Annabeth
After my first week of school, I was ready to drop. I seriously had never worked so hard! Not only had I run into a rogue Cyclops on 72nd street on the way to school one day, but I had so much trouble navigating the general high school life- lockers, hallways, classrooms, popularity, rules- I had trouble getting everything straight. Thankfully, I had my expert on speed dial: my boyfriend (and hero!), Percy Jackson.
Percy is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd secretly had a crush on him since sixth grade, when we were 12. It seems like yesterday, when Chiron had asked me to take care of him. Of course I had hated him in the beginning, but he had grown on me. I couldn't believe my luck when he showed signs of liking me back. Now that we were dating, I spent every minute possible with him.
Now, I was going to Goode with him, which was nice, because when your teacher happens to turn into a Kindly One, you have to have a partner. Unfortunately, though, he was absolutely no help with homework. Even though he was as stupid as one of Apollo's sacred cows something, his idea of a date was excellent. That was how I ended up at some sort of state park outside of town.
Percy was improving at driving, so it was just us there, along with a couple of hikers and a bored- looking school group, which, oddly, was (1) off the path, and (2) seemed to be taught by two kids, who were about fifteen and thirteen. We'd have to watch that, because a couple had strange-looking weapons, and all had a boomerang and a long carved walking stick. But we passed them, and soon got to the lake. Percy had promised that he had sorted out all legal issues with swimming in the expanse of water. I took off my swimsuit cover-up and sprayed myself with sunscreen. I had nearly forgotten about the strange group- for now.