Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.

Maybe I was overthinking it.

I mean, just because black ravens were usually depicted as an ill omen doesn't mean it was one now. Right?

Besides, the rest of the day passed by perfectly. Granted, I didn't make a single friend, but I also managed to avoid drawing attention to myself, which is a win in my book. I survived the day, with absolutely no problems at all.

And suddenly that bad feeling was back. Shit. I shook my head, I was just being paranoid. I set my skateboard on the ground, and went home at a leisurely pace.

That's when I heard it.

I heard some snickering, and a girl, in a dark alleyway, so I stopped. I sighed. I probably shouldn't be sticking my nose into other people's business, but…

Dammit. Sometimes I really wished my mom didn't instill me with this moral compass. I strapped my skateboard to my backpack, and sneaked towards the sounds.

I saw three guys, wearing uniforms from Trinity, a private high school. They were harassing a girl in the middle of a pretty long alley. Oh my gods. It was Annabeth. I closed my eyes.

Maybe she'd be fine?

"So, what do you say sweetheart? Come over to my place?" One of the guys asked, leaning against the wall, trapping her.

I saw her clench her jaw. "No thanks, now please leave me alone."

"Aw, come on, don't be like that. You don't want to offend me now do you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I really don't care."

He glared at her. "Either you come with willingly, or you know, me and my buddies will make you."

Why wasn't she doing anything?! This was Annabeth, for gods' sake! Then again…

I stared at the three guys, and I noticed how big they were. My gods, they looked like they were all in a wrestling team or something.

Shit. I had to do something, didn't I? But if I did, I could kiss my peaceful year goodbye. Damn it, fine.

But first… I whipped out my phone, and started filming them.

"Please, just leave me alone." Annabeth implored.

All the guys started laughing mockingly.

The main guy started stroking her face, without her consent. "You know, I like it when girls beg like that. If you ask really nicely, I promise I'll be gentle. Although it doesn't really matter whether you want to or not. I always get my way. Always."

One of the other guys snorted. "I won't be gentle though."

The third guy leered at her. "I'll be gentle the first time. But after that, well…"

I saw her clench her fist.

Welp, that was my cue to go. I stopped filming, grabbed the lid of one of the trash cans, aimed at the guy closest to Annabeth, and hurled it like a frisbee. It hit him right in the head, making a satisfying sound, if you asked me. I ducked behind another trash can.

"Fuck!" He cried out, crumpling to the ground in pain. But he remained conscious, because I didn't use my full strength when I threw the lid. As bad a person he may be, that didn't mean I wanted to kill him.

"What the fuck?!"

"Where did that come from?!"

I saw a brick in front of me. Perfect! I threw it as hard as I could, it passed over them, and hit the trash cans on the other side of the alley.

"I heard something! It's gotta be him!" One of the guys yelled, dragging the other guys.

While they were distracted, I ran towards Annabeth, hoping to grab her and run away without a fight.

No such luck.

When I finally reached her, the other guys realized that there was no one behind the trash cans, and saw me.

"Hey, you fucker! Get over here!" The guy I hit growled out.

I tsk'ed, turned towards Annabeth, and said, "Annabeth, run. Now."

She hesitated for a moment, so I pushed her to the side, hoping she'd get the hint. Thankfully she did.

Thank gods, I wasn't sure if I could simultaneously fight them and protect her. They surrounded me pretty quickly.

"You motherfucker!" Their leader bellowed, fist ready to make contact with my face.

I ducked, which meant he just punched a brick wall, with all his strength. Sucks to be you.

"Fuck!" He howled in pain, holding his bleeding fist close to him.

"You piece of shit!" One of the others shouted. And then they both charged at me.

So, naturally, I tackled their leader to the ground, rolled back up, losing my beanie in the process, and proceeded to run away.

On my way out, I grabbed the lid of a trash can, and hid behind a container.

