Luke POV

Sing off wasn't easy. It was survival of who-knew-the-most-songs-out-of-everyone.

Thankfully, we weren't eliminated. With a very mixed band, we had almost every category covered, as did the girls. Thalia had rock nailed. Paisley had the strange music from overseas. Calypso had pop. Piper and Annabeth had all the other categories.

With a woop and a skip, we left with giant grins.

"So there's no broccoli in this?" Paisley inquired, twirling her fork in the bowl of spaghetti bolognese.

"None." Nico assures her, "And if there is, you can punch us after you exit the hospital."

She nods slowly, "That does sound promising."

We decided to make dinner for Sally, Aphrodite and the girls. Aphrodite thought it was cute. Sally wished us luck. The girls laughed and said not to burn the mini kitchen down. We didn't. Thankfully. Theres just a major mess, with tomato sauce on the walls and floor. Eggs were dropped. Flour was spilt. Salt covered the bottom of the sink. Sugar covered part of the bench, and stuck to bits of lemon skin. We didn't even use lemon or sugar!

I look at Thalia, who was chewing it thoughtfully before pulling a sour face.

Did she not like it? Was it not good enough? I might have added too much salt?

Before I can offer to make something else, Thalia swallows and lets out a cough. "Who put the lemon in here?"

Well, I guess we know how the lemon ended up there.

She looks around, glaring at everyone that helped make it (Including myself) dangerously.

"Speak up, or -"

"It was me!" Leo says, flopping down with a pain stricken expression, "I'm sorry! Don't kill me! I dropped it in by accident."

Ouch.

Thalia lessens her glare. "I guess I could let you live." Leo sighs in relief, "BUT!"

"Oh no, there's a but." He murmurs to himself, threading a hand through his hair nervously.

"You have to..."Thalia thinks for a minute, "Clean up the kitchen by yourself, and we get to prank you back in return."

Leo nods fastly, knowing this was the best offer he was ever going to get, and she actually would kill him if he didn't take her up on the offer.

Thalia smirks, "Good luck, kid."

He's screwed.

Hermes was about to announce the last boot camp activity. People waited around nervously.

"The last round of boot camp is about attitude. Your personality. You all have a charity you have to pick from the hat, and you have to fundraise. You can bake and sell your baking. Car wash. It's all up to you. We, the judges and I, will come around to your areas and see you in action. We want to see smiles, genuine smiles and enthusiasm. You're raising money for charity. You should be happy you're doing community service." Hermes says, walking the stage and making appropriate hand gestures and expressions. "You can work with other bands, if you like. It's optional."

"This is the last round and only ten can go into the internet shows."

Boom. The bomb dropped.

"Two teams will go each round."

Bam.

"Only two in the grand final."

We already knew that.

"No wild cards. One person per band please line up and get your charity out of the hat!" He says, bringing a top hat from backstage and waving it around.

We all look to Percy, and he sighs.

"Fine, but next time someone else can go." He says, brushing past us.

The girls chose Piper to go.

Percy boldly walked on stage and dug his hand around in the hat. I've always admired Percy for how brave he is. He never fails to be loyal and stand up for what he thinks is right. He admits to his faults and is humble about everything.

"SunnyKidsCare." He says, shrugging (A/N can't be bothered to find actual names of charities. Lets pretend they're real. If they are real, I can't be stuffed finding out what they support.)

Piper does the same and says, "TakeAChance foundation." (Based off MakeAWish foundation)

She grins happily and wanders off stage too.

Let's get working then.

"Why is everybody so serious?

Acting so damn mysterious?

Got your shades on your eyes

And your heels so high

That you can't even have a good time." One of the girls sings.

We decided to busk for money, and sell baking. We set up a stall on the corner of a busy road. I'm manning the stall with biscuits. So far a few people have smiled and given us money for the charities.

My eyes skim around the slow forming crowd.

"Hi!" A small voice says from in front of me. I look down to find myself facing a small girl. She can't be more than five. Her long brown hair was in two plaits. She was wearing a hot pink tutu and a lighter tank top. Fairy wings were on her back, and big blue eyes gazed at me. I resisted the urge to awe.

"Hi, how can I help you?" I ask her, smiling at her shy ness.

"Can I please have a cookie?" She says, showing her missing front tooth. She rocked nervously on her heels and looked ready to bolt. We decided that Nico should bring more cupcakes and supplies to the stand in fear he might scare someone off. He agreed too, there were no hard feelings.

"Sure thing kiddo. That'll be a dollar." I say, getting out a paper bag from under the desk as she tentatively puts the dollar on the bench. "What one would you like?"

"Chocolate chip please?" She says.

"Coming right up." I say. I pick up the desired cookie and put it in the bag, using the tongs Annabeth made us use.

I hand over the cookie and watch her face brighten up.

"Thank you!" She says, before running off to her parents who are a part of the crowd. They were beginning to dance with the smaller children, making them smile and sing a long. People threw money in the buckets and boxes, happy with the result.

"'Want me to take over?" Thalia asks from behind me, already taking offf my apron and putting it onn herself. She looked brighter in the pink.

"You're not really giving me a choice, but sure. Be careful, some people try to steal the money." I say, sitting in the back of the car. The boot was open, with the boxes being moved to the back seats. I leaned on the back of the back seats and smiled.

Thalia was serving cookies and cupcakes like a pro, while the others sang and danced.

"You're bands look like you're having fun." A voice says, startling me. I relax, seeing it was Apollo. Not much, I mean, like, he's a superstar. And a judge. And super duper famous.

"Yeah. The kids are so cute." I say, looking at the kids around the band.

"Kids are adorable, hey?" Apollo says thoughtfully, "I haven't seen mine in ages. Their mothers refuse to let me see them."

Apollo has kids? Wow. The press never knew, so therefore neither did the public. You can imagine my shock.

"You have kids?" I ask, making room for him to sit. He smiles at me before putting his butt in the boot.

"Yeah. Quite a few." He says, "Some are halfway across the world, others are here in California. None of their mothers let me see them because I left, but I don't want my kids growing up with cameras in their faces. I had that, growing up. It wasn't nice. I don't want them growing up the way I did."

I nod. I'm stunned he's opening up to me, Luke Castellan, about his kids and family.

"It can't be that bad." I shrug.

"Believe me, it is. They won't leave you alone, no matter what you do. The only reason we're not being plagued is because there's security guards around here, warding them off." Apollo says, scribbling something down, "Anyways, good luck. You're doing a great job."

Apollo gets out of the car and walks off.

The next day, we show up at the stage with our buckets of money. We drop them off to someone who will count the amounts. It's not the amount of money that matters. It's the attitude.

On the way back, we walked (we couldn't all fit in the car with the extra equipment) past a band that was groaning every time someone asked for something. They looked utterly bored and had no enthusiasm.

I'm glad we weren't doing that, because that's a ticket to getting kicked off the competition.

A/N

Do you like it? Because I- I don't know if I like it or not but... anyways.

No Thaluke but I might put some in the next chapter (Thalia POV)

I was sick with a cold...

But then I had to mow the lawns. I asked how I was supposed to do it, and my dad said "You just push the lawnmower." and that was the lesson I got in mowing the lawn.

My little sister and I had a dance party. Yay! She's the cutest thing ever. Why can't I look like her? (Okay, I do but I'm not cute.)

Comment, Be awesome, be fab, BE YOURSELF!

~KaleidoscopeColours

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PJO, HOO (Rick Riordan does)

or PriceTag by Jessie J