Jason

Himself, Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke all ran up to Chiron. Beckendorf, Silena, Reyna, Travis, Conner, and Katie followed close behind. Everyone called him by his last name and nobody knew his first. The same went for Ms. Lupa. She was always Ms. Lupa and had no first name attached to it.

Piper, Leo, Percy, and Calypso all stared after them awkwardly as they ran up to him. Jason didn't mind if some newbies were giving them strange looks. The old-timers understood what they were all about. Chiron was family to them and they were fine with showing it.

Chiron laughed as they rushed him. "One at a time. I can't take so many teenage hormones in one place."

Percy, Leo, Piper, and Calypso all walked to stand behind Jason and Annabeth. Chiron caught a glimpse of Percy and his face paled. "Oh no."

"What?" Percy asked.

"Nothing!" Chiron said quickly. "Nothing. You just remind me of someone."

Jason looked between Percy and Chiron. Percy seemed to be a little uncomfortable. Jason understood that. He'd had a very similar experience with Chiron when he first came to the school.

Jason's mom was drunk a lot of the time. His dad didn't visit and when he did he would get into fights with Thalia and his mom. Thalia eventually just ran away when she was nine. That left Jason alone with his mom for a year. She didn't report her missing because the cops might find out that she had gone drunk driving before and was a bad parent to Jason. It was smart but it hurt him a little bit.

Then one day, his mom was drunk driving with him in the car. Somehow, he only got bruised up a little bit because he was in the very back seat. His mom wasn't so lucky. She got severely injured and died the next morning. Jason left the crash and started running.

He didn't know where Thalia was, but he knew where she might go. So after going to her best friend's place, her name was Zoe, and asking where Thalia went the minute she ran away and went there. Then he asked people around there and kept going until he reached the school. When he got there, Chiron took one look at him and said something along the lines of, "Zeus, why?" When Jason asked about it, Chiron just said he reminded him of someone.

But Chiron's panic faded into a fatherly smile and Jason forgot all about it. "Now let me try to name all of you. I know you're Percy, and you're Piper, and I know Calypso but..." Chiron turned to face Leo."Lester, I want to say"

"Leo," Leo corrected.

"Too late, your name is Lester now," Calypso said.

A boy with curly brown hair looked up from his phone. "Did someone say my name?"

"Not you, Lester," Calypso said with a sigh.

Silena put her hand on the handles of Chiron's wheelchair. "I missed all of you guys during the summer!"

Chiron patted her hand. "We missed you too Silena."

"Are you going to give your iconic speech?" Connor asked.

"We've got most of it memorized," Travis added. "Sadly."

Katie slapped Travis on the arm. "I like the speech!"

"You don't need to spare my feelings, Katie," Chiron said. "And yes, Travis and Connor, I will be giving the same speech. Enjoy."

"Ms. Lupa," Reyna started, "Thanks a lot for the book you lent me. It saved my life over the summer. I would have been so bored without it."

"It's good to see some people still appreciate classic literature," Ms. Lupa said, turning her gaze to Annabeth and back to Reyna.

Jason looked around at the scene and sighed. This place for troubled kids was a paradise to him. Travis was annoying Katie with Connor backing him up. Reyna, Ms. Lupa, and Annabeth were discussing Shakespeare. Luke and Thalia talking about rock bands, Charlie and Silena teasing each other about their grades, Piper and Calypso talking about old boyfriends, Chiron, Percy, and Leo talking about the school. Jason didn't feel the need to speak or contribute. It was perfect the way it was.

Kids all around them were talking and having fun. True, there were people like Clarisse and Ethan who scowled and leaned against the wall. But Jason had seen them smile before. He'd seen them have fun and enjoy themselves. He knew that this place helped people.

"I give more details in my start of the year speech," Chiron said. "Since it's almost noon, we're going to start herding the kids into the cafeteria for lunch and for the speech. Afterward, a tour will be given by more experienced students, kids will have some moving in time, and then we'll have dinner."

