Alessia Mason glared at the words swimming around the pages of her history textbook. She swore, it was like some of them were taunting her, mocking her from the confines of the paper. Dyslexia was a bitch. 'Well,' she thought as she slammed the book shut, 'Unfortunately for dyslexia, so am I.' It didn't matter that the other kids were staring at her now, they were all annoying anyway.

The teacher in front kept on droning on, probably too immersed in her own voice to even hear the commotion behind her. The chalk just kept scratching. After a few moments, she turned around and asked a question to one of Alessia's only friends in school - Percy. "Mr. Jackson, and what were the conditions like in the Great War trenches?" Aforesaid 'Mr. Jackson' didn't answer, probably because he had his earbuds in.

Alessia threw him a bone, or more accurately, a piece of paper. It bounced off of his forehead and he tore off his earbuds like they were made of fire. "Sorry, what was the question?" The class snickered, but Percy paid it no mind. The teacher, Ms. Kini, repeated the question.

"I asked you what the conditions were like as a trench soldier in World War One." Percy's finger slipped on the pin he was always fiddling with, sending it flying into the air, but he quickly caught it.

"Oh, easy. Most of the soldiers going into it, they were depressed and cynical, and they knew they wouldn't get out alive, and most of them were right. You had constant gunfire going, shells exploding everywhere, disease was rampant, people trying to tunnel under the fields in order to get a surprise attack on the other side's trenches, everyone in there had basically given up on going home. They hated their countries, their politicians, and-" Percy was cut off by the teacher clearing her throat, evidently upset that she hadn't caught the boy in a slip-up.

"That's quite enough, Mr. Jackson," She said, before going back to scrawling on the blackboard. Alessia rolled her eyes. Percy was like the opposite of her, especially in academics. It seemed like he knew everything about everything, despite the fact that she had never seen him so much as pick up a book. The closest they came to interacting, and how they met, was through Yancy Academy's swim team. Percy was the captain of the team, but she was a close runner-up on his speed.

The teen slipped his earbuds back in, and caught Alessia looking at him, and winked. She smiled. Being in this hell of a school was almost worth it, if only because she got to talk to Percy. And Grover, too. Those two were two of the only reasons she hadn't flunked out already, other than the fact that her mom would be disappointed. She sighed... and then the bell rang. Somehow Percy was already packed and at the door, waiting for her.

"Well, that was boring," Percy remarked as the two walked out of the classroom together. "At least we have Latin next."

Alessia turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "History? Boring? Never." They snickered at that. "I'll never understand how you know so much about all these dumb battles, or why you're interested in them anyway." The girl clapped her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened. Her ADHD never let her shut up, it seemed. She snuck a look at Percy, but he didn't seem too bothered, he only shrugged.

"I learned a lot from them," was his mysterious answer. Alessia accepted it, glad she hadn't just hurt one of her only friends in the world.

"Like... what?"

Perseus rolled his eyes. "Y'know, like, learn from past mistakes, battle tactics, how to lead an army effectively. That kind of stuff." The black-haired girl nodded. They reached the Latin classroom, which was taught by Mr. Brunner. He was an old man in a wheelchair, but he might as well have been the coolest guy in the world. He actually taught hands-on material, and even better, his class was material that Alessia could actually learn. Or, at least, she was as restricted with the stuff as everyone else, since none of them could read Latin... Except for Percy, because it seemed like there was nothing that he couldn't do. Alessia frowned. She resolved to find at least one thing he couldn't do. No human was perfect, after all.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was... Well, it was okay. As okay as a bunch of dead people and oil paintings made by dead people could be.

Percy was nowhere to be found. More than likely he had found a shady spot and had settled in for a nap with his music in. They were currently in front of a large piece that depicted some Greek mythology. "Now, who can tell me what this is?" Mr. Brunner asked, wheeling himself in front of the piece. Alessia studied it closely for a few moments before raising her hand.

She was lucky; it was one of the pieces depicted one of the events her mom had told her about when she was small - The Titanomachy. Specifically... "It's where the Titan Kronos ate his children, right, sir?" A few choruses of "Ew!" came from the rest of the students.

"That is indeed correct, Miss Mason."

"Pah, why are we even learning about this?" Nancy, a short girl with a high-pitched voice whined. A few of her friends joined in. "It's all fake, anyway." Alessia glared at her. Wasn't everything fake, really? Who was to say anything was real?

"You are learning about this because this is your world's history, and Hellenistic culture was a large part of Roman society," Mr. Brunner informed the redhead. "However, Miss Bobofit did have a great question. Miss Mason, what would you say is the most important part of learning about this?" The question, although innocuous, carried a suspicious weight in the air.

Alessia paused for a moment, closing one of her sea-green eyes in concentration. "Uh... Don't eat your kids because your wife might get mad?" A few chuckles came from the crowd, although it seemed like most of them didn't understand the joke. Her Latin teacher still looked at her intently, and she found herself at a loss for words. And then, like a godsend, she saw him... Percy Jackson. Asleep on top of a piece of scaffolding he had no reasonable way of getting on top of, and all that reminded her of was their recent conversion.

She thought again, and smiled. "So we can learn from the mistakes of the past, sir."

The wheelchair-bound teacher's eyes widened fractionally, but he smiled. "Bravo! I couldn't have said it better myself. Anyway, on that cheery note, time for lunch!" Alessia walked out with the rest of the crowd, only stopping momentarily to look for Percy and wake him up. She checked the scaffolding where he had been sleeping... He wasn't there.

A great big apology from me! I had an unexpected event early in the day that really tired the hell out of me. Welcome to the modern era! I know the jump was very sudden, and if I have time, I'll go back and edit the last chapter to add in a bit more content and a better fill-in. Expect the next chapter... hopefully within the next 21 hours, but no promises. I'm trying, I swear to gooshnets.

Love and apologies,

PJO Fan Power