How It Started

My name is Amanda Jade. I have long blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. I don't wear makeup, which is a shocker to some other girls at school, and I often pay no attention to what I wear. Usually I just reach into my drawer and if I feel something made of cloth, I put it on.

I am the smartest kid in my class. Even though I have ADHD and dyslexia, it has never stopped me from achieving my ambitions. The reason that I do so well in class is probably because I read so much. I have made a vow that my favorite book series will always be this series called Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Have you heard of it? You probably haven't, because people always give me a strange look when I mention it, as if it were something alien to them. Even my best friend, Jen Firestone, tells me that it embarrasses her when I talk about it and I shouldn't say anything about it at all.

Jen is tall and thin. She hates wearing shorts. When I asked why she never wears them, she told me she had embarrassing scars on her legs. Jen is a whiz at Greek mythology. The English teacher absolutely loves it when she raises her hand. She can name all of the gods, demigods, mythical creatures, titans, and monsters. I know some of that stuff too, but only because of my Percy Jackson books. She has been my best friend for five months, because she came to my boarding school half way through the year.

Jen is a great best friend, even though I think she might be a little crazy. I'm serious about thinking she is crazy. Just last week when we were walking to school, she suddenly shrieked and dove into the center of the street right in front of a car! The car swerved and just barely missed her. I had just about had a heart attack. Jen came back looking very pleased. "WHY THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT!" I shouted.

Jen only smiled and brought forward her hand. I had to lean close to her hand to see what she meant, but I finally saw a small ant.

I looked at her, mad as heck. "You risked your life," I growled, "to save a DUMB ANT!!"

"He is not a dumb ant," protested Jen. "His name is Alfred and he has a family to support." After she said that, she looked down and made some weird noises in her throat, and then she stopped and stared at the thing. Thirty seconds later, she looked back up and said, "He also has fifteen kids."

Like I said, crazy.

Anyway, Jen and I were one day sitting in my house when I started to talk about Percy Jackson. Jen told me to shut up about it, which really got me ticked off, because there was nobody around to hear us so she couldn't be embarrassed.

"Why do you always do that?" I asked Jen.

She looked at me innocently. "Do what?"

"Tell me to shut up about Percy Jackson and the Olympians!"

"Umm, Amanda," said Jen.

"And, you always stop me from talking about Greek mythology! What is your deal?" I shouted.

"Amanda!" said Jen, a little more urgently.

"You know what?" I said, really angry now. "If I want to talk about Zeus or Poseidon, than I will. And if I want to talk about a Fury or a Cyclops, than I will. And, if I want to talk about the Titans or Kronos—"

Jen cut me off by slapping me. I could not believe what she had just done. Jen pointed towards the window. Out of pure shock from the slap, I looked out the window and saw three guys standing out there looking into my window. These dudes were ripped and looked like a gang, but there was something wrong with them. Each of them only had one eye in the middle of their heads.

The guy in the middle punched right through the glass. Jen shrieked and grabbed my arm. She pulled me into my kitchen and shut the door. Yeah like that would stop them.

"Where does your dad keep the car keys?" asked Jen urgently.

"What?" I asked.

Jen grabbed me by the shoulders. "WHERE DOES YOUR DAD KEEP THE CAR KEYS!?"

I pointed to a drawer across the room. "In there!" I said.

Jen scampered across the room and reached into the drawer. There was a punch on the door and a fist came right through the middle of it.

Jen fished out the car keys and said "Come on!" and ran to the window. She kicked it and glass shattered on the ground.

"What the heck!" I shouted as Jen climbed out the window. Just as she did, the one eyed gang burst through the door.

"Mmm," said one of them. "Yummy, yummy half-blood."

Wait a second… Did he say half-blood? This had to be a dream, right? I pinched myself, but I did not wake up. I decided that dreaming or not, I wanted to get away from these things as fast as possible, so I followed Jen out the window. I realized that this was a good idea, because the Cyclops could not fit.

As soon as I stepped on the ground, I heard the motor of my car go on. I turned to see Jen sitting in the front of my car at the steering wheel. Jen rolled down the window, "Get in!" she shouted. The Cyclops were coming out the front door and around the house, so I got in the car. As soon as the door had closed, Jen hit the gas pedal. The Cyclops gang roared, but we were soon out of hearing range.

After we had cover thirty miles, I turned to Jen, once again realizing that she was driving. "You can't drive!" I said suddenly.

Jen made a weird bleating noise. "I am 24 years old. Of course I can drive."

That was when it hit me… my best friend was… she was… "You're like Grover, aren't you?"

Jen sped up the car. I saw a glint in her eye. "Grover Underwood? Finder of Pan, retriever of the lightning bolt, rescuer of the fleece? That Grover."

"No," I said sarcastically, "The Grover from Seasame Street… OF COURSE GROVER UNDERWOOD!"

"Well," said Jen, "If you mean that I am a satyr, than yes, of course."

I closed my eyes trying to take this all in. "Okay," I said, "let me get this straight. You're a satyr, I'm a half-blood, and we're going to camp half-blood?"

Jen nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Wow, those books must have been informative."

"What about Percy… and Annabeth?" I asked.

"Well they're at camp, duh!"

"How can you trust those mortals out there with all of that knowledge on camp half-blood?"

Jen started to laugh at this. "Oh my gods, Amanda? Haven't you ever noticed that when you talk to a mortal about these books they don't know what you mean? Only half-bloods can read those books. They don't exist to mortals!"

"Then," I said, "that would make Rick Riordan… a half-blood?"

Jen cracked up this time. She laughed so much that her face became purple. "There is no Rick Riordan! That's Percy! He wrote those books! At the book signings, that's Percy in disguise!"

I was completely and utterly shocked! "And the Titan war?" I asked.

Jen's face darkened. She looked really serious. "That will take place this summer," she said. I gulped. If I were going to camp half-blood… would that mean I would have to fight in the war?

I didn't have time to think much about it, because just then, we arrived at camp half-blood.

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This was just a random idea, so I hope no one hates it. I do have some ideas for the future in this story if anyone cares. I will update if I know that people like it!