Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out the story. In case you're new here, my name's Daphne and this is the revised version of my story 'Demigod High-School Story: The Awakener', which you can find on my profile. The story isn't complete but I still update new chapters there as well as posting the revised chapters here.

I made quite a few changes to this chapter, and I also combined it with Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This is the only time I'm going to say this. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Prologue

Like all good stories, this one begins on a day that is not so much different than any other. Like all good demigod stories, this one begins on a day that turns out to be as strange and as different as you can get. And, like all good high-school stories, this one begins with a bell.

Chapter 1

RING!

I jumped up, jerked awake by the sound of the school bell. My head was in my arms and my books weren't even open. I must have fallen asleep during Mr Simmonds' lecture about the importance of the arts in our everyday lives. I've got two words for you. Bor-ing. But on the up-side, it's the first day of the school year and I've already set a personal record for catching up on lost sleep.

Don't get me wrong, I love school, but it's just so dull. Having ADHD and dyslexia doesn't help either. My mind wanders and I end up getting detention for not paying attention in class. It's just teachers rambling on about things that I learned about in eighth grade anyway. And that isn't even the worst part.

I scrambled around, gathering my books and notes and rushed out the door, ignoring the glares of the people that I bumped into, and headed to my last class before lunch, praying that my luck would hold. I had already had my first three classes without causing too much trouble. Okay, maybe I did trip up Emily Syre in first period Greek. I accidentally fell asleep while she was trying (emphasis on the trying) to pronounce the word 'cat' and she fell over my leg. But I only got a glare from the teacher; she likes me because I'm the only student that doesn't get the words 'cat' and 'chair' up.

Geography wasn't too bad either, apart from when I mixed up Malaysia and Mexico (blame the dyslexia) and in art, Mr Simmonds didn't even notice that I fell asleep. So maybe, just maybe, I would be able to walk down the hall without getting interrupted.

What was I thinking? It's me we're talking about.

So I wasn't really surprised when, in her bleached blonde, blue eyed, short skirted, cake-faced make-upped glory, Kayleigh Edwards cut across my path and stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, with her posse glaring at me from the corner. I just glared back.

"What's up, freak?" she sneered. Did I mention that I'm kind of a loser? Apparently looking like an escaped circus freak is perfectly acceptable, but joining the orchestra is social suicide. Who knew?

I feigned shock. "Why, Kayleigh, I didn't know you cared."

"I don't care?" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Kayleigh has this irritating habit of saying every sentence like it was a question.

I looked at her blankly. "What's the point in asking then?"

I heard a cackle of laughter from the corner in which Kayleigh's followers were standing. I recognized the girl who laughed as Violet. Why she was friends with Kayleigh, I had no clue. Violet looked like she'd belong with the group of goths rather than the cheerleading squad. Her hair was black and closely cropped and she had bright green eyes, a color that I'd normally associate with poison. Rows of silver piercings lines both of her ears and she even had one in both her nose and her eyebrow. To be honest, I'd say that Kayleigh was scared of her, but Violet made sure that no-one messed with the Kayleigh Edwards.

I smiled sweetly at Violet and the cheerleaders and turned back to Kayleigh. "Could you excuse me?" I asked. "I'm gonna be late for Algebra. Unless you have something you want to say?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make myself feel prettier by being around someone so ugly?" she mocked.

"Why did you come over here then?" I snapped. "You could have just stayed with your friends. Oh right, even they couldn't make a monkey like you feel pretty. Now, if you could excuse me?"

She didn't respond, so I pushed passed her, books in hand, heading down the hall to another forty-five minutes of hell.

So everyone, welcome to Goode High, New York.

I sat down in room 113B, in the back row, and begun to take in my surroundings. Scott Davies, one of the jocks, was hitting on Jessica Forrester, which resulted in him getting a slap to the face. I snickered. Scott was one of those...people, if you know what I mean. He's arrogant with blonde hair and brown eyes, and knows he's good looking. I hate guys like that. Jessica was cute in a nymph-y kind of way. She has dirty blonde hair and grass-green eyes. She's tall and willowy, with long limbs and slender fingers.

