Even School Holds Secrets

Interesting fact: Disney's Magic Kingdom in Florida can fit inside the parking lot of Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. With room to spare!

Interesting fact about me: The most disgusting thing someone has made me do is dissect a frog. I had to dissect one today, April 3, 2009.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Sophia's POV

My parents were all jumpy this morning! It's like they're worried that another creepy monster will approach me. I know they know what's going on; what monster approached me and why. Something it said is still bothering me. 'Young heroes, I can tell that you will follow your parents' footsteps'. What did my parents do? Why did it call me a 'young hero'? The secrets of my family are more complicated than I thought.

Right now, it is time for school. Greg walked with me (a fact that made me happy), and he will walk back with me. I go to Goode High School, the crappiest school on the planet. It has been around for like, seventy years! I thought there was a law about public schools older than fifty years old, but I guess not. At least they are raising money to knock the building down and put a more modern one in its place!

My parents never told me what high school they went to. Maybe Greg's parents did! They went to the same one, after all, "Hey Greg?' I asked on our way to school, "Did your parents tell you what high school they went to?"

He looked surprised, "Yeah, of course! Goode High School, the same one we go to."

"Maybe we can learn more about our family's past by looking through this school's past yearbooks! They're bound to have some in the library," I exclaimed.

"We're going to the library in English today, so we can look then," he informed me. We have English fifth period with Ashley, so I have a long ways to wait. I probably won't pay any attention in the first four periods because I am so impatient.

What did I tell you? I totally spaced on my first four periods. I was practically jumping up and down now that it was fifth period. My teacher, Mrs. Merry, had us line up first. I tapped my foot impatiently, and in the corner of my eye I could see Greg's amused expression. I needed to know what my parents were like, and why they kept their high school a secret. If there is nothing unusual about them then, I'm going to feel pretty stupid.

We finally arrived at the school's library. We were there to pick out a book to read, but with my dyslexia what am I going to read? I walked quickly over to the check-out counter, where our stiff librarian, Ms. Fickle, stood. Greg followed me.

We approached her, "Ms. Fickle? I was wondering where you kept your past yearbooks. I want to know what Goode was like back in…I don't know…2008? How about from 2008-2013?" I asked

Ms. Fickle studied us closely, grunted, and motioned for us to follow her. She led us to the far corner of the room where she kept the books that you couldn't check out: the reference books, "The school year of 2008-2009 is here, while the school year of 2012-2013 is here. This is in order by year."

Once I looked at the yearbooks I realized that they would take a long time to decipher since both Greg and I have dyslexia. This school is notorious for putting in a lot of writing. Then I saw Ashley browsing the shelves nearby. I asked Greg to stay right where he was while I went to ask for her help.

I tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up, "Ashley, I need your help."

"With what?" she asked curiously.

"You see, I want to look through some yearbooks, but since I have dyslexia it will take me a longer time than a person without it. Could you read it for us?"

"'Us'?" she questioned.

"Greg and I," I explained. Ashley's eyes lit up at the mention of helping Greg.

"I'll help you," she said casually. I smiled at her and motioned for her to follow me. I picked up the first one, my parents' freshman year. She was staring at Greg, who was watching the yearbook. I opened it and flipped through, viewing the pictures. I was right about the wordiness. The captions were big for each picture.

While Ashley was in her own world staring at Greg, I looked for teenagers who looked like anyone I knew. I flipped slowly, studying every smiling face in every picture. I saw people I was a tad jealous of, because they either obviously had a girlfriend or boyfriend (they held each other's hands) or they had a ton of friends (this fact makes them popular in my book).

I studied yet another group of friends. There were six of them in the group. One girl had golden blonde hair like mine and grey eyes like Hallie's. The boy next to her, holding her hand, had black hair like Hallie's and green eyes like mine. The girl next to him, leaning on the boy next to her, had frizzy red hair and paint-splattered jeans. The boy she was leaning on had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, making him look just like Greg. There was a boy next to him, who looked similar, but his brown eyes were darker and his tan was deeper. He sat next to a girl that also shared the sandy blonde hair, but she had green eyes and was just a shade darker than a sheet of paper. Maybe the three were related.

After looking at them for a while, I realized that the first two people were my parents! The boy and girl next to them looked like Greg's parents, "Greg! I found them! Look at them, and tell me those two," I said, pointing at his parents, "aren't your parents. You can't right?"

"Your right, that's them!" Greg said excitedly, "Now that we know who we're looking for, this should be a whole lot easier."

"Wait," I said as he reached to turn the page, "I want to know what's written beneath their picture."

He nodded, and I handed the book to Ashley. I pointed to the picture, and she began to read the caption aloud, "'Above, from left to right, are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Rachel Dare, Tommy Smith, Theodore Fisher, and Tracey Fisher. The group is always cracking jokes!'"

Ashley handed the book back to me and I began searching for my (or Greg's) parents. I arrived at the school's Spring Dance. It took up two pages, and I didn't see any of the people from the previous picture in any of them. I was just about to turn the page when I saw my parents in the background of one of the pictures. They were holding hands and walking back into the gym from the backdoors. They had huge smiles on their faces.

I kept on flipping until I reached a page that had big bold words on the top. I squinted at them, trying to decipher them. They looked like 'MURRO ARCNTLE' to me. I turned the book towards Ashley, pointing at the words, "'Rumor Central'," she read. My eyes widened and I quickly turned the book towards me. I needed to know if my parents had rumors made about them!

