By the time lunch rolled around, Carina was a little excited and nervous. She wasn't expecting much, but the idea of making friends was something to look forward to when Percy had invited her to sit with him and his friends.
Then again, she's already been approached by multiple other people trying to get in her good graces since she was the only connection to the Avengers that they could realistically get too. Some girl she never even met even asked for oddly nauseating details on how Steve looked while training and if she had pictures.
She definitely wanted to redact that memory.
Regardless, what if Percy was like that, too? She didn't know him and while he seemed genuine, he was still a stranger to her, so he could just as easily have had ulterior motives too, but was just the first seemingly nice person to introduce himself.
She was now debating on skipping lunch, but with the crowding halls basically herded her to the cafeteria with the hungry masses, so she ended up in the cafeteria regardless with loud students shuffling around to get food or claim seats with their friends.
And no Percy Jackson in sight.
Carina sighed and went through the lunch line, getting a tray of food that only looked a step and a half above prison food, and wandered around for a place to sit. A few called out her name, but no one she even recognized or even had a class with, so she gave them a polite smile and a brief shake of her head before moving on. They very likely have heard of her already and wanted to suck her into whatever cliques or clubs they're in. She really hopes this novelty 'popularity' wears off soon. She heard that new students tend to get more attention because some people like something new to look at but this was ridiculous!
She almost gave up her search until she saw the back of a mop of dark hair sitting at one of the six seater round tables with a few other people. A very pretty girl with curly blonde by his side, then another very pretty girl that looked like she was a Native with choppy looking brown hair with the occasional small braid mixed. Made her wonder if that was on purpose or if she took the quick and messy way to get gum out. Beside the girl was a guy with cropped short blonde hair and gold rimmed glasses, and lastly, was a rather scrawny boy that looked Hispanic with dark curly hair and he vaguely reminded her of an elf. Back to the mop of black hair, she was pretty certain it was Percy, so she walked up to the table from behind him.
The closer she got, the more his friends noticed and would look up at her, their conversation ceasing. Just that alone made her feel awkward and almost embarrassed to be there, but she had faced worse than a few teenagers. Plus, she was invited. They shouldn't get mad at that.
Once Percy paused from stuffing his face with the bland looking chicken sandwich, he seemed to have noticed his friends were staring at something behind him and he turned as well, blinked at Carina, before grinning. "You made it." He said before turning to his friends. "That's Carina, the new girl I told you guys about."
"Hi." She greeted and took a seat between Percy and the curly haired boy. "Sorry I'm late-ish." She smiled and looked around at the others again. "Was a little bit lost." That was more or less the truth. She did study a blueprint of the school before attending but it's different actually being in the halls. Not to mention all the distractions of hoards of students and she's pretty sure a few of them obnoxiously play their bluetooth speaker from their backpack for no reason.
"You're fine." He said and started to introduce his friends to her. The boy to her other side? Leo. The blond boy was named Jason and the girl beside him was named Piper, and she was also his girlfriend. The blonde girl beside Percy was his girlfriend, Annabeth.
Even though mildly disappointed, she hid it well. Of course he'd already have a pretty girlfriend, but she wasn't too upset. She had no reason to be.
"So you're the new girl everyone's been talking about!" Leo said, looking at her with eyes full of energetic mischief. She wouldn't be surprised if he pulled a prank on her at some point, but he did give off a vibe that he couldn't be trusted with too many sharp objects. "The one from the Avengers. What's that like? You're basically one of them, right?"
"Uh, not really." She responded pretty vaguely to his question, starting to eat but looking more towards the center of the table than at him. She had her own role within S.H.I.E.L.D. and everything, but calling her an Avenger is definitely a media driven stretch. "I mean, it's cool and all, hanging out with them, but I think I like the option of feeling normal." Which was basically her point in starting school in the first place, yet so far, she was treated more like a shiny bauble.
When she glanced up and around, they all seemed to have a silent consensus on her words, a flicker of understanding passing through their gazes like they knew where she was coming from.
"Well, how are you liking the school so far? We can give you a tour, if you'd like?" Annabeth speaks up for the first time, catching Carina's attention enough to make eye contact. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen grey eyes on a person before. The intelligence in then was also very clear.
Carina shrugged a bit at the question. "It's not so bad here. Definitely different from the whole 'homeschooling' thing. Lots more people to talk to and all that jazz. I just kind of wish they wouldn't make a big deal out of my connection with the Avengers, ya know?" Sure, it's a guaranteed way for her to get popular, but she wants actual school friends, not fans. "Other than that, it's been pretty okay. And I appreciate the offer, but I think I have a pretty good layout of the school."
Annabeth nodded and continued eating as well while the others at the table basically went off to their only little conversations. Leo started talking and joking around with Jason and Piper while Percy and Annabeth started talking and smiling amongst themselves. It was sweet and she could definitely see they're all close. But she felt so awkward. She knows she doesn't like a lot of attention on her, but sitting at a table where no one is talking to her? Makes her feel like the odd one out. Not wanting to be bothered by it, she pulled out her phone and looked at her blinking notifications to see she has a text. Opening it, she couldn't help but grin.
Jackson: Hey, first day of school going okay?
Not looking up, she starts to reply to the text.
Carina: Kinda sucks. Wish you and the others joined too. Keep me company.
He didn't take too long to reply, just a few seconds before another text came through. He must have been bored if she had to guess.
Jackson: You could have stayed here. You know I'm not going to any school. No new friends yet?
She contemplates the question for a moment, looking back up at the people at the table. She was till being awkwardly ignored, despite being originally invited. Maybe she should have eaten lunch elsewhere. When the bell rang, she grabbed her tray of barely touched food and got up from the table, leaving it and the others as they got up as well. On her way to her next class, she responded to the text.
Carina: No. No new friends.
With that, she pocketed her phone and effortlessly blended into the crowd in the halls. She didn't even notice a pair of sea green eyes watching her leave.
