PERCY

'Beep beep beep'

My alarm clock woke me up signaling for me to get ready for school. it was hard for me to last a whole school year without seeing Annabeth, but at least I got to see her when I went on breaks. my mom said we could get doughnuts before school if I hurried, so I got ready pretty quick. It wasn't that different from getting ready at camp. after I finished my mom was still getting ready so I sat down and looked at my calender. I stared intently at it as my dyslexic brain tried to find today's date. Once I found it I took riptide out of my pocket and placed its cap on the other end and watched it turn from a sword and back into a pen. I marked off today with a big x. as I finished my mother walked in.

"what are you up to?" she asked.

"counting the days until I see Annabeth again." I replied

"so how many is that?" my mom wandered, surprised I would actually want to do math on my own time.

"too many." I sighed.

««»»

my mom was trying to cheer me up the whole car ride to school. that was the whole reason she took me out for doughnuts with Paul. It's not the end of the world, Percy she told me as I silently ate my doughnut and you should know. you've been through it. I couldn't help but smile at that. it was nice to see my mom proud of me.

we got to school, I gave her a hug and walked into the building with Paul. he had to be there early since he was a teacher, so I had a lot of extra time. first I went to my locker to put away my things. today I added my swim shorts because I had practice for swim team after school. I can't miss a practice being the team captain and all. I felt a little bad because I was the son of Poseidon and it was technically cheating, but hey, if you've got powers you've got to use them.

I shut my locker for and saw my best friend Matt standing there trying to scare me, but with years of finding unexpected monsters, NOTHING scares me anymore. I just looked at him with a really expression because I've told him before that I can't be scared easily.

"oh, c'mon! you have to be scared of something."

"I've told you before. I'm fearless."

"one day Jackson. one day I'll find a weakness of yours."

if only he knew. my fatal flaw is not everyone's first guess. the only way you could find that weakness is if you manipulated me, and Annabeth has been helping me with that. gods I miss her.

my stomach was really starting to hurt, but I didn't think it was anything. Tartarus showed me real pain.

"oh well. let's just go to first hour."

on the way to literature I thought about Annabeth. mostly her smile, the way she laughed, when she kissed me on the cheek when I did something stupid. then, I started thinking about how I'd jump in front of a bullet for her. it was getting to me. I thought I saw her.

"hey Matt, you know that picture I showed you of Annabeth?"

"that imaginary girl that you Photoshop into half your photos? yes, yes I do."

"do you think that's her?" I questioned as I pointed to the profile of a girl with curly blonde hair.

"I wouldn't know." Matt answered, "we should just get to class." " yeah you're right."

"am I ever wrong?" "well, let's just say that you're not the smartest of guys."

my stomach was hurting even more now and I was beginning to feel nauseous. I ran to the nearest bathroom and vomited. when I was done, I went to Paul's classroom to tell him I was sick.

"it is most likely food poisoning from those doughnuts. go outside and your mother will pick you up."