Annabeth Chase stood on the corner of her street, waiting for the bus to pick her up. She shivered against the late November cold. "Why did we have to move to New York?" She muttered to herself. "I was fine with San Francisco, but no. Dad decided to move to the coldest place on earth." She shrugged her backpack on as she heard the squeals of a bright yellow school bus.
"Well," Annabeth sighed. "Here goes nothing."
She placed one step in front of the other, determined not to make a fool of herself on her very first day. A plump, round lady sat in the driver's seat with a warm look on her face. "How you doing, honey?" She asked with a slight accent. Southern, maybe? "I'm doing fine, thank you." She answers. Before the driver can say anything else, Annabeth takes the seat right behind her, which happens to be empty. She sighs with relief. "One seat, all to myself. Hopefully it can stay like this for the rest of the year."
Annabeth's new, much smaller house was fairly close to her new school, Goode High, so the bus was more or less empty. The bus made around seven more stops before someone tried to sit next to her.
"Hi," A boy coughed. Annabeth looked up from her book, clearly annoyed. "Hello." She said plainly. The boy, whose dramatic sea-green eyes were quite distracting, ran his fingers through his jet black hair. "You- uh, you're sitting in my seat." Annabeth inhaled, exasperated, but she knew that this seat wouldn't last. She started to get up when the boy spoke. "No! It's okay. It's just, well, I've never met you before. I thought you might have been on the wrong bus or something." He said quickly. Annabeth held back a giggle, her lips tightening. This boy was obviously a little nervous to be meeting her.
"Well, you've never met me before because I'm a new student at Goode. Annabeth Chase." She stuck out her hand, waiting for him to shake it. He took it immediately. "Nice to meet you, Annabeth," He sucked in a breath. "I'm Percy Jackson."
Percy scooted into the seat, and instantly Annabeth regretted giving him the extra space. She opened her book quietly and continued to read, very much aware of Percy staring at her. "Why are you staring at me?" She asked sharply. Percy averted his eyes to her book, blushing furiously. "I was wondering what you were reading?" He lied. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Architecture. I'm reading a book about architecture." She said flatly. Percy tilted his head. "Why architecture?" He asked. Annabeth sighed."Because I like it. What about you? Any books you enjoy?"
"I don't read that often."
"Why?"
"I have dyslexia. And ADHD..." Percy drifted off, letting Annabeth put the rest of the pieces together. "Okay, so you don't read. What do you do, then?" "I surf, and scuba dive. My dad actually let me down in his submarine on day, but that was a while ago." Annabeth's eyes widened. "Your dad has a submarine? What does he do?" Percy sighed. "He owns a huge oil company, you know, Poseidon Inc?" She nodded. Poseidon Inc. was one of the biggest oil companies in the world. Percy must be really rich. "Well, he's so rich he can afford practically anything. So yeah, he has a submarine." Annabeth noticed something had changed in Percy's tone. Bitterness, maybe?
"You must not like your dad much," Annabeth said softly. "Why?"
Percy sucked in a deep breath. She had obviously hit a soft spot. "Listen, if you don't want to share-" "No, no. It's okay." Percy ran his fingers through his hair. "My mom and dad, they never got married. When my dad found out that my mom was pregnant with me, he left. He left my mom with a bastard of a man." Percy clenched his hands by his thighs, clearly stressed by the memory. "But that's in the past," he sighed. "My mom has a new boyfriend, and they're going to get married next spring."
They talked for a while, Annabeth explaining her love for books and her fear of the ocean. "Why?" Percy asked. "Because it's so huge, and wild, and so unpredictable. I can't control it." She answered. Percy talked about Goode High, who to be friends with and who not to be friends with. "You should totally be friends with me now, obviously, if we're going to keep sitting in the same spot." Percy raised an eyebrow and stuck out his hand. "Friends?"
Annabeth thrust out her hand, enthusiastic to have a true friend.
"Friends."