Alex

Somebody once tried telling me I was the child of a Greek god once. At a summer camp that I went to for two days before deciding everyone was insane and leaving. Alice was with, too. She stayed the summer and she's been kind of insane since.

When I heard of a modern version of a Greek play being performed at Goode, I wanted to see it. Especially when I saw Percy was the lead. You had to pay to get in, but it was worth it. Me, my sister Alice, and my dad, who is also the swim coach, all went. And the entire swim team. And everyone in our school. Plus some.

With this, my friends and I figured that afterwards I could congratulate him and then ask him out afterwards. Plus, we were all pumped to see Rachel. She was in it, too. Played the Oracle. Sounded spooky. We all just missed Rachel.

Now, everyone knows that Percy doesn't know his dad. He never talks about the guy. Blowfish is basically his dad. I've never seen a step son and step dad get along so well before.

This play was based around the fact that he doesn't know his dad. Kids always joke that he's Poseidon's kid or Neptune's kid. With how he is in the water. It's a long running joke.

They made that reality in this musical. That... It was great. I loved everything about that. There was a seat, though, and I almost sat in it until I saw the sign.

Reserved for those who can't be here today. Rest in peace Luke Castellan, Silena Beauregard, Charlie Beckendorf, and many others. You are missed.

Oh wow, that's a nice note before seeing the show. To know some of these people are dead.

But before it actually started, we were asked to put a question in a box that Percy would answer before the show.

He walked up on stage, wearing normal clothes, with a stack of cards in his hands.

The first question came from my dad.

"Did the characters get named first?" Percy read off. "And they went through the trouble to find most people with the same name to play them?"

And I never realized that it was a legit question that seemed reasonable.

"Um, no." Percy answered that with the answer I didn't expect. "This was actually based off of myself and Annabeth and Grover and Luke and everyone you see here. We intended to play ourselves when this started."

The next few questions were kind just questions I already knew the answer to. And then the one I was waiting for.

"Why is Paul not a character?"

I learned something new tonight.

"When this is set, I was 12, going on 13." My crush explained to us in that sexy voice that I just fell for easily. "We didn't know Paul. My mom was with a guy I reference once or twice, Gabe. I didn't meet Paul until I was 14."

And then there was one more question that I really liked. Where they got the idea for this. To put the gods in the modern world. In the now.

"So it's a weird story." Percy started. "I am very honest about having nothing to do with my dad. And I have a number of friends like that. Grover's parents went missing when he was little. Annabeth's family was complicated, although her step mom wasn't the kindest person to her, so on and so forth. My situation when I was growing up is that I didn't know my dad. I knew nothing about him aside that I looked like him. My mom worked like hell and my step dad of the time was a drunk who got mean he was drunk."

Percy paused for a second. He doesn't talk about this much. About what he did before Goode. He just doesn't. Nobody knew why.

"I made a friend when I went to boarding school, and that was Grover." My crush tried to explain that to us. "He was my only friend. And when we went to a summer camp together, my mom went missing. My dad suddenly was a big deal and my uncle blamed me for doing something I never did. I was mad, and so this stuff actually happened. The only real difference is that we added the gods and the monsters. This is all based off of something that happened to me and my friends when we were 12, 13 years old. But with that in mind, I'm getting a sign that it's time to go. Enjoy the show."

Now let's just appreciate that the first song is called The Day I Got Expelled and it...

The gods are real. Like the Greek gods. Like the ones you learned about, but weren't paying attention to. Well they don't pay attention to you either. Especially if you're their kid.

Like I think somebody's bitter about his dad.

But the musical was amazing. I loved the concept of it. And a lot of it actually kind of made sense?

"Come on," Devon remarked to me, punching my arm as we saw Percy. He was talking with Grover and some... Punk ass kid? Who was he? "I promise that he's bi. He's single. Go ask him out."

"Okay, I'm going!" I insisted, walking towards the jokingly son of Poseidon. He just fit the role of a hero so well, he almost seemed like he could be a god himself.

