New Rome University

Chapter 1: That Was Easy

I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling fan. The sound of the swooshing air through the spinning blades filled the room with a low hum. Cars drove by outside honking horns and engines roaring as they took off down the neighborhood streets. Kids were yelling and playing outside as they celebrated their freshly week old summer vacation.

However, I couldn't hear a thing. The world around me seemed to stand perfectly still, silent, unwavering. The last four years were flying before my eyes like the wings of a hummingbird, one blink and you will miss something. Every class, every lunch, every friday night football game leading to a 'post game pity party.' Everyone knew we were horrible at the sport, but that only made the last game of the season all the more exciting as the Broncos flew to our first win in 5 years! Taking my school farther than they had ever gone, and winning the state championship swim meet, concreting a sure scholarship to college, and my name in the school halls forever! Winter break Grover and I went skiing with my mom in Colorado, a special treat for our senior year from her and my step dad Paul. Prom night under the stars. All gone.

I snapped back into it as I heard my mom laugh downstairs. She was in the kitchen singing (more like screeching) away to the songs of the good ole days with my step-dad as they prepared for my graduation party tonight. That's what I would miss most of all I think. Even through all of the hardships of my dad having to leave us and me struggling in school, she was always there to make me smile with a hug or a fresh batch of blue whatever she was making. Looking down at my feet I let out a sleepy sigh and managed the strength to rock up to a seated position. I should probably head downstairs and help set up for tonight. Just thinking about it brought a smile to my face, a whole party about me with all of my friends and family that I loved so dearly. Even my dad said he might stop in for a few seconds, you know, enough time to say hi and grab a slice of cake before I kicked him out so he and my mom wouldn't tell embarrassingly vivid baby percy stories to unprepared teenagers. I slung my feet over the side of my bed and jumped onto the floor. As I glided across the carpet to the door I caught a glimpse of my cap and gown in the closet. I felt the world stop again for a split second and an empty feeling filled my gut.

"Perc, can you come help me with the cookies? My current helper insists on eating the dough instead of rolling it onto the sheet." My mother called filling the house with her sarcastic tone. It took me a second to faze back into existence and run over what she had said before I heard Paul let out a quick laugh between bites. I smirked at the idea of the two of them running around the kitchen, my mom swinging her whisk as Paul winced and prepared to take the hit for just one more bite of blue chocolaty goodness. As much as I hated to admit it, she was going to be just fine without me.

"Yeah mom, I'll be right down." I yelled. Taking one quick glance into my closet again to see my last remaining shard of High School, I slipped out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. Regardless of how this party went, I was going to make this summer one to remember!

"August tenth!" my mom let out as she helped me go over my packing list. "How in the world is it August tenth?!" She waved around the paper like a frantic member of Parliament, obviously looking for a similar sentiment from me. I ripped the fitted sheet out from around my mattress and looked at my mom to grab the other side to help fold it.

"I don't know mom, but can you hand me the list, I really don't want to forget anything important." She gave me a sideways frown, reluctantly handed me the now wrinkled piece of paper, and picked up the sheet to fold it. Reading down the list I started to get lost in what she said. To be honest, I was struggling with the idea too. The summer was a blur of going to the pool, on trips with friends, the pool, a family trip to the beach, and back to the pool. This summer has been everything I could have hoped for to wrap up my last 4 years. My whole life so far really. Yet I couldn't help but consider the fact that with every fun thing I did this summer, it always seemed to end with a goodbye. Goodbye to my dad after our first full family trip to the beach. Goodbye to Hazel and Frank after the amazing few days at Disney World. Goodbye to Grover after I helped him move into his dorm. And tomorrow, goodbye to my Mom and Paul. The fear of leaving home was creeping up slowly into my soul all summer, and it seemed to all be coming to me now.

"Earth to Percy" I looked up to face my mom who had cocked her head to the side and was looking at me with concern. She smirked, "Deep in Confusion thought, I have no doubt." she let out a small chuckle.

"Hey!" I picked up my pillow off the floor and threw it at her. She gasped and grabbed her arm, falling to the floor in as dramatic a fashion as she could, letting out short breaths and exaggerated pleas on the way down. When she looked up at me I cracked a smile and we both let out a laugh that brought me to my knees. I looked up from my newly found mattress pillow and met her gaze. "I'm going to miss you a lot mom." For a second we sat in silence, just looking at each other.

