I'm baaaack. This story may or may not turn out really twisted. I guess we'll see. Thanks for clicking on my story though! Let me know what you think and where you all want it to go! R&R y'all, R&R

Chapter 1

Annabeth POV

My eyes flutter open and adjust to the light filtering through the window due to the lack of curtains. Note to self, get some damn curtains. I remain in bed and stare at the ceiling, scared that I'll trip over a box or knock one over if I get out of bed. You see, we have just moved here from San Francisco, California and we finally got all of our boxes unloaded yesterday. By the time we got our stuff it was about eleven o'clock at night, so we didn't unpack much.

From the corner of my eye I see my door opening. I look over and see my dad in the doorway. I roll my eyes, sigh, and hop out of bed. As soon as I'm out of bed he leaves, closing the door behind him, giving me privacy to get dressed. I dig through the boxes piled on my floor for the right outfit for my first day of school. A long sleeved cashmere sweater, skinny jeans, and a silver pair of slightly high heeled boots come to be the perfect October outfit. I rush downstairs and grab my backpack attempting to run out the door when my stepmom grabs my arm to stop me.

"Not without breakfast," she signs to me. Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm deaf? Well, now you know.

"I'll be fine," I sign back to her. "I really have to leave."

I run out of the door and make my way towards the elevator of our apartment building. I press the button, calling for the elevator. I stand in the hallway fiddling with my thumbs, nervous about my first day at a school that's not for the deaf. I see the elevator doors open, but more importantly I see who is in the elevator. In the elevator stands a raven-haired boy with sea green eyes. He seems to be about six feet tall. I see the ground floor button is already pushed, so I just lean against the elevator wall and wait for this ride to be over.

I exit the elevator first when it stops and walk off towards the doors of the lobby. Much to my disappointment, the boy from the elevator walks towards me. I then notice the backpack that he had lazily slung over his right shoulder. As we step into the brisk air, I instantly feel chilled. He, however, seems to be immune to this cold. He must be from here, I note mentally. This really isn't ideal weather for someone from California. I sigh and continue to walk.

Goode High is about six blocks from our apartment building, hence the walking. About halfway there, I see his hand wave in front of my eyes. I turn towards him with a questioning look lain upon my face and try to read his lips and see what he says.

"I said are you going to Goode High?"

I nod in response.

"You new here? I haven't seen you around before."

Again, I nod.

"I'm Percy. Nice to meet you," he says extending his arm.

I smile and shake his hand halfheartedly.

"So am I gonna have to guess your name?" he asks, smirking.

I give a look as if to say go ahead. He chuckles and shakes his head. I think he mumbles something, but I'm not sure. We walk in silence, or so I think, the rest of the way to campus. I momentarily pause at the sight of my newly found doom. I know I can go to regular schools because I'm now superb at reading lips, but it's still scary. I can't communicate with anyone because none of them know sign language. I can speak, but I prefer not to. I would probably sound stupid, but I don't know if I do or not. That's the main reason I don't talk, but there's another. Percy keeps walking towards the school, but abruptly stops when he notices I'm not with him. He turns around to find me.

"Are you coming?"

I nod and follow him into the brick building from Hades. He says something that I don't catch since he isn't facing towards me. I give him a questioning look and he repeats: "Do you need to go to the office to get your schedule?"

I smirk and nod as he shows me to the office. I walk into the beige room and saunter up to the desk in the corner with Percy.

"Can I help you?" the lady behind the desk asks... I think.

I nod and give Percy a pleading look, asking him to tell her what we came here for. Luckily, he understands and tells her, though not without giving me a concerned and questioning look.

"She's new and needs her schedule."

"Ah, so you're Annabeth Chase?" the receptionist asks.

I smile shyly and nod. She hands me my papers and points to Percy.

"He can show you around to your classes. And don't worry, your teachers know."

I give her a smile as if to say thank you and Percy and I proceed to leave the main office. He snatches my schedule out of my hands and studies it for a minute.

"It looks like we have all of the same classes this semester, or what's left of it that is," he explains. He continues, "What did she mean by 'your teachers know?'"

I look away quickly and try to avoid eye contact with him. As we're walking in the hustle and bustle of the hallway someone bumps into me, pushing me into Percy, who stops my fall. I look at him thankfully and he seems to understand.

We turn a corner and walk past four doors before stumbling upon room 122. Percy pulls me into the room and walks me up to the teacher. I hand him my schedule to let him know I'm supposed to be here and he looks it over for a second.

"Ah, yes. Annabeth. I've been briefed on you. I'm Mr. Blofis; I'll be your AP English III teacher this semester. Nice to meet you," he says, extending his hand, much like Percy had earlier.

