"So Frank, what do you think Mr. Brunner is going to assign for this week's homework?" Hazel questioned Frank as he rummaged through his slim locker, struggling to get his bag untangled from whatever it was coiled around.

"I—uh—hold on," Frank muttered, his attention focused on finding what piece of crap in his locker his bag was tangled to. "Frank, are you listening?" Hazel chided. "Sort of." he said, his mind was still not concentrating on her words.

Hazel emitted a sigh before receding to the last possible option to remove Frank from his own little world. Well, a world that specifically involved his bag and a metal piece of trash attached to his locker. "Frank! I think your grandmother is here!" All Hazel heard was a mouse like squeak that emanated from Frank's position and him thudding onto the tiled floor. Hazel

"Well that didn't go as planned," Hazel said to herself quietly. She untangled Frank's bag and pondered what to do with the unconscious boy on the hallway floor. While she closed her locker and put her locker key in her schoolbag, Leo almost tripped over Frank, and said with a cheery grin on his face, "Hazel, did you hear?"

Hazel shook her head in response, spotting Annabeth trailing behind Leo in her peripheral. Unlike Leo, Annabeth took a chance to blatantly step over Frank's unconscious and limp body. "There's a new kid, well, there will be a new kid. I hear that he's been kicked out of four different schools!" Leo chimed. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Leo, you know we all have problems. Well, at least I do. Maybe he's got ADHD like us." Annabeth said, realizing she was defending some kid she didn't even know. Realization crossed her mind that yesterday, when Leo said she was defensive, he was actually right. "Okay, maybe you were right yesterday, Leo." Hazel nodded, slinging her bag over her back.

Hazel turned to Annabeth and Leo. "Well, I guess since Ross moved away last week we could use another 'recruit' in our little group. Leo and Annabeth nodded apprehensively, silently agreeing with Hazel. "Does this new kid have a name Leo?" Leo shrugged, glancing at Annabeth. "Yeah, I think his name goes something like—oh yeah! It's Percy Jackson. His name is Percy Jackson."

"Percy Jackson, eh?" Hazel nodded, intrigued by this boy's profile. "Anything else about him?" Leo shrugged once more. "Annabeth?" She looked back at Leo. "I know I get good grades, but that's class work. I don't know everything, Leo." Annabeth crossed her arms. "Fine, fine." Leo answered, backing away. He knew an angry Annabeth was something he didn't want to experience.

"So Annabeth, do you know whether he goes on a bus, walks, or gets dropped off?" Hazel inquired. Annabeth tried to recall what system he took when traveling to school. "Honestly? I don't really—" Leo cut her off abruptly. "He takes a bus," he announced, "That's what our homeroom teacher said anyways." Leo continued, talking pointedly about him and Annabeth. "Alright then." Hazel beamed, "Let's gather the rest of our group, it's time to meet Percy Jackson."

From beneath them they heard a weak moan of pain, signaling that Frank had woken from his slumber. For a minute, Hazel, Leo and Annabeth seemed to, in some sort of comedic way, stare at him for longer than likely needed. "We—we should probably get him shouldn't we?" Annabeth chimed in quietly. "I—uh—yes." Hazel responded.


"Percy, remember that you have my phone number in your bag, you have Gabe's number in your bag—" Percy nearly repulsed at Smelly Gabe's name. Ignoring his obvious, 'pretend to nearly throw up because Gabe was mentioned' move, his mother continued as the sound of the exhaust released by a school bus neared. "Just please Percy," she looked at him with pleading eyes. "try not to get kicked out of this one okay?"

Percy stared at his mother's begging expression. His mother was the only one there to comfort her and he's let her down more than enough to fail her once again, thinking he's tried as much as he could just to come back to Gabe's sneering face and her saddened eyes. "Yeah, I promise mom. I won't get kicked out of this one." Percy's mom released a grin as she pulled him into a hug.

