Hello again, readers!

Thank you everyone who's followed and favorited this story! I'm so glad you've liked this series of one-shots so far! Here's another one for you guys, and will take place before 'The Lost Hero' book. Can you geuss what it's about?

Enjoy!

First Meeting

Coach Hedge watched the students file into the gym for their first day of class, looking for the kids he had been assigned to protect.

A few days ago, he had been at Camp Half-Blood, waiting for a mission out in the real world, and had gotten his wish when Chiron and Mr. D had called him to the Big House and informed him that he had not one, but two demigods to protect. Hedge, who hadn't had a quest like this since he brought Clarisse laRue to camp years prior, was exited to finally be back in the field, and took the next flight to Nevada. Meeting up with a fellow satyr, they had persuaded the old coach of the school to 'quit,' and Hedge had taken his place. Now, he was ready for one of his toughest jobs as he finally sniffed out the two half-bloods.

The first one he noticed was a girl. She appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, and looked very uncomfortable; she clearly did not want to be there. She looked rather pretty, but her hair had been cut unevenly, as if she had taken scissors to it. The satyr watched a group of girls walk by and laugh at her, and the demigod bowed her head, cheeks flushed as she refused to look at any of them.

The second demigod walked in a little while later, and seemed to be the exact opposite of the girl. He had a wide, elfish grin on his face, and his bright eyes looked around with some interest, examining everyone and everything. He was fidgeting with something in his hands, and Hedge could instantly tell that keeping this particular demigod safe would be more of a challenge. While he still like to think that he was as fit as he used to be, the middle-aged satyr had to admit that it would take some effort to keep up with this ball of energy. Luckily, he had his trusty baseball bat and whistle by his side.

"TWEEEEET!" The teenagers all clapped their hands over their ears, wincing at the shrill sound that echoed through the gym.

"Fall in line, Cupcakes," Coach Hedge yelled, pointing to the side of the basketball court. Most of the students quickly followed his directions, but a few didn't, clearly wanting to test how strict of a teacher he was. Having dealt with monsters, a group of troublemakers was like child's play, and the satyr wasted no time in blowing the whistle again. "NOW!" The stragglers lined up with the others, and the coach grinned a little; he loved playing the part of the drill-instructor teacher.

"Listen up, Cupcakes," he continued, now walking along the line, baseball bat over his shoulder. "I don't care who you are or what you did before stepping into this room, but know right here and now that I will tolerate ZERO rule-breaking and disorder from ANYONE! Is that understood?! From 10 to 11 every morning, you're MINE, and I expect nothing but order and discipline and-"

"KRATA-KRATA-KRATA-KRATA-KRATA!"

The satyr's monologue was cut off as a small machine suddenly whirred to life, landing on the gym floor and zooming around. It looked like a metallic bug, and it zoomed around the students' feet, immediately earning laughs and giggles as the orderly atmosphere vanished in an instant. Eventually, the coach stomped on it with his fake foot, breaking the toy, and immediately looked up to see who it was [all the students immediately became quiet as soon as the toy was destroyed]. He didn't have to look far, since the perpetrator stepped forward and said-

"Sorry, Mr. Coach Dude," the male demigod said, flashing a devilish grin. "Just slipped from my hands; hope I didn't interrupt your very important speech!"

Coach Hedge stared at him with shock for a few moments, momentarily thrown off by the half-blood's casual tone of voice and smirk. However, he quickly pulled himself together, marching over to the boy.

"The name's Hedge," the disguised satyr said, his face inches from his. "Gleeson Hedge!"

"Gleeson," the boy repeated, failing to hold back a snicker, and a few other students joined in.

"Oh, you wanna play that way," the coach asked, glaring at the demigod. "What's your name, kid?"

"Leo Valdez, but I'm sorry, you can't replace your name with mine." The teenager flashed a grin at the girl next to him. "Even though it's totally awesome!" He winked at her, and she turned away, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, okay." The middle-aged satyr walked away from him, turning back to the group. "Thanks to Valdez here, you can start today's class with ten laps around the gym! One for each letter of his name, plus the space!" This was met with groans and complaints from the students, but the coach blew his whistle, silencing them. "That's an order! Now GO!"

Tentatively, the class started to jog around the gym, most of them giving Leo Valdez dirty looks. Hedge blew his whistle again, urging them to speed up, and the satyr was glad to see that Leo fell behind the pack. Figures the kid could run his mouth faster than his feet, and he grinned as he blew his whistle again.

"Valdez! Too slow! Add another lap!"

And the rest, as they say, is history.

So that's how I envisioned Leo and Coach Hedge's first meeting at the Wilderness School! Leo's gonna be a trouble maker, and Hedge is gonna be on his toes [or hooves, I suppose!] trying to keep up with his antics while at the same time protecting him. Who knew that this would be the start of a friendship?

Please follow and favorite the story, and feel free to leave a review with your comments and thoughts! Have a great weekened!

-aggiefrogger