I smile and nod, firmly shaking his hand.

"You can sit in the front row next to Percy. Speaking of which," he starts and reaches in to his pocket, "Here you go, Perce," he says and hands him a cell phone. Percy takes the phone and shows me to our seats. I give him an inquisitive look.

"That's my, uh, stepdad. I must have…" He turns his head so I can't see the rest of what he says.

However, Mr. Blofis shuts the door and commences class. It isn't even until then when I realize that I forgot to put in my hearing aids this morning. How could I be so stupid? My first day at a normal school and I forget the most important thing. I try to snap out of my anger to focus on what the teacher is saying, but he keeps pausing for questions that I can't hear so I get all these random answers to questions that I can only guess were asked. I take the best notes that I can with what I can read from his lips.

After an hour and a half lecture on grammar, people start making their way out of the classroom. I start to pack my things when Mr. Blofis catches my attention. He waves me over to his desk. I cautiously walk to him while Percy waits for me.

"Was class easy for you to follow today?"

I shake my head and point to my ear to let him know that I had left the hearing aids at home.

"Oh, I see. You may want to get with Percy and compare notes then to make sure that you got what you needed. If you have a problem tomorrow too I may have a solution for you," he says. "Percy? You need to get with Annabeth after school to compare notes. She was a little… distracted today. Speak with her to figure out a time and place. Wouldn't want our new student to fail, would we?" he asked winking.

"I guess not…," Percy replies. He muffles something that I don't catch, but I do catch Mr. Blofis's response.

"Percy, look at her when you speak," he commands.

"Um, yes sir," Percy replies.

Percy leads me out of the room and back into the crowded halls. He grabs my arm so I don't get lost, but not in a violent manner. When he does so, I feel a spark and I think he does too as he pulls his hand away momentarily. However, he puts his hand back on me and continues to guide me. I follow him up three staircases and around several corners in order to find the math hall.

We walk into room 407 for our Honors Pre-Calculus class. I hand my schedule to Mr. Valder and he seats me in the front. Luckily since it is math, I don't have to necessarily read his lips for everything he says since most of the explanations can be found within the work and answer. Today, it was all about parabolas and conics. Have I mentioned that I hate them? They're sort of confusing, even to me. I hope Percy took really good notes that I can compare with.

As the bell rings, he calls to me and Percy. "Hey, Perce, help a brotha out and go over the notes with Annabeth. Catch her up with what we've done and shit. I want to know what she's done at her old school."

And, if you've never heard (or seen in my case) a middle aged white man say "help a brotha out," you're missing out on life. It's the funniest shit you'll ever see.

"Okay."

"And if you're lucky, she can save you from failing," he says laughing.

"See you later, Valdermort," finishes Percy and the teacher shoots him a look.

"Don't call me that, Perseus. You shouldn't either, Annabeth, not that you could," I see him mutter with humor.

"What," Percy starts, but I don't see him finish as I turn to leave and stroll out the door. I sit on the floor for a few minutes until Percy comes out from 407. I see his shoes before anything else and when I look up he offers me his hand. I hesitantly take it and he lifts me off the ground, literally. I don't even try to pull myself up with assistance; he just lifts me off the ground. All of a sudden, students around us start rushing in different classes. I look worriedly at Percy, scared of being late for third period.

"Don't worry, Annabeth. We have lunch period right now. It lasts for forty minutes then we high tail it to class."

I nod understandingly.

"Do you wanna eat lunch with me and my friends so you meet some people?"

I shake my head respectively to decline his offer and try to express that I'll be okay.

"Are you sure? Because I know my friends wouldn't mind and I'm sure they'd love to meet you and-," he rushes.

I put my hand on his arm to stop him mid-sentence and once again decline his offer.

"I'll meet you back at this spot at eleven, okay?"

I nod my head and walk in the opposite direction of him. I make my way down a few flights of stairs and find myself at the back-end of the school. I take note of my surroundings. To my right are the football/soccer/lacrosse field, track, and baseball field. To my right is the softball field. The softball field kind of reminds me of my place in this school and with Percy. Close enough to him that if I ever need him he's there, but far enough away that we can't actually communicate. In this school, I am the needle in the haystack.

I sit down on the empty hill, whether or not I'm even allowed back here I don't know, and just listen to nature. I look at my phone and see that it's ten thirty-eight. I set an alarm on my phone to vibrate at ten fifty five. I have about fifteen minutes until I have to meet Percy back in front of Mr. Valder's room. I go into my backpack and pull out my book, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I started it yesterday and I only have about twenty pages left. I know that sounds pathetic, but it's really not. I promise.

