Best Friend

Chapter 3

Percy

Right as the door swung open and just seconds from when he took his first step he heard someone yell his name. "Percy!" the oddly familiar voice yelled. Percy was shocked from taking his next step and stopped mid-air to scan the room for the owner of the voice.

His eyes bugged out when they landed on a beautiful black-haired teen. "Silena!" Percy replied in kind. His mouth was wide open, shocked by the sudden reveal.

What was his best friend doing here? Scrunching his head he vaguely remembered a conversation two years ago at the academy. Silena had moved overseas because her father had just found a new job. He knew she moved to New York, but what were the odds he would be attending the same school as her?

Percy suddenly stopped. Why didn't he ask her after all those video chats?

Shaking his head he smiled at Silena. Silena being here meant there was at least one person he could count on - yes, even superheroes needed someone to rely on. They hung out a lot back in Athens where they would spend their days in each other's company. Her dad had owned a tiny chocolate shop that they would frequently visit. He remembered how Mr. Beauregard made blue chocolate wafers just for him; they weren't as good as his mom's cookies but they still hit the spot.

A voice cut their early meeting and they shared similar sheepish smiles. "Everyone, meet Mr. Jackson."

"Um, 'ello there, how's everyone doing on this fine afternoon-I mean morning…heh…" Percy chuckled nervously and mentally slapped himself in the face. Not trusting himself to say anything more he settled on a short wave at the class who all but stared at him with varying degrees of expressions from friendly smiles to looks of pity - with a few wincing in accordance - and amusement.

Nodding he took a deep breath and straightened his body while puffing his chest forward; he smiled more confidently and walked up front where Mr. Hunter was motioning for him to stand.

"I'm pretty sure we're all having an ok morning, right class?" the man asked them. A few students nodded with a few calling out verbal answers. "Now, care to further introduce yourself to the class, Mr. Jackson?"

Percy bobbed his head and cleared his throat. "Excuse my slight stumble," he smiled charmingly at the girls; even giving one a wink. "It's nice to meet you all, the names, Perseus Achilles Jackson but I prefer Percy. Perseus makes me feel like I'm in trouble," he pouted at the last part causing a few snickers in the crowd as well as a chuckle from Silena who was looking at him in amusement.

"Any hobbies Mr. Jackson?"

"Not much, let's see, I like to play the guitar and fencing."

Mr. Hunter looked at him with interest. "Fencing? How long have you been interested in fencing?"

"Well, I began fencing when I was around eleven years old. It was kinda uh…let's see, a useful skill back where I lived. Most of my cousins and friends were also taught so I wasn't alone. Guess I just grew to like it as time went on."

"Nice! Back when I was a kid I kept asking my mom if I could take fencing classes. She said 'no' as much as I said 'can'," he shook his head with a fond smile. "I ended up taking some Taekwondo and I grew to enjoy it as well."

"Impressive, I took some Muay Thai much to my mom's displeasure," Percy grinned.

"Mom's am I right?" Mr. Hunter chuckled. They nodded at each other in a silent agreement that a few other students shared between their friends and classmates. "Alright, let's give a round of applause for Percy here," Mr. Hunter clapped. "Hm, let's see, Percy you can sit-"

Before the man could even continue, Percy had already begun to sit down beside an amused brown-eyed teen. "Yes Mr. Hunter?" he asked the man innocently.

The blonde man merely rolled his eyes and motioned for him to sit down. Percy cracked him a lopsided grin before taking his seat beside Silena who had already begun to scribble stuff in her journal.

He was given a smile in return when he looked back up. "Never mind," the man mouthed. Then just like that, the class began once more.

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This is so boring," Percy whispered to Silena. Said girl was busy jotting down notes in her black notebook, her bronze pen flying across the paper at an incredibly insane pace.

Not getting a response he sighed and turned back to the board where Mr. Hunter had begun to talk about the Battle of Thermopylae. A depiction of the historical battle was presented on the screen. It didn't show much because of the lack of colors, especially blue! But he knew enough about the topic to not complain.

Grabbing his bronze fountain pen he clicked the top and started to take notes as well. Unlike Silena, his writing wasn't as enthusiastic as hers; whereas she sped through the whole thing and even had the time to highlight important notes he merely wrote the bare minimum.

