Chapter 3: Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

Dear Journal,

Today, I ditched Grover when I got to the bus station. I know it was rude but he kept freaking me out all the time. He would always mutter "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always happen in Grade Six?" Whenever he got upset or became sad, he would always go to the bathroom all the time, so as soon we got off the bus he made a run to the bathroom, instead of waiting for him, I made a run for it and found a taxi to go home.
Before you meet my mother, I need to tell you a few things first. Her name is Sally Jackson and I think she is the best mother in the world. She wanted to be a novelist, so she wanted to save money for her career, but then her uncle, who took care of her when she was young, had cancer and she had to quit school and take care of him. When he died my mom was left with nothing, no money, no diploma, no family. The only good thing that happened to her was when she met my dad. I don't know anything about him because I didn't spend a lot of time with him because, one day he set sail across the Atlantic Ocean and he never came back. He is not dead, all that we know is that he is lost at sea. Then he married this guy named Gabe Ugliano, who was nice to my mom but then he became a world-class jerk. His nick name is smelly Gabe because he smells really bad.

Anyways, when I got into the apartment, Smelly Gabe was just in the living room playing poker with his buddies. He didn't say anything to me he just said "You got any cash?" And I thought to myself "No welcome back?"He looked like he put on a lot of weight since the last six months. I really didn't like the smell, it's even worse than the three old ladies and Mrs.Dodds. I could feel someone watching me, but then my mom said "Percy?" and my fears melted. She was so happy to see me! And we talked about a lot of things but the only thing we didn't talk about is my getting expelled. Then Gabe told my mom to make him some bean dip, I wanted to punch him in the face but my mom stopped me from doing that.
An hour later, we were ready to leave. Gabe stopped playing poker with his buddies, to help us put in our bags in the car. He told me "Not a scratch on this car, brain boy." We were going to go to our rental cabin on the south shore, really far away from the apartment. As we got closer to Montauk, my mom seemed to grow younger not worrying about anything.

When we got to the cabin, we made blueberry smoothies, and we made a fire with roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. She also told me stories about me when I was a kid. Then she said to me " I wish your other dad saw you I bet he would be really proud right now!" Then I said "What was so great about me? A dyslexic , hyperactive boy with D+ report card, kicked out of school for six times in six years. Then I asked "are you going to send me away again, to another boarding school?" All she said was "I don't know, honey." You don't want me around, don't you?" I said Then I said " Or maybe because I am not normal? She said " But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy would be far enough. I thought you'd finally be safe."
Then I said "Safe from what?" She told me one story, though. She said that a man in a black coat kept stalking me when I was playing on the playground. In every single school I went to, something weird would always happen to me. Then she told me "Your father wanted me to send you to this summer camp, but I can't let you go."

In the middle of the night, a huge lightning bolt woke me up and I noticed that Grover was standing by the doorway. But he wasn't actually Grover. Grover said "What were you thinking!"
My mother looked at me with terror, saying What didn't you tell me?" I was just too shocked to answer because Grover had different legs. Then Grover told us to get in the car and he ran, but he wasn't running he was limping. He had no feet, he had cloven hooves.