Thanks to those who favorited/followed this story.

ICECREAMROCKS don't dis me- "I don't know." -Percy

I'm getting less and less favorites/follows and reviews. If you don't like it, please tell me what to improve on in a somewhat-helpful way.

I hope you enjoy.

Classes were finally starting. During the rest of the time before classes started, news got spread that I was the new loser that everybody should pick on. Some just picked on me, while a few others picked on both me and Grover. Like Nancy Bobofit.

Nancy was a kleptomaniac with red hair and orange freckles. She wasn't as good as the Stolls in terms of stealing things, but she was more annoying and bullied us all the time.

I met a few other people (which involved getting in fights once in a while), but they weren't really friends, although they were nice. They had their own friends, and I had Grover.

Although Annabeth had said, "See you around," I didn't see her much at all. I saw her sneaking around corners, or once in a while I went to go talk to her, she'd say, "I'm busy, Jackson. I'll talk to you later."

You can guess how great my social life was.

Grover burst into my room. "Percy, you have to hurry up!"

"What?" I mumbled. I sat up, wondering how Grover got in, because I was pretty sure I locked the door last night.

"You're gonna be late if you don't hurry!" Grover panicked.

He dug through my closet and threw me my uniform.

"Forget about washing up right now," Grover said. He threw my blankets off and checked the clock. "It's 7:54. Our first class starts in six minutes!"

I slowly got up, and Grover huffed. He rushed into the restroom and returned with a bucket. My mind was functioning, wondering what that was for, until he threw that bucket of cold water on me.

"Dude!" I yelled.

"Hurry up and change," he said.

I took of my shirt and put on the white shirt for the uniform. Why did they have to have buttons? I started changing into the black pants, plus the belt, while Grover hurriedly did the tie.

"Grover, you're choking me," I said.

"It doesn't matter right now," he said, and pulled me along. "We have to run! Three minutes!"

I got my backpack and Grover grabbed my textbook and raced out the door. We skipped the stairs and ran to the other building. I cursed the school for being so big. The bell rang when we arrived at the other building.

"Maybe Mrs. Dodds will forgive us if we hurry," Grover said doubtfully.

Luckily the classroom wasn't that far. I threw open the door for Room 14, and sat in one of the empty seats in the front.

"Late on your first day, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Underwood?" a sickly sweet voice said.

It was just my luck to have Mrs. Dodds for first period.

We had received our schedules two days before today. I had Mrs. Dodds for first period, Mr. Bell for second, Dr. Boring for third, Mrs. White for fourth, Mr. Blofis for fifth, and Coach Hedge for sixth. And of course, there was the homeroom/therapy period.

"Sorry, ma'am," Grover said weakly.

I on the other hand, didn't say anything, and I saw Nancy shoot us a smug look from the back.

"Class has already started," she said. "I trust that you have a pencil and a notebook?"

I nodded and dug around my backpack for a notebook and a pencil. My pencil was broken, but I tried not to let it show.

Mrs. Dodds seemed satisfied, and turned around and started writing math equations on the chalkboard. Who even uses a chalkboard these days?

Grover looked at my pencil and passed me a pencil sharpener. Keep it, he mouthed.

I nodded as I tried to make sense of the equations Mrs. Dodds had written on the board.

First to fourth period was awful. I couldn't make sense of anything Mrs. Dodds or Dr. Boring wrote on the board. Plus in Dr. Boring's class, I had accidentally cussed when he asked me to read a question on the worksheet and my dyslexia added up. You can guess how bad that was. For fourth period, science, Annabeth showed up, and seemed to understand everything Mrs. White was saying, but I didn't get any of it.

"And they even had the nerve to give us homework!" I ranted. "What, does doing homework help us be less of a criminal?"

Grover snickered along with Juniper who decided to sit with us at lunch with Beckendorf and Silena.

"Probably to teach us discipline," Beckendorf laughed.

"No matter where you go, there are always bad things," Silena stated.

