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Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, although I do own a candle.

Summary:

This is Percy Jackson's 3rd summer working as a lifeguard on one of his father's cruise ships. Just him and his best friends on a cruise all summer long. Goes to show that when it seems like nothing can get better, a blonde walks into your life.

Chapter 1: Old Friends

Percy:

"Jason!" I yelled when I saw a blond haired guy cleaning shot glasses from behind the bar. He was already dressed, ready for work, with his blue polo on and his name tag. Overachiever.

He stopped and set down the glass in his hand. "Perce!" Jason jumped over the bar and ran up to me. He pat (more like hit) my back and smiled at me. "'Hey, did you hook it up with the room and board situation?" he asked.

I smirked at him like the answer should be obvious. "Dude, I could us flat screen tv's in our room if I wanted. Of course we're staying in the same rooms as last summer!"

Jason smiled and nodded, then his face contorted into confusion. "Wait, how could you get us a flat screen?"

I laughed, "Does the term 'Poseidon Cruise Line' mean anything to you?" I threw my arm around Jason and walked him through the deck of the ship. "I practically own this thing."

"Actually, your dad does," he said as we sat by the pool. 100 feet wide, 4 different slides, 5 different jacuzzi's. Sweet.

I waved him off. "Same difference- point is, I can get us anything we want!"

Jason laughed and folded a towel. "Okay, how about higher salaries?"

I eyed the towel he just folded. "Why're you folding?" I asked, ignoring his request. I'd already got his salary raised 3 different times.

He cocked an eyebrow at me, like the answer should have been obvious, and folded another towel. "Uhm, because it's 10 in the morning, dude. The passenger's are gonna start boarding in like 3 hours."

"Yeah… 3 hours. We have plenty of time!" I said, leaning back against my chair.

But Jason just shook his head and folded another. "There's a lot to be done. Plus, I've been working all morning. You just got here, grab a damn towel."

I snorted and got up. "Nah, I'm gonna go unpack."

I began to walk away, when Jason called after me. "Bro, where's your stuff?"

I turned to face him, walking backwards toward the elevator that lead down inside. "I checked it," I said simply.

Jason laughed loudly.

I stopped in my tracks. "What?" I asked, confused.

"Travis and Connor got reassigned this summer."

I waited for him to continue. "Yeah, and?"

Jason let out another laugh. "They're in baggage."

My eyes shot open wide. "Oh shit!" I yelled and ran to the elevator.

I was too late. When I opened the door to my room, my bags were all unpacked; clothes strewn everywhere. I let out a deep sigh and examined the damage. There were swim shorts on top of the TV, boxers on the pillow, an assortment of clothes on the floor, and who knew where my hairbrush was.

I groaned and leaned up against the opened door.

It was then that I heard a vacuum roar to life.

I pushed myself off the door and walked into the hallway. There, there was a girl with chocolate brown skin in a t-shirt and shorts. Her dark curly hair was pulled out of her face in a tight bun. She mouthed along to whatever song was streaming into her ears from her earplugs, then turned with her back facing me.

"Hazel!" I yelled. But she continued vacuuming, moving her hips slightly to her music.

My lips curved up in a grin. I walked up behind her and shook her shoulders. She screamed, dropping the vacuum and ripping the earplugs out of her ears. When she saw me, she leaned against the wall and put her hand on her chest. "Sweet lord, Percy. You scared the hell outta me."

I laughed and leaned in to give her a hug. She didn't accept it, and shoved my shoulder lightly instead, frowning. I spread my arms out invitingly and gave her my best puppy dog face. "Oh come on, you missed me!"

A small smile spread across her lips and she ran into my arms. When we pulled away, a large grin was taking over her face. "So, how was another year at UCSD?" she asked. "How many credits do you need to finish you major?"

"Which one?" I asked.

Her eyes went wide. "Perce, are you really double majoring?"

I shrugged. "Buisness, I had to major in. I really want to take over my dads cruise line one day." Hazel nodded, she already knew that I was majoring in business. "But I took up Marine Biology recently, and honestly, I'm really happy."

"Awe, Percy that's great!" she smiled, looking really happy for me. The great thing was, she really was happy for me. I'd only known Hazel for a year now, but she was the closest thing I had to a sister. Well, her and Rachel. But anyway, last summer was Hazel's first summer working here and we'd gotten really close. She was a really hard worker.

In fact…

"Hazel, why the hell are you vacuuming, I thought you were gonna get promoted this summer?" I asked.

