On October the 4th...

Originally posted on Livejournal in October 4, 2011. Shamelessly copy-pasted here in blogger to make it look active...xD

So it was 1am in the afternoon that the school lets us out of the wild again, and reminds us that we need to study for the second day of exams tomorrow, talk about Indian Origami, and submission deadlines of projects, usual school stuff.
Now that I was free, I convinced a friend to come with me to the mall to check out their shelves (since my other friend who is also a fan of PJO can't come because of test week). She wasn't willing to come with me at first until I promised her a smoothie and a free ride to and fro.

And so we went.
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Let's call my friend Pi, as in "Pie" and "3.14". So we arrived at the mall and were making way to the bookstore. I had my fingers crossed, hoping that the books were on the shelves. My friend, Pi, was looking at me weirdly, with me all muttering around "Please be available Please be available...". When we arrived, I made a run down to the shelves (Particularly the Kids [where the rest of Rick Riordan's books sat gloriously with the other best-sellers] section, Fantasy Section, The New Arrivals Section and even the Travel section and Religion section) and thoroughly looked at the books available. No familiar title was in sight. I panicked and then I made my mind. Maybe the books were still not available in the country until tomorrow or maybe even next week. So I started walking slowly to the exit, muttering, "Stupid third-world country. Not up-to-date with the latest fad..."
Then I remembered. There was one section in the bookstore that was dedicated for Rick Riordan (the manager must've been a fan of the author). I made a run for it, Pi on my tail, and then, finally, I saw it.

Copies of The Son Of Neptune sat there beside copies of The Lost Hero. It looked glorious with its amazing cover and condition. The description on the back of the book was interesting. I almost cried for Pete's sake! For two things. One, because the bookstore is up-to-date with pretty much everything (and that was, like, tears of joy or something) and I have seen the book in person and I could finally prove my dad wrong about the release date of the book. Two, I didn't bring money to buy a copy (I only carried my lunch money, and this counts as tears of stupid-ness). Pi still looked at weirdly, and she looked absolutely taken back when I started biting the book's cover.
"Now that we have found your book," she started, "can we go now? I'm hungry."
And so we left the bookstore (reluctantly), went to the nearest refreshment store, bought her the smoothie I promised her, using all the lunch money I had, making my wallet a desert again.
---
When I arrived back home, I confronted my father right away.
"Where have you been?" he scolded. "It's two in the afternoon! I thought you said you'll be back by twelve noon."
"Well, there's this Indian origami demonstration we had to watch," I replied. "And here's a booklet about the origami. After that, I went to the mall."
The latter information took him by surprise. Then he crossed his arms and said, "It's test week! What on earth were doing hanging around?"
"Well, I had to check out the stocks in the bookstore! To check out if Son Of Neptune is available!"
Dad arched an eyebrow. "And?"
"It's available alright," I said triumphantly. Dad groaned. "You ain't getting it today. It's test week."
"But dad, I've been waiting for this for this for a year!" I complained. "Besides, if you buy me a copy, I won't be on the computer for a week!"
He thought for a long time in the silence. Me not being on a computer for a week is a fairly good deal, actually.
Finally, he said. "I'll think about."
"Then think fast, man!"
"Okay, fine!" he grumbled. You can have a copy today."
I started dancing around in glee.
"...if you do the laundry."
I stopped in middle of my funky-chicken and stared at dad.
"What."