The shrill shriek of Coach Grigsby's whistle cut through the chatter. I hated that whistle, almost as much as I hated Coach Grigsby. Almost. Let me put it this way, if both of them were trapped in a burning building, and I had to choose which one to save, I'd leave both of them and go get an ice-cream.

'We're playing softball today' Coach Grigsby bellowed. 'Split into two teams.'

There was a collective groan from the class, although it hardly came as a surprise. We always played softball in Phys Ed. It was probably the only sport Coach Grigsby's IQ could comprehend: 1. Throw ball, 2. Hit ball with stick, 3. Run in a circle.

I nudged Daniel.

'Aren't you meant to be doing something with that bat? Putting it somewhere it doesn't belong?'

Daniel shook his head.

'Dude, the girls from Victoria's Secret are here. I don't care what we do, as long as I can watch them do it.'

All three of the new girls were in our class, and I predicted that it was going to be pretty hard for any of the guys to focus on the game.

But unlike everyone else, my attention wasn't on the three bombshells. Idly standing behind them, his hands in the pockets of his shorts, I saw another person who I didn't recognise. He was quite tall, with messy black hair – the kind of messy that takes hours to perfect, 'What, I look that good? I just woke up like this, I swear' – and a kind of swaggering confidence that is always guaranteed to get on my nerves.

'Who's that?' I asked Daniel as we all lined up to be sorted into teams.

Daniel shrugged.

'Dunno. I think he just transferred too, from New York.'

I frowned. 'Why is our school so popular all of a sudden? I don't think we've ever had this many transfers.'

Daniel grinned at me.

'Who cares? Hey, maybe the ladies saw my Tinder profile and liked it so much they moved here.'

'Uh-huh' I responded. 'How many matches have you had on that?'

'In the vicinity of ten.'

'So, none.'

'Zero is in the vicinity of ten, though.'

Two team captains quickly emerged: Jake and Rick, who usually let their swollen biceps do the talking for them. They began picking people in turn for their teams. Surprise, surprise, the three new girls were the first to be picked. It didn't matter to Jake or Rick that they probably couldn't tell one side of the bat from the other.

As usual, Daniel and I were the last to be chosen. Jake and Rick had previously asked if they could just voluntarily give us up, but apparently that was against the rules. Jake did a quick 'eenie meenie' to decide which one of us to pick, but got lost halfway through the song and just picked me for the hell of it.

Annoyingly, the new guy was on my team. He looked like the kind of guy who lived at the beach and still said stuff like 'Cowabunga dude' and 'That's radical!' I hated the ocean. When I was little, my mom had taken me to the beach and I'd gone hunting for crabs in the rock pools. I must have gone out too far, because there was this huge freak wave that came out of nowhere that swept me up and almost pulled me out into the ocean. It was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me. I still remember the power of the water as it swirled around me – it almost seemed… alive. I'd never been back to the beach.

The new guy caught me staring at him and decided to come over. I tried to pretend I was too interested in the grass to see him, but as fool-proof of a plan as that was, it failed.

'Sup' he said, sticking out hand. 'Percy Jackson. I'm new here.'

I reluctantly offered my hand to shake.

'Castor Orr. Nice to meet you.'

Percy raised his eyebrows.

'Wow, Castor Orr. That's a name that doesn't come up a lot. Must be fun at parties.'

Wow, a jokester too. How perfect.

I smiled thinly.

'Yeah, my mom was really into Greek myths and stuff. Castor was one of the twins who-'

'Sailed with Jason and Argonauts' Percy finished, cutting me off. 'Yeah, I know. Sons of Zeus.'

That put me off for a second. I'd never met someone who actually knew where my name came from.

'That's right' I said, after a pause. 'My mom's kind of a nerd for that stuff. But it could be worse, I mean, Zeus is pretty cool. With the lightning bolts and stuff.'

Percy shrugged.

'I always thought it was kinda gimmicky. Like a giant walking power socket.'

What is up with this guy?

'I guess you could see it like that.'

Coach Grigsby blew his whistle again, and the game began. For the first time in my life, I was happy to hear it, because it meant I had an excuse to stop talking to Percy.

Jake, as captain of our team, had made the tough decision to let himself go first. He swaggered into the diamond, swinging the bat around, trying to look impressive for the new transfer girls.

One of them was actually pitching. Rick had let the redhead take his place, which just showed he was willing to do basically anything to look good in front of her.

Jake was grinning, clearly relishing the chance to show off his skills and bag a date.

'Don't worry babe' he called out to the redhead as he got ready to swing 'I'll go easy on you.'

The redhead didn't say anything. She just silently wound her arm back, and then threw.

It was so fast that I actually missed the throw itself. One moment she was holding the baseball in her hand, there was a faint whirring sound, then Jake was doubled over on the ground coughing and wheezing.

It took a second for everyone to work out what had happened. Some people laughed, and a few even cheered. I stared at the girl, whose facial expression was still studiously blank.

'Take him to the nurse' Coach Grigsby yelled, and couple of Jake's cronies came forward to help him up and to hobble off the pitch. Jake's eyes were unfocused, and he was muttering to himself. That girl had some arm on her. I'd seen professional baseball players with slower pitches.

Jake's demise, as funny as it was, had left us without a team captain.

'Any volunteers?' Coach Grigsby bellowed. We all just stood and looked at each other. None of us could remember a time when both Jake and Rick hadn't been team captains. Also, we weren't exactly keen to get in the firing line after just witnessing Jake being absolutely destroyed by a baseball thrown with the force of a cannonball.

'I'll do it.'

I turned to see that Percy had raised his hand.

You've got to be kidding me.

Percy grinned, seemingly unconcerned.

'Hey, man' I said to him in an undertone 'I don't think that's a good idea.'

Percy waved me off.

'Trust me, I've survived a lot worse.'

Arrogant too. Good mix.

I laughed.

'Whatever, it's your funeral. But don't be expecting me to scrape you off the field.'

'OK newbie, let's see what you've got!' Coach Grigsby shouted.

I smiled to myself. I only wished I had some popcorn; this was going to be fun to watch.