"I'm going to miss you too Percy, more than you know." Another beat passed. I could see her eyes start to well up and her cheeks began to burn. "Well!" she said, getting a hold of herself. She jumped to her feet and grabbed the pillow I had tossed so ceremoniously across the bed at her. "Let's make sure you're all packed and gone before I cry and try to convince you to stay." I gave her a warm smile, placed the pillow in a box, and kept going through clothes.

The taxi cab turned the corner and, for the first time, New Rome University came into full view. My dad had met me at the airport in Portland to ride with me to his alma mater.

"She looks different than the last time I was here." Poseidon said as the large buildings came into view. "In fact, most of these buildings look new or updated, your Uncle has been hard at work making sure this place is top notch. You're lucky." My dad and Uncles had all gone to NRU for school. Uncle Hades liked it so much he stayed and worked his way up to being the dean of the school a few years ago.

My dad looked over at me as I gazed out the window. The campus was huge and kids were scattered all across the green playing frisbee, handing out flyers for student clubs and social groups, or just lounging around talking. We passed the library and school buildings and finally landed in front of the main office buildings. A man stood on the curb waving at our cab. He was tall, and wore an all black suit that made him look menacing and professional, but his smile was light. Next to him on the curb was a student, who I could only describe as the exact opposite of his father, other than their color pallets. He wore ripped black jeans, a T-Shirt for some band who all appeared to be wearing masks and destroying their instruments, and a beanie that covered his dark straight hair. Large headphones covered his ears and he appeared to be intently viewing something on his phone. That was my cousin, Nico. The cab came to a stop and my dad practically jumped out.

"You look terrible!" my dad yelled to my uncle as he pulled him into a huge bear hug.

"And you smell worse!" My Uncle Hades replied, pushing him off. He and Posiden both laughed. It had been a while since my dad and Uncle had seen each other. We lived in New York and they lived in Oregon, so holidays were really the only time we saw each other, and even then we missed a few years here and there. I knew my dad missed his brother.

"The plane was hot, and the cab ride was hotter." My dad replied with a smile. "I figured you would rent out a stretched limo to bring us in, but I guess your frugality leads to your suffering." He tried to pull my uncle into a second hug making sure to put his arm pit just a little closer to his face. Hades stuck his arms up and backed away in fear, and they shared another laugh. By that point I had gotten out of the cab and the driver was helping me get my bags out of the trunk. My Uncle and dad walked over to help grab some boxes.

"It's nice to you again Percy." My uncle said as he grabbed a box labeled Bathroom. "You look more and more like your father everytime I see you." Nico still stood on the curb headphones covering his ears and staring at his phone. His dad walked over and bumped him with the box before loading it onto the moving cart he had ready for me. He jumped at the sudden contact and looked up. He looked angry with Hades until his eyes met mine.

"Oh, hey Percy!" He walked towards the back of the cab just in time for us to have already moved everything onto the cart. He looked down at all of the stuff we had already unloaded. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough for you to feel bad if you don't help him move in." Hades said as he motioned towards the loaded moving cart. Nico winced and walked over behind the cart and began to push it up the sidewalk. My dad paid the taxi driver and it disappeared down the road further onto motioned for my dad and I to follow him. "Come on Percy, we will help you settle into your new home and then I'll show you and your dad around the campus. We have a lot of new buildings and areas that he doesn't know about" My Uncle winked at my dad in an I know more than you fashion. Poseidon rolled his eyes, picked up the last box, and followed us towards the dorms.

My room was nice, like really nice! I guess that is a perk of having an Uncle who is the Dean. I didn't even have to share with anyone really. I had a small one bedroom with a connecting bathroom to Nico's room. It might have been nice to have a roommate considering I just moved across the country and had zero friends here, but at least I had Nico to start. He and I were never super close, but close enough to hang out.

After getting me all moved, the tour began. Nico had already been at NRU for a week or so with his dad, so he chose to stay in his dorm while Uncle Hades showed Dad and I around. The campus was beautiful! We saw the main green again after passing it on the way in, the dining hall (which was nationally ranked), and they even had an olympic sized pool! I made a mental note to go back there later for practice. I wanted to get in a few sessions before practices and competitions started in October.

Deep in thought about winning a national championship as a Freshman, I didn't notice my dad and Uncle had stopped moving until I literally ran into a pole. Or, at least I thought it was a pole. I began to doubt that when it moved and started speaking.