In another corner of the classroom were two of Kayleigh's cronies. One was texting her new boy toy for the week and the other was re-applying her makeup and fixing her hair. Typical. They notice me looking and shoot me a glare.

Jeez, I thought. Anger issues much? Toward the front of the room were the geeks, Arnold Ryder, Beverly Morris, Lewis Campbell and Brenda Brooks, were writing a science report and comparing comics or something. It may sound nerdy, but the kids were actually pretty cool. I got paired up with Lewis for an English project in my sophomore year, and since then we've been on friendly terms; nothing major, just a 'Hey' in the hall and stuff.

Before I could take in anymore, the teacher walked in.

She was a short, black haired woman, who looked about thirty, and introduced herself as Mrs Wright. She silenced whispered conversations and glared at Kayleigh's cronies who were still texting. They rolled their eyes as a 'Whatever' gesture. God, they are so annoying.

Mrs Wright was just about to begin the lesson, when a boy came stumbling through the door.

"Mrs Wright? Senior Algebra?" The boy asked. Mrs Wright nodded and raised her eyebrow, asking for a reason for him being late to class.

"Sorry I'm late," the boy began, "my flight was delayed this morning." His voice was flat and it was evident that he didn't enjoy the flight. I couldn't blame him. I didn't like them either.

Mrs Wright nodded curtly and said "I'll let this one slide, since it's the first day, but please don't make a habit of it, Mr…" She trailed off, and the boy realized that she was waiting for his name.

"Jackson," the boy said. "Percy Jackson."

"Yes," Mrs Wright smiled. "Don't make a habit of being late Mr Jackson." He nodded. "Oh, and welcome to Goode High. Take a seat beside Miss Winnok, and I will begin my class."

I jerked my head up as I heard my name being mentioned, and I saw the boy walking rather awkwardly in my direction. I gave him a small smile as he sat down. That gave me a proper chance to look at him.

He was tall. Not freaky tall, about the average height of the jocks, and his hair was black. Not dyed black, that was obvious, but a raven black, with what looked like the remains of a gray streak on one side. This puzzled me, but I decided to forget about it.. He also smelled strange. Not the 'oops, I forgot to shower' kinda strange, but more like a natural, familiar smell, like I recognized it from somewhere. I shook my head, dismissing the thoughts.

I turned my attention back to Mrs Wright, because I didn't want to freak Mr Jackson out by me staring at him for too long. He probably got that a lot. The guy was quite a looker. Not my type, but cute all the same.

"First, I would like all of you to partner up with the person next to you," I heard Mrs Wright say, "and find out about each other. Then, write about 500 words on yourself and your partner. For homework, I'd like you all to write about your opinion of, and your relation to mathematics, particularly algebra. You have the rest of the lesson to complete what you can. This is due in our next lesson. You may begin."

Chatter immediately broke out among my class, and I turned to Percy and held out my hand to shake. I normally wasn't this forward with people, but considering that he was a new student, I decided that I should probably take the chance to befriend him while I had the chance.

"Gabriella Winnok," I said as he took my hand. "Call me Gabby."

"Percy Jackson," he replied with a smile. We locked eyes, and they were the most unusual colour that I've ever seen. They were green. Not green like grass like Jessica Forrester's, or mould green like Aidan Sawyer's, who's in my Gym class, but sea-green. Bright, confident, and deep. I could tell that Mr Jackson was a special person.

I figured that we had better get to work on our 'project', so I began with a simple question.

"So, is this your first year at Goode?" I asked. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

He smiled and replied, "No, I was here for my sophomore year, but was transferred last year because of some," he paused for a couple of seconds. "Family issues."

I nodded and I snapped my fingers as realization dawned on me. "Oh, I remember you! You were on the swim team."