Percy nodded and Ms. Lupa asked Annabeth and Jason to get people out of their dorms and into the main common room.

Hazel

Annabeth poked her head into their room and said, "Everyone's meeting in the common room and then we're going to the cafeteria for lunch." Hazel nodded and climbed out of bed with her phone in her pocket. She didn't know if they were allowed but still held on to it. It was her like to Sammy and she craved that connection.

Hazel went into the common room where she saw Calypso and Piper talking with a girl and four boys who she didn't know. She walked slowly towards them, taking in the scene. A lot of the kids looked stronger and tougher than her but that should be expected at this kind of school.

A girl with a red bandanna slammed into her. Being as small as she was, Hazel fell too the ground with a thump.

"Watch it, brat," the girl said.

"I'm sorry," Hazel whispered.

"You better be." The girl ran off to join a Hispanic looking guy and his friends. A goth girl walked up to her and held her hand out to help her up. Hazel took it and the goth girl said, "So sorry about Clarrisse. She hates everyone."

"I could tell," Hazel said.

Piper and Calypso waved them both over. "Thalia! Hazel! C'mon over!"

The two of them started walking and Piper grabbed Hazel by the arm and said, "This is Hazel. Hazel, meet Thalia, Percy, Leo, and Luke. Jason and Annabeth were here a moment ago but they ran off to help round up some people."

"Nice to meet you, Hazel," Leo said with a grin.

"Hi," Percy said.

"Sup," said Luke. Hazel noted his scar down his eye and made a mental note to stay away. He gave her the creeps.

A man in a wheelchair yelled, "Everybody into the cafeteria! Ms. Lupa will be at the door making sure everyone is accounted for. Single file line so she can mark you down in attendance."

Annabeth and a boy with blonde hair joined the group. He introduced himself as Jason and the seven of them, Thalia and Luke went to help out the teachers, started walking towards the cafeteria.

Once they got there, a lady in a gray business suit marked them all down. Hazel assumed she was Ms. Lupa. Jason and Annabeth chatted with her for a bit before the line got too long and they all had to leave.

"It's not even Friday!" Annabeth protested when she saw the pizza. "What the actual heck!?"

"This is injustice. The cafeteria wouldn't serve pizza on any other day besides Friday if it was the last food in the world and we were starving," Jason said.

"Salad bar out of solidarity?" Calypso suggested. Jason and Annabeth nodded and proceeded to get salads. That was fine with Hazel, Percy, Piper, and Leo. It meant more pizza for them.

They all sat down in a table near the front. Hazel had plain cheese pizza, Percy had Hawaiin and meat lovers, Piper's was vegetarian, and Leo had every single topping on his. It was a gruesome sight to watch him eat it.

"You're going to die," Calypso chided as she ate her salad.

"If I do, it would be the best way to die," Leo said.

"Is it any good?" Percy asked curiously as if he wanted to try it.

"Yeeeees!" Leo said with his mouth full.

"That's it. You're both dying diabetic," Annabeth said.

"Diabetic and happy!" Percy said.

"Oh gosh. Why am I the logical one here?" Jason asked.

"Because you're always the logical one," Annabeth said. "Besides me."

Hazel looked around at the cafeteria. She saw a burly Asian kid sitting alone and said, "Hey, I'm going to go invite that guy to sit with us. Is that okay?" The entire table just shrugged and nodded so Hazel went over to talk to him.

"Hi, um, do you want to sit with us?" she asked.

He looked up and said, "Sure, I guess. Wait, aren't you Hazel? The girl I tripped over?"

Hazel studied him for a second before smiling and saying, "Frank! Nice to see you again. C'mon. We're sitting over there near the front."

Frank stood up and followed Hazel over to the table where she introduced him. They all waved and he took a seat in between Hazel and Jason. He was eating pepperoni pizza and marveled at Leo's everything-on-it pizza behemoth.

"How do you even consume that?" Frank asked.

