please don't pick on her as a character. It's happened before and people were like 'Omg, she's such a mary sue you should just stop writing'. So thats what I did. I stopped writing that particular story and re-wrote it. Twice. So, I'm a litte weary of when people say mean stuff. But I understand if you don't like her character. Just be nice about it.

~KaleidoscopeColours