The Seven In High School

We Meet A Walking Skeleton

PERCY

Brrring!

Percy bolted awake. He was already halfway out of bed looking for clothes when he realized: he wasn't on the Argo II anymore. It wasn't Leo's alarm bell.

He hit the alarm clock to stop the annoying ringing. The glowing blue digits flickered for a split second due to the force of Percy's smack.

It was his first day of school again, and if he knew one thing about Goode, it was that they didn't appreciate tardiness. He trudged to the bathroom and promptly hit his head against the door. Percy groaned, rubbing his sore head gingerly. Man, what was wrong with him this morning? Was he turning into Jason?

Fifteen minutes and a shower later, Percy was glaring at the clothes choices in his wardrobe unhappily. It looked like Aphrodite had chosen his clothes for him. They were mostly designer. He stuck his head in and spotted his school uniform. A black blazer over a collared white shirt, a striped tie in the school colors, purple and white, and gray pants.

After he put on his school uniform, Percy grabbed his bag and went to the dining room for breakfast. The right side of his ribs still hurt from Clarisse's spear. The gladiator games yesterday were fun but painful. Percy and Annabeth had been unanimously elected the judges of the games by the campers. But Clarisse had insisted on a warm-up match with Percy first. (He'd won.) Several grueling matches and many, many fistfights later, Hazel had been crowned the winner, with laurels. Frank didn't, 'cause he wasn't allowed to turn into animals.

Most of his friends were already seated and eating. Percy's stomach lurched with unease. He wasn't feeling too great about going back to Goode. He had got picked on there. Some of his nicknames included 'Poodle Boy', after Mrs O'Leary busted in one day. The Mist made her look like a harmless poodle.

Percy pulled out the chair next to Annabeth and sat down. They had magical plates and cups from Camp Half-Blood, so he could have whatever he wanted. Blue pancakes appeared on his plate. He reached for the maple syrup and poured them over his pancakes, making a face with a squiggly mouth. The syrup kept on flowing out of the bottle, creating a miniature ocean.

Annabeth gave him a smile and glare at the same time. He picked up on what she was thinking of right away. Their last day on the Argo II. During breakfast she'd complained that he was drowning his pancakes. And he'd told her that he couldn't drown, and neither could his pancakes.

He plopped some butter on his pancakes and picked up his knife and fork. The pancakes were awesome.

"You aren't still worried about it, are you, Percy?" Annabeth asked him.

Percy swallowed his pancakes and mustered up a faint smile. "No, 'course not."

The truth? He was still worried. Percy wasn't exactly Mr Popularity at Goode. But when he was agonizing over it at the campfire, Annabeth told him to shut up about it. According to her, he had apparently gotten 'hotter' after he got kidnapped by Her Royal Annoyingness, trained by wolves and sent on a sucidal quest to rescue Death.

Percy didn't think he was hot. Or that he had gotten any hot-ter.

Suddenly Annabeth slapped him.

"Perseus Jackson-" Percy winced. "There you go again. TRUST ME, SEAWEED BRAIN. EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT."

"HELLO." Leo said, entering the room. "WAZZUP?"

"NOTHING." Frank replied.

"WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?" asked Jason.

"I don't know, bro." Percy said.

"IT'S CAUSE ANNABETH IS." replied Leo.

"WELL-" Annabeth started. "It's because Percy's being nervous about his second first day of school."