-Percy-

6:30 AM. The sound of the alarm clock echoes throughout the room, filling every corner with its high pitched ringing. However, the ringing doesn't last for long, as a hand slams down on top of the clock with such force you'd think the clock would break. A sleepy Percy Jackson sits up from his bed, stretching, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Most teenagers crave the extra five minutes they get in bed, live for it, because to them those are the last five minutes of comfort they will get for 24 hours. This is not how Percy Jackson feels. Most weekdays, he gets up as soon as he can, choosing not to stay in bed. It's not really his thing; he prefers to be up and active. That's not to say he doesn't indulge himself from time to time, but it's not often. Before he even considers leaving his room, he drops to the floor, to complete his daily exercises.

This is Percy's daily routine. Every morning, the same steps, over and over, for years. There are even handprints on the same spot on the carpet where Percy does his press ups, 50 of them in total every day. He uses the time to clear his head, instead focusing on the strength in his lean body, and the counting. While he is on the ground, there is nothing in his head except numbers.

Twenty six… twenty seven… twenty eight…

No problems or worries, no Poseidon, no Goode, no Annabeth; just the numbers, and maintaining his breathing.

Thirty eight… thirty nine… forty…

It was calming, yet also necessary. If you weren't tough on the Olympus Estate, you weren't going to have the best of times. Percy was strong, much stronger than he looked. That had been evident when he'd played football the previous week. On more than one occasion someone underestimated Percy, and ended up on the floor, completely outmuscled.

Forty eight… forty nine… fifty...

Done with the press-ups, onto the sit-ups, all part of the routine. When Percy had first begun this little pre day work out, it had practically drained him, but now it was all second nature. There were times when he would work on other parts of his body, arms, legs, back. But he did this every day, even weekends. Hell, he wouldn't leave his room on Christmas morning until he'd worked out. If he didn't spend that 10 minutes in the morning, his whole day felt strange, off kilter.

When he was finally done with the sit-ups, Percy stood up, and made his way to the bathroom. He could hear commotion in the kitchen, no doubt his mother making some kind of lunch for herself. She had no idea what had happened over the weekend, how Poseidon had made a punching bag out of Gabe in front of Percy's eyes. As his father requested, Percy hadn't told his mother about it, but that moment had been on his mind for the rest of the weekend. He could still see Gabe, bruised and bloodied, sprawled across the floor and gasping for air. Percy could still see the spots of blood appearing on the carpet, and he could hear Gabe's cries and Poseidon's shouts. He remembered every word his father had said to Gabe building up to it, and he remembered he tension in the room. But most of all, he remembered the look on his father's face, a look of loathing, as if Gabe's words offended him personally. That was Percy's favourite thing about it all. Forget the fact that he should be disturbed by what his father had done, violence was no surprise to Percy anymore. The fact that his father had, even for a second, shown love for his son was the one thing Percy couldn't stop thinking about. He had often wondered if his father actually loved him, and moments like that made him think he did.

Once he was washed and ready for the day, Percy walked out of his apartment, saying goodbye to his mother as he did. With his bag slung over his shoulder, he walked to the gate of the Olympus Estate, where a certain short, gloomy boy was waiting for him. Nico Di Angelo.

"Perce, I wanna talk to you!" he called out, stepping closer. Percy took a second to take in Nico's appearance. He had on scruffy jeans and an old, black top. His hair was long and scraggly, as usual, and he himself was as pale and pasty as ever. There was however one distinct change. He had a huge black eye, and it looked pretty fresh.

"Shit, what the hell happened?" Percy replied, not bothering to hide the surprise in his voice. A look of frustration briefly passed over Nico's face, but it disappeared just as quickly as he broke into a smile at the sight of his cousin.

"This? Nothing. Little fight, that's all." Nico was careful to avoid Percy's eyes, which upset Percy slightly. It was obvious Nico was not telling him something, and it made Percy miss the times when they'd been thick as thieves. Since the summer, that had deteriorated.

"Well if we're gonna talk, can we walk and do it, can't be late." Percy asked.

"Man, don't tell me you're worried about being late? What have they done to you?" Nico looked, and sounded, genuinely worried. Percy wasn't sure how to reply. It was true, at Yancy, he had one of the worst punctuality records, but back then he'd had friends who were late with him. He didn't really have that at Goode, so he never felt inclined to be rebellious.

"Can we walk or not?" Percy responded, trying not to sound impatient. Nico nodded, and the made their way down the street.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Percy asked. There was no point engaging in small talk.

