- Percy -

"Do I have to go to that stupid school?" I couldn't help but be angry at my mom. She was insisting on me going to the college that her husband- my step-dad -worked at. In fact, they had already made me apply and do all the work (threatening to ground me if I refused). But just because I would get to go there for free didn't mean I wanted to. See, I already had a place picked out but my mom claimed that it was "too expensive." My real dad, Poseidon, had even offered to pay for it, but I just had to go to Paul's.

The actual college had a big campus, something I learned when my mom and Paul dragged me there. There were dorms in one section of the campus' land, and the rest of it was classrooms. Too many classrooms, in my opinion. Just the sheer amount of professors that would be teaching there made me want to get as far away from that place as I could be. But, I was dragged around even more and even though a small part of me wanted to admit that it wouldn't be as bad as it could be, I was determined to go to the college I wanted.

My mother was looking at me with a look, the one that told me she was upset. "Percy, please..." She spoke after a moment, her voice wavering. I had gotten better at not upsetting her since she got married to Paul, but there were still times when I just couldn't control myself. Letting out a sigh, I crossed my arms and glanced out of the car window as we drove back home.

My step-dad was driving, and I could see his gaze occasionally turn toward me in the rear-view mirror. He was silent, probably trying to avoid further upsetting my mom and I. "Poseidon said he would be fine with paying for whatever I needed. I'd still technically be going for free and it's still kind of close and-" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"We don't want to make him do that, honey. Please, just... Try this. For me. If you don't like it at the end of the first year, then... Then maybe we can talk to your father about the other school. We'll talk more later." She sounded close to tears at this point, and I just nodded in reply. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of a deal. So, with a sigh, I let the topic drop.

Poseidon's reaction was one of disappointment when I told him a few weeks later. He had been excited to be able to do something for me, which is because the college I wanted to go to was close to his house. I would be able to see him more often, something that I was excited about too. I lived with my mom my whole life, so sometimes I just wanted to get away, y'know? And with my dad, I was able to do that. He was, to say the least, rich. So we could do basically whatever we wanted. Heck, if I said that I wanted to go to France for a week, we would be packing our bags twenty minutes later.

That was what I wanted. Being able to go to the college I wanted while seeing my dad as often as I wanted. "I know, I'm sorry," I let out a sigh into the phone, laying back on my bed. "But she just... She really wanted this. And now I have to go to this stupid college just because Paul works there. "

I could hear something on the other end of the phone call- was he looking in the fridge or something? I rolled my eyes. "Percy, you're just going to have to get through this year," he hesitated before speaking again, "Do you have everything you need?"

Raising myself up on my elbows, I glanced at the suitcase on my desk, eyeing it warily. "Yeah, mom has this stupid checklist. She's gone through it at least three times, and I'm pretty sure she plans on going through it at least one more time," Letting out a groan, I managed to stand up and walked toward the desk, raising up the unzipped lid to the suitcase. My clothes were folded neatly on one side, and on the other were some of the little, important things. My toothbrush, a comb, things like that. "I don't even know why I need half this stuff."

My dad sounded amused at my words and I could practically hear him shaking his head. "It's necessary. Anyway, Percy, I have to go-" I could hear scuffling and something shattering, "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure, dad. Call whenever." More noises met my ear, but I'm pretty sure that somewhere between the crashes, I heard him respond.

"Be good for your mother!" I hung up half a moment later, not sure how to respond- and not wanting to, anyway. Sighing heavily, I put a hand to my face and paced around my room for a few moments. In- what, a week? Less than that, maybe? -I would be moved into my stupid dorm at Paul's stupid college. I didn't even know anyone there. This would be just great. Slipping my phone into the pocket of my jeans, I stalked toward my suitcase and zipped it shut.

Less than 6 days later, I was being forced into a little dorm that only had a bunk-bed and a desk in it. It looked like my room-mate was already here as two suitcases and even a cardboard box were sitting on the bottom bunk. Perking my brows, I rolled my eyes a little. Who needed that much stuff? Especially here, at this stupid college. Letting out a sigh, I raised my own suitcase above my head and pushed it onto my mattress.

Flicking my head to get my bangs out of my eyes, I turned back around me to see my mom. She hurried to wrap her arms around me in a tight hug, face pressing into my shoulder. "I can't believe my baby is going to college." She choked out, and all I could do at the moment was awkwardly pat her back. I could tell that she was crying, and I didn't know what to say to get her to calm down. When I tried to break the hug, she only pulled me closer. Thankfully, it only lasted a few more moments, as Paul walked into the dorm room.

"Oh- I'm so sorry, Percy," she said, wiping her eyes as she went to stand next to my step-dad. They looked at me with proud expressions, and I couldn't help but feel bad about how much I hated this. I didn't want to be here- at all. Forcing what I hoped looked like a smile on my face, I glanced around the room, distracting myself by staring out the small window to the side.

Muttering, I then turned back to my mom and step-dad. "It's fine, mom. Don't worry about it." Coughing to clear my throat, I leaned back against the frame of the bunk-bed, "I think I'm going to just, uh, get things settled here. Put my things away. Maybe meet my ah, room-mate. Just some things like that."

Thankfully, they took the hint and nodded. My mom pulled me in for one last hug, trying her best not to cry more, and Paul shook my hand, awkwardly patting my back. "See you Monday, Percy." He was grinning and I forced myself to smile a little more. After another moment, they turned to leave, only narrowly avoiding running into someone who looked my age. He muttered an apology to them before walking- er, crutching -into the room. Closing the door behind him, he looked at me with a big smile on his face.

"Are you Perseus? Perseus Jackson, right? I'm Grover- er, your room-mate. I hope you don't mind that I claimed the bottom bunk. I'd have taken the top one, or even waited until you got here to talk to you about it but it's just easier for me, y'know? Ladders aren't my favorite thing." He said, casting a glance at the wooden ladder that led to my bed. But, he then looked back at me excitedly, and I blinked back at him, unsure about whether or not he was done talking.

Nodding, a bored expression found its way onto my face. "Uh, yeah. Just call me Percy, though. Anyway, I don't care about where I sleep. It's just a bed." I said simply, glancing up at where my suitcase was and shaking my head. Despite the fact that I was no longer smiling, this 'Grover' kid continued to grin at me, moving only slightly. My eyes flicked up and down him, studying his crutches for a moment before I looked away again. I didn't need to know.

Pushing off of the bed frame, I walked toward the door, stepping around him. "I'm gonna go check out the stores or something..." I glanced back at him, and he nodded, maintaining his excited expression.

"Need someone to show you around..?" He started to say, but I shook my head, opening the door.

"No thanks, uh, Grover." I said, slipping out and shutting it tightly behind me. With a sigh, I headed toward the dorm building's exit. I knew I wouldn't enjoy it, but honestly, I didn't want to just sit around in my dorm with my seemingly-always-excited room-mate. Heading toward the main campus grounds where all the stores and food-places were, I ducked my head, not wanting to be talked to by any other students.

A/N: I've had this idea for a day or two, and wanted to see how it would turn out, so please bear with me as I've never actually written a Percy Jackson fanfic before, or any type of fanfic, for that matter. So yeah! This is just an experiment, and I do plan on continuing (with Annabeth's POV in the next chapter), though I don't have a set time for when I'll try to do updates. I apologize beforehand if I don't actually continue or even finish it, but I would like to thank anyone who takes the time to read through this! c: I haven't read the books for a while (I plan on rereading them soon, though) so if I make any mistakes (like how something is spelled), please tell me so I can fix it! I don't want to accidentally include a wrong detail.

I don't own Percy Jackson or anything like that~