Trouble at Goode

Character used within the plot belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 1

PERCY POV

All the fun and excitement of the summer was coming to a close. Starting next week it was going to be the beginning of hell. The first day of Goode High School. Now don't get me wrong, my friends attended Goode High School. But there were always bullies and a gang in specific that made it hell for the rest of the student population. They didn't specifically target me because I was on the swim team and played other sports within the school as well. All but one of my friends were not immune to the harsh treatment from these bullies. I didn't get involved when they were bullied because they liked to fight their own battles and they know I'd take it too far. I've gotten into multiple fights already and the bullies steer clear of me. They however don't get the message when it comes to my friends. Frank is a different case he's one of my closer friends but they stray away from him because he's basically a man inside high school. Frank is huge he does wrestling and plays for the varsity football team as a linebacker. Even I know to not get into problems with him.

The last week of summer went like a breeze. My friends and I enjoyed the last weekend before school started at the beach. By the time we came back it was nearing midnight. Everyone was tired and I was the first one to be dropped off. I picked my clothes for the first day of school. Since Goode High School had huge amounts of resources allocated to sports they decided to invest in their athletes. I decided for the first day of school to wear my varsity jacket with plain jeans and some plain athletic shoes. I know right typical jock.

"Hey honey what's the matter?" My mom Sally Jackson was at the doorway watching me.

I smiled. "It's nothing I just can't believe the summer went by so quick"

She gave me the sympathetic look "Tell you what. I'll cheer you up by making your favorite breakfast blue pancakes?"

I couldn't help it but I hugged my mom and nodded "Yes please."

"Alright get some rest you'll need it for the first day of classes. It's your junior year remember."

With that I went to bathroom washed my face brushed my teeth and then headed to bed. I twisted and turned. I couldn't seem to fall asleep. What I felt for the first day of school was dread and excitement. Dread because I didn't want to face the stress of school work, extra practices for sports, and definitely not seeing kids being bullied at school. I felt excitement to meet new people that can be potential friends, sports (practicing against each other is boring. Playing against another team is fun.), and having classes with my current friends. My friends and I decided to meet up by the front doors of Goode High School so we can enter together. That meant waiting for Frank, Hazel, my cousin Nico, Travis and Connor Stoll, Grover, his girlfriend Juniper, and my close friend Rachel.

It was already 4:00 A.M and I still couldn't fall asleep. Way to go Percy. Now I'm definitely not going to pay attention in class because I'm tired, ADHD, and my dyslexia. It was hard to learn with all those things but I managed. Slowly but surely I began to lose consciousness and I drifted into a deep and short slumber. Next thing I know my mom's yelling at me to wake up.

"PERCY! Wake up you're going to be late for the first day of school. Breakfast is on the table. I'm running later to work see you in the afternoon honey."

I seriously should drop out of school, I thought to myself. But I couldn't. My mom wanted me to go to university on an athlete scholarship then study something so money wouldn't have to be a worry. I loved for her that. I got up grudgingly and got into the shower. The cold water seemed to wake me up. I washed my face from the drool near my mouth and brushed my teeth. In no time I was eating and done with my favorite breakfast. I gave props to my mom she could cook, one more reason she was the best mother a guy could ask for.

I quickly cleaned up my mess and decided to head to school. Goode was only about a 15 minute walk but I decided to wait for the bus today. I wasn't in the mood to be walking considering I was tired. When the bus arrived it was already packed. Just my luck. I didn't want to sit towards the back because that's where the bullies and gang sat. So I looked for a seat in the middle of the bus. All seats were occupied by two people except one. A pretty cute curly blonde was sitting by herself so I decided to sit by her. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She was reading a novel then my eyes glazed over. When she looked at me I was taken aback, her eyes were gray. They were very intimidating but I held my gaze until she went back to reading. I could immediately tell she was the intelligent type, I wouldn't fancy her, a dumb jock.

I stared straight ahead for the minute bus drive home. When we arrived I saw all my friends at the front door no doubt waiting for me considering I was the last one of our group to arrive. Frank was the first one to notice me.

