The One From Before

Part one- The one from before

The backpack felt heavier than usual. He despised that he had to take a textbook with him everyday. As if the world wanted to punish him more than the detentions did this week. A detention for the stupidest of reasons too. It was no surprise though, most of his teachers disliked him. Trouble Maker. Slacker. Whatever.

To him though, he never thought himself fully at fault for anything that happened. Trouble came to him, it was inevitable.

After a while he tried to just stop caring about the worrying anymore, he couldn't avoid it. He would try to forget it, but it was like his teachers held stronger grudges than anyone else in the world.

Almost anyone.

The fate of some situations were inevitable.

Percy Jackson was walking through the hall with a few of his friends. He wasn't really paying attention to them, he was more preoccupied thinking about the new student he overheard the office talking about. They didn't get many new students at the school and most people here knew or knew of each other already. He hoped to introduce himself, make a good start with someone unaware of his reputation.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder several times before he caught Percy's attention. Grover, his best friend, with a constant tangle of hair and a constant need for steamy coffee like the one he clutched now.
They were meeting at Olympus Cafe sometime after school, a nice, refreshing spot they would go to often. Grover wanted reassurance on the time, Percy muttered something and waved him off as the shock of who the new kid was, came to be.

//ANNABETHS POV\\
Annabeth was stuffing her books into her rusting locker. It was her first day at a new school and she was nervous, to say the least.

Fake it until you make it, her mother would always tell her, so Annabeth would present a wall of confidence until she actually felt it.

A student emailed Annabeth introducing herself as Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Rachel would be Annabeth's tour guide for the week and help her settle in. She and Rachel had most of the same classes so it would work out well.

Earlier this morning she emailed Annabeth again apologizing profusely because she was sick and unable to come to school. So much for the tour. Where was room 306 for science?

Here she was, at her narrow blue locker, trying to make all her books and binders fit while not being late for her first class. She gave up and just threw all her stuff in. Next time she'd bring a bigger bag for the day so she wouldn't have to deal with this, she didn't even know if she'd have time to come back before her next class.

Annabeth had to slam her body against the locker to get it to shut. She took a deep breath and made note of her surroundings. Locker 106, above was a painted mural with an owl dressed like Albert Einstein. The owl was saying some cheesy quote like: Owlbert Einstein wants to remind you to have a hooting day of learning.

She assumed she was on the first floor.... So where was the third floor staircase? A group of people passed by, and she nearly dropped her books in surprise. Percy Jackson?! She had to end up at the one school that Percy went to? What a cruel twist of fate.

Percy was an old friend, they had a bad falling out a while ago. Thank goodness he didn't see her, she was not ready to deal with him again. She tucked her head down and wandered the floor until she found a stairwell.

Annabeth got to the third floor and mastered the courage to ask someone for directions. They pointed to a thick wooden door with a poster of a chemistry set and a crooked door knocker of a fish. To the left of the door was a big glass display case of homemade projects of organs and atoms. Annabeth felt kind of stupid for missing something so obvious.

She knocked on the door. The teacher smiled and greeted her "Come in, come in. I'm Mrs. Meakchan, '' Mrs. Meakchan had carefully designed red curls and red oval glasses. She wore a green cardigan and layered skirts. She gestured to the only empty seat right in front of the teachers desk. So this is what I got herself into, she thought as she looked at Mrs.Meakchan.

"Class this is Annabeth Chase, Annabeth Chase this is class," Mrs. Meakchan's voice was raspy but her body language seemed nice, maybe she wouldn't be terrible. Annabeth looked around at the class. Her eyes focus on one boy sitting in the back of the class in jeans and a Navy Blue varsity jacket. If it wasn't bad enough that they would pass each other in the halls, now she had her favourite class with him. She sat down quickly and opened up her notebooks.

They were working on chemistry. Even though she missed just over a month of the first semester, science was always her forte, she could do this easily. At her last school she was in the advanced program, so this shouldn't be too much of a challenge to catch up. The teacher smiled at Annabeth as she summarized what they were working on before continuing.

Annabeth knew the answers to most of the questions. She also knew that if you wanted to get on a teacher's good side quickly you had to show that you want to be there and participate. Her hand would launch upwards and Mrs. Meakchan would look surprised as she gestured to Annabeth to give the answer.
Throughout the class Annabeth had done well answering a lot of questions.

At the back of the class she could feel Percy looking at her. She wouldn't give him another thought, she wouldn't look back, she would ignore Percy like he was ignoring this class.

The bell rang and students quickly shuffled out of the classroom. Annabeth didn't have any other classes with Percy for the rest of the day, phew.

She met a nice girl named Piper who helped her find her math class after wandering into two wrong classes.

Doctor Sheamus, teacher of math said a paper on the wall. The teacher made Annabeth introduce herself in front of the class. She sat at one of the only open desks in the middle of the class. Seconds after she sat down a kid came rushing into class. Annabeth had never seen someone's presence get a frown so deep from a teacher.

"Late again Mr. Jackson" he scowled, so much distaste into one note.

"Sorry Mr. Sheamus," he mumbled.

"Doctor," he corrected, "Take a seat"

Percy Jackson walked to the only empty seat.

Beside Annabeth.

Annabeth ignored him.

He tapped on her shoulder.

Annabeth ignored him.

He tried handing her a note.

She ignored him.

"Psst," he whispered. Annabeth turned around in her chair. "Be quiet Percy, I'm trying to focus." she hissed. Percy was about to talk again when the teacher called him out. "Mister Jackson, something you'd like to share with the class?"

Percy leaned back and sighed "No sir," Dr. Sheamus gave him a dirty look before returning to teaching.

As soon as class was over Annabeth got up and left.

She didn't want to talk to Percy Jackson, not now. Maybe not ever again.