CHAPTER ONE

Freshman gets bullied by freshman, for being a freshman...

RING, there's the school bell. Something I had been dreading for the entire summer. I wasn't looking forward to high school, I have heard horrible things. The most common one being swirlies, where they stick your head in a toilet and flush it. Gross! Things like that are what I'm afraid of, but, the thing I am most afraid of is definitely The Bullies. Really not looking forward to them! Why? Because I'm me! I don't ever stick up for myself, I am always bullied. Why people feel the need to pick on people with braces and spectacles is beyond me.

Anyway, right now I am trying to find my homeroom. I eyed every name on every door, not finding where the heck I was supposed to be. Great, first day and I get a tardy slip. I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I accidently bumped into someone.

"Well what have we here?"

"Hey guys look. Fresh meat!" A buff and rather ugly looking guy said evilly. I could barely see his face with all the acne scars.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought we had already given all of the loser's our, special...initiation. I wasn't even close to being satisfied." Another said

"I think we should teach him a lesson on looking where he's going" The buff guy stated

"I think so too" The other replied.

I gulped, I am dead.

"Ares and Dionysus! What do you think you're doing?"

I looked at the source, it was my dear sister Aphrodite.

"Uhh, Hey, Aphro, we were just-"Ares started, clearly embarrassed.

"I know what you guys were about to do!"

Suddenly the floor was very interesting for them.

"I want you guys to apologise to my brother" My hero, I thought sarcastically.

They looked at me wide eyed. "He's your brother?"

She nodded in response, her arms crossed.

"We are so sorry, we didn't know!" Ares pleaded

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to my brother"

"We're so sorry, we won't do it again!"

"It's okay" I said, although I just knew they would do it again.

"Are you sure he's your brother?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes I'm sure. I know you can't see it because of the glasses and braces, but he is."

"Hey!" I protested

She just ignored me and said, "Let's go, we'll be late for homeroom. Bye boys"

"Bye!" They said dreamily, I rolled my eyes. Such love-struck idiots.

We started to walk away, "Thanks sis."

"Don't mention it, but seriously why couldn't you get contacts, you look like a nerd. They will treat you like one because of this."

I was about to retort when someone spoke up behind me

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Apollo!"

"Hey Percy, Hello-" he gulped nervously "Aphrodite." Did he really still have a crush on my sister?

Apollo, my best friend since we were little. Sand box love is never-ending. Part of my nerd herd, my go to guy. Like my sister, he had golden blonde hair, it was cut into a buzz-cut due to an incident with a match a few weeks ago. His baby blue eyes resembled that of a clear ocean water. He was tall and lanky for his age, at least I was just lanky unlike this poor guy.

And just like one of those typical jocks, he had an obvious crush on my sister. He tried hiding it from me as long as possible now, but I could tell. It was alright with me, as long as he never hurt her. This meaning if he ever got a chance, unlikely. My sister is sweet but can be very shallow. Apollo wasn't her type, but I knew, one day he would look like it and my sister would regret this.

"Hello Apollo. Haven't seen you in a long time" She said without looking at him. Point proven.

"What homeroom are you guys in?" He asked, completely ignoring the obvious fact that my sister was trying to avoid him.

"We're in Mrs. Henderson's" My sister interrupted before I could reply.

"No way! Me too!"

"Great! We better hurry though; we don't want to be late on our first day." I said

We walked into the classroom to find the teacher not even in there yet, which meant it was time to mingle. First impressions are everything and this first day of high school is the day you get your label, the most important day of the year. My sister didn't even stop to look around the classroom, she just carried on walking, we decided to follow. She walked up to a bunch of cool looking kids. Of course.

"Hey guys" She said happily

"Hey Aphrodite... who your friends" One of them asked

"This is my brother and his...friend"

They looked at us as if we were aliens, we probably were compared to them, I mean look at us! These guys looked like puberty loved them a lot. It was totally unfair.

Aphro started introducing us to everyone individually. I wasn't really paying attention though, and I'm guessing neither was Apollo, as he was most likely too busy gawking at my sister. I could tell my sister was trying to help us not get labelled nerds. I think it's already too late for that though. AFter all, in primary school its books, in high school, it's looks. If you don't look the part, you're not and never will be the part.

