Disclaimer: The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series was written by and is owned by Rick Riordan. The use of his characters in this piece is for the enjoyment of readers, and is not collecting any profit

Annabeth POV

Starting a new school is never fun. Trust me; I've had more than enough experience. But I was optimistic about this one.

I rounded the corner and looked at the school for the first time. It was a large brownstone building that overlooked the East River. As I walked in, I marveled at the archway.

The school was full of people hugging their friends and some more enthusiastic girls squealing. As always, the halls were difficult to navigate. No matter which school you go to, hallways will always be an unpleasant place.

I went straight to my locker and started to decorate it with pictures of Camp. One was of me and Percy at the beach, but the sun was setting so you could only see our silhouettes. Another was of the whole camp and the gods on Olympus, taken after the war. It was for official purposes, some kind of record, but being the architect of Olympus has its perks. I was able to snag a copy.

I got everything put in my locker when I heard a familiar voice.

"Annabeth!" I heard Thalia yell. I didn't see her until she tackled me in a huge hug.

"Oh my gods Thalia! What are you doing here?"

"Artemis wanted me to recruit some new Hunters, so I'll be here for a semester," she responded. We compared schedules. We had two classes together.

The warning bell rang and I made my way to English with… . Looks like I had Paul as my teacher.

"Annabeth, it's great to see you!" he said when I entered the room. I could tell he was about to ask what I was doing here, but before he could our conversation was interrupted.

I was taken off guard when someone grabbed me and lifted me off my feet and then kissed me. I was about to yell at this person when I saw green eyes looking into mine.

"How are you here? I thought you were going to some special private school? What's your schedule? What about your dad?" he rattled off questions until he was interrupted by the bell. We took our seats next to each other and smiled. This year was going to be crazy. I hadn't even mentioned I had seen Thalia. And I didn't know it, but he hadn't mentioned he had seen Nico.

I could tell this year would be fun. If my secret wasn't revealed…

"So why are you at Goode?" Percy asked as we walked to lunch. I hadn't been able to have a proper conversation with him all day.

"I convinced my parents that coming here would be just as good as going to a boarding school." I lied easily.

"Really?" Percy looked skeptical, but he bought it. "Well, that's great. Where are you staying?"

"On Olympus with my mom," Another lie. Thankfully I had practiced these, otherwise I would really be throwing myself under the bus.

Percy's eyebrows rose comically. Thankfully he didn't point out how unusual it would be for a god to invite their kid to stay with them on Olympus. I felt a twinge of guilt for taking advantage of Percy's naïve-ness and the fact that he trusted me completely.

I shook off the feeling as we sat at the lunch table. I was going to school with Percy, and Thalia was here too. There was no reason to feel guilty.

Thalia dropped like a sack in the seat across from me. "I didn't know high school was so horrible." She moaned.

"How long is Artemis having you stay?" I asked.

"One semester, maybe? I guess it depends how fast I can recruit." She shrugged. "Oh, hey Death Breath."

"Hey," I turned around to see Nico walking to our table. He wore his usual black outfit with menacing looking boots.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked.

"Going to school," Nico deadpanned.

"Very funny," Thalia rolled her eyes. "He means what are you doing in a high school, twerp. You're what, 10?"

"Haha, very funny. I'm 13."

"That barely makes you old enough to be a freshman." Percy frowned.

"Worried about me Jackson?" Nico smirked. "How sweet."

"Stop avoiding the question, Nico." I said.

That seemed to get a response from him. "Fine. Until now I was being tutored by the Furies. You'd be surprised how much you can learn when you have nothing else to do. I was perfectly fine until Persephone convinced my father that I should spend some time with the living. All they've done so far is annoy me. Truthfully I think she just wanted me gone while she was there in the winter."

I nodded, empathetic to his plight. I had a difficult relationship with my step-mother too, only she didn't have the power to turn me into a daisy.

The rest of the day was uneventful. When it was time to go home, I walked in the direction of the Empire State building before doubling back to a small apartment I had managed to get. With a lot of loans from the Hermes cabin. They may be thieves, but if you are respected enough (like me) they'll give you a decent price on a loan.

My drafty apartment was expensive, it was New York. But I was grateful for it.

Now I needed to figure out how to pay the bills as a minor. Although, I'm sure the Stolls can help with that too.