Hey guys! This is our first story, so please be kind, and enjoy! - xoxo Olivia and Amanda
Disclaimer: We do not own any prestablished characters, anything you recognize, or the art used in the cover
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Chapter One
Annabeth's Pov
I had barely started on my usual hour-long walk to school when realization dawned on me. The library isn't open today. To any other person, this would seem like something of little importance, but the library was my world. A safe haven from the halls of Goode High. I could go there to not have to deal with the anxiety of being around other people. Especially the populars. But today, I would have to suffer the crushing mass of the student body. Great, I thought to myself, what a awesome way to start off my senior year. But it could be worse. At least I was invisible.
The thought of being around so many people at once made my head swirl. I adjusted the neckline of my shirt apprehensively. To make sure nobody noticed me, I always tried to fit in, to blend into the crowd. Not that it was hard. All I had to do was wear simple things like my light grey Harry Potter shirt and black skinny jeans. A pair of worn out converse and my signature sand dollar necklace topped it off. I had my light blonde hair tied up in a messy bun, with a few strands hanging out.
Overall, I was pretty normal looking. The only thing out of the ordinary were my eyes, which were startling grey. They tended to freak people out, so I hide them. I never went out of the house without wearing my pair of circular, prescription-less glasses. They did a pretty good job of dulling the color. My bag weighed heavily on my shoulders as I trudged along the wet pavement, trying my best to avoid the puddles that stretched along the sidewalk.
When I reached the entrance to Goode High, I kept my head down and quickly walked in to avoid catching the gaze of any wandering eyes. Ignoring the dread in my stomach, I tried thinking optimistically: This is the first day of my senior year. There's only one more year left until I can finally escape the house and pursue architecture. The mere thought of my favorite subject brought a smile to my face.
I weaved through the crowded corridors, trying not to bump into anyone. I headed towards my locker, observing my classmates along the way. It was the same as any other year with all the bullies and preppy people. With my luck, I wasn't surprised to find that my locker was located in the busiest section of the hallway. I attempted to make my way through the crowd without being jostled too much. After a couple of accidental shoves—and one very unflattering trip—I finally made it. Hiding my face in the door, I shoved some of my textbooks inside.
So now that you've seen that, you've probably realized how much of a nobody I am. I could identify almost any person in this school, but I'm sure nobody could even tell you my first name. Although lonely at times, being the quiet nerd has upsides. You would be surprised at the amount of gossip I hear, and I'm never involved in any drama. I'm able to focus on my schoolwork, and being invisible keeps me from getting attached to people, protecting me from heartbreak.
All at once, the hallway became much quieter; the only sound was whispers echoing off the walls. I groaned inwardly, shutting my locker. The hushed tones could only mean one thing: the populars were here. Every school has them, the one group who everyone admires and wants to be. Their group parted the crowds like the Red Sea. It always played out exactly like one of those cheesy high school movies.
Half of the girls they passed had looks of respect and adoration on their face because they aspired to be exactly like the populars; the other half held jealous and fearful expressions from lusting after their boyfriends and just fearing them in general. Most of the guys had the same reaction: they just stared at the popular girls' butts like your everyday hormonal teenage boys.
My eyes landed on Piper McLean first, hand-in-hand with her boyfriend, Jason. She was one of the natural beauties of the group and was also quite smart. Her brown hair had a Pocahontas vibe to it, a choppy cut with feathers weaved in. Supposedly, she was part Native American. Looking at her, you could definitely see it, with her hair and her deeply tanned skin. Everything about her was gorgeous, especially her eyes. They were a kaleidoscope of colors, as if they couldn't make up their mind.
Being in student council and on the girls' soccer team made her pretty well-known and liked by most of the students. There was also the fact that her dad's a famous movie star. She was the kind of girl who looked cute and innocent, but could seriously harm anyone who hurt her. Unlike most of her friend group, she seemed pretty down to earth and nice. As I previously mentioned, she was currently dating Jason Grace, probably the second most popular guy in school. It came as no surprise that she had found her way into the popular group. She definitely deserved a place.
The next person I noticed was Jason Grace, mainly because he was right next to Piper at the back of the group. He had cropped, golden hair and pale blue eyes. With his golden boy looks, I'm not surprised that Piper and half the school fell for him instantly. Jason was known for being moral, often stopping his friends from doing things with dire consequences. He's one of those rare types of popular guys that doesn't drink much or sleep around. That's why he had earned the nickname "the Blonde Superman". He also happened to be a member of the basketball team and the backup quarterback for the football team. In addition to being a jock, he had a 3.7 gpa and was also a nerd. A popular nerd. Like Piper, he seemed pretty relaxed as they walked together, swinging their interlocked hands.
