The Big Three

Chapter 12

Percy's Pov

Things got weirder; remember how I fought a giant demon Rottweiler in the middle of the school hallways?

Well, no one seems to know what I'm talking about. I've brought it up on multiple occasions, everyone looks at me like I'm crazy.

But Grover can't fool me. He's an awful liar; every time I ask him about what happened his ears turn all red, and he avoids eye contact. He won't admit it, but he knows something.

There's something- off about this whole situation and I will get to the bottom of it.

Well, after I get to the bottom of this bowl of oatmeal.

"Percy, come on, it's the first day of school," Peter prodded. "You can finish your oatmeal later."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

The school year feels different without Harry Potter- life feels different without Harry Potter. He left yesterday for that fancy Scottish school, and I miss him.

******************

I'm beginning to hate this math class- I'm sorry did I say beginning to hate? What I meant to say was continuing to hate this stupid class.

We have a new substitute, Mrs. Dodds, she's short, and has the most annoying southern accent I've ever heard, she wears this old leather jacket; she looks mean... and I think she has it out for me. Why would I think that? Well, maybe because she's not human...

Okay, obviously she's human, but she's not humane. It's the first day and she's already given us a buttload of homework. Am I going to do it all? Probably not, but it's the thought that counts.

She seems to hate me the most. I don't know what I did to deserve the disgust behind her eyes— I just met the lady, I think adults just hate me. If I was Peter she'd probably bow down to me, he's such a teachers pet.

"Mr. Jackson, the answer?" She asked curtly. Oops, What was she talking about. Algebra, right? C'mon lucky number seven.

"Seven?" She smiled a sickly smile in my direction,"now, honey.."

*****
"Detention?" Questioned, Peter. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do nothin, that b-"

"O-okay, okay, I get it you hate your algebra teacher, but you have to be more careful," He interjected.

Careful, how? This lady's got it out for me, there's no amount of sucking up that could fix that.

"I can't avoid a whole class, unless I wanna flunk out." Honestly, at this point that sounds like a good plan.

"Look, all I'm saying is you can't be careless. You know if you get into too much trouble they'll call Gary, then you'll really be in trouble."

"Yeah, okay, I'll try my best. But no promises."

****
I'm really glad I didn't make any promises.

It's only been a week, and so far Mrs. Dots— or whatever— has given me detention three times! I think if I erase one more answer from a math textbook my fingers are gonna fall off.

I am really starting to like Mr. Brunner's class though. It's almost like he knows my mind- like he knows how to teach just to me.

That's where I am now, sitting in the back of Mr. Brunner's class, ranting about my evil new teacher to Grover.

"Hey Grover, you know what I think," I whispered, while Mr. Brunner talked about Greek stuff, "I think Ms. Dodds isn't even human."

"You know what Percy," he said, all serious, "I think you're absolutely right." Finally someone who agrees she's the devils spawn.

Mr. Brunner looked directly into my eyes and said, "Mr. Jackson, was there something you wanted to say."

My face was redder then Grover's ears whenever I bring up that evil dog. "No sir."

"Maybe you would like to tell us what this picture represents." He said pointing to the picture on the wall.

(I took this part from chapter one of the lightning thief⬇️)

I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "Thats Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."

"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didnt trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.

"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."

Back to my own writing⬇️

The girl behind me starting complaining about this class to her friend. She muttered, "like we're ever actually going to use this in real life."

"Good point! Mr. Jackson; when might we use this in real life?" This man had super ears.

I looked at him and shrugged.

"Well Mr. Jackson you were close. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titans stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld."

Ending at this, the bell rang and everyone scrambled to get to lunch. Grover and I began to followed suit when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."

I told Grover to go on without me, I'll catch up with him later. Then I turned to Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"

Stolen again :)⬇️

Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldnt let you go- intense brown eyes that couldve been a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.

"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson

I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girls funeral.

Mine again⬇️

Then he dismissed me to lunch.
***
Inside the cafeteria you could hear the rain pounding against the metal roof and the wind whistling through the trees. Those odd storms have only been getting worse since Christmas.
Everyone else seemed undisturbed by the hurricane force storm sitting right outside.

I sat next to Grover and complained about all the pressure I was getting from Mr. Brunner. Grover seemed to like the guy too, when Grover looked at him  it was like they had known each other for years.