Chapter Three
"Ow, ow, ow!" Percy moaned as the nurse in the Infirmary placed an icepack on Percy's bruising jaw. Percy had to clench his fists to keep himself from spewing a whole bunch of curse words which would have gotten him kicked out of any Catholic school.
"You're going to have a pretty nasty bruise on your jaw for the next few days," the nurse said as she clucked her tongue impatiently. "Be lucky it's not broken."
"What kind of a place is this where kids can get beaten up on a daily basis?" Percy asked, holding the icepack on his jaw to try and keep the swelling down.
"A crazy place," the nurse said shaking her head.
"Are you crazy?" Percy asked innocently. The nurse looked at him with malice in her eyes and she shook her head.
"Of course I'm not crazy!" She said spitefully, "I just needed a job. Can't say the same for you. Do you always ask people if they're crazy?"
Percy shrugged. "Eh, sometimes," he said.
"Get out, just get out," she said pointing to the door. She disappeared into another room, shaking her head as she mumbled something to herself.
"Thanks for the help," Percy muttered as he grabbed his backpack which someone must have brought for him. He apparently had been knocked out for half an hour. And they called that a short time. Apparently Annabeth Chase usually knocked people out for two hours at a minimum.
Fishing his schedule out of his back pocket, Percy let out a groan, Pre-Calc. Why did he have to go from one class where he physically got beaten up to another class where he would be mentally beaten up?
Percy would be the first one to admit it; he was not the smartest kid there was. Back at his old school he was known for his swimming abilities, not his ability to get extra credit on a Civics test. As far as he could remember he'd never gotten anything higher than a C- in anything academically. Sure he aced PE class, but PE didn't get you anywhere in life. You didn't get scholarships for just one PE class. You got scholarships for being the next neurosurgeon when you're only fifteen.
Percy blamed it on his ADHD and his Dyslexia. Okay so maybe he was a bit lazy as well… but that really wasn't his real problem…
His Pre-Calc class was in the large castle like building Percy had first gone into when he had arrived at Goode. The building with the old cow in the front office Percy thought with a sour taste in his mouth.
He was five minutes late to class, having gotten lost in the building and ending up in the American Sign Language Class instead.
When he opened the door he was instantly the center focus of twenty pairs of eyes, including the eyes of a very wrinkled, very old woman who looked as if she might fall over and cease to breathe at any moment. Percy was hoping that someone knew CPR in this class because he wasn't going to be the one performing it on that lady.
"Perseus Jackson," she said. Her accent was strange, maybe Southern? A very deep, deep Southern accent. And was she wearing a leather jacket? A leather jacket with a faded floral print dress… perhaps it was her attempt to act like the hip population of teenagers at the school.
"It's Percy actually," he said. "Sorry I'm late. I got beat up in first period and had to go to the Infirmary and then I got lost and-"
"I do not wish to hear your excuses Perseus Jackson. I expect you to be on time to my class. Please take a seat."
"Okay…" Percy said. "Where would you like me to take the seat to?"
The whole Pre-Calc class bursted into a fit of laughter, Percy grinned. The teacher snapped her face towards the students who all proceeded to look down at their desks or up at the ceiling as if there was a secret message in the small dots scattered on the ceiling tiles.
"I will not tolerate boys who make me a laughing stock," she said with a voice so sickly sweet Percy wanted to hurl. "Consider that a warning Perseus Jackson and go sit down."
Percy sauntered to the only open seat, one in the back next to a boy who was wearing a Rasta cap with curly hair peeking through underneath and who had a the faint wisps of a goatee. He grinned at Percy.
"Man that was the best thing I've seen since the food fight at the end of the year and Mr. Campbell got pegged in the face with a sandwich," he said.
"Thanks, it looked like this room needed something to make it more cheerful. It looks like someone died in here."
"That someone would be Mrs. Dodds, the devil of Halfblood. I suspect her soul died a long time ago."