"Can someone tell me the nickname for Thermopylae?" the blonde-haired man asked.

"The hot gates sir," came a quick response from his left. He saw a girl who watched the board attentively with a gleam in her eyes similar to that of his bookworm friend.

"Thank you Gwen, but next time please raise your hand," the man remarked without looking behind him. Percy stifled a snicker before stopping completely when the girl (Gwen) looked his way. He cleared his throat and directed his gaze back to the board and wrote the now-answered question down.

For the next hour and a half, they were bombarded with an endless stream of questions. Everyone provided their input and answers until there was no one else left that hadn't spoken up. More questions were answered again until the same girl from before was left to answer them.

"Gwen, since you're the most enthusiastic to answer these questions can you tell me who held the Persians back in Thermopylae once the hidden passage was discovered?"

"All Greek states retreated sir, by the command of Leonidas himself. In the end, only the Spartans held them back, specifically 300 of them," she answered quickly, clearly proud of herself.

Mr. Hunter winced, "Sorry Gwen, but not quite."

The blonde girl frowned as she tapped her temple with her pencil.

Hr. Hunter was about to ask someone else when he raised his hand. "300 elite Spartan bodyguards, 300 Spartan helots which are basically slaves, and 1,100 Boeotians held the hot gates plus the 400 Thebans-Oh! There were the Thespians but I'm not sure if their army would be considered part of this group - but a portion of their army did stay back, although, they ended up retreating as soon as the Persians came."

"Fantastic Perseus!" Mr. Hunter cheered. His face scrunched up at the mention of his full name before covering it up with a smile.

"Take note Gwen, don't just rely on the 2006 movie," Mr. Hunter joked. The comment made a few people in the class chuckle only to be shut up by the glare they had all received from the New Yorker. He raised a brow in amusement at the surprisingly harsh glare.

"What a mean glare," he found himself mumbling. "Anyways, Silena, where do you go for lunch 'cause I'm starving."

"Seriously?" Silena looked at him in disbelief, "How are you hungry it's just second period!" she hissed.

"Whaa~t? I'm a growing boy so sue me if I'm feeling hungry," he pouted.

She rolled her eyes and gasped dramatically before leaning back down to continue her notes-her black licorice hair blocking him from her view.

"Well, you're gonna have to suck it up and be a nice boy because there's still one more period. Not to mention there's still a couple of minutes left in class."

"Ughhh, fine," he grumbled.

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Gwen

A new student was unexpected especially since not many found this class interesting. Out of the twenty-four seats in class, there were only fifteen that were occupied. Well, sixteen now because Silena's newly revealed friend now occupied the seat beside the friendly girl. Did she find it surprising? No. Silena was well-liked amongst the student body unlike her who was only known as the school's photographer and science nerd.

So when she watched the new student - or Jackson which she took to calling him - made her somewhat pissed. Throughout her time in the course, it was only she and Silena who were the most active. But now with Jackson, she found the questions only being answered by him - after his earlier correction of a few questions directed to the others. Not to mention how he had corrected her as if she was someone he could just dismiss.

As she sat there listening to Mr. Hunter ramble on and on about the battle of Thermopylae; she couldn't help but watch him doodle on his notebook. The guy wasn't even paying attention! Oh, the audacity. How he even knew the answers she left it with him having prior knowledge unless Silena did what she does well which is helping others and there's the fact that Jackson was her friend. But she wouldn't have cheated and given him the answers - you couldn't even cheat with note-taking so…

Groaning she began to write down the notes that were on the slides. She might've missed a few slides, but that could be fixed by asking Milly. Although, what helped lift her mood was the mention of an assignment. She watched eagerly as Mr. Hunter discussed the rubric and what was to be done.

"After hearing all the complaints of the last assignment being boring," he japed, "I've taken into consideration of a more 'fun' assignment. Unlike the rest, this is a partner project."

She looked on curiously as Mr. Hunter took out his Greek Corinthian helmet. Was it real? He always mentioned it was even after they pointed out evidence of it being not. Now after almost knowing the man for two years they had dropped the matter entirely.

"Mr. Hunter, what do you mean a partner project?"

"Idiot, it's literally in the name!"

"Well excuse me if I'm still half-awake."