"Alex, hey!" Percy remarked, noticing me walking towards him and he gave me a high five. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Well duh." I told him and faced Grover. "But what did that squirrel actually say?"

"It told us to stop destroying the world and he hopes we died." Grover told me and shrugged. "I don't know, dude. It was a prop."

"Sounds about right." I reasoned with that idea and then remembered that I don't know the guy wearing the... Falling In Reverse sweater. That was a shame. "I don't think I've met you. Do you go here?"

"No," the guy told me. "Nico di Angelo. I go to camp with them. I just didn't show up until like two years later."

He knew that I didn't like him already.

"Alex." I returned the introduction and faced Percy. "Anyways, do you want to head out later? Get something to eat?"

Percy didn't take it like I was asking him out on a date.

"Who's all going?"

I shrugged.

"Nobody else."

This Nico kid didn't like me when he heard that. Why, I was clueless. Grover went to find somebody else, noticing the tension between us.

"Um..." Percy debated for a second. "I can't dude. I already have plans."

"You never have plans." I remarked, because he doesn't.

"Well I do tonight." He broke the news to me, shrugging. "Sorry. I have a date, we planned this like a month ago."

"Oh..."

I walked away, and realized why the guy next to him didn't like me.

He was his date. With how he looked at Percy and how Percy looked at him? They're a thing. A thing that will not be reckoned with.

"So?" Jenna asked me, standing with Devon and Tyler. "Where are you eating out and when?"

"We're not."

Devon

I was upset that Percy had the nerve to turn down Alex. He's obviously had a crush on him for a while. Percy knew that. So I confronted him.

"Hey, Percy!" I got his attention pretty quickly. He was getting more punch. He had two cups. "Nice show tonight! Is it cool if I hit up Annabeth?"

Percy laughed.

"Do it at your own risk, dude." My fellow swimmer told me. "And thanks. What's up?"

"Nothing much." I told him and it just kind of came up. "but um... Alex is kind of bummed out now."

"He is?"

I nodded my head.

"Yeah," I tried to guilt trip into it, because I'm friends with both of them. But nobody likes Alex when he's bummed out. He finally had the guts to ask Percy out and got rejected. "Said he asked you out to dinner."

This time, Percy nodded his head. Knowing where this was going.

"That he did."

"And you rejected him." I explained my problem to him. "Knowing he likes you and has for a long ass time?"

Percy knew that we weren't happy with him as the others walked over, including Alex.

"Okay, look." Percy started off. "I... Alex, don't feel bad. You're a great guy. Had this been like six months ago, I would have gone out with you. But I have plans that I've been looking forward to for a long time."

"Just bring him with." Jenna insisted.

"I'm..." Percy looked at Jenna like she was stupid because Alex didn't tell us why he was rejected. "I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate me bringing anyone with on a date. Much less a guy. Much less the guy who asked me out in front of my boyfriend. And plus, Alex. I have a lot of bullshit in my life. You don't want to deal with it. I promise."

The others walk away, no tough feelings. It's not he just turned him down. He already had a date and a boyfriend.

"You have a boyfriend?" I questioned the captain of the swim team. I didn't know he was gay until... He gets a lot of crap for it at practice. I feel really bad. The team kind of turned on him. I found out about a month ago. Like right before Halloween. and Percy nodded his head. "And you didn't tell me?"

Percy opened his mouth.

"I mean," he told me and thought about that. "You never asked. And we got together a while ago. So it's not like I came out and then we got together. We started going out like a week before my birthday. He goes to the camp. Lives there."

Okay, that's more understandable.

"And who's kid would he be?" I asked Percy, curious. I could picture him with maybe an Ares or Hermes sort of kid. Ares to keep each other level headed. Hermes just because... Luke. I actually hope it's Luke. I don't care. "Like with the gods?"

"Oh, Hades." He must've been expecting that question from somebody. Knew the answer right away. "So I'm sorry. I'm not dating Luke. He's both straight and dead and like 8 years older than me.... Well, now it's more like 6. But either way."

I felt fucking terrible.

"Luke is dead?"