Heroes of New York

TWO - PROJECT

Chapter Two

~Percy Jackson~

A high pitched beeping woke me, the shrill screams of the arai fresh in my mind. I almost pulled out Riptide before I realized it was just the screeching of my alarm clock. I stood from my chair slowly and stretched, trying to get the cricks out of my neck and back from falling asleep on my desk.

I looked at the still beeping alarm. It was five-thirty (damn you, camp routine), plenty of time to get ready. After shutting off the noise, I got dressed into jeans and a faded band shirt. Gathering my homework from the desk, I made sure Riptide was in my pocket and that my bead necklace was on before I headed to the kitchen.

I made some coffee for myself - though I still think it tastes disgusting (even when loaded with sugar), it wakes me up - and grabbed some toast. Before I knew it, the coffee and toast were done and I was headed out the door.

I checked that my phone was in my pocket, then pulled on my hoodie and shoes. Grabbing my skateboard from the closet, I walked out, shouldering my bag.

I skateboarded to Goode High School, which was a few blocks away from my apartment, one earbud in and blasting Green Day. As usual, I was early, seeing as I'm probably the only teenager on the planet who would ever even think about waking up at five in the morning when it was unnecessary. But that was alright, I guess. I got in before the other students, so I wasn't jostled in the halls, and I sometimes scared the schist out of some late teachers that walked into their supposedly empty, somehow unlocked classrooms (so maybe my time in the Hermes cabin wasn't totally useless).

I waited in homeroom as all the kids trickled in, having put away my unneeded things in my locker long ago. I didn't have to wait long before my friend Peter sat down next to me.

"Dude, how did you beat me here again? Or more importantly why? I actually have a reason to be here before school starts, but you? It's like you live here, I swear!" he exclaimed.

I only shrugged in response, pushing the anti-dyslexia glasses up the bridge of my nose. The truth was, I was quite used to waking up early, because, although camp was pretty lax, the training and schedules were similar to a boot camp, even more so with the Romans around so often.

Peter Parker was in a few of my classes this year - math, AP tech, english, AP history - but we really only got to know each other because our lockers are only a few away from one another. We quickly became close friends, even though he lived quite far away from where I was.

Peter shook his head at me.

"Fine, whatever. Just remember we gotta meet up later for that history project. It's due in, like, three days." He told me.

"Got it," I replied. "So, this isn't just some diabolical plan to get junk food?"

"C'mon, man! Aunt May just adores you, and therefore, orders pizza, and I want pizza right now."

I chuckle. "I'll walk home with you, then."

Before we could continue, the teacher began taking attendance.

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The school bell finally rang, signalling the end of the day. I sighed in relief, because even though my dyslexia was gone, I still had trouble with English. It was as if it wasn't my first language. In fact, I had so much trouble with it, that I actually ended up telling people that it wasn't. It apparently seemed believable, as I did have a bit of an accent from constantly speaking Greek at camp. Most of us do it without even realizing and we only really found out after Rachel came and couldn't understand a word we were saying.