I've been going to Goode High School for a year now. It has its ups and downs. Good things: Greek first period, good friends, nice teachers. Bad things: I'm failed all my subjects for the year (except Greek), I have...select friends, and the rest of the people in the school are either jocks or sluts. But the downright biggest thing is that my girlfriend isn't here.
For the entire year, I've been trying to prove to my friends that I do, in fact, have a girlfriend. It doesn't help I can't show a picture of here without them going, "Photoshop" or "actress". I know almost no one from camp except Nico, and he's been consistently trying to screw me over and tell everyone I DON'T have a girlfriend (which is why all these sluts keep trying to hook up with me. I'd rather jump straight off a building, believe me), and on top of that, Annabeth hasn't contacted me in three months. So yeah. I'm this close to punching my bedroom wall out of frustration.
And here we go. I got held back for a grade (at least Annabeth and I are in the same grade now, something got messed up in the school's system. Personally, I think she likes the extra schoolwork), and I once again have to go through this. Oh, the joy of school! I desperately want to chuck myself off a slanted roof with a trash can lid and attempt to go surfing. ANYTHING to get out of school. Hell, could even be fun.
Sadly, when I attempted this, my mom said it was too dangerous and that I could get hurt. I laughed and said, "Okay. Good joke, mom", and she took the lid, smacked me in the head with it, and told me to go to school. Too dangerous? Check. Could get hurt? Check. By my mom's own standards, I should not be near my mother with a trash can lid in hand, or else she would smack me with it.
So I went to school, my head feeling like it got smacked with a trash can lid (which it did), when I stumbled upon my little group of friends. I was already feeling pretty down (first day of school things), and then they proceeded to taunt me even more. "Where's your girlfriend?" The question came up more than any other. So I pretended like I was looking for my girlfriend, and then I actually saw her.
I did a complete spit take. My girlfriend was supposed to be in San Francisco. What...
"Seaweed Brain?" I could never mistake that voice. It HAD to be her.
"WISE GIRL!" I completely shouted. The entire courtyard, with half the school population, mind you, stared at us. We both ran toward each other, and we kissed. Even after three months of dating, they still cleared my mind of ANY bad thing that happened that day. We kissed for a full minute, and the entire courtyard was silent. Good, I thought. Let them look. I'm taken. Taken by the most beautiful, smartest girl in the world.
We finally broke apart, each one of us having the stupidest smile on our faces.
"I thought you were in San Francisco," I said.
Her smile faded away. "Yeah...my parents, uh...they kicked me out of their place. They were worried about attacks. At least they were nice enough to buy me a ticket to Manhattan, but I don't have a place to stay."
I noticed she refrained from saying 'monster'. That's when I remembered there was half of the school staring at us. I didn't care in the slightest. That's when I got the idea.
"You could stay with us. I could ask Paul during English, and I know my mother is dying to see you again. I certainly am."
Her face lit up like Christmas. "You really think I could move in," she asked incredulously.
"Of course!"
She grinned with a smile that almost split her face in half. "I don't think this day could get any better!"
Then the bell rang. First day of school. Yippee. But I saw her face just go from overly ecstatic to this complete dreamy look.
"I think I have died. And this is what Elysium is like," she muttered.
I snickered at her. She stuck her tongue out at me, and we started walking in when we saw my friends standing there in complete shock.
Almost immediately as we acknowledged their presence did they start shouting, "OH MY GOD! HIS GIRLFRIEND'S REAL!" Nico just started snickering at their stupidity.
I looked at the clock. 7:00. We have to stay in the auditorium for 30 minutes. But since Annabeth is new (and in the same grade as me!), and I've been here for a year, I could show her around and she would get her schedule.
When she got her schedule, I compared it to mine. "Exactly the same," I muttered. "How? I'm taking Architecture..." she mumbled, and she straight up busted out laughing when she realized that I was also taking Architecture. I told her to shut up in a joking way, and proceeded to take out my sketchbook. That shut her up.
I actually care about what my girlfriend is doing. In the words of Annabeth herself, "That's what makes him so awesome". She said that when we were at camp and she was talking to Thalia. I'll admit, I was eavesdropping, but it was only because Thalia looked at me when she asked Annabeth to talk in private.
The first drawing was that of a 3D box. I was horrified to see that someone with the unmistakable handwriting of my Architecture teacher had written, "Your best drawing yet. Keep up the mediocre work!", even though it wasn't there before. Curse you, Ms. Lock! Annabeth giggled at that. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to see the rest of my drawings, because she insisted that she needed to see the school in its entirety. More like she needs to find out where the library is, I thought to myself.
I gave a tour of the school, and when we were done, it was 7:30. Perfect, time for our Greek class.
"Who here already knows how to speak Greek," our teacher asked. When Nico and I raised our hands, the teacher quickly added, "Besides Nico and Percy." Annabeth raised her hand. The teacher urged her to attempt to speak with me in Greek in front of the class.
"Πραγματικά χαίρομαι που σας βλέπω εδώ, σοφό κορίτσι," I said. I really am glad to see you here, Wise Girl.
She rolled her eyes, and responded, "Δεν θα μπορούσα να πω από που μου έλεγε πριν από δέκα λεπτά που είστε ευτυχείς να με δει εδώ." I couldn't tell from you telling me ten minutes ago that you're glad to see me here.
"Σκάσε!" Shut up!
