Coming home for school was not as fun as it sounds. Learning is fun, but coming home to two annoying little brothers who do nothing, but let their brains rot by watching tv, and playing video games— well that doesn’t sound cool to me.

Oh and I have to tutor like seven different people. Most of them are seventh graders, but one is an eighth grader like me. His name is Carter, and he must have like dyslexia or something because he can’t do like anything. I kind of like him, he’s cute, but I would never tell him that. I wouldn’t ever get into a relationship either. I’ve read too much history where it just gets in the way of life. Anyways, Carter is a slow learner, but he picks up on the main concept fast.

Knock! Knock!

“Be there in a moment,” I yell.

I shove all the cooking pots into the cabinet before walking over to the door.

“Kissing your boyfriend again?!” Jack yells.

“Yeah right! She couldn’t get a boyfriend if she tried!” Ethan shouts.

“Shut up!” I yell.

I open to see Carter leaning against the wall. “Hey,” he says.

“Hi.”

I welcome him in. He looks around in amazement.

“So. . . This is your house.”

“Mmm hmm,” I hum.

“It’s pretty cool,” he says calmly.

“Who are you?” Jack asks from in the livingroom.

“He’s—”

“I’m Carter.”

“And why are you here again?” Ethan says.

“Uhhh—”

I cut him off walking to the kitchen, “He’s here because I’m his tutor. You can go sit at the table if you want.”

“Shoes off,” Jack commands.

I start putting the rest of the dishes away while he takes his shoes off, and throws them in the closet.

“I just have to finish up these dishes and I’ll be right in,” I say.

“Ummm. Do you want any help?” he asks.

I keep putting them away, “No, no, I’m fine.”

“Oh, um, ok. So uh what’s up?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I mumble. “You want anything?”

“Uh, yeah. Some water. That would be good,” he says. “Oh, uh, please.” he adds.

I grab the last two glasses in the strainer. I pour him a glass of water, and give it to him. I then pour myself some Kool-Aid for myself.

Before the cup touches my lips, I see Carter practically drooling over it. “You want some? Don’t you?” I ask.

“No. No. I’m good with water,” he lies.

“Here,” I hand him the glass. “You looked like you were about to drool.”

He has already drank half the glass, and I haven’t even taken a sip. I look at him like Are you kidding me?

“What? I don’t get stuff like this at home. My mom is one of those eat organic stuff people,” he says drinking the rest.

I pour him more as he sets the cup on the counter.

“Well then. Shall we get start?” I ask.

“Uh. Yeah. Sure,” is his answer.

“Let's go to the den. It's more quiet there,” I suggest.

He grabs his bag, and follows me down the hall. I look in through the den windows, and see my mom working. We can’t work in there. Let’s just go to my room.

“Nevermind,” I say. "My mom is working."

I keep walking down the hall. I get the key to unlock my door, then put it back.

“Whoa!” he exclaims going into my room. “Your room is huge!”

“Yeah. I guess,” I say quietly. “I don't use the electronics a lot, but the weight set is cool.”

“How can your mom afford all this?” he asks. Then his face falls almost as if he is embarrassed.

“It’s okay. My mom didn’t actually pay for most of it. My dad did, well, I actually did.”

It’s complicated. I don’t really want to talk about it. I fall into the more comfortable beanbag chair as he does the same.

“You paid for all this?” he practically laughs.

I would too actually. I have almost every electronic in the world, the carpet is super soft, the marble floor by the door was pretty expensive, the master bath too, and the walk in closet; I guess that cost a lot. Then there is the weight set that was a bunch, then the bookshelves with all the books, and the desk. I could go on for hours.

“Well directly, yes. Indirectly, no. Technically I bought it with my father’s money,” I say looking down.

“He must be a bazillionaire! Is he an actor or something?”

“He’s dead,” I say, voice cracking. I look away so he won’t see me cry. I hate showing emotion. I hate people showing pity.

“You ok? You wanna talk about it?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” I say sternly. “Let’s just start. What do you want to work on first?”

Honestly, I do want to talk about it. I just want to pour out everything, but no. I keep it inside. It’s better to keep my burden to myself. I start tearing up again, so I blink a few times to get rid of them.

“Uhh. Well. I’m having trouble in math. So um let’s just start there.”

---

“So the answer is 2x^5,” he guesses. Awe, come on. The least you could do is try.

