Frank ripped the the circular Master Lock out of its casing. He took out the combo on the back of the lock and fastened it into the locker hook. Then, he shut his locker. He put his hand in his front sweatpants pocket to put away his combo for safe keeping. A smooth, square like object touched his palm, and curious, he fished it out of his deep pocket. It was his cell phone, buzzing with a few texts from Hazel, and a missed phone call from Percy. He knew he couldn't be caught with this! If he was, he would be suspended for the whole week. And he didn't want to make a bad first impression. Percy's conversation with him from the day before echoed in his mind: Mortal high schoolers are very quick to judge. Don't do anything wrong on the first day.
Frank shuttered. He tried to open the combo, planning to put the phone in his locker where it belonged, but he realized he didn't know how to open the lock. If he couldn't do that, he would never be able to stash the phone away. He looked for help, but seas of unfamiliar faces was all he saw. He knew Annabeth's locker was down the hallway, and Leo's was on the bottom of his. He knew one of them could help out. But, where were they?
Thankfully, Annabeth and Leo strode down the hallway just before Frank was about to run off and find them. They looked like they were in an intense conversation, Leo throwing his hands up in the air and Annabeth glaring at him. As they walked by, Frank tapped Annabeth on the shoulder.
"Percy, tell Leo that-" She stopped, seeing only Frank, and not Percy. She smiled sweetly, as Frank noticed that she had a soft spot for him. Leo stopped too, and looked at Frank mischievously, like he always did. It made Frank feel uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" Annabeth casually asked, staring at the phone in his hand. "You shouldn't have that in school."
Frank nodded in understanding. "I know, but I need to open the lock to put it back into the locker. The thing is, I don't know how to use the lock," Frank admitted sheepishly.
"Well, it's okay. We all get stuck sometimes. So, the lock was invented in..." Annabeth started to ramble on about the history of locks, and Frank tried hard not to get frustrated. He just needed to know how to do it, not a history lesson!
"Or, I could just teach him how to open it. Watch the McShizzle work his mechanic magic," Leo said. "What's the combo?" He asked. Frank didn't know if be wanted to tell him the combo. He didn't really trust Leo, especially as a locker mate, but he had no other choice. He took out the combo and placed it into Leo's waiting palm.
Leo took it, and looked at it. "P-J-O, interesting. A letter lock," Leo observed.
"Okay, it's easy. Turn it to the P, then back right to the J, and pass the O once, and the second time stop," Leo explained, turning the lock. Frank noticed that Leo' s tongue stuck out when he was focused.
"Then pull!" Leo pulled the lock, and it opened. Frank states at him in awe.
"Thanks dude." He said, still staring at the unlocked lock.
Leo shrugged, and clapped his hands as if there were dust or something on them. "I'm just doing what Superhero Scrawny does, helping innocent civilians." And with that last remark, he and Annabeth walked away, resuming their arguing. Frank smiled as they left, he knew he could count on a friend to help him when he needed it. He trusted Leo, because Leo was now a friend.