I trotted nervously over to my desk and slid into the seat, trying my very hardest not to draw attention to myself.
Yeah, I said trotted.
You see, I'm not a human like the rest of you. I'm a satyr called Grover that has the job of searching for potential campers at Camp Half-Blood. Camp Half-Blood isn't a normal summer camp. You can't sign up for it and pay money to get in. This is a camp where only your bloodline matters, but it's not a camp for rich kids either.
It's the camp for the children of the gods. Half-bloods, heroes, call them what you will, but they all are the same thing—the sons and daughters of the Greek gods, like Zeus and Poseidon and Hades.
So, I, Grover the satyr, am assigned as a searcher to look for people that could possibly be a half-blood.
Hey, I know it sounds tough. I mean, millions of kids in the world, and I have to find a half-blood? Well, it's not as hard as it sounds. I mean, sure, I've been through hundreds of schools with no luck. I've had years pass without finding even one. But I, as a satyr, have it easier than most. My senses are tuned to that of immortals. I can, well, sort of smell half-bloods and monsters.
I know it sounds gross. To tell you the truth, it is kind of gross. I mean, you'd be totally surprised about how bad regular mortals smell. Somewhere between dead fish and the dump and moldy cheese and a clogged toilet…
Anyways, I'm getting off topic. So, here I was, first day at school at a private school called Yancy Academy in New York. I was supposed to sniff out every student here, and then if no luck leave and try the next one.
So, I trotted over to my assigned desk. Once I sat down, I took a deep breath in, taking in all of the scents, and nearly gagged. The guy sitting next to me had an overpowering smell of someone who hadn't showered for a month. And that was just the mortal smell; I don't think I can go into a description of how horrible it was for me.
I continued smelling, but I couldn't catch any whiffs of the half-blood scent in this class. And so I was stuck sitting next to mister smelly listening to a teacher drone on about algebra.
Now, I could almost kick myself for my stupidity, for not noticing right then and there that something was wrong. Even as a satyr, I was too incompetent to smell the scent that the teacher carried on her. The scent of a monster.
The rest of the day dragged by, and I had suspicions about a few of the kids. They smelled faintly of a half-blood, but I couldn't quite be sure. Either they were all minor half-bloods, or they had been in contact with an extremely powerful one, who had left a trace of his scent on them. I decided to just keep my low profile and not approach them.
It was lunchtime before anything remotely interesting happened. I entered the cafeteria, and then, boy, the smell hit me.
Enchiladas.
I hauled goat butt over there as fast as I could, grabbed an enchilada, and started scarfing it down. This was paradise for me. Who couldn't just love enchiladas? They were the best things invented since tin cans.
As I was in heaven, eating my delicious lunch, a chubby, snobby looking girl with blonde hair sauntered over and then dumped her milk carton on my head.
"Oops!" she sneered sarcastically, giving me the evil smile. I felt anger boiling in the pit of my stomach, but I forced it down. To regular mortals, I looked like a runty kid with a weird limp. And that's whom I needed to act like, despite the fact that I could totally murder them if I wanted to.
So, I just sat there and whimpered like I was terrified, milk dripping back off of my hair and down my back.
The girl turned to some of her friends, said something to them, and pointed at me. Then they all started laughing. I felt my face flush with anger; I hoped that they took it for embarrassment.
Suddenly, a boy with shaggy black hair and a rebellious look pushed through the crowd. "Lay off!" he told them angrily. I felt like I recognized him for some reason, but I didn't know why. As he approached me, it suddenly all made sense.
He had a really bad smell around him, like that of someone that spends all their days slouching on a couch watching TV. But it wasn't his smell, it was almost like an overpowering trace of a smell. However, underneath, there was a different smell. The scent was both good and bad. The good part was the salt and wind and rain. The bad parts were that immediately, a feeling of an upset stomach washed over me, although I couldn't tell why. And he smelled sort of like horse manure.
He held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Percy Jackson," he said.
I took it hesitantly and said, "I'm Grover. Grover Underwood."
"Can I eat with you?"
"Um, sure," I replied, trying to act nervous although I was bursting with excitement. I had found one! And even better, I was becoming friends with him. It was all perfect. However, I was nervous, too. I had to do this right this time. The last time I had found a half-blood, well, let's just say I failed miserably. And it was sort of an important mission. Seeing as this one was important as well, I just couldn't fail. I'll leave it at that.
I added one more sentence just to do my part properly. "I hope you don't mind all of the bullies wandering over here. I seem to attract them."
He gave me a grin. "Don't worry, I don't mind bullies. I can handle them."
And that's how I met Percy Jackson. It was just the beginning of our story, though.
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Please R&R! I hope you like the introduction. Tell me if I should add more parts with Nancy Bobofit or if I should leave them out. I'll try to make next chapter a little more interesting. Thanks for reading!