Chapter 2 High school

AN: Thanks to those who are following this story. Ps if you have suggestions let me know in comments and I may consider them.

Percy woke up feeling refreshed for the first time in a long time. The fresh air and all the moisture was such a nice change from the big city and just made him feel so much stronger and alert. Despite this he had a very uneasy feeling as he thought back to the events of last night. Edward was not human, Percy was sure of this but he didn't know why the creature, whatever it was, was with Bella. What is the angle? he wondered to himself. Is Edward trying to get to me through my family? That didn't seem likely as from what Charlie had said Edward had been around long before Percy decided to move here. It must have something to do with Bella he decided and promised himself that he would protect his cousin from Edward if it came down to it although Bella seemed happy and comfortable around him. Percy then decided to put the mystery away for now and get ready for school today which he was not looking forward to.

He checked the clock and realised he still had an hour or so before Bella would be awake and they needed to eat and get going. Perfect that should be long enough he thought but just in case decided to leave a note for Bella anyway which read "Hey cow bells just out for my morning run. I'll be back in time for breakfast and to drive us to school. See you soon". And with that he walked out the door to the front yard. Percy started off by stretching out a little then took off into the woods slowly picking up speed. Eventually he leveled out at a comfortable pace, which would have beat Husain Bolt in a sprint, and took a nice tour of the forest for about twenty minutes. He would have gone longer but the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise so he stopped and took out riptide, not questioning his instincts which were rarely wrong. In the distance he caught a flash of something moving with what looked like a reddish brown fur and it was big. It was not the main problem however as he spun around and then jumped quickly to the side to avoid a charging hell hound the size of a tank.

Jacob Black was on patrol this morning as well and had decided to swing close to Bella's place to make sure that she was ok when he picked up on a brand new scent that was so powerful it almost overwhelmed his senses. I don't like this he thought and went to check out what it could be. Eventually he caught up to the source of the smell and was shocked to see a young man easily running through the woods at an incredible pace when suddenly the man came to a stop and pulled a pen out of his pocket. What the hell is he going to use that for in the middle of the woods? Jacob thought and was then stunned into silence as the pen grew into a bronze looking sword. Before Jacob could even begin to wonder why this man would be carrying a sword of all things, or better yet how said sword had sprung from a pen, there was movement behind Percy that Jacob picked up on. Now giant animals shouldn't be a shock to a guy like Jacob who was in fact a giant wolf himself but that didn't stop the pure bewilderment as a hound even larger the Jacob or his friends jumped out at Percy to attack. Jacob decided that whoever this bizarre man was he still needed help but then he saw what was going on in front of him as was for what felt like the tenth time that morning was shocked by the events unfolding before him.

Percy rolled to the side with blinding speed and as he did so aimed a kick right at the hellhound's ribs that sent it flying into a group of trees. No human should be that quick or strong Jacob thought to himself watching closely from a distance. The hound got up and this time slowly approached Percy who was ready and waiting for it. The hound struck with its claws and Percy blocked with riptide as he flowed from one battle position to the other and moving riptide with such grace that Jacob could only compare Percy to flowing water as he fought. Although Percy was having no trouble blocking the hound and he knew it was only a matter of time before he found an opening to finish it off he was not familiar with his surroundings. This ended up being a problem as a small protruding tree root caught the edge of one of Percy's shoes and he stumbled just a little which was just enough for the hell hound to get a glancing blow on one of his shoulders. As the hell hound struck though it overextended itself which Percy took immediate advantage of and decapitated it causing it to vaporise. Percy quickly searched around and found a small stream of water which he used to heal his injury. Being a son of Poseidon sure had its advantages even if it meant things like that hell hound would end up attacking him Percy thought to himself. Well I better get back to the house before anything else try's to kill me and took off to finish his morning workout which had ended up being more than he was expecting. Jacob didn't know what to make of what he had seen and decided to go back to the reservation to report in and see if anyone had a clue what was going on. We may even have to ask the blood suckers for help on this one he thought with a grimace.