"Well it's actually about the whole new school thing. I'm worried that you'll change too much" Nico said, which took Percy aback a bit. Nico didn't seem like the type of person who really thought about this a lot.

"What d'you mean?" Percy was genuinely curious. Nico just concentrated on the sidewalk, not looking up at all.

"Well we haven't hung out all week, and I'm worried you'll change without even realizing it. I don't want us to not talk to each other, or for you to make new friends. I mean, look at Beckendorf, he completely forgot us." Nico spoke with nervousness, but also passion. It was evident he meant every word. There had been very few times when Nico had opened up to Percy, and none over the last three or so years. That was just how he was.

"You don't have to worry about that. There aren't a lot of people there I get on with anyway." Percy felt a slight amount of guilt at that, seeing as it wasn't strictly true. He did actually get on with some people in the group, even if they weren't classed as friends.

"I just don't want you to drift away from the rest of us, that's all. You're family." Nico still wouldn't look up. This was probably new territory for him, opening up.

"Don't worry about it, I still live in the same area, like the same things, I just have a different school now." Percy felt an air of awkwardness creeping over them. He was almost thankful that he had to get to Goode quickly, which was also a feeling he didn't like much, seeing as he did still love Nico.

They walked until they reached Goode, talking about nothing really important. It was definitely less awkward. But now they both stood in the shadow of the huge, modern, expensive school.

"So this is the shithole is it?" Nico pointed out sarcastically, earning a foul look from a passing girl, causing him to snicker.

"Look at them all Perce. Can you believe you actually go to school with these fuckers?" Nico was definitely speaking louder than normal. He probably wanted a fight. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out from behind them.

"Percy, over here." Percy turned his head to see Luke waving him over. Now was not the best time for this. Nico turned too, with a look of both annoyance and enjoyment, as if these new kids were his entertainment for the day.

"Are you not gonna go over to your new friends?" he said mockingly.

Percy was in a very awkward situation. He knew Nico meeting the entire group was probably not the best idea, meeting anyone really. Yet he couldn't leave Nico for them could he? That would just be him doing exactly what Nico feared he would. He was now standing in one spot like cheese at fourpence, until he felt Nico tap his shoulder, and begin walking towards the group.

"C'mon Percy," that mocking tone still present in his voice, "introduce me to your friends." Percy sighed and reluctantly led the way, through the expensive cars to the spot where Luke and the guys were standing. Everyone was there, except for Annabeth and Thalia.

"Hey Percy, who's this?" Luke asked, as everyone turned their gaze to the short kid with the black eye they'd never seen before, looks of caution on their faces. Even at a glance Nico looked dangerous. There was no way this could go well.

"This is Nico, my cousin…" Percy said, slightly awkwardly. He turned to face Nico, but saw his cousin's eyes transfixed on one person, Beckendorf. Of course, Nico hadn't liked the idea that Beckendorf was a rich kid now, no doubt feeling betrayed. Suddenly, Percy just wanted to get Nico out of here. Nico could be volatile at the best of times, but if he was angry, and it was for a personal reason, he was a ticking time bomb. Percy half expected him to forgive Beckendorf as soon as they were face to face, as Grover had said, but something told him that that was wishful thinking.

The whole group was suddenly aware of the small staring contest going on. Beckendorf had looked quite happy, but that expression faded when he saw the look of malice in Nico's eyes.

"Nico…" Percy muttered under his breath, as a warning. That one word was all he needed to say. He knew Nico was ready to flip out, and Nico knew he knew, but the group didn't. They were, however, suddenly aware that something was wrong, that this boy was angry.

"Nico," Percy leaned in and whispered, loud enough for only his cousin to hear, "maybe you should go." He didn't want Nico thinking he was rejecting him, but he also didn't want him starting a fight five minutes before school.

Nico nodded slowly, and began to turn around. It probably would've been nothing, if Beckendorf had not foolishly chosen to speak up.

"Nico, it's good to see you." He called out. Nico stopped in his tracks, before turning around as fast as lightning and charging for the larger boy. Nico's fist made contact with Beckendorf's cheek, despite at least half a foot of height difference. Suddenly, there was chaos. All the boys surged forward, suddenly intent on hurting Nico. Beckendorf was attempting to hit back, but Nico was too fast. Silena screamed, some of the other girls ran forward to help and all the while, Nico was shouting "Ten years?! Ten fucking years and it's good to see me?!" in between punches. It wasn't actually all that different from the incident with Poseidon and Gabe. Percy was frozen for a moment, stunned by the sudden turn of events. However, when he saw Jason's fist connect with Nico's ribs, he jumped into action.

