“Hey, Percy.”
I looked up. I heard the name. Percy. That’s… my name now.
So Caitlyn called me that. I recognized her voice, and- no, I recognized someone calling my name. My… fake name. Don’t worry, I don’t get used to her calling me that. I mean anyone calling me that.
“Oh, hey, Cait-”
Wait, wait.
“I mean, hey, Skylar.”
Pfft- this is so dumb. Calling people by superhero names is just… so dumb. I don’t even know how kids come up with these kinds of things.
So you know how my name ‘Percy Jackson’ is from that book series, right? Now, if I know about something as popular as that series, I’m bound to know other popular stuff, too. Like…
Marvel! I love the Marvel series. I’ve never read a single comic. Not that I don’t want to, I love reading graphic novels and comics, it’s just, I’d rather spend my time and money on other things. Like stuffed animals. Er, wait… Anyway, I do love Marvel. At this point in the story, I had just watched the movie Captain America: Winter Soldier. Now, you may be thinking, what kind of people let their 4th grader watch a PG-13 movie (when they can barely even watch a PG one)? Well, I’ll tell you.
I don’t think my parents weren’t the most responsible of people.
So… while you read the rest of this chapter, just know that Marvel is fresh off of my mind, and so I’ll be thinking about it. It’s gonna be mentioned in a couple of paragraphs, so… I just wanted to say this before plopping something random on you. Okay? Okay.
“You’re so funny. Anna and I have something we need to tell you at recess.”
Caitlyn seemed a little nervous as she said that. Looks like it’s important.
I wanna decline. But I know I can’t. If I do, they’ll force me or hold me down anyways.
“Sure, whatever.”
I was pretty anxious for what they were gonna tell me, and was, as per usual, not paying atten
“ALAN!”194Please respect copyright.PENANADFMOUyu6Mi
194Please respect copyright.PENANA5Tv5hcFQKk
The teacher screamed at me.
“Huzwha?”
“I said, are you paying attention?”
“Yeah, totally, what class is this?”
Great, now the teacher’s mad at me. That’s certainly new. ‘Oh no, the whole class is laughing at me, I feel so ashamed and embarrassed, oh no!” Yeah I’m used to that now. It only becomes a problem when…
“Nice job, Percy.”
When Caitlyn says something. See? She’s always right on time. Why do I have to sit next to her in class now?
“Shut up.”
I rolled my eyes and hoped the teacher wouldn’t say my name again. Hey, were you paying attention? Caitlyn called me Percy again. That’s so weird. I’m not used to having multiple names. It’s gonna take me a while to get used to Caitlyn calling my… ‘name’. Anyone calling my name, not just Caitlyn. Uh… yeah.
I spent the rest of class thinking about recess, and eventually, after a couple of hours, recess came.
I absolutely cannot wait for what they were gonna tell me. I walked to the middle of the field, looking for them. After getting tired from not finding them, I went and talked to someone.
“Hey, James.”
“Oh, hi, Alan.”
Remember James? Blonde kid? Nerdy? Nose? Yeah, you do.
“So what do you want, Alan?”
He’s a little… uh… tense… sometimes.
“Hm… oh, I wanted to say sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“Just, nothing.”
“O……kay. Coooool.”
Really tense.
“Have you seen Caitlyn?”
“Hmm? You’re looking for her? Why are you looking for her?”
“She said she wanted to talk to me about something, that’s all.”
“O……kay, well, no, I have not seen her.”
See? Nerdy? No one says ‘have not’ instead of ‘haven’t’.
I sighed.
“You sure you haven’t?”
“Yes… I have not.”
I groaned. He looked around. I looked around.
“I think… I see her.”
“YOU DO?!”
I screamed. Uh…
“Uh… wow. Yeah, she’s over there.”
He pointed behind me. I turned around.
Yeah, that was her. And… like 12 other people.
It was the group again. Whoo.
They were already having a conversation while they walked over. It looked like they were walking straight towards James and I, which was potentially a good and bad thing.
Good, I get to finally know what Caitlyn and Anna wanted to tell me.
Bad, I have to talk to Anna.
Speaking of Anna, she was leading the conversation.
“Oh, my God, did you hear about that really young singer they were talking about earlier? They’re pretty popular. I think even the teacher was talking about them!”
Uh uh Post Malone?
“Becky G?”
Frick
I literally just looked up ‘new singers’ and Maloney sandwich was the first one that came up. I’m sure in the moment I would’ve come up with something better- actually, I barely listened to music around the time, so I probably wouldn’t have been able to come up with anything.
Anyway, either it was the way Caitlyn answered, or just her name in general, but… I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like the name ‘Becky’. It sounds… dumb. Really dumb.
Like… Becky sounds… extremely dumb.
“That’s a stupid name.”
“Well, would you like to be called Becky?”
Ha, Caitlyn, that’s dumb.
Extremely dumb.
I don’t need any nicknames. Especially not ‘Becky’.
“No, that’s literally the dumbest thing I have ever he-”
“Too bad, uh, Becky.”
Wait- Anna. Stop.
Anna just called me ‘Becky’. I heard it. It sounded…
Absolutely freaking terrible. It doesn’t fit me at all. It sounds incredibly horrible.