He laughed and his eyes brightened. "Yeah, I love the water, it helps me think. My mom says that I take after my dad."

"How so?" I asked.

Percy looked down and he smirked, "He's a marine biologist."

Percy explained that he doesn't really see his dad very often, because his parents had separated after he was born. I noticed that he didn't seem troubled by that.

"You don't seem to mind that he left. Doesn't that bother you?" I questioned. My own father had left my mother before I was born, and I have resented him ever since.

Percy smiled and shook his head. "I was angry with him until I was about twelve years old until I met him for the first time. It turns out he had very good reasons. I see him quite often now and you can say that we're pretty close."

"Wow," I smiled. "My father left my mom before I was born. She never talks about him, and I've never met him. I hate him for leaving. I don't understand why it was so hard for him to stay."

When I mentioned not having met my father, Percy seemed surprised and a little shocked. He looked like he was processing what I had just said, and he put on a confused face, like was having a debate in his head.

I could tell that an awkward silence was about to grace us with it's presence, so I decided to get on with the project.

"So," I said, rather loudly. "We should probably get to work on this project. Tell me something interesting about yourself."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed and he thought for a moment before answering: "My middle name is Andrew."

I raised an eyebrow. "No it isn't. You made that up."

"Yes," Percy replied. "Yes I did."

"So tell me something true so I can write this stupid essay!" I said, exasperated.

"Okay," Percy replied. "I have ADHD and dyslexia."

I smiled. I was kinda relieved that he had ADHD and dyslexia, because I did too. People didn't often understand how hard it is to be dyslexic.

"I'll tell you something about myself," I said. "I do too."

I silently hoped that he hadn't been making up that he had ADHD and dyslexia as well. Because that would be embarrassing, but there was no use denying it now.

But all Percy said was 'Wow, I never would have guessed' and that was the end of that.

"Tell me something else," Percy said. "Are you in any school clubs?"

I rolled my eyes. "You'd never catch me in a club. I find that the less contact I have with the rest of the student body, the easier my life will be." I thought for a moment. "But I am in the orchestra though. I play the violin."

"That's really cool," Percy smiled, actually sounding interested. "What made you take up music?"

I looked down at my paper and my smile faded. "I've always liked music, I suppose. Someone gave me a violin in eighth grade and I've been playing ever since."

Percy opened his mouth to say something. I really hoped that it wasn't anything else about my violin. It was a sensitive subject for me.

However, whatever Percy was about to say was cut off my the teacher.

"Alright everyone," Mrs Wright said. "That's enough chatter for now. Work on your project silently from now on."

There were grumbles and protests from the class but the noise level dropped to no more than a whisper.

Before he went back to his work, Percy said, "Hey, do you want to, I dunno, hang out? I need someone to get me up to speed."

"Sure," I replied. "It'll give me something to do."

The two of us worked in silence until the bell rang. I grabbed my books, looked back at Percy, and we walked to the cafeteria together.

I found out a lot about Percy Jackson in that short time. He loves his mother, has been going to a camp on Long Island since he was twelve. He is obsessed with the ocean, and anything that has to do with water. He is a loyal friend and a hard worker.

As we walked down the halls, I noticed that lots of the girls were staring at him and giggling to their friends, while the guys on the football team seemed to be sizing him up, probably working out if Percy was going to be future competition. But Percy seemed completely oblivious to the attention.

I wondered if Percy had a girlfriend. He probably did, seeing as though he got the attention of almost the entire female population of the school grounds in less than an hour and a half. I didn't want to bring it up though, because then he might ask me if I had a boyfriend. I'd only ever had one but I caught him cheating on me, so I don't really like bringing that up.

Percy and I stopped off at my locker on the way to the cafeteria and I tried to shove my algebra textbook in along with all the mess that had collected over the day.

I turned to Percy. "Can I see your schedule?" I asked.

"Huh?" He asked, obviously confused. I rolled my eyes.

