Adjusting to normality.

Chapter One.

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.

Written by dippindots326

It's been exactly one year since the Titan army fell, and Kronos was defeated. Percy and Annabeth are both living relatively monster-less lives in New York, and are going to a boarding school together. Percabeth, might be OOC, this is my first story ever, so don't be too harsh please.

Percy's vision gradually shifted from darkness to a smudgy blurry fresco of reality. He lay there a while thinking about nothing. He could hear faint snoring coming from his roommate, Nico, and the drone of cars and people in the streets below. A pattering was hitting their window. It was raining.

His mind drifted into a kind of limbo, he could think of nothing but trying to fall asleep, all the while knowing that he would not be able to sleep again until that night.

………tonight…….

What was tonight?

Or more importantly, what was today? He snapped into awareness at once. He was laying on top of his text books. The text books he should have been studying. The text books that were now covered in drool and Gods knew what else.

He threw a quick glance at his alarm clock, which had failed once again to wake him, and his situation grew worse. Statistics would start in a matter of minutes. He had no time to study.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," he muttered frantically under his breath. He grabbed his uniform and flung it on, knowing he would get reprimanded for his shirt being unbuttoned, his tie being undone, but he couldn't stop to fix it now. He yanked his books into a haphazard stack, and kicked Nico's bed as hard as he could.

Now, Nico was quite a bit younger than he and Annabeth, but he had turned out to be something of a genius. He had most of the same classes as Percy, but had a few super advanced ones with Annabeth.

"Wuzzawann………?" murmured Nico threw a layer of satin bed sheets.

"Statistics! Test! Now!"

"Ohhhh, yeah. Be right there…."

His head dropped onto his bed.

Not bothering to try again Percy sprinted out the dorm, pulling his always present map out of his pocket as he did so, and leaving the door swinging. He quickly scanned the map. His dyslexia prevented him from making any sense of it, but he could usually recognize the right mismatched pile of letters as his statistics classroom.

No such luck today.

"FUCK!" Percy shouted a little too loudly, and he was off again.

He went down the stairs, up them again, down again, through the schools main courtyard, into the academics building, into the girls bathroom, out of the girls bathroom, and finally into the Statistics classroom.

"Mr. Jackson, I'm glad you decided the test was worth your time after all."

Professor Johansson had been all jolly and chocolate eating when they had met at orientation. Percy had thought then that with a lazy teacher like him he might actually pass. However, Professor Johansson had turned out to be something of a hard-ass.

"Here's your test Jackson, I had this one printed in extra big letters just for you."

Percy flushed. It wasn't his fault he had dyslexia, and that jackass of a professor knew it. He never gave Annabeth or Nico any shit about being dyslexic. But that was probably cause they actually made good grades. A few kids snickered. Annabeth glanced up and rolled her eyes before returning to her paper. Nico had somehow made it to the room before Percy, and as Percy watched he flipped over the first page and began working on the back. Fucking shadow travel.

Percy picked up a test from the professors desk and walked, his wet shoes squeaking all the way, to his desk where he flopped down and took out a pen. Before he uncapped it, he checked to make sure it wasn't Riptide, his magical sword that took the form of an ordinary pen when he wasn't using it.

The last time he had uncapped Riptide in class had not been pretty. Controlling the mist was probably one of the only useful skills he had left from his camp days. Sure the camp was still there, but there was no need for it now.

With Kronos unlikely to ever again regain consciousness, the Titans powerless, and the monsters weakened, there wasn't a whole lot for a half-blood to do. Percy sighed. Sure, the old days had been dangerous, but at least they weren't so damn boring.

There was a rustling as Annabeth and a few other students rose to turn in their papers. Nico scribbled something on the backside of his test and handed his in too.

He sighed again. 'What am I going to do now?' he pondered.

Of course, if he wanted too he could just chill out underwater in Poseidon's palace for the rest of eternity. Maybe Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and some others could even stay there with him. He tried to imagine it, non stop drinking, partying, swimming, all the television and video games he could ever want… It seemed perfect when Poseidon offered, and he knew the invite still stood.

…But…

That was the easy way out. How could he show his face to his friends when he had ducked out of real responsibility and real life? But it was so much harder for him than anyone else. Many of the campers were talented and had something they could fall back on, once being a hero became redundant. Not Percy. How far could swordplay take him in the real word, in New York?

Not very far.

…The rain splashed against the window…

Percy grinned. So did the stickman that had formed from raindrops on the window. The stickman pulled out a sword and began to duck and weave and jab at an invisible foe.

Annabeth kicked him, hard. Percy's concentration shattered and the stickman slid down the wall, as if being dragged away by some malevolent force. Percy turned to glare at Annabeth, but before he could, she shot him a sharp look and motioned towards his test.

He hadn't even written his name. Just then the bell rang loudly and clearly, making them both jump.

"Oh, screw it.."

Percy stood up and walked to the front of the room. He dropped the blank test down on the pile of papers on the teaching podium and left the room. As he squeaked away from the classroom he remembered why he had been thinking about tonight. With an earsplitting squeak of wet sneakers, he turned around and waited by the door. He didn't have to wait long. In a few seconds Annabeth rounded the door, as perfect as ever, and Percy took her hand and pulled her into a kiss, which she happily returned.

A/N: How was it? If I get positive reviews I guess I can continue it.