"Hey PERCY!" He came my way then gave me a massive bear hug. I'm surprised he didn't break any bones in my body. Frank looked scary on the outside but he was big softie on the inside. Don't tell anyone I told you that though. Franks attire was similar to mine. He wore his orange and purple varsity jacket with the letters "GH" stitched on his left side of his chest. Like my jacket, his last name Zhang was stitched at the back of his jacket as well. He wore cargo pants instead of jeans and wore boots. I greeted everyone else with a wave of my hand. Gave my close friend Rachel a hug and then we were in the school figuring out where our lockers were.

Every year as we progressed a grade they moved our lockers either up a floor or down a floor. Surprisingly the lockers for the juniors were in the same hall as the front entrance. My locker number was 86. Sadly none of my friend's locker were in my vicinity which meant I was by myself till first period. I was putting in all my notebooks, folders, binders, and pens inside my locker when I noticed the same blonde girl from the bus was beside me. At first I thought she was there for me which she wasn't. Her locker was beside mine. I've never seen her at school before which meant she either was a transfer student or a freshman. I went with transfer student. I decided not to be awkward and head to my first period class even though there was ten minutes left until the class began.

Before my friends and I decided to leave to find our lockers we forgot to compare schedules and see which classes we had together and which ones we didn't. Oh well guess I just have to wait and see. I sat down in the middle row and waited for class to begin. As soon as he entered my vibe was ruined. It was him, the bully and gang leader Luke Castellan. He had sandy hair, blue eyes, scar on his face, and he was tall. My blood boiled. Out of everyone who attended Goode he pissed me off the most. He also was a sports athlete and a popular jock. I'll use the word popular loosely, everyone knew him but It wasn't good popularity rather mostly everyone was afraid of him except me of course. He of course was with his goons, I mean friends. The most noteworthy was his right hand man Ethan Nakamura. He was Asian with black hair. He was slim but definitely no pushover. Like Luke he had that factor that made everyone afraid. While Luke had a scar, Ethan had an eyepatch. Why a junior in high school has an eyepatch no one knew and no one asked.

Him and his friends like me were wearing their Goode High varsity jacket. But to distinguish themselves from the other athletes who also wore varsity jackets his crew wore stitched patches on their jackets. Their gang name was the Backbiters. The word "Backbiters" was stitched on the back of their Goode High jackets. On top of the gang name was of course their emblem or symbol. Which was the scythe. Everyone who was in the classroom died out their conversation and stared at the Backbiters as they sat at the rear of the class. Luke acknowledged me and gave me a nod. A nod I didn't return but I guess he didn't really care or it was way too early in the school year to risk getting punished on the first day of school.

My first period class was Ancient history. In specific Greek and Roman mythology. I was always good at these things so it should've been an easy A. The classroom door opened and thank the heavens it was Frank. I waved him over to sit with me and he gladly obliged.

"Frank we forgot to exchange schedules with the group to see if we have any classes together." He physically face palmed his face.

"Shit we forgot. I guess the lockers were that important huh?" He took out his schedule but before I looked at it I teased him.

"You mean Hazel is that important, that you forgot to remind us about exchanging schedules?" He blushed uncontrollably.

"HAHAHA very funny Percy just look what classes we have together would ya?" I smirked and compared our schedules. The schedules were as follows

PERCY FRANK

First Period: Ancient History First Period: Ancient History

Second Period: Math Second Period: English

Third Period: English Third Period: Math

Lunch Lunch

Fourth Period: Art Fourth Period: Music

Fifth Period: P.E. Fifth Period: P.E.

"Guess we only have two classes Frank. Ancient History and P.E." I was thinking to myself that it wasn't necessarily bad but I wanted Frank to be in majority of my classes. We always had a good time fooling around last year as sophomores.

Frank looked at me smiling. "That's great we all have P.E. together I just got a message in our group chat that they all have P.E. last period. We'll be the dream team" he said as he began to laugh.

As the last students trickled in the teacher locked his door. "Good morning class, my name is Mr. Brunner I will be your Ancient History teacher and this course will mostly cover Roman and Greek mythology. One thing must be clear, I will not tolerate tardiness in this class. Now everyone get your notebooks out and get ready to take notes."

The class was relatively fun. It was fun since I knew most of the content that was being taught. Class time went by so quick. When I heard the bell for class to end I looked at Frank. He to seem surprised that class ended so quickly. As I said my goodbye to Frank I headed to the water fountain to get a sip of water. Luke and Ethan were heading my direction. Great I have to fight on the first day.