I have one page left to go when my phone starts to vibrate. I figure finishing the last page won't do any harm, so I finish the book. I close the book and place it neatly back in my backpack. Standing up, I try to remember how to get back to the math room. I enter the side of building B and walk up the flight of stairs to look for 407. When I get there Percy is already waiting for me. I give him a look to say I'm sorry and he nods his head in understanding. Suddenly, students poured in from the stairwell and barreled down the hallway. I look to Percy and follow his lead down the hall. After the breezeway, we hang a right, walk down two flights of stairs, and then enter room 607. I was actually a tad surprised that Percy was taking an Honors Law & Justice class. I know I've only known him for a few hours, but he just didn't seem to be like that kind of person. He seemed more like someone who would take Marine Ecology…

Upon entering the classroom, there was only one other person in the room. At first I think it is a student, but when Percy walks up to her and says something motioning towards me I can do nothing but assume that she was the teacher. In all honesty she does not look like a teacher, not in a bad way though. She just looks really young. She looks to be about twenty-five years old and has long chestnut brown hair, a long orange dress, and a nose ring. I proceed to join her and Percy. I manage to catch the tail end of their conversation.

"…she can sit next you. Your partner dropped the class," Miss Brown tells him.

He smiles, turns, and walks towards a set of desks in the middle of the class. I walk over to the desk adjacent to his and set my bag down, sending him a quick, small smile. I glance at my watch noting that I still had a few minutes until class starts. I casually saunter back out into the hall, leaving a bewildered Percy behind. We are only to third period and I am already tired of today. I walk into the bathroom to splash cold water on face when I was greeted with a redheaded bitch. She stood at about 5'7 compared to my 5'9, so I had some height on her. She spoke and I just barely catch what she was saying.

"So you're the new girl that's spending every waking second of the day with Percy," she questions, though it came out as more of a statement.

I shrug and nod since I don't really know how to appropriately respond.

"Stay. Away. From. Him," she warns and slams my head into the wall. I feel the blood trickle down my head. After she sashays out of the bathroom, I look into the mirror. There's a giant gash on the side of my head, just under my hairline. Unfortunately, it's in a place that somebody might be able to see. Even worse, it's the side that will be facing Percy during class. I clean it up as best as I can and cover it with my hair. I walk back to class and see that it's almost filled. I take my seat and wait for class to commence.

The first thing we do is take a shit load of notes. Luckily, Miss Brown gives us guided notes so we don't have to write down every word. A while into class and note taking, my hair fell completely in my face so I naturally sweep my hair behind my ear. Thanks to my stupidity, I forgot all about my brand new wound. And, to add to my bad luck, it just happens to be when Percy decides to look over at me. The only good thing that comes from this unfortunate mishap is that Percy finds a way to break our communication barrier. He does the smartest thing he's probably ever done in his life and writes what he wants to say to me.

Who did that to you, he writes.

I don't know. Redhead, 5'7, bitch.

Rachel. He shakes his head with shame and writes back, what did she say to you?

Why does it matter? It's not like it's any of your business,I retort.

It matters because she is my ex-girlfriend and she's bat-shit crazy.

I stifle a laugh and I'm not sure if it's because I can't imagine him dating someone like that or if it's because he used the term "bat-shit crazy." I write back, that's the most accurate way that could ever be phrased, Percy. So eloquent.

What can I say? I'm blessed with that talent.

So I see. What's up with that Rachel girl? What the fuck is her problem?

I don't really know exactly. The only thing I can think of is that she's jealous of you for spending a bunch of time with me.

Wow, narcissistic much?

Am I right?

Maybe.

Knew it. So if that's what the cut on your head is from, then what is on your neck?

Running my hand over my neck, I realize what he's talking about. It's been so long since the incident occurred that I had completely forgotten about it. Nothing, I so smartly reply.

But there's two – he starts, but I yank the paper from him.

I said it's nothing.

So, can I ask you something?

Sure…?

Do you talk? Like, outside of writing apparently.

I don't respond to his question at all, partly because I don't want to answer him and also because we had already missed over ten slides of notes. I quickly glance at Percy before returning my attention to Miss Brown and see a questioning look on his face. I push it to the back of my mind and focus on the remaining five minutes of class. When everybody else starts to pack up, I take that as my cue to pack my backpack and stand up as well. As people start to exit the room, I start to walk. However, I did it very slowly as for Percy to catch up with me and show me to class. He comes fake jogging towards me and I laugh at his antics.

