Chapter 3: A Cold Start
The last few days of summer I spent lounging around the apartment my mom and I lived in. My room was nearly always messy but I tried to keep the rest of the place tidy for my mom's sake. But she doesn't mind when I make a mess like today, when I forgot to put the cap on the blender and random chunks of smoothie splattered all over the kitchen. She just laughed at the sight, her infectious smile and scent brightening up the room. Sally Jackson works in town at a bakery and always smells like warm, freshly baked bread even when she is at home. I managed to pull off a nice odor of pizza and chips myself. "How many times are you going to forget to put the lid on that thing?" she teased.
"I told you mom, I like my smoothies this way. It really brings out the flavor" I joked. She laughed as she sat down at the table. "Well as long as the flavor is all cleaned up by dinner time that's fine by me" she said as she reached for one of her magazines. Yeah, she's an awesome mom. I cleaned up my mess while chatting about various articles found in said magazine, most centering around dating techniques and what women like in men. I didn't really care for the stuff myself, if someone was going to like me they were going to have to like me as I am normally. "Are there any cute girls at your school? Or guys?" she added hastily.
"Girls" I replied flatly. "And there might be one or two. But they're taken right now, so it's okay". There is a girl in my grade, her name is Calypso. I used to know her pretty well before high school, but then she started to hang out with a different group of kids I didn't like and we fell apart. Jason and her were really good friends. They're both in charge of student government for our class as a whole. Calypso was my dream girl in a sense. She was a cheerleader, exceptionally smart, and had the cutest laugh. I was hoping this would be the year I would have some classes with her, to kind of get to know her again.
"Oh well sweetie I'm sure you'll find someone else, maybe in a place where you're not looking" Sally reassured me.
"Yeah, that's true" I replied. But really, what are the odds of that?
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP click. I reached over and turned my alarm off. Yawning, I look at the time. 6:00 AM. It's too early for people to be up, this is so unnatural. I forced myself out of the warmth of my bed and eventually into the shower to wake myself up. Roaring water did its job. I stepped out of the bathroom clean and alert. I quickly dressed and grabbed my bag. Since it was the first day of school there wasn't much to bring, but I always took some paper and pencils. Never knew when you'd have the teacher that liked to start the first day off with a pop quiz. I crept out of my room into the kitchen. My mom would be asleep for another hour or so as today she worked the register instead of baking. I opened one of the cabinets to find a snack bar of the berry variety. I carefully split the wrapper in half and folded the untouched side behind the bar. Hey look, it's a super hero wearing a cape! Chuckling, I unlocked the door and stepped outside.
Cold gusts of wind spat in my face as I locked the door behind me. My hands soon found their way to the pockets in my jacket as I left the shelter of the building behind me. As I walked several miles towards the school, the only movement I could see was the occasional car roaring past me.
The trip was uneventful for the most part, just the occasional passerby heading to an early shift in town. I got to school about 20 minutes before my first class of the day: Chemistry. Ugh. I had heard that the teacher was the hardest in the school and had a strict tardy policy, so I did not want to be late on the first day. I briskly walked down towards the room, greeting people I knew in the hallway as I went. I think I grew a couple of inches over the summer because everyone seemed a little shorter than normal. A head of dark hair stood out to me among the sea of people shuffling through the halls. I caught a glimpse of Calypso throwing her head back in laughter and felt a pang of regret. If only she was laughing at joke I made⦠The thought lingered in my mind as I made my way down to the Science Hall.
Other than Jason being in the same Chemistry class as me it was pretty uneventful. The teacher seemed strict but fair and I really appreciated that. Nothing happened in any of my other classes either. I saw a couple of the officers in the halls as I was walking to class, but never had enough time to say anything more than "Hi". By asking a guy who lived near me I found out which bus I should take to get home since they changed all the routes this year. I got home around 4pm and played some pickup basketball with the neighbors at one of their houses until 7. Basketball wasn't really my thing, but the swim center didn't open until October this year so I had to keep in shape by doing something.
After eating dinner with my mom I went back into my room and checked my backpack for any homework. Duh, it was the first day of school. Only had two assignments due Friday already. Ugh this year was already starting to suck. While contemplating whether to just go to sleep I got a text from Jason. "Just a reminder we've got an officers meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30" Inwardly I groaned. I hate having to do things in the morning. "Alright will be there" I replied. Might as well get some sleep before I have to get up early tomorrow.
"Okay everyone can I have your attention please? We're going to start the meeting now!" Thalia's voice rang through my ears and brought me back to reality. It was Thursday, the first official meeting of the Mythology Club for the year. Thalia had made an itinerary for the meeting during our officer meeting on Tuesday, so she and Annabeth were going through it together in front of the club. There were more members this year than I remember seeing last year, nearly 30 kids were listening intently.
"As you all know the homecoming parade is in three weeks, so we need to get to work on our float design. Any ideas?" Thalia asked. Lots of chatter soon commenced. One girl raised her hand.
"What if instead of a float, this year we all dress up like the Roman Army and march through the parade?" she asked.
"That's perfect!" Thalia exclaimed. The rest of the group roared their approval. I heard several guys talk excitedly about swordplay, and a group of guys and girls discussing marching techniques.
"Okay well that's it for today, we'll start practicing marching next week after school. You're dismissed!" Thalia announced. Everyone except the officers slowly dispersed from the classroom. Jason looked at Thalia and smiled. "This is such a great idea, I can't wait for the parade" he said. Thalia beamed. "It shows what good ideas our members can have, I love it!" she said.
Annabeth was putting away her notes and packing her bag while this was going on. I went to go talk to her but was met with Nico instead. "Hey man, you have a second? I wanted to run an idea I had for the march by you" he said. I nodded. As I listened to Nico elaborate on a grand masterpiece of theatrics Annabeth walked by us on her way out with a half-smile on her face. I turned to look at her as she left the room during the middle of Nico's speech. She gave me a wink, and then was gone.