When Percy got home he was met with one of the best things on this planet. The smell of bacon! "Smells good cow bells" Percy said with a laugh as he saw Bella jump at his voice. She hadn't heard him walk up and open the door. "Oh good I wasn't sure when you would be back and thought you might have gotten lost in the woods. Wait what happened to your shirt?" Bella asked him as she noticed the one shoulder had multiple tears on it almost as if it had been clawed or something but Percy's arm underneath was fine. "Oh it got stuck on a tree branch while I was running, speaking of which I'm going to go have a shower" Percy stated dismissively which made Bella sure he was lying but she couldn't figure out why he would if he wasn't even injured. Once Percy was cleaned up and changed breakfast was ready and they quietly ate and prepared to go to school.

"I am so excited to drive this thing" Percy almost yelled as he opened up the corvette and hoped into the driver seat. "Umm you do drive reasonably right?" asked Bella quietly with a slight look of fear. She never did like driving fast and figured she would never get used to it even with Edward and Alice driving her around from time to time. They did slow down a bit just to humor her but they still drove to fast for her liking and they had enhanced reflexes. "Of course I do" Percy replied with humor in his eyes as he noticed Bella's fear. Then when she sat down, closed the door and buckled up he added with a grin "If by driving reasonably you mean really fast that is." He then gunned it out of the driveway going as fast as he could with Bella screaming at him the whole time "Slow Down! Oh My God We Are Going To Die! Charlie Is A Cop What Are You Thinking!" "We are here" Percy replied calmly clearly trying not to laugh too hard at Bella. "You are much worse the Edward behind the wheel and I can't believe I just said that." Bella replied while shaking her head then noticed that the almost the entire school was staring at them in awe. Bella was momentarily confused when she remembered the car they were riding in, and that she always rode with Edward in the mornings so there was probably confusion as to the change, but mostly people were staring at Percy.

"Wow it's an even bigger reaction than when Bella first showed up here" Edward confided in his family. They all wanted to know more about this Jackson character and with Edward not being able to read his mind they were monitoring the reactions of everyone who came in contact with him. Alice had been trying to get a vision of him but so far had come up with nothing of any importance. Oddly enough she got a vision of him just as he was about to step into the shower that morning which slightly embarrassed her but she finally decided that there was nothing to be embarrassed by as she couldn't control what she saw plus it was proof that her gift would work on him even if it was unreliable. She just hoped she would catch anything major that would happen with him. Jasper was also planning on trying to get an emotional read off of Percy during lunch when they were all in the cafeteria. "A large part of it is because of the car he is driving" Edward continued "But people are also wondering why Bella is with him instead of me. The gossip is already starting that they are dating" Edward said and clenched his fist in anger. Alice went to comfort him "There is no reason to be upset there are just cousins living together and people will realise that soon enough." "Come on Edward more important things than your girlfriend's love life here. What about Percy himself we need to know if he is a threat to our family." Rosalie said with frustration at Edward for his lack of priorities in her mind. Edward just glared at her for a minute then when back to the thoughts of others. "Well most of the girls seem to be developing a crush on him at first sight. Jessica's mind will be intolerable for a while" this drew a few chuckles from around the table. They all knew how Jessica would likely act around him. "Most of the guys seem to be sizing him up as competition or trying to figure out where he will fit in. Nobody seems to notice anything out of the ordinary though." "Well of course not" boomed Emmet with a laugh "It's not like humans are very attentive, it's almost like they have mist covering their eyes. Besides there might not be anything out of the ordinary with him. Just because you were spooked by a human doesn't mean he's special it just means you're losing your nerve." Emmet was laughing loudly at this and Edward sighed. He knew he would regret telling Emmet that. "Well what about his scent then huh? We are on the far side of the parking lot from him and we can still smell him like he is right in front of us. Are you going to tell me that is normal too?" Edward challenged him. "Some humans smell different so what Bella is proof that it happens, this is just a different form of the same anomaly" Emmet tried to reason. "I don't think so" was Edwards only response before going back to studying Percy.

