Chapter 2: Life with the Jacksons

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I woke up on a Sunday morning six feet in the air. Okay, I was in a bed-study combo bunk bed thingie, but whatever. It still scared me, okay? My eyes adjusted to the morning light streaming through my little window, and I remembered where I was. I spent a moment recounting my adoption day. I rode to New York and got this cool new room and a new mom and dad in just one day- wait, mom and dad. Whoa. "I'm just going to call them Percy and Annabeth" I decided out loud. 

 I went over to my new closet. Sure enough, it had some clothes. I chose a grey sweater and black denim shorts. I don't have great fashion sense, but one look in the mirror told me this was not my shade of grey. I grabbed a rusty red sweatshirt instead. Matched my converse anyway.

As I walked down the stairs to see about my day, I looked around at the photos on the walls and the paintings and other things hanging in the hallway and thought about how happy they seemed. I was a picture from when they were younger than me, maybe eleven, all the way to their second year annaversery [sorry I can't spell] about a month ago. I wished my family wasn't so weird. I wish I could have had the life I'm living now my entire life. I wish... no. I decided to forget my past.

Downstairs, Annabeth and Percy were putting in the effort to make waffles and bacon, which I thought was sweet. They kept bonking into each other though, and Percy had flour on his nose. I giggled and sat down at the island. "Good morning Elle!" Annabeth said. "On the menu we have waffles and bacon!" Percy added. I smiled. "Sounds good, thanks." They looked at each other. "You have flour all over your face! Here, let me get you a towel." Annabeth said as she turned the paper towel holder. A rubber spider popped out. "Ack!!" Annabeth screamed. Percy laughed, and I laughed a little too. "Hmph, dumb prank, seaweed brain." she said. Percy smiled big and blushed. "You haven't called me that sense we were teenagers!" Now it was Annabeth's turn to blush. "Yeah, old habit. Now wipe off your nose!"

The waffles were delicious, but the bacon was a little burnt. As I ate them, I watched my new parents talk in the other room. Annabeth and Percy were a good couple, always teasing a little and generally all smiles. I could get used to having parents like that. Anyway, I was finished by eight o'clock and then Percy and Annabeth came back in. "Today we're taking you to camp for the day. Our friends Piper and Leo work there as cabin leaders but also help Chiron with other matters. You can see which cabins you might belong to, maybe get under the radar of your dad. It will be great, I promise. We're all going out to lunch after you get the tour, and Then you'll meet some other friends too. After that we have a free afternoon. Sound good?"  It was all a lot to take in, but I agreed.

The drive to Camp wasn't so bad. We talked about my godly parent, and when I will find out who they are. Two weeks from then was my thirteenth birthday, and so I would be claimed actually really soon. I had a feeling it might be Apollo, because I'm pretty good at playing the flute, or maybe even Hypnos because I sleep really easy. I thought about how many gods there really must be, and all the ways they control the world. They really were all-powerful and, hate to say it, but kind of awful. I don't know who my dad was, but I know he can't be any more annoyingly forgetful of me. I wanted to know who we was, but I did not care to actually get to know him.

Once we got to the camp and across the border, I felt homesick for New Rome. It was different, for sure, but I still missed the fields of grass, the unicorns, and the beautiful gardens. All these thing Camp Half Blood had, and I felt like I should go back and visit New Rome again sometime. I mean, Greeks come visit Camp Jupiter all the time, sometimes on busness, sometimes to visit with friends, other times to move into the nice city for college and later in life. I didn't realize I could miss New Rome until I visited the Greek camp.

The tour Annabeth and Percy gave was actually pretty entertaining, embellished with stories of their time at camp.  We saved me meeting Leo and Piper until the end, and they were waiting in Leo's invention bunker. It as a bit of a hike through the woods, but Percy and Annabeth knew their way around the forest. We finally reached a hidden door and Annabeth unlocked it. We entered Bunker 9 to see Leo Valdez first. He had messy dark brown hair and olive skin, like me. His eyes were darker though, and he was kind of scrawny. I figured he was 28 like Percy and Annabeth, but he looked college-age at most. He looked up from his metal trap-like thingie to see me and my new adoptive family. He smiled real wide. "Pipes, they're here!" Leo called. 

A casually beautiful woman came out from behind the corner, tucking a dagger in her legging pocket. She wore those nice black leggings with an orange camp t-shirt. She gave the feel of not wanting to try to be beautiful, but she still looked put together compared to Leo, who was wearing baggy jeans and a suspended tool belt on top of his Half-Blood shirt. She's smiling too, and went up to hug Annabeth. "It's been so long!" Annabeth embraced it, but said "Piper, It's been a month." Leo and Piper came over to me, and I showed myself from where I ended up behind Percy. I wasn't super shy or anything, but I did feel a touch awkward. "This is Elle. She's the girl we adopted yesterday from New Rome!' Percy said with a little enthusiasm. "Oh, she's so pretty!" Piper said, in the sort of way that I could tell her mom was Aphrodite if I didn't know that already. "Hi Elle-belle, nice to nice you." Leo says, and I take his hand to shake it. Turns out Percy and Annabeth's friends were positively fantastic.

For lunch we went to this cute comfort food sort of dinner. I got to meet Leo's girlfriend Calypso, a beautiful girl in skinny jeans and a white t-shirt that had a panda on it; moody, brooding, and honestly adorable Nico DiAngelo; and Nico's boyfriend, the sunshiny Will. We unfortunately couldn't get a hold of some of the group's Camp Jupiter friends. Anyway, I got plenty of "Aww, you're pretty for a twelve-year-old"s and "So, who do you think is your godly patent?"s to go around, but it was still really fun.

That first week we explored camp, got me clothes for school, and actually got to hear each other's stories. I loved living here with all of these incredible demigods. By the time it was time for me to attend school, I had just had the best week of my life.

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