Half-Blood High

The Brunch Gang

Frank POV

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My hands were getting sweaty as I stared at the slip of paper in my hand reading my punishment: Detention.

I hadn't even really done anything wrong, really. I did get sick for a few days and in those days, apparently my shapeshifting powers got a little out-of-whack and I couldn't un-transform from an assortment of zoo animals until an entire two weeks later. I wasn't even sick for the last eight days, and somehow the principal had gotten word that I had "skipped school".

So to make up lost time, I had to spend ten AM to twelve PM on Saturday at the school library for detention.

Sitting in the room with me were four other people, whom I didn't know: two girls, and two boys.

One of the girls, a pretty Arabic-looking girl, was shyly reading a book, but from here I couldn't see what it was about. A black bob framed her face. She looked up at me and her eyes startled me for a second: they were like pure gold, glaring at me with the heat of the sun. I decided to stay away from her.

The second girl didn't seem any better: she sat at the desk cracking her knuckles repeatedly. She looked like she could take me on wrestling in bear form. The more I stared at her, I think I actually recognized her as Clarisse La Rue, but I didn't know much else besides her name. She glared at me and I continued walking among the other desks.

One of the guys was fiddling with the pencils on his desk. He seemed kind of like Leo to me: elfish, sly, always constantly moving. 

The other guy was this big African American dude with countless charms and amulets dangling from his neck. He sat fiddling with a lump of metal, trying to make a new one from his bare hands.

I sat at an empty desk, twiddling my thumbs.

Ms. Laird came in and lectured us, telling us she was very disappointed in our behavior which did not reflect the school's reputation and whatnot. Then she left to let us "reflect on our actions".

The elfish kid stood up, going over to the closed library door. He jiggled the handle. "Yep, locked in."

"What did you expect, genius?" Clarisse retorted. "I guess that explains why you're no child of Athena."

"At least I'm not a child of Ares," the guy said.

"What do you have against my father, punk?" Clarisse stood up. 

"Guys, fighting isn't the answer." The book-reading girl said, not looking up from her book.

"Who do you think you are, standing up for a wimp like that?" Clarisse challenged.

The girl muttered something under her breath and Clarisse's anger suddenly melted.

"Careful Zia, you don't want a repeat of what got you in here." The charm-maker said, not looking up from his lump of metal.

"Hush, Walt." The girl, Zia, snapped.

It occurred to me now that I was in a room full of non-mortals. 

"H-h-hey, who are all of your godly parents, besides Clarisse...?" I offered, trying to settle everyone's growing anger.

Zia stared at me with her sun-like eyes. "Godly parents...? Oh, you must be like what Carter and Sadie told me about."

I furrowed my brows at her. "Excuse me?"

"That means...Walt, we can't be in this room." Zia gathered her books and walked briskly over to the door.

"It's locked," Walt groaned.

"Ugh," Zia muttered, sitting back down. "This is dangerous, Walt."