"What's up Jackson?" I knew they were slowly sizing me up to see if they could take me on.

"Nothing much just trying to get through the day like everyone else." He smirked and nodded his head. They walked right past me. I was relieved I honestly doubted I could take two of the Backbiters. I had no doubt if it was one on one I would kick their asses. But fighting the Leader Luke and his right hand man Ethan was too much for anyone's plate. I was so lost in my thoughts that I failed to realize that my next class had already begun. As I walked into class the teacher was in the middle of her introduction.

"My name is Mrs. Dodds-"She looked at me. From the look in her eyes I could already tell she hated my guts. Great my worst subject is math and when I need help my teacher will most likely turn me away because she hates me.

"You must be Mr. Jackson. Your tardiness exemplifies your character which most likely means you will continue to be late to my class and in the process do poorly on my exams." She shook her head as if I was a disappointment.

All the seats were taken except for one. There she was the blonde girl. She seemed attentive. I could tell she cared about her education and grades. I could tell she didn't deal with no nonsense bullshit. I decided to break the ice.

"We meet again" I said as I looked at her.

"Yes" She didn't even look at me. Okay maybe it was just a bad time. But I decided anyways just to ask for her name.

"So what's your name" She finally looked at me. She looked at me apathetically as if I wasn't much.

"My names Annabeth Chase" Annabeth look so sophisticated yet she was a girl with few words.

"Okay Annabeth nice to meet you, my name is Percy Jackson." Annabeth just nodded and paid attention to what was being taught. I decided that since math wasn't my strong suit I would just zone out. I did for a few minutes but someone brought me to reality.

"You should really be paying attention. Mrs. Dodds doesn't play around. From the way she reacted to you coming late I can already tell she hates you. So pay attention!" Annabeth looked at me as she said this.

Of course this was the perfect moment for Mrs. Dodds to yell at me and expose me to the class.

"Mr. Jackson it seems that you are not only tardy but you also like to distract others. Out of my class now" I was in utter shock. What the fuck it's only the first day have mercy.

"What I didn't even do any-"She shook her head and pointed to the door.

I was angry I got out and slammed the door as hard as I could. Mrs. Dodds by far was the worst teacher at Goode. That was saying a lot considering I've only been to two periods of classes. I decided to wait out the remaining time of second period class in the bathroom. I texted in the group chat that I was kicked out of class. Everyone in the group chat just said we would talk about it during lunch.

It seemed like forever till the bell rang signifying the end of second period. I decided to run to my English class to avoid being yelled at in front of the class and also so this time I can choose my seat. The English classroom was at the end of the hallway which meant I had to pass through my second period math class. As I was walking by Annabeth grabbed my shoulder.

"Hey wait up. I wanted to say sorry. I kind of feel bad because it's kind of my fault for Mrs. Dodds kicking you out." I just shook my head.

"Don't worry about it. Happens all the time in all of my math classes I've had so far." She still looked like she felt guilty. In all honesty I didn't blame her but I couldn't change the way she felt apparently.

"Here's the notes that you missed from math class. It's the least I could do." I looked at the notes. I didn't understand what any of it meant and I didn't have time to copy them down into my notes.

"Here's my number Annabeth. Can you send them through text? I'm kind of running late to English class." I waved goodbye as I ran to my English class. I was not about to be embarrassed a second time today for being late. I got to my class a few minutes early and the classroom was fairly empty. Hazel, Frank's girlfriend was already setting at a middle desk so I decided to sit by her.

"Hey Hazel, how have classes been so far?" She looked at me then shrugged.

"They've been going alright I guess better than yours I imagine" She looked at me expectantly. She wanted me to elaborate on why I got kicked out of class.

"I'll explain later at lunch." With that we returned to silence as we waited for the English teacher to arrive. When he did arrive he wrote his name on the board. His name was Mr. Blofis. When I saw him at a close look, he seemed oddly familiar like I've seen him before. Like as if I should know him. I couldn't figure out who he was so I dropped it. He began talking about Shakespeare and I zoned out for the entire class.

Finally it was lunch I was starving. I waited for all my friends by the lunch doors before going in. As I was waited I noticed that Luke and his gang the Backbiters were picking on a lower classmen. I was fuming at this point I walked right up to the guy who was bullying the underclassmen.