It sounds…
It sounds like hell.
Yeah, that’s right, I said a bad word. For the first time in my life, I said a bad word. For the first time ever, I said a bad word. That’s just how much I hated the idea of being called… OH MY GOD IT JUST SOUNDS TERRIBLE
“Ugh- no, no, that sounds literally like… hell.”
The words came out of my mouth. I really hated the name Becky. It sounds like this entire thing is something Anna would plot to make fun of me again.
Hmm, Caitlyn’s not gonna call me Becky too, is she?
“Know what? I think it fits. Yeah. Becky.”
Nope. I’m not buying it. I can’t stand being called Becky. It just sounds wrong.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Anna, don’t you agree?”
“Yeah, Caitlyn, I think Becky fits. You think it fits too, right, Becky?”
“NO OF COurSE NOT THAT SOUNDS SO BAD”
“Glad we’re all in agreement, Becky.”
“NO!”
No no no no no they can’t be serious, can they? They aren’t actually going to be
Who am I kidding I think we all know that they aren’t gonna stop
“Does everyone agree that Becky is such a good name?”
“Huh?”
The others in the group weren’t paying attention. They were having a completely normal conversation off to the side while we were discussing terrible nicknames.
“Uh, Alan? So what?”
Jaidon walked forwards, and Caitlyn was gesturing towards me. The others looked at me.
“Nope, this is pph- actually… Becky.”
There were mixed responses.
“Uh, what?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ha! Are you serious?”
“Could not care less.”
At least it was more responses than I expected.
“And you’re just okay with this, Ala-”
“Becky, not Alan.”
Caitlyn cut off Jaidon before he could finish.
“Yeah, whatever. You’re okay with this, uh, ‘Becky’?”
“No I’m not okay with it! Can’t you hear how stupid it sounds! Yeah, see, you’re nodding! I don’t wanna be called ‘Becky’! It sounds like… Bucky, from Captain America.”
“Who?”
“Bucky? Bucy Barnes? Which would make it Becky Barnes… wait…”
Hey that’s that thing I mentioned earlier! It… wasn’t… useful…
“You know, Becky, it really sounds like you like the name.”
Caitlyn kept going on and on about the name. Anna was off to the side, laughing. Hysterically laughing. Ugh.
“No, I don’t.”
“Hey, let’s make it short for Rebecca.”
No, let’s not, Caitlyn.
“With a K!”
Anna loves doing that.
“Sure, Anna, with a K.”
Ohh, Caitlyn’s just messing with me now. I sometimes just wanna strangle-
“Well, uh, well, how about I call you something?”
“Besides pretty?”
“Shut the heck up, Caitlyn. Or should I say…”194Please respect copyright.PENANAL3zp5A9TMP
194Please respect copyright.PENANANMV36XOEFc
uh…
Nicknames! Nicknames, people, hurry! Uh, uh, they usually start with the first letter of the person’s name, right? Which, in this case, would be C, I think.
C… c…. cataclysm… catastrophe… Cat? NONONO that sounds like a pet name I’m good no thanks… wait, why not tie it in to her Elemental name? Uh, plants… C… c… what has to do with plants, is, uh, bad, and starts with c?
Cccccccompost?
“Compost?”
Oh.
Okay.
That’s garbage.
“Uh- I- that sounds terrible, no thanks,”
Caitlyn said, smirking.
“Wait but I said that ‘Becky’ was terrible and you didn’t listen to m-”
“Well, that’s because Becky is funny, and whatever you just called me isn’t.”
“I- that’s just rude!”
“You’re the rude one.”
HOW AM I THE RUDE ONE SHE’S LITERALLY SO ANNOYING
“I- how?”
“You just are. Or maybe…”
Caitlyn paused, and glanced at Anna. Anna had a devilish grin. Like she always does. Infuriating.
“Maybe… I just don’t like you, Becky.”
“D- Don’t call me that!”
“Hehe…”
“No!”
I’m destroyed. Caitlyn and Anna started cackling, and the others in the group… pretended like they didn’t know who the two of them were. I sunk my head, and looked away.
They walked away, leaving James and I. He looked at me, and I glanced at him with droopy eyes. He rolled his eyes. I made a mad face.
Whatever. I hate the name Becky.
“You, uh, gonna survive?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that sucks for you, then.”
Wow, thanks, James.
I’ve gotta do something. I can’t just let them call me Becky. They’re definitely gonna stop the next day, right?
Right?
“Hey, Caitlyn?”
I walked up to her. My confidence was destroyed.
“Hey, Becky.”
GDO WHY
“Sh-shut up… uh… what did you want to call me earlier?”
“Oh, no, Anna just wanted you to come and talk to us cause she came up with your name.”
I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT
“I- really?”
“Uh, yeah? What’s wrong, Becky?”
stop…
“Yeah, what’s wrong, Becky?”
Not you too, Anna…
“Becky?”
“Becky?”
“Becky!”
STOP CALLING ME BECKY
“STOP!”
“What did we do, Becky?”
“You’re so annoying, Caitlyn!”
“You’re so rude, Becky.”
“STOP CALLING ME BECKY!”194Please respect copyright.PENANA9NVUtjcgnk
194Please respect copyright.PENANAnnK6qlwjmH