We laughed, and Annabeth slid in next to me with her lunch tray.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I said back. Why were all conversations with her so awkward?

"Hey, nice to see you, Annabeth," Juniper said.

Silena grinned. "Did you come here to tell me that you changed your mind about the makeover?"

"Uh… no," she said.

Grover didn't say anything, and refused to acknowledge that she was there.

Annabeth glanced at Grover, but didn't say anything to him. Instead she reached into my backpack and got out my schedule.

"Hey!" I said.

"So you have Mr. Blofis next, huh?" she said as she leaned back keep my schedule away from me.

"Yeah, so what?" I said.

"Mr. Blofis? That's awesome!" Beckendorf said. "He's one of the best teachers here!"

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to deal with you for the next two periods," Annabeth said.

She sat forward again and handed me my schedule.

"Sorry for making you guys feel so awkward," she said. "I don't have much time to socialize."

"So I've heard," I said wryly.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut it." She looked around the cafeteria. "Oh look, there's Luke!" She beckoned him over.

I frowned. "Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Her face reddened. "No."

Silena giggled, and we all stared at her. "What? Don't mind me." She started giggling again.

"Hey, Annabeth," Luke grinned. He looked at our table. "Hey, Percy. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Luke," I said uneasily, scooting over a bit.

"I'm not going to bite," he joked.

I eased up. "I hope so. I mean, I don't think you got in here for biting random people that you've just met."

Luke laughed. He seemed like an easy-going guy. "Yup. I'm a smuggler, not a dog."

Annabeth glared at Luke. "I'll leave you so you can have some 'bro time,' as you like to put it."

She got her tray and dumped her lunch in the trash.

"We'll leave you for your 'bro time' too," Silena said slyly. "Come on, Charlie."

They left the table.

"Wow," I mumbled, marveling on how fast people can leave you hanging.

"I know, right," Luke sighed. "Annabeth seems to get jealous from time to time. I know the rumors that go around the school. Some think that Annabeth is strange, but I don't. In fact, I think that she's the most logical one here."

Grover grunted, and the bell rang. "Let's go Percy."

"See ya, Percy," Luke said, and grabbed his bag.

Grover dragged me off.

"What's up? Any problems?" I asked—not in a threatening way.

"Nothing," Grover mumbled. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Then again, when does he want to talk about anything?" Nancy said. "If it isn't about trees, then that sorry excuse for a guy won't talk!"

"Shut up Nancy," I said. "What did he ever do to you?"

"Or," she continued, "if it isn't about murder."

Grover's face turned red with rage.

I didn't know the whole story behind "being responsible for someone's death" thing, but I wasn't about to let Nancy pick on my best friend. "Don't tease him about his crime," I said in a deadly voice. "That's just crossing the line. You don't see others teasing others about their crimes, do you?"

Nancy grinned. "Then looks like I'll be the first."

Grover was trembling now.

"Grover, you go on to class. I'll deal with her," I said.

"No," he said, his voice hollow. "I'll take care of myself. I don't want anyone else responsible for the mistakes that I do."

"Looks like the murderer is stepping up for his own!" Nancy grinned, and her friends laughed.

"I didn't kill her," Grover said. "I claimed responsibility because I felt like I was at fault. I didn't want the other getting in trouble for me."

"Like I care," Nancy said, and got ready to throw a punch.

I caught her fist before she could hit any of our faces.

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Dodds frowned.

"It's nothing," I said, letting go of the fist.

A bit too soon, apparently. Nancy still let that punch fly, putting all her strength into that one punch, and the crowd of students that I didn't notice instinctively moved out of the way. I fell on the floor awkwardly on my arm, and a pain shot through my arm. I quickly got up, trying not to use my left arm.

"Nancy, dear, what did they do to you?" Mrs. Dodds said. That devil.

"We didn't do anything to her," Grover said, and I was surprised. He seemed pretty terrified of Mrs. Dodds.