As we approach our AP Journalism class, someone deliberately steps in our way and I instantly recognized who it was. The bitch from the bathroom. Rachel. I instantly look away so I don't have to see what she is saying. I look at my watch for, like, two seconds and out of the corner of my eye I see Rachel move her arm in a backwards motion to hit Percy. Just has she brings her arm down to hit him I step in front of him. I take the punch right to the jaw and glare at her. Percy looks at me like I'm crazy and belong in the loony bin for stepping in front of him.

"What the fuck?!" I see Rachel say.

I can see the anger growing in her green, psychopathic eyes as she goes to hit me again. However, I grab her arm as it swings towards me and bend it behind her back. As I'm standing behind her, I kick the back of her knee, sending her down to the ground. That's when I notice that a small crowd has gathered around watching us fight, though I wouldn't exactly call it a fight. I grab Percy and walk through the crowd to class. He reluctantly leads me into our next classroom.

I enter the room and notice a remarkably young, beautiful woman who has brown hair, with a white streak near the front. I wouldn't have known that she is the teacher had she not been wearing her I.D. badge. She smiles as I walk up to her and hand her my schedule. She points to a seat in the back corner of the room that I'm assuming is generally empty for the class. That's also when I happen to notice that Percy sits on the other side of the room. I'm going to hate this class. Wait a minute, I think to myself, why are you saying that? You literally just met him this morning. I shake the thoughts out of my head and try to pay attention to class and Miss Fuhrman, but it doesn't work out like I intended it to. I find myself thinking about Percy for almost the entire period. I don't even realize that I had spent that long thinking of him until the kid in front of me passes me a half sheet of paper explaining a group project. I internally sigh and start to pack up my things like the rest of the class.

As I make my way towards the door with the rest of the crowd, a hand grabs onto my shoulder. I naturally remove it my twisting it and facing the person. I turn around to find Percy standing behind me. I quickly release his arm and look at him warningly. He holds his hands up in surrender and we continue to walk towards the front of the school. Embracing the cool weather, we exit the building and embark on our journey back to our apartments. It's a nice walk there, but one thing is oddly suspicious. Percy doesn't even attempt to talk to me as far as I know. We make it all the way into the apartment building until he even waves his hand in front of me to get my attention.

"What floor do you go to?" he asks, assuming that I'm taking the elevator with him.

I shake my head and point towards the stairs. It's not that I don't want to go with him because I don't like him; it's quite the opposite in fact. I want to take the stairs alone so I can sort out how I feel about him. I've only known him for a day and I'm not sure how I feel about him. I wave goodbye to him and we part ways. Before I get the door to the stairs open, a hand is put on my shoulder and I instinctually twist it. The assailant is, of course, Percy. I send him a look of apology and he accepts it.

"Do you wanna be my partner? For the Journalism project, I mean."

I shrug to say sure and turn around to leave when he tries to stop me yet again. I turn around and roll my eyes at him.

"Paul said that I need to get with you to make sure you got the notes. How am I –" he starts, but I quickly finish by taking part of a piece of paper and putting my phone number on it.

Annabeth Chase

415-254-6862

TEXT ONLY

I shove the paper at him and start my ascent to the fifth floor and ponder about the days' events. I know I like Percy. That's a given. I know that I can easily read his lips and expressions. On the contrary, I can't talk to him. Oh and there's always the fact that I've only known him for a day, not even. Though, I feel like I've known him for a lifetime. I open my door in a frustrated manner and sigh as I close it. I make my way towards my room and stare at what a mess the entire apartment is. I walk into my room and realize it's even worse than the rest of the apartment. Fuck it, I think to myself, I can put that stuff away another time. I flop down onto my bed and start to think about Percy. The rest of the week is gonna suck if I don't get him out of my head. As if on cue, my phone buzzes.

NEW TEXT FROM UNKNOWN.

I open it.

Hey, Annabeth. It's Percy. When do you wanna compare notes?

Ugh I totally forgot about that.

Really? We just talked about it not even half an hour ago.

Well sorrrryyy if I have more important things in my life than English class.

Welcome to the world of Percy + math.

But math is so easy.

Speak for yourself.

I usually always do. So I have a question about that Valder guy.

Shoot.

Does he always swear a lot?

Pretty much, yeah. But that's what makes him such a good teacher.

We banter back and forth for over an hour like we've been friends for years. I tell him that I have to go and I anxiously wait for his reply.

All right. Ya know, in the time we just spent talking, we could've gone over the notes?

Probably. Just send me a picture of your notes and I'll make sure I got everything down. Thanks, but now I really have to go. In the time that I've spent conversing with you, I should have been doing my homework, so now I have to go do that. Goodbye.

He sends me the picture and says his goodbye. Now I'm more confused about my feelings for him than before. Ugh.