"Along with her sense of humour apparently," Percy muttered as he pulled out his math book, 400+ pages of torture.
"I'm Grover, Grover Underwood," he said. "Junior here at Halfblood. Been here since year one when my foster parents started thinking I was a little wacked."
"Percy Jackson, junior, new student," Percy said.
"Mr. Underwood is there something you and Mr. Jackson would care to share with the rest of the class?" Mrs. Dodds asked from the front of the classroom, she drummed her fingers on her desk, staring at the two of them with milky blue eyes. Percy watched as Grover shrunk lower into his seat.
"N-no ma'am," he stuttered and unless Percy was imagining it, Grover let out a bleating sort of sound.
Like a goat.
"Then please keep your words to yourself unless you would like to share them to help edify the education of your fellow peers," Mrs. Dodds said. Grover nodded, terrified. Mrs. Dodds nodded, satisfied. She turned around to write something on the chalkboard.
Percy wondered just how big Goode's budget was if they still used chalkboards. Or maybe it was Mrs. Dodds preference, considering just how old she was.
"For those of you who do not know, my name is Mrs. Dodds. I believe in making sure my students know what pain is. I will push you to your breaking point nad I assure you some of you will break."
"Sounds like a happy teacher," Percy muttered to himself.
This was going to be a long class.
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"I don't think I've ever been so sore in my life," Percy said as he sat down at the table at lunch, an icepack on his shoulder. Nico came up behind him and set down his tray for him.
"We just had Agility work," he explained to Piper and Leo. "We were working on the Obstacle Course and he was doing fine… until we got to the Lava Pit."
"Oh I was going to show you that!" Leo said glumly.
"It's name is very misleading," Percy muttered as he took the icepack off of his shoulder and then studied his bruising shoulder. "It's not a pit, it's a rock climbing wall with lava spilling over the top. That kinda causes you to freak out when you see lava falling towards you."
"He fell off of the wall, landed on his shoulder," Nico said.
"Ouch," Piper said. "If it helps it's not real lava, it's synthetic. Contrary to belief there are standards here. The state of New York didn't allow Mr. D to get lava here so he settled for synthetic. It still burns like crazy though."
"Good to know," Percy muttered.
"So how did everything else go today?" Piper asked.
"I got beat up by Annabeth Chase in first period, got in trouble with Mrs. Dodds second, nearly killed myself by eating hemlock in third, and fell off of a rock climbing wall with lava… excuse me synthetic lava," Percy said sarcastically. "The only class I didn't fail in was surprisingly enough English class though I did almost fall asleep."
"That's not as bad as Leo's first day," Nico said. Leo looked up from his plate and began shaking his head furiously. "Leo nearly set the whole science department on fire."
"How did that happen?" Percy asked.
Leo turned slightly red in the face. "Um… well… I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm kinda… well only a little… I… I'm a pyro," he said.
"As in a pyromaniac?" Percy asked. Leo nodded.
"There's something about fire… It just sort of turns me on… like a hot girl," Leo sighed.
"I think there's something wrong with him," Percy stage whispered to Piper who snorted.
"Took you this long to figure that out?" She asked.
A bell rang in the cafeteria, signaling the end of lunch which of course came too early. "Oh shit," Percy said standing up too fast and letting of a groan and rubbing his sore back. "I've got to get to the Big House."
"Have fun and try to not die," Leo said.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Percy said rolling his eyes as he headed out of the cafeteria. As he did so he felt someone's eyes on him. He turned around for a moment and saw Annabeth standing up from her own table and staring at him, a curious look on her face. For once it wasn't one that looked like she wanted to kill him, it looked as if he was an old friend that she knew.
"Hello Percy," Percy turned around to see Hazel coming up to him, her voice slightly dreamy. She was holding a book in her hand and an apple in the other. She seemed to like apples.
"Hi Hazel," he said. She smiled at him.
"Would you like to walk with me to the Big House?" She asked, tucking a curl behind her ear and looking at him with her pretty brown eyes.
