"Another year, another school," I thought as my mom drove me to my new school. I just hoped that there would be less problems than when I had gone in the summer. I didn't exactly feel like handling demon cheerleaders again.I was a little nervous about my first day of high school but I already had friends at school, since Rachel was going there and I was sure i'd make more. I'm a very likable kinda guy I guess you could ,that's what Mom making my way through the labyrinth last summer I figured the first day of school would be a breeze. I was hoping for no monsters or anything deadly around. I guessed I could handle pretty much everything else.

I stepped into the school hallway. The yellow walls looked really stupid with the green and white tile floor. "This would be a fun year," I thought almost meaning it. There were alot of guys that looked like they might be fun to hang out with. No demon cheerleaders were around either. I walked down the hallway and talked to the lady at the front desk to get my locker assigned. My hand was inside my pocket just in case I had to pull out Riptide. But, the lady was actually kind of nice and lacking any monster qualities. I searched for my locker, number 68, and found only the 50's in locker numbers. I kept walking and walking looking at the lockers. I can blame my ADHD for running into the senior in the process.

"Hey!" he yelled "Who do you think you are,twerp?"

"Uh..." I stammered. This wasn't exactly in my plan. " Sorry, I was just looking for my locker," I said in a bit of a fearful tone.

"Oh,really!" he answered "What number is your locker?"

"68," I stated

"Well then,in that case,"he replied "Let me show it to you,"

He picked me up by my feet,my red shirt hanging down to my chest. I thought about pulling out Riptide then I stopped myself. I figured he was just mortal anyways, just a school bully. He dragged my head against the ground. Think about a floor burn there. All the rest of the kids stopped to watch and a few threw me into something hard. I looked up. Sure enough, locker 68.

"There's your locker," he stated "And don't run into me!!! Ever."

He walked away. I opened my locker and stuck my notebooks and binders inside. I left one binder and one note book in my backpack to take to first period. I walked down the hall to my classroom. Lots of peole were looking at me really weird. I thought it was the fact I had just gotten slammed into my locker. I looked around for a desk then saw , she saw me first.

"Hey Percy!" she said. "It's been awhile since the...we can call it a corn maze,right?"

"That works," I answered "So this is school,huh?

"Yup! It's nice isn't it." she replied "I heard you got thrown in your locker this morning"

"Dang!" I said "News travels fast here,"

"Sure thing," she stated. "Here sit at the desk by me,"

"Ok,"

I walked over to the desk that was next to her's and set my stuff down.

"Oh,Percy!" Rachel said excited "I forgot. You haven't met my best friend yet,have you? Follow me,"

I walked over to the other side of the room.

"Percy meet Rai,Rai meet Percy,"she introduced.

Rai was a girl about my height with long blonde hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. She was skinny and looked pretty athletic. She had a smile on her face but when I looked at her I felt...angry. Her face reminded of something from the past and I just could put my finger on it.

"Nice to meet you...Percy," said Rai.

"You too,"I said slowly.

"Let's be friends,ok," she stated "I'll be right back," She ran off out of the classroom, her blonde hair bouncing on her long,lean, body.

"Is she ok?" I asked Rachel.

"She a little strange," she said "You'll get used to it."

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Not really," said a voice behind me. I turned around to see Rai standing there. She laughed.

"Am I too quick for you, Percy? Or am I just too quiet?"

"Neither," I said "I was caught off guard,"

"Well, your face told me that," she laughed again. "If I were you I would be on guard more often,"

She smiled and walked to her desk and sat down.

I was confused and a wave of distrust ran through me.

"Look,Percy, give her a chance. I had to," Rachel stated pleadingly

"Do I have to be happy about it?" I asked sarcasticly.

"No," she said "Just do it, that's all," She walked away. Apparently, if I didn't try to make friends with Rai, Rachel would be mad at me. Then I would have no friends at all. So, I reluctently walked up to Rai.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"Heaven,hopefully," she laughed. In the back of my head I thought about the fact that when she died she would go to the Underworld. I sighed.

"Hey!" she said louder. "Do you have gum?"

"Yea,but..." I got cut off

"But what?" she asked.

"But I don't want to give any to you," I said. She laughed...again.

"You don't have to want to. You just have to do it. See I kind of get whatever I want around here. It's kind a tradition,"

"Can I break it?" I asked.

"Not exactly,"

She grabbed my shirt and held it tight so I couldn't get away. Then she reached in my pocket to reveal,of course,the gum.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed and she handed me back my pocket size Double Mint Gum. She walked over to the desk where the teacher sat at and sat herself on the table. The teacher walked in in two seconds though. That was perfect timing.I turned around to look at Rai who I assumed was on the desk still,but when I looked she was sitting innocently in her desk with her hands folded. I glared at her frustrated then sat in my seat.