Chapter 1: Meet and Greet

Ally's POV

He looks just like him. I swear: the new kid looks just like HIM. He looks like Percy Jackson, just like Rick Riordan described him.

Sorry, where are the manners I pretend to have? Well, my name is Ally Grae. I'm fifteen; I go to school at Crestview High School. Go eagles. I have dark brown, unruly hair, and brown eyes. I'm short, I'm not gonna lie, very short. My height fits my personality: unnoticeable. Yeah, I have friends, or as the world knows them; fellow fangirls. They love books almost as much as I do. Key word there: ALMOST.

I live in Denver, Colorado. My parents' names are Brian and Delia. My life is basic. Even though I have a great, albeit boring life, I have always wanted more. Maybe that makes me seem like a selfish, spoiled brat, but I think most of us are, deep down inside.

Anyways…so, yeah, I was in first period gym when I saw him…just standing there…being gorgeous—wait, did I say that out loud? Oops.

We were doing warm-ups, jogging, stretching, and loosening up for a whole 55 minutes of absolutely NOTHING. This is my life. Yeah…

I'm pretty athletic for my age, which with my class, means pitifully sad. I got into that one class where every other person could run a marathon on a whim. You know who I'm talking about. I was attempting to melt into the background. I was hoping that if I kept to myself, I could disappear like Fang does in my third favorite series; Maximum Ride. Yes, I rank my books, is that a problem?

I thought I had succeeded for the most part until Mr. Hasnen called my name for a "special" job. I probably get to mop up a mess that wasn't mine. Yay.

"Grae, get over here!" he bellowed. I acquiesced on account of wanting to keep my head in place and not rolling across the floor from a well aimed blow.

"This is the new kid," he spit a sunflower seed onto the gym floor, "show him around." I was about to decline until he said it was extra credit. Crap, I can't very well turn down an A, can I?

"Uh, sure." I turned to the Percy-look-a-like, "I'm Ally, and you are…?"

"Percy." Of course your name is Percy, I thought.

"I'm sorry?" I swore lightly; apparently I had said that aloud. Curse this overactive mouth of mine!

"Uh, nothing. So, this is first period gym…which you have probably figured out…by the fact that it's first period…and we're in a gym…" and I'm a total fool, I thought to myself. "Yeah, so…what do you have next?" He checked a crumpled piece of paper that I now realized must have been his schedule.

"English, with Mr. Moore."

"Oh, me too. I can show you where it is after class if you want." He nodded and smiled. I smiled back, which was totally out of character for me. I stood there awkwardly and cleared my throat.

"So, we're playing dodge ball right now. Do you know how to play?" He shakes his head no.

"Well, you throw the balls at the players on the opposite team. If they get hit, they're out, if they catch it, you're out. If you hit them in the face, or get hit in the face, both of you are out. Last standing team wins." That was probably the most I had ever uttered to someone other than Ariana in this class. Whoa, sometimes, I even surprise myself.

"Huh, interesting." He mused. I looked at him sideway, or tried to since he was a foot taller than me.

"I can't believe you've never played dodge ball before." I said.

"I have, technically, it didn't work out well last time. I was hoping the rules had changed." He said, half to himself. Ooookkkkkaaaaayyyyyyy…..

I couldn't help but draw parallels between him and the fictional hero I had read so much about. Percy Jackson's last dodge ball match with Tyson and the Laistrygonians hadn't gone well either. Hmm. I turned my attention back to the living Percy and found that he had already jumped into the fray. He was dodging like nobody's business and hurling plastic and foam dodge balls with pin point accuracy. I shrugged and ran off after him.

Picking up a blue dodge ball, I slunk into the back, and then heaved it to the other side of the room where it hit Zack straight in the stomach. He glared around to see who had struck him out, but merely glanced over me. People always underestimated me. I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to surprise them.

After much more lobbing balls in the other team's direction I found myself side by side with Percy. He crouched low to avoid a blur of red, then sprang up to deliver a blow of his own. He glanced at me and grinned.

"You're good at this game," he shouted over the noise of the game and the horrible music blaring through the speakers.

"Not too shabby yourself," I yelled back. He lunged in front of me and caught a ball that had been coming straight at me unknown to me.

"Thanks!"

"Anytime!" he responded. I grinned at him, then spun away to miss another projectile. I turned to pick up another ball, but then got hit in the back of the head, hard. I whirled around to see who threw the illegal shot, and I saw Greg on the other side grinning evilly at me. But, while he was distracted, another ball of fury came flying at him at unknown speeds and smacked him square in the chest. We both glanced up in surprise to see Percy standing there, still in the pose after throwing the ball, and smiling innocently. He even waved at Greg, a sarcastic wave of his fingers. I laughed as Greg glared at Percy and stormed off the court.

It was amazing; Greg was unbeatable at dodge ball. But, he had just been beaten, by Percy. I glanced around to see that Percy was the only one still in. He had won the game. Our team broke out in cheers and rushed up to Percy. This would have been our 13th defeat in a row if not for Percy. I clapped and smiled along with the rest of them, but from a distance. Percy stared in my direction and smiled sheepishly at me. I laughed and shook my head in an oh, Percy fake-disappointed style. He laughed. At least I think he did, the sound he made was swept up and away in the joyous shouts of our teammates.

I laughed again, then got up, alone, and left to go change. It was official; Percy was a celebrity now, one of the "cool kids" I might as well get used to it. Beating an athlete like Greg was like instant stardom in our school. It was too bad, Percy had seemed so nice. Oh well.

I walked out of the locker room and was instantly confronted by someone. I craned my neck up to see that sarcastic, trouble marker smile. It was Percy.

"Can you show me Mr. Moore's classroom now?" I blinked.

"Why do you look so surprised?" I was surprised, I had expected him to forget about me, everyone else did. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I can show you." He flashed that smile at me again. I smiled at the ground and blushed lightly. I guess there's a chance he is different, a small one, but it was there. I stood a little taller and smiled directly at him with as much confidence as I could muster and started walking. I looked back at him after a few paces.

"You coming?" I asked. He nodded and strode up to me. We continued on our way to class, together.

Hola, so this was an idea I came up with a while ago, and decided to finally act on it. Let me know what you guys think!

-Phoenix