On the other side of Piper was Thalia Grace, Jason's twin sister. She was tough-looking, wearing all black from her leather jacket to her lace up combat boots. Her hair was short and pure black, almost in a pixie cut. Like Jason, she had blue eyes, but his were a pale blue and hers were more of a striking blue. There were coats of dark makeup around her eyes to make them pop. Many people knew Thalia to be irrational and quick on her feet; her record of being sent to the principal's office one hundred and five times last year spoke for itself. She was probably one of the few people willing to directly talk back to teachers. Jason, on the other hand, was adored by the staff for his grades. It was hard to overlook the similarities the Grace siblings shared, but their differences were very obvious as well. Jason reached over Piper to ruffle Thalia's hair, earning a death glare that was actually quite scary. He laughed, shrugging it off as she rolled her eyes.
Reyna Arellano stood back there too, next to Thalia. She was the other tough girl in the group. Reyna had a lean, more muscular look with unreadable, brown eyes and a glossy braid. Her towering height and cold stare frightened anyone who got near her. She's so threatening that even the most popular girl in school bows down to her occasionally. She was the captain of the volleyball team and a star javelin thrower for the track and field team, so everyone knew that she could seriously hurt anyone who offended her. Reyna also has the second highest grades in the school with a 3.9 gpa. (I have the highest, and I seriously hope she never finds out that I'm the only one standing in her way for valedictorian). She was pretty, in a mysterious-but-intimidating way, but guys were too scared to try to flirt with her. They all know Reyna Arellano could end them with a flick of her wrist. She was now looking at the Grace siblings' fight with a small smirk on her face.
Leo Valdez was attempting to sneak up behind Thalia, which sums up his character perfectly. He enjoys playing pranks on people along with the Stoll Brothers, and he's amazingly good with any type of machine, which they use to their advantage when playing tricks. He was also the featured waterboy for Goode High's football team. In the category of appearance, he was alright. He had a mop of curly, dark hair and freckles scattered across his nose. He was kinda on the shorter side, about 5'7. Because of his height, most people would write him off as harmless, but he always has a mischievous glint in his dark eyes when he's planning something.
After the group had passed, I slouched back against my locker. Those people weren't the rude type of popular; they were actually pretty normal and well-liked. But there were others at this school that think it's perfectly fine to bully innocent kids. I frowned in concentration as I tried to spot a specific person coming down the hall. When she was nowhere to be seen, I sighed with relief. Thank goodness. Maybe she wasn't here today. I only had a moment of comfort, however, before I caught a whiff of a sickly sweet perfume. There's only one person that scent could belong to: Drew. I scowled in disgust.
Drew Tanaka was a power-obsessed, designer-wearing, unfortunately beautiful girl. As she walked through the halls, her stilettos clicked against the floor, followed by the footsteps of her posse. When she got near, every guy in the area stopped what they were doing just to stare, and she basked in the attention.
As much as I dislike Drew, I had to admit that she was pretty. She knew it too. Hell, everyone knew it. She had perfect creamy skin with perfect makeup and perfect dark hair that reached her shoulders. Despite her skinniness, she had perfect curves in all the right places. Drew was blessed with long lashes, high cheekbones, and a straight nose. She just happened to be the head cheerleader, and she's tricked everyone into falling for her devilish smile.
To be perfectly honest, she's never said or done anything rude to me, but that's probably because nobody at the school knew who I was. I had never really spoken to anyone besides the teachers. The reason that I think she's a despicable human being is because I notice the way she treats other people, especially freshmen and people less popular than her.
Drew waltzed down the parted crowd, purposefully swinging her hips with every stride. She paused suddenly, her eyes scanning the room, lingering on each and every face. She tapped her foot impatiently, and glanced around again. Apparently she was unable to find whatever she was looking for and stormed off with her two best girl friends on either side. To the left of her was Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Drew's second-in-command. Rachel had long red hair, straightened to perfection, and tons of makeup caked on her porcelain-colored face. To the right was Calypso, an easily-influenced girl with honey-brown hair and glowing skin.
Everyone knew that Drew was the leader of that little squad, and Rachel helped her with all of her malicious plans. Calypso, however, mostly just followed them around like a puppy. She seemed like a good person, but she allowed the other girls to manipulate her into doing anything. They were all best friends, but there was one issue Rachel and Drew could never resolve: they both liked Percy Jackson.
The doors swung open on the far end of the corridor, and everyone immediately quieted. Like everyone, I knew who had arrived. Percy Jackson was currently making his way down the hallway. I knew what the students were all thinking: Percy Jackson is extremely hot. I'm not going to lie, he definitely had some aesthetically pleasing features, but I did not like him. No amount of physical attractiveness is enough to make up for his snarky attitude and prank-playing ways.
