Chapter 1

With Annabeth's pony tail bobbing up and down to the rhythm of her steps, and her one-shoulder backpack hitting her thigh, Annabeth couldn't be happier. It was her first day at a brand new high-school. Lockin, the high-school, had been under construction for a couple of years, and it was huge. It had an entire section for every scholastic/elective/athletic exercise you could think of. And the best part was the school only accepted the best in every scholastic/elective/athletic activity. Another good thing, too, was that all her really good friends had got accepted.

They had all gotten in for different reasons; Percy for swimming, Thalia for basket ball, Grover for Art, Nico for art, Tyson for choir, and Clarisse for football. Although Annabeth didn't really count Clarisse as a friend, more like an aggressive cousin.

The only thing wrong about the day was the itsy-bitsy little lying she had done to her friends. They had all assumed she had gotten into Lockin because of her unbelievably high I.Q., but in truth, she had been accepted because of her amazing track skills. She didn't want to tell her friends because they'd try and be all supportive, and Annabeth wasn't really into all that supportive junk. In fact, she found it slightly annoying, so she didn't tell her friends. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was still nagging at the back of Annabeth's ever busy mind.

"Hey Annabeth," shouted Nico, who lived on the street right next to hers. He was at their bus stop, wearing his usual aviators coat and had a back-pack with skulls all across the back.

"Hey Nico, how's it going?" Annabeth asked.

"Not good; dad didn't bother to wish me luck. He just looked up from the papers he was reading, and then reminded me to lock the door. He's such a workaholic"

"Rotten luck, but it couldn't have been as bad as your mom fussing over you all morning, reminding you facts from last year, or as she put it, 'Refreshing my brain'."

"Oh I don't know," said a new voice, belonging to Nico and Annabeth's long time friend, Thalia, "Yours doesn't sound as bad as your dad sitting down with you and saying that if I even considered having a boyfriend, he would beat me and him to a pulp, and then he would tell the boy's parents we had slept together, thus making sure the boy got punished." Nico and Annabeth just stared at Thalia, and then laughed because her dad was way more... Unpleasent than their parents.

Percy walked up with Grover and Tyson. Looking confused, he asked, "What did I miss?"

"Nothing- just Thalia's embarrassing dad," Annabeth answered Percy.

Percy's eyes widened he blurted out, "He's just now having the talk with you. Dang he's sooooooo late. My mom told me about it in seventh grade, she said-"

"Percy!" Everyone shouted at him, and then started laughing, even Grover and Tyson, who had no clue what Thalia's dad had said, but knew it definitely wasn't that.

Annabeth looked at Percy and said, "You know, sometimes, you just shouldn't say the stuff you're thinking."

"Yeah, like that one time with the food processor. You didn't need to go that in depth about its other possible uses." Grover piped up.

"But it said 'not to be used for the other use' and I was just speculating," Percy said, trying to defend himself.

"You know what, never mind." Annabeth told her boyfriend, just as the bus pulled up.

Everyone lined up and stepped on the bus, including Clarisse who had walked to the bus stop only to find everyone- except for Percy- laughing their heads off.

When they got on the bus, Annabeth sat right up front and gestured for Thalia to sit next to her. Thalia groaned, but sat down anyways. "Why do you have to sit in the front- it's where all the goodie-goodies sit? You may belong here, but I should be in the back," Thalia said.

"Well too bad, you're sitting here today; I have to ask you how your summer was, so how was your summer?"

"It was long, hot, and uncomfortable. Jason was being really annoying, since he didn't get into Lockin. Plus he kept inviting his friends over, and if that Leo kid tries hitting on me one more time I swear I'm gonna hit him, hard, very hard, in places no guy wants to be hit."

"Can you say 'TMI' much?"

"TMI much."

"Oh Thalia you're so hilarious, I forgot to laugh."

"I know. So now that I explained my amazingly boring summer, how was yours?"

"It was fine, I guess. Boring for me too."

"You should've called me, we could've wallowed in self-pity together."

"Wallowed?"

"Hey you're not the only smart one here, my vocabulary is very diverse."

"Oh yeah, well Mrs. Grace, how 'bout you and your diverse vocabulary get off the bus," Annabeth told Thalia, who hadn't noticed the bus was stopped and that she was in Annabeth's way.

"Oh yeah. We're here," Thalia said, looking around.

"Ya' think?" Annabeth said, smothering the statement with sarcasm.

"Hey!"

"Just get off the stinking bus!"

"Fine, Ms. Grumpy."

Annabeth stepped off the bus, and almost at once realized the air smelled like hand-sanitizer, which, in Annabeth's opinion, was an improvement from her last school's gym locker smell. Annabeth made her way to her locker, which was right next to the drama hall, and then, after fiddling with her lock, headed to her homeroom.

She walked through the door and found Percy sitting in the middle of the class. She almsot started squealing in excitement, but Annabeth Chase had never been one for squealing, so she restrained herself. She walked up to Percy's desk, trying to be cool, but failing miserably. She stubbed her toe and had to hop on her other foot to get to the seat behind Percy.

"Hey, wise girl, you okay?" Percy said with a smile, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, just shut up. Or I'll, I'll… Do something," Annabeth grumbled, but, because she was trying not to laugh at herself, her threat didn't sound very convincing."

"Fine I'll shut up, because I really don't want something to happen."

Annabeth was about to say something else, but the bell interrupted her. She twirled her finger, mouthing 'turn around' to Percy.

A/N: Please point out any grammatical mistakes you noticed. Thanks.