Here's To Forever

Family is a strange word. The dictionary defines it as a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit or all the descendants of a common ancestor. Family can't really be defined by some words on a page though.

Some blood families don't work out, fathers leave and mothers die. step-siblings fight and uncles and cousins are renounced. Parents and step-parents turn to alcohol, people who should care about you don't and teachers sit and watch while we stumble through it all and announce in smug voices, Back in my day...

When this happened while we were young, we never took any notice, who was to say this wasn't normal?

Once we got older, we found our voices and told our teachers that this isn't "your day" anymore, The world has moved on. Then ended up in detention for talking back. Yelled at step-siblings who wouldn't be quiet and got it blamed on you. Screamed at your alcoholic mother and ran away. Got hit by your foster parents who never wanted you to begin with, for standing up for yourself. Got in shouting matches with absent parents. Escaped your step-parents who didn't care. Stole to get your absent fathers attention. Was left alone far too young and was forced into leadership amongst your peers.

Once we were free we reached out to the renounced uncles and cousins attempting to rebuild bonds. Found somewhere safe to go. Discover people who do care about you. Began to relax because the leadership was taken off your shoulders. Gave advice to kids struggling. We discovered most importantly that sometimes, family isn't just blood relatives.

Sometimes it's with your childhood best friend who wants to become an activist. It's with the boy who sits at the back of the class struggling to complete work, but is so sarcastic it makes you gasp. With the red haired girl who paints the most beautiful landscapes. It's with the native girl who yelled and cussed out your teacher for calling her people savages. It's the blonde girl who backed her up saying that if we can't talk about our mistakes how can we fix the future? It's in the punk girl who got her heart broken and her brother who was left alone too young. With the short black girl with a big heart and the latino whose wide smile hides too much sadness. With the gentle giant of a boy who is kind and supports everyone. It's with the "emo" boy and his sunshiney boyfriend. With the strong young woman who is still finding a way to lean on someone else.

It's a messy, ramshackle collection of people who you choose and chose you over the years.

Pretty soon it goes from Percy and Annabeth and Grover and Thalia to Percy-Annabeth-Grover-Thalia-Rachel-Leo-Jason-Piper-Reyna-Nico-Frank-Hazel-And-Will and none of them have ever felt more loved (Except maybe while at Sally's house)

It's chaotic and messy, and it's full of laughter and tears, full of people gone far too early, of late night conversations about the meaning of life. It's being dragged outside at midnight to look at the stars. It's love and pain and it hurts sometimes, it's laughing so hard that your sides hurt. It's free cookies because Percy's mom makes such good ones. It's laughing as Jason struggles to skateboard. It's finding new and ridiculous ways to spend Rachel and Pipers, parents' money just to mess with them, Running from Chiron, their camp director after they stole the camp's supply of marshmallows. It's so much love that it almost hurts.

Because in the end family really means forever and sometimes you have to be willing to give someone everything while they have nothing and trust that one day it will pay off.

So here's to the girls who loved too hard and then fell even farther. To the boys who didn't get the childhood they deserved. Here's to the girls who kept loving despite their trust being broken again and again. Here's to the boys who had a loving mother and had her taken too soon. Here's to the girls who needed someone to rely on only for no one to be around. Here's to the kids who needed their Fathers, their Mothers, but didn't have them around. Here's to the boys and girls who didn't know what to do and needed a purpose. Here's to the people who gave them one. Here's to the man that united them all.

Here's to forever.

We've made our own family and it will be better than the one we were given.

A/N

So this is one of my first stories I've posted (All the other ones I deleted lol) so feedback is appreciated 

If you liked it feel free to vote or leave a comment <3