Percy Jackson was, by far, the most popular guy at Goode High; he was practically a god. His hair was raven-colored and super messy. Over the summer, he had become even tanner and more muscular. Everything about him screamed jock; he was the captain of the football team (and also their quarterback) and the captain of the swim team.
Everyone in the hallway stopped and stared. He was wearing an All American Rejects shirt with a pair of jeans and scuffed up converse. How he could wear anything and make it look good (at least in every else's opinion), I don't even know. Percy Jackson could probably show up to school wearing nothing but a trash bag, and everyone would still admire him. And by everyone, I mean everyone. Even Drew, the devil herself, wouldn't try to cross him.
I wanted to melt just looking at him. I mean, the sight of Percy Jackson was enough to make any girl melt. He has those gorgeous blue-green eyes and the amazingly toned body—wait, what? Why are you thinking about Percy? I scolded myself. there's no way Percy Jackson would ever go out with you, and even considering it a possibility is ridiculous.
Besides, I wouldn't want to date him anyways. He might appear to be charming, but he had the personality of a four year old who was denied the superhero toy he wanted. In other words, Percy Jackson was a jerk. Not that I've actually had any kind of social interaction with him. Much like Drew, I could sense his rotten attitude by the way he acts.
He ran his hand through his hair as he casually strolled towards his group of friends, which included Piper, Jason, Thalia, Reyna, Leo and a few other jocks from the football and basketball teams. They appeared to be messing around with each other, as usual.
Connor and Travis Stoll, who had joined the group of populars moments before Percy, were the school pranksters. They would do just about anything for a good laugh, including, but not limited to, duct taping Leo to a tree, drunk and naked, changing all of the finals to German so they had to be recalled, and setting fireworks off in the school courtyard, which almost caught a teacher on fire. The boys were fraternal twins, so they looked similar, but their facial features were different and Travis was a few inches taller. Last year, they went to detention one hundred and forty-six days out of the one hundred and eighty school days. Like all of their other guy friends, they were on the football and basketball team.
They were currently standing in front of Thalia, keeping up conversation with her so she wouldn't notice Leo creeping up from behind. Leo, who had managed to successfully come up behind Thalia, yelled right into her left ear. In sheer panic, Thalia swung her arm around, slamming it into Leo and causing him to stumble into the wall. He let out a yelp and then began to laugh. Travis and Connor doubled over; Thalia crossed her arms, pretending to be annoyed, but her lips were turned up in a small smile.
"Hey guys!" Percy greeted joyously as he joined the group. Everyone scooted backward so he could enter the circle. Piper and Thalia stepped forward to hug him, and the guys all high fived him.
"Hey Perce!" Beckendorf, probably the third most popular guy answered. Charles Beckendorf, or just "Beckendorf" as everyone calls him, was an extremely buff, dark-skinned jock. He was handsome with his easygoing smile and laid back attitude, but in a different way than Golden Boy Jason or Bad Boy Percy; he had more of a classic charm. Beckendorf was the linebacker for the football team, and a fantastic one at that (if I may add). His girlfriend, Silena Beauregard, leaned against him, their hands clasped together.
Silena was probably the nicest person to have ever existed. She had a bubbly personality and would make friends with everyone, even the unpopular people. Her appearance matched her personality perfectly; she had a gorgeous face, long cascading black hair, shining blue eyes, and a skinny but curvy body. Much like Percy, she could manage to look good in anything. Right now, she was wearing a pink mini skirt with a checkered burgundy and white blouse and burgundy high heels. Silena would be every girl's envy, but it's impossible to be jealous of someone that sweet. All the guys, excluding Beckendorf and their friends, avoided Silena; they all knew Beckendorf would beat up anyone who dared to make a move on her.
"How were your summers?" Percy asked, walking through the group to go lean against one of the lockers, casually dropping his book bag on the ground. He ran his hand through his hair again, making it even more messy. I could hear them talking from all the way down the hall.
"Wild! Who knew there were so many hot chicks in California?" Leo laughed, sending his curls bouncing. "I had some wild nights, if you know what I mean," he finished, dramatically winking for effect. The Stolls snickered and gave him high fives.
"That's disgusting, Valdez. Besides, we all know that you couldn't get a girl if you tried. Which you have," Thalia scoffed, rolling her eyes. She and Reyna smirked and fist bumped. Leo frowned while the others all laughed. Piper ruffled Leo's hair affectionately.
"Don't worry, Valdez. You'll get a girl someday," Jason said, wrapping his arm around Piper and kissing the top of her head. Piper leaned into him as he put his head on top of hers.
"Easy for you to say," Leo muttered, but he had a smile on his face nonetheless. I mean, who wouldn't smile at Piper and Jason being all cute like that.
"How was your summer, Percy?" a low voice drawled from behind. He turned around, but before he could respond, Drew Tanaka strolled up to him and pressed her body against his. She eyed Percy hungrily, like someone would look at a slab of meat.