At this point Percy was just about breathing in the gas fumes the exhaust emitted from the school bus. He could almost hear and see all the kids pointing and laughing, everyone making fun of him on the other side of those windows, mocking him for hugging his mom. He could feel all these things happening and yet it only drove him to hold onto her tighter.

Percy's mother let go and planted her arms on his shoulders comfortingly. "Now go rock that school buddy."


"When do buses come again?" Frank openly questioned as he huddled his arms, due to the fall breeze that hit them every other minute or so. Jason stepped besides Frank, his eyes narrowed as if he were thoroughly examining the wind and it's movements. "About - now." Jason interrupted, as a bus pulled out in front of the school, emitting a large blow of gas.

"That's super bad for the environment." Hazel sighed. Jason silently agreed as a thought popped into his mind. "Grover isn't going to like that our new friend catches a bus to school." he noted. Leo groaned, imagining his reaction. "Hey, where are Grover and Luke?" Annabeth thought back to this morning, "Oh, I know! Luke's at the YC meeting and-"

"YC?" Leo questioned. Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Year Council, stupid." He grinned. "And Grover - well - I haven't seen Grover anywhere today." Hazel agreed, "Yeah, neither."

"He's probably late." Jason said honestly. "Yeah, maybe."

"So, which one's him?" Hazel asked, trying to hide most of her excitement. "Don't worry, Uncle Leo's got this." Piper jogged up to the group, yelling out phrases that only she could hear over the crowd of students racing into the group. "Can't hear you Pipes!" Jason nodded, laughing at her. She reached the group, panting. "Where - where's - the - the new guy?" Jason laughed. "Uncle Leo is sorting it out. Actually, let's check on Leo."

"Hey, are you Percy Jackson?" Leo asked. "Uh, no." he rolled his eyes. "Are you-"

"I'm Percy Jackson." someone said from the crowd of people flooding out of the bus. "Cool, but uh, where are you?" he asked. The other 5 people were holding in their laughter as Leo scanned the crowd. "Here." A guy with dark hair waved his hands in the air, shoving through the people. "He's the one. He has to be."

"So - uh, - how did you know my name?" Percy asked. "One of our teachers, Mr Brunner, is very excited for you to come, for some reason." Hazel answered, curling her hair around her finger in a non-flirtatious way. "Right. And your names are?" Percy smiled. "This is Leo, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason, and I'm Annabeth." Percy's eyes fluttered around the six people as he heard the names and then his eyes stopped on Annabeth. "And you already know I'm Percy Jackson." he said, staring into her eyes longer than probably needed. "Yeah, we do."


"This is your little group, eh? There's - what - six of you?" Percy asked Hazel. "There used to be seven-" Hazel began to answer. "But then Ross left-" Leo interrupted. "And we need a new recruit." Percy nodded understandingly. "And that's me." Annabeth smiled at him and he blushed. "Uh huh." she said.

"We have other friends, you know." Piper said with her hand on her hips. "Yeah, like who?" Percy asked sarcastically. "Like me." A guy with sandy blonde hair came up behind Annabeth. "Luke!" she smiled at him. I wonder if she likes that guy, Percy thought. "So, you're the new guy?" Luke asked. "Why is everyone calling me that?" he complained. "I don't know, maybe cause you're new." Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Being a Year Counselor, I suppose it would be in my blood to show you around the school before sending you off to your homeroom. From what I've heard, your homeroom teacher is in room A05." Leo beamed at Percy. "Hey! That's me and Annabeth's homeroom teacher!" Percy's eyes darted to Annabeth who seemed half of how happy Leo was. It wasn't ideal, but Percy felt that it was good enough for him.w

On the way to homeroom, Percy tried to make conversation with Annabeth, but she wasn't listening to him. He had a strange feeling she wasn't normally like this. "So, you've been kicked out of 4 schools?" Leo asked. Percy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah.. I - uh - don't like to talk about it. It's just.. Weird things happen at schools I go to. I'm always excluded and stuff."