Her dark cheeks flushed. "I did," she said in a small voice. "I'm just vacuuming because I'm nervous. Plus, someone has to do it." Good ol' Hazel. Doing other peoples work, not to get ahead, but just because.

"Okay, well where'd you get promoted?" I asked.

"Activities!" she squealed. "Yup," she nodded, "I do game nights on the pool deck and afternoon trivia in lounge #4."

"Hazel, that's great!"

She grinned. "I know! The best part is that it's triple what I was making as a maid last summer, and it's way more fun!"

Her face then turned a little serious. "Percy," she continued, "with this raise, I don't have to sell Arion. I have enough money, and after the summer's over I can finally enroll at Madison!"

My eyes went wide. All Hazel has ever wanted to do was go to Madison University and study history. But she was torn between her dream and her horse. Arion was her best friend, she couldn't just sell him. But without that money, she'd never been able to pay for college by herself. But now, she could do it. Keep her horse, keep her dream. I hugged her.

A loud beep came over the sound system in the ship. Then the voice of Captain D came over the loudspeaker. "Welcome to another cruise at Poseidon Cruise Line on ship Sally. Yes, you got stuck with me again. Welcome, welcome, yada yada yada… alright we need all staff in Theater C for a meeting before the passengers board the ship." Another beep followed, signaling that the announcement was done.

Hazel shrugged and we began walking to Theater C.

"Have ya seen anyone yet?" I asked casually.

She nodded. "Yeah, the Stolls. They were messing with your bags…"

I rolled my eyes. "Tell them thanks, that was a great surprise."

She laughed and continued. "I saw Clarisse, Katie, Juniper, Grover, Will, Jake, and…" she thought for a moment, trying to access her memories, "oh, and Silena and Beckendorf. But only for a second."

"Lemme guess," I laughed, "making out in the karaoke room on the 3rd floor?"

She rolled her eyes. "What else is new?"

We arrived at the elevator and Hazel pressed the up button. See, the staff rooms were on the very bottom level. It was like our own personal floor, so everything else was on another floor. Theater C just happened to be on the 4th level.

The elevator sprang open and we walked in. As the doors began to close, a strong hand stuck into the elevator, stopping the doors. The doors opened back up, revealing Malcolm, Nico, and Thalia.

"Why doesn't she work here?" Thalia asked Malcolm, entering the elevator.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Just because you and your brother both work here… You know, not every job runs in the family, Thalia." Then Nico glanced at me. "No offense Per- Percy?!" He smiled from ear to ear and gave me a quick (manly, of course) hug. "Hey Percy! Oh, hey Hazel!"

Malcolm, Nico, and Thalia were all in their uniformed cruise worker clothes. No matter what your job was on the ship, everyone had a blue and a white polo and khaki pants. All three of my friends were wearing the white polo.

Everyone exchanged hello's and hugs, then they got right back into the conversation. Malcolm shrugged, shaking his sandy blond hair. "I don't know my sister that well. We stopped living together when I was 10 and she moved in with her rich friend."

"What're we talking about?" Hazel asked.

"Malcolm's sister is gonna vacation on the cruise-" Thalia began to explain.

"But they haven't seen each other in a long time." Nico said.

Thalia shot Nico a deathly glare with her lightning blue eyes.. "I was telling the story just fine, Death Breath," she growled.

Everyone sighed. We were all used to their bickering.

I looked at Malcolm, who was standing in the connor with pursed lips.

The elevator doors flew open and we all began making our way to the theater. Hazel, Nico, and Thalia walked ahead of Malcolm and I.

"How do you know it's this cruise?" I asked Malcolm.

Malcolm was one of those guys who'd been working for this cruise line for a long time, so I knew him pretty well. Both he and his sister were taken away from their father when he was 10 and she was 8. He bounced between foster homes for 8 years until he finally turned 18. Then he started working for the cruise line the same year as me. He works cruises year round, saving money for school. He's been working for 3 years and was a year older than me.

But he had never talked about his sister. Percy had never heard anything about her other than how she was taken away when she was 8.

Malcolm sighed. "I follow her on Twitter. God, I haven't seen her in 3 years... But anyway, she posted a picture of her and her friend in front of the cruise this morning. She's been tweeting all morning. I guess the passengers get here super early because check in takes forever."

"But you're sure it's this boat?" I pressed. I hoped not. Malcolm was finally standing on his own two feet, the last thing he needed was to knocked down by the past.

He nodded. "Yup, they took a picture in front of the ship. You know, where it say's 'Sally.'"