"I have a special set of skills," Leo said.

"Leo, I swear if you finish that pizza I will kill you on behalf of the animals you devoured," Piper said.

"I will repeat what I said to Sunshine over here. It would be the best way to die," Leo said.

Calypso slapped him on the arm. "Do not call me Sunshine!"

Hazel laughed at that. Leo and Calypso were honestly hilarious. What was really weird was the fact that Sammy and Leo looked a lot alike. They could be cousins. She didn't know why they were like that, but she was determined to find out.

Percy

He was pretty sure Leo was magic. Anyone who could eat an entire pizza slice with all the toppings on it was a special kind of crazy. A kind Percy was very familiar with. Once he had eaten an entire batch of his mom's cookies. Gabe might have beaten the life out of him afterward but it was fun while it lasted.

"Do you guys want to play never have I ever?" Annabeth asked. Percy marveled at the fact that she was eating a salad. There was perfectly good pizza just inches away! Who cares if it's not Friday!

"Yeah, that sounds fun," Piper said. Jason nodded in agreement. The rest of the table just shrugged and said sure.

"Okay, okay, I'll start," Annabeth said. "Never have I ever listened to Justin Beiber." Percy, Piper's, Hazel's, Jason's, Frank's, Leo's, and Calypso's fingers all went down.

"Uncultured swine," Leo said. Annabeth just laughed.

"I'll go next," Hazel said. "Never have I ever eaten kale." Jason, Frank, Annabeth, Piper's, and Calypso's fingers went down.

"Kale is disgusting but vegetarian," Piper said.

"Never have I ever worn a dress," Jason said. All of the girl's fingers went down and so did Leo's.

"Game of truth or dare with my cousins," Leo explained quickly. "Valdez family reunions can get pretty weird."

Hazel's eyes widened. Percy didn't know what that meant but she quickly hid her surprise.

"Never have I ever kissed anyone," Leo said. Hazel, Piper, and Calypso's fingers went down.

"I'm honestly not surprised, Leo," Calypso said.

"That hurts, Sunshine," Leo said. Calypso sighed and massaged her forehead.

"Never have I ever eaten a taco," Frank said. Everyone's fingers went down.

"Blasphemy. I don't think you're fully human," Annabeth said. Piper and Calypso were both only down to one finger.

"Never have I ever owned a cell phone," Calypso said. Annabeth's, Hazel's, and Frank's fingers all went down and Piper's last finger went down.

"I'm out!" She said.

Everyone laughed and Piper pretended to lower her head in shame. Percy was beginning to get into the swing of things. He really liked everyone in the group and hoped that they would be good friends.

"Never have I ever been in a relationship," Jason said. Percy, Hazel, and Calypso all put their fingers down.

Piper put her hands in a scheming motion. "SPILL THE TEA."

"I might be in a relationship currently," Hazel said. "A boy from my hometown." Frank seemed to be a little deflated at that statement.

"A guy in my drama group. He played Odysseus and I played Penelope," Calypso said. "Came to this school and broke it off."

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Girl from my hometown. We broke up," Percy said. He didn't volunteer any further details. He didn't want anyone to pry. What he and Rachel had had was over now.

Everyone nodded, seeming satisfied. But Annabeth's eyes seemed to brighten with interest when Percy shared his story. He avoided her gaze for the reasons mentioned earlier. It was his business.

"Percy, it's your turn," Annabeth said.

He blinked. "Oh yeah. I exist." That got a laugh from the table. "Um, never have I ever been to a funeral."

The happiness level decreased significantly as Annabeth, Frank, Jason, Calypso, and Leo all put their fingers down. Percy mentally cursed himself. How could he have been so stupid? This was a sensitive topic!

Luckily, Ms. Lupa and Chiron called everyone's attention. The tour of the school would begin. Chiron started grouping tables and they were paired with the table behind them. It was time to tour the school with the teacher we got grouped with, Coach Hedge.