"Your schedule," I replied, "you know, that piece of paper that tells you what classes you have?"

"Oh," he smiled sheepishly as he pulled a crumpled up piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Honestly," I said, as I compared our two a timetables, "what's in that head of yours? Water?"

He laughed and said, "That's what my girlfriend says. She calls me Seaweed Brain."

I closed my locker and we continued our walk to the cafeteria. Which was on the other side of the school. So naturally, I kept up the conversation.

"Ooh," I smiled as I nudged his arm and handed him back his schedule, "Percy's got a girlfriend! What's she like?" I teased.

He grinned. "Her name's Annabeth Chase, she's from California."

I frowned. A California Girl? Really? There were some girls from California here at Goode at they were all on the cheerleading squad. I couldn't imagine Percy being the type of guy to date a cheerleader. I scrunched up my nose just thinking about it. Percy just laughed.

"Annabeth isn't like anyone you've ever met before, I can tell you that," he said. "Anyway, she only lived in San Francisco until she was seven. She's tall and has curly blonde hair and grey eyes." Percy's eyes seemed to almost glaze over. "Gods, I love her eyes."

I smiled at this. It's not every day that you get a boyfriend that rambles openly about how much he loves you. But he didn't stop there. He talked and talked about everything about her. Her fear of spiders, the way her hair smells like lemons and how her mom hates him.

"...and she's the smartest person I know. She loves architecture and her dream is to go to Greece and see the Parthenon."

"Wow," I nodded, impressed. "She must really be something. How long have you been dating?"

"About two years," Percy replied proudly, obviously impressed with himself. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah, we got together on my sixteenth birthday," Percy explained. "She kissed me after I tried to ask her out." He looked down sheepishly and a light blush tainted his cheeks. I could tell that Percy probably wasn't the smoothest when it comes to asking out girls. I laughed as I imagined the situation.

"So, when did you meet?" I asked, eager to find out more.

"I met her when we were twelve, on my first day at summer camp. The first thing she said to me was 'You drool in your sleep'," he said. "We hated each other. I thought she was totally uptight, and she thought I was an idiot." He smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown.

"Come to think of it, I don't think her opinion has changed at all."

I laughed. "She sounds wonderful. I hope I get to meet her."

"So do I," Percy said, "you'd love her."

"I'm sure I would," I smiled.

Percy smiled back as we opened the doors to the cafeteria and were greeted by absolute chaos.

Shouts and laughter could be heard, and students were running around like a bunch of untrained monkeys.

Oh great, I thought, I was right. Another year of living hell.

Percy's eyes widened when he saw the array of students pretty much bouncing off the walls, so I grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the food, which seemed to cheer him up.

As I walked away with my chicken burger, water and chocolate-chip cookie, I looked back at Percy, who was pleading with the lunch lady.

"Can you please make it blue?" he whined, "please, please, please?"

Blue coke? I thought. What's wrong with this kid?

But Lunch Lady held her ground and Percy walked away, grumbling, looking at his coke with distaste. I decided not to bring up the blue food situation, and he stood by me, looking around the cafeteria.

"Who do you normally sit with?" he asked.

"Oh," I said, blushing, "well, I don't really have any proper friends. I normally sit outside, um, by myself."

He looked surprised. "You don't have any friends?"

I scowled and looked down at the floor in embarrassment.

"Well," he smiled, "we can have no friends together. These people are idiots anyway."

I smiled at him gratefully. "You can say that again," I muttered as two freshmen kids ran headfirst into each other. That had gotta hurt.

Percy and I sat down in my usual spot under the big oak tree, and I questioned Percy about his love of blue food. He explained how, when he was young, his mother, Sally, was married to a total douche named Gabe Ugliano. Apparently, he treated Percy and his mother badly, and he believed that food could not be blue. So, just to annoy Gabe, Mrs Jackson made all food blue.

"Is your mom still married to Gabe?" I asked after Percy had finished his story.

