Chapter 1

"Hey, watch out!" I yelled, then groaned as my text books fell out of my arms and onto the floor. The two boys who'd ran past me dodged and weaved through the crowd, racing each other with sly grins on their faces.

Unfortunately, I knew them. Jason was my best friend Thalia's little brother, though they didn't look much alike. While they shared the same trait of striking lightning blue eyes, Thalia had short, spiky black hair while Jason had short, cropped style blonde hair. Thalia also happened to be more laid back, while Jason had a slight tendency to over-worry sometimes. Not that I minded. Someone had to make sure Thalia stayed out of trouble.

Leo was slightly different. With his curly brown hair and elvish features, he looked like a latino elf. His mother passed away when he was five, and his dad abandoned him and his mother before he was born, so he lives with his half-brother Charlie. Leo was the joker of the group. If you needed a good laugh, Leo was your man. I lost track of the amount of times he's been suspended within the last few years of high school. We were seniors now, but the school year had just started. I knew it was only a matter of time. A good example being now, racing Jason through the halls and passing outraged teachers who glared at them.

"Valdez!" I heard a familiar voice scream. "Grace!"

Uh oh, I thought, bending over to pick up my books. They should've known better than to run past Coach Hedge, although they probably didn't see him. Hedge was so short his head barely passed Leo's shoulders, and Leo wasn't even that tall compared to Jason.

Half of the time that Leo was caught and then suspended was because of Hedge. We often joked that the majority of the coach's age lines comes from constantly having to be on Leo's rear.

Coach Hedge, a short, stout looking man with a permanent scowl etched into his features, grabbed the back of Leo's neck to stop him. Then he reached with his other hand to stop Jason from escaping. "Just what do you two think you're doing?"

"Nothing," they said in unison.

"Nothing, eh?" Hedge's small dark eyes glared at them. "You two sure know how to start off a school year, don't you? Tell you what, since i'm feeling generous today, the both of you will only serve two days of detention instead of four. Starting today. Got it?"

Jason and Leo both started talking at the same time.

"But Coach! You can't do that!"

"That's totally unfair! I have basketball practice today!"

"Suck it up, cupcakes." Hedge tucked his clipboard under his arm and straightened, as if trying to make himself seem taller than them, which was impossible. "I'll see both of you today at four sharp." He turned and walked away, leaving Leo and Jason to glare at his back.

I rolled my eyes. "It was completely moronic to think you could get away with running down a hallway packed full of teachers, especially Hedge."

Jason stuck his tongue out at me, which was totally a Thalia thing to do. Maybe they weren't alike in looks but they were definitely similar in personality. Although not as much as she and Percy were...

I shook my head, stopping that thought as quickly as it had come. I haven't seen Thalia's cousin in years. More than likely he's living halfway across the world right now, either in Japan or Greece or somewhere amazing. He chose to leave New York and travel with his dad when he was twelve. As far as I knew, and by what Thalia told me, he pops his head in from time to time to see his mother Sally who still lives here in New York with her husband Paul, aka...my english teacher.

Paul was really cool. He also knew a lot about how to work with kids with ADHD and dyslexia, like me, which was why I asked to be in his class for my senior year. Being a straight A student, the school could hardly say no to me. Having dyslexia was hard enough, but Paul stayed with me numerous times after school tutoring me. With his help, and with the help of my Latin teacher Mr. Brunner, I was able to keep my grades from slipping.

"Annabeth?" Leo waved his hand in front of my face, grinning. He had a very mischievous smile, it was no wonder teachers and students alike distrusted him. "Woo hoo, earth to blonde. Come back to reality, Princess. We need you to help us figure out how we're gonna get out of detention."

I scoffed. "Excuse me? You got yourselves into detention, now you have to get yourselves out."

"Aw come on, Annabeth," Jason groaned. "I can't miss practice, I've been made team captain."

I just stuck my tongue out at him.

Jason opened his mouth to reply, but glanced at something over my shoulder and stopped. His jaw dropped. "No way."

"What?" I asked, turning.

"What's up, guys." Thalia grinned. Her spiked hair was pulled back today, her black on black clothing and punk rock look standing out from the rest of the crowd. Even though we had uniforms, the school handbook didn't say we had to be specific. I usually just wore my white polo and khakis. Thalia added chunky black bracelets and skull earrings with her attire. To top it off she rocked combat boots and dark eyeliner.

It was when my assessment of Thalia's outfit was over that I realized she wasn't alone. A guy with dark hair and light green eyes stood beside her. It took me a moment to realize who I was looking at, but Jason beat me to it. Leo just looked confused. He didn't know this familiar stranger like Jason, Thalia and I did. How odd that I had been thinking of him only a moment ago, and now he was standing right in front of me.

"Percy?" Jason gasped.