AN: Hey guys! So umm.. this is my first story I'm writing. I'm incredibly inexperienced so if there's an issue you have please let me know through reviews! This is an idea I've been toying with and I finally made it happen! Let me know your thoughts pls
Sixty years.
She heard the same thing all the time: the pitying looks and the oh I'm so sorry's from everyone around her. She can't blame them. Maybe if she turned out like the Alts, she'd probably be the same as the rest.
But no, she's a Fait.
Annabeth Chase lived in the nation of Olympus. The older Alts refer to it as a utopia. That's what a lot of them thought at first, too.
She wasn't even born when it first started. It's been happening for longer than that, she knows, but forty-seven years ago the technology was put in the mainstream, and names were given to those modified and those who weren't. The "Alterations" and the "Faithfuls". Everyone calls them the "Alts" and the "Faits" for short.
Genetically-modified organisms was the term they originally used - until the public deemed it too controversial, so the government commercialized the term "altered" instead. Perfectly altered teeth, perfect hair, perfect body and health and everything. Even someone's mental abilities could be improved into something more. The technology made it possible when you're born. No one really bothers and looks into the technicalities of it, but the general idea is there: scientists change and replace your DNA until you become their desired result.
It was mainly a matter of money; if you had it, you could have yourself the perfect child. If you didn't, your baby was a matter of faith. A Faithful, people called it. Of course, some people simply chose not to go through with it.
Annabeth was a Fait. Purely through choice, she likes to remind herself. Her parents didn't believe in screwing with anything natural, and kept her the way she started out.
Unfortunately for her, that also meant that in choosing your life, that was it. She was a Fait, that was about as much as she can do about her life. Everything else was given to her, whether she or her parents wanted it or not. Dyslexia, but she can easily practice to outgrow that. ADHD, but there are pills. Sixty years, the doctor reminded. Maybe a few more, sixty-five at the most.
Sixty years of life. It wasn't necessarily bad. Health in society today could easily be modified to give you an extra ten, twenty, however much you want (given it stayed in the humanly possible range). Sixty was pretty short, though, when compared to the prolonged life span of an Alt.
It never bothered Annabeth at a young age. She learned to deal with her ADHD, and she read enough to live with her dyslexia. And sixty years? Living longer than what the doctors predict wasn't unheard of, just rare.
Divorce. The word rang bitterly in her head. She was seven. It wasn't anything messy; her mother was here one day, gone another. Athena Chase just preferred to pursue her architecture business, her family was holding her back. At least, that's the excuse Annabeth was given. Her father remarried when Annabeth was nine. He also started devoting himself less to the family and more to his work at the college.
Her new stepmother, Helen, was an Alt, and so were her boys, Matthew and Bobby. They weren't terrible family members; ignorant was a better term. Their lack of attention and her father's devotion to work contributed to the remainder of her childhood.
Annabeth had to work hard to reach level of the other kids, but it paid off. She was capable, she knew. Annabeth was smart, and ambitious, and much more dedicated than the other kids in her grade. That was enough, she'd remind herself. And that's how it stood for a while.
The alarm wakes her up in the morning with a high-pitched ringing.
"Urgh," she moans. Annabeth rolls out of bed with a heavy thud and drudges to the bathroom. Her curly blonde hair is wildly unkempt in the mirror, she thinks.
Music blares from her phone as she finished and dressed. Jeans compliment her T-shirt and faded cardigan, she decides.
"Annabeth! You're going to be LATE!" her brother's voice rang from downstairs.
"Mmph." She marches downstairs to her family.
Her father, Frederick Chase, is leaning on a wooden chair, his face is covered by a gigantic tablet displaying the morning news. A black ring of liquid lies where his coffee mug was earlier. He grunts to her in acknowledgment.
Her stepmother Helen gives her a quick smile. Her shiny teeth are perfectly straight and white and absolutely artificial, Annabeth thinks bitterly. Not much follows after that, and she quickly turns back into the kitchen.
