Ballad of Jason Grace ||Heroes of Olympus||

1. MY PRINCIPAL TRIES TO EAT ME

Sunday, June 25th 2010, a monumental and historical date.

        It also happened to be national Columbus Day, if that's what you're into. I know, that's not really the point. Since this kind of day only came around once every decade or so, our school for the "gifted" decided to have a number party. By number party, I mean we were literally celebrating numbers. If you're wondering why we're having school in the middle of summer, it's because we needed all the help we can get. I among many of the other students suffered from not being able to fit into a regular highschool. Severe ADHD and dyslexia make it impossible to sit for long periods of time. Even when I wasn't paying attention I found myself constantly moving my leg up and down or tapping my fingers like I was playing a piano. I didn't really know much about pianos, in fact I could only play one song, but that seemed impressive enough.

"Aurora! You better not be late for school!" An agitating voice shouted from below.

"Yeah I know!" I yelled back in annoyance. That's my mother Sandra McKay, a rather tall woman with golden hair as straight as needles that she wore slicked down to her head in a bun. She always had a stern expression on her face like she was permanently constipated. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, it's just that sometimes she can be outlandish.

I looked into the mirror at my complexion and frowned at how very ordinary it was. I had medium length dyed black hair, my natural color was a deep reddish-black but after many failed attempts at going platinum, I was forced to dye it before it fell out. Epicanthal folds blessed my eyes, full small lips with an aggressive Cupid's bow tormented me, and to top it off was a button nose that I despised. Something about the way it turned up reminded me too much of that movie about the girl born with a pig nose. My Dad says it's a lucky nose but the sebum inside of my pores would probably disagree.

I was wearing a white shirt with "I'M A TEN" written on it in big blocky letters, of course to me it looked like "I'W A TFN" unless I focused hard enough. The shirt was paired with black leggings and crocs. I know what you're thinking, who wears crocs in winter?

I do.

They're perfectly appropriate for any day of the year. I navigated to the door, being careful of not stepping on the three month old chocolate bar that lay on the floor. It had been there so long that it became a daily routine to side step it. I knew it was there, but couldn't care enough to throw it away.

While heading down the stairs, I glanced at my mother who was getting ready for work, her and my Dad divorced a long time ago, but I go and visit him every so often. We lived in a small house that was old but desperately tried to look young, like my math teacher. The landlords clearly just painted over everything with white and called it good, even the poor tap dancing cockroach permanently stuck to the wall. I grabbed my keys and opened the front door.

"See you later." I grumbled.

"Alright, see you." She replied absentmindedly.

I had been forced to leave many different schools after apparent fits of hysteria where I saw things like flying women that were so ancient I thought they escaped from an Egyptian exhibit. I even saw a boy fall out of the St Louis Archway when I went there on a visit with my dad. Oddly enough, nobody seemed to believe me...

Once I got to my school, I parked and watched as kids walked by in their "I'M A TEN" shirts happy as can be. A creepy feeling crawled to my stomach as I felt someone's eyes on me, I subconsciously gazed for the intruder and spotted my Principal staring at me with intense eyes, it had been two weeks since the last one vanished and was replaced by Mr. Heurth. An abnormally lanky pale man with a receding hairline who always wore black business pants that were too short and a blue button up shirt. On his head were about the thickest glasses I had ever seen, but behind them were eyes so glazed over one might assume he was dead. He always looked uncomfortable in his clothes, like he had a permanent wedgie all over his body. Something about the way he stared gave me shivers. It was like he was waiting for me to mess up. I had only been attending the school for a few months, but apparently that was enough to get me on the radar.