One of the students came out of their little circle and told her about the conflict.

"That, I believe, calls for detention," Mr. Bonsai said. "Detention for you, Nancy Bobofit, in two weeks. We'll come get you during your preferred time for you to serve detention."

I frowned. I was pretty sure that wasn't how people gave detention. I saw Mrs. Dodds give Mr. Bonsai a dirty look, probably for giving her favorite student detention.

"And you, Perseus Jackson," he said, "shall go to the nurse to get checked up. Rest of you, go to class!"

They all grumbled and walked away.

"See you at homeroom, maybe," I said.

Grover nodded and left.

"You know where the nurse's office is, correct?" Mr. Bonsai asked.

I nodded, and Mr. Bonsai started herding the students to their classes.

"You're going to pay for this," Nancy growled, as I passed her.

I took my time to the other building. The nurse's office was right next to Mr. D's Office which probably wasn't a good choice.

"Hello," the nurse said. She looked about twenty-one, with wavy light brown hair with blue eyes. "Did you get hurt?"

"Uh, yeah. I got punched in the face and hurt my arm when I landed on it when I fell," I said.

"Oh, dear," she said. She ushered me into the back room.

She made me sit on a bed while she examined my arm.

"Looks like you pulled a muscle," she said. "You probably weren't expecting the fall were you? Let me get you some ice."

She came back a few moments later, and made me stay there at least until classes ended.

"They should really be more careful," she had said. "And the staff should be more watchful. Those things happens more often. If you were to go back, I bet you'd get run over!"

So I had to stay here.

It was boring, just staring into space, so I dozed off, trying to balance the ice on my arm.

"Uh, Percy?" Annabeth called, and I woke up, spilling the melted ice on the floor.

"Huh? Annabeth?" I said. "Why are you here?"

She picked up my melted ice pack and threw it in the trash. "I'll get you a new one," she said. "In the meantime, here."

She tossed me an envelope. I quickly identified the writing as my mom's. A smile came on my face. I had written to her last week, unsure if she would reply. I opened the envelope and took out the letter. I tried my hardest to read it despite my dyslexia mistake a few hours ago.

Dear Percy,

I'm glad you met some new friends. I know the school is hard for you honey, but hang on. We'll see each other again. Just don't get into any more trouble, okay?

I'm still trying to get rid of Gabe. I'm thinking of divorcing him after I earn some more money. He's as demanding as ever—but don't worry. I'll hang on as long as I know my son is doing the same thing. Gabe's the same as ever; drinking, playing poker, and all that usual things.

I tried contacting your father. I didn't get through him yet, but I found his new contact information. I left him a message. I can only hope he'll check. And Percy, don't hate on your father, okay? Try to understand him. I really hope you get to meet him soon.

Enough about me. I hope you're doing well. Classes have started, right? Or at least when this letter reached you. I don't like the fact that you got sent away as much as you do. Try to do well in your classes. Pay attention, even outside of classes. Goode's a famous school and all, but there's some strange rumors about it. Be careful.

Love,
Mom

P.S. The runaway plan is still on. I haven't given up yet, and if you're still up for it, I'll work even harder to make that plan a reality.

I smiled, and put the letter back into the envelope.

Annabeth came back with a new ice pack. "You're done reading, right?"

I nodded. "Why did you have the letter anyway?"

"I told Chiron that I was coming to see you after classes and told me to deliver it to you," she said.

"And why are you here?"

"Project," she huffed. "I came in late for Mr. Blofis's class when he was assigning partners for a project, and I got stuck with you."

I made a face. "Do you hate me that much?"

She smirked. "Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, the project is a book report, just to get used to the new format he gave us."

She tossed me a book. I squinted at the title. "Tom… Sawyer?"

She nodded. "I expect you to finish it by tomorrow."

My jaw fell open. "I'm dyslexic!"

"What a coincidence," she said, but there seemed to be no sarcasm in that comment. "So am I. I'll give you two days to read it then. Good luck."