"Ummm…it was alright," Percy responded, stepping away from her. Most of the group stared at Drew and a very obvious awkward silence filled the air. Reyna glared at her with her cold eyes. Silena bit her lip, looking down at her feet. Everyone else shuffled around nervously, waiting for her to leave.
After a couple seconds, Drew noticed and stepped away from Percy, throwing her hair back over her shoulder. She got on her tiptoes and put her head next to Percy's ear, whispering something. After resting back on the ground, Drew winked seductively before walking away, Calypso and Rachel on her heels.
"Yo, Percy, what did you do over summer? Or should I say who did you do?" Travis asked suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows. The guys in the group snickered and high fived him while the girls rolled their eyes at the ridiculous question.
"I don't kiss and tell," Percy smirked. That just made the guys laugh even more and the girls smile a bit. He popped his collar, and even something as simple as that seem sexy when he did it. Everything seemed sexy when Percy Jackson did it.
Suddenly, the bell rang, and the hallway was filled with noise as everyone started moving in different directions to get to their next class. As the popular group split off to go to their separate lessons, Percy's gaze scanned the hall. His eyes stopped at my face; we made eye contact: gray on green. His eyebrows pinched in confusion as he held my gaze. My stomach twisted, thrusting me back into reality.
I blushed and turned away, embarrassed that I had been caught staring at him. I gathered my stuff and stumbled off down the hall, still dazed that I had made eye contact with the most popular guy in school. It meant nothing, I told myself, he was probably just looking at someone else. He doesn't even know you. Yes, I reassured myself again, he doesn't know who you are. Nobody does.
With that, I walked into Calculus and sat at a desk against the wall in one of the middle rows. I kept my head down, my eyes locked on my desk, as my classmates filed into the room. No matter how hard I tried, my stupid brain just kept thinking of what happened in the hallway. Those sea green eyes…wait, where did sea green come from? Is that even a color? Truth be told, there was no other way to describe them. They were green with a hint of blue, the exact color of the sea. Even without mentioning his eyes, the exchange was still weird. For some reason, I had a vague sense of deja vu.
"Who's ready to get their math on?" My thoughts were interrupted by Ms. Kehr, our teacher, as she walked in. She looked nice, on the younger side. Maybe in her late twenties or early thirties. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and it complemented her gentle eyes and delicate features, giving her an overall soft appearance.
Nobody answered her question, but nobody was talking either. You could practically hear crickets chirping from how silent it was. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Percy, Jason, and Piper on the other side of the room, sitting in the very back. They were passing notes, all of their faces alight with smiles; Percy was silently laughing to himself. Stop it! You need to get your mind off Percy Jackson! I felt my cheeks heat up as I reprimanded myself for the hundredth time that morning. Gods, what was with me? I just couldn't get my mind off of him. It's probably just because he actually looked you, I told myself, you'll be over him and the rest of the populars by lunch.
After a minute of complete silence, she looked around the room with a strained smile, "Well then, I guess we should start with…" Mrs. Kehr continued on, beginning her lecture. She discussed our standards and gave us examples of the problems that we'd be doing this year. I took notes, feeling relieved. I already knew how to do most of the hard stuff because I had been enrolled in online college for a few years now, so it was a weight off my shoulders that I wouldn't have to worry about math this year.
I was daydreaming about Harvard when Mrs. Kehr asked the class for a volunteer to do the college level problem on the board. Yet again, not a single person raised their hand. I took a break from my thoughts to study the problem carefully. I knew how to do this; I had learned it a year ago in my online classes. Not that it matter anyways because there was no way that I was going to solve a complicated math problem in front of two dozen people; that would make me stand out. Shrugging it off, I went back to imagining being curled up in Harvard's massive library, reading an amazing book. I was paying no attention until...
"No volunteers? I guess I'll have to choose…" Her calculating eyes scanned the room, finally landing on me; she pointed. "You. What's your name, honey?" Me? Why was she pointing at me? I struggled to get words out and felt my cheeks instantly flush. This couldn't be happening.
"A...A... Annabeth," I finally managed to stutter, still bright red. Everyone's eyes were on me, including Percy's. I didn't have to look; I could feel them boring into the back of my head. I fiddled with my necklace nervously. Was she really going to have me go up and solve it? I wasn't anxious about doing the problem, it was everyone that was going to be watching me. I did my best to avoid anyone noticing me, and I didn't want to throw that away for a simple math problem.
"Ok, Annabeth, whenever you're ready." Ms. Kehr gave me a supportive smile while going to sit on her desk. I slowly stood up, cautiously brushing the eraser shaving off my pants. I took the chalk from her hand, walked up to the board, and stared at the problem. I took a deep breath and began to solve it.
