Mortals, meet the demigods

Scott (Mortal)

Annabeth's PoV

Honestly, after defeating an army of Giants, Titans, and Gaea, you would think that high school would be a breeze. It wasn't. I wasn't even in Seaweed Brain's school for gods' sakes! Sure, he may be an idiot, but he was my idiot. Oh, well, at least I'm in most of Thalia's classes. She was good company, even if she wrinkled her nose at the boys in our friend group at school.

Our friends at school consisted of Annalise, Laura, Scott, and Jack. And Thalia and I, of course. They weren't half bad, but I missed my friends at Camp. Especially Percy. Oh, well, at least I got to watch the arrogant jerks being beaten up by Thals after trying to hit on her. They never learnt from their past mistakes. It was almost like they wanted to be beaten up by Thalia.

"A penny for your thoughts. What are you thinking about?" Scott asked, leaning against his locker.

"Oh, nothing, just that I wanted summer break to come quicker." I said wistfully, thinking about the scent of strawberries tingling my senses, and the memories I shared with Percy near the field of strawberries.

"Annabeth Chase, resident nerd, longing for summer break? The world is ending!" Scott laughed jokingly. I stiffened slightly, though I pretended to laugh along with him. I hated labels, hated how they determined your self worth, at least in high school. I especially hated the label "nerd". Just because someone was smart, and liked learning, didn't mean that they were a nerd. The label reminded me of the bullies who would taunt me in first grade, before I met Thalia. And Luke.

"Earth to Annie!" Thalia's voice jolted me out of my thoughts. "Geez, what is up with you today? Anyways, we have to go to Ancient Greek, class starts in five minutes!"

Scott and Annalise also took the same class, and we strolled down the bustling corridor together, laughing all the way.

We sat in our usual seats, right in the middle of the class, where we didn't have all the attention, but also could hear the teacher. I didn't particularly want to get into detention for not paying attention, even if I knew it was unlikely.

"Class, please quiet down!" Ms. Randolf shouted. As the chattering died down, she said, "Thank you. Today, we will be discussing weather, the four seasons, and how Ancient Greeks explained their myths. Who can tell me about the myth about the four seasons, better known as the myth of Demeter and Persephone?"

I raised my hand, and Ms. Randolf smiled at me. "Annabeth?"

"Persephone is the goddess of spring, and everyone fell in love with her. One day, she was picking flowers in a meadow, when the ground split, and Hades, the King of the Underworld, kidnapped her and brought her back to his realm.

"Her mother, Demeter was grief stricken, and spent a long time searching for Persephone. At long last, she asked Helios, who had witnessed the whole ordeal when he was pulling the sun chariot. After a lot of negotiating, Hades was forced to return Persephone back to the surface.

"He sneakily told Persephone the news, and she was so happy she was going to return that she ate several of the pomegranate seeds Hades offered, therefore making her trapped there for a few months of the year. Every year, when Persephone returns to the underworld, her mother would let the crops starve, making the weather cold and hard to live with. But when Persephone is returned to the surface world, spring starts again, making everything more jubilant." I concluded.

"Entirely correct!" Miss Randolf declared, while the "popular girls" snickered and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "nerd". I didn't let that bother me. The rest of the lesson passed by uneventfully, and it was soon time for lunch.

We were eating lunch peacefully when my phone dinged. After the war with Gaea, Leo invented some monster-proof phones- and handed the first ones out to the seven, Nico, and Reyna. A text bubble appeared on the screen. It was Percy, saying that he would pick me up from school today. A smile crept onto my face. For the rest of the lunch break, I had a goofy grin fixed upon my lips, and I think my friends noticed, but they didn't say anything.

The next class was English, one of my least favorite subjects, and my ADHD decided that it was a good time to make itself known, though usually I had a relatively easy time controlling it. Every second was agonizing, but the bell finally, finally rang. I walked briskly out of the classroom and to my locker.

To my surprise, Scott was already waiting for me there.

"Hey Annabeth!" He said, seeming slightly nervous.

"Hi, what's up?" I replied, though all I wanted to do was to jump into Percy's pickup truck. I shoved all my books in my bag hastily.

"Do you- do you want to go to the movies with me? As a date?" He asked in one breath. I had no idea that he liked me that way, though I had told my friends that I had, in fact, a boyfriend. I don't think they believed me, though, which is probably why Scott was asking me out.

"I'm sorry, Scott. I have a boyfriend. Besides, I only see you as a friend." I said, mentally cringing at my blunt reply.

"A- a boyfriend?" He asked. "We all thought you made him up as an excuse to reject all the stupid jocks!"

"Well, her boyfriend is very much real." A deep voice sounded over my shoulder. I turned, my face split into a wide grin. It was my idiot, Seaweed Brain!

"Can't - breathe." He said. Only then did I realize that I had enveloped him in a bear hug. Quite a painful one, apparently. I pulled apart from Percy, and introduced him to my friends.

"This is my boyfriend, Percy." I beamed. He seemed to be looking at something in the crowd that was staring at us - the popular girls and guys alike, people who had asked me out, and the girls who had made fun of me.

"Pinecone Face!" He yelled. Thalia emerged from the crowd.

"Kelp Head?" She yelled back. She hugged him tightly too.

"Wait, you know each other?" Scott questioned disbelievingly. I nodded in answer.

Percy squeezed his eyes tight, and they flew open frantically. "Guys, we have to go. Um," he said, glancing at my mortal friends, "Camp is in- um, trouble." He finished. (A/N: Percy is talking to Grover through their empathy link.)

Thalia and I grabbed our bags and ran towards Percy's blue pick up truck, a gift from his father. He was still standing where we left him.

Rolling down the window, I shouted, "Well? Get going!"

At that, Percy unfroze, and went into battle mode. Gosh, that made him look so intimidating and hot at the same time.