Money Isn't Everything

The Blofis's

Leo POV

School sucks, more than being homeless. Well, okay, almost as much as being homeless. At least then I had friends. Jason still needs extra tutoring, despite being three years behind. This is the reason I am sitting at Mr Blofis's kitchen table. Percy and Thalia are being all weird about us being alone so they insisted I ask to go with Jason. Not that I really mind, Mr Blofis is actually really nice. His wife even fed us chocolate chip cookies.

Jason and Mr Blofis are in his study, doing extra something or other. Jason is so excited for this twice awake extra school thing. I don't know why anyone would want to do extra school.

"Leo, why don't you go into the living room and I'll join you in a minute? Maybe we can watch a movie?" Mrs Blofis says kindly.

"Oh, no it's fine. I can help you if you want," I shake my head, not wanting to seem ungrateful.

"No, you go and sit in there. I'm fine here," she smiles at me.

I rise reluctantly, making my way into their little living room. It's quite a homely place, pictures all over the wall, friendly throws lying over chairs, books piled everywhere, and shoes lying around randomly. Most of the pictures are of Mr and Mrs Blofis, but, on a cabinet, there's something vaguely resembling a shrine. There were four photos, all of them featuring a little black haired, green eyes boy. He can't be older than eight in the most recent and only a baby in the oldest. There are notebooks and little ornaments scattered around the pictures, even a deflated soccer ball.

I pick up the little fire truck, it reminds me of a story Percy told us once about his early years. Something about making a car racing track around his bedroom, drawing lines in sharpie all over the walls and carpet then racing his toys cars all around it. He'd said he'd gotten into such trouble but his mom had let him leave it there. It was one of those bedtime stories that had been told over and over again until it was worn out and even after that.

"Leo, do you want some juice!" Mrs Blofis calls, poking her head around the door.

I jump back from the shrine, dropping the fire truck, "Uh, yes please, Mrs Blofis."

"Just Sally, please," she makes her way towards me, "I see you've found our little shrine."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy," I say, sheepishly. Putting the truck pack.

"It's fine, you must be curious as to who that is?" she smiles gently at me.

"A little," I bite my lip and stare at the floor.

"That's my son, he's, uh, not with us anymore," Mrs Blofis, Sally, looks at the photo's sadly.

"I'm sorry," I say, and I mean it. No one should have to lose people they love.

"It's okay, it was a very long time ago. Six years and still I miss him. Anyway, it's nothing you need to worry about, Leo. Juice or no juice?" she asks.

"Can I please some juice?" I smile up at her.

She's not that all, but she's quite a bit taller than me. Most people are, stunted growth caused by malnourishment. Not that anything as silly as malnourishment stopped Percy from shooting up to about 6 ft. and Nico is a lanky little ten-year-old.

"Of course, why don't you pick a movie? We still have two hours to kill before my husband is finished with your brother," Sally gestured to a stack of movies balancing precariously on the edge of the coffee table.

"Okay, thank you, and he's not my brother," I shrug, like 'what can you do', "I mean he's practically my brother but, so far as I know, we share no blood. I picked him, correction I picked his sister and he was part of the package. He should be thanking me for putting up with him in all my awesomeness."

"Right, of course," she laughed, ruffling my hair, "Just pick a movie."

"Got it, doing that," I nod.

She laughs again and leaves the room shaking her head. I look through the movies; most are adult but there are three old animated ones. Finding Nemo, Mulan, and Frozen. I've never watched any of them before, but I haven't watched many movies so that means nothing. I pick Finding Nemo, because the other two sound a. girly, and b. really sad.

Sally re-enters carrying a tray with two glasses of juice and more cookies. A smile lights up her face when she sees the movie in my hand. She takes it from me and inserts in into the DVD player. It's one of the older ones, no holographic image or even 3D. Just normal 2D, which suits me just fine.

The movie ends up being about a fish whose son goes missing and everything he does trying to get him back. I burst into tears before we reach the end, which feels weak but I can't help it. How can a fish care that much about his child but none of our parents even bothered to put up a poster?

Sally hugs me tight, not asking any questions about how a movie about a damn fish made me cry so much. Maybe she understands, maybe she doesn't need to. Maybe all she needs to know is that I'm upset, like a mum would. This just makes me cry harder.

"Hey, shh," she rubbing soothing circles on my back, "It's okay, shh, it's fine. You're okay, you're safe. Everything's okay, you're okay."

"Sorry," I whisper through my tears.

She just hugs me tighter, "Don't be sorry, you don't need to be sorry. Nobody needs to be sorry for crying. Shh, it's okay. It's okay, everything will be okay."

"Leo?" a small voice asks, "Leo, are you okay?"

Jason makes his way into the room and kneels beside us. Sally releases me slightly and turns to face Jason.

"He's fine, honey, he just got a little upset over the movie we were watching. I think it hit home a little bit too much," she smiles at him, pulling him into the hug too. "You two are amazing and I want you to know both me and my husband are going to help you the best we can."

I stare at her, wiping the tears roughly from my cheeks. Then I hug her back just as tightly as she hugged us, "Thank you, Ms Sally."

"Yeah, thank you," Jason echoes, looking shell-shocked.

She hugs us some more then stands, "It's getting late, why don't we eat something and then we can take you home?"

"Okay," I answer, "It's got to be better than the foster home slush."

"That's true," Jason says, recovering slightly, "And your food so far has been amazing, Mrs Blofis, Sally."

"Why thank you, Jason, I'm glad you think so," she smiles at us and we beam back.

They will help us and that's something no one else seems to be doing. Maybe they can help Hazel, Nico, Percy and Thalia too. Maybe they can help all of us. Maybe, just maybe they can take us all in. Maybe.

Jason POV

They will help us, that what she said. I can't believe it's the truth. Thy are such nice people, but why would they help us more than they already are? Surely there's another reason, not just that they're good people.

Despite that they cook us a really nice supper. Potatoes and steak and uncooked carrots. We'd eat anything at this point but I appreciate the effort and so does Leo. I can see it in the way he eats the food, slowly like he's savouring every bite. Usually we just shove down our food, a habit from a time when people who grab the first meal you'd had in a week right out of your hands after just one bite. It's amazing how nice this simple meal is, and how much I like it.

I smile at Mrs Blofis, Sally, and she returns it warmly. She gestures to the food as if to say 'have some more' and so I do. This makes her smile more. She seems like a good person, a great person actually. Maybe we can trust her, just maybe we can trust them. Leo does and that has to count for something. Maybe they can help us. Maybe they will.

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