"You're going to the Big House too?" Percy asked as they began to walk across the greens. He could almost hear people whispering about them and pointing at them. Percy shrugged them off. He was used to being thought of as weird. And he was pretty sure Hazel wasn't the weirdest person at Goode.
"Of course, I always go to the Big House to visit my friends during my free period," Hazel said calmly.
"Your friends?" Percy asked, confused. Hazel smiled at him.
"They're all dead of course or they don't remember me, so I have to look at their pictures. Why is it that no one remembers who they are except for me? Oh well I enjoy talking with them," she said. Percy felt his stomach drop. What was she talking about?
"That's… nice Hazel," he said uncomfortably.
"Really? I think so to," she said. "Well enjoy your talk with Mr. D, he enjoys Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi but really it all depends on his mood," Hazel said, waving to Percy as they entered into the old farmhouse. Hazel waved goodbye to him as she headed up the stairs, disappearing from sight.
"Was that Miss Levesque?" Chiron asked as he rolled his wheelchair into the front entry way and looked up the stairs.
"Um yeah," Percy said. "She went to go and talk to her friends whatever that meant." Chiron sighed.
"Such a lovely little girl, it's a shame that no one believes her," Chiron said. He looked as if he might say something else but then dismissed it. "Well I believe you're to talk with Mr. D is that right?"
"Yes sir," Percy said.
"Mr. D's supposed to meet with every new student but he rarely does. I try to make him meet with the most… peculiar cases," the older man said as he wheeled out of the room and gestured for Percy to follow him.
Great, now I'm one of the weirdest cases here Percy thought to himself as he followed behind the man in the wheelchair.
"Mr. D," Chiron said. "Percy Jackson is here to meet with you." They entered into an office which looked like a wreck. Clothes were thrown all over, the desk was filled with old, crumpled cans of soda, papers were scattered all over, some pinned down by a random knife in the wood. The head of a leopard was mounted on the wall above a fire place. The room was lit by a musty light and the garbage in the corner was overflowing, causing the room to wreak like dead fish. Percy's nose wrinkled from the smell.
A man was asleep on the desk, his hand crushing a can of Diet Coke, his curly hair obscuring view of his face. He was snoring. Percy shifted nervously where he stood. Chiron sighed and picked up a random book which was lying on the floor and was as thick as the dictionary. It looked as if it was being used as a weight to hold down a stack of wine catalogs. He dropped the book on the desk right next to the sleeping man's head.
The man startled away, grabbed the can of Diet Coke and threw it straight at Chiron, causing the soda to spill all over his face. Chiron sighed and took out a handkerchief and cleaned his face as if it happened every day.
"Sorry 'bout that old horse," the man said, his words slurred. Percy would have guessed that he was drunk except for the fact that he didn't see a single beer can or bottle of wine.
"Mr. D Percy Jackson is here to talk to you. He's a new student here at Goode, remember," Chiron said, looking sternly at Mr. D as if he was one of the students.
"Ah yes… Peter Johnson," Mr. D said, looking at Percy.
"Um actually it's Percy Jackson," Percy corrected.
"No, I'm pretty sure that it's Peter Johnson, or was it Paxton Jonathan," Mr. D said tapping his jaw as if trying to remember. "Which one was it last time? Or was it neither? Were you someone else?"
"I… I'm sorry sir I don't know what you're talking about," Percy said, trying to hide his discomfort, how did Mr. D know about the people in his dreams?
"No of course you don't," Mr. D said dismissively. "Well sit down, just pull up a chair, toss whatever's in it wherever. I'm not one for organization."
"Clearly," Chiron mumbled from his wheelchair. Mr. D glared at him as Percy found an old rocking chair chair that looked like it was going to break if he even sat on it. He tossed a stack of old records off of it and sat down.
"Hmm good choice, was a favorite of Martha Washington," Mr. D said as he nodded approvingly of Percy's choice.
