Tick, Tock

Disclaimer: I don’t own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or anything associated with it.

Tick, tock. The clock in the front of the room silently taunted. I sighed and looked around the classroom, having a hard time focusing on one thing for too long. I checked the time again, it read 10:45. Fifteen more minutes until school was over. Fifteen more minutes until camp. Fifteen minutes that would drag on endlessly. And then when I would finally get to camp, time would go by so fast I wouldn’t be able to remember what I had for breakfast. Like the old saying, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’. Fifteen minutes at camp? More like fifteen seconds.

“Lisa? Lisa!” My teacher Ms. H called, bringing me back to reality. I sat up quickly, my brown hair falling in my face.”Earth to Lisa?”

“Sorry Ms. H,” I mumbled, blushing. Ms. H continued to drone on about the Revolutionary War, but honestly, I couldn’t have cared less. I ended up starring at the back of Daniel Frank’s head. He was the cutest boy in school and every girl in school had a crush on him, including me. But why would a guy like him ever wanted a freak like me?

Tick, Tock. I checked the clock again. 10:46. All that had only been one minute. I continued scanning the room and my eyes landed on Hannah George, the meanest, fakest, most self-centered bitch in the whole school. Maybe in the whole state. Probably. Hannah was faker and bitchier than the Aphrodite girls at camp (no offense to the non-bitchy and/or fake Aphrodite girls). She was also looking around and she met my eye, her harmless glance turning into a cold, bitchy glare. I glared back fiercely, and she finally retreats. I could only imagine what she saw in my glare. She probably saw the darkest pits of Hell (due to the fact that I'm a daughter of Hades), but in reality, it’s a lot worse. It’s Tartarus. But, since I can’t read minds, I’ll never be positive.

Tick, tock. Another minutes passed by. Three down, fourteen to go. My eyes wandered more and I found myself starring at my best friend, Amy. She seemed antsy to get out of her too, but I couldn’t help thinking that it was ten-times harder for her not to jump out of her seat then it was for me. Since Amy wasn’t a half-blood, she didn’t have to go to Camp Half-Blood, but right after school she was heading to Hawaii with her mom and dad. I envied her for the fact that she could do things like ride airplanes and go on cool cruises while I had to go to camp and attempt to swordfight so I can someday live a normal human life. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt just a little bit relieved. Now I didn’t feel as bad going to camp and leaving Amy here by herself, with no clue as to where I'm going and what I'm going to do. Besides, we would always write each other, telling what we did and how much we miss one another. I usually had one of the tree nymphs or Chiron help me write them so that Amy’s able to understand it. Sometimes I felt bad lying to her about lying to Amy, but what choice did I have? It’s not like I could tell her about the gods, even though I'm almost positive that she can see through the Mist, which makes it a hell of a lot harder. I didn’t realize that I was still looking at Amy until she turned and gave me an excited smile, pointing at the clock.

Tick, tock. I looked at the clock and blink a few times, making sure that what I saw was correct. It’s 10:52. I stared at it in shock. I spent five minutes thinking about Amy and me. Wow. I looked around the room trying to focus on something, but nothing held my attention. An owl, a painting of Abraham Lincoln, a list of ‘Did you know…?’ facts and a poster that read Give Hugs, Not Drugs that had a picture of a teddy-bear on it. None of it holds my attention for more than a couple of seconds.

Tick, tock. I gave in and looked at the clock, pleased to find that there’s only seven minutes between me and Camp Half-Blood. I found myself, once again, trying to find something-anything-that held my attention. I have no such luck until I found myself starring at Gabby Hunter. I knew for a fact that Gabby is the biggest slut in the entire state of New York. But don’t let me fool you, there’s much more to Gabby then the fact that she is a boyfriend-stealing whore. Not only that, but she’s going to senior prom with three different guys (she’s a freshman), she swims in money, but she seems to have it out for me ever since she caught one of her many, many ex-boyfriend’s flirting with me. So what if I just happened to flirt back? It’s not like, gods forbid, Gabby and I are friends or anything. We were never close (I like to stay away from bitches, sluts and/or fakers) even before then. So I never got why she wanted me to apologize to her because if I did, maybe, just maybe, she would ‘be the kind soul she was and not make my life a living hell’. Her words, not mine. So I hated, no, scratch that, loathed that girl’s repulsive guts.

Tick, tock. I looked at the clock and felt very disappointed in myself. Did I really just waste a minute of my life on that no-good, bitchy, slutty, horrible thing? Wait a minute, I thought. I looked at the clock again. It’s 10:55. Only five more minutes until I go to camp! I folded my arms on my desk and set my head, resting my eyes there for a second. I don’t exactly remember falling asleep, just waking up to the ring of the school bell.

Tick, tock. It’s 11:00 sharp. School’s out. Time for camp.

φ

Somehow, the summer flew by without me even noticing it. I remember parts of it. Going out with a tall Ares’ kid, carrying my team flag over the boundary, a few new campers, becoming friends with the small Demeter twins, Helen and Jenna, but the rest is just a blur. Just as I predicted, it had gone by much too

fast for my liking. I feel sad that I can’t remember some of the basic things, like, how many times I kicked Justin’s butt at sword fighting or how many bull’s eye’s Renée got in archery. But here I am the first day

of my sophomore year in high school, feeling like this day has been dragging on forever. I smile as I remember one of my step-dad’s sayings.

“Time is a strange thing. When were need it to fly by, it stands still, yet when were want to savor the moment, our life moves with lightning speed. We best not argue with it, but live it to the fullest, enjoying every moment as if it was our last.”

I smile and look at the clock as the final bell rings.

Tick tock. I think my smile widening. Tick, tock.