Wisdom Vs. Beauty

Today I'm training with Percy, then we all play Capture The Flag. Percy was right in the movie, they take camp way too seriously.

Anyway, when I was 12 years old and I first came to Camp Half-Blood 4 years ago, I was scared. I didn't know what I was doing, yet I had read every single book from the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, and even seen the movie (which sucked, compared to the book. But hey, Sea of Monsters was worse when it came out last year).

You wanna know who I first trained with? Clarisse La Rue. Yes, Clarisse, daughter of Ares. Every time I thought of her, I wanted to rip my hair out. I've never liked her, even in the books! And let me tell you something, Clarisse doesn't go easy on you, even if you're new, and especially if you're Athena's child.

Now, you're probably thinking, "But Percy Jackson is a fictional character, Rick Riordan made those stories up!"

I'm going to stop you right there. Rick only classified his Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus novels as a fantasy, but he never once said that he made it all up. Everyone lies, ya know!?

I know Rick, actually. When I got here, it was about a month before Piper, Leo, & Jason did. Percy was still missing, and Annabeth was still hectic about losing her boyfriend. I would talk to Rick a lot when he was on break or had writer's block and I wasn't training. He was a cool guy to talk to:

It was my first day, and a blonde girl with California wavy hair was showing me around the camp.

"By the way," the girl with long, wavy blonde hair said, turning around to face me and forcing me to stop walking. "My name is Annabeth Chase." She held out her hand, and my eyes widened. I couldn't believe that I didn't recognize her sooner, "What's your name?"

I held out my hand and held hers shakily, and shook her hand. "Alex Gaskarth." I replied shyly.

Annabeth must have noticed that I was nervous and scared, 'cause she rested her hand on my shoulder and knelt down a little to reach my height, "You don't have to be shy around me," she said with a smile. "For all I know, you could be my half-brother. No one here is going to hurt you unless it's during training. But we wear armor, so it's fifty percent likely you'll get hurt and fifty percent unlikely that you won't get hurt. I know you're scared, kid, but you're here with kids who are just like you. Maybe they don't have your personality or looks, the same godly parent, or the same interests as you, but we're all demigods. We all try to make you feel as welcome as possible." I stopped shaking and looked at Annabeth in her eyes, she looked like she was being honest and sincere, and that made me feel less self-conscious. I thought Annabeth would've intimidated me, but I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. She made me feel safe, not nervous. I shot her a small smile and she shot one back at me, rubbing my arm gently and standing up again. She sounded extremely calm for someone who was trying to find her boyfriend. But she was probably hiding all of that in for me.

As Annabeth & I were walking, I noticed a man sitting on a bench with a writing utensil in his hand and a bunch of paper. He wasn't standing, so I couldn't tell how tall he was, he probably at least 6'0", though. He had short, dark grey and light grey hair.

"Hey, Annabeth," I whispered. Annabeth hummed a "hmm?", letting me know that she was listening. I pointed to the man on the bench, "Is that who I think it is?"

She looked at the man and nodded. "If you're thinking that Rick Riordan, then yes, indeed it is who you think it is."

I grinned widely, "Can we go talk to him?" I asked her.

Annabeth nodded, "Sure," she said. "But if he's too busy to talk, you can talk to him at dinner, alright?" I nodded in reply.

We walked up to Rick, Annabeth speaking to him first, "Hey, Rick." she said; he looked up to her, then at me and smiled.

"Annabeth, what's up? Who's this little guy?" he asked, looking at me.

"This is Alex, he wanted to know if he could talk to you for a moment?" she quizzed him. He gave consent and asked me what I wanted to talk to him about.

Rick and I talked for a little while, but we had to get to the campfire, Annabeth had told me that that's where a lot of demigods are claimed, but not always on their first day.

That's the night I found out that I was, in fact, Annabeth's half-brother.In some weird way, I always knew that if I were a demigod, Athena would've been my mother. After all, I am extremely smart.

And here I am, 4 years later, finally meeting Percy. To be honest, Percy is a pretty cool guy. I'm 100% sure that I am the only person that didn't stare at him like he was mentally insane when he ate all blue foods.

"You saw the movie, right, Alex?" Percy asked me. I nodded in reply.

"Let me tell you something that Annabeth told me at the end of that movie," he said, walking up to me and lightly panting. "Never let your opponent distract you. That means don't distract yourself and obviously, don't let your opponent distract you, Gaskarth!" I chuckled lightly and rolled my eyes.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, Aleeeeexxxx!" I heard a female voice call my name, dragging out the "A", the "E", and the "X". I groaned internally and out loud, knowing that voice all too well.

"What do you want, Drew?" I asked, looking uninterested in what she had to say. Drew Tanaka, the daughter of Aphrodite. I don't even know how Piper was Aphrodite's daughter as well, Drew was the definition of Regina George -- bitchy, prissy, self-absorbed, thinks everyone loves her, when in reality, everyone hates her guts.

She crossed her arms and pouted, "Lexxy, baby," she said. "Why won't you talk to me?" Oh, and have I mentioned that Drew thinks she can get any guy she wants, not to mention that she's been trying to get with me since Piper threatened her to stay away from Jason?

I laughed, "Because I don't like you. I, in fact, hate your guts. Get that through that thick skull of yours." I responded. Still crossing her arms, she looks mad, but then she smirked. I know that look, that's her I'm turning on my charm speak look. It's actually quite funny how her charm speak has never worked on me.

"But you're my boyfriend," she tried sounding convincing, even Percy wasn't convinced. "You have to talk to me!"

"That's actually quite funny," I retorted. "I don't recall being straight and dating you. I find you repulsive and disgusting, to be honest, Drew. Stop trying to use your charm speak on me, it's never going to work, and I'm never going to like you!" Drew looks pissed now. Something tells me this will be hilarious.

Drew was so fucking pissed. Steam was legit coming out of her ears! Her face was cherry red. Her arms came undone as she stomped off and groaned in frustration, throwing up her arms, and cursing in Greek. She said, Γιατί στο διάολο δεν είναι αυτή η κατάσταση; Θεοί γαμώτο! Το μισώ αυτό!, which in English, that means, Why the fuck isn't this working? Gods damn! I hate this!

Percy and I busted out laughing as we watched her walk away and curse in frustration. It was hilarious!

"Oh my Gods! That never gets old!" Percy exclaimed in between laughs.

"It never will get old!" I exclaimed as we calmed down from laughing. Just as we were about to get back to sparring, Annabeth & Chiron walked up to us.

"Alexander, Percy," Chiron said. "Come with us." We can't really disobey Chiron, so we followed. I whispered to Annabeth asking her what this is about, but all I got back was a whispered, "I have no idea, but I think he's sending us on a quest."

If a quest is why Chiron wants the three of us, I'm both excited and terrified.

Notes

Still looking for a co-writer! Message me if you're interested.