He smiled, like there was some personal joke he wasn't sharing. "No, we got rid of him long ago. When I was fifteen, mom married Paul."

"Paul?" I asked.

"Paul Blofis," he replied. I was a bit, to say in the least, perplexed. His mom married his English teacher? But Percy continued. "Mom met him at one of her business conferences. She's an author. That's how I got into Goode actually. Paul offered me a place and I accepted. I was running out of places to go. This is the only school I've been able to stay at for over a year. I've been expelled from all the others."

I certainly didn't expect that. Percy didn't seem like a bad-boy. He seemed too nice.

How could a guy like that get expelled from so many schools? I wondered.

Mind you, this is my fourth school. I left the first after my principal attacked me. It was in third grade, and I still don't understand that. Everyone said that I was hallucinating, that Mr Wilson couldn't possibly have a goats head, but I still have a scar on my left shoulder to prove it.

That day when I came home from school, mom pulled me out and we moved from my original home in Washington to Idaho. After that, I have moved inter-state to, obviously, New York, and Goode is the second school I've been to here.

Once again, the school bell jarred me away from my thoughts. Percy helped me up and we walked to our last period of the day, Study Hall, to work on our 500 words for Mrs Wright.

Percy slammed his locker, which was about five down from mine, and we walked out of Goode together in a comfortable silence.

We reached the student parking lot and I asked, "Do you have a car?"

He nodded, "Although you can't really call it a car. It's a piece of rusty crap on wheels."

I laughed and he asked me how I get home.

"I usually walk or take the bus," I shrugged.

Percy smiled and said, "Well, do you want a lift?"

"In your piece of rusty crap on wheels?" I said skeptically. "Sure, why not."

He laughed and we walked to his car. I noticed girls glaring at me. I shrugged it off and we drove away in Percy's car, with it hiccupping every now and then.

We held a quiet conversation, and he asked me about my life. I explained how I've moved all over the country with my mom, Sarah Winnok. I also told him about the third grade incident with my principal, but left out the part about the goats head. He seemed shocked, and put on his deep-thinking face, which doesn't suit him at all. It looked like he was having another debate in his head, but one side was definitely more dominant.

I began to feel a bit awkward, so I asked him about how he got expelled from so many schools.

He chuckled. "Well, in eighth grade, I had to leave because I had to go interstate for the rest of the school year, and in seventh grade, I accidentally torched the gym."

I gasped, shocked and he smiled, "I didn't actually torch the gym, some visiting students did, but I got blamed. Again."

I still wasn't quite reassured. Then something clicked into place.

"You're the kid who set fire to the music room during the orientation!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering a boy with messy black hair and green eyes running out of the school grounds, closely followed by, wait, Rachel Elizabeth Dare? I'll have to ask him about that later.

"Yeah, that was me," Percy said. "But believe me, that wasn't the worst thing that's happened."

He told me about the other times he's been expelled, like sixth grade when he got into a fight with a girl named Nancy Bobofit, fifth grade, when he got in an accident with a Revolutionary War cannon ("I wasn't aiming for the school bus! Honestly!"), and in his fourth grade school when they took a tour of the Marine World shark pool and his class went on an unexpected swim.

I laughed at the last one, and I realized that we had arrived at my house.

"Thanks for the ride," I said as I opened my door and begun to walk up the steps to my house, "see you tomorrow."

He waved and drove away, and I opened my door thinking about him. Percy is the strangest person I've ever met, I thought, but I like him.

I dumped my bag in my room, crashed on the couch and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, which surprised me. I guessed that it was hanging around with Percy all day.

Who knew that making friends takes up so much energy?

I smiled and kicked my feet up. Then, I simply fell asleep.

Thanks again for reading this. I always appreciate feedback, so all reviews are welcome. If you're here from the original story, take note of the slight changes. I will be changing the sequence of events so make sure to keep up!

I'll see you all soon!

Kisses, Daphne