Percy and Annabeth find themselves apart after the Titan war, she's stuck in San Francisco while he's in New York. They both go to high school separately, for now. But Aphrodite won't let her favorite demigod couple stay away from each other for long…

(It will become the normal 'Annabeth surprises Percy at high school,' but starts earlier)

Chapter 1

My First Second Year Ever

Percy POV

I sighed and smiled. I smelled lemon shampoo and heard soft waves crashing on a sandy shore. I didn't see exactly where I was, but I knew that I had felt the exact same way before…

BRIIIING RIIIING RIIIING

Oh. Right. I felt reality shoot back at me like a slingshot. I was lying in my bed, the covers wrapped around my legs and strewn across the rest of me. I felt the cold air tickle my chest; I wished I had put a shirt on to sleep, it wasn't so hot out anymore. September had come, but all I wanted was to hold on to summer.

Summer! I remembered what my dream was, it was when Annabeth and I had sat on the beach together, the day that she had left for San Francisco. We had laid in the sand, her head on my chest, talking and laughing for hours, not wanting to say goodbye. But summer was over now. Those amazing weeks, when I spent all day with her, they were over too. Of course we were still together, but she had to go live with her father for a while. After the Titan war, he wouldn't let her stay in New York, even if she was the Architect of Olympus, I guess he wanted to spend more time with her. Now it was September 3rd, the first day of school. I groaned, not wanting to open my eyes, afraid that the dream might fade away.

I finally turned to my annoying and still beeping alarm clock and shut it off. It was 7:30, I had to be at school in half an hour. I heard the oven, the clink of silverware and muffled laughter coming from the kitchen. I sat up on the edge of my bed and slipped my pants on, dark jeans that I wished were pajamas, because that would mean I could sleep more… I smelled pancakes and forced myself to stand up. I heard my stepdad, Paul, in the next room too. Paul was an English teacher at Goode High School, where I had to be in… 25 minutes… great. I threw a gray shirt on, it sort of reminded me of Annabeth, and stumbled into the kitchen to eat. My mom, Sally Jackson, the greatest cook and person alive, was at the stove making our signature blue pancakes. Paul sat at the counter, reading the newspaper and sipping coffee from a mug that said: #1 MOM. I laughed and they both turned around as I sat down to a plate of blue breakfast.

"Morning sweetie," my mom said grinning.

I yawned slowly, "hmmmm? Morning mom…" I rubbed the back of my neck and took a sip of juice.

Paul turned to me mid-sip and asked, "ready for your sophomore year Percy?"

I had never really stayed at a school long enough to go a second year, danger just seemed to follow me for some unknown reason… Now I was starting 10th grade and it's a pretty big accomplishment. I replied, much more awake, "yeah, I think so." But I wasn't so sure. Last year my best friend at Goode had been Rachel Dare, the recently appointed Oracle of Delphi and new recruit to the Clarion Ladies Academy finishing school upstate. I had other friends last year, but no one as close to me as Rachel. Plus they might be mad at me, I hadn't spoken to any of them over the summer, I had been a little busy saving the world…

After breakfast I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I looked in the mirror, the guy in front of me, my reflection, was completely different from the little 12 year old that thought his dad had died at sea. Now I'm stronger and taller, no longer the scrawny kid who used to get picked on by people like Nancy Bobofit. I had battle scars (although they may be my last seeing as though I'm invincible at the moment) and an only slightly noticeable gray streak in my hair. I lifted those gray hairs up in the mirror and twisted them in between my fingers. I remembered the weight of the world, but even worse, seeing Annabeth in pain, with a matching streak to prove it. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Paul call from the front door. I rushed to get ready, brushing my teeth and pulling my sneakers on. They were light gray fabric with a little pen-drawn trident on the left shoe's side; Rachel had gotten bored last year and decided to get artsy. I swung my backpack over my shoulder and rushed out into the hall, putting my hand to my neck for a second to check if my camp necklace was still there.

Paul and I walked out of the building and into his car. I sat in the passenger seat and took out my phone. Well it wasn't really a phone, the Hephaestus cabin had made me a type of monster-proof cell phone; technology and demigods don't mix well. It was a little bulkier (not by much) than a regular phone, and I only had five numbers on it: Rachel, Annabeth, mom, Paul and Nico (but they don't get good reception in the Underworld). But I still liked it a lot, I get to be a little more like a normal teenager without monsters trying to kill me. Annabeth could use one too but she has had her secret cell phone for a while, she's used to it. When I turned the screen on I saw that Rachel had called me during breakfast. I hit redial and she picked up immediately.

"Percy! Thank the gods, I am so bored…"

"Sounds like finishing school's a blast, what are you doing now that's so boring?"

"Eating breakfast… but everyone here is so preppy and fake, plus they hardly eat any food! I miss Sally and her blue pancakes!"

"Ouch that's rough, guess you shouldn't have left then, oh mighty Oracle. Couldn't you see that you were going to have a bleak future without me in school?"

"Percy I will hang this phone up right now! You know this wasn't my choice…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I just am going to miss you at Goode."

