7:45 am, Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

"I swear it's the most I've ever heard him talk."

"I heard he called her a bitch!"

"Did you hear? Percy Jackson got into an argument with the new Ancient History teacher. She's a dick."

It seemed that all everyone could talk about was Percy Jackson's argument with Mrs Thomas the day before. No matter where one turned in the school you could see a group whispering about the argument.

But the guy they all whispered about seemed to hate the attention he was getting. People would whisper and glance at him, and his response, along with his friends' response, was to level a glare at them.

Within the first few hours of the day, people stopped talking about the incident, far too afraid of the glares they may receive. But that didn't stop people from giving Percy a wide berth in the hallways and didn't stop the side-eyed glances at him and his friends.

People were confused about his friends. They were all tall, tan, and incredibly fit. A rumour had gone around that the other guy in the group, Jason Grace, had managed to outrun the fastest kid on the track team the day before while they were running laps in PE. And he did it without even breaking a sweat.

Some people said that Piper McLean, one of the two girls in the group of four, was the daughter of Tristan McLean. Others said that while changing for PE, they saw that Annabeth Chase, the final member of the group, had scars all over her body.

But of course, those were just rumours.

10:00 am, Thursday, September 2nd 2010

Madeleine Thomas was furious. She had gone to the principal as soon as she could, determined to report Perseus Jackson's behaviour the day before, and maybe get him landed in detention.

But as soon as she had named the trouble-making student, Mrs Childs, the principal of Goode High, her rant had been cut off. "Look, Mrs Thomas, I need you to understand that Mr Jackson is a" the woman paused, looking for the right words to describe the student's oddities, "Strange case. I know you have only known him for a little bit, but I need you to understand that he is the way he is for a reason."

Madeleine started to speak, to defend her claim, but Mrs Childs cut her off yet again. "I'm not finished. He's got a track record a mile long, and the kids got some family issues. Do you know how many times Mr Jackson has been out of school for family-related issues?" She didn't let the Ancient History teacher answer, and stated, "At least ten. He was gone for nearly half of last year for family issues."

Mrs. Childs warm amber eyes met Mrs Thomas' green, and spoke again in a low tone "And you know what else?" Madeleine shook her head. "Those streaks are real like he said." She stood up and so did Madeleine.

"Thank you for coming to my office with your concerns, but from now on, leave the kid alone." She waved the teacher out of the room, and once she was sure she was gone collapsed into her chair. Mrs Childs closed her eyes, and soon enough the principal of the school was replaced with a different woman.

Hestia, the goddess of the Hearth, stood and smiled, then snapped her fingers. The actual Mrs Childs appeared in her desk chair. Hestia made sure to plant memories of the few conversations she had had with teachers that morning in her brain, to avoid confusion.

Right before she was going to leave she had an idea. She planted an idea in Mrs Childs' mind- remove the ban on hair dye.

Better safe than sorry.

Hestia warped heavy mist around her and walked out of the school. As she passed by her nephew and his friends, she didn't look back. But had she chosen to look back, she would have seen the glances traded by them, and the small smiles they had shared when they looked inside their lockers to see the small gifts from her.

There was a small box of cookies, with a note that only had the letter H on it.

After all, the goddess of the Hearth is always watching, and giving gifts to those she loved.

11:25 pm, Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Lunch at Goode High was nothing short of an event.

In all the years that Cameron Dalles had been in High School, there were only barely enough tables for everyone to sit at. The cafeteria was one of the oldest buildings, and the school refused to update it.

The cafeteria was made for a small school like Goode High had been in the first few years of its existence. But in 2003, Goode High was able to expand its population due to the new building that had been made that summer.

And ever since then, the small, crowded cafeteria had become the most hated building in the entire school. There was no AC, so that meant on hot and humid days, everyone was sweating bullets, and eating as quickly as possible in an attempt to get out as soon as possible.

There was a heater, but it broke every few weeks and produced a horrid smell as it heated up, so it was never turned on. Which meant winters at Goode High were particularly uncomfortable.

Cameron scanned the lunchroom again looking for a place to sit, and besides a large gap at the popular kids' table, there were no seats in their sight.

They were lucky enough that they could sit there without getting their guts ripped out. Cameron had been on the football team since his freshman year, Sydney was well-liked around the school, and people seemed to like Damien and his music.

But the three of them had never enjoyed sitting there, especially in recent years. The people there were nice enough, but the table was to drama focused and loud for any of their likings.

He was just about to suggest sitting at the popular table when Damien Mills, his best friend, and Sydney Lise, his girlfriend, said they spotted a table.

It was a table in the far corner and was a noticeable distance away from the tables around it. They started walking over to the table, and Cameron noticed that people were sitting there.

And not just any people, it was Percy Jackson and his crew. Cameron was just about to turn away when Sydney, being as nice as ever, walked up to them and asked if they could sit there. One of the girls, the blonde, said yes.

Cameron felt wildly uncomfortable sitting there. Percy Jackson was bad news. He was a weirdo, a loner, a troublemaker. He was everything his mother told him to steer clear of.

But neither Damien nor Sydney seemed fazed with sitting there, so Cameron sat down with them. He started to eat, going fairly quickly so he could leave this table as soon as possible.

