Percy

Had I not been with the most amazing boyfriend known to man, and had I not had a boyfriend, I would've said yes.

I almost felt bad and I gave him a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, I can't." I rejected Micah in the nicest way I knew possible. "I already have plans for dinner, I have to watch my sister for my parents anniversary. And I already have a boyfriend. So uh, sorry? If I was single, I would. But I'm not."

Tyler

Micah got really bummed out after Percy left. With Nico.

"Who's he?" Kayla asked, pointing at Nico.

"Oh, that's Nico." I told them. "He was new this year, a Junior."

"Why is he in Percy's car?"

"Probably because he's Percy's boyfriend."

So after seeing them, Micah got bummed out. He really liked Percy and it was the first time he got the nerve up the ask someone out. He's been weird about coming out. So yeah.

I have Micah a little nudge.

"Sorry, dude." I apologized. "But I warned you that he wasn't going to go with it. He's happier than hell with Nico right now, sorry to say."

Micah shrugged.

"Yeah, I was expecting it anyways." My best friend told me. "I mean, he can sing really good, he can write amazingly, his art is decent, and he's ripped. He's got everything but school smarts. And that can be blamed on his dyslexia and shit. He's too good for me. Nico seems more on his level. And I barely know Nico."

Now, the next three days went great. People showed up and everything was going good.

The cast party... The time where everyone actually talks to everyone. And we're all playing a game that we call Shit I Don't Know, which is truth or dare without the date. Truth or truther.

It's weird.

Now most of us here did the Junior High plays together. Middle School.

Well, it's not like Percy was there.

He took a truther.

"Where were you before Goode?"

Percy thought back.

"Um," he started. "A lot of places. I mean, 8th grade was Jefferson Heights Middle School, 7th grade was... I don't remember the name of the place. New York School District whatever. 6th grade was boarding school at Yancy Academy. Uh... Yeah. There was other places before that. Through kindergarten. But yeah."

We all shared a look.

"Did you move around a lot?" Micah asked him. Which, Percy shook his head.

"No," the senior told us. "I mean, after my mom got divorced and all we moved to where we live now. But no. I just got expelled a lot. Trouble just... It comes to me."

Now, it was later when the party ended and so Micah, Amelia, and Percy came over afterwards.

And okay, I'm not a dumbass. I'm adopted, yes. But my older brother wasn't. His name was Luke. He ran away when I was almost 7. First grade. He was... 15, I believe. We lived down south back then. Well, no. We had lived up here for about a year when he left. Because I knew Micah and Amelia by then. They met Luke quite a few times. We never found him.

Mom figured he left to go off and live with his dad. The dad that had nothing to do with him. But he was done with Mom, so... Yeah. He's the son of a god. Hermes, I think.

We assumed that Luke died. On the streets. It would make sense. We made our peace with it.

But the way Mom looked at Percy, it gave me bad feelings.

Percy doesn't know my last name. I always put down Tyler C.   I don't think he would know.

He didn't.

Mom had been making food for us, as we never got dinner, and we were all in the living room.

"Hey, Percy," Mom said, getting everyone's attention. "Can I ask you about someone?"

"Yeah, of course." Percy said, as confused as the rest of us. "Who?"

"Luke Castellan."

The red flag went off in Percy's head and he did a double take. Which confused us, as we knew Luke. And he's never responded to Luke's name before. Because we thought it was funny that Luke was used in the musical. The name Luke. As the son of Hermes. Just ironic.

"Why do you...?"

"Your necklace." My mom explained. "And tattoo, I guess. But that wouldn't be of too much importance, Luke was Greek. And I mean, he might not be there anymore, you might've not crossed paths. He's 8 years older than you guys. He ran away when he was 15."

Percy looked at my mom as I'd he felt bad for her almost.

"You're May?"

She confirmed that May was her name and suddenly I had hope that Luke was still alive. That I would get to see my big brother again. Because of what started off as an English assignment.

"Yes, I'm May." Mom confirmed for Percy. "Luke's Mom. Did he ever..."

Percy nodded his head.

"A few times, yeah, he talked about you." Percy told her and I just got so excited. "My first year at camp, I was turning 13 and he was there. He was the leader of camp. But at the end of the summer, summer of 2005, he left camp. He was offered, by Kronos, to basically overrule Olympus."

And.od course, in my mind, that means he's dead.

"And uh..." His tone also suggested that Luke wasn't okay. "He left, he gave me the camp for whatever reason. Four years later we went to war, the gods went into hiding. And he did die. He sacrificed himself when he regained control of his body as Kronos possessed him and um... He did die. But something happened this last summer. Zeus kind of got pissed off with a lot of us. Myself and Luke included and Hades worked magic and he's been at camp ever since. Not many people know him anymore. Most of them that did, died. Or left. I don't know..."

Percy thought for a minute.

"How badly do you want him home?"