Demigods singing {PjO/HoO fanfic}

Chapter 11

※Rewritten※

"Uhm," I gave a weak smile to the crowd around me. They all sat quietly before me waiting for me to begin, but I just fidgeted with the mic and shuffled in my seat. "Hi."

With a shaky breath, I looked to the guitar neck and double checked that my fingers were on the correct strings. Even though I had practiced this song many times this past week. Even though I knew the song like the back of my hand, I was still hesitant that my hands were in the right place. Didn't trust myself fully to strum the right chords because of how nervous I was. The blinding lights were of no help either. There were maybe four lights around me, one above, in front, and on the left and right. It seemed like the guys who placed them were trying to block out the sight of the crowd from the performer, it didn't work. I could still see them, I could feel their expectant eyes on me and nitpicking every move I made.

So, I didn't look.

I kept my head down looking at the guitar in my hand and watching my left move up and down the strings and the neck to help my right strum the beginning chords. Soft and slow did the song begin, it hushed the whispers that floated through the crowd and took their attention when I picked up the pace. The melody making itself known through the accompanying chords I played. It was already loud, and the speaker and mic altered the sound slightly. But I didn't care, I eased on the harsh chords and began to sing.

"Hey dad, look at me, think back and talk to me, did I grow up according to plan?" I sang into the mic, head down, thinking to myself that I didn't want to look out. "And do you think I'm wasting my time doing things I wanna do? But it huts when you disapprove all along."

It wasn't that I saw myself reflected in the song's entirety. Just small bits and pieces of the lyrics I felt portrayed what I've been wanting to say for a long time, never finding the right words. I didn't even think about performing this song in the beginning. At first I was gonna do Johnny Boy by Twenty-one Pilots and I heard this song when I was scrolling through YouTube. The music video very different, very old too, compared to the videos now. It had more angst and radiated '07 scene kid vibes. I didn't want to be made fun of for choosing the original soundtrack, so thank the gods I found the sheet music for a guitar.

" 'Cause we lost it all, noting lasts forever, I'm sorry I can't be Perfect," I tilted my head slightly showing everyone in the front row that my eyes were closed shut. "And it's just too late and we can't go back, I'm sorry I can't be Perfect."

My head ducked down again, eyes open, to the guitar so I could make sure I was hitting the right chords. My finger tips were starting to ache a bit from pressing on the strings and the instrument was digging into my thigh, even with the strap around me. I could tell it would leave a red line on my skin when I stop and take it off, and so I pushed on knowing that no one was making noise. It was still silent like the beginning of my performance and it made me even more nervous than I already was.

"I try not to think about the pain I feel inside, did you know you used to be my hero?" Now this last line I didn't support. My dad was never my hero before I meet him, didn't even knew who he was, all I knew was Gabe and that guy was barely human. He smelled like a sewer and walked like an obese pig on stilts, almost tipping over every step of the way. And though I hate that guy to this very day, I guess I have to thank him for one thing, and one thing only...making me stink of his putrid mortal smell. It was because of this guy, who I am still very convinced was raised in the dumpster of a Chuck E. Cheese and butcher store, that monsters didn't find me or smell me as I grew up.

"And now I try hard to make it, I just wanna make you proud," I shut my eyes again. "I'm never gonna be good enough for you. I can't stand another fight, and nothing's all right." My head lifted up to the mic so I can sing the chorus for the third to last time. As much as I like the song, this is too emo-scene kid for me. Too angsty. And I had my fear share of it during my quest to save Artemis and Annabeth, wearing my oversized dark colored hoodie and black converse with pen marks over the rubber toe and across the sides. Man, fourteen-year-old Percy was a walking eighth grade emo kid. I even had an abnormal colored streak of hair.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, letting my emotions get the better of me during the bridge. I don't know why this part hit hard and hurt my feelings. Maybe it was the lyrics or the next level of intensity that shook the strings violently while I performed.

"Nothing's gonna change the things that you said." Gabe. Luke. Kronos. Gaea. "Nothing's gonna make this right again!" All those people who lost their lives for an apology from the gods that didn't listen till they were on the brink of death and their children were slaughtered. "Please don't turn your back, I can't believe it's hard just to talk to you but you don't understand!" Zeus and thick skull not letting reason and the right actions take hold and prevent so many things, his sons death, his daughters death for a few years, the second titan war, the second giant war, and so many other problems because he can't keep it in his pants and be the king he's supposed to be.

I eased off the guitar slowly and took a deep breath away from the mic. Softer chords and a shorter melody broke the power from before and brought it out for the last two verses. It rippled through the crowd and silenced them all together, shutting their whispered conversations and binging their attention to me. And I didn't want this attention anymore. I didn't want to be on the stage anymore. I was so glad that it was the last verse, the last chords, the last line.

My eyes opened for the last line and to my luck I locked eyes with my dad. He was sitting dead center of the crowd, right in front of me with Amphitrite and Triton no where to be seen. Just him. "I'm sorry I can't be Perfect."

The last chord left the guitar and I stood off the stool. Neck of the guitar in my right hand pushed behind me so I could do a proper performer bow and I left the stage. Walked to the left and didn't go through the tent for the rest of the night. I didn't want to face my friends and listen to them explode over my performance and question me for choosing the song. Instead, I escaped behind the stage and walked to the edge of the lake, away from the lights and the crowd and everyone, searching to be alone.

I didn't hear my dad walk up behind me as I took off the guitar and placed it on the grass around me.

"Percy?" My dad asked and I turned around quickly to see him. He stood a few feet away from me wearing clothes similar to yesterday's, his hands stuffed in his khaki shorts and sandals in the coarse dirt. I didn't answer him but I hugged him back when he wrapped his arms around me. He didn't say any words other than, "You did good, I'm proud."

He let go and patted my head before walking past me to the beach shore where a wave rose up and took him to his kingdom below. I knew he would be back for the awards tomorrow, wanting to know my place in the competition, but at the moment I didn't care. I simply took a page out of my dad's book and and disappeared under the waves of the lake for the night.

Words: 1436