FREE FALLING | percy jackson

i. a cursed girl

HANA LEUNG

Hana never had any luck when it came to school. Well, she never had any luck when it came to life in general, but nobody believed her when she said that. Life was too broad, nobody wanted to believe that a fourteen year old girl could be cursed.

But she was cursed.

She was cursed with nightmares. She was cursed with monsters. She was cursed with fear. She was cursed with lies. Lies that others would believe, even if she didn't mean them.

She was cursed because her fate was so delicately intertwined with a world of horrors in Greek mythology and the tragedies the ancient times were famous for. One wrong decision and her cruel fate would turn crueler, more gruesome. But she didn't know that. At least not yet.

The only person who could tell she was cursed was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. That must have been why she stuck around with Hana for so long, she could see the curses too. That was why the girl had a tight grip on Hana's arm, leading her through the maze of Goode High School for the orientation tour. It was only another school she would get kicked out of again.

It was a running joke within the Dare household to make bets on how long Hana would last in her new schools, the girl was notorious for her embarrassing school track record, much to the displeasure of the Leung's. The Leung family was a wealthy family, one that thrived on the success of L. Y. Engineering, the company founded by Hana's late great-grandfather, Yeong Leung when he immigrated to America when Korea was under Japanese rule. Jun Leung had high expectations for his only daughter and his decisions regarding her life were only further supported by her step-mother, Yasmin Park. Goode High School was Hana's tenth school and she was going into ninth grade. The only reason the school had accepted her was because her family had some pull and managed to convince them Hana really was a good student.

Mrs. Dare parked in front of Goode, it was a large brownstone building that looked over East River. Parked beside Mrs. Dare's car, were a bunch of BMW's and Lincoln Town cars and Hana sighed as she unbuckled her seatbelt, how long before she got kicked out of this one? She thought to herself bitterly. Rachel, on the other hand, was far more excited to see the school as she nearly jumped out of her seat to kiss her mom on the cheek and ran out of the car.

"Thanks for the drive, Mrs. Dare," Hana told the woman. She looked so much like Rachel it was unnerving. They had identical curly red hair and so many freckles Hana almost wished they could have left some for her since she had not a single one.

Mrs. Dare turned around in her seat to face Hana and smiled kindly. Hana had always liked Mrs. Dare, better than Mr. Dare at least. "Be good, Hana. You'll have a great time, just don't do anything stupid. Your dad is already trying so hard to get you here."

Hana forced a small smile to refrain from pursing her lips and nodded, joining Rachel who was waiting for her outside the car. Mrs. Dare then pulled away from the school and Rachel's smile disappeared, instead being replaced by a look of concern.

"Are you alright?" She asked the smaller girl. Rachel stood at least a couple inches taller than Hana so they fit the tall and short best friend duo perfectly. That's what Rachel said at least. Hana nodded.

Rachel didn't push the girl any farther. She knew that she got anxious when they got to a new school and Rachel didn't blame her, if she had been kicked out of every school she had ever been to then she would be anxious too.

Hana and Rachel walked towards Goode, there were probably more than a hundred students around Hana's age outside alone, not to mention the students who would be already inside. As they approached the entrance, an older man was kindly smiling and welcoming each of the future freshman students. He had dark hair that was just beginning to gray, he was wearing denim clothes and a leather jacket, which Hana thought was an interesting choice for a high school teacher. It looked like he was trying to dress as a TV actor but Hana was impressed by his effort. She was pretty sure if she was the one tasked with welcoming a group of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds who had no desire to be there she would have just stayed in her sweatpants and made a sign saying, 'Welcome to Goode!'