A couple minutes and an entire chalkboard later, I finally finished. That actually wasn't too bad. I was stiff with fear for the first line or two, but I had gradually loosened up and forgot about the class. Wiping the sweat off my brow, I turned to give the chalk back to Ms. Kehr, but stopped dead in my tracks when my gaze landed on the class. Everyone, including Ms. Kehr, was staring with their mouths dropped open.
"Annabeth," she started, "that was amazing. You got the correct answer." Everyone just kept staring, not believing that I had solved the puzzling equation. Now they all knew who I was. Oh goodness...I knew this would happen. I set the chalk back in her outstretched palm and hurried back to my seat. As soon as I made it to my desk, I buried my face in my hands, hoping nobody would think twice about it. This year is definitely off to a rough start.
Percy's Pov
My first day had played out like any other day at Goode High: stressful. I ended up being a little late to school due to every driver's worst nightmare: New York traffic. Luckily, it was a little better because I had a motorcycle, not a car. Even in the middle of traffic, every minute of it was breathtaking time that I would never want to take back. There was no substitute to having the wind flying past you and being able to see everything in every direction. Whenever I needed to get away, I just took Blackjack, my motorcycle, and rode around the city; it worked every time.
After an hour of red lights and traffic jams, I finally arrived at Goode High. I swung off of Blackjack and removed my helmet from my head, setting it on the seat. After a few seconds, the dizziness wore off (perk of having my bike for about a year now), and I stumbled towards the entrance.
I stopped at the door briefly to scowl at the building, then attempted to brighten my mood: only one required year of school left, and then I can be free. No more waking up at six o'clock in the morning to come to this hellhole. In reality, school as a whole wasn't that bad. I had a great group of friends, and they were enough to even out the not-so-great stuff. The bad stuff was why I wanted to leave (such as the actual classes), but it's okay because there's only a year remaining of my required time of school.
I haven't given much thought to what I wanted to be yet, but I guess I'd better hurry up. In a few months, I'd have to choose what college I'm going to, what classes I would take, and what I want my future career to be. Everytime a counselor discussed potential career choices with me, all I could think was I'm not ready, which was true. When it came to school, I was barely passing. Thankfully, I only had to make it through senior year.
I took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and ambled down the quiet hallway, my gaze sweeping the crowd of students for my friends. Everyone was staring as I walked. It sounds really arrogant, but I was used to it by now. I knew that I was one of the most popular people in the school, but I didn't really care. Probably the only reason why everyone knew who I was was because I'm the quarterback for the football team and captain of the swim team.
After continuing to walk down the hallway (and ignoring all the intrusive stares), I finally found my friends in a circle by the lockers. Since I had gotten here late, there was only ten minutes before class started, so I went to greet them quickly. I hugged all the girls, besides Reyna who looked like she could care less, and high fived and bro hugged the guys. Only a couple minutes had passed, and Thalia was just making fun of Leo when I heard a voice behind me.
"How was your summer, Percy?" an overly sweet voice asked. I turned to see none other than Drew Tanaka, the school's biggest bitc- I mean drama queen. I forced a smile on my face as she sauntered over. I opened my mouth to respond, intending to tell her that she was interrupting. However, before I could get the words out, Drew pressed her entire body against mine. My eyes went wide and I quickly stepped back to put some space between us
"Ummm…it was alright," I replied cautiously, trying to subtly tell her to back off. Clearly she didn't get the hint because she flashed me a flirtatious smile. Everyone else was super quiet, making the situation even more awkward.
After about a minute, Drew finally turned to leave, and I almost sighed in relief. But before she walked away, she pulled my head down and stood on her tiptoes in her already tall stilettos. She put her mouth very close to my ear.
"Well Percy, if you want to do anymore…catching up…then you know where to find me," Drew purred, winking before she strutted in the opposite direction.
As a general rule of politeness, I try to not be rude to anyone, but Drew really pushed my buttons sometimes. It's not that she was overly annoying, well she was, but not to me. It was the fact that she hit on me constantly and would not take a hint when I clearly wanted her to back off. Drew was also super mean to all the girls in school, bringing down their self esteems. She slept around, partied, drank, cheated, and everything in between. The worst thing was, nobody could stand up to her due to the stupid social hierarchy.
As I was turning back to my friends, Travis asked me how many girls I had slept with over the summer. Honestly, the answer was none. There had been a couple girls that I had made out with, but I wasn't the type of guy to go and sleep around. Instead of saying that, I responded casually, saying I don't kiss and tell. Soon after that, the bell rang. Oh great. Math class here I come.
Before heading to my lesson, I quickly scanned the corridor. I don't even know why, maybe it was just a habit, but my eyes stopped on a blonde girl.
