Chapter 1: "First Day as a Junior"

"Annabeth! Wake up, first day of school!" My mom shouted from downstairs. "Mom, coming!" I answered. I woke up and started my day. My sleep wasn't pretty good. I'm not used to the noise New York is giving to sleepers every night. I never wanted to leave San Francisco. It's more peaceful there, but here I am, staying in New York.

I'll be studying as a new 3rd year student in Goode High School. So, it should mean I'll be walking in the school alone, but I wouldn't. I have company. She's my summer friend from San Francisco. She studies in Goode. She just visits San Francisco every summer.

"Bye, Mom!" I said to my mom as I kissed her. "Bye, Annabeth! Take Care!" My mom said as I walked the busy streets of New York.

As I got off the bus, I saw my friend, Thalia, standing at the school gates, probably waiting for me. She's wearing her usual clothes, Death to Barbie t-shirt, combat boots and stacked bracelets on her left wrist.

"Thalia!" I greeted

"Annabeth!" She greeted back. "What's your schedule?"

I handed her my schedule and it read:

Math

Drafting

Science

Computer

LUNCH

Music

English

Latin

Swimming

"We have the same schedule! YEAAAH!" Thalia said

"Really? You took up Drafting?" I asked

"Uhmm. Yeah, I know you'll take that subject too." Thalia said.

"Aww! You took that subject for me? How sweet!" I said and I hugged her. Next to Percy, Thalia is my bestfriend. I suddenly realized that I'm in New York. How I wonder if Percy's here?

After that conversation, we walked to our classes. Our teacher in Math was Ms. Dodds. She's good in solving problems but she's not good in socializing with her students. First day of school, she gave us a graded recitation. Our drafting teacher, on the other hand, is pretty good. She's a pretty young adult. I like her ideas. Our science teacher, Mrs. Camarao, is a very strict teacher. You will never have the chance to breathe in her class. Our computer teacher, Mr. Wade, explained to us his plans for the school year. He said that we'll launch an internet site and stuffs of same sort.

The first half of my first day in school was good. I was stuffing things inside my locker when a group of beautiful girls came next to me. A girl, that looks like their leader, stepped forward and said, "Hi!"

"Er, hello!" I greeted back.

"Drew." She said as she offered her hand.

"Annabeth. Annabeth Chase." I said and shook her hand. "Nice, uhmm, knowing your name."

She smiled and said, "So, you're the new student?"

"Yeah."

An 'okay' was all she replied. Drew is nice, I guess. After a second, she was starting to panic. She combed her hair quickly. She was retouching her make ups like there is someone who'll see her looking like a mess. As if she's looking like a mess, she's beautiful.

"Uhmm. Why are you doing that?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Because of him." A girl from the back said.

"Who's him?" I asked again. This time, the girl pointed to a good looking guy walking down the hallway.

"Who is he then?" I asked again.

"Who is he? OH! I forgot you're a new student. He's just what every girl wanted on Christmas. He's a senior. He's handsome. He plays guitar. He's awesome. He's lovable. Get it?" Drew said.

I was about to reply when Drew cut me off, "He should be the first person you'll know. Not some Goth looking girl."

I looked to see who she is talking about then I saw Thalia. My blood boiled. "What do you mean?" I said with anger in my voice.

Drew was about to say something when Thalia ended the conversation by saying, "Back it off, Drew!"

Drew and her gang left but there are two who stayed. They looked at me.

"Uhmm. Drew just left. Follow the leader." Thalia said.

"We don't want to be friends with her. It's just that she doesn't want us to leave or else, she'll embarrass us in front of everybody. By the way, I'm Silena. She's Piper." Silena said.

I greeted them and asked, "What's the name of the guy Drew talked about a moment ago?"

"Percy Jackson." They said in chorus.

"Per-Percy Jackson?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah. Why?" Piper asked.

"Uhmm. Nothing."

"So, nice meeting you, Annabeth. You're nice and pretty. See you around. Drew might notice that we're not with her." Piper said and they left.

I looked at Thalia and asked her, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah. Why? Do you like him?" She said as she is trying to suppress her smile.

"No! It's just.. I remember someone." I said. I'm not sure if I'm blushing.

"Want to meet him?"

"No!"

"Nah. Fine. You want to look at him closer but not talk to him?"

I nodded. That's what I want. I just wanted to see his features.

We walked and went to Room 023 or the Music Room. Thalia knocked and blonde hair guy opened the door.

"Thalia! Hey!" the guy said and Thalia socialized with the other members. "Are you Annabeth Chase?"

I nodded. "Yeah. So you're Jason. Thalia's younger brother. Nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too. So, I guess Thalia already knew my bandmates. I'll introduce you to them."

"So, uhmm, this is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. She's new here. She's the bestfriend of Thalia. Annabeth, that's Leo Valdez, the guy on the drums." Jason introduced and I waved my hand and smiled.

"That's Charles Beckendorf on the bass guitar."

"Hi!" Charles said. I waved.

"Me. On the rhythm guitar." Jason said and waved. I laughed.

"Well, Percy and Rachel aren't here. They went outside." Jason said

"Who's Rachel?" I asked

"She's our vocalist and Percy is our lead guitarist." He said and smiled.

"Oh. Nice meeting you guys." I said and smiled.

We stood there in an awkward silence until the bell broke it. Thalia and I waved goodbye-s to the band and rushed to our next subject—Music. That lead guitarist bothers me. He's name is Percy Jackson. He knows how to play the guitar. Is he my hero? Is he my Seaweed Brain?