"Um… okay," Percy said.
"So I suppose I've got to get this over with isn't that right?" Mr. D said sighing. "Welcome to Goode Academy where we work hard at breaking all of your little spirits so that you're not the same when you believe… oh did I say that out loud?" Mr. D asked, a small twinkle in his eyes. "Anyway, here at Goode we are dedicated to your mental health and to helping you become a saner person so that maybe one day you'll be able to be accepted back into society like a normal person."
"Um… that's good," Percy said.
"Now you might be wondering why we have such interesting courses for you to take, the reason behind it is quite simple. It's the perfect way to get out your anger and also get endorphins while you exercise. And endorphins, I'm told, make you happy and happy people don't do stupid things," Mr. D said as if reciting from a script that was stashed somewhere in the office.
"So we hope that your time here at Goode is a 'good' time," he said, making quotations in the air. "And that you know that we strive to do everything to help you become a normal human being. If you have any questions, don't ask me." Mr. D stood up and walked to the fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out another soda can. Percy watched the slightly pudgy man who resembled one of the those angels that you saw a lot in babies' rooms. What were they? Oh yeah cherubs. He turned around and plucked at his cheetah print shirt with two fingers.
"Chiron I really need to get my dry cleaning," he said and then he saw Percy still sitting there in his chair. "You haven't left yet?" He asked.
"Um… I didn't know that I could," Percy said.
"Of course you can. I don't think that you want to become a permanent resistant in my office, I'm sorry but I don't believe you'd go with the decorating style," Mr. D said sarcastically. Percy jerked up out of the chair.
"Sorry, I'll just be getting out of here then," he said, heading out of the door.
"Strange kid, I always liked him when he was Parker Jameson," Mr. D said as he closed the door behind Percy.
What did that mean?
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"You've got to be kidding me."
Percy looked up from where he was sitting in the library at a table, tapping his pencil against the wood and looking around at the labyrinth of books. He didn't think that there could be so many books in one room, heck he didn't even know there could be this many books in general.
"You're my seventh period?" Annabeth Chase was standing in front of his table, holding a stack of books in her arms. Her hair was wild and her cheeks were red and Percy guessed that she had just finished a class that was outside.
"You're my Greek and Latin tutor?" Percy asked incredulously. Annabeth sighed and plopped down her books across from him and then sat down.
"I guess so, why fate is so cruel I have no idea," she said.
"Thanks," Percy said.
"You're welcome," Annabeth said sardonically. "Nice jaw."
"I think that it's a pretty great fashion statement too," Percy said. "Glad that you agree with me." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Are you always this annoying?" Annabeth asked.
"No. Usually I'm more so," Percy grinned.
"This is going to be a long year," Annabeth groaned.
"You're the one that said it, not me," Percy agreed.
"I suppose we should start with the basics then, since I'm assuming you've never taken any Latin or Greek before," Annabeth said, pulling out a thin book.
"It's all Greek to me," Percy joked. Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved the book towards Percy.
"This is my dumbest book that I have." Percy glared at her. "Don't worry it has lots of pictures for you." She gave him a brilliant smile that made Percy's heart almost skip a beat but he shoved that feeling aside. This girl was nothing but annoying with her princess curls and know-it-all attitude.
"Surprised that you even carry it with you then," Percy said. "Or is it like a security blanket for you. Can't go anywhere without your picture book."
"Honestly Jackson, that was one of the worst comebacks I have heard in a long time," Annabeth said. "You could at least try to give me something snarky to work with."
Percy shrugged. "Well apparently I'm stupid so I shouldn't have any good comebacks now should I?"
"Di Immortals! Just read the damn book," Annabeth said, throwing her hands in the air.
"Did you just cuss in Greek?" Percy said. "Usually I'd say that that is completely nerdy but coming out of your mouth I'd have to say it's slightly hot."
"And I'd have to say that if you try and flirt with me one more time I will punch the living daylights out of you," she retorted. "Now open up the book."