"It's fine Percy." Annabeth reassured in a calm voice. "Leo's just nosy, it's not like you haven't been kicked out a school before Leo. You nearly - oh no, wait - you did burn a school down before. Leo shrugged obliviously. "Hey, as long as the workers here at Goode don't leave the kitchen door open, that trash isn't happening again." Percy released a small chuckle and glanced towards Annabeth, who he found staring back.

Percy continued walking even though both Leo and Annabeth had stopped at a previous door. "Uh, Percy." Leo called. "Oh, yeah! Right! Back here!" he said, smiling awkwardly. Percy's mind was on another subject which happened to be Annabeth. Instead of turning around and walking back, Percy just began walking backwards and almost bashed into Leo. "Hey, watch out, Perce. What's on your mind?" Leo chuckled. "Nothing." he replied as the bell went for homeroom.

"Wasn't Luke meant to show me around?" Percy asked. "Well I guess we'll have to. Right, Annabeth?" She groaned. "Leo!" She shot him a traumatizing glare, which in Percy's position showed off her stormy gray eyes and made them more vibrant than they already were. Subsiding to not trying to hide that fact he was staring, he was opening admiring Annabeth determination.

"Okay, whoa Annabeth, no need to snap me in half, we can just explain to Mr. Brunner that Luke didn't show so we're going to show little Perce here where to go!" Percy cocked an eyebrow at Leo. "Little?" he mocked, "I'm like five inches taller than you." Leo laughed, and put a hand on his shoulder, as if coaxing him. "Oh Perce, that brain of yours needs to start working eh? But don't fret, Uncle Leo is here." Percy gave him a mildly confused, and mostly horrified expression.

"Leo, you're freaking him out! Stop being so weird! Don't worry Percy. Oh wait, you should worry, it gets worse." Annabeth scolded. "Sorry, Annabeth, but I'm afraid you don't understand boys very well." Leo sighed. "So, uh, is our homeroom teacher nice?" Percy asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "Depends. He has good days and bad days." Leo replied. "Oh, sounds like-" Percy counted on his fingers. "All 20 teachers I've had in my life."

Annabeth studied Percy's expression for several seconds. "Wow, you're not lying teachers? Were you that bad? Or was it just random occurrences that happened to get you kicked out of schools?" Percy thought for a second. "It's fifty-fifty on that part I suppose." Leo glanced between the two, his eyebrows furrowing. "So she can talk about your old crime life with schools but I can't?" Leo complained.

Percy shrugged. "Maybe I'm letting her do that because she didn't creep me out, claiming themselves to be taller than their actual height and telling others that they are 'Uncle Leo'." he explained observantly. "Also because she's prettier than you." Annabeth darted her eyes over to Percy who gave her a smirk. She tried to hide a crimson warmth creeping up her neck.

"I guess I'll go tell Mr. Brunner we'll be out for several minutes." Annabeth paced her words, seemingly trying to get the whole thing over with to Percy and Leo, but in reality it was to further herself from Percy. Annabeth entered the room and Percy could vaguely hear Mr. Brunner calling Annabeth's name in greeting.

"Wow, you really can't make your crush factor more obvious Percy." Leo jested with a sly smile. Percy arched an eyebrow at Leo. "What do you mean by that Leo? I just got here today. If I'm right then I haven't even spent more than half an hour on the school grounds. There's no way I could have crush at this point." Percy protested.

Leo narrowed his eyes dimly as he spoke again. "It's pretty obvious you dig Annabeth dude." He stated blatantly. "You stared at her for a whole minute bro. If you like her then that's cool. Just one problem would be in your way my good friend." Percy shook his head unwillingly. "Never mind that, Annabeth should be here in a minute Leo." Percy chided in annoyance.