She was short, about 5'2, with circular glasses covering her grey eyes. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wearing simple clothes. In skinny jeans, an off the shoulder Harry Potter shirt, and scuffed up converse, she was dressed like any other girl. But she was not plain. My breath hitched as I continued to stare at possibly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and that was saying something. Her angelic features were soft and void of makeup, making her even more attractive. My eyebrows furrowed. For some reason, she looked familiar, but I was sure that I had never seen her here before. Was she new? It's possible, but I couldn't help feeling as if I know her from somewhere.
The mystery girl held my eye contact for another second before turning away to pick up her bag. She was gone as soon as she had appeared, probably off to her next class. I tried not to dwell on it as I lumbered off to Calculus. I sighed heavily; dealing with numbers this early in the morning is not my idea of fun.
I finally reached the classroom and stepped inside. My eyes sweeped the room, searching for familiar faces. I immediately identified Jason and Piper in the back corner. Hmm, maybe Calculus won't be so bad after all. But I knew it was a lie. For some reason, I just couldn't remember all the rules and methods to solving for x, or finding the hypoten-whatever with the Pythaga-something theorem.
Right when I sat down, our teacher, Ms. Kehr walked into the room. She excitedly asked who was ready to do math, and I almost felt bad when nobody responded, but it was the honest answer to her question. She looked around the room a little disappointedly.
I heard a soft thump on my desk. Looking down, I found a note. After I read it, I had to hold my tongue to keep from laughing loudly. According to the note, Travis and Conner had just blown up their chemistry classroom with a stink bomb, and everyone from the classroom had to be evacuated. Smiling, I wrote back they should come in here and do the same thing, and passed the note back to Jason.
After that, math class continued like normal. Ms. Kehr droned on and on about our standards this year. I tried to pay attention, I really did, but my ADHD wouldn't allow it. I was fidgeting, ripping paper into little pieces, bouncing my leg, and everything in between. Feeling too hyper to pay attention, I gave up on trying to listen twenty minutes in. I didn't tune back in until she wrote a college level problem on the board.
"Any volunteers?" Ms. Kehr asked hopefully.
Yet again, there was no answer. Everyone was staring at the most complicated math we had ever seen with horror-struck expressions, hoping they wouldn't be chosen. I could guarantee that not a single person in that classroom could have solved it. It was impossible, at least to me it was. Ms. Kehr's eyes scanned the room, looking for someone to pick to do the problem. Please let it not be me. Please let it not be me, I prayed silently, hands clasped under the desk. That's probably what everyone was thinking. Her gaze finally landed on someone across the room. Thank goodness. I sighed with relief, leaning back in my seat and running my hands through my hair.
"What's your name?" She asked the unlucky student she had picked. I strained to look across the room, over the heads of several other students. Finally, I got a good glimpse of the person. For the second time today, my breath caught and my eyes widened in shock. It was her, the mystery girl from the hallway. She looked pretty alarmed that she had been chosen; anyone would've been in shock. After a moment or two, the girl regained her composure.
"A… A… Annabeth" she stuttered out shyly, her cheeks becoming more and more flushed by the minute. A pretty name for a pretty girl. I paused for a moment. Where had I heard that name before? It's not a commonly used name, but I could have sworn i had heard it before. Who was this girl, and why was she so familiar?
"Okay, Annabeth, whenever you're ready," Ms. Kehr smiled warmly at her, holding out a piece of chalk. Very slowly, Annabeth stood up and brushed some invisible eraser shavings off her jeans. Then she cautiously walk up to the front of the room and took the chalk. Her walk was graceful, elegant, like she was the lost princess of some small country in Europe. When Annabeth reached the board, she paused. Any second now she was probably going to say that she couldn't do it and go sit down.
Much to my surprise (and everyone else's), she raised the piece of chalk and started solving the equation. She started stiffly, writing each number like it pained her. Then, to our amazement, she gained speed, quickly solving the equation like it was nothing to her. I watched her hand glide smoothly across the board, writing line by line of neat little numbers. Soon she turned around with the answer neatly circled in the right hand corner.
"Annabeth…that was amazing. You got the right answer," Ms. Kehr said, eyes wide with shock. Everyone just kept staring at her, not quite believing that this girl had solved such a complicated problem. Woahhhh, my brain slurred, still shocked by what just happened. Pretty and smart, that's a deadly combination.
Instead of being proud that she had just completed a task no one else could, Annabeth looked like she was about to cry. She set the chalk in Ms. Kehr's hand and quickly walked back to her seat. When she arrived at her desk, Annabeth dropped into the chair and buried her face in her hands. I wondered why she was so upset; she was obviously a genius (or at least just way smarter than the rest of us). If I could do that, I wouldn't be emotionally distraught at all.
The rest of math passed in a blur. The only thing I really processed was Ms. Kehr discussing more complicated equations. Even that faded away as my thoughts were consumed by a certain blonde with grey eyes.