Percy gulped at the sound of his mom's name.

"Plus," Malcolm continued, "They tweeted about the departure information and it all matches. She's definitely here."

"Yeah, yeah, welcome, welcome, now sit down!" boomed a voice from inside the Theater. Well, that ended that conversation. Malcolm and I entered the theater and took our seats.

The meeting had to be held on the largest theater on the ship because there were so many staff members. The social groups were usually separated by where people worked on the ship, but I was friends with mixed groups. Most of my friends worked in activities, though.

Captain D stood at the center of the stage with a microphone in one hand and a Coke in the other. The Captain ran a hand through his black, curly hair. He had a classic hawaiian t-shirt on with purple shorts. Looking good, Captain. "Okay, listen up," he said with a frown.

And that was my cue to tune out.

I leaned back in my chair and scanned the room for the Stoll brothers, hoping to ring their necks for what they did to my luggage.

I saw them standing in the back of the theater on one of the luggage trolleys, both in their white polo uniforms. Connor was hanging by the top pole and leaning forward while Travis was leaning back and checking out one of the new activities directors. She stood in the back clutching a clipboard and hanging onto every one of Captain D's words. She was the only one dressed semi-professional, with a white v-necked collared shirt and a light blue pencil skirt. Travis was pretty much drooling.

When she noticed Travis scanning her, she let out a light chuckle and tossed her dirty blond hair over her shoulder. Travis sighed and pretended to listen to the Captain.

I, seeing the whole thing, was thinking about how I couldn't wait to tease Travis about the girl when the Leo stumbled through the doors. "I'M HERE!"

There was muffled laughter throughout the Theater. Captain D sighed. "Oh Leo, how we've all missed you so."

Leo beamed back. He pounded his fist twice and pointed to the stage. "You too Captain!"

Captain D massaged his forehead and sighed. "Sit down, Valdez, before I fire you."

Leo waved his hand in defeat. "Good point sir," he said and scanned the theater for a seat.

I waved my hand and Leo's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He sat down next to me. Like me, Leo enjoyed ignoring authorities and pretending he had more charm than he really did.

"What up, Jackson," Leo said while we fist bumped.

I smiled. Only people who really knew me knew to call me Jackson instead of Poseidon. Even though, legally, my name was Percy Poseidon, I preferred my mom's last name. "Just getting through. What're you working this summer?"

Leo smiled, "Lifeguard Leo."

"You hate swimming," I laughed.

He shrugged, "How many times a summer do you actually have to save people?"

"Uh, like 1 time a cruise, maybe."

He grinned, like he just won our conversation. "Exactly. How hard-"

"But I have to jump in a lot because people freak out. Plus, answer people's annoying questions about where everything is on the boat. You have to know this ship forwards and backwards," I explained.

He pursed his lips with a bit of hesitation and then changed it to a goofy grin. "All in a day's work for the Leo."

I groaned. "Ugh, stop referring to yourself in 3rd person."

Leo and I laughed it off and pretended to listen to the Captain talk about safety procedures. I glanced at Leo and saw his hard expression. I've known him for two years, and I gotta admit, I worry about the guy. He's so carefree and smiley, but the second he turns his back, it's like World War III in that kids mind. He was 20, like me, and one of my best friends on the ship; but I can't say that I know too much about him.

Finally the Captain clapped loudly, his signature move when he's done blabbing away, and said, "Alright godlings, the passengers are gonna start boarding in 45 minutes. You're work hours are posting in your rooms. Everyone go check. If you start at boarding time, change and man your battle stations. It's show time people!"

Everyone groaned and slowly started walking back to the elevators.

"Why does he call us godlings? I've never understood that." Malcolm asked.

Leo and I shrugged at the same time. "Who knows," Leo answered.

"The man's unstable, I swear," I add.

When I got back to my room, I checked the schedule for the lifeguards and did a silent happy dance. I got the best shifts. Every day from noon to 4:30 except Wednesdays, when I have a double shift that starts at 7:30 and ends at 4:30, and Fridays, that I don't work at all.

I smiled at my good luck, but honestly, I didn't expect anything else. When your dad is that owner of the cruise line, you can do whatever you want.

I looked at the clock, 11:55. The passengers start boarding and I start my shift in 5 minutes.

I put on my red swim trunks, grabbed my whistle, and ran out onto the pool deck.

Let the fun begin.

A/N: This is generally a little bit longer of a chapter, but I thought it was necessary. Guess who's POV next chapter will be in? (;

Leave me a little review about what you thought! Should I continue?