"He said it's fine." Annabeth said as she returned from Mr. Brunner's room. "Cool." Percy replied, noting what Leo had said before. "So, what's first?" Leo asked Annabeth eagerly. "Whatever you want it to be." she answered, sighing.

Percy glanced over at Leo assuming he was thinking of where to take Percy first. Leo shot up suddenly, a hyper grin on his face. "What about the communal garden across the street?" Leo suggested. "Mr. P takes us there to water the plants everyday. He says it's because the water is needed for the plants to survive and boring crap like that."

"Mr. P?" Percy questioned. "Mr. Peterson, he's the science teacher." Annabeth replied, not looking at Percy. "Sounds - uh - great!" Percy said, nodding at Leo. "Cool!" Leo grinned. Leo and Percy started walking ahead and Annabeth trailed behind them, pretty certain that whatever stuff the boys were talking about would not be of her interest.

"This is it. The Communal Garden. It's a pretty nice spot when you're looking for some quiet." Annabeth said, her voice almost inaudible. "You know, Percy. This is also a good romantic spot for dates, eh?" Leo elbowed Percy jestingly. 'If, you know, you ever find a girl around here.." Leo sighed, trying not to direct his attention at Annabeth. "Which we both know might not happen anytime soon." Percy replied, gesturing to Annabeth, who was wandering the garden, ignoring them both. "We'll see."

"I hate you dude." Percy whispered underneath his breath. Leo cracked a smile. "Love you too bro." Leo chuckled. "Oh! These flowers are my favorite." Annabeth called from the other side of the garden. "Oh, these flowers are my favourite!" Leo mimicked as he led Percy to Annabeth. Annabeth punched Leo's shoulder. "Ow, ow, ow!" Leo placed his hands on his shoulder defensively. "I was joking Annabeth! I promise I was joking!" Percy chuckled slightly.

"Hey, maybe Percy would like to tell us about himself and we can see if there's anything he'd be into." Annabeth smirked. "Oh, uh, really? Are you sure?" Percy stalled as they reached the school gates. "Yeah, we're sure." Leo said, resting his shoulder on Percy's arm. "Well, I like the water - I guess. I swim professionally but I'd say surfing is more of a hobby." Percy said calmly. He darts his eyes towards Annabeth who had a particular twinkle in her eyes.

"Have you ever had any seaweed wraps or something like that?" Annabeth asked Percy. "Uh - oh yeah! Yeah I did before, I like it a lot to be honest." Annabeth smirked at him. "Seaweed brain." Percy rolled his eyes. "Really Annabeth? You ask me what I'm into then make fun of it?" he said with a sarcastic pout. "Hey, you are the new kid. Aren't I meant to be making fun of you? They do it in all of the movies."

"So, now we all know that I have seaweed in my brain," Percy began, looking at Annabeth in that 'Thanks for bringing it up,' type of way, "How about we see what Annabeth is into?"

"No, really, Leo should have a go.." Annabeth said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Uncle Leo can wait," Leo replied, as eager to hear her answer as Percy was. "Ugh, I hate boys. Fine. I'm going to regret this, but my big thing is architecture." she sighed.

"Really?" both Leo and Percy said simultaneously. "Never saw you as-" Leo started, "Never thought you'd be into that sorta stuff." Percy interrupted with a slight smirk. "Percy, you've known me for about 15 minutes and you're already making judgements about me? Again, boys." Leo and Percy looked at each other with the same childish expressions.

"Wow, guess you're some kind of wise girl aren't you." Percy joked with a smirk. His eyes widened in realization as he resisted the urge to openly laugh at Annabeth. "Wise girl! That's what I'll call you! Ha!" Annabeth gave him a bored expression. "You're kidding right? That's the most idiotic nickname I've heard Percy." Annabeth broadly stated. "It may be idiotic but it's the only one I got!" Annabeth stared at him for a second. "Seaweed brain."

