-Percy-

I vaguely remember my reaction to the life-changing news. All it deemed to me now was a huge blur of emotions. The first clear thing I remember about it is the blood pounding in my ears as my mom, Sally Jackson, opened the envelope that contained the contents of my future.

She beamed. Her smile stretched so far across her face that I immediately knew that the letter that she held in her hands contained good, no — fantastic news.

I would start my junior year at Goode High, home of the mighty... Pegasus-es? Pegasi? Whatever, I didn't care about the correct plural of Pegasus, what I really couldn't wrap my head around was that I would attend, and play for the school with one of the most athletically skilled football teams in the entire northeast region.

No pressure or anything.

"Percy! Are you packed yet?" I heard my stepfather, Paul, calling from the living room, and I could hear that he opened the door and was quickly growing impatient with me. We had lived in the same apartment together for the last few years as my mom struggled to find a new job after the candy shop that she had used to work for ran out of business, and Paul had kept his same teaching job at the high school for a decade. But now, all the opportunities in the world just seemed to open for me and my family. Or, my family and I... I don't really care how that grammatically works either if I'm being honest.

Anyways, my mom had gotten a job at a museum as a tour guide, spouting out information about the Greek gods, and yada yada... Boring stuff like that for the most part, and she almost always made me want to snooze when she tried to tell me about her job in detail.

As for Paul, Goode had reached out to him to be one of the new teachers. He'd be teaching juniors like me, instead of the freshmen he taught at my old school. I knew it'd be a welcome change for him, he couldn't stand the immaturity of ninth graders.

But, however excited I remained about starting football there, the idea of moving did leave nervous butterflies in my stomach. I'd lived in Manhattan for my entire life and now I was moving to the suburbs outside of New York for high school. I'd leave everything about my old life behind, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

In Manhattan, I actually didn't have the nicest memories. My first girlfriend, and the only girl I've ever loved, Calypso Atlas, crushed my heart into a million pieces there. She didn't do it intentionally, the Calypso I cared for and loved would never hurt a fly. During freshman year, her father got a job and they moved, and she left me behind. I could still hear her words as she broke it off with me.

"Perce, you know I don't want to leave you, I love you." Tears streamed down her face as she spoke, her voice wavering. "But this job is very important to my dad, he always acts like it's his job to hold up the sky for everyone." She chuckled dryly. Her dad was quite the businessman, and by then he had been asked to take over as the boss of the company. He certainly did act like the fate of the world laid on his shoulders, but he didn't take it kindly. He snapped at people, ordered them around, and often made them do his job for him. He was one of those kinds of guys you wish would never have taken power.

I never told her this though. I knew that even if Calypso didn't completely love her dad, she definitely respected him. I had personally always believed that you loved first, and respected later. If you didn't love someone, why would you want to hang around them when you could be with someone you did love? Like how Calypso did love her sister, Zoë. They were twins, but they were so vastly different.

For one, Calypso's hair is one of the first things I grew to love about her. She didn't wake up at dawn to fix it, it didn't cascade perfectly. It flowed down to her waist in messy waves, sometimes pulled to the side in a braid, and often pulled back with a headband. I don't know if someone could describe hair as free-willed, but that's certainly how I thought of it. It shined a caramel-blond, but would appear more golden when I looked at it in the sunlight.

No one would ever catch Zoë Atlas' hair as anything but on point and styled to perfection. Her dark mahogany brown hair could be pin straight, curled in big or small ringlets, done in eccentric braids, or even a combination of the three. Never ever could it be described as "messy." I once pulled a strand of hair from her stylish up do, and she had glowered at me until I would apologize a million times for upsetting her. She had always made me a little nervous, and I always felt like she hated me. She didn't like guys though in general, she preferred to stay in a pack of girls. She always put so much effort into how she looked however, that most people thought it was a front, and she just played hard-to-get. But I knew, had a gut feeling, that Zoë looked like this to feel good about herself only. And while Calypso wore little to no makeup at all, Zoë wore a full face. She never caked it on though, she just did it so professionally that you'd hardly notice she wore any if not for the golden eyeshadow she dawned on a daily basis. It made her eyes stand out more, eyes that she shared with Calypso. They were perhaps the one feature they had in common. Large, almond shaped brown eyes, with little flecks of golden in them. Absolutely beautiful.