Her brothers, Bobby and Matthew, give her an obnoxious grin so she can see their teeth stained brown with chewed food. She sends them a mocking smile in return and grabs a waffle before sitting. There's a steady clk clk sound as her hand taps impatiently on the wooden surface.
"Erm, Dad. Did you hear the recent news surrounding President Krone and his plans to shut down the Alt- Fait protests?" Her father doesn't look up. In fact, he's on his phone now, talking about some new artifact to show his students at the college. "Uh.. I think Krone's tactics are a bit too intense, don't you?"
Her father sends her a look, as to say not now, sweetheart. She frowns and says in a louder voice, " I mean, I think he's been awfully demanding lately of the protestors, but the rumors that he's been sending threats to those high involved? It's almost dictatorial."
Her father finally pulls away from his phone. "Annabeth, I'm really sorry, but for the love of gods, please stop talking. I'm trying to discuss bringing an artifact in for my students and - "
She doesn't hear the rest because she stands up and marches to the door. "Thalia's here," she states firmly and dramatically storms out. It's moments like these that make her glad her stepmother and brothers are blind sheep, they never once looked up at her and her father's embarrassing "conversation".
She is thankful when her best friend actually pulls up in a black convertible.
Thalia Grace is a junior at Goode High, only a year older than Annabeth. They knew each other for a long time, but never hit it off officially until high school.
Thalia is the epitome of a rebel. Black leather jackets and spiky black hair and chunky black jewelry and everything. She's an Alt herself, but she hates it.
"They think they can decide that I have to be 'perfect' before I'm even born? Stupid face and teeth and height? Screw that." She donned the clothes and jewelry and attitude and quickly gained favor of Annabeth by high school. Annabeth was thankful that with an equally disgruntled Alt, Faits didn't have to feel so guilty for being bitter.
Thalia was smart; the scientist made it so, but she'd never admit it. She made it just enough so she could barely pass the grade, much to the chagrin of her wealthy father, Congressman Zeus Grace. To Annabeth and their other friends, it was absolutely delightful to irritate those higher up in power.
She was strong and crazy fast, thanks to her modified stamina and fixed muscles and legs. That was really one of the only traits she ever really wanted to show off as an Alt. But she'd never go as far as to join a sports team.
"My dad sucks," Annabeth scowled. "And my stepmom, too. So do my brothers, but at least they're kids so it's acceptable."
Thalia smirks. "Yes I've heard. Welcome to the club, Annie."
"Whatever. Did you hear about President Krone?"
Thalia suddenly slams her hand hard on the steering wheel. "YES. That grade-A greasy-haired JOKE of a politician thinks it's acceptable to - "
"Well, I mean, they're just rumors for now, so we can't jump the fence yet and start preaching about anarchy or whatever."
"I know, I know. But he's so bent on those stupid Alts that - "
"Thalia. You're an Alt. Bitter as most Faits are, you can't hate the altered, you can only - "
"Hate the system." Thalia finishes. "I swear I can't wait to stuff my genetically modified foot up the government's — oh hey, we're here."
They pull up on the front of Goode High School. Students swarm the buildings left and right.
Annabeth exits and looks for any familiar faces.
From a distance, they see a pretty, tan- skinned girl waving from a distance. Piper McLean, she was an Alt, which was kind of a given since her father was A-list actor and director, Tristan McLean. She wasn't as extreme as Thalia, but she also didn't like the privilege given to her for being an Alt. Her hair is choppy where she tried to mess it up with scissors a month ago. She's part Cherokee, a fact she displays by clipping a feather in her hair. It's an attempt to make herself seem less artificial, but if anything, it makes her even more attractive. She was slender and had high cheekbones and heterochromial eyes. Even her voice was beautiful enough to make you do what she asked.
"Guys, I am honestly not ready for third period. Brunner is sick again, and Miss Dodds is our sub for the day." She lets out an audible groan.
