Miriam officially hated school. It was the summer holidays but they had to come back to Goode for some talk or other about how they were required to behave and perform in the coming year. It was mandatory and most people had to come from a long vacation far off just to attend. Even the freshmen from orientation were there, so generally, there were about a thousand and two hundred students and about five dozen teachers and faculty present.

She barely paid attention since it was the same thing every year so she just talked with her friends Branice, Emma, Dennis, Alex and Blessing.

Branice was a tall girl who was pretty outgoing and loud. She was one of the most athletic girls in their year and was amazing in soccer which is what she played mostly though she sometimes did track. She had long black hair that she mostly braided and was of a fair complexion. Her eyes were a light green. She was funny and always had a new story falling from her mouth. She worked with Dennis to keep spirits up in the group and was a tease. She was also a no nonsense tomboy.

Emma was shy and silent though do not let that fool you. She had short black hair and was dark in complexion and blue eyes. She had that African-American thing going. She could give a mean cold shoulder when she was mad and could run her mouth when with people she trusted but preferred her silent shell. She was a bit on the plump side but it just brought out her beauty and actually suited her well.

Dennis was a brown- haired boy with sky blue eyes and a permanent troublemaker grin that made teachers brand him a troublemaker immediately. He tended to run his mouth before he thought and I bought him a lot of detentions. He loved complaining about gym but he could give people a run for their money when he tried.

Alex was that hot boy around the block that every girl fell for and every parent loved. He had blue eyes that faded to grey towards the center and had an orange ring around the pupil. He had shoulder length brown hair that curled towards the ends and was silky soft. He was plump and an awesome photographer and gave warm bear hugs that made you hyperventilate and nearly die with pleasure and made your heart skip some beats. He was also soft spoken and rarely spoke out of line. The populars fought for him but he decided to stick with us losers.

Blessing was the brains of the group and kept us all in line when we decided to go mad. She had long brown hair with brown eyes and brown caramel toast skin tone. She was optimistic and tended to always have a smile on her face. She would go on crazy runs with us but tended to get us out with her brains before we went all out and got in a ton of trouble. Some would even call her a teacher's pet.

As for me, I had long blond hair and green eyes and was about average in everything.

We hadn't always been friends and all of us were once loners or normal people in our own right till Percy Jackson came around. He befriended us all one at a time and seemed to not care about our differences and brought us all together. He helped us get over our rivalries and got us out of our shells.

Percy Jackson. Now that was another problem. Percy was that friend that was extremely gorgeous and insanely nice but every parent told you to steer clear of. He had a record a mile long and was always kicked out of every school he was in including military schools, which was an achievement by itself. He had criminal records and has been wanted numerous times but that image was not visible once you looked at him. He got us into a shit ton of trouble but he was a great friend.

Last winter, he had just gone missing. Disappeared off the face of the earth. His stepfather Paul was devastated and did not even know when he disappeared as he wasn't home. Miriam sometimes wondered if it had to do with the fact that he normally ran out of class a lot shouting some excuse or other or feeling sick and then not been seen for hours afterwards. She missed him- they all did- but all they could do was hope for the best.

The auditorium was filled with chatting and phone pinging as texts arrived. Rarely anyone but the nerds and the overeager freshmen listened at these assemblies. I mean assemblies? Who does that anymore?

In the middle of their chat since they were convinced that nothing important was going to happen and they could always ask what was said, the principal's voice died out and a bright flash of light appeared. It was so bright they had to look away and close their eyes to avoid blinding.

So much for nothing interesting happening.