When I heard them closing in on me, I hit the guy closest to me with the lid as hard as I could, making him disoriented, but couldn't do anything about the second guy.

He pulled me by the hood of my hoodie, and pushed me to the ground, hard. I fell on top of a garbage bag, breaking it in the process and getting garbage all over me.

He took off my glasses, threw it away, and I heard it crack. Aw man! Those were my favorite, and only, pair of fake glasses! He got a couple of punches in, until I took off my hoodie, grabbed him by his shirt, and head-butted him, possibly breaking his nose, probably giving myself a raging headache.

"Fuck!" He yelled out, rolling away from me.

I stood up, my head spinning and spat out a glob of blood. This wasn't over though.

The guy I hit with the lid, and their leader were charging at me from both sides, and they looked pissed as hell. Which, granted, is a little justified I suppose. I did hit the both of them with a metal lid. That's when an idea popped into my head…

At the last second, I jumped away, so that they were charging each other at full speed, instead of at me. To be honest, I didn't think it would work at all, but surprisingly, it did!

They hit each other, head first, and crumpled to the ground unconscious.

I looked at the only conscious guy left, wondering what he'd do.

He looked at me fearfully, holding his nose. "Who… Who are you? What do you want?!"

I glared at him. "Me? I'm just a guy who really, fucking hates bullies. Now give me your wallet!"

He blinked. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "You heard me. I broke your nose, not your ears. Give me your wallet, now."

He gulped. "Okay, okay, just… Be cool."

He gave me his wallet. I took a picture of his ID and threw his wallet back at him. I went towards the unconscious guys' body, looked for their wallets, and took a picture of their IDs too.

"What are you doing?" The guy wondered. "Why aren't you getting the money?"

I snorted. "Why would I? I'm not mugging you guys!"

He frowned. "If you don't want money, what do you want then?"

I showed him the video I took of them harassing Annabeth. "I want you guys to leave this girl alone. Otherwise, I'll post this video online, together with a picture of you IDs. Think about how that'll look in this day and age: three guys harassing a girl, who clearly wanted to be left alone."

His eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"

I smirked. "I won't. If, you leave her alone. Actually, you know what? I don't want to see you guys around here, period. If I do catch you guys sniffing around here, well… I'm sure you can imagine what'll happen. Just as I'm sure you wouldn't want your parents, or classmates, seeing this video."

He nodded his head. "Yes, fine whatever you want, we'll stay away! And we'll never bother you or your girlfriend anymore! Sorry, all right?"

I frowned. "She's not… Ugh you know what, never mind. Just grab your two friends and get the hell out of here, before I call the cops."

He scrambled to get up, and dragged his friends out of the alley.

Thank gods.

I sat down against the wall, rested my head against it, and closed my eyes. My head was pounding so hard right now, and my jaw ached. Man, I forgot how painful fights were. How the hell was I going to skate home in this condition?

"Are you okay?" A girl asked me, cupping my face gently. Wow, her hands were soft.

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by an angel with a storm for eyes. Why was she still here?

I gave her a crooked a smile. "Never been better."

She snorted, her eyes analyzing my face. "Right, yeah I see that."

I cleared my throat and furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, what are you still doing here? I thought I told you to run away?"

She bit her lip. "I know, but… I couldn't just leave you here on your own! Especially because it was my fault you were here in the first place."

I rolled my eyes. "No, it wasn't. It was their fault! They should've taken the hint and left you alone when you said no."

She shook her head. "Still, I should've called the cops or something. Now you're hurt because of me."

"I'll be fine, okay? He didn't hit me that hard, I'll just have a couple of bruises for a while."

"Hold still." She commanded me. She grabbed something from my head.

I squinted. "Is that… Seaweed?"

"Yeah… Hey, let me give you a ride home." Ohh hell no. It's already bad enough she saw my face, the last thing I needed was for her to know where I lived.

I shook my head. Big mistake. I groaned. " It's okay, you don't have to!"