"Pick on someone your own size" He looked at me then started to laugh. This must've been one of Luke's new recruits because I didn't recognize him. But apparently he knew me.

"You want some Jackson?" With that he threw the first punch. If it weren't for my friends who were just turning the corner for lunch no doubt the fight would've actually started. No doubt I would've gotten into trouble. For that I thank my friends. Frank got between us and Grover pulled me aside.

"You're lucky Jackson I was about to kick your ass" Before I could say anything both Frank and Grover dragged me into the lunchroom. Grover decided this was the time to talk to me to calm me down.

"Percy he isn't worth it. You're going to get into trouble you need to stop it. You do realize if we weren't there you would've gotten jumped because you were outnumbered like 10 to 1. Be smart next time please?" I nodded reluctantly. Grover did raise a fair point.

"Choose your battles wisely Perce." This time it was Frank who decided to talk. I just nodded and thanked him for saving my ass literally. Frank scared mostly everyone because he was so huge. No doubt if it was just Grover trying to break it up he would've gotten jumped as well. Now it's not to say Grover was a pushover he knew how to fight. He knew to fight pretty well actually. But his stature was the issue if a big guy held him down, he was done for.

We were all waiting to grab our lunch when I noticed Annabeth entered the lunchroom. It seemed she brought her own bagged lunch. She sat alone at the farthest table closest to the door. I kind of felt bad for her. Everyone knew each other since freshman year. She was just a transfer student so she was alone.

"Next" the lunch lady called which snapped me back to the present. I settled for the basic lunch a hamburger, fries, and some chips. We usually sat towards the middle of the lunchroom but I decided we should now sit the farthest back to the corner to avoid the Backbiters or else things could get ugly between me and them. As everyone sat down Rachel was the first one to pipe up.

"So tell us what you did to get kicked out" They all focused on me to answer the question.

"I did absolutely nothing" As I was explaining that Mrs. Dodds just hated my guts everyone did seem to agree she was a bitch.

"Well you didn't help your case by being late Percy." It was Juniper who was telling me that I should be there on time from now on to avoid unwanted attention from Mrs. Dodds.

"I recommend you to stay away from the Backbiters Percy." Nico spoke out of nowhere. Sometimes it scared me how easily he fit into the background and could be totally silent.

"Percy you can get seriously hurt. We got your back in fights but don't look for them. No one is brave enough to even stand up to them except us. But even then we're outnumbered heavily. He's started recruiting in the freshman class Percy. Be careful" Nico raised valid points. That what I loved not only from Nico but from all my friends they had my back. They would get into harm's way just to make sure I was okay. Yeah sometimes I didn't deserve them but I'm glad they're my friends.

"We should do something." I said.

"What do you propose we should do?" asked Grover.

"They're picking on underclassmen and those who don't fight back we should do something about it. It just pisses me off that no one does anything, except me. I guess that's why I'm enemy number one for them."

"Be careful what you ask for Percy. Here comes trouble" Nico was absolutely right. Right on queue the Backbiters were coming directly for us. Everyone silenced because they knew something was about to break out.

Luke spoke. "Alright Jackson you did say look for someone you own size didn't you?" It was Luke, Ethan, and the other three goons from earlier. He was mocking me. They already had their fighting stance ready.

Frank, Grover, and I got up. Hazel, Rachel, and Juniper were telling us to sit back down and not take the bait. From the corner of my eye I could see Annabeth eyeing me and my friends wondering what was going on. We got into our fighting stances ready to take on the 3v5. Everyone pulled their cellphones out no doubt ready to record. I noticed Annabeth was talking to a teacher. What was she doing?

I then noticed teachers were coming to the middle wondering what the commotion was. They immediately realized what was going on and escorted Frank, Grover, and I with the Backbiters to the principal's office.

Short story short Mr. D sent us home early. He wanted us to reflect on what we did and how it was wrong of us to fight. It fell onto deaf ears. Frank, Grover and I were fuming. We didn't give a shit what he said. The staff didn't realize that it was the Backbiters who instigated it. They were let off the hook while we were sent home.

We agreed to do something. We couldn't turn the other cheek any longer. Backbiters were ruining our school with drugs, bullying, and much more. We have to fight back!

I sent messages to all my friends to gather at the local park to discuss what we should do. Hopefully something good comes out of it.