Episode One

Pizza: The Great Unifier

At five in the afternoon on Tuesday, August 30th, the streets of New York City were melting under the oppressive heat and humidity of the day. Well, they weren't actually melting. But Meg McKinney felt as if they should be. She sat on a curbside bench, slumped under the meager shade the skinny tree planted next to her provided. Around her, pedestrians on the sidewalks moved lazily through the summer haze, lingering wistfully in the wafts of cool air let out by the doors to air conditioned buildings. Meg's gaze wandered as she watched the city labor on through the day. A bang and a muffled curse brought her attention back to the car in front of her. It belonged to her childhood friend, and now roommate, Darcy Tate, who was now staggering back onto the sidewalk, clutching the top of her head.

"What'd you do now?" She asked apathetically. Darcy shot her a glare, rising to her full, and rather impressive height.

"I hit my head on the car roof again. What do you think I did?" She gave her head an experimental pat and winced. "Shit."

"But did you find it?" Meg asked hopefully, even taking the effort to lean forward. Darcy shot her a triumphant grin and waved the little pink discount coupon she'd been scrounging under the seats for.

"Oh thank God." Meg sank back against the bench. "I've been craving pizza for days."

"Well, you're in luck then." Darcy read off the coupon as she shut and locked her car. "Buy one large pizza, get a medium pizza free. Hey, and it expires tomorrow. We're just in time."

The two girls stood and picked up the hefty boxes of freshly bought school books sitting next to them on the ground and began to walk down the street. Meg groaned at the weight of her box, trying to find her grip. Darcy laughed.

"I thought swimmers were supposed to be strong." She said. Meg grimaced and shifted her box again.

"And yet, I am pathetically weak." They rounded a corner and the student apartment complex they were currently rooming in came into view. Suddenly Darcy straightened up, a smile darting across her face.

"Ooh, Meg, look. A hot guy." Darcy, who had no free hands to point, gestured wildly with her chin. "Hot guy at Eleven o'clock. Getting out of the car. See?"

Meg did indeed see. And he was, indeed, hot.

"You should go talk to him." Darcy said.

"What? Yeah, right. I'm not gonna do that."

"Why not?" Darcy whined. "You need a cute boy in your life."

"If you think he's so cute. You talk to him." As they drew closer, the boy in question stooped down, duffel bag on the ground next to him, and began to retie a loose shoelace.

"I already have a boy I very much like, Meg." Darcy continued. "And the last time I checked, you were trying to set the record for the longest stretch of single-ness in Manhattan. So go say hi. He looks like a student. I bet he's a student. He's parked in front of the apartments. I wonder if he lives here."

"Darcy, shut up." Meg hissed, dropping her voice as the began to walk past him "I can't."

"Then I'll just have to give you a little push, won't I?" And Darcy shoved her rather bony elbow into the side of Meg's box and the whole thing toppled out of her hands and onto the sidewalk spilling her textbooks into a jumbled mess.

"Darcy!" Meg exclaimed and dropped to the pavement, trying to pick up her brand new books before they got dirty. A shadow dropped down next to her and suddenly there was another set of hands holding her books.

"Here, let me help." The voice was decidedly deeper than Darcy's. Meg glanced up in surprise, taking in a first impression of bright green eyes and tousled dark hair. It was the boy from the car.

"Oh, uh…thanks." Meg stammered. She shoved the rest of her books haphazardly back into the box.

"Meg, I am so sorry. You know I'm just so clumsy." Meg supposed that Darcy's voice sounded sincere, but the smug tilt to her lips gave her away. Meg resolved right then and there to hide Darcy's stash of coffee for the next week as retaliation.

"It's fine, Darce." She grit out. All parties involved were now standing and Meg could get a better look at the boy Darcy had conned into helping them. He was of average height, maybe a bit under six feet and fit. His wavy, black hair suited his tan complexion nicely and his jaw looked like it could cut glass. His eyes had the beginnings of laugh lines around them and there was a faint scar above his left eyebrow that disappeared into his hair. Long fingers, like a pianist, wrapped around a couple of Meg's books, which he awkwardly held out to her.

"Uh, here." He said, and finally, all books were back where they belonged.

"Thanks." Meg said shortly, looking everywhere but at the helpful stranger. She wasn't staring. Nope.

Darcy flashed him a brilliant smile. "Yes! Thank you so much. Not many people would have stopped to help. I'm Darcy. This is Meg. Do you live here in Alumni? We go to NYU too." She nodded towards the NYU lanyard hanging out of his pocket.

The boy looked a little surprised at the sudden onslaught of questions but managed to nod.

"Yeah, actually I'm up on the third floor."

"Really? So are we. I haven't seen you around though." The trio walked the last couple feet to the front door of the apartment building. The boy held open the door and Meg gave a small sigh of relief when the cool air hit her.

"I've been moved in for a couple weeks now." He said as they made their way across the lobby and towards the elevators. "But I don't spend much time here. School hasn't started yet, ya know?"

"Oh, I totally get it." Darcy punched the button for the third floor. "Meg and I moved in just a couple days ago. Our apartment is still pretty messy." The elevator doors slid shut.

"Don't worry. Mine's a mess too." He said, smiling easily. He seemed more comfortable now that there was conversation.

Darcy and the still unnamed boy continued to make small talk as they exited the elevator and walked down the carpeted hall of Alumni 3.

"Well this is me." The boy said. He was stopped in front of door 312.

"Oh! We're neighbors then. Meg and I are over in 315, just one door down and across the hall." Darcy smiled brightly.

"I guess I'll be seeing you guys around. It was nice to meet you." The boy fished a key out of his pocket, and Meg felt like this was a natural time to part ways. She should have known that Darcy would have other ideas, though.

"You know," Darcy began "we have a discount on some pizza. We were planning on using it tonight. Why don't you come over and hang out a bit?" She shot Meg a wink. The boy hesitated, clearly deliberating, but after a moment shrugged, as if to say what the hell.

"Pizza sounds great. Let me just drop off my stuff and then I'll be right over."

"Sounds like a plan." Darcy said, and with a small wave goodbye, dragged Meg backwards towards their apartment. The boy nodded and disappeared into his own apartment. Meg was just about to open their door when the boy's head popped back into the hall.

"Oh, I'm Percy, by the way. Percy Jackson."

And thus was the beginning to a very interesting junior year in college. No one knew it yet. But they'd figure it out pretty quickly.

So I'm a huge sucker for mortal's pov on PJ and crew, but there are so very few of them that aren't horribly clichéd, or simply horribly written. I figured I'd give it a go. The first big difference here is that this one is set in college. Not high school. Ignore the fact that Percy and Annabeth aren't going to school in New Rome. I have several different plotlines planned out so I'll keep posting if people are interested. Consider this an experiment. Let me know what you think.