"Woah man, watch where you're going." The boy, or man more like it, was slightly taller than me and a bit broader. I looked up to meet his blue eyes just slightly covered by his sandy yellow hair. He met me with a smirk as he looked down at me, my face beginning to burn from embarrassment.

"Ahh Luke, this is my nephew, Percy Jackson. And Percy, this" Hades said through a smile "is Luke Castellan." The blond headed student looked up to see the Dean walking towards us and gave a big wave. Hades continued, "He is the president of the senior class, regularly on my Dean's list, and captain of the swim team."

I quickly took a step back and took an actual look at the boy in front of me. I had heard his name before. Last year when I was being recruited by the school's swim coach I had been invited to one of their meets. Luke had broken a school record in the 100 Fly finishing in 44.82 seconds. I remembered his name because I had truly been in awe of him just a few months ago.

"Nice to meet you Percy, Coach Hedge has been going on about this great freshman we were getting from New York, your reputation definitely proceeds you. Glad to have you here!" Luke reached out his hand and grabbed mine to shake it. I returned the favor and gave him a smile.

"Hopefully I can live up to Coach's expectations." I responded.

"If you're even close to what he says you are, we have a shot at some serious medals this year!" Luke responded. He shot me one last smile then waved at Hades again before turning to walk off, "Bye Dean Pluto!"

My dad and I both turned to my Uncle, "Pluto?" my dad asked. Hades looked into the air and sighed. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and began to scroll through his pictures.

"I guess Percy would have found out eventually and told you." Hades continued to look before finding a picture and showing us. "A few years ago the Administration and I thought it would be fun to dress up for Halloween and walk around campus giving candy to students. We chose to be Disney characters and I got stuck as the dog." He put his phone away as my dad and I met eyes trying to hold back a laugh. "Pictures of me in my costume got around and the name has haunted me ever since." I would have to find a way to get that picture and make sure to send it to everyone back home. I'm sure Uncle Zeus could use his company's sign in Time Square to make sure that picture made its proper debut in the big apple.

"So this is the new library?" my dad said, trying to spare my Uncle any further embarrassment.

"Yes, we just finished it last year. All brand new computers, state of the art document readers, and room to bring in and store collections safely from around the world." My Uncle looked very proud of his new creation. I even had to admit, the place looked impressive. The front was made of glass panels that extended all the way up the 5 story building. The ground floor appeared to be filled with comfortable meeting areas with sofas and arm chairs. As I looked through for what might be the most secluded spot for fun hang outs or studying, my eyes fell on a girl sitting in the corner by herself listening to music. She had blond curly hair pulled into a ponytail underneath a New York Yankees hat. I was glad to see I wasn't the only New Yorker that had made the trip across the country. Maybe making friends wouldn't be so hard after all.

"I'm sure Percy will get great use out of that feature, won't you son?" I quickly looked back hearing my name. Both Posiden and Hades were looking at me expectantly.

"Uh, yeah, that sounds great!" My dad and Uncle smiled at me and my Uncle started to walk us back towards the dorms where we first pulled up.

"So what is there to do around here?" I asked Nico, "I don't want to waste my first night at school sitting in my room all night." He was laying on his bed scrolling through his phone while I sat at his desk waiting for him to respond.

"Um, I'm not sure exactly what's going on around campus tonight, I just got here a week ago and going out isn't exactly my thing." Nico responded, "Don't you want to just chill for a bit, you did just move in." He was right, it had been a long day. I had really enjoyed the tour Uncle Hades gave, and was going to miss my dad, but when we finally made it back to where we started I was practically forcing him into his cab to take him back to the airport. I had seen so many cool things and people around campus that day, and I couldn't wait to make it all familiar.

Seeing as Nico was no help, I decided to go out about 7:00 pm and just walk around campus to see if anything fun was going on. There were a few small groups of friends walking around or going to the student center to get some food together. I considered walking in after them until my eyes fell on a small building next to the library that I hadn't seen earlier that day. I guess between running into Luke, Hades droning on, and the girl in the library I had completely missed it hidden away under some trees. As I moved closer I saw the name Late Night Learner's Cafe. I wasn't much of a coffee person, but the dim lighting inside the old brick building stood out in contrast to the more modern buildings all over campus that I was intrigued.

