JAWBREAKER

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

Percy had not adjusted well to having Tyson as a brother, and the snide comments from other campers didn't help.

"He's not my real brother!" he protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like...a half-brother twice removed, or something."

Nobody bought it.

Warren and Annabeth tried their best to make him feel better. They suggested teaming up for the chariot race to take their minds off their problems.

Warren was still chomping at the bit to knock Tantalus down a peg, as well as save Thalia's tree, but she didn't know what to do. It was one of those situations she hated, where brute force wasn't enough to fix things. And until she, Percy, and Annabeth could come up with some brilliant plan, they figured they might as well go along with the races. After all, Annabeth's mom had invented the chariot, and Percy's dad had created horses. Combined with Warren's vicious strength, they would own that track.

It was a bright, clear morning and the trio was sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs.

"Let's make the spikes bigger," Warren suggested.

"We can't," Annabeth shook her head. "It would jeopardize the aerodynamics."

"But it would look cool," she said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Percy, please tell her that functionality is more important than 'looking cool'."

Percy put his hands up. "Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of this." He'd seen the girls disagree and it was never pretty.

"But you're part of this team!" Annabeth insisted.

"Fine," he groaned. "I guess...functionality, or whatever, is important."

"Thank you."

Then Percy whispered under his breath, "But it would look really freaking cool..."

A minute later, a group of Aphrodite campers walked by in a haze of glitter and Gucci perfume. A statuesque blonde looked down at Percy as they passed.

"Hey, Percy," she said. "Do you need to borrow some eyeliner for your eye? Oh sorry...eyes." Her cabin mates snickered behind their manicured hands.

The boy fumed with embarrassment and anger.

"Hey, Vanessa," Warren sneered. "Did you need to borrow some brain cells for your skull? I think you lost a few from huffing all that perfume."

The Aphrodite girl stomped her foot and stormed away.

"You'd think they could come up with more creative insults," Warren muttered.

"Right," Percy replied sarcastically. "Because more creative insults would be better."