Disclaimer: I do not own PJO all rights and responsibilities of the PJO or HoO series belong to Rick Riordan.
Annabeth's POV
I'm not planning on anything monumental happening today. I mean, come on it's the first day at a new school, I'm a freshman and I now live thousands of miles from anyone who had known me previously, no big deal right? Wrong, and now as I stand here and marvel at the pristine, 1960ish building I have had the unfortunate displeasure of enrolling in I find myself becoming nervous, I find myself wanting to go back home, maybe unpack a little, read a nice, thick book, and relax. But I can't do that, because I'm Annabeth Chase and I do not run and hide so instead I breathe in, nice and deep, I forcefully cram a ratty Yankee's cap on my head and take my first step into a place that I hope lives up to it's name, Goode High School.
My to-do list is filed away in the highly organized filing cabinet of my cranium, right in-between a list I made when I was six entitled "What I want to be when I grow up" and a school report I did on the 7 richest cities in the world. Anyway number 1 on that list is "Meet with Principal and get Schedule" so I head for the office. It's like any normal office, complete with an elderly woman typing away at a screen I can't see and a bar that looks more useful to pour alcohol on then actually save this poor woman's life. She looks at me from above the glasses that are perched precariously on the bridge of her nose. She then turns back to her screen presses a few keys and without speaking or turning back she points down the hall behind her. I nod mutter a polite "thank you" and trudge to the door. A plate on the door tells me I have the right place and I begrudgingly knock. A terse and slightly slurred "come in" emanates from the room and I push open the oaken door.
I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. A rather plump 40 something man sits in an office chair and instead of the usual business casual attire, that face it we're all used to seeing. The man behind the giant, is that pine?, desk dons a Hawaiian Tiger Stripe shirt and a tousled, messy beard. His eyes appear bloodshot and there's a certain sway to his lazy stature, but no alcohol smell permeates the air and upon closer inspection there isn't a single wine bottle in sight, just several Diet Coke cans. I sit in an uncomfortable seat and look at the man expectantly. He grunts audibly and says in that slightly slurred voice "Yes well I am Dionysus, you may call me Mr.D. So," at this point he picks up a piece of paper, what I guess is my transcript and reads from it he then continues where he left off " Ms. Anniebelle Chart " I roll my eyes at this and don't even bother correcting him he continues as if nothing happened " We have certain guidelines we expect everyone to follow here at Goode and blah, blah, blah." He then wordlessly hands me a schedule and starts setting up what looks to be a pinochle game I grunt noiselessly and leave without a word.
My first class apparently is Math so I immediately head to my locker and after only a slight problem with the lock I open it taking out my math book and color coded binder and placing everything I don't need into very organized and easy to get to places. I walk into the math room and am relieved that only the teacher is there to greet me. She's a skinny frail-looking woman with several streaks of grey in her otherwise black hair and tells me in a snide, rude voice to stay at the front so she can introduce me and find me a seat. The room fills at a slow rate and each person that enters looks fearfully at the teacher before finding themselves a seat. Finally after the bell rings and the last few stragglers hurry in and get yelled at by the teacher. She introduces me "This class is Annabeth Chase, I know she's a new student so everyone I want you to pay her every bit of respect you pay me understand?" The class grumbles in response and she grunts in semi-approval. She addresses me "Annabeth why don't you sit by..." she surveys the remaining empty spots, finally settling on one beside this kid with shaggy, long jet black hair, unfortunately I couldn't place the person's gender as whoever it was seemed to already be asleep. Miss. Dodds smiles at the sleeping figure with an almost primal grin and says loudly "how about you sit next to over there." She points unnecessarily over at the sleeping girl and I moved hastily to the seat indicated.
I look a couple of times at the sleeping girl next to me and finally I have enough of the soft snoring emanating from whatever her first name is so I very ungraciously kick the girl in the shin. She jerks awake mumbling some very unladylike things and something about a gecko? She looks around for a quick second before finally noticing my existence. She looks at me with very tired electric blue eyes and actually grins at me. Then she speaks "Hello newbie I'm Thalia." I look at her doubtfully before putting my hand out and say "Annabeth, my names Annabeth." "Well" she says decisively "Annie" "Annabeth" I say threateningly she grins "as I said Annie would you like somewhere to sit at lunch?" I look at her annoyed and sigh since I know I have no better options and she supposedly taking that as a yes says "great!" I sigh again and think to myself "this is going to be a long year."