PERCY'S POV

Finally, I thought. Sophie had just walked into hallway at Goode High School. She had just walked into my school. This had been a dream of mine for so long that it was almost unfathomable that it was finally coming true. Sophie and I. Together at Goode. For the whole year. She was my best friend in the entire universe, and had been ever since I wandered into Camp Half-Blood five years ago. As I watched her walk towards me, beaming, a smile broke across my face. When she finally reached me, my face was stretched so much it hurt, but I didn't care. She was here, and that was all that mattered. "Hey seaweed brain," she said.

"What's up, Sparks?" I replied. She laughed that laugh of hers, tossing her head back and letting a waterfall of auburn hair fall down her back.

"You're still gonna stick to that nickname, huh? Even though we're not at camp anymore?" I turned so that I was standing next to her and put my arm around her. We started walking down the hallway together.

"As long as you still call me 'seaweed brain', I'm gonna call you 'sparks'. Sorry, that's just how it is."

"Well then I'd better get used to it, 'cause I'm never giving up 'seaweed brain'. It fits you too well."

"Damn." I laughed as well, and we continued towards what seemed to be her new locker. As we walked, I could feel eyes on us. People always stared at Sophie. With her long, wavy auburn hair, her slightly bronzed, blemish-free skin, and her large brown eyes flecked with gold, she was easily the prettiest girl I had ever seen. But there was something else about her, an intimidating aspect. She walked with perfect posture, with her chest out and her hips swinging (I'm pretty sure she did this last thing because she liked the attention it brought her.) She strutted with confidence wherever she went, and those eyes were always filled with determination. When we reached her locker, she broke apart from me and spun her lock. I leaned casually against the locker next to hers and pulled out my schedule. "Hand over your schedule, Soph," I said. She reached into her backpack, pulled it out, and handed it to me. I scanned it quickly. "Okay, so we have English, Bio, and World History together, plus we have the same lunch."

"Perfect," she said. After she got her stuff, she slammed her locker shut and turned towards me. "So… does Rachel still go here?" She looked disdainful when she said this. It was no secret Sophie wasn't Rachel's biggest fan. Luckily, we wouldn't be running into her anytime soon.

"No, she dropped out a little while back."

"Oh… why'd she drop out?" Sophie asked. I shrugged.

"I don't really know. I guess she didn't fit in too well around here." It was clear Sophie was relieved that she wouldn't be seeing Rachel around.

"Hmm," she murmured. I laughed.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"Nothing… it's just you look so happy that Rachel isn't here." I replied. Color rushed to her face.

"Whatever, seaweed brain. I have to go to homeroom." She turned on her heel and started to walk down the hallway.

"Wait, Soph!" She gave no recognition to my cries. "Do you even know where it is?"

"I'll find it!" She shouted behind her. I considered running after her, but I knew she would just turn me away again at her homeroom door. All I could do was shake my head and chuckle.

…

I met Sophie at her locker after second period. As she rounded the corner, I saw that she was talking to someone, laughing even. From the looks of him, I guessed it was John Lockland. John was the captain of the lacrosse team, and was known to be one of the best-looking guys in school. They appeared to be re-living a funny moment, because they were both talking and laughing, Sophie gesticulating wildly. When they finally reached me, I was already a little angry at this guy. He was a big player, and I didn't want Soph getting too involved with him. I wasn't about to let her get hurt (not that that happened very often with her feistiness). Their laughter wound down as they stopped in front of me. She smiled at me, and I felt a little better. "Hey Perce."

"Hey Sparks," I said, trying to assert my closeness with her by using her nickname. "How were your first two classes at Goode?"

"Really good, actually. I met John here in Geometry, and our teacher played this video-" at this point she and John broke down into giggles again.

"It was so funny, man," John said through fits of laughter. I was doing my best not make a face.

"Oh really? What happened?" Sophie managed to recover, and she wiped away a tear. She was laughing so hard she was actually crying. For some reason, it made me kind of angry that she already had an inside joke with this guy. I'm probably just really protective of Soph. Yeah, that's all, I thought. Sophie continued the story.

"The acting was super fake, and at one point this one guy goes 'math is just super!'" She laughed again, and I tried my best to laugh along with her. It sounded a little funny I guess.

"Oh, that does sound funny!" She gave me a weird look after I said this, like she was skeptical of my statement, but she let it lie. "Anyways," I continued. "The bell for third period is about to ring, so we'd better get going Soph."

"Oh, okay." She turned to John. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He smiled at her.

"Yeah." At that, he walked away. I have to admit, I was relieved. She turned to her locker and opened it, putting her stuff away. I leaned up against the bank of lockers.