She frowned. "What are you talking about? Of course I do! You saved me. There was no way I would've been able to stop all three of them."

"Nah, the only reason I beat them was because I had the element of surprise. Any other day, I definitely would've had my ass handed to me. Really, you don't owe me anything."

I stood up slowly, with the help of the wall, barely managing to suppress a groan. "See? Totally fine."

She rolled her eyes. "Riight, because nothing says fine like a bloody nose. My gods, did you get seaweed in your brain or something?"

Huh, I didn't even realize my nose was bleeding. "Um, yeah maybe… so I'm just gonna… head on out of here. See you around!"

"Wait!" She grabbed me by the arm.

I sighed, and turned around. "What's wrong? If you're worried about the guys bothering you again, then don't. I promise, they won't be coming around here again."

She shook her head. "It's not that. I just… How did you know my name?"

My eyes widened. Crap. Crap crap crap. "Um… I uh… I guessed?"

She narrowed her eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?"

I acted like I was think about it, so she slapped me lightly on my arm. I grinned. "Kidding! I'm kidding, trust me I know you're not stupid."

Maybe the guy hit me harder than I thought, because I could've sworn I saw her cheeks becoming a little pinker. "So?"

I sighed, goodbye peaceful year. "We go to the same school."

Her eyes widened. "Really? What's your name? What year are you in?"

No I'm not giving up that easily, I will have that peaceful year! "Oh, I uh… I gotta go! Bye!"

And then I ran away. It hurt like hell, but it was worth it.

In hindsight that's when it all went wrong really... I didn't know it at the time, but in my hurry to get away from her, I left two damning clues behind. And with it sealed my fate.

-Line Break-

TIME SKIP: 1 WEEK LATER

"All right class, settle down." Mr. Blofis exclaimed. "We finished last lesson, discussing the Anglo-Saxon society and how it impacted their literature. Now who can tell me-…."

And that's pretty much when I stopped listening. I stared out the window, thinking back on the fight, wondering how and where I was supposed to buy new fake glasses. I should get a part-time job.

No one noticed it when I suddenly stopped wearing them, which was one of the perks of being invisible. Although sometimes, it did feel like someone was staring at me. Like right now. I looked around, but everyone was busy taking notes.

I shook my head. I was just being paranoid. Who would want to stare at me? The girls avoided me as if I had the black plague, and the guys just ignored me. Whatever, fine by me. I ignored them, back anyways.

I really tried paying attention during class, copying notes whenever I heard something important, trying to read what was on the board but I just couldn't. The words were swirling around, making it impossible to decipher their meaning. It was so frustrating, because I was trying, I really was. My leg bobbed up and down, and I was clenching my jaw in frustration. 'Stupid dyslexia' I thought. And then my jaw started to hurt.

I sighed. Right, the fight. I'm glad my mom wasn't home when I came back, lord knows how she would've reacted at the state I was in. I was able to hide my wounds with some concealer but… It still hurt, a lot. I don't regret it at all, I mean no girl should have to go through that, but I should've been more careful dammit! I should've taken off my hoodie before charging in like that. That was such a rookie mistake.

I realized my mind wandered off, and it wasn't until five minutes after that I noticed. 'Stupid ADHD'. I copied what Mr. Blofis had just said, because it seemed important, even though nobody actually copied that. I tugged my beanie lower, and finally the bell rang. I looked at the single page of notes I made during the class. I was so screwed, and it was only the first week.

I gathered my things, but I was the slowest one to gather them, so naturally I was the last one to leave. I looked up and I saw Annabeth speaking with Mr. Blofis. Second to last then. I closed my eyes. Gods, why'd it have to be her? I've been avoiding her as much as possible, you know, just in case she knew it was me who saved her. But it looks like the gods weren't on my side today, because the moment I stood up, I saw her looking straight at me. Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

I shook my head. No, I was just being paranoid again. There was no way she knew it was me.

