My name is Alice York. I have dark brown hair and green eyes. I am short and slim. I have ADHD and dyslexia. I live in New York City. My mother's name is Holly York, and my father, I never knew. I own a cat named George. My best friend is Oliver Hutch. He has a leg muscle disease. I go to Xavier's School for Troubled Children. Oh, and there's also one other thing you ought to know. I am a demigod.
Three days earlier…
"Alice York." Mr Wayne says. I stick my hand up in the air and wait for my exam paper to be handed to me. When Mr Wayne catches my eye, he gives me a sympathetic smile and sheepishly walks towards me. Already I know my mark is not going to be good. Mr Wayne passes me my English Exam and leans down to whisper in my ear.
"I'm really sorry, Alice." he says before walking off. I glance down at the paper and a pang of depression hits me. I place my arms protectively around the results page so nobody can see my horrible grade. I choke on my tears and try not to sob. My mouth twists into a tight grimace. When Mr Wayne finishes giving out the exam papers, he walks to the front of the room and says a few sentences, but I don't remember what he says. After his speech, he gestures to the door and everybody walks out of the classroom.
A few people cheer and whoop that school has ended for the year, but I simply just stare at the ground and wander aimlessly about the school grounds until I am sitting underneath my oak tree at the front of the school. Whenever I am feeling sad or upset, I always come to my oak tree. I bring my knees to my chest and rest my chin in between them. I don't even realize that I am crying until I feel the wet tears fall onto my knees.
I sit there for what feels like hours until I can see two feet cutting across the lawn. I hastily wipe away the salty tears and sniffle. The feet halt in front of me, waiting for my reaction. I look up at the person to whom the feet belong to and fling myself onto them. Oliver's arms wrap around me and hold me tightly.
"Alice, what's wrong?" Oliver asks me gently. I pull away from him and look up into his handsome brown eyes. Unable to answer, I pass him my exam paper. His eyes widens when he sees I failed English.
"Alice, I'm… I'm so sorry." he says. I swallow the lump in my throat.
"You know what this means… d-don't you?" I stammer nervously. He grimaces and stares at his feet.
"Yeah, I know. You'll have to repeat eighth grade." he says sadly. I put my hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"It'll be okay. We can still hang out on weekends." I tell him. He shakes his head.
"It's not good enough." he says.
"I… I don't understand." I say, confused. He shrugs off my hand and walks away, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Oliver! Wait!" I call after him, but he doesn't turn around. I run towards him.
"Oliver, why are you so upset?" I ask him. He ignores me and keeps walking. I throw my hands up in annoyance and stand in front of him, my hands firmly placed on his shoulder. His face is expressionless.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I scream at him angrily. His expression does not change. "Why won't you talk to me? It doesn't matter if I didn't pass; we can still be friends!"
Still, he does not reply. Rage takes over my body and the next thing I know, my hands are freezing and soaking wet and Oliver is nowhere to be seen.
"Oliver?" I call quietly. I turn around in a circle and search frantically for my best friend. At last, I see him – or at least I think I see him.
A massive ball of churning water hovers above the ground underneath my oak tree, and sure enough, in the centre of the ball of water is what looks like a flailing Oliver. From the waist-up, he looks like his usual self: curly brown hair, pale skin, brown eyes, school top. But from the waist-down, Oliver looks like a hairy buffalo. His legs are beefier than usual and are covered in curly brown fur and instead of feet he has black hooves.
"Ah-iss!" Oliver manages to cry out. When he does, I come back to my senses and sprint towards him. I can see his arms getting weaker and his face turning purple now. He is drowning. Come on, I say to myself, come on! At last I make it to him, but it is too late. Oliver's body has gone limp and his head is lolling around. A blood-curdling scream escapes my lips as I claw at the water, trying desperately to get rid of it. As I do this, the giant ball of water seems to shrink. I claw at the water faster and faster until finally, there is no water left to claw away.
When Oliver falls to the ground, I kneel down and slap his face.
"Oliver!" I shriek. "Oliver, wake up!"
I pump his chest as hard and fast as I can, praying that he is still alive. I keep pumping until two students stand over me, dumbfounded. They must have heard me scream. Then, one of them grabs the other and runs back into the school to get help. Tears stream down my cheeks as I try to revive my friend. Finally, when think that he is well and truly gone and I am hugging myself as I weep, he gives a little shudder and sputters out some water. My eyes widen.
"Oliver!" I shout. "You're alive!"
Oliver gasps for air and rolls over on his side, still coughing up water. I brush the curly wet hair out of his brown eyes and rub his arm comfortingly. When he has gotten all the water from his lungs out, he sits up and I hug him tightly. I don't care that he is soggy or that his legs are super-hairy or that he is probably exhausted beyond comprehension; I need to feel that he is okay.
"Oliver!" I gasp, tears still streaming from my eyes. We cling to each other for a while before he finally pulls away. I once again hastily wipe my tears away. He gives me small smile.
"What happened?" I ask. "Oliver, why did you almost drown?"
The grimace he wore before returns to his lips. Anger flares up inside of me, but I calm it before it gets the best of me again.
"I don't know." he manages to choke out. "But we... we have to go."
"Go?" I ask, confused. "Go where?"
"Away." he says. Before I can stop and reason with myself, I nod.