I looked through the pictures, noticing that a lot were seniors. But then I saw my parents sitting together at a lunch table, smiling at a camera, my dad with his arm around my mom's waist. I quickly turned the book back to Ashley, frantically pointing at my parents' rumor. She eagerly took it and read aloud.

"'After the Spring Dance, where Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase officially became boyfriend and girlfriend according to friend Rachel Dare, many rumors started about the couple. Annabeth came to Goode with two months left of school, and it was obvious they already knew each other. How did they meet? Have they known each other since they were mere infants? Do their mysterious parents, who were spotted at prom, know each other? Did Percy save Annabeth from drowning? More rumors surfaced, but not about how they met. The one that Percy found most funny was the one that stated that he and Annabeth were making out behind the bleachers at school. Percy flat out told us that it was no more than a rumor. We went to Annabeth, and she said the same.' Hey Sophia, it looks like your parents were kind of famous around school!" She handed the book back to me, and Greg checked his watch as I took it.

"We only have fifty minutes left," he informed us, "We should take five more minutes on this yearbook, making it fifteen per book." Ashley and I nodded our agreement.

I flipped through the yearbook again, finally reaching a page full of people in fancy clothes. All it took was common sense to figure out what the four-letter word on the top of the two pages was: PROM. On one of the pages, the first page of Prom, there was a row of couples (head shots only), all with a caption next to their picture. They all had crowns on. I realized that my shocked parents were at the bottom. My eyes widened and I gave the book quickly to Ashley. I pointed at my parents' picture.

Her eyes widened herself, and she read, "'Freshman Prom king and queen are none other than Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. The stunning Annabeth practically led Percy to victory; she was absolutely gorgeous!' Sophia, your parents rocked! Omigod you have to look at this! There is a full body photo of your parents on the next page! Greg's too!"

I snatched the yearbook from Ashley and looked at the next page. It had a few pictures from inside the dance, but there were more pictures of the couples as soon as they walked into the dance. When I saw my mother's dress, my breath was taken away. It's strapless and aqua blue, with sparkly lines leading to her left hip, where the dress sort of collects in ruffles all the way down to the floor. It's big and puffy, like Cinderella's dress.

I looked over to Greg's parents' photo. My eyes locked on his mother's dress. It was a reddish-pink color that had diamonds in random places forming random shapes on the top of her dress mostly, but there were a few stray ones here and there in the body of the dress. It was gorgeous, and she certainly took a risk that paid off. Matching that color with her red hair is mostly unheard of. But she pulled it off nonetheless. I looked at Greg, and he was speechless. He was probably shocked at how well his mom cleaned up. She went from wearing paint-splattered jeans to a formal gown!

Greg looked up from the book and I flipped through the last pages. I saw the school-wide voting and almost passed it by, but I saw my parents' photo again. I gave the yearbook to Ashley, "Sophia! Your parents were voted cutest couple! They were the only freshman to win anything! Only seniors won everything else!" My jaw dropped.

That was the last thing in the first yearbook. The second one was pretty much the same (my parents won yet again everything they did the previous year), but with one exception. Instead of Tracey at Theodore's side, there was a girl named Thalia Grace. She had black hair just like my dad's and had electric blue eyes. She dressed in a punk fashion. Another change was the rumor page. My parents were no longer on it, but Theodore, Thalia, and Tracey were.

Ashley read aloud, "'What happened to Theodore's twin sister Tracey? Who is this new girl in Theodore's life? Some people say that Thalia got rid of Tracey because Tracey was too much attention in Theodore's life. Some say that Tracey died, or was murdered, but not by Thalia's hand. Some people say that she is just going to a different school. Theodore himself said that Tracey is only going to an all-girls boarding school where they specialize in self-defense. He refused to give a school name.' Drama!"

"You can say that again," Greg and I mumbled at the same time. The other two yearbooks were basically the same, but their senior year was interesting.

Ashley read off the school-wide voting, "'Best Dressed is, Greg you'll love this and I'm surprised myself, Rachel Dare. I honestly would think everyone hates paint-splattered jeans, but apparently it is cool. Prettiest girl is Annabeth Chase! Handsomest boy is Percy Jackson. Most annoying is Myles Ford. Cutest couple is Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.' Sophia your parents were popular! They each secured two titles! Oh, wait! The school added some that year.

"'Most scary but respected person is Thalia Grace. Most artistic boy is Theodore Fisher with his poetry. Most accurate aim at the trashcan is Tommy Smith. And group of friends that look like they are having more fun than everyone else is Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Rachel Dare, Tommy Smith, Theodore Fisher, and Thalia Nelson.' Would you look at that? A third title claimed by your parents! Your parents were popular!" Ashley banged a fist on the table in front of her where the other yearbooks lie.

Just then, Mrs. Merry came over, "What have you been doing for the past hour?"

"Researching," I replied simply.

"Researching what?"

"Secrets," I mumbled. But Mrs. Merry heard me nonetheless. Her eyes glanced to the yearbooks next to Ashley and the one in her hands. She motioned for Ashley to give her the book. Mrs. Merry looked down at it.

"Why would you be looking at old school-wide voting?" she asked curiously.

"My parents are Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Greg's are Rachel Dare and Tommy Smith," I explained. Mrs. Merry raised her eyebrows.

She handed Ashley the yearbook and said, "Put these back on the shelf; we're leaving." We did just that and lined up to go back to class. Lining up was for elementary school kids, not high school teens. Humph. At least I got to look at each yearbook. One thing: what did I learn that can help me figure out what my parents really are like?