Chapter 1: Duct tape (Percy's POV)

I grinned at Principal Duck's convertible. Once a cherry red '68 mustang convertible, it was now decorated in every color of duct tape Wal-mart offers. Completely covered. Mirrors, windows, body, seats. The whole thing was covered in duct tape, inside and out. Get it? Duct tape, Principal Duck. I could hardly wait to see his face.

My friends, Leo, Connor, and Travis, were grinning too. You might think something this extreme that took all day wouldn't be worth it, but you should've seen the thing. Now all we had to do was wait for school to get out. This was better than when we covered the school's court yard with chocolate bunnies and Milk Duds.

The final bell rang and my best friend Grover was the first one out the door, staring worriedly at what I was guessing was my text from earlier, telling him about our awesome prank. We've been best friends since the sixth grade. He was awesome and all, but he was a little uptight. As soon as he looked up from his phone, he stared at us, stopping dead in his tracks. "What did you do?" he said.

Connor, being an idiot, looked confused. "Isn't it obvious? We covered Principal Duck's convertible with duct tape."

"We call it the Duck Mobile," Leo said and grinned like a maniac. A car lover at heart, I was surprised he went for this. "Ain't she a beauty."

"He's going to kill you," Grover said. "You guys will get expelled!"

"Loosen up, man," I told him. "Duck won't do anything that bad. He'll probably just laugh it off." Yet even as I said it, I wondered if maybe we did go a little too far this time.

That was when somebody yelled, "Jackson!" I looked in the direction of the voice to see good ol' Duck himself, hanging out of a window of the third story of the school, red faced and seething.

Too late now for regrets. So I did what any dumb ass in my situation would do, I grinned and waved at him. Grover did a face palm. "You're doomed."

Other students started filing out of the school, and surrounding our little piece of art. "That is so cool," somebody said.

"Everybody loves a bad boy," a girl flirted somewhere in the crowd and Leo made a 'call me' signal. Everybody started talking and laughing until a hand landed on my shoulder. A tall shadow fell over me, and everyone took a couple steps back from the car.

"Perseus Jackson," Duck said, as I looked up at him.

I nodded. "That's my name, don't wear it out."

Without a word, he steered me towards the school and motioned for Leo, Connor, and Travis to follow. Unfortunately, while Leo and Travis followed his directions, Connor made a run for it. Everyone started cheering as he sprinted across the parking lot, dodging cars.

Travis snorted and shook his head. "That little asshole has asthma, and he's lazy as hell. He won't even make it to the Taco Bell on the next corner."

"I'll take it from here," Vice Principal Hearth said, coming into Duck's office, just as Leo, Travis, and I sat in the chairs in front of his desk.

Duck scowled at her. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of this," he said.

Ms. Hearth shook her head. "I'm afraid your judgment will be clouded due to the fact it was your car," she said. "I will be taking care of this one to make it fair to everyone." She gave him a pointed look and he left, grumbling to himself.

Just as he was leaving, the school security cop dragged a wheezing Connor in. He was sucking on his inhaler, as he plopped down next to his brother, who was laughing. "Asshole," Connor hissed. "I could have-" Inhale "-died."

"How far did you get?" Leo asked.

"Taco Bell," Connor told him proudly before taking another puff from his inhaler.

Vice Principal Hearth sat down in Duck's office chair and studied each of us. We were all trying to contain our smiles. "You think this is funny?" she asked finally.

Travis shook his head. "Of course not Ma'am. We were only trying to help Duck-"

"Principal Duckleman," she said sternly.

"Same difference," he said, with a wave of his hand. "Duck's a nickname. As I was saying, we were only trying to help him out."

Ms. Hearth raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"Duct tape is in style this year," Leo informed her. "Most of the students think Duck's not cool, so we figured we would help him out. Plus we were trying to help a single guy out."

"Now he'll be popular with the ladies," I supplied, smoothly.

She shook her head. "You four are a piece of work."

Connor batted his eyes and tried for a flirtatious grin, but he was still tomato red and sweaty. "But you love us."

"Besides," Travis said, "you should be supporting our creativeness."

"Yeah," Leo agreed, "That is a piece of art out there."

Ms. Hearth rolled her eyes, but couldn't contain a smile. She quickly put back on a serious face. "Personally, I liked the zebra print bumper and leopard spotted mirrors, but I have to punish you. For what I have in mind, however, you can put your 'creativeness' to work." At this point, she flat out grinned and I suddenly wasn't too sure about our chances. "You four will be helping with the school production of Romeo and Juliet."

I frowned. "You're kidding." A play? There was no way—

"I'm afraid not," she said, a small smile curving the corners of her mouth up.

"I am not going to be one of those dorky kids in a play," Connor protested, looking only slightly pink now as he pocketed his inhaler. "Trust me, nobody wants to see this in tights," he told us, motioning to his body.

"I'll second that," Travis agreed.

"Then your punishment will be to remove every bit of duct tape on Principal Duckleman's car by this time tomorrow or you will have detention every day after school for the rest of the year, giving you plenty of time to finish. Your choice."

The good ol' my road or high road. I sighed. "So when does this play start?"