I left as quickly as I could, but I heard her call out for me in the hallway.

"Um, wait!" She yelled out.

I saw everyone staring at her, then at me. Crap.

I kept on walking away, quickening my pace, towards the gym, and all but ran into the boy's changing room.

I let out a breath of relief. Made it.

And then I realized… We also had gym together. Us and all her other friends.

Of course we did.

-Line Break-

I was really contemplating just skipping gym altogether, but this was one of the few classes where the teacher actually took attendance, and I didn't want my mom to get a call about me. I'd hate to see her disappointed face.

I steeled my nerves, and exited the boy's changing room. Let's get this over with. Maybe… Maybe she'd leave me alone? I did just totally blow her off, so…

"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Hedge said.

"Here." I mumbled.

He squinted. "Hey, no hats in my class!"

I tugged my beanie down lower, and walked up to him. "Could I wear it just this once sir?" I whispered urgently.

"Why?"

I bit my lip. "I just… Had a really bad accident and…well…"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, fine… Whatever. But if everyone starts wearing hats next class, you're taking it off. No exceptions."

I nodded my head profusely. "Thank you sir!"

He rolled his eyes. "Just go. No need to thank me. Just take this and get out of here. Everyone else is already outside!" And then he gave me clipboard with a sheet of paper on it.

Right. We had a fitness today, and we were supposed to write down our info on this paper. You know, the amount of pushups we did, sit-ups, pull-ups, all that jazz.

"Okay, now that everyone's here, let's get started. Boys on the left, girls on the right. Ms. Aurea graciously agreed to watch over the girls. After that I want you all to make two even teams." Mr. Hedge commanded. "The girls will start with the indoor tests, and you guys will start with the outside tests."

Thank gods, there was no way Annabeth could talk to me. I ended up in the second group of boys and stood at the back.

The first group of boys had to run around the field, and note their time, while we waited for our turn.

"Hey, you're in my English class, right?" A guy asked me.

I turned around, and vaguely recognized him. He had curly brown hair, brown eyes, and what looked like the beginnings of a beard. I think his name was Greg? No, that's not right.

"Um, yeah?"

He grinned and stuck out his hand. "My name's Grover."

Grover. Right, that was it. I smiled hesitantly and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Percy."

"So um… Do you want to pair up for the other exercises?" He asked me nervously. "It's just that my other friends already agreed to pair up, and I didn't know who else to ask and I didn't know if you had someone already and-"

"It's cool dude." Interrupted him, this time with a more genuine smile. "I'd love to be your partner."

He looked relieved. "Thank gods. Last year I had to pair up with the teacher. Let me tell you, it is not fun. At all."

I snorted. "I bet. He looks tough."

"You don't know the half of it. He was encouraging me to do more pushups, which wouldn't have been too bad, if it weren't for the fact that he was holding a baseball bat the whole time."

I laughed. "No way, you're totally making that up!"

He shook his head. "I really wish I was. Listen, I'm not the fittest guy around, obviously, but that baseball bat really upped my game. I don't think I've ever done as many push-ups in my life as I did back then. Hell, I didn't even know I could do that many push-ups."

"How many did you do?"

"Ten." He dead-panned.

I blinked, holding back my laugh. "Wow, that is… So few."

He grinned. "Yup. Impressive, right?"

"It kind of is. How many can you usually do?"

He thought about it for a while. "Maybe like… five?"

"Wow."

"You rethinking being my partner now?"

"You kidding? No way! Now I've got to see you in action!"

He laughed. "Wow, if I knew you were this mean, I wouldn't have asked you to be my partner."

I acted mock-offended, and then stuck out my tongue.

He rolled his eyes. "Real mature dude, real mature."

I was about to retort, when the coach whistled. "Second group, you're up!"

Oh right. I forgot we were in PE class for a second.

We were all walking towards the start line, when Grover made eye-contact with me and smirked. "Wanna race?"

