"I'm leaving!" I called as I closed the door behind me. I heard my dad say something but I was in a rush, sorry dad.

You see, my friend Thalia 'accidentally' forgot to print out an extra handout for me which by the way is essential if I want to keep my oral grade up. I have to print it out at school before class starts which requires a little sprint to catch the buss if I don't want to miss my first class. Thanks to Thalia Grace who is a great friend.

As I reach the school building, I see the little group of sophomores like me who have been my best friends for years now. Thalia Grace, of course, with her night dark hair, electric blue eyes and freckles across her nose. She actually is a nice and upbeat person when you don't hit a nerve of hers. Another one of my closest friends, Leo Valdez, has curly black hair and dark brown eyes. Leo is the only person on Earth who can always have a mischievous smile on his face, like he is going to blow you up a second later. Piper McLean, the cute and pretty one of our group, Hazel, her best friend and also the quiet, shy one of us, and finally Frank, Hazel's destined-to-be boyfriend. It's obvious that they like each other, but they both are too shy to admit it, so we all are waiting for some confessions. Also, there is Jason, who is my best friend's twin brother with military cropped blonde hair and blue eyes just like Thalia's. Jason is not completely a part of the group because he doesn't always hang out with us an when he doesn't, we know that he is with his buddies from the basketball team. The members of the team are like brothers, at least it seems like it when I see Jason with them now and then.

I knew what they were talking about even before I reached them. "How can someone possibly write a 3000 word essay in 3 days?" Thalia was basically shouting in desperation. "That's rightdown homicide!"

"No, Thals, it only takes a couple of hours." I jumped into the conversation. "First, let's get the worksheets printed out, first class is History and we're going to need them"

The day went on slowly, painfully, as most days of school are. I had a couple of my classes with some of my friends, but still, I was suffering waiting for those lectures to end. My last period was Math and hopefully Thalia was in the same class. You can never get bored at Math when you are with Thalia, she keeps making fun of that poor new teacher. As much as I feel sorry for her, I must admit that I join Thalia sometimes. Hey! You can't blame me. I'm not the reason for that beard on her face.

Anyway, I was trying to understand how Modular Arithmetic worked out when Thalia started complaining about the essay homework again.

"That probably was a joke right? She can't expect us to write 3000 words in 3 days. Can she? Annie! I'm talking to you."

"I'm trying to listen, Thalia." "But what if she was right?"

"Okay" I whispered, frustrated. "I will help you. Just let me listen"

She looked content with my answer. "You are the best. Come to my house today and we will get this over with. You can also stay."

"Do you ever shut up?" I answered, but we both knew where I was staying tonight.

I didn't even need to call my dad to stay at Thalia's. When I don't come home after it becomes night, he knows who I am with, and doesn't freak out or start searching everywhere like a freak. That's an unspoken deal we've made.

"Have you picked the story you want to write about, or the author?" I asked as I plopped on her bed, laptop on my lap.

"First, you should ask if I have read any of them." Was her answer. The smart, hardworking, nerdy Thalia Grace.

I sighed as I went through the stories assigned to our class trying to pick one. "Maybe the story of the old man with—" I started saying as Thalia's phone started buzzing.

"It's mom, wait a second. Yes mom? No, no we are studying. No mom, we really are. Yes, I can study! Annabeth is also here. Okay, I will tell her, but we won't come. Seriously, do we have to? I don't care if Jason is there too, mom. Fine, fine, we will. Bye."

"Where are we going?" I asked, we hadn't even started!

"Have I ever told you about my cousin? Percy?" I nodded, I remembered some things Thalia told me about a Percy who was a year older than us, also, I knew that he was a junior at our school and in the basketball team because I had seen him with Jason and the team buddies. Plus, the sophomore girls were a little too much interested in the junior guys, so I have heard his name before between the gossips.

"Well, his mother and mine are pretty close friends, and they like to hang out and have a coffee once in a while. She is there again, and his mom told mine that she haven't seen me lately and missed me so much. Yes Annie, stop making that face, I know it's lame, but we have to go now. We'll write the essay later."

Thalia's mom was a really nice woman actually. She liked to drink and gamble and such, but Thalia and Jason didn't really care, so didn't I. When we got into the Blofis house, she got so excited that she called "Annie! You're here!" in a high pitched voice with a big smile on her face. Did I tell you that she really likes me? I went and hugged her, as the woman sitting across her stood up to hug Thalia.

We sat down, the woman, Sally apparently, served us some homemade cookies which were delicious by the way. She was a cute and cheerful person. The sun had set down when we decided that the tittle-tattle was enough. We were about to leave when Beryl recalled that we had forgotten Jason. She told us to go take him and left for home.

"Why do we always have to do the crappy work?" Thalia mumbled to herself mostly and lead me to the backyard. That's when I started to hear voices. 2 of them I knew. One belonged to Jason, the voice I have known since my childhood. The other was Charles Beckendorf, I talk to him now and then, when I see him at the library, or when we come across at some club meetings. I knew he is a nice guy. But I couldn't identify the third voice. It was obvious that it belonged to a guy. The voice was deep but it was warm and calming in some way.

"Oh, look at who is coming. My one and only sister." Jason called with a fake happiness and excitement. The others turned to us. I was right about Beckendorf, but what I saw on the other seat was more appealing to me. He had dark hair, a cute nose, and a cigarette in his hand, just like Beckendorf did.

"So you brought Annie too. At least there is someone we can have a humane talk with." Jason kept talking. I knew that Thalia was getting ready to attack him as I greeted Beckendorf and he turned to the other guy.

"Percy, meet Annabeth. Annabeth, this is Percy." He said. For the first time, I looked Percy Jackson in the eye. They were an absolutely gorgeous shade of sea green. A shade that you could get lost in for days. . His smile was mischievous but so perfect.

"Hi" he said. "I'm Percy."