I pushed open the door and found a cozy little building full of booths and tables. In the corner was a smaller more personal seating area with bean bags and book shelves. The shelves were full of books of all kinds with a sign that read Book Exchange/Book Borrowing. A few people sat on the bean bags reading while others occupied only one of the booths by the door. I moved towards the back of the building where I saw two students standing behind the counter.

"Hey, this is a cool place, I would think this would be a popular place on campus." I said as I walked up. The boy behind the counter turned to meet my gaze and smiled. He was a little taller than me and had blond hair with electric blue eyes. I was starting to feel like I would need to dye my hair blonde to fit in at this school.

"It used to be before the new student center opened," The boy answered, "Now we are lucky if we have a few consistent people a week who enjoy the vibe. I'm Jason, welcome to the cafe." He was drying a cup with a towel and placed it down in a rack. He pointed to the small sign at the edge of the counter with different coffees and baked goods. "Can I get you anything?" I looked over the list of cookies, croissants, and coffee.

"Try the snickerdoodle, Jason makes them himself and they're the only thing that got me through finals last semester." A voice from behind me called out. I turned to see a girl sitting alone at a table drinking a small coffee. Her plate had a half eaten snicker doodle on it. "Trust me, I'm pretty smart."

"I don't mean to toot my own horn, but she's kind of right," Jason said, "On both the former and the latter." The girl at the table gave him a smile before flipping her hair in agreement. Clearly these two knew each other.

"Alright Jason, then I guess I will have the snicker doodle." I turned back to the Brunette girl at the table. "Thanks for the tip." She reached out and patted the seat across from her. I walked over and sat down.

"Hi, I'm Piper" She said, "We don't usually have new people walk in here on night one. Normally people only stumble in here in a drowsy haze during finals week not knowing if it's real or a mirage."

"I'm Percy, and to be honest I was going out looking for a party to make new friends tonight and this place just caught the corner of my eye." I said looking around the room. "It looks a lot older than the rest of the school."

"It was set to be torn down a few years ago when the new library was being built, but I convinced the Dean to let us stay open. If nothing else then as a little piece of campus history." Jason said as he came out with my cookie. He laid it on the table in front of me and leaned on an empty chair. "The second I got him to start rambling on about the 'good ol' days' I knew we were going to be here to stay." I started to reach for my wallet when he stopped me. "First one is on the house, we have to get you hooked somehow." He smiled and walked back behind the counter.

"That's how he got me." Piper warned, "And now I can't survive more than a day away from his coffee and treats." She looked over at Jason and they shared a small laugh. I was starting to think they might be more than just friends. "And it's a good thing you came in here before one of those party animals found you. We are far more fun to hang out with." She said biting into her cookie again.

I turned back to look at Jason, "Is she always this sure of herself?"

Jason leaned on the counter and chuckled to himself. "You know Percy, I thought the exact same thing last year when she first walked in here." he looked up at me and then over to Piper. "It turned out she would be just as sure about her first coffee order as the day she asked me on our first date."

I turned to look at Piper a little surprised and impressed with her forwardness. "I know what I want." she said. She smiled into her coffee as she took her final sip.

"Well then I'll consider myself lucky to have walked into here." I said to Piper, "and I'll have to thank my Uncle for not closing this place down, I am sure if he was reminiscing then he and my dad both spent time here in their hay day." I took a bite of the snickerdoodle. Oh man. She wasn't kidding. I would have to see if Jason could make some of these in blue. Maybe I'll save that conversation for another day.

"Wait, Dean Pluto is your Uncle?" Piper sat up in her seat, she shot a smile towards Jason, "See," she said, slumping back down in her seat very happy with herself, "I told you I always pick great friends." Jason laughed and rolled his eyes. He grabbed his towel off his shoulder and started to clean more cups behind the counter.

I turned back to look at Jason while Piper began to hum something to herself. "Is it really that easy to make friends around here?" He looked up from his cup and threw the towel back over his shoulder

"It is with Piper. And don't bother arguing, you, Percy, have been claimed by the great Piper. Consider us both friends for life." We both turned back to Piper who was still humming and looking at her phone, but her smile said she heard every word and was having a great time hearing Jason give me the introduction to my new life.

"Well that was easy." I said. I didn't know if I was talking to myself or the others in the room, but I felt like somehow, someway Frank and Hazel had sent these two to make sure I had friends who were just as nice and supportive as them.