A soft tone started playing from Leo's position. Leo gave them a blush and took his phone out of his pocket. Both Leo and Annabeth stared at him as the song, 'I'm Sexy and I Know It' played from his phone. "People ask me why I think boys are weird." Annabeth whispered, barely inaudible. "And if those people were here? Oh they would finally see why."

"Uh - yeah." Leo answered, his face flushing the darkest shade of crimson red Percy had ever seen on a human face. "Hey, Pipes. What's up?" His face darkened slightly. "Ni- Nico?"

"Right." he hung up. "Annabeth. Nico's at the school. He wants to see you." Annabeth nodded. "Can't be that bad." she replied. "So, bye?" Percy asked. "Yeah, if Nico's here, I need to go." Percy nodded understandingly. "Bye, Annabeth."

Annabeth began to walk towards the classroom when she tripped over a small rock. Out of everyone to catch me, it had to be Percy, she thought as she fell into his arms. Annabeth didn't feel as awkward as she thought she would in his arms, but she didn't have time to say that. "Well, one thing. This is sufficiently more awkward due to the fact I'm taller than you." Annabeth wrenched herself from Percy's grasp. His face was flushed, almost as much as hers. "I'm growing." he complained but his voice drifted away as Annabeth began to walk away.

"Is Annabeth always like this?" Percy asked. "You'll get used to it, but if you really want to know about her, I'd ask someone like-" A weary cry came from behind Leo. "Guys! Guys!" someone yelled out from across the road. He had curly hair and crutches and Percy didn't recognize him as one of the other 6, or Luke. "I'd ask someone like Grover." Leo continued. "Who's Grover?" Percy asked. "Uh - I'm Grover." the stranger replied. "Hey Grover, this is Percy Jackson." Leo introduced Percy. "Speak for yourself. I would've said Hey, my name is Percy Jackson." Percy barked. Leo sighed, "Shut up."

"Yeah, I know who Percy is, it was all over the group chat last night. Remember?" Grover reminded. "Okay, but why are you here? I thought your mom was sending you to that environmentalist activities camp for the month. You're back early?" Leo asked.

"Sort of - I kind of ran away." Grover admitted bashfully. Percy watched as Leo and Grover exchanged dialogue like old friends, releasing small laughs and grins. Percy caressed the back of his neck, and emitted a cough awkwardly.

"Why - uh - why did you run away Grover?" Percy questioned. "A month from school seems pretty great to be honest." Percy bantered, attempting to engage in conversation. "I just couldn't stand it Percy. Sure we were outside basically all day but all we did was petty activities created for five year olds." Grover explained, his voice raspy. "I was the only thirteen year old there, I'm pretty sure I was one foot taller than most of the kids attending the camp."

Percy glanced at Leo. "So basically you were surrounded by kids like Leo all day?" Leo smacked Percy on the shoulder harmlessly. Grover's corners of his lips quirked upwards momentarily. "Yeah. Yeah I was." Grover agreed. "Hey, you know what? Look, Annabeth's coming back. So I'll just go and you two give the new kid a tour of the school would you?" Leo chided.

Percy and Grover watched as Leo stormed away. Out of Percy's peripheral he saw Annabeth walk out of the backdoor of the school, talking promptly to Leo as he waved her away. Annabeth approached them with a suspicious expression. "What did you two idiots tell Leo, and why is Grover even standing here? I thought he was at camp for the month." Annabeth interrogated. Percy and Grover explained everything to her calmly, from the point where Grover ran away from camp and down to the minute Percy mocked Leo's height.

When they finished explaining, Percy managed to see Annabeth crack a smile before turning the intensity on her eyes up by four levels. "You shouldn't of joked about Leo's height Percy, he's sensitive about it, on that note, Grover! What are you going to tell your parents when you return home today?" Grover and Percy shrugged obliviously. She stared at Percy and Grover as if they were joking.

"Idiots." Annabeth murmured. "Let's show you the rest of the school Percy." She announced. "Because it's going to be a long year."