The rest of the lesson continued like that, sarcastic comments being fired back and forth, Annabeth rolling her eyes at Percy, Percy attempting to flirt with her even though he told himself that he didn't mean it at all.
When the bell finally rang, Percy slammed the book shut. "Finally, I don't think I could read another word."
"And I don't think I could handle another minute in your presence," Annabeth said, snatching up all of her books.
"Let me help you carry those," Percy offered. Annabeth eyed him skeptically. "It's the least I can do for you taking the time to teach me," he said honestly. "I swear that I won't drop your precious books."
Annabeth sighed. "Fine, you can help me." She handed him half of the books. "But if you drop them…" she warned, not finishing her sentence.
"I know, I know, I won't remember my name," Percy said. Annabeth nodded "Where are we bringing them?" He asked.
"Just to my dorm if you don't mind," she said. The two of them headed out of the building and towards the Junior Dormitory. Inside the Victorian styled house kids were lounging around on couches in the main room, chatting or working on their first day of school homework. When Percy and Annabeth entered the room grew quiet. Annabeth scowled at them all as she led Percy to her dormitory.
She pushed open the door to Dorm 6 and Percy stood there awkwardly in the hallway, afraid to enter. "Well come on in," she said, setting the books down on her organized desk. In fact her whole room was freakishly organized. The only bed in the room was neatly made and her open closet revealed clothes that were organized by color.
"I didn't think that guys were allowed in girls' dorms," Percy said awkwardly.
"Oh gods it's not like the floor's going to fall out from beneath you if you come in," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.
"You never know at a place like this," he said, coming in and putting the books on the desk. "I mean I didn't exactly expect someone to come into my room at 2 am and wake me up just to say that I drool in my sleep." He gave Annabeth a look as if to tell her, 'Why yes that was you who did it'.
Annabeth looked at him like he was crazy. "Someone actually did that? Who?" She asked, sounding completely shocked.
"Oh don't act like you don't know," Percy said, rolling his eyes. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"I honestly don't know what the hell you're talking about Jackson," she said, heading to the closet and pulling out a sweater.
"Maybe you don't…" Percy muttered to himself as Annabeth pulled the sweater on over her short sleeved shirt.
"Well if you only wanted to talk about your imaginary friend who visits you at night, then I'm sure you can go find someone else who also still has imaginary friends. Your friend Leo seems to be the perfect fit," Annabeth said dryly.
"What do you have against Leo?" Percy asked defensively.
"Nothing. People just annoy me, he annoys me," Annabeth said, shrugging as she headed out of her room. Percy followed behind her.
"Do I annoy you?" He asked, jogging to catch up with her long strides. Annabeth snorted.
"Please Jackson, you annoy me the most," she said, pushing the door open to the outside of the Dormitory and jogging across the field, leaving Percy to stand there in utter confusion.
"What did I ever do to you!" He yelled across the field at her.
But she was too far away to hear.
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"So Annabeth's your tutor?" Piper asked as they headed across the greens towards a large pit in the ground and inside the pit were bleachers built into the ground, a walk way circled around for kids to find their seats and climb up and down the stairs. Apparently it was "campfire" time. Once a week on a random day there'd be a campfire which was mandatory for all of the students.
Well all of the students except for Leo and a few others.
None of the pyros were allowed at the campfire. Instead they were stuck in the cafeteria discussing their feelings and their obsession with fire. Usually it ended up with each of them trying to outdo everyone else with their fire making skills and seeing who could burn the biggest thing.
Leo was the champion right now.
Whoever had decided to stick a bunch of pyromaniacs together in the same room needed to be checked for their own sanity and tested to see if they should be forced to attend Goode.
"Yeah and it makes for a pretty awkward session. We spent most of the time fighting with each other," he said, picking at a stray piece of lint from his hoodie.
"Well that's progress. At least she's not beating you up anymore," Piper pointed out.
