Percy

Shannon P.O.V.

"I never did ask when you came back to school, why do you have a gray strip of hair?" I asked my friend Annabeth. I went to school with her last year, but this year, she seemed different. She had come to the school halfway through, looking tired and beaten down, with a strip of gray hair.

She stroked the gray area and winced, as if the memory was painful, "I don't like to talk about it."

That was her answer to almost everything since she had gotten back. It's like she had lost all life, taken on the weight of the world. I sort of miss my friend, but none of us can figure it out. We're all at a loss.

I was about to reply, when we reached our friend group pertaining to Michael, Emily, Sophie, Aaron, Annabeth and I. They looked at me expectantly, seeing if I had gotten an answer. I shook my head, watching as they all deflated.

We were always trying to cheer her up, but every time we did, she would give a small smile that didn't convince anyone, and just sigh sadly.

We were about to start our daily effort, when someone tapped Annabeth on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I'm new here, and I was wondering if you could show me around."

We all turned to see a tall, handsome guy with sea-green eyes and black hair with a gray strip that looked suspiciously like Annabeth's...

We were all expecting her to just sort of say no in a nice way and walk away, but she surprised us all by turning around with a smirk playing at her lips, "Oh, I don't know. You might be too much of a Seaweed Brain for that to happen. What if you got me kidnapped by some lunatic to be dragged across the country."

Everyone in our group went 'Ooooooooh'. No way this kid could think of a comeback for that. Annabeth had smarts like no one could believe. This kid looked like someone who couldn't think of a comeback to save his life.

"Well, maybe if you got that Wise Girl head of yours out of those Architecture books long enough to look around at what's going on in the real world, that wouldn't be a problem." He replied, lightly rapping his knuckles on Annabeth's head when he said Wise Girl. Most of us gasped at what he said. Not many people got out alive from a confrontation with Annabeth.

Annabeth stepped up to him, "Kelp for Brains."

"Owl Head."

"Algae Ears."

"That's new. Where did you get that one? Your Archeology books talking about Atlantis again?" We were all expecting for Annabeth to sock this kid in the nose, but, once again, she surprised us by tackling him into a hug.

"I missed you Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth squealed while laughing. Wait a second, Annabeth doesn't squeal or laugh...

We were all staring at her in shock. We hadn't seen this Annabeth in a very long time. It was nice to have her back, but so suddenly? It was a little weird.

She introduced us to the boy as Percy. We were going to see him again at lunch.

This should be exciting.

Lliinneebbrreeaakk

We all watched as Annabeth was trying to drag Percy over to our table. It was eery how quickly she had changed because of this Percy guy. Percy's hand was outstretched in the other direction while he complained, "Ketchup! I must have ketchup!"

"All you have for lunch is pudding and cookies! Why in Hades would you need ketchup!?"

"I like ketchup!" Percy argued.

"I will not hesitate to judo flip you, Percy!"

Percy stopped struggling and sighed, "I'd fight you, but I don't want to embarrass you in front of your friends by winning."

"In your dreams, Water Buffalo." She said as she tugged him over.

He froze right as he was about to sit down and pointed a finger at Annabeth, "You do realize you just called me fat, right?"

She frowned, "I guess your right."

"Wait. Hold the phone. Did the Annabeth Chase just admit that I'm right? This is history being made people!" Percy said, holding his arms in the air and performing a small dance.

"Perseus Jackson. Stop it right now or the next thing I will be doing is calling the Stolls for blackmail material." Annabeth said with a terrifying glare sent at him.

Percy paled visibly and immediately stopped dancing, "Yes, ma'am." He picked up his water bottle and started to take a sip.

"Guys, hate to interrupt, but Nancy Bobofit, nine o'clock." Emily said.

Percy spewed the water all over the table, "Say again?"

"Nancy Bobofit."

"Did somebody say my name?" The one and only she-devil said from behind Percy. Percy fell backward out of his seat, sprawling across the floor. He scrambled to his feet and looked at Nancy.

"Dork much?" She said to him.

"I see you haven't changed since middle-school, Nancy." Percy spat. Wait... What?

"Percy Jackson?" She replied in shock and recognition. This was getting weirder by the second.

"Oh so you do remember me? I'm surprised. Do you remember Grover too? He sure does miss you." Percy said with venom and sarcasm.

"Do you know who this is?" Annabeth asked Percy.

"Shut it, blondie. This doesn't involve you." Nancy said to her.

Percy got in her face, "Do. Not. Insult. Annabeth."

"I see your still protective of your friends." Nancy said.

"At least I have friends that aren't a bunch of goons that followed you around thinking you'd make them cooler every time they helped you pick on Grover and I. They must have short-circuiting brains because they would have become more popular following the janitor around." Percy said. I was starting to respect this kid more and more with each passing second. He must have been hanging around Annabeth longer than we thought, because he had amazing comebacks.

"How rude!" Nancy screeched.

"Me? Rude? I'm the rude one?" Percy let out a short laugh, "Grover would laugh in your face right now. By the way, he wanted to thank you for the advice on the hair gel mixture. Peanut butter and Ketchup really did wonders for his hair. He especially loved that he got to keep his new look for two days." Holy crap, this kid was good!

"You know, you surely have changed your appearance since middle school. Back then you looked like a little wimp that couldn't bench press a marshmallow." Nancy spat.

"Says the one I pushed into a fountain."

"You still owe me a shirt, by the way."

"Like I would give you anything in the next few millennia. I think that I did you a favor by ruining that shirt. Hephestaus would have better wardrobe choice."

"I beg to differ."

"So would Grover. He loved all the advice you gave him about his wardrobe choices. I think his favorite was when you gave him a banana peel hat." Percy said, smirking.

"Tell him I said he looked better with my lunch in his lap." Percy looked like he was going to explode.

Percy sprang forward to attack, but Annabeth held him back, "Percy, don't. She's not worth it."

Nancy retreated, looking scared as heck.

Ten points for the new kid.

*Author's Note*

Ooh, Nancy's back!

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Keep Smiling,

AlgaeEars