Teenagers scare the living shit out of me. At least, these do. When I was younger, most teens my age where obsessing about the war, Mussolini and Hitler, and the "Roma problem". At least those were real problems, even though most had deluded opinions on the matters. These teens are obsessed with sex, and rap music, and whatever the hell weed is. It's okay, though, because I seem to scare them as well, what with the whole "radiating death" thing. I must creep a particular group of girls wearing sandals and floral print tops out as I walk past them in the school hallway, because they stare at me cautiously.
As I power-walk past the girls, I turn sharply into my Mythology classroom. I definitely would have skipped taking a class where I knew everything in the curriculum, but it is required to graduate, and I might as well get it over with. The class is an elective, so any grade can take it, which is why Percy somehow ended up in the same class as me. He and Annabeth are seniors, and I a freshman, but it doesn't matter. Annabeth has a class right across the hall this period. Something about architecture.
I sit in the back, and the idiot sits next to me, as always. Percy was pretty popular (go figure), and we were allowed to choose our seats in this class, yet he still sits next to me. It's kind of annoying. I don't have a crush on him anymore, but I still feel awkward around him. He's the epitome of what I wish I could be: a cool guy, that no one is afraid of, and that everyone actually looks up to. Hell, I look up to Percy. I'm jealous of him, but I could never tell him that. We're friends, and I don't have many of those, at least not here in this death hole.
He pulls out a binder with a picture of the Seven, Reyna and I on the top half and a picture of just Annabeth on the bottom half. He has a few more photos scattered on top of the full pics, including one of Thalia in a Green Day t-shirt. He loves his friends. He then hands me an Egg McMuffin.
"Eat this, ghost boy," he says.
"Don't call me that," I say while I stuff the first quarter of the breakfast in my mouth, earning a small laugh from Percy.
Percy, along with Will and the demigods of the Argo II, are making me eat as much and as regularly as possible, not that I'm complaining. I nibble the sandwich while the teacher, a scrawny hairy man with a walker, writes today's lesson on the board.
A nerdy, dark-haired girl sits not far from me. I've never caught her name, but she always catches my eye when she walks in the room. Five minutes later, a cheerleader walks in the room. I've never seen her before, but knowing my social calendar, a popular chick I've never seen is not far-fetched. I go back to looking at the dark-haired girl. I have a strange desire to talk to her, one that I've had since I first saw her. She is wearing her usual glasses, band t-shirt and side braid. She has on a pair of light-wash jeans and black Converse. She seems to not notice me, giving me hope that there's a mortal in the world that I don't completely terrify. With the daily assignment passed out, the chapter on Athena's influence read, and half of the class asleep, the teacher dismisses us early. Percy and I hang around, waiting on Annabeth.
I finger the scars on my arms, noticing the messy lesions that will always be there. Some people have commented that they think I did it to myself, but I couldn't exactly tell the truth to defend myself. Will gave me a scar reducing cream, but these babies are stubborn. I pull the sleeves back over them, feeling the leather of the sheath that keeps a small version of my sword over my forearm. Hazel and Leo, newly back from the dead, worked to make larger swords easy to carry and conceal, making my usually giant black sword the size of a pocket knife. To revert it back to normal size, there is a convenient button. Yay.
I end up using that concealed sword today.
The cheerleader, who was talking softly to the teacher, puts her book bag on top of the nearest desk. And that's when her skin turns completely white, her hair goes up in flames, and one donkey leg and one bronze leg move towards Percy and I at an incredible speed, her fangs and red eyes scaring away the sense to move out of her path.
Notes:
Thank you for reading this! I don't know how often I'll be able to update the story, but I will try my hardest!
Love you all!