"I miss you too, everyone here is so annoying" she whispered the last part.

"Well at least try to make some friends."

She laughed, "I will if you will Jackson."

"Hey I've got friends!"

"How do you know they weren't just hanging out with you because they wanted to be friends with me?"

"Because that is the most ridiculous thing that anyone has ever said." I was trying not to laugh but Rachel burst out on the other end and I couldn't help myself. I could see Paul smiling in the corner of my eye as we pulled up in front of the school gates. I got out of the car, still on the phone, and waved goodbye to Paul. I rounded the corner to the students' entrance, a courtyard/asphalt area in front of the doors where kids hung out before and after school. As I turned the corner I saw all of my friends sitting together, some on a bench and some on the ground. When they saw me they waved me over, I said bye to Rachel and stuffed my phone into my bag as I walked over to them.

I said hi to everyone, there were my swim team friends: Miles, Andre and Tanner. There was also Miles' girlfriend: Alice, Andre's girlfriend: Marie and our other friend Mel. They were all laughing and talking about their summers. They all stood up when I came over and said hi, giving me hugs and pats on the back. After we said our hellos we all sat back down in a big group.

Alice smiled and said, "So Percy, what did you do over the summer?"

I thought about it for a second, "I went to camp, and the beach…" leaving out a few crucial details. They nodded, not a very eventful story.

Marie asked, "so who were you on the phone with before?"

"Rachel." I heard some giggles and ooohs, Tanner patted me on the shoulder and said, "so where is your other half? You came to the first day of school without your girlfriend?"

I scrunched my eyebrows, "Guys! Rachel is not my girlfriend, we're just friends."

"Oh yeah, right…" Marie laughed.

"Besides, she's going to a ladies finishing school upstate this year, her dad's making her."

Mel pouted sincerely, "Oh that sucks, we really liked her." There were murmurs of agreement.

Andre broke the moment of silence, continuing a story that I had walked in on, "So as I was saying, there were like twenty foot waves, so I get to the cabana but my sister…" We talked and laughed for a while, discussing our summers. I guess a lot of us had gone away, so it wasn't a big deal that I hadn't stayed in touch. I thought about Annabeth, how that right now she would be asleep in San Francisco. I had stayed up late last night so that when I called her it wouldn't be so late over there, but I had fallen asleep anyways so I just texted her instead. She hadn't really been to a normal school in a while, so I didn't know how she would feel, I hoped she wasn't nervous, or ended up pulling her knife out at some innocent mortal…

The bell rang and broke our fit of laughter, none of us were excited for school. Well except for Alice, she's kind of a nerd in that way, sort of like Annabeth. I'm glad my guy friends have found nice girls, I didn't want to spend all day with some bratty Aphrodite-types (don't tell her I said that) just because they were dating my friends. There are certainly girls like that at Goode, Kelli and her empousi friends were not the end of annoying cheerleaders last year. There's this group of girls, some are cheerleaders, who act like they own this place. Their 'leader,' Seraphina, is pretty mean to some of the other girls here. Not my friends but I think that's because they are dating athletes; Seraphina thinks that because we're on the swim team, that we are supposed to join her group, because 'popular boys go with popular girls,' at least that's what she said last year. I don't know… I definitely don't think of myself as popular, and I don't want to be if it means being the type of person that she is.

We all walked into the building, seeing the incoming freshman be nervous and the multiple 'Goode is Good' signs on the walls. I realized that this was the first time I wasn't the new kid in school. It is weird knowing where everything is, but also liberating, like I have one less thing to worry about in High School. With my dyslexia and ADHD, and being a demigod that's swarmed by monsters, that's still a whole lot of stuff. I said bye to my friends as we headed to our separate lockers, except Mel came with me because her locker was really close to mine. We got there and turned our combinations, well she did, I had to look in my bag for the piece of paper that I wrote it on. Remembering that for an entire summer is hard! She laughed as I finally opened my locker, it was empty because I had cleaned it out last year. I started putting some books in it. The last thing I did was put up three pictures on the inside of the door: the one that I used to keep in my notebook of Annabeth when we were twelve, one of Thalia, Grover, Annabeth and I in front of Thalia's tree, and lastly one of Annabeth and I at the beach, the day she left for her dad's. In the last picture Annabeth is laughing while I'm doing a silly face. As I closed the door Mel shot her hand out and slowly examined the pictures.

"Where are these from Percy? Who is this girl?"

"Oh these are at my camp, the one I went to over the summer, and that's Annabeth-"

Cliff Hanger! Sorry guys but it's going to get more interesting, I promise!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

But seriously, review. And YES, ANNABETH WILL JOIN HIM AT GOODE… A LITTLE LATER IN THE STORY. So subscribe and review and keep reading and all that (read my Mark of Athena!). Comment with some things that you want to happen to Percy at High School :)

NO, RACHEL WILL NOT DATE PERCY. SHE'S THE FREAKING ORACLE PEOPLE.

YES, ANNABETH IS COMING.

YES, YOU SHOULD REVIEW, THANKS FOR ASKING.