"So, how'd you meet that clown?" I asked, trying my best to act nonchalant. She laughed.

"I met him in Geometry. We got partnered up to do some of the exercises, and it turned out he's pretty nice. You don't seem to like him, though." As usual, her blunt attitude caught me a bit off-guard, though you'd think I'd be used to it by now.

"Well, it's just that he's kind of a player. I just don't want him to hurt you."

"Come on seaweed brain. You know you don't have to worry about me. I can handle myself." Having retrieved all she needed for our next class, she slammed her locker door shut. "Don't be jealous, Perce. It's not a good look on you." I felt color rush to my cheeks and my ears. Damn it, I thought. Now she'll know I'm embarrassed. After all, Soph knew that my tell for being embarrassed is the reddening of my ears.

"I'm not jealous!" I said, though my voice came out a little high-pitched. She laughed.

"Don't worry! It's not like I'm gonna date him or anything! We're just friends." I tried to regain my composure and draped my arm around her.

"Alright, alright," I said. And with that we walked off towards English.

…

SOPHIE'S POV

After such a long time being at different schools, it was great being with Percy all year-round. He was my best friend, seeing him everyday made me happier than ever. And I had to admit, it was a bit nice having him be all protective and jealous like that. Things had been kind of… complicated over the last few months, and it gave me comfort to know that his spell on Calypso's island didn't change his feelings. We hadn't talked about it much since then, mostly because I really didn't want to know about his time with another girl, never mind one whose beauty had been set in history. It was confusing, but something had certainly changed between us. My heart beat a little bit faster (okay, a lot faster) when he put his arm around me, a gesture that I used to just take as friendly, I found myself thinking about him more often, and wondering whether he thought about me too. But it was impossible. We were best friends, nothing more, and I couldn't lose him, not again. So I pushed these thoughts to the back of my head. As we walked home after my first day at school, we chatted. "You know," I started. "I really like Goode. It's a nice change of pace from San Francisco. And, you know, not constantly being chased by a vast array of monsters is nice too." Percy laughed, and I beamed at him.

"Yeah, I find that that's one of Goode's best qualities." He punched me lightly in the shoulder. "I'm glad you're here with me, Sparks."

"Me too." I thought back to last night, and lowered my voice a bit. "Hey, so I got a message from my dad last night…" Percy's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh?" I gave him a look that said I know.

"Yeah."

"And what'd the big guy have to say?"

"He gave me this weird warning…"

"What was the warning?"

"He said that there was something waiting for me here, like something big is gonna happen to me." A panicked look came on Percy's face.

"What do you mean, big?"

"I don't think it was bad… but he just said something substantial would happen to me here, and that it would give me the strength to face one of my fears."

"Which fear?"

"I'm not sure." I had a slight idea of what it might have been, but I wasn't about to say it to Percy. See, my father is scary guy, what with being able to shoot people down with lightning bolts. And, though he doesn't have many half-blood children, he's quite busy, so I rarely come into contact with him. But when he does visit me, it's for something important. Percy looked a bit shocked.

"Okay… so I guess this means we're gonna have to be on the lookout after all."

"Yeah." Just then, I heard someone call my name behind me. Percy and I both turned. A little ways down the sidewalk, John was running towards us. Percy made a face for a second, then replaced it with a fake smile. I have to say, John was cute. With his ruffled blond hair and his tall, muscular frame, I could tell why he was reputed to be the hottest guy in school. As he reached us, I smiled at him.

"Hey," he said, a little out of breath. "Um, Sophie, I had a really good time with you in geometry today." I laughed a little.

"Me too. You're actually the first friend I have at Goode." I paused, then, realizing what I had said, reiterated. "Well, second friend."

"I'm sure people will realize how cool you are soon." I laughed again.

"Yeah, I'm sure." There was a bit of an awkward pause. Then, Percy cleared his throat.

"Well, we'd better get-" He was cut off by John.

"Um, hey, would you ever want to, like, get a movie with me or something?" I felt myself blush and stole a quick glance at Percy. He was making a sour face.

PERCY'S POV

Please say no, please say no, I thought. For some reason, the idea of Sophie going out on a date with this clown made me want to throw up the blue pancakes I had for breakfast. She looked at me quickly, and I tried to convey that she should not, under any circumstances, go to the movies with John. But suddenly, I heard the words I had dreaded come out of her mouth.

"Sure, John. That sounds good." He gave her a huge smile that I'm sure was meant to dazzle her.

"Awesome. How 'bout Friday at like five?"

"Sounds great," she said happily. At that, I spun on my heel and began walking back home.