The Olympian Of McKinley High

Chapter 5: New Friends

"Are you ready to go Percy?" Sally asked her son as she watched him finish packing his new backpack with books and binders. She felt badly to have dropped school onto the boy's shoulders when he had already been through so much in the past few years. She didn't want him to resent her for it.

"Yeah. Quinn said I could ride with her." Percy said as he looked up at his mom who stood in the doorway of his bedroom. He wasn't completely happy with the prospect of going to school but he knew it was something his mom really wanted him to do. He saw the worried look on her face and immediately knew he was doing the right thing. "Mom you were right. I should finish high school. Don't worry, I'm not running back to camp on you."

Sally laughed, all traces of worry being replaced with a humorous smile. "Good, because if you had done that I would have sent your father after you." Percy faked a scared expression and made his mom laugh again. He then picked up his bag and moved to stand in front of her. Sally leaned forward and hugged her son in the doorway. "Have a great day Percy and stay out of trouble."

This time it was Percy who couldn't hold in his laughter. "Mom, I'm going to school, not war."

Sally hummed. "Some would say they are the same thing." With that the two headed downstairs to meet Paul, Quinn, and Judy by the front door.

"Have a good day Percy. Behave yourself." Paul said teasingly as he ruffled the boy's black hair.

"Why does everyone think I'm going to cause trouble?" Percy said with an innocent smile on his face. "I promise I wont blow this one up."

Both Paul and Sally burst into laughter. Percy soon joined them, leaving Quinn and Judy clueless as to why blowing up a school was so funny.

"Okay Percy. We should go. We don't want to be late." Quinn said when some of the laughs had died down. Percy nodded. After a round of goodbye's the two teens headed out towards Quinn's car.

The drive was silent, filled with nerves and excitement. Percy found he was kind of looking forward to school in an odd way. The thought of something so normal and common seemed unrealistic in his mind. Percy smiled as he dreamed about the assumedly dull day ahead.

When they pulled into the school parking lot Percy couldn't believe how normal everything looked. He turned to look at Quinn beside him. She looked nervous. Percy couldn't understand why. "Are you coming?"

Quinn shook her head. She glanced around the parking lot every so often, almost as if she didn't want people to notice her. "I'm not going to walk in with you. Sorry, but there's some people I need to talk to."

Percy nodded his head. He jumped out of the car and swung his backpack over his shoulder. As he walked the short distance between Quinn's car and the front doors he looked around at all of the people. It was rather obvious who was popular and who wasn't. A bunch of cheerleaders walked together with a group of boys in varsity jackets following behind them.

Percy walked inside and pulled out his class schedule to look up his locker number and combination. When he found his locker he spent almost five minutes trying to get it open. As he attempted to get his lock to work he glanced around the hall. There was some weird, white kid with hair that almost looked like an afro. What was even weirder was the fact that he had a camera crew following behind him as he interviewed different people. At the moment he was trying to get some really tall guy in a varsity jacket to talk. The guy didn't seem too bright.

When his locker was finally open Percy went about putting his numerous binders into it. He was about to close it and walk away when a kid walked up to the locker beside his. As the kid worked to open his own locker Percy glanced at him and inwardly laughed. The boy gave off the effect of being a tough guy, but after spending years with Clarisse, Percy didn't really think he was all that. The funniest part of him was his Mohawk. It was as if he had to show others just how much of a badass he was.