"Uh huh," Percy said. "Where's Nico?" He asked. The pale boy had seemed to disappear from the afternoon sets of classes. He wasn't at dinner either. Piper shrugged.
"Sometimes he likes to go off and do his own thing," she said. "I wouldn't worry. The teachers are all a little afraid of him."
"Why what's wrong with him?" Percy asked.
"Honestly it's a little creepy. Leo refuses to believe it's true as he can't see how someone can have such a disease but Nico has it. It's called Cotard Delusion. It basically means that he thinks he's dead or something like that."
Percy's blood froze for a moment. Nico thought that he was dead? "How is that even possible? Doesn't he know that he's alive and breathing? I mean the rest of us are."
"I'm not sure how it works but apparently he thinks we're all dead too or something, like we're all in the After Life," Piper said, her brow furrowing. "But it's nothing to judge him on. I mean it's not his fault he's crazy."
"What about you Piper do you think you're crazy?" Percy asked, staring at her. She turned away and refused to answer.
The campfire area was filled with all sorts of kids, ranging from eleven years old to some nineteen year olds. The fire was already lit and blazing and everyone sat uncomfortably in their seats, shifting nervously. Piper and Percy found a spot towards the top of the bleachers between two kids, one of which looked like he was going to fall asleep and the other who looked too hyper for her own good, like she'd had one too many espresso drinks.
"Hey you're Percy Jackson aren't you," Percy turned around to see a boy with golden hair and blue eyes staring down at him. He was surrounded by a group of kids, all wearing what looked like to be designer kids. So even rich kids are crazy Percy thought Well that's a no brainer, society has known that for how long?
"Yeah," Percy said, sticking his hand out for the guy to shake.
"Jason Grace, pleasure to meet you," he said, smiling an award winning smile that could have gotten him a job in the commercial industry, advertising toothpaste.
Percy saw Piper out of the corner of his eye mocking Jason. She glowered at the ground and crossed her arms.
"Ah come on Pipes," Jason said. "Lighten up a little, or will Leo be the only one lighting things… on fire." He laughed and everyone laughed with him. "Well I'll see you around Percy. If you ever want to hang out with my friends and me, let me know." And then he sauntered off.
"Who was that kid?" Percy asked.
"Jason Grace," Piper mocked. "Remember, he's Leo's roommate along with Frank. He used to be mine and Leo's best friend and then… well… ninth grade came and let's just say we're not friends anymore."
"Why what happened?" Percy asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," Piper said, her voice cold so Percy left it at that. Something had happened between those two and he wasn't sure he wanted to be on the receiving end of Piper's wrath. Something told him that she wasn't just another pretty face.
The campfire was pretty lame as far as Percy was concerned.
Two boys who looked like they were brothers if not twins got up and decided to tell their attempt at a horror story which involved a king getting eaten by pastry. "The Stoll brothers," Piper said, still moody about the whole Jason incident. "They have split personalities as well as being expert pranksters," she said.
"Nice to know. I've always wanted to meet someone who was like Gollum," Percy said. A boy turned around from three rows in front and looked straight at Percy.
He nearly jumped out of his seat.
The boy looked terrible, with large lamp-like eyes and barely any hair on his head. He widened his eyes to look at Percy and Percy had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling.
"That's Wayne," Piper said. "He's a senior and has a tendency to lash out in angry spasms. Ironic that you should mention Gollum, that's his nickname."
Percy shivered. This place was getting weirder and weirder.
After the campfire was done, all the students trudged back to their dorms. Percy said goodnight to Piper and then headed into his own dormitory and to his room. Inside he kicked off his shoes, pulled on his sweats, tossed his books which he had been using to attempt his homework off the bed and plopped down. He leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes.
Just as he was about to drift off there was a thud against the wall near his window. Percy flipped out of his bed and looked outside. All the students were supposed to be in bed as it was curfew.
But as he looked out he could have sworn he saw a white owl, flying crookedly away from the window.
