Sorry I didn't update for a while. I had trouble putting my ideas into words and I went camping... So yeah.

I have a question though. Is it a bit weird that the characters here don't cuss? I don't cuss, personally, so I try not to put cuss words in my stories, but since this is rated T anyway, I'm just wondering if it's weird that they're not cussing.

Guest- Thanks~

ICECREAMROCKS don't dis me- I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't copy his essay from the Internet. LOL.

LightNightSky881- Thank you for your reviews! I'm really glad that you like it. :D

This chapter isn't that great since it's just about the characters interacting a bit more. The school's plot will be revealed soon, so don't worry. Enjoy!

"Freedom," I sighed when the nurse finally let me out. My arm was feeling normal again, but I had missed dinner. Maybe I could sneak out for a midnight snack.

"Perrrcccy!" Grover bleated, giving me a hug. "I missed you!"

"It was only for a few hours," I said. I was glad that he was over his fight with Nancy though. "I missed dinner. You have anything to eat?"

Grover shook his head. "Normally I would, but today was the weekly inspection, so no. I'm planning on getting a midnight snack though."

I grinned and gave him a high five. "Well, I'm in with that idea."

It turned out that many others wanted midnight snacks that night. We raided the kitchen (picked open by the Stoll brothers) causing mass panic among the staff that were patrolling. In short, it was awesome.

"This is awesome," I said. I got a box of chocolate chip cookies and a whole bunch of candy.

Grover nodded. "We'd better go back to our dorms before the teachers catch us."

We went to my dorm and started talking and eating until we heard the staff knocking on doors making sure everyone was asleep after that kitchen raid. Grover sped off to his room and I quickly crushed my teeth and jumped in bed. I didn't even start reading Tom Sawyer.

Two days later, I was getting somewhat used to the daily class routine. I was able to get to my first class on time, though I had Grover wake me up.

But I was panicking.

"Hey, you actually woke up early," Grover marveled.

"I don't know what to do!" I said, throwing down my book. I was all ready for school—packed and dressed. "I didn't finish the book last night! Annabeth's going to kill me."

Grover frowned. "What? Tom Sawyer? The book report's not due until next Monday."

"She wanted me to finish the book by today," I said. "But I can't read for life."

"Being dyslexic doesn't you can't read," Grover sighed. "You just have trouble reading. And if you were so worried, you could've asked for help or you could've tried reading last night."

"I did," I scowled. "I pulled an all-nighter to read five more chapters."

"You must've been tired," he observed. "You have until fifth period to read it. I'll help you. I'll get Juniper to help too."

"Thanks," I said. "Let's go. I don't want Mrs. Dodds yelling at me for being late."

Grover chuckled and we ran to class avoiding other students. Mrs. Dodds gave me a dirty look since she couldn't single me out since I was on time.

The bell rang and class started. Mrs. Dodds starting droning on about mathematic properties and I got out Tom Sawyer, trying to read it.

"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds snarled, and my head shot up.

"Yes?"

She smirked. "Please answer this question. If you can."

I scowled, and tried to make out the equation. No luck. I probably wouldn't have been able to answer it anyway if I had read it correctly. "Twenty-six," I said randomly.

Mrs. Dodds looked surprised. "Fine, Perseus. I'll let you go this time. Next time you can explain to me why you were reading a book during my class."

"To prove that I could read, unlike what you said the other day," I smirked. Yesterday Mrs. Dodds had called me out again about not being able to read. She wasn't human.

The chalk in her hand snapped as she continued writing on the board.

"Nice one!" Travis whispered.

"Thanks," I said. "But was I really right?"

"Yeah," Grover said and showed me his work.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I opened my book again, but tried to be more careful about it.

It was finally fifth period. And Annabeth wasn't ditching today. Shoot.

"I'll give you class time today to work on your book report," Mr. Blofis said. Mr. Blofis was really nice with salt-and-pepper hair. He reminded of a television actor, but this was his only job. "I chose a fairly easy book for you to work with, so it shouldn't take too long."

I winced as everyone moved seats.

"You didn't read it," Annabeth said as soon as she sat down.

"How'd you know?" I mumbled.

"I can tell," she said, rolling her eyes. "You are such an idiot sometimes."

"I got through half the book," I offered. Grover and Juniper had helped me at lunch in the library to avoid Nancy and Matt.

"I finished it in a few hours," she said.

"Not my fault you ditched yesterday," I said. "I didn't see you at all."

Annabeth sighed. "It's about a guy living along the Mississippi River."

She gave me a brief crash course on the book.

"Uh huh," I said once she was done.

"You get it now?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's weird," I said.

"You should try reading it though," she said and got out the book report format. "We should start by writing the introduction and the conclusion. I'll work on the intro first while you try to finish that."

She gave me a few tips for my ADHD and got started on the introduction while I tried to finish Tom Sawyer. I found myself enjoying reading the book. The tips that Annabeth gave helped.

I actually finished it before class ended.

"Nice job," she smiled and handed me her paper. "You know how to write the conclusion right? If it's hard, just try to make it similar to my introduction. Okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, and the bell rang.

"Class dismissed!" Mr. Blofis said.