I scoffed. "Against the guy who can only do ten push-ups? No thanks."

He lifted one of his eyebrows. "Wow, I didn't know you were a chicken."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fine, you're on."

"How about we make this interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"If I win, you have to have lunch with me and my friends."

"And if I win?"

"You won't though."

Now I lifted one of my eyebrows. "Wow. Now who's being a chicken?"

He grinned. "Fine, what do you want if you win?"

I pretended to think for a second. "If I win, you have to pay for my lunch for a week."

He stuck out his hand. "Deal."

We shook hands, and got ready to run.

Now, usually I liked to run in the middle of a group, you know to not draw attention to myself... But my pride was at stake here dammit! And a week's worth of free food!

So when the coach blew his whistle, I ran as fast as I could, passing a lot of guys on my way. I looked back, to smirk at Grover, but I didn't see him there. What?

"Over here slowpoke!" He yelled in front of me.

My eyes widened, how did he…?

I did my best to catch up, but every time I got close to him, he ran even faster. We reached the finish line, him in first place, me in second.

I collapsed on the ground, completely out of breath. "What…. How?" I gasped out.

He crouched by me and grinned smugly. "Hey, just cause I'm bad at push-ups doesn't mean I don't know how to run. Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention I'm in the track team?"

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, I think you did." I said sarcastically.

He stuck out his hand, to help me up. "You're pretty good too, you know. You almost caught up with me."

I grabbed his hand, and pulled myself up. "Thanks. I'll beat you next time though."

"Looking forward to it! For real though, you're really fast. You should think about joining the track team."

"Um, I'll think about it."

He grinned, and gave me my clipboard and a pen. Right. "Looking forward to it. And our lunch later."

I sighed. "A deal's a deal I suppose."

The coach whistled, and yelled. "Next up: Ball throwing." He was holding up a yellow ball we usually used for handball.

A couple of guys snickered at that.

The coach just rolled his eyes and whistled again. "For gods' sake, you're all practically adults. Grow up!"

"Sorry coach, I actually think the expression is: grow a pair." Someone yelled out. It was Leo. "Don't worry, it's a common mistake."

All the guys laughed at that.

The coach pinched the bridge of his nose, and grumbled to himself. "Well, looks like we have a volunteer. Get over here Valdez!"

He saluted the coach, and grabbed the ball. "With pleasure! Ladies, check this out!"

I looked at where he was shouting, and crap there were some girls outside now. Annabeth being one of them.

Leo threw the ball as hard as he could in an arc, and it landed on the 7th line. The coach, measured it and yelled out, "Leo: 130 feet."

Leo grinned smugly, and started flexing his biceps. "That's right, who's the man?"

All around me the guys were congratulating him.

Next up was Jason. "Not bad dude, not bad. But not good enough. Check this out!"

And then he threw the ball. It landed two lines further.

"Jason: 160 feet."

Jason grinned smugly, and held up his two arms in victory. All the other guys cheered.

It went on like that for a while, until finally it was my turn.

I was testing the ball for weight, and aiming for the 4th line. I didn't want to attract any more attention to myself than I already did with the running test. I looked behind me, and saw all the guys talking excitedly to Leo and Jason.

Perfect.

I threw the ball, and it landed exactly where I wanted it to.

"Percy: 100 feet." The coach announced.

No one really noticed, which was fine by me.

"Not bad Perce." Grover complimented me.

I just shrugged. "Nothing impressive, but what are you gonna do?"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, cause you were totally doing your best there."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he notice I was half-assing it? If he noticed, did anyone else notice? I shook my head, I was probably just being paranoid. Again.

"Hey, we can't all be as strong as Jason or Leo."

"True, but something tells me you could actually give them a run for their money." He admitted.

I just laughed it off. "I'm flattered dude, but I don't think so."

"Sure Percy, I totally believe you."

"Let's just keep doing the exercises dude."