Bella showed Percy around and lead him to the front office where he picked up his schedule. Percy groaned loudly when he looked at it. This year is going to be hell he thought. "You have English first in that building over there" Bella pointed out to him. "Great English perfect for my dyslexia" he said out loud thinking of all the books he would have to read. I wonder if I can get them translated to ancient Greek he wondered but realised that sadly that wouldn't be possible. Mostly because those books wouldn't have Greek copies but also because it would raise suspicion.

As Percy was struggling through his own personal hell that could almost rival his experience in in the underworld, Bella was being ambushed with questions from Jessica. "OMG who is that guy you rode here with? He's so hot, are you two dating, did you break up with Edward? Where did he come from and what is he doing here?" "Wow Jessica slowdown" Bella said not at all surprised by the interrogation. "He's my cousin that I haven't seen for a while and he came to live with me and Charlie so obviously we are not dating and I'm still with Edward. He moved from New York because he needed a change, I guess he's gone through a lot but I don't know what he hasn't spoken about it yet." "Oh so is he single then?" Jessica asked skipping over all the other information and just picking up on this possibility. "I think so but I don't know if he is looking for a relationship right now he's still fairly vulnerable and I think he just got out of a relationship" Bella tried to explain to Jessica. "I think I'm going to ask him out" Jessica stated once again skipping over most of the information. Bella just shook her head and tried to focus on trig.

When lunch finally came around Percy looked so relived to be out of class at least for a little while that when Bella saw him she started laughing. "Come on lets go eat I'm starving" Percy said while almost running to the cafeteria. After they had grabbed their trays of food, Percy with almost double Bella had, Bella lead the way to her old table of friends to introduce Percy to them. "Hey Bella, Percy there is a seat for you right next to me" Jessica said in what she hoped was a seductive tone looking at Percy and gesturing to the seat she had obviously reserved for this. Percy raised an eyebrow but took the seat offered to him with Bella on his other side. "Percy this is Jessica, Lauren, Taylor, Angela, Ben, Eric and Mike. Everyone this is my cousin Percy who just moved here from New York." Bella introduced them all. Conversation passed at a pleasant rate and Percy got along well with most of them. After a while Jessica looked up and saw that the Cullens were all staring at Percy. "What is with your family and the Cullens?" Jessica asked a bit sharper than intended. "First Edward and Bella and now Percy moves here and the entire family is fascinated by him." Percy followed her gaze to see what she was talking about and then saw them. He immediately recognized the similarities between all of them and Edward and came to the conclusion that whatever kind of monster Edward was they were as well. Damn this could be a problem he thought to himself as he looked at the five of them then remembered what Edward had said about being adopted and assumed the "parents" were the same. Ok seven of them and one of me, I've faced worse odds, he thought.

At the Cullen table Jasper was reading Percy's emotions to try and figure out anything they could about him. "Damn there is a lot of pain and a feeling of loss coming from him. He must have been through something a lot worse than whatever Bella and Charlie believe it to be. I sense a little bit of hope though it seems like moving here really was a good idea for him he is starting to recover I think." Jasper told the others while reading him. "Also, and this isn't an emotional thing just something I see from looking at him, he reminds me a bit of myself after going through the civil war. He has the look of a soldier who has been through some tough battles." "I had the same thought when I first met him as well but I wasn't sure, you would know best though" Edward said after listening to jasper then asked "Can you control his emotions or just feel them? I'm curious because my ability doesn't work at all on him and Alice's only sort of works" Alice looked away very slightly at this and Jasper focused for a minute. The entire family watched Percy for a visible reaction to jaspers power but there was no change. "No I can't do anything" Jasper finally admitted. Just then they heard Jessica talking about the Cullens and Percy looked over at them. Jasper gasped then due to a change in Percy's emotions "What is it Jazz" Alice asked. "He knows. He might not know exactly what we are but he knows we are not human." "Are you sure" Rosalie asked worried now. "Yes it's a unique blend of emotions coming from him but he defiantly knows, it's the only explanation for what he is feeling but….." Jasper trailed off then "What is it" Jasper was asked again. "There is no surprise from him at all, as if he is used to dealing with non-humans and there is a note of resignation and determination from him as well. It's like he is getting ready to fight us if he needs too." "HA I'd like to see him try that" Emmet laughed loudly while cracking his knuckles "One human verses a family of vampires, what kind of fight would that be huh?" Despite Emmet's carefree confidence Edward and Jasper were not so sure and the Cullen family continued to wonder just who this guy was.

