Look, I didn't choose to be a half-blood.
It gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
That being said, depending on who your godly parent is, you also get awesome powers.
Sure, I didn't choose this life, if I had the option to before all this, I probably would've chosen a normal life.
But it is what it is, and I don't quite mind it.
See, it all started back at my 6th grade school. It technically started at my birth, but we'll get to that later.
I went to Yancy Academy. A school for troubled kids. Was I a troubled kid? I don't know, you could say that. I had ADHD and Dyslexia, but it wasn't that bad. What was bad was the fact that this was my 4th school in 4 years. I kept getting kicked out.
Weird things happened to me. Especially on field trips.
But, the year was almost over. I might just be able to stay here.
Anyway, on that day we went on a field trip to the Metropolitan Art Museum. Yeah, if you're wondering, weird things happen.
20 "troubled" kids going to a museum to look at ancient greek and Roman stuff. What could go wrong?
It was actually pretty interesting to me, and I was quite knowledgeable about this stuff.
Plus, Mr Brunner was leading this field trip, so it was going to be great, nothing bad was going to happen.
He was this middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair with a scruffy beard and a tweed jacket that smelled like coffee.
On the bus, I was sitting with my 2 friends. Grover Underwood and Percy Jackson.
Grover was this scrawny kid with some disease in his legs that excused him from P.E. and put him on crutches. He walked weirdly, like it hurt.
On enchilada day, however, you should see how he runs.
He looked a bit too old to be in middle school, he had a small wisp of a beard forming on his chin.
Percy was the same age as me.
He's a lot like me. A bit sassier and stuff, but mostly the same. He had black hair and green eyes.
I have blue eyes and light brown hair. It looks almost blonde sometimes, but it's still brown.
A kleptomaniac girl in my class, Nancy Bobofit, was throwing wads of peanut butter sandwich at Grover. He kept dodging the pieces but some hit anyway.
I hated her. I had a feeling Percy hated her even more.
Grover dodged another piece. Percy started getting up.
"That's it."
Grover pushed him down. "It's fine, besides, you're already on thin ice."
He spoke true. Percy had gotten into many fights and was going to be punished by in school suspension if he didn't stop.
I tried to stop him, but to no avail.
However, I couldn't just let Nancy harass Grover like this.
I got up.
"Ray, its fine, i like peanut butter." Grover said as he got hit in the head by a chunk. Nancy and her friends laughed.
"No, its not. Im not on probation. Ill make sure she gets what she deserves."
I walked towards her. I was a bit taller than her, so I looked down at her.
"Oh no, im so scared, the idiot is standing up for his idiot friend." Nancy said, mocking me and Grover.
In a split second I grabbed the peanut butter sandwich out of her hand and smashed it straight into her face.
She looked in disgust while her goons tried not to laugh.
I grinned.
"Mrs. Dodds, Ray smashed my peanut butter sandwich on my face!" Nancy cried out in a baby's voice.
Mrs Dodds. The other chaperone. A person I also hated the guts of. Well, she thought the same of me. She hated me and Grover and Percy, but loved Nancy. I wondered what she would do.
She appeared next to me.
I turned and stared at her. She shouldn't have been able to get here so quickly.
She took out a napkin and cleaned Nancy's face. Then she turned to me.
"Ray Blue. How dare you do such a horrible thing to this girl!"
"Actually Ma'am you should be asking that question from Nancy who was harrassing my friend Grover. Maybe if you actually paid attention you would know that instead of just coming here when that filth cries out for you."
Grover nearly fainted. Percy was shocked but had a big smile on his face. Nancy was angry.
Mrs Dodds had a similar reaction, except maybe cranked to 100.
However, I wasn't afraid of her.
She hated me for no reason ever since she came here.
"How dare you-" Mrs Dodds started.
"Now now, let's all calm down. Mrs Dodds let me settle this." Mr Brunner interuppted as he rolled towards us on his wheelchair.
Mrs Dodds glared at me and the only word I could think to describe her look was evil.
I explained to Mr Brunner what happened.
"I see. You did it to protect your friend, I understand, but you should have come to me instead of taking matters into your own hands."
I nodded, but I didn't agree. Justice should be delivered quickly and properly. He wouldn't have done either of those.
I sat back down and Grover looked at me in shock and awe, as if wondering how I was still even alive.
"Dont listen to Mr Brunner, you did what was right." Percy said as he patted me on the back.
"I know, but i decided it was better not to argue with both teachers on one field trip." I sighed. "Nancy got what she deserved though."
"Did you see the look on her face? Ha...priceless." Percy said as he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.
"Um...Ray? Thanks." Grover said to me.
I nodded. "No problem. Someone had to do it eventually, and Im glad it was me."
"Yeah, you have a certain way with words when you speak. Like a natural born leader. Everybody listens to you, even Mr Brunner." Percy said.
I nodded again. The rest of the field trip Nancy didn't bother us but Mrs Dodds kept shooting me evil looks.
She was planning something.
We got off the bus and took the tour of the museum. It was pretty interesting. Mr Brunner asked us a few questions, but they weren't hard. I already knew quite a lot about this stuff and I helped Percy through the school year too.
Mr Brunner stopped in front of a stele, a grave marker, and started telling us about the markings.
I guess Nancy didn't learn her lesson because she couldnt keep quiet. She wouldn't let me concentrate. She finally said something about the naked guy on the stele and I got mad.
"Can you shut your stupid mouth for even two seconds?"
Everybody looked at me, but I didn't care. I wanted everybody to see me, to see Nancy and her stupid face getting embarresed.
"What was that, Mr Blue?" Mr Brunner inquired.
"Sorry, sir. I was just trying to get Nancy stupidfit here to shut up."
Everybody giggled. Nancy was getting as red as her hair.
"Do not name call, Ray. Perhaps you'd like to tell me what this symbol represents?"
I explained to him that it was Kronos eating his kids, the gods, in fear of them overthrowing him. Zeus survived, rescued his siblings and eventually they won the war.
"As if this matters in real life." Nancy muttered, trying to make everybody forget about the small scene earlier.
"And why, to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life, Percy?"
"Busted." Grover whispered.
Nancy started cosplaying a tomato again.
I turned to look at Percy. He thought about it for a second.
"I dont know sir."
Mr Brunner frowned. "What are your thoughts, Mr. Blue?"
I thought about it. "Maybe its a message to not be overly paranoid about everything. Kronos was paranoid about his kids overthrowing him so he ate them, but that was the reason they overthrew him in the first place."
I stopped for a second to think.
"Or maybe its saying that trying to change the future is a bad thing that will only end up making things worse for you. Either those 2 things or the greek gods are real and we should know this stuff. Probably not though." I explained.
Grover seemed a bit shocked when I said that last part. I wondered why.
Mr Brunner seemed satisfied. Then he said it was time for lunch, but made me and Percy stay behind.
"You two must learn the answer to my question."
"About the gods?" Percy asked.
"About your studies and how they apply to your life. They are vital to your survival."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked.
Mr Brunner looked at me. I looked at his thousand year old eyes.
"You'll see." I said to Percy. He shrugged and left.
"Mr Brunner. Was i right?"
He looked confused. "About what?"
"Are the greek myths real?"