Chapter Three—Introductions

Their next class was Science. Percy, Annabeth, Amy, and Ian all walked together to that class. Percy was confused at first as to why Amy and Ian seemed to be attached to them, but Annabeth introduced them to spare him the embarrassment of asking why those two were stalking them.

"Oh, Percy, this is Amy and Ian. Amy, Ian, this is Percy." Annabeth gestured to them as she introduced them to each other.

"Oh, hi! Nice to meet you!" Percy said. Amy smiled at him.

"Pleasure to meet you as well." Ian said, although he didn't really look very pleased.

Before entering the classroom, Amy stopped in her tracks, which made Ian almost bump into her. She stared wide-eyed at someone sitting at the very beck of the room. Ian followed her gaze and found himself staring right into the eyes of a muscular blonde Tomas whom he preferred not to associate himself with much.

"Is everything okay?" Annabeth asked.

"Is that Hamilton?" Amy asked Ian, bewildered. Hamilton waved at them and gestured to the empty seats beside him.

"Yes, I believe so." Ian said then turned to face Annabeth. "Yes, everything is alright. We're just surprised to see someone we know here."

Amy walked towards the Holt with Ian, Percy, and Annabeth following.

"Amy! Hi!" Hamilton called out, smiling. His smile faltered a little when he addressed Ian. "And Cobra. Nice to see you here."

"Hamilton, what are you doing here?" Amy asked happily.

"Oh, you know—" he started, but he was interrupted by the teacher.

"Alright class! Settle down, settle down! As it is the first day of school, we will be having introductions. So just say your name, age, and something interesting about yourself." she said. She scribbled down something on the chalkboard. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Mrs. White."

The people in the front row were the first to introduce themselves. One by one they said basic information about themselves. The teacher tried really hard to memorize her students' names, but the students couldn't care less. Eventually, the ones from the last row started introducing themselves.

Percy stood up and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Percy Jackson, sixteen years old, and my favorite color is blue."

Then Annabeth introduced herself. "My name is Annabeth Chase. I'm sixteen years old, and I am very interested in architecture."

Next was Ian, "Ian Kabra. Fifteen years of age. I am adept at playing polo." Then Amy, but before she could introduce herself, a gloomy-looking boy stumbled into the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late." the boy said. He quickly took a seat next to Percy.

"Please introduce yourself to the class." Mrs. White told the newcomer.

The boy scowled but stood up. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

"And how old are you Mr. di Angelo?" the teacher asked.

Nico hesitated for a while. "I'm thirteen years old."

Mrs. White looked surprised. "Thirteen? My, that's a fairly young age to start high school. "

"Yeah." Nico said coldly and sat down.

Mrs. White frowned at him but let his slide. "Anyway, young lady, please introduce yourself."

Amy realized that she was talking to her. "Oh, uh, my n-name is A-A-Amy Cahill." She swallowed and inhaled. "I'm fifteen. I like reading books."

The teacher smiled at her, and Amy sat down. Hamilton introduced himself next, but Amy's ears were drawn to the conversation that Percy, Annabeth, and the new kid, Nico were making. She couldn't hear what they were saying very much, but one word caught her ear: "dangerous".

"Alright class! Let's begin the formal lesson." Mrs. White said after everyone finished introducing themselves. She went to the chalkboard and erased her name. "Quiet down, please."

Annabeth immediately stopped talking, sat up straight and grabbed Percy's shoulder so he would do the same. Nico crossed his arms and slouched in his seat.

A few minutes after the teacher started discussing, Nico fell asleep, and Percy started tapping his pen on his table while his eyes roamed around the entire room. As he fidgeted in his seat, Annabeth glanced at him and muttered with a hint of disapproval, "Seaweed Brain."

"I'm sorry." Percy sheepishly whispered back. "ADHD, remember?"

Annabeth didn't respond, but she gave him a look.

"How come you seem so calm and collected? How can you bear not moving so much?" Percy asked her.

Annabeth shrugged. "Practice. And the lesson's interesting."

Percy attempted to sit still again, but after about two minutes, he started tapping out a random beat again with his pen.

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Drop the pen."

He obliged but groaned silently. "I can't do this, Wise Girl. It's so boring."

"You can do it, Percy! Just a couple more minutes to go." Annabeth said and smiled. "If you manage to pay attention for the rest of the day, I'll take you out for some ice cream."

Percy grinned, but his grin was immediately wiped off when Mrs. White appeared in front of them and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to disturb your conversation. Would you like to share with the rest of the class?"

"Uh, thank you for the offer, ma'am, but I would have to say no." Percy replied. Annabeth's lips twitched, and she looked down to hide her smirk.

Mrs. White glared at her. "You, young lady,"

Annabeth breathed deeply and looked up. "Yes?"

"What is the study of rocks?"

Annabeth looked at her, slightly perplexed.

Mrs. White grinned. "Just as I expect. You are not allowed to talk in class unless you already have thorough knowledge of—"

"Wait just a minute, Mrs. White." Annabeth cut her off. "You didn't even give me a chance to answer."

Mrs. White glowered at her, but then managed to smirk. "Very well. I'm interested in what you have to say."

"The study of rocks is called Petrology, but rocks are also commonly associated with Geology. They're both technically correct since Petrology is a branch of Geology, which is the study of the Earth, but if you want to be more particular, it's Petrology. Petrology is divided into three main fields—or in this case, rocks—of study: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed from volcanoes, which then helps scientists study the composition of the Earth's mantle, since some igneous rocks form from magma inside the volcano, which could have been hundreds or even thousands of miles below the Earth's surface, and—"

"Thank you, that is enough, young lady." Mrs. White scowled at her. "I still expect you to not talk during my class."

Annabeth glared at her for a moment before replying. "Yes, Mrs. White."

The teacher turned around and walked back to the chalkboard. "Now that there are no more interruptions, let us continue our discussion."

And as if on cue, the bell rang. Mrs. White's scowl deepened. The students all stood up and left the room, not sparing her another glance. Annabeth and her group were the last to leave. If looks could kill, they would've all been sent to the Underworld straightaway.

Once they were out of harm's way, Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders. "That was fun."

Nico was rubbing his eyes. "What exactly happened?"

Percy looked at him and tilted his head. "How did she not get mad at you for sleeping in her class?"

Nico gave a small smile. "The Mist is a powerful thing."

Annabeth saw Amy look at them strangely. She was talking to Hamilton, but she seemed to be listening to their conversation as well. Perhaps it was a bad idea to be discussing demigod topics in front of mortals.

Thank you for reading this chapter. Please wait patiently for the next one. It's coming soon.

Please leave a review if you have anything to say about this chapter or this fic so far. Thank you! :)