When school finally ended Percy and Bella met up at the car to discuss the day. "So how was it?" Bella asked Percy curiously. "Horrible I don't think I can survive this year" was the reply. "Oh stop over reacting Percy." "Jessica gave me her number before I left the cafeteria, I think she's into me." Percy stated. "Yes she is, she was asking me about you earlier. Are you going to take her out?" Bella asked. Percy just shrugged at that. Bella wanted to spend some more time with Percy but it had also been a while since she had seen Jacob because of the whole he hates Edward thing so she asked "Hey do you remember Jacob Black from when you used to visit as a kid?" "Umm not really, a little maybe something about mud pies." He answered "Well would you like to go down and visit him with me? He lives on the reserve near the beach so we could go down there afterwards too." When Bella said this Percy became visibly happy at the mention of the beach and so he readily agreed.

Jacob heard an unfamiliar engine pull up to his house so he went outside to investigate. He was still a little distracted from the events of the morning and no one in his tribe had known what to make of his tale so he was still just as confused as ever. Therefore when he saw Bella step out of a shiny new corvette he was extremely happy to see her to have a nice distraction from those events. "Hey Bella great to see you. Who's car is this?" Jacob said while running up to give her a hug. "Oh it belongs to my cousin Percy who you may or may not remember." While Bella said this Percy got out of the car and started inspecting Jacob. His demigod senses started warning him of danger. Oh shut up already as if I'm not always in constant danger Percy thought to himself. He was a little tired of running into dangerous people and creatures. "Hey Jacob good to see you again, hope you don't mind we decided to stop by." Jacob turned and was frozen with surprise, this was the guy he had seen fight the giant hound earlier. They went to shake hands and they both gripped a little tighter than needed trying to get a feel for each other. Percy made a quick list in his head; ok he's bigger than normal and looks like he is on steroids, he has a very firm grip and is more resilient than most humans as I squeezed hard enough to hurt him, he is running a temperature that should suggest he is sick but looks very healthy, he had a weird reaction to my presence, and demigod senses tingling. Great another non-human wonder what he is he seems different from the Cullens Percy summarised.

Bella shook her head a little as she saw Percy have yet another awkward encounter with one of her friends and wondered what his problems with them were. First Edward and now Jacob but then she mentally stopped herself. Edward and Jacob she thought again. Those are the only two non-human friends of mine that he met and they were the only ones he has acted weird around. He was fine around Jessica and the others so what did that mean? Could he possibly know that Edward and Jacob were different and if so how was it possible for him to figure that out upon first contact? Again Bella shook her head to try to clear it, that was a mystery for later but one she defiantly needed to solve. Thinking of a good way to do so would be very tricky though.

After a while filled with awkward conversation between Percy and Jacob, Percy decided to go down to the water and leave Bella and Jacob to catch up. Wow Bella has managed to surround herself with monsters of some form or another, she must have a powerful danger magnet like mine or something he thought. That briefly made him consider the possibility of her being a demigod but quickly dismissed it as there were no other signs of this. Besides, he thought, is it really putting her in danger? They all seem to care about her so I don't think they would actually hurt her. I guess to solve this I'll have to try to ask Bella what she knows about everything that is going on. He waded into the water and just stood there for a while thinking.

Jacob was almost having a panic attack. This Percy Jackson was obviously very dangerous and he was living with Bella! Jacob needed to know that Bella was safe and started asking her lots of questions about Percy which made her suspicious. Not only did Percy not seem to like Edward and Jacob but they didn't seem to like him either. Bella really started questioning just how much she really knew Percy and why he had truly come here. Jacob could tell Bella didn't know what he was looking for so he stopped asking questions but he was still just as curious. He decided then that Bella's safety was more important than his own dislike of the blood suckers so he was going to tell them what he knew and ask if they knew anything else that could help figure out what Percy really is or at the very least help him protect Bella from Percy if need be.

