Carved Into My Skin (Heroes of Olympus AU)

1: Friend Groups Come Together

{Annabeth}

You see, there are many friend groups at Goode High School.

There are the mean popular girls, which consists of Drew Tanaka, and her little band of witches.

Then there are the nice popular kids, which included Piper McLean, Will Solace, Katie Gardener, Frank Zhang, Rachel Dare, and Calypso Nightshade.

There are also the mutuals, aka my friend group. There's me, Annabeth Chase, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Leo Valdez, and Thalia Grace, and Connor and Travis Stoll.

And the last important one is the freaks, as Drew calls them. That's Clarisse La Rue, Hazel Levesque, Nico Di Angelo, Percy Jackson, and Jason Grace.

But, since eighth grade, our two friend groups combined. Now we're one big group of friends. What we didn't know is that it was going to get bigger.

...

"Annabeth?" Thalia asked. "Yeah, Thals?" I answered. "You going to the Stoll's party on Saturday?" I nod my head. "Cool. 'Cause Clarisse wants to introduce us to her other friends," Thalia rolled her eyes. "They can't be that bad," I playfully shoved her. "Yeah, okay. But I think they may be popular," Thalia laughed. "So?" I asked. "So they better not be like Drew," Thalia snorted. I nodded in agreement.

"Annabeth!" A voice from behind me yelled. It was Reyna. "Come on, we need to get to science," Reyna dragged me away. "See you later, Thalia!" I yell.

...

"Good morning, class," Ms. Watkins gave us a warm smile. She was my favorite teacher. She taught well, and she wasn't mean. Plus, she knew her stuff.

What? You think just because I like to learn means I don't like to goof around? Well, you're wrong. That's why I like Ms. Watkins. She's one of the only teachers that understand that I'm not a stereotype.

"Okay, for the first three weeks of class, I have let you choose your partners. Now, I'm assigning you some. I'm sorry! It's the rules!" Ms. Watkins announced. Most students groaned anyway. 

"...Reyna with Connor..." she continued. I turned to see Reyna across the room. I mouthed the words "I'm sorry!" to her. "...Katie with Travis, Annabeth with Piper, Percy with Leo..." I'm partners with Piper McLean. Tristan McLean's daughter? At least she's in the nice popular group.

She comes to sit by me. She holds out a hand. "Piper McLean."

"Annabeth Chase." I shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled. We started talking, and she was really nice! "If you don't mind me asking, what's your phone number?" she asked. "I don't mind you asking, and I'll type it in," I answered. She gave me a warm smile.

"All right, so now we're going to do an experiment. Put on your goggles, and then dump the red liquid on your desk, slowly into the yellow," Ms. Watkins instructed. Piper volunteered. I held the yellow steady as she poured the liquid in. From in front of us a I hear Katie Gardener yell "Wait, Travis no!" and an explosion. Everyone's laughing, except Katie, Travis, me, and Piper. Our lab coats got fried.

"Okay, that's what not to do! You guys go clean up. Be back in fifteen