Who knew?

Chapter 3

Percy's Pov

After school, all that smiling and happiness left me. In its place was dread. When I get home, I am probably going to face my evil step-father, Smelly Gabe. I try to walk as slowly as possibly, but that only delays it, cause soon, my house is in view. I open the door as quietly as possible, and sneak up the stairs. Before I could get in my room, a large thing slams into me, knocking me over. "You think you can get into your safe place without some new bruises?" Gabe says. "Yea, I kinda did." I say getting up and facing him. "Why you little-" He says slapping me. I forgot that I can't make eye-contact with him cause he sees that as a challenge. "Gabe, can we not do this today, I'm tire, you're tired. Lets just make peace." I ask him. He pretends to think about, but then he says no and punches me in the gut. I drop to the floor in pain, then I slide my legs under his, and he falls. Then I rush into my room, and shut the door. He can't hurt me in here. Mom made us a contract that says that my room is my special place, my safe place. Gabe can't be in here. I walk over to my bed and sit down on it. I think about earlier, what Will said about the highlighting. So I grab my laptop, use my allowance to buy 'The Hunger Games' trilogy, and start reading the sample.

After the sample, I see that the book in downloaded. I start reading it, highlight one sentence, reading it, then highlighting a different sentence, and it was actually working. I was able to understand what was going on without focusing so hard it made my head hurt. I got sucked into the story, and by the time mom got home I was half-way through the book. Anyway, I close the laptop and go downstairs to say hi to mom. "Hi mom." I say upon meeting her. "Hey Perce, how was school today?" She asks. "It was awesome, I made-" I forgot how many friends, so I quickly counted them and got my answer. " 3 new friends!" I tell her. "Really! Thats awesome, how's Piper?" She asks. "She's good, she was there while I made the new friends so they're her friends too!" I say. "You'll have to invite them over sometime, maybe this weekend?" She says. "I'll ask them tomorrow." I say. "Oh, one of them, his name is Will, gave me a tip on how to read after I told them I have dyslexia, and the tip worked! I've been reading 'The Hunger Games' ever since I got home!" I explain to her. "Thats awesome Percy! That book is a good one, why'd you pick it though?" She asks. "Well, Will and Annabeth have already or is currently reading it and they said it was their favorite book so thats why I chose it." I tell her. "Good, well, I have to make dinner, you want to help me, or do you want to continue reading?" She asks. "I wanna help." I say. "Ok, tonight we're having pasta." Mom says. I help her make dinner and set the table for two(Gabe never sits with us). Then we sit down and start eating. After dinner, I help mom clear off the table, then I rush up to my room to finish 'The Hunger Games'. I end up reading late into the night, but I do finish it. But after I finish it, I go straight to bed.