Soon it was nearly dinner time so Percy and Bella left for home, neither one of them knowing how they planned on talking about the issues with Edward and Jacob so they drove home in silence except from the occasional screech about Percy's driving or an answering chuckle that is. When they got home Charlie had already ordered pizza and had it ready for them when they got home. "Sorry dad I was going to cook but we lost track of time with Jacob" Bella said trying to apologise. "It's fine bells, I like pizza now and again besides Billy Called and told me what you two were up to so I wasn't too worried. So how was school today Percy?" Charlie said "It was horrible my dyslexia makes it a nightmare not to mention my ADHD" Percy replied "Well it wasn't all bad" Bella said with a small smile "Jessica gave Percy her number and besides I'm here to help you with your work if you need it." "Hey nice going kid you going to ask her out?" Charlie asked him while feeling hopeful that things were starting to go well for the kid. "I don't think I'm ready for another relationship right now" came Percy's solemn reply. Damn both Bella and Charlie thought while looking at Percy's darkening expression, just what has this kid gone through.

After dinner Percy had started working on clearing out the basement so that he could move down there instead of just taking up the couch every night. "I can give you a hand if you want kid" Charlie said when he realised what Percy was doing. "No its fine uncle I've got it thanks though" Percy was actually sort of enjoying the simplistic task which was actually giving him a sense of normalcy and calmness which he wasn't used to. Charlie pulled Bella aside for a minute to talk to her about Percy. "Bella I'm worried about Percy I don't have a clue what he went through so I have no idea how to help him. I'm not around him enough but you are so I was hoping that you could talk to him and try to help him through whatever this is." "Ya of course dad, I've been worrying about him as well and I'm trying to think of how to best bring it up and help him." Bella answered. "That's good bells I'm sure you can help him. Anyway I'm going to bed so have a goodnight." "Goodnight dad" Bella said then walked over to Percy. "Hey Percy I'm going to bed soon but I wanted to say just how glad I am that you have moved here with us and that if you ever need to talk about anything going on or that has already happened you can talk to me." Bella figured this was as good a start as any just to let Percy know that he wasn't alone and had support if he needed it. She saw his expression soften a little but all he said was "Thanks and I'm glad to be here to"

"That was very nice of you" Edward said when Bella entered her bedroom where he was waiting for her. "What was?" Bella asked slightly confused. "What you did for your cousin, Jasper sensed a great deal of pain coming from him so he clearly needs someone right now." "Oh… I see…. I just wished I knew what he has been through." Bella said and then started again a little hesitantly "So umm I have a theory that I wanted to run by you." Edward chuckled a little "well your theories are normally amusing so what is it?" "Well I'm sure you noticed yesterday when you met Percy that your meeting was a little tense and when I took him to meet Jacob it was the same thing so I started to think that Percy just wasn't good at meeting new people but then I remembered he did just fine with all my other friends." "so what are you getting at?" Edward asked her but he was fairly sure where she was going with this. "well" she continued "you two are not exactly normal and he only reacted oddly to you guys so I was wondering if it was possible that he knows your different somehow. Also you and Jacob both don't seem to like him either so I'm wondering if he is different somehow and if it's all connected." Edward was silent for a while then finally told her "yes he knows about us anyway I can't be sure about Jacob but Jasper was able to read his emotions and is very sure that he knows we are not human. The odd thing is there was no surprise from Percy when he realised this and Jasper says he was ready to fight us if needed." Bella interrupted then with a small gasp "no I can't have you fighting him". "Of course we won't Bella" Edward tried to reassure her. "I said he was ready to not that any of us want to. We need to be careful how we deal with this and he is defiantly different but we have no idea how. I think I will need to talk to Jacob and find out what he knows. Are you still planning on introducing him to all of us tomorrow at lunch?" Bella smiled a little at the thought of Edward and Jacob trying to settle their differences and work together even if she didn't like the circumstances causing it. "Yes if that's still alright with all of you" Bella replied. "Yes we really need to figure this out and hopefully meeting him again will help." "Alright then" Bella agreed. Tomorrow would be a big day for everyone it seemed.