Without so much as a second thought, he sprinted towards the heart of it all, and smashed his fist into Jason's abdomen, hard. Then he punched him on the nose, before turning to hit one of Stoll brothers. Despite the obvious number difference, Percy and Nico seemed to be winning; after all, they were the only two with real fighting experience. After about 30 more seconds, Percy saw an opportunity and dragged Nico back, kicking and screaming, out of the circle and towards the school gate. He was still much stronger than his cousin. When they were a safe distance away, he stopped, and he and Nico turned to face the gang. Percy saw Beckendorf holding parts of his body, clearly in pain and already badly bruising. Jason looked horrible, with possibly a broken nose, but other than that, everyone else just looked a bit scruffy. They all, of course, had shocked looks on their faces. A crowd had gathered round them, and about thirty people were watching the events unfold. Luke stepped forward, and spoke up.

"What the fuck are you doing Percy? What just happened?" he looked offended, angry and bitter. Percy honestly had no reply. Backing up Nico in a fight was second nature to him by now; instincts had just kicked in. Nico chose to speak up, though not in reply to Luke. He looked directly at Beckendorf and practically yelled,

"You say that after ten years?! You didn't try to keep in touch once! Not once! You're lucky I don't fuck up your disloyal ass more. Fuck you!" A silence followed his words; only the traffic in the background could be heard. Nico turned and walked out of the gate. Suddenly all eyes were on Percy. He had just practically attacked his so-called friends, and they would no doubt want answers. This kind of ruined their whole dynamic. He knew he had to say something, but he had no idea what. His fist still ached, and he was also slightly out of breath, but he thought about Nico's reasoning behind it all. Beckendorf had made no attempts to contact them for ten years! He had the means, but he chose not to.

"You should've tried Beckendorf," he finally muttered, "even a lousy phone call." As if on cue, the bell for the start of school went. On with the day eh?


It was definitely one of the more awkward school days in Percy's life. In all of his lessons, people were throwing glances his way, whispering, gesturing. For the most part, Percy ignored them, but he still couldn't help the annoyance that rose up in him after a while. Suddenly, he was right back to being the new kid, the outsider. Not that it bothered him too much; after all, they'd attacked Nico. Percy was defending family, something he was sure any one of them would do too. When Jason and Luke walked into Chemistry class, Percy wasn't oblivious to the spiteful looks they sent his way. Chemistry was just before lunch, and Percy was honestly not sure what he would do this lunchtime. He couldn't exactly walk over to them and act as if nothing had happened, and he sure as hell wasn't apologizing. Percy really wasn't paying attention to anything Mr. White was saying, until he heard his name called out.

"Percy Jackson?" the bald man standing at the front of the class called out. Quickly, Percy snapped out of his daydreaming state and raised his hand.

"At the back, sir" he replied.

"The Principal wants to see you" he said, before carrying on explaining covalent bonds.

It was certainly not the first time Percy had heard those words uttered, not by a long shot, but something about this time was different. This time, Percy knew he could be in real trouble. After all, what could Mr. D want other than to talk about the fight? He remembered Mr. D's warning to him on the first day about his behaviour. Percy thought he could keep out of trouble longer than a week, but evidently not. Everyone stared at him as he left the class, Mr. White still drabbling on.

The corridor was completely empty as Percy made his way down it. Every door was closed, lessons midway through. When he finally reached the Principal's office, he knocked on the door, and waited for a response. He was actually nervous at school, for the first time in years, and what was probably a few seconds felt like minutes, before he heard Mr. D call him in. Slowly, he opened the door, and saw Mr. D sitting behind his desk, looking incredibly bored, and Beckendorf opposite him, bruised faced and miserable looking.

"Ah Percy, good." Mr. D looked up, and gestured to a seat next to Beckendorf. "Please take a seat." Percy slowly stepped into the office, and sat opposite the fat Principal. He was trying to look like he didn't care, but he wasn't sure he was doing so well.

"So Percy, you aren't stupid, you know why you're here right?" He never broke eye contact with Percy. Mr. D was definitely a different type of Principal to the one from Yancy. He didn't sugar coat anything, and he honestly seemed pretty tired of the whole 'teaching' thing.

