Best Friend

Chapter 1

Two boys played on the playground, trying to see who could scale the monkey bars faster.

The first boy had messy, jet-black hair and rare Sea-Green eyes. He had a Mediterranean tan that matched his father's, a man he'd never met. He was only 7, but small scars littered his body in random places. This was Percy.

The second boy was taller and bigger than the first. He had short Golden-Blonde hair and electric-blue eyes. He had a scar on his upper lip from the time he tried to eat a stapler as a toddler. This was Jason.

"Hey, Percy! Wanna come over to play Super Mario?" Jason wondered. "Yes please! Smelly Gabe will be occupied for a while today." Percy answered, grinning wide. Smelly Have was his step-father. Gabe was a disgusting man who gambled their money away all day, every day. If the money didn't go towards his poker fund, it went into his beer and cigars. Rarely did Percy or his mother ever get anything new or special. They wore the same old clothes and ate TV dinners often.

Smelly Gabe was the reason Jason never asked to go over to Percy's apartment. And Percy was fine with that. He didn't want Gabe to hurt anyone he cared about.

They left the park and walked to Jason's apartment. He only lived with his big sister Thalia. She was a self-defense teacher. Their mom had been a horrible lady and Thalia had run away with Jason when they were very young. Percy wished his mom would divorce Gabe so they could be happy.

But Gabe had money and kept them off of the streets. Mom didn't make enough money at Sweet on America to support both of them, so she married a man with money. To her credit, she also didn't know about Gabe and Percy's "guy secret." Aka, if Percy let Gabe use him as a punching bag, then he wouldn't hit Sally.

"Thalia, we're home!" Jason called through his house. "In the kitchen! Percy can stay for dinner if I call his mom and she says yes!" The teen called back. Thalia was only 14, but she was cool and started teaching people how to defend themselves. She was tall and slim and pretty. Her hair was black like Percy's, but her eyes were just like Jason's.

Percy loved coming over to Jason's. It was nice to call a place home. He hated his own apartment and he hated his step-father.

But for now, things were okay.