"Now now, let's all relax because like Jonas here, I am also half-awake," the man smiled.

"See! Even Mr. Hunter agrees," Jonas sighed loudly while waving his hands.

"-Now, as I was saying. You will come up here and reach into my Greek wizard hat and whoever you pick will become your partner."

"Wizard hat," she heard someone snicker. Raising a brow she watched Silena laugh at what Jackson had said. The stern but friendly Silena was laughing in class! It wasn't rare but everyone knew that Silena like herself, strove to be the best in her classes.

"Who shall I pick?" Mr. Hunter said knocking her out of her musing.

"CJ, why don't you come down here and reach your hand into the crown of Hades."

She heard another snicker but this time she overheard what was said. To her surprise, it was Silena who spoke. She respected people's privacy but before she ended she caught the words Nico and birthday. It wasn't much so she just dismissed it.

"Yuna, my assistant has picked you," she watched as the brunette walk down the aisle and reached into the helmet with a rabbit pointing out from inside. This time she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Ironically, the rabbit's name was chuckles.

"Alright, next up Gwen."

Rising from her seat she made her way down to the front of the class where a grinning Mr. Hunter looked at her as if he had something up his sleeve.

"Hmm, Jackson," her lips pursed at the slip of paper; there wasn't anything wrong with the new kid but for some reason, she couldn't help but hate him.

'It's probably because I'm hungry,' she shrugged to herself before retaking her seat.

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Percy

"So, care to tell me why you're here?" Silena asked him.

"Wow, I appreciate your ever so joyous welcome," Percy snarked.

"Oh hush you, now come on, what is the great Riptide doing in New York of all places?" Silena pushed.

Percy rolled his eyes and gave her an incredulous look. Grunting he took another bite of his pizza and eyed her with a smirk. At least the girl had the decency to whisper his stage name either wise he would've been screwed big time.

"First off, thank you for not revealing my name to the whole school-"

"Psh, everyone already knows your name is Percy," Silena scoffed.

"Ha ha, very funny," he chuckled and nudged the girl playfully. "You know what I mean, and to answer your question; I was bored and just happened to be in New York at the time."

Silena looked at him as if he grew another head. "Do you take me for a clueless damsel in distress?" she asked icily.

"Uh-umm, n-no?" he stuttered.

"Then will you rephrase what you just said?" she asked him sweetly; her attitude taking a 180-degree turn.

Percy sighed, "I'll tell you but not here, it was bad enough you whispered my name," he held his hand up, "and I'm glad no one heard, but this cannot be risked being disclosed to the public."

Silena seemed to take that as a good answer as she nodded and got back to her strawberry pudding. They ate in silence after that; only stopping to share stories of everything that may have happened in the past; after all, just because Silena moved away didn't mean they lost contact altogether. They would text and call but with how busy he was with superhero business, the academy, events such as charity, and volunteer work both on and off his superhero identity and 'normal' life.

Finally, after finishing both of their lunches Silena led them to a secluded area; or in other words, the school rooftop. The place was bare. He would've thought there would be people up here just lazing about during their lunch period or skipping through their undesirable classes but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Alright, spill," Silena looked at him expectantly.

"Straight to the point as usual," Percy hummed while scanning their surroundings once more. "Long story short, I was fighting Atlas who proceeded to blow himself up while he held me in a hug - you wouldn't want a hug from that guy-" he shook his head. "Then boom, now I'm here. Ta-da!"

Silena looked at him with comically large eyes. Her mouth hung dangerously close to the point of her jaw being dislodged but she quickly covered it up but not before a tiny droplet of drool fell and hit the ground making her blush crimson red. "Ahem, that is certainly a tale you have there…" she commented dryly.

"At least you found it amusing, Nico on the other hand…the little brat ignored everything else and went straight to berating me," he grumbled while kicking an empty can of Pepsi across the roof.

"Hm, typical Nico behavior, I don't know why you're so surprised," Silena hummed. "Well, lemme guess, now that you've been blasted across the Atlantic straight to New York you now have an excuse to live a normal life," she crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.

"Pretty much…" he whistled innocently.

Silena studied him for a whole minute before walking up and sitting down at the edge of the roof. She patted the space beside her and took out a lollipop from who knows where.

"You have another by any chance?"