At promptly 8:40am, the bell rang, dismissing us to our next class. I stood up and stuffed all my belongings into my backpack. Beside me, Piper and Jason were conversing while placing their supplies carefully in their bags. Having to wait for them was torture, but I couldn't just ditch them because Jason was in my next class. Feeling impatient, I tapped my foot to ease some of my pent up energy.
By the time Piper and Jason had finally finished, I was ready to sprint out the door and run to my weightlifting class. We were the only students left in the class besides some dorky guys in the middle of the room fighting about whether Star Wars or Star Trek was better
(even though the answer was obviously Star Wars). But not as amazing as Annabeth, my mind whispered.
I tried my best not to look over at her, I really did, but I couldn't resist. She was slowly gathering her stuff, much like Jason and Piper, but the way she put her belongings away was different. I don't know how; maybe I was just imagining things. The sight of her elegantly picking up her papers was mesmerizing. Annabeth frowned in concentration as she tried to stuff another binder into her already overflowing bookbag. A wisp of hair fell in her face as she did so, and she stopped to tuck it behind her ear.
"Hey, bro, are you ok?" Jason asked, appearing over my shoulder. I instantly jumped back, heat spreading across my cheeks. What is happening to me? I thought in confusion. Percy Jackson does not blush. Turning back to my friends, I attempted to regain my composure. Jason and Piper stared at me, concerned; I ignored their weird glances and shouldered my bag.
"Yeah. I was just…waiting for you guys. Are you ready to go?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to play off what just happened. They looked at each other questioningly and shrugged.
"Ummm…sure," Piper responded, thankfully dropping the issue. She walked out the door, hand-in-hand with Jason; I followed closely behind. Before I left, I turned back and gave Annabeth one last glance.
She looked ready to leave with her bag on her back, but before she was able to walk out the door, Ms. Kehr called her over. She was probably going to discuss Annabeth's advanced math level. In response, she set her bag lightly on the ground and walked over to Ms Kehr's desk. I quickly snapped myself out of it and continued walking down the hall behind Piper and Jason. Get in your right mind, I told myself. She's just a random person. You'll probably forget about her in the next couple of minutes, just like all the other girls.
"Bye, Pipes, I'll see you later," Jason bid Piper farewell, kissing her tenderly as we neared her classroom.
"Mhmm," she murmured against his lips before pulling away. "I'll see you later, Sparky." She winked and gave him a peck on the cheek and then bounded off to her class. Right before she walked through the door, Piper looked back and winked at him; Jason stood there, looking dreamily where she had just left.
"Man, you are so whipped," I chuckled. He grunted in response, still standing in the same place. I walked over and grabbed his arm. "Come on dude, don't make me drag you to weightlifting. Coach Hedge will be pissed if we're late," I groaned, dragging Jason down the hallway.
We arrived to class at 8:55, ten minutes late, all because Jason had made me drag him across the school. I'll definitely be getting him back later. Grinning evilly, I used up the last bit of my energy to slide him through the easily pushable doors. He crashed through the entry and fell, very gracefully if I may add, into the middle of the weight room. I followed behind, smirking at my handiwork.
"Cupcakes! Where have you been?!" Coach Hedge shouted from across the room. He marched angrily up to us. Even though he only came up to my shoulders, Coach could be very intimidating. Besides the baseball bat that he carried around everywhere, there was a fire behind his eyes that said get on my bad side and I'll put my Chuck Norris moves to good use. That's another thing: all Coach does is watch old Chuck Norris movies and act the moves out while they're being shown.
One time, Conner and Travis snuck into his office after school and videotaped it. That night, they posted it on YouTube, and, by the next day, it had over ten thousand views. At first, Coach Hedge was furious, demanding that they took it down that instant. However, he calmed down after he saw the number of views. Any publicity is good publicity, I guess.
"Sorry, Coach," I smirked and nudged Jason with my foot. "Loverboy over here made me drag him all the way across the school because he's too whipped to walk. Isn't that right, Jace?"
"Mhmm," Jason replied from the floor, a wistful look in his eyes, only snapping out of it when I offered my hand to help him up. He took it, using me as an anchor to pull himself up. After brushing himself off from the dirty floor, Jason set his bag down. We both looked at Coach expectantly, ready to face whatever extra workout he made us do.
"Go do ten laps around the school, one for every minute you missed! And don't try coming back until you've finished all ten!" he barked, hitting the bat into his palm in a threatening manner. Jason and I exchanged glances, shrugging our shoulders because it honestly wasn't that bad. Other people have gotten worse punishments than ten laps. We walked over to the lockers and put in our stuff, taking out our gym clothes to change into.