"Hey Percy, I want to introduce to some of my new friends!" Apollo said trying to get away, realising my sister was not going to talk to him. He didn't care about popularity, he was comfortable with who he was.

"Sure" I said walking away with my friend.

He walked over to some nerdy looking kids.

"This is Hephaestus and Hermes"

"Hi" they said happily

"Hi nice to meet you"

Once we had exchanged our greetings, we started talking, they were actually very interesting. I found out Hephaestus favourite class is woodshop. He must be really good at building things if he likes it, because I am horrible at wood shop, so naturally I would hate it!

But suddenly someone walked in, everyone froze. At first I thought it was the teacher, but when I looked up, I too froze. There stood the prettiest girl I had ever seen! She had long, wavy Auburn hair and beautiful silver eyes. She wasn't just pretty, she was drop dead gorgeous!

She started walking towards my sister, they started talking but I couldn't see their faces, or hear what they were saying. She then started talking to the other kids, who seemed really happy to see her, I can see why. Somehow, she look familiar.

"Apollo" I asked, not taking my eyes off of this angelic creature.

"Yes?"

"Who is that?"

"Are you kidding, you know exactly who she is Percy"

"No I really don't."

Then someone tapped on me on my shoulder. I turned to see my sister with the pretty girl next to her! Hermes and Hephaestus were in too much of a daze to talk or even say a quick hello. Hermes especially.

"Percy, you remember Artemis, Apollo's sister and, my best friend"

Then it clicked. I didn't even answer, I was to dumbstruck. This was Artemis? Apollo's sister did definitely not look like this 3 months ago. She has changed so much over the summer. But I guess I didn't really talk to her a lot. I was always too shy, because even then she was pretty, and I don't how to talk to girls, especially pretty girls like Artemis.

Her braces had come off, her skin cleared, her body...matured. I could tell wherever she walked, people would stare. Puberty favoured her, unlike me. Her beauty was very apparent. Her hair was silky and thick, swaying with every step, brushing against her back.

I must have been staring at her for a long time because when I came too, Apollo was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Percy!" He shouted finally getting my attention

"Wuh" Was all I could muster. They all just laughed

"Now that you have finished gawking at your best friend's sister, you can say hello, or can you not talk properly either?" My sister said teasingly. She knew immediately I fancied her.

Artemis and I started to blush at the comment.

"Hi" I said shyly

"Hey" She replied with equal shyness. She stared down at me through dark lashes. Yeah i was shorter than her, so what? I'm 14!

"Haven't seen you in awhile" She said trying to start a conversation. Why was she so shy?

"I was always at yours or my house with Apollo." I stated bluntly.

"How come I never saw you then?"

"I don't know, Apollo and I were probably in his room or something like that."

"That's probably why; I was always out with friends and your sister, was never really in the house"

"Yeah, that's probably why." While she spent her summer having fun, I was at computer camp with Apollo, I can already see the social divide here.

Awkward silence

"Hey Artemis, Aphro. Stop mingling with the losers. Come hang with us!" Ares shouted, obviously part of the popular group. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the person standing next to him.

He had dark brown hair with hazel eyes, as tall as a frigging tree. Well compared to us he was tall. He smiled brightly at Artemis, she blushed and looked back at me. I felt my heart shatter, realising she liked that other guy. Why was I surprised, look at me? I'm a nobody. Look at him, he had a jaw-line, I had flab.

"Maybe I'll see you around" She said before walking away with my sister.

"Yeah, maybe" I replied, but she probably didn't hear.

As she walked away, she threw a glance over her shoulder, our eyes meeting, she flashed me a bright smile, her pearly whites clashing with her red cheek and caramel skin tone. I felt my heart melt and slowly escape my chest, I didn't know where it went. And the weird thing was, I found myself smiling back at her, it was rather goofily as well.

It was then that I realised, where exactly my heart had gone. It had flown away into the clouds and finally found it's way back down. It was now resting in her petite hands. And I could only watch in horror as I gave my heart away so easily, falling for a pretty girl, with a beautiful smile who would never love me back.

It was at that moment, I fell for Artemis Olympia.