"The fight this morning?" Percy replied quietly.

"Clever, not indicating you had anything to do with it, I like it" Mr. D exclaimed, although Percy wasn't quite sure he understood. He remembered being told, by this man, that he may be the most interesting student he'd had for a while, and also that Mr. D knew his father somehow, making a note to himself to ask his dad next time he could about that. He was also aware that Beckendorf was right next to him, yet he hadn't moved at all since Percy entered, staring aggressively at a single spot on the wall.

"But in all seriousness, the fight is an issue." He paused, and looked at Beckendorf, before speaking to him.

"Charles, you can go back to class now, I want to speak with Percy" he said, quickly and to the point.

"But Mr. D-" Beckendorf began.

"Charles! Back to class now!" Mr. D said, this time much louder. He didn't shout, but it was clear there was nothing to debate. Beckendorf reluctantly stood up and left, still not looking at Percy at all. With force, he slammed the door as he stormed out.

"Charles will calm down eventually" he told Percy, not that Percy was wondering. "Now I've heard quite a bit about this fight. Jason and Luke gave me their take, some other people have given me details, and Charles told me what happened." He paused, looking for a reaction from Percy. After there wasn't one, he continued.

"Jason and Luke made it out as if this boy, Nico was it, ran at Charles for no reason, threatening to kill him. They then claim you joined in, and they got involved when you pulled out a knife to try and stab Charles with." Percy took that in, suddenly worried that Mr. D would search Percy. He did indeed have his knife on him, like any other day, and knew he could get expelled for that. Mr. D carried on talking.

"Charles, however, gave me what I believe to be a much fairer account of what happened. He said that the boy, your cousin, ran at him, but the others got involved first, before you. Then, you dragged your cousin away." Percy was surprised Beckendorf had been so honest, he expected him to lie like the others.

"Now Percy, I won't ask you for your account, because I actually don't care about what happened. This is all a major inconvenience for me. Now I personally don't believe that you, as Jason put it, 'pulled out a knife and swung it around like a madman'. That seems slightly too dramatic for you. However, you were involved, I'm sure of that." He sighed, and leaned back in his chair. Percy was suddenly very unsure of his fate. Before, he had been thinking he would be expelled, but now he wasn't sure what would happen.

"Look, this fight happened outside of school hours, and not in the school building, but I'm still expected to do something. You won't be expelled, don't worry, but you will have detention, every day after school, for this week-"

"What?! How is that fair?" Percy called out, very suddenly, almost instinctively. He wanted to keep quiet, but he just couldn't, not after hearing that.

"Calm down, the others received the same punishment. They won't be in the same detention as you. I'm not that stupid. Fighting is against school rules, for obvious reasons, so you will serve these detentions, and say nothing about it. Now go back to class." He gestured to the door, and Percy stood up. The more he thought about it, the better he felt. He could've gotten a much worse punishment than five detentions; after all, he was pretty sure Jason had a broken nose. Just before he walked out of the door, Percy heard Mr. D talk.

"The detention is in Dr. Thorn's classroom. Be thankful it's not with Mrs. Dodds. Or, perhaps you'd rather have her than Thorn." Mr. D chuckled to himself. "And Percy," he called out finally, looking directly into Percy's sea green eyes, "try not to get in anymore fights, okay? Put's a damper on my mood for the day." Percy nodded, and left the room without another word.


After a pretty boring lunch in which he had sat on his own on a bench, followed by two more boring lessons, Percy was glad for the end of the day. Or at least he would've been had he not had the detention in Dr. Thorn's room. One more hour, he told himself, as he made his way to his Psychology classroom. He entered the class to find the impossibly intimidating Dr. Thorn sitting at his desk.

"Percy? What do you want?" he asked, irritated.

"I, uh, have a detention… in this room?" He was nervous for the second time that day. This time however, he wasn't as insecure about it. Dr. Thorn was genuinely terrifying.

"Shit." Percy was surprised to hear his teacher swear. "Well I have to be somewhere, but you have to stay. Quite a dilemma isn't it Percy?" He stood up and walked over to Percy. They were around the same height, but Dr. Thorn was a lot skinnier. His heterochromatic eyes had a manic gleam to them, intelligent, but also unbelievably aggressive.

"Percy, can I trust you to stay in this classroom for one hour, and not touch anything? Can I?" His smooth voice seemed to echo in the room, but there was an edge to it, one that could send shivers down a spine.

"Yes sir." Percy replied.