Zoë always put her best face forward, thinking it would get her farther in life if she didn't make relationships and form real bonds with people. Everything about Calypso was natural, everything about Zoë was not. But the two shared a bond like no other. If Calypso was feeling down, Zoë always knew before me, and if Zoë was feeling insecure about herself or her appearance, Calypso would leave me with a quick peck on the cheek before checking on her sister.

It made me feel as though I was missing something, not having a sibling of my own. My mom and dad weren't married when they had me. They were twenty, still pretty young, and they'd only been dating for a few months, but my parents truly loved each other. He had been ready to move in, marry, and start a family with my mom, but his job interfered.

He was the captain of a cruise ship and he loved it. He loved the ocean and everything about it. His worst fear though, was flying in an airplane. He avoided it his whole life after getting in one when he was younger, and having a bad experience with it. His brother, Zeus, had never let him get over it, instead using his fear against him and making him terrified of anything to do with flying in the air. Maybe in some ways, I was lucky to be an only child. Besides, my dad was the type of guy who would take the long route, so if he needed to go somewhere, he'd do it by boat. So he died when what he loved the most and what he feared the most collided in the worst possible way.

A smaller plane only meant for one person (I don't know what you call the type of plane, I'm not a fan of flying in them either, they're unreliable as shit) had broken down. The pilot lost control of his supposed badass flying machine that he'd been makes intricate loops in moments before and crashed, causing massive waves to flood the decks of my dad's ship.

My mom and I never saw him again. I had been about three at the time, and I idolized my father. I knew that I looked like him and I wanted to be just like him in all aspects. But I didn't get the chance to really know him because he was taken away from me so suddenly.

For a long time, my mom had been in denial. They hadn't found my dad's body yet, so at the funeral, when people would condolence her for her loss, she would reply, "He's not dead." Like it was the thing she was the most sure of in the world. "Not dead, just lost at sea."

After a few years, my mom finally decided to move on. She started dating a guy named Gabe, who treated mistreated her as well as me, but she got engaged to him anyway. I hadn't realized why she'd want to marry a monster like that, but then I thought about it. My mom had been so lonely. I'd started school and she'd spend her days in between jobs, and since she believed she'd never love anyone like she had loved my dad, she settled for a vile human being to be her partner for the rest of her life.

It took her finally seeing Gabe hit me to break things off with him. She threw pans at him and screamed at the top of her lungs, until one of the neighbors must have called the cops. The police took one look at my mom with a frying pan in her hands, glowering at Gabe venomously, and took a glance at me with a hand shaped mark on my cheek, and dragged Gabe away.

Fortunately, we were the happiest we'd ever been when we knew that we'd never see that shoddy example of a "father figure" ever again. My mom had even thrown the ring he gave her out the window, and it hit him square in the temple.

Basically, my mom was the most amazing person on the entire planet. And she definitely deserved the happiness that would be headed her way soon after.

When I was about twelve, she met a middle school teacher named Paul. I liked him immediately. He was easygoing, kind, generous, and considerate. He treated my mom the way Gabe should have treated her and the way my father treated her. Like she was a queen among women.

For the longest time, I had expected I would have to be forced to wear a ridiculous looking tux so I could be the ring bearer for their wedding, but my mom surprised me with another role. She asked me to give her away at the alter. She was an orphan and an only child, so she didn't have anyone else, but I remember feeling so taken aback and honored at the same time.

I cried at their wedding, they had the most beautiful ceremony I had ever seen and I couldn't stop thinking about how thankful I felt that she had found someone who deserved her finally. I loved Paul, he was my step-father, yet he was the perfect father for me.