"You still like mint?" she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. He nodded and grabbed the mint lollipop from her hand.

They sat there just enjoying the afternoon breeze. The sun bore down but they were safely tucked in the shadow of the small tower that contained the golden bell that would ding at the beginning of the day and the end.

"What now? Are you staying or will you be moving back?"

"Hm, well, I told Nico to inform the academy that I'm currently taking an out-of-nowhere vacation so…"

"You'll be going back at some point," Silena cut in. Her voice broke a bit but was covered up with a cough; that didn't mean he missed the hurt look that passed her face.

"Yeah, at some point…" Percy gauged her expression from the corner of his eyes. He was correct with his observation as he saw the corner of her mouth dip a bit. "Although I wouldn't mind staying here longer than what the academy would deem 'acceptable' after all, my best friend is right here," he draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

"You mean your smarter, cooler, and much more attractive best friend," she smirked.

"Smarter yes, cooler? I guess…but more attractive? Hell no!"

"Hey! Mind your language or I may need to feed you some soap," she flicked his head.

"Fine mom," he groaned. "Now come on, I'm craving some fries and I heard the ones down the street are a lot better than the ones that are served at the cafeteria."

"You are aware that we're not supposed to leave school grounds right?" Silena called out to him.

"Last I checked this isn't a private school," Percy gave her a lopsided grin and without looking forward he fell back, arms outstretched behind his head as if he was going to sleep in mid-air.

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Gwen

"Crap!" she yelled startling Ethan who was busy reading a rom-com.

"What's wrong?" Ethan sighed giving her an irritated look. His book sat on the pristine lunch table, closed with his red book marker sticking out roughly around the back of the book. The guy was a fast reader, albeit that only applied to his rom-com.

"I was supposed to tour the new kid-Perseus or Percy, whatever, he wanted to be called," Gwen answered hastily as she packed her assignments away.

"Why are you in a rush then? It's only twelve-thirty…crap."

"Yeah, crap indeed ya romantic doofus," she huffed.

Hoisting her bag over her shoulder she quickly bid her friend goodbye and rushed out to find the raven-haired teen. Turns out she didn't have to look far as Perseus entered through the front door that was coincidently right down the hall of the cafeteria.

She sighed in relief and walked up to him. "Hey! Perseus right?"

"Perseus? I don't see a Perseus around here, but if you're looking for a guy named Percy then that handsome devil is standing right in front of you," he gave her a cheeky grin and a slight bow.

She stopped herself from snapping back and played along. "Percy then," she repeated. When there was no other cheeky reply she started to walk away and motioned him to follow.

"I was told by Mr. Hunter, to help you today since it's your first day here," Gwen summarized before he could ask.

"Cool cool, so, what's the first order of business boss?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow and gauged if he was joking or messing around but only got a serious look in return.

"It would be nice if we can find your next class; so can I see your timetable?" she reached out her hand.

"Sure thing."

They stopped in the middle of the hallway as she watched him dig around inside his backpack. Assuming that there wasn't anything in there due to it being just his first day; she was annoyed when they ended up standing there for a full minute as he dug into his 'full' backpack.

"Found it!" he cried victoriously before handing the wrinkled paper to her.

"Let's see…you've got Chemistry with Mrs. Jordan," she read out but with a bit of resistance as the words were barely decipherable from the wrinkles. "Come on, her class is upstairs by the science hallway."

"Your school is divided into different subjects?" he asked her.

"Hm, it makes it easier for people to get around; pretty much why tours only last a day for new students. Plus, if you somehow can't find your way around the school after gaining this knowledge speaks a lot about you."

"And what would that mean Ms. Stacy?"

"Well, I'm not trying to sound harsh or rude, but if you can't find your way around the school that is literally structurally built to help you; then I might assume you are either, bad at listening, lack of interest in trying or to put it more blandly, stupid."

"Ouch," he winced. She watched him wince dramatically, feinting a look of pain; only replying with a roll of her eyes.

"Whatever, now, come on we'll continue the tour after class."

"You have Chemistry too?"

"..."

A.N Last updated January 30? Damn, this fanfic was way overdue for another update so here you all go!

Hope you all enjoyed!

A.N Pt2 I think I might post a PJO x Tokyo Ghoul...hmm