Sydney, being ever the diplomat, stuck her hand out for an introduction saying "I'm Sydney Lise. This is," she pointed to him, "My boyfriend Cameron Dales, and that's" she hooked a thumb towards Damien, "Damien Mills."

The blonde girl shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Annabeth Chase," she pointed to two people on her right, "That's Jason Grace and his girlfriend Piper McLean. And this dumbass here," she pointed to her left, "Is my boyfriend Percy Jackson. But," she grinned "You probably knew that. Seems like everyone knows him."

"Careful Annabeth, don't let his ego inflate anymore than it already has." Piper teased, her strange multi-coloured eyes glittering.

"Yeah, can't have that happening can we know?" Jason said grinning at Percy who just rolled his eyes.

"Oh, ha ha ha," he said, gesturing at his girlfriend and two friends, "You're hilarious. At least my ego isn't as big as Leo-" his sentence cut off, and the four friends seemed to sit in quiet for a moment. Cameron noticed how Jason and Piper's hands, which were holding each other on the table, tightened.

The conversation continued from there, but there were many points where the group would drop a name or two, each with wildly different reactions. Mentioning Hazel, Frank, Nico, or Reyna, brought large grins from all of them, but mentioning Leo brought frowns, and uncomfortable silence.

Cameron soon found himself loosening up, and he discovered that this group was a pleasant company. They talked about all sorts of things. Damien mentioned that he was going to dye his hair again as soon as possible, now that the ban on hair dye had been lifted. He was considering between red and electric blue, and they managed to convince him to get the electric blue.

Sydney mentioned how she was running for student council president, and Cameron told them how he was set to be starting quarterback this year.

Jason was halfway telling the story of when they had thought Percy and Annabeth had gone missing, only for them to find that they had slept together when someone walked up to their table and cleared their throat.

Cameron turned to see the one person he would never expect. The self-proclaimed queen of Goode High, Lillith Van Wes. Cameron, however, preferred the term demon when referencing the girl.

She was admittedly beautiful with long black hair, pale skin, and brown eyes. Unfortunately, it just so happened that she was his least favourite person in all of Goode High.

Lillith smirked as the group of seven turned to her, and spoke. Her accent was distinctly not one from New York, which made her stand out even more in a school full of New Yorkers.

"So you're the Percy Jackson everyone's been talking about. You know, I expected something," her eyes raked over him, "more than, this." She gestured at him.

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "And why should I care?" He challenged her. "Should your opinion mean something to me, because it doesn't."

She grinned. "Oh I just heard a lot about this weirdo guy, and I wanted to see if what they said was true. Seems like they are."

Percy spoke up again. "Again why should I care what you think. Your opinion doesn't matter, and I don't give one flying fuck if you think what people say is true. Stop trying to intimidate me, it won't work."

Her face twisted into a scowl. "You should care, Jackson."

"Oh really? Why should I care about what you try to do to me, when all you know about me is based on rumours, and I don't even know your name?" He said, as he reached into his pocket and took out a bronze pen.

"Well, my name's Lillith Van Wes." She turned to go but paused a d turned back around. She laid her hand on the table in front of Percy and glared at him. "I heard you were captain of the swim team last year, and you're gonna be captain again this year. Here's some advice though," she bopped the tip of his nose, and out of the corner of his eye, Cameron saw Annabeth reach for something on her thigh, only for Piper to stop her.

"Don't even try for the team. My brother is going to be captain of the team this year, and the first thing he's gonna do as captain is to get you kicked off the team. Better save yourself from the embarrassment." She turned around, just as a tall guy walked over. He looked almost exactly like Lillith, with his jet black hair, pale skin, but instead of brown eyes, he had green eyes.

It was Lillith's brother, Cain Van Wes.

Without even bothering to introduce to Percy, he picked Percy up by the cuff of his shirt. He growled into Percy's face, "You ain't gonna be captain got it? I don't want the charity cases on my team." Percy didn't look even halfway terrified, but instead, he was starting to look pissed. He was glaring down at the shorter boy, and Cameron started to realize how tall Percy Jackson was.

Jason stood up and wrenched Percy out of Cain's grip. Cain scowled. He glanced around for a moment before his eyes landed on Percy's pen, which lay forgotten on the table. "Oh, what's this?" He questioned bringing it up to his face. He examined it closely and moved to take off the cap, but before he could even move it a millimetre Percy grabbed the pen from his grip, shouting at him as he did.

By now everyone was watching the altercation between the two boys. "Oh is that your special little pen?" Cain teased.

Before Percy could reply, Cain's feet were swept out from under him, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Behind him stood someone new. He was fairly short, with curly brown hair, and a Latino complexion. He grinned and leaned over the taller boy, who was groaning on the floor. He spoke, "You know, messing with Percy Jackson doesn't even end well for anyone. If he doesn't beat you up, someone else will for him." He looked up for the first time, and Cameron heard gasps from behind him.

Cameron turned to see Percy's eyes were as wide as plates, and Annabeth's mouth was hanging open. Jason was gripping the table, and his eyes swam with tears. The most surprising though was Piper, whose hands were over her mouth, and tears were already streaming down her face.

"Leo?" Piper said, her words slightly muffled by her hands.

"I'm back bitches."