After changing, Jason and I closed our lockers and walked through the door leading outside. He swung his arms as we trudged along the five minute trail to the track. After having Coach Hedge for three years, we knew the rules by heart: our laps are to be completed before the end of class, we must stay together the entire time, and we are not allowed to cheat out of any of our laps. Each lap is about half a mile. Jason and I have an average jogging time of six minutes per mile, so ten laps should take us about thirty minutes.
Most people don't like running because of the burn and aching muscles, but it had the opposite effect on me. Just like riding my motorcycle, running allowed me to take a step back from reality, at least for a little while. It gave me a chance to clear my head and calm down when I needed to. Maybe that's why I like football so much. When I was playing football, I wasn't thinking about anything else; all of my energy and thoughts were focused on the game.
We completed the first seven laps with ease, but paused to take a breather before the eighth. Jason sat down on the bleachers, hunching over and double-knotting his shoelaces; I bent over, placing my hands on my knees as I attempted to catch my breath. We were both panting heavily. I glanced at my watch, making sure that we were keeping with our predicted time. It was only nine twenty-eight, and we had started at nine ten. We were ahead by two-and-a-half minutes.
"Bro, can you believe that this is our Senior Year? We only have one hundred and eighty days left of high school," Jason remarked. He had finished tying his sneakers and was now standing up. I turned to look at him.
"Yeah, only one hundred and eighty days until we're free and don't have to deal with class," I chuckled lightly. Jason laughed along, amusement crossing his face.
"Speaking of classes, what was up with you in math? You seemed completely out of it," Jason teased.
"Well you know me," I let out a short, nervous laugh. "I pretty much zoned out during the entire class. My ADHD was kicking my butt. Probably because I didn't take my pills this morning..." I faltered, muttering the last part and hoping he would buy it. I mean, why wouldn't he? It was the truth. Except for when you were staring at a certain math genius, my brain taunted. I fiddled my hands nervously.
"Right…" Jason trailed off, eyeing me suspiciously. I began to look everywhere but at him to avoid his suspecting stare; he could tell that I didn't want to talk about it and didn't question me further.
"We should probably get back to our laps. Coach will wring our necks if we aren't back by the end of class, and I'd like to get some time on the bench press," Jason cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. I knew that he was just making up an excuse to break the tension. It was only nine thirty, and class ended at ten fifteen. I would've corrected him, but I was grateful to get a free pass out of this awkward situation.
I nodded and made my way back over to the track. Jason followed, and we started jogging, falling into a comfortable silence after a few minutes. Occasionally, one of us would step on the other's foot or bump into the other, muttering "sorry" afterwards, but, for the most part, we kept quiet. I was kinda relieved, to be honest. I knew that if we had talked, it probably would've been awkward and forced.
Jason and I returned to class at nine forty-three. All things considered, we had a pretty good time for the five consecutive miles we ran. We walked over and picked up some towels, taking a moment to wipe all the sweat off of our foreheads and backs before hanging them around our necks and joining the rest of the guys lifting weights.
"Grace! Jackson! What was your time?!" Coach yelled when he spotted us from across the weight room. Jason smirked. He gave me a smug look as if to say you've got this one. I groaned, trying to do the supposedly simple math in my head. So if we started the actual running at nine ten and got back here at nine forty-three, then that's forty- three minutes. Wait, no. It's thirty-three. Then, if you subtract the four minutes on the trail and the two minute breather, you get…
"We took twenty-nine minutes!" I exclaimed, excited to get to the right answer. Coach Hedge nodded, grabbing his pen and clipboard to write it down.
"Actually, sir, it was twenty-seven minutes," Jason corrected. Coach stared at us for a second, then nodded and wrote that time down. I scowled at Jason, but he merely laughed and gave me a slight push, knowing it was a joke. That just made me frown and narrow my eyes even more intensely. Eventually, I gave up on trying to be angry and opted to smile and shake my head a little.
"Well stop standing around! Get your lazy butts over there and start lifting!" Coach Hedge shouted. Jason and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes, but our smiles remained on our faces. Our faked annoyance was just that: fake; Jason and I both knew that we actually loved the exercise.
After breaking to drink some water, I walked over to the bench press and evenly split two hundred and twenty pounds on the bar between the two sides. Then I laid down on the bench and began to slowly lift the weight, easing and lowering the bar with ease. It was heavy, of course, but after four years of intense working out and football, I was used to lifting a lot, so it didn't feel as heavy as it used to.
My thoughts drifted to math class (specifically Annabeth) as I continued to lift and lower the bar. She was a complete stranger; I had never seen her before in any of my classes or at school in general. Despite that, I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew her from somewhere. Probably not, I reasoned. I'm sure i would remember the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I shook my head; I need to stop thinking about this girl. Besides, math class is probably the only place I'm ever going to see her again. I'll probably forget about her by lunch like all the other girls I've hooked up with…
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