"Whatever you want man, whatever you want."

-Line Break-

All through gym class, I noticed Annabeth observing me which was… Unnerving to say the least. Nobody seemed to notice but me.

Either way, I've been on high alert ever since. If it weren't for the bet, I definitely wouldn't have been eating lunch in the cafeteria cause I usually ate on the roof of the school.

"Hey Percy, over here!" Grover shouted, waving me over. Luckily, no one was paying us any attention, and I didn't see Annabeth anywhere.

I walked over to Grover's table, in the corner of the cafeteria. Nice.

There were four other people sitting at Grover's table: three guys and two girls.

"Hey guys, this is the guy I was talking about. Percy, these are my friends. Those two guys are Travis and Connor, they're twins if you hadn't noticed. That's Nico, sitting beside him is his sister Bianca and sitting beside her is Katie."

Everyone said 'hi' to me, and I did my best to smile back. Big groups always made me a little nervous.

I tugged on my beanie, and sat down.

I was immediately flanked by the Stoll twins, who both put their arms around me.

"So, Perce, can I call you Perce? Imma call you Perce." Travis started. "We gotta now: you stance on pranks."

"Yay, or nay?" Connor added.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um… Yay, I guess? Unless you're asking me if I want to be pranked. Cause it's a no from me."

They both stared at each other, with a serious expression, then back at me.

I was looking around the table, wondering if this was normal, and I guess it was. Everyone was either pinching the bridge of their noses, or looked resigned.

"Is that… Your final answer?" Connor asked me, still looking serious.

"Uh… Yeah?"

Travis took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Perce, that is answer is… Correct! Connor tell the lucky gentleman what he won."

"Will do Travis. You sir, have won the right to pull off a prank, with the one and only Stoll brothers!"

"…I'm so confused right now."

Grover looked apologetic. "Sorry about them Percy, I wish I could tell you they get better within time, but…"

"Hey!" Travis said indignantly.

"Why would we? You don't mess with perfection." Connor retorted.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Right, because you guys are absolutely perfect."

Travis wiggled his eyebrows. "Nice of you to finally admit it."

"In your dreams!"

Connor smirked. "Trust me Katie, you don't want to know what happens in Travis' dreams. Ain't that right, brother dear?"

Travis blushed. "Dude,shut up! I told you that in confidence!"

Bianca leaned forward. "Ooh, now I definitely want to know about his dreams."

"Me too!" Katie said with a smirk.

"Me three!" Grover exclaimed.

Travis glared at Connor. "Don't you dare." He warned him.

Connor just kept on smirking. "Depends, Percy, Nico you guys wanna hear all about Travis' dreams?"

Nico looked up, and nodded his head. "Um… Yeah, I kind of do."

"Traitor!" Travis exclaimed.

"What about you Perce?" Conner asked me gleefully.

I grinned. "Oh, hell yeah."

"Aw come on dude, seriously?" Travis moaned out.

I shrugged. "What can I say, I'm kind of curious now."

Connor rubbed his hands together. "All right then. Everyone gather around, for this is a tale for the ages! It begins with a…"

Suddenly he stopped, and stared at something behind me with wide eyes. Actually, everyone at the table seemed to be staring at something behind me. The cafeteria was uncharacteristically quiet.

Oh gods.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. It didn't take a genius to guess who.

Reluctantly, I turned around, and came face to face with…

Annabeth. Of course.

She smiled nervously. "Um hey…. You're Percy, right?"

I tugged on my beanie. "Uhh, yeah? Can I um, can I help you?" I mumbled, looking anywhere but at her. I saw the people at her table, staring at us incredulously. Well, the girls. The guys were just glaring at us. Me.

All around me I could hear people whispering.

"Who's that guy?"

"Lucky bastard."

"Why the hades is Annabeth talking to him?!"

I felt my face heat up, just a little bit.

She shuffled her feet and said three little words that would end up changing my life.

"Can we talk?"