"Wait, Annabeth!" I said. I caught up to her in the hallway. "You're in study hall, right?"

"Yeah."

"Can we work on the book report then?" I pleaded. "Don't ditch, even though that's an afterschool activity."

She laughed. "All right then. I'll see you then."

She left, definitely not in the direction of gym. I wondered what other things she was trying to find out.

"There she goes again," Grover said. "She's always ditching. I don't know why."

"I'm going to try and find out," I said. "Do you have any ideas?"

Grover shook his head. "Nah. I try not to get in her way ever since... never mind."

"Ever since what?" I asked. "Is it related to the thing that Nancy teased you about the other day?"

"It's nothing, Percy," he said. "I need to go help Coach Nunley today. See you in homeroom!"

Grover had a lifelong excuse from PE due to a muscle disorder or something. I wasn't sure if that was true though, because I've seen him run when we had enchiladas in the cafeteria.

I jogged outside over to the gym.

"Hurry up cupcakes if you don't want to be late!" Coach Hedge yelled.

Coach Hedge was exactly five feet zero, which was a good thing since if he was any taller, he would be absolutely menacing. I only had one PE class with him, and I hated PE already.

I got changed into our PE clothes which were rainbow tie-dye shirts with running shorts that made us look like hippies. At least the school was closed out so no one else would see us.

"Okay, listen up, cupcakes!" Coach yelled. "We'll start off by running three miles!"

Everyone groaned.

"Be lucky I'm being easy on you since it's the beginning of the school year!" he said. "Now go!"

We started running around the track. I was immediately dropped to one of the last few runners.

"Jackson, you'd better speed up! Don't be a pussy!" Coach yelled.

I clenched my jaw and sped up, but it wasn't much. I was never the best at running.

Well, nice time to improve, I thought, and sped up a little more.

I spotted Clarisse in the way front, jogging leisurely with Luke right behind her. I caught up to Juniper who was surprisingly fast.

"Hey, Juniper," I panted.

"Don't give up now, Percy," Juniper encouraged. "I'm not enjoying this either, but let's try hard. You're doing great!"

I tried to match my pace with hers as we finished the first mile.

"Two more miles to go," I groaned. The bright sun wasn't helping either.

"Be optimistic," Juniper chided.

I felt like I was in heaven when we finished. Coach Hedge let us take a water break which tasted like the drink of the gods.

"Great job out there, cupcakes," Coach said. "Especially you, Clarisse." He glared at all of us. "Why can't you be like her?"

"We're criminals, not body builders," someone mumbled.

Coach Hedge ignored that comment. "I'm in a good mood so I'll let you play basketball for the day. You're dismissed when the bell rings!"

People started pushing and shoving, and Matt used that chance to pound me to the ground as he raced for the basketball. I swear, people at this school weren't human.

We had a fun homeroom where we discussed our favorite things. We played some games afterwards that Chiron had made up, but we ended up breaking a few chairs. The bell rang.

"Today was a nice homeroom," Chiron said. "Everyone is free to go."

"You're going to study hall, right?" Grover said. "I have to go to the environmental club, so I'll come with you."

I nodded. "Grover, do you think you'll ever get released from here?"

Grover sighed and shook his head. "I wish. But I think my crime's too big. And even if I was released, I'd miss you and Juniper."

There it was again. His crime. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but can you tell me?"

"Some other time," he promised. "I don't want to talk about it yet, even though it's been a few years."

He went to the environmental club classroom and I went to study hall.

Study hall had the most students, but it was the least productive. We just hung out and talked, while only a few of us were studying. The classroom we used was cream colored with white tables with matching chairs, but we usually went to the library.

"You took your time," Annabeth said.

Oh yeah. And I only just found out that Annabeth was the leader, or the president. Whatever you prefer.

"Sorry," I sighed.

"Everyone who's going to be working, come with me to the library. The rest of you, just stay here and just pretend you're working. Write like, poetry or something. But do something," Annabeth said, and a few of us followed her to the library.

"Mr. Blofis wants the book report to be at least three or four pages," she said.

"So should we write really long paragraphs?" I asked.

"He gave us a specific outline, but he said, 'feel free to improvise,'" Annabeth said.

"I'll finish writing the conclusion then," I said. "You can start writing the body, I guess."

She nodded and we got to work. I tried to write neatly, but gave up quickly. I still finished, nevertheless.

She read over my conclusion. "Hey, not too bad. You did better than I thought you would."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Whichever one you want it to be," she said. "You can start writing about Tom now. I'm writing about the plot."

"Sure thing," I said.

I found my mind wandering to the letter that my mom sent me. Strange rumors… Students being released randomly… What exactly was going on in this school? Was it a cover for something?

"Uh, Percy? You okay?" Annabeth said, waving her hand in my face.

"Yeah, just thinking," I said. "How old was Tom again?"

She gave me a calculating look and told me the answer.

"I'll look it over once you're done, so no worries," she reassured. She went back to her work, her blond curls falling on her face.

I started writing again. Then I said, "Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" she asked, absorbed in her work. She was probably only half-listening.

"This school isn't what it seems like, is it?" I said.

She looked up and shook her head. "You're right. There's something weird going on in this school."

We didn't speak after that, concentrating on our work as if nothing happened.