"Στη θετική πλευρά, έχω να σας βλέπουμε κάθε μέρα. Από την άλλη πλευρά, ότι θα μπορούσε να πάρει αποσπούν την προσοχή." On the plus side, I get to see you every day. On the other hand, that might get distracting.
"Γεια σου, θα μπορούσα να προσπαθήσω να βοηθήσω με το σχεδιασμό του Ολύμπου!" Hey, I could to help with designing Olympus!
"Ω ναι, με περίτεχνα τις ικανότητές σας κουτί αποφάσεων. Λυπάμαι, αλλά δεν είμαι εμπιστοσύνη ότι δεν θα προσπαθήσει να πάρει ένα άγαλμα του εαυτού σας με την πλάκα 'Είμαι τόσο φοβερό.' Αυτό θα πάει με το άγαλμα του Απόλλωνα, στην πραγματικότητα." Oh yeah, with your elaborate box making skills. I'm sorry, but I'm not trusting you won't try to get a statue with the plaque 'I am so awesome'. That could go with Apollo's statue, actually.
"Βλέπω? Βοηθάω ήδη." See? I'm helping already.
We then realized that our teacher was staring at us like we had three heads. Then again, everyone was. Except Nico, of course. He just smiled at what we were bickering about.
"Γιατί η Ελληνική δάσκαλός μας μας κοιτάζουν σαν αυτό?" Why is our Greek teacher looking at us like that?
"Μάλλον δεν ξέρει μια λέξη που είπε." He probably doesn't know one word we said.
We both started laughing, which confused everyone even more. "So, what did you guys talk about?", our teacher asked us.
How incompetent you are. "We discussed possible strategies for Tic-Tac-Toe in case we ever had to show our friends how smart we are," I said.
The rest of the lesson was him attempting to teach basic Greek. Almost everyone mispronounced how to say the word hello, and we had to demonstrate how to both write it and speak it.
The bell rung. Everyone stayed in their seats except for Nico, Annabeth, and myself, trying to copy down the homework: write the Greek word hello five times and practice speaking it at home. I looked back in the classroom and said goodbye in Greek. Annabeth laughed and said, "Tic-Tac-Toe?"
"Okay, maybe that part wasn't accurate, but we were discussing strategies and we were showing our friends how smart we are," I said. "I trust you that the plaque you described, next to said statue, will happen. Maybe not for me, but for Apollo."
We arrived at our math class. The teacher began the first day of school by trying to make a joke Annabeth didn't get.
"Okay class, I will be showing you how 2 + 2 = 5."
"Is this another incompetent teacher?", Annabeth mumbled under her breath, but I heard it clear as day.
"Imagine a problem. 2.4 + 2.3. The problem instructs you to round all numbers to the nearest whole number when finished with the equation. You get 2.4 + 2.3 = 4.7. You'll find, after rounding all the numbers, that you get 2 + 2 = 5."
Annabeth, being the arrogant wise girl she is, actually stood up from her seat and started her rant by saying, "Excuse me, sir, but I disagree."
I probably was not paying attention the full time, but I'll try to get down what I think she said.
"You see, a problem, even a theoretical one, would never say that and still fall under academic standards. It goes against what we are taught is the simplest problem in math, a problem everyone knows, and you are trying to prove that it is incorrect. I'm sure if the school were to see what was..." I think that was it before I noticed a duck on the roof of the building, which was clearly visible. The duck was standing at the edge of the roof. I stood up, pointed toward the window, and yelled loud enough for what I could assume the whole school could hear, "NO, DUCK! DON'T DO IT! YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!"
Immediately everyone ran toward the window where I was pointing. Everyone saw it was a joke and went back to their seats. The teacher started explaining to Annabeth how it was a joke he told all the new freshmen and how it WAS JUST A PRANK BRO. The real thing we were doing that class was getting to know each other. I shrugged. I already knew Nico and Annabeth, and my group of friends. Do I really need to know anyone else?
One thing I did find (once again) was that people were trying to get to know me. Not in a friendly way, but in a special way. Of course, I told them I had a girlfriend. Most didn't believe me. They probably thought they were gonna get me all to themselves and that I didn't have a girlfriend. So when Annabeth came their way, and explained to the thickheaded people that were into me that she was my girlfriend, they didn't take it very lightly. One girl actually tried punching Annabeth, but she kept ducking and dodging until she was doing an entire ballet routine and not attacking back.
Apparently Annabeth kept count as to how many punches she was dodging, because she said after the hundredth one, "Mr. Williams, she has taken 100 strikes toward me. Am I allowed to strike back?"
Mr. Williams, who saw the whole thing and supposedly also kept count said, "One strike, Annabeth." Annabeth, being the Wise Girl she is, simply poked the arm of the girl attacking her, and she fell to the floor.
I straight up busted out laughing. Annabeth's really learned a lot from camp. I should take lessons from her in combat soon. Then again, I already know how to stop a guy's heart with my right thumb, so...
The period continued with its "getting to know each other" phase until the bell rang, and into third period we went. Architecture.
When I entered the room with Annabeth, I knew something was up. The room was decorated in a way that Ms. Lock would never decorate it. I looked at the name of the teacher: Ms. Chase. Annabeth stiffened when she saw the teacher. I looked at the teacher myself, and I knew that the other shoe had dropped. Nemesis is evening out the day. At least her, of all people, can help improve my skills, I thought.
"Mom, what are you doing here," Annabeth asked.
This chapter has been brought to you by Aiden Mather. For more chapters like these, please follow, favorite, and/or review. Thank you for reading: "No One Else - Chapter One".