PERCY:

I went to the petrol station with Apollo. He is like a brother to me but there is something more than brotherhood in his eyes that I can't figure out. He keeps his emotions hidden so well. I noticed that he was slightly limping. I didn't see him last night. Maybe he came late and the pillars of Destruction, tortured him once more.

The station is mostly empty now as it is early morning. So, let me tell you about myself now.

I am Percy Jackson. I am 17.

I am in High School and live with my foster father Blake Marino, his poker friends Smelly Gabe, Jonathan Ace and Stephen Rodgers and their stepson and foster sons Apollo Benedict, Leo Valdez and Nico Di Angelo.

Nico and Leo are like my younger brothers and I love them a lot. Our family is abusive. I and Apollo, being oldest try our best to shield Nico and Leo from the beatings but Apollo is the most pathetic among us. He can go to any lengths for us. He even confessed that he is gay. The drunkard homophobes are now ganged up against him. But that hasn't deterred him from protecting us.

Now Apollo is the main source of income of our family. He is a superhuman who handles 4 part-time jobs, college, household works, and still manages to take the beatings but always has a heart-warming smile on his face. I can't help but admire him sometimes. I wanted to help him and have 2 part-time jobs. Apollo was mad as hell for that. Now I work at this petrol station thrice a week with Apollo and at a café in the evenings on the weekdays. Apollo just wanted me to study and move out when I turn 18 to escape this hell. He could have moved out but stayed for us. He is too selfless and this character of him awes me the most.

Ok. Enough of my family life. Now let's enter my school life. I am in the final year of my high school. I am the Captain of the School's Swimming team. I really enjoy swimming. It comes naturally to me.

A customer has come. So now I am off to serve him.

The customer was a man in his early thirties. He was muscular, and reeked of alcohol. I saw Apollo serving another person through my peripheral vision. As I was finishing my job, the man began to touch me inappropriately. My body tensed up and I politely tried to shove him off but he forcefully dragged me in his car. I shouted, "Help! Apollo, help ---", my voice got muffled as the man pressed a hand over my mouth. But Apollo turned back and saw us. He rushed to us while telling the other customer to call the police. My kidnapper landed a punch on Apollo's nose. Crack! Apollo fell to the ground clutching his nose. I was sure that he had broken his nose but my brother seemed like he couldn't care less. He got up almost immediately and shoved the man away from me. He hugged me tightly to his chest and asked softly, "Are you alright?" I feebly nodded. Before he could reply, the man got up. My eyes widened. Apollo turned back and got startled. We rushed into the shed and closed the door at his face. The man tried to break through the door but failed. After about 5 minutes he got tired and we supposed that he left. We waited till he heard sirens from the police car. We hopped outside and were face-to-face to two big, burly policemen.

We explained what had happened and they let us go after giving us a warning as the earlier customers had already left.

After the policemen left, Apollo checked the time. It was 6.30 a.m. We worked for another 30 minutes before collecting our bags and leaving the petrol station. Apollo said, "Percy, I have a morning class today. So, I will be leaving for college straight away. Be safe on the way to home and pick up Nico and Leo from home. Be sure not to get hurt very badly." He shoved a two 10-dollar bills in my hand, "This is for your lunch at school." And he went away even before I could open my mouth to argue. He was always like this. He would care for us instead of himself. He will probably skip lunch today. Maybe I have to confront him when he reached home in the evening. Had he not noticed that how underweight he looked for a college going youngster! I sighed and went on my way to school. I had a mammoth task ahead of me – to bring Nico and Leo out of the house safely. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

My dear readers, maybe updates will be very irregular. Please stay with me and do not give up on me. I love you guys. 

A special thanks to Percabeth_21_flower for adding my story to her reading list. 

Please read, vote, share and comment. 

Until next time. Hope to upload soon.