My Friend Percy Allegedly Steals a Lightning Bolt

Chapter 1

I hated school buses. Were there really many people who liked them? They were hot and usually smelled really bad; this bus was absolutely no better. Though to think of it if I hadn't been on this bus I probably never would have found out I was a half-blood, at least not for awhile. Then again that really may not have been a bad thing. I suppose I should probably explain.

                My name is Demetria Gardener. The bus I was on was taking me to a field trip from Yancey Academy, a private school for "troubled kids". Am I troubled you ask? Well, that really depends on your definition. It wasn't like I was some juvenile delinquent or something but I was in sixth grade and by the point, I had already gotten kicked out of a number of schools (and I swear to you it is never my fault) and had even run away for awhile. Though saying it like that makes it seem worse than it was but that is a whole other story we'll get to later.

At this point in my life, I was doing nothing more than riding a bus.  A hot sticky metal tube filled with possibly the two most polar opposite teachers there was in the school and 28 well, "troubled" kids. We were headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I sat alone and well that was really no surprise. Looking at me you'd probably be able to tell why.  First glanced you'd think Holy cow! Is that girl a hippie or what?  Well, you'd be wrong.

My hair was brown and went to about my shoulders. It had a little bit of a flow to it. Through my hair was a bright green streak on my right side. I also had deep eyes that changed from a piercing green to a dark brown. I also had piercing all the way up my left ear, though those were only in part of the time. When people saw me I put off a completely different persona than what was the truth. Really I was a bit of a nerd. Despite having both dyslexia and ADHD I was smarter than your average bear. I also came from a military background, my father being a high-ranking general in the U.S. Air Force.  So really not a hippie, or punk as some people also assumed.

I sat directly across the aisle from the only people who were even remotely my friends: Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood. Now friend was a term I used loosely. They were nice to me and I spoke to them fairly often but at that point, that was about it. If only I knew how fast that would change. I looked at poor Grover who was getting bits of what I was pretty sure was a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich. The culprit, as usual, was Nancy Bobofits. She was as ugly as her name, and a little klepto. Of course, if there was an easy target for bullies it was Grover. He was scrawny and awkward; I had also seen him cry on more than one occasion. He was also partially crippled. He had some muscular disease or something.

Anyway, Nancy kept throwing her sandwich because there was really no one to stop her. Grover was too nice, and well awkward, to bother stopping her, and with one false step, Percy would be expelled from school, or at least sit at detention for weeks on end. He was already on probation.

"I'm going to kill her" I heard Percy mutter.

"It's okay. I like peanut butter" Grover replied, ever the peacemaker.  Another piece of sandwich flew through the air. I noticed Percy try to get up and just about stopped him myself. Luckily Grover did and then whispered to Percy. Funny how things would have changed if he had just punched her. Detention would have been a heck of a lot easier.