“No, it would be 4x^11.”

“Uhh. Yeah. You’re right.”

Crash!

We run to the kitchen to see that broken glass has gone everywhere. I go to get my mom, but all I find is a note saying she went to the store.

I go back to the kitchen, and step over the broken glass.

“How did this happen?” I ask.

He answers, “Well. I was getting a plate out, and dropped it. Then I tried to pick up the pieces, and I cut myself.”

“Jack!” I yell. “Call mom, tell her what happened.”

“Why don’t you do it?” he says sarcastically.

“You know why, just go do it!”

“Fine,” he says dissatisfied.

He goes to call mom as I start cleaning up the mess.

“Hey, uh, I know how to clean cuts, and stuff. I could help if you want,” Carter says.

“Yeah. That would be great,” I say looking at him. “Ethan go with Carter,” I say still looking at him.

I clean up the glass pretty quickly, and jump on the counter. I start eating the grapes while I wait for Carter and Ethan to be done.

A couple minutes later I see Ethan come back with a bandage on his hand. Then Carter comes back.

“Are you going to be staying for dinner because I need to know how much to make,” I sigh. Please say no. I can’t stand him today.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. What time is it?” he asks.

“I don’t know. Look at the clock!” I shout. I cover my mouth, “I’m sorry, just today has been stressful.”

“Oh,” he mumbles. “That was probably my fault. I’m sorry.”

I don’t answer because it was because of him. He mentioned my… my dad. I never met him; he died when I was a month old. I never met my mom either. I never met her because she is Athena. Athena: goddess of owls. Athena: goddess of wisdom. Athena: goddess of knowledge. Athena: goddess of war.

“It’s 5:45,” Jack shouts from wherever.

“Oh, well, my parents will be here is about fifteen minutes anyways. Where do you want to meet next?” he asks.

I shrug.

“Do you wanna meet at my house?” he asks.

“Sure,” I say. “I don’t care.”

He runs back to my room to get his stuff, but for reason he takes a while.

I start dinner. Chicken parmesan: the best dish I can make.

Knock! Knock!

Carter comes back in, and puts his shoes on. He opens the door to find two people who look exactly like Carter. The black hair the man has to the grey eyes the woman has. She looks familiar, I just can’t put my mind on it.

“Thanks Kendra. For the help. See ya later,” Carter says.

He goes to walk out the door, but can’t seem to get it out.

“Well, she is cooking right now so.” I hear.

“It’s fine, I’m almost ready to put it in the oven,” I shout.

They all shuffle in.

“I’ll be in, in a moment.” I yell once more.

I apologize after walking in, “Sorry, I was just making dinner.”

“It’s all good,” his dad says putting his hand out for a fist bump. “I’m Percy. Percy Jackson. You can call me Mr. J though.”

I shake his hand instead of fist bumping, “I’m Kendra.”

“I’m Annabeth Jackson. Call me Mrs. J.,” his mom laughs putting her hand out for a shake.

I shake it.

“So how is everything going?” Mrs. J asks.

“He coming along slowly. He’s making a little progress,” I answer.

“Good. Good,” Mr. J says.

“Yes, Carter picks up on the main concept easily, but has a hard time remembering what to do.”

---

They let themselves out after I go back to my room to finish my own homework. Geometry is easy, so is science, and honors English 9 too.

“Hey!” a voice yells from my bathroom. An iris message now, really?

“What do you want Will!” I yell pushing my papers onto the other side of my bed. I walk to my bathroom, and see the sink is filled with Will’s image in the bighouse.

“I need your intelligence to help me. After all, you are the smartest in the whole camp,” he compliments.

“What do you need?” I ask crossing my arms knowing there is more.

“Only your mind. Get to camp tomorrow, and make it snappy.” He ends the iris message.

Oh great, I really hope this won’t be like last year when the Stoll brothers pranked me. They called me in saying there was an emergency when really there wasn't. They poured steaming hot water on me then they poured ice cold water on me. You don’t want to know what happened to them after my burns healed. They may be older, and stronger than me, but they are not smarter.

I finish off the homework for next week in Spanish then prepare myself for tomorrow.

Notes

Hi guys! I'm back. I'm so sorry for the slang, but that's how I wanted the character to talk. Tell me how this fanfic is. Vote, Comment, Subscribe!