"Good, because you know how I'll feel if you lie to me." He stepped back to his desk, picked up his briefcase and walked to the door. "Sit down Percy, and when this clock says four thirty, you can go. Understood?" Percy nodded. "Good, I like you Percy, don't change that." And then he walked out, the classroom door slamming shut behind him, and Percy was left alone, in a small classroom. With nothing better to do, he sat down and waited.

Nearly twenty minutes had passed, and Percy felt like blowing his brains out. He kept asking himself why he didn't just leave. He definitely would've a week ago. But Dr. Thorn seemed like the kind of guy who would find out, track him down and hurt him in the worst possible way. Also, he'd said he liked Percy, and he didn't want to give him a reason to change his mind. He gazed up at the clock. 3:48. Groaning internally, he dropped his head down to the desk. Another five minutes passed, when Percy heard someone walk into the room. He lifted his head up, and his sea green eyes were met with a pair of striking grey, a pair that was very familiar. Annabeth.

The blonde haired girl walked into the classroom, looking around, before her eyes met Percy's. Honestly, she looked lost, as if she were looking for someone. Their eye contact lasted a few seconds, before she looked away. What on earth was she doing in here?

"I'm uh, looking for Luke…" she said nervously. "I was told detention was in this room?" She stepped into the room slightly.

"Yeah, my detention's in this room, he's somewhere else" Percy replied.

"Where?" Annabeth responded.

"I don't know; why would I know?" Percy practically snapped at her. He didn't mean to sound bitter or angry, but he did.

This, however, did not cause Annabeth to leave. In fact, she stepped further into the classroom.

"You're sitting at my desk you know?" she said with a smile. As Percy looked around, he realized that he was in fact in Annabeth's class seat.

"Sorry about that" he said with a laugh. Suddenly, memories of their kiss came flooding back to him; this was the first they'd spoken since. He was pretty sure those feelings would be coming back to him soon. Then, Percy stood up and faced Annabeth, who was now only a few feet away, leaning on another desk. Percy did the same.

"You can sit there now if you want" he said, a playful tone to his voice. Annabeth smiled and looked down, before lifting her gaze back up to his eyes. Percy wasn't sure that Annabeth's eyes would ever not amaze him.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked suddenly. It completely changed the mood in the room. Percy was suddenly very aware of the silence, and its increasing awkwardness. "I'd just like to know" she added. Percy wasn't entirely sure how to act. Should he tell her it meant nothing, even though he was pretty sure that was a lie, or should he tell her about his strange feelings.

"You kissed me first." he settled for, like an idiot. She knew that. Why was he nervous? Percy Jackson didn't get nervous with girls. Annabeth, however, just laughed.

"That's true, I suppose." She smiled. "I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. I'm not going to make up an excuse. I wanted to." A small smile spread across Percy's face at her words, because honestly he had been thinking the same thing, he just didn't want to say it. "And you know what, I liked it too. And I really would like it to happen again." He looked up and saw that she was closer to him now. He moved forward, closing the distance. They were so close they could hear each other breathe. Then, without a second thought, their lips met, and it was as incredible as the first time, yet completely different. This one wasn't as passionate, or as fuelled by instinct. This was slow, gentle, and literally only lasted two seconds, before Percy pulled away.

"Annabeth, you have a boyfriend." he said, reminding her. It seemed as though she had forgotten.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." She chuckled, before she wrapped her arms around his neck. Percy however, wouldn't be swayed that easily.

"I'm serious, don't you care about him?"

"To be completely honest, no. I like Luke, but I don't love him; I just kind of go out with him because it's fun. But there's no feelings, at least on my part."

"So why haven't you dumped him?" Percy asked.

"Because I haven't had a good enough reason. D'you want to be that reason?" she asked playfully, before brushing his lips with her own again.

"Look," he pulled away, "I don't think I need any more reasons for your friends to hate me, not after today."

"Oh yeah, I heard about the little fight" Annabeth said gleefully. "I wish I'd been there." Percy would rather not talk about the fight, so he was thankful Annabeth didn't delve into details.

"Percy, let me say this. Since I first saw you, you've been on my mind. You're different, out of the ordinary. I didn't like my feelings for you, because I don't do feelings. I thought maybe if I kissed you, they'd go away, as if that would ever work. It just made me more sure." She paused, playing with some of Percy's hair. "What I'm trying to say is, I like you, and I think you like me too. I think we should see each other. What do you think?"