Annabeth winces. She liked history and all, but Dodds had a reputation among the students for being "old-fashioned". Thalia bluntly refers to her as the "prejudiced hag they should've burned when given the chance".
"Dodds? Again?" a new voice comes up from behind, " I swear it's like she's asking to be in my presence at this point."
"Shut up, Leo. No one likes you."
Piper laughs at Thalia's remark and jokingly slaps him on the back.
Leo Valdez: small, short, Hispanic, and a Faithful. His parents were mechanics, but his mother passed away when he was younger. He was the group's slapstick, and their mechanic if they ever needed something fixed. Resourceful with the humor to match, he was likable in the annoying sort of way.
Before school starts, the rest of their group joins up.
Hazel: a small, dark-skinned Fait, along with her half brother Nico D'angelo, also a Fait. They were differing personalities, Hazel was vibrant and cheerful, and Nico was dark and moody and brooding. Neither of them ever talked about their past, and no one in the group was willing to ask.
Grover joins shortly after, in a ratty green "Save the Trees" T-shirt. He's an Alt, but he was involved in a major car accident years ago that left him crippled. He still had the mental capabilities to impress his classmates despite all that.
Alts and Faits weren't so necessarily segregated. Everyone's supposed to treat each other like equals- and most people do. It was never really a point to discuss someone's inherited or altered births. Discrimination against Faits or Alts were illegal, but it's easy to see one was preferred over the other. Annabeth thinks of it as an unspoken but known mindset- people won't admit it, but there's still the invisible line between Alts and Faits.
The group is deep in discussion about the possibilities that Dodds may actually be a real witch, when a loud shout disrupts them.
Across the tables lay another group of students. The shout comes from resident Alt and athletic star Percy Jackson. A quick laugh from him assured that it wasn't a shout of panic. Instead, he pulls his arms out to reveal a football evidently thrown at his chest by his second-in-command, fellow Alt Jason Grace. Both boys make a show to frantically struggle over it.
"Freakin' dumbo over there doesn't think the whole schoolyard can hear him. There are other people you know!" Thalia hisses so only her friends can hear. The people in that group were popular, and all Alts. In fact, most of the members are likely the ones who deem Faits to be below them. It's no surprise Thalia has a vendetta towards them. "My gods - it wasn't even anything serious! Look- they may as well be gay lovers or something!" She jerks her head towards Percy and Jason, still struggling over the ball.
Nico shifts uncomfortably, and Piper stares at Jason intently. "I don't know. I mean they're not all bad."
Hazel laughs. "Yeah, I'm sure some aren't so prejudiced as the rest. But I'm also sure you only say this because you've been crushing on the blond Superman since freshman year."
This catches Piper's attention. "Wha-But- I don't even - " she sputters, "well, I'm not the only one crushing on them. Look at Annabeth."
Annabeth realizes she's been staring at Percy when the group turns to her. She laughs, "Chill. I'm sure they're both as conceited as the rest. Pleasing to the eyes, not anything else. Besides, they're Alts. They're made to be good looking."
Percy finally stops struggling. His black hair is even messier from rolling around. He turns in the group's direction, his unnaturally green ones meet with Annabeth's grey ones. Annabeth sends him a challenging eyebrow raise. He sends her a smirk and winks which makes her roll her eyes and turn back to her table.
She's thankful the bell rings right as she looks down. "Off to class?"
"Have fun with Dodds, sophomores." To no one's surprise, Thalia walks back to car and starts it, driving in the opposite direction from the school.
"Should we stop her?" Hazel prompts.
"Have we ever?" Grover says.
They all mutually decide on no, and walk together to history with Dodds.
It's not a lot so far, and I KNOW it's not that good or interesting, but PLS PLS if you could be honest and let me know your thoughts review and read and I'll try to update as much as possible thanks!!
-Mxxnandstxrs