I loved my family more than anything and all of these breathtaking moments happened in Manhattan. And now I would be leaving.

I just really wanted my new home to be just as amazing and meaningful.

I finished packing my suitcase and ran out the door, catching Paul off guard as I moved past him. "Glad to see you finished." I winked at him in response and got in the backseat.

Normally, I would've tried to sit shotgun before my mom would force me to move, but I was quickly growing nervous so I was content in staying in the back and out of the spotlight. I put my headphones over and started playing some music. I knew it was rude because my parents probably wanted to talk to me about school arrangements and everything like that, but it was the last thing that I wanted to talk about, so I decided to just tune them out at focus on Imagine Dragons playing in my head.

When we arrived at our new address in the state of Massachusetts, I gawked. Our home was two stories high, but very cosy and not very big. But I loved being out of the stuffy apartment so much that I didn't care. It was as good as a mansion to me.

My room was on the second floor and a decent size and I got my own bathroom, which was a huge plus for me. My parents' room was on the first floor and they had a master bedroom and two separate bathrooms. There was another bedroom, one that I assumed we would use as a guest bedroom, that was connected to my bathroom and I just added that to the list of reasons why I was fortunate as an only child.

My room had bare dark blue walls that I would soon be filling with movie posters and pictures of my old friends and hopefully — my new friends.

When my bed was made and I was happy with how my room looked, I decided to walk outside and observe the neighborhood. Our closest neighbors actually did have a mansion. Four stories, long, white, intricate Ancient Greek pillars, and big windows, with a large wooden door with a heavy looking knocker on it with the face of a lion or something of the sort carved into it. The house stood so grand and beautiful. As did the girl who walked outside of it.

She was tall and dark, like she had Native American relatives. She had long dark brown hair to her chest, and even from where I stood, I could see her eyes, how they never seemed to settle on a specific color. She didn't look like she drew much attention to herself however, despite how wealthy she clearly was. She wore simple, pale blue jeans with rips in them, converse, and a plain orange t-shirt with faded black lettering on it.

"Hi," I called after her after she noticed me sitting on my front lawn under a tree with leaves hanging over, providing shade and making the hot summer day a little cooler.

"Oh," She replied, awkwardly fiddling with the belt loops of her jeans. "Hey."

"I'm your new neighbor," I tried for a smile. "My name's Percy Jackson."

"Piper." She told me. I patted the spot next to me, offering for her to get out of the sun. She seemed to consider it for a while before sitting next to me. When Piper sat next to me, it gave me a chance to study certain details about her face. She had high cheekbones, full pink lips, and her kaleidoscope eyes were large with long curly eyelashes. She was quite the sight to look at.

"Do you go to Goode High?" I asked. She nodded, and I grinned. If all the girls who attended Goode were like this, I'd be ok. And not just because she was beautiful (Well, I little) but also because she was low maintenance and appeared down to earth. Not like the typical private school girl that they portray in movies.

"You gonna be new at my school?" She asked. She had a nice lilt to her voice. It was cheerful and melodic, with a hint of a southern twang.

"Yeah, I got recruited for football." I answered, unsure of how she would take this. I didn't immediately want to be known as the guy who only got in for football, which was true, but I didn't want to be perceived as a bonehead right off the bat, before I even stepped into the school.

To my pleasant surprise, she just grinned. "That's awesome. Congratulations." She seemed genuinely happy for me, but there was an underlying aspect to her tone that I couldn't quite decipher. It seemed as though the idea of football made her really unhappy.

"You like football?" I chose to ask her. She "hmmmm'd" and nodded her head in response. I raised my eyebrow at her inability to form words.

"I like watching... the... players."

"A player?"

"Players." She glared at me, but I already gathered all I needed to know. She had a crush on a guy who played on the football team. I could tell by how defensive she got so fast, even though her face remained passive, I could tell by how high her voice got. But I decided not to call her out on this, it seemed cruel.

Just as I cleared my throat, about to change the subject, two other girls charged out of the mansion Piper had walked out of, and the one leading didn't look happy.

"PIPER?! Are you with a BOY?" The voice didn't sound protective, just very annoyed and... jealous?

"Ugh, Drew," Piper complained, tilting her head back against the trunk of the tree and groaning in displeasure. I peered over her to look at the girl who had spoken.

Drew was tall like Piper, as well as albeit dark skinned, but that was where the similarities ended. She had flowy black hair to her waist in perfectly done curls, with piercing brown eyes that I could make out even from where I sat, and big red lips. She was stunningly beautiful, but not in a refreshing, down to earth way like Piper. More like your typical "dress to impress" kind of girl. I could tell she wasn't very chill like Piper by the way she glowered at her.

The girl behind Drew didn't glare. She looked at Piper and I with an apologetic look. She was a short, petite girl, and had long golden blond hair to her chest that was done neatly in curls like Drew's, and large ocean blue eyes. Her plump lips were drawn in a scowl at Drew, but I could still tell that she was still really pretty. And that was when I took in the situation in front of me. I was surrounded by three beautiful girls who all looked pissed.

All of a sudden, I felt nervous.

"Drew," the blonde girl snapped. "Leave her alone and stop acting like all she does is flirt like you do, she already likes someone." Piper smirked.

"Thanks Silena—"

"Flirting is not the only thing I do! I'm very well-rounded!" Both of the other girls looked at Drew incredulously. She grinned sheepishly.

"Well, maybe not... but I do know how to bake!" She spouted randomly in response. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering how she found this information relevant. When she saw my face, she elaborated. "Our family heard that we were getting new neighbors, and when the moving truck drove in, I decided to make some welcome cookies." She glared at Piper before continuing again. "I was going to come and introduce myself, but my dear sister, Piper beat me to it."

"Sorry," Piper deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "I wanted some fresh air."

"It doesn't matter now I suppose," Drew replied, waving her hand in dismissal. "All that matters is that you get the cookies."

"Yeah, I could go for some cookies with my hot new neighbors, why not?" All three of them blushed and I smiled at them warmly.

"Aw, he's charming too," Drew gushed, before snapping out of it and gesturing for the rest of them to follow her into the house.

The inside of the home decoratively outranked the outside. A huge glass chandelier stood in the middle of a foyer, with two princess staircases on each side with marble steps. It looked like it came straight out of one of those glamorous Hollywood movies I used to watch with my mom. My nightmare to sum it up nicely. Those movies weren't exactly guy-centric. Maybe they should be though, I definitely enjoyed staring at the house.

Drew led us all to the kitchen, where a plate of chocolate chip cookies were waiting, still gooey and warm. They didn't shine the brilliant blue that I often required for my food, but I was too entranced by the smell of cookies that I didn't really care (but I did ask to put a little blue icing on it) and I felt much more at home than I had when I'd first arrived.

When I finally had to leave the girls, Piper called from behind me, "Don't stand looking like an idiot at lunch on Monday, you'll sit with us!"

First day there and I already had new friends. I could only imagine what the rest of the school year would bring.

. . .

My first Percy Jackson story that will be multi-chapter! I'm so excited it's not even funny. Next chapter will be a summary of what Annabeth has been up to until this point in the story. Percabeth probably won't meet until the fourth, fifth, or sixth chapter.

Please tell me what you thought of this first chapter! Was it promising? I like all reviews, so feel free to tell me if you hate it. I can take it. I love constructive criticism.

The chapters will get longer in length as the story progresses, I promise! Also, I'll have a goal to reach for reviews each chapter, because if you reach it, I'll be more excited to update.

Review Goal: 5 reviews

LASTLY — I'm looking for a beta/person who could help with my football terms and knowledge for the future of Percy's career. That would be fantastic.

That's all, please review!

~Molly xoxoxoxoxoxo