Hey there! Enjoy this update. I know the next one won't be up for at least another week because I have my midterm exams to study for.

Percy wasn't nervous around people. At least, not when he was the son of Poseidon; as a kid of the Big Three, he was important and people looked up to him- people liked him. But pre-crash he remembered how he was treated. Sneers and sideways glances were shot towards him, he'd shrink in on himself to avoid attention, and he regularly ate lunch in the bathroom. As a mortal, people didn't like him and he didn't like them. He hoped to the Gods that some of the imagined confidence had rubbed off on him as he walked into school that fateful first day.

As soon as he stepped through the doors, the sideways glances started up almost like deja vu. People whispered and gestured towards him as he looked around for the Main Office. He'd never been in the high school before and it was obvious. Everyone was staring at him. Deep breaths, he thought. They're regular mortals, like you. No one here is going to make you a feast.

Eventually, he found the office and walked up to the desk stationed in front. A secretary sat there, looking down her hooked nose at the computer. Percy squinted and found she bore no resemblance to any of the Gods. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

"Excuse me?" he said. "I'm Percy Jackson and I-"

The woman lifted a finger and silenced him. She loudly punched the keys, the printer hummed for a moment, and then she handed him a piece of paper.

"This is your schedule. It has all of your classes, room numbers, and your locker number and combination. Your tour guide should be here any minute. He's junior class president and he's going to give you a brief overview of the school and tell you about the clubs and teams AHS offers," the woman said. "You may take a seat while you wait."

That was all the woman said in her nasally voice. She turned her attention back to the computer and Percy took a seat on the hard wooden bench beside the door. He waited and watched the seconds tick by on the wall-mounted clock; he didn't have a phone with him to entertain himself. Stupid as it was, Percy still got paranoid about taking a phone places with him, like he was unsure if this was all a trick of the Mist and a drakon would jump out at him any moment.

One minute passed. Two.

Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. Then the door opened again and suddenly a guy was smiling down at him. "You must be Percy!" It was an all too familiar face. "Welcome to AHS." Percy's breath had shortened. "You're probably going to miss most of first period while I show you around-" Percy barely heard his words anymore. "-but you'll be able to attend the rest of the day's classes." He was staring at the scar that bent and curved with the shape of the boy's mouth. "My name is Jason."

Percy stood up, trying to keep his jaw from dropping, while his mind raced. He didn't think it would be this easy. "H-hi," he said, "nice to meet you."

"You too," Jason said with a smile.

He looked exactly like his Roman friend. Blonde hair, blue eyes, glasses, all the normal stuff. There was only one thing wrong with the picture. Percy was used to seeing him in a t-shirt and shorts, maybe jeans if it was cold; instead, Jason was wearing a blue button down shirt tucked into his slacks, attire way too formal for high school. He knew that Jason was very leader-y but seriously, even a class president wouldn't come to school in what neared on a suit. Percy thought he looked like he was dressed more for a job at the office, maybe in a cubicle.

He followed half a step behind as Jason led him through the hallways. "This is the English Wing. There are three teachers for our grade. Lucky for you, you have Mrs. Hershel; she's probably the best out of all of them. My teacher is Mr. Garret; he has a tendency for snapping at the students and taking their phones away..."

The tour was utterly ordinary. Percy only half listened as Jason pointed out particular classrooms and introduced him to one of the math teachers who had the period off. He kept a small hope alive that at any second Jason would lean over and say in hushed tones, "I'm undercover. There's a child of Apollo here in danger of being turned into a demigod-kabob by the janitor."

But he never did. Jason was just a regular person and it sucked.

Then he said, "Piper, get to class."

Percy's head snapped up. Piper was sitting against a row of lockers, scribbling furiously into a notebook. She looked up from the page; her eyes flickered over to Percy. She turned to Jason. "New kid?" He nodded.

"She's here too?"

They were both staring at him with confusion in their gazes. "Um, I mean..." he stammered, "hi, I'm Percy."

"Why wouldn't I be here? What do you mean by that?" Piper said. "Do we know each other?"

"No, um, sorry," he said. "I'm just- I didn't mean to say that-"

"Then why did you?" Piper challenged.

"No reason! Ignore me."

"We're not going to have a problem are we, new kid? I don't need anything else on my record."

"Your- your record?"

"Yes. As in permanent record."

"Sorry, no. No, we're cool."

She narrowed her eyes and slammed her notebook shut. As she stood up, she spoke to Jason, but never took her eyes off Percy. "For the record, Mr. President," she said, "I'm not going to class because you told me. I just don't feel like dealing with any more bullshit."

The daughter of Aphrod- Piper stormed off. Percy's mouth was hanging wide open as his head spun; Jason and Piper may have been the same people he knew physically, but mentally, they were completely different entities. Jason was one short step away from wearing ties casually and Piper was an angry class-skipper who wore bold eyeliner. He could only wonder what reality had done to his Annabeth.

Jason snapped him out of his reverie, saying, "Don't worry about Piper. She's all bark and no bite."

"No kidding," he mumbled.

"Yeah, I think the only thing on her permanent record is plagiarism on an essay in eighth grade."

Jason continued on down the hallway, talking about who knows what. Percy trailed behind, scuffing his feet against the hard tiled floor. Maybe he wasn't going to find what he wanted after all. Not for the first time, Percy wished that he hadn't woken up from his coma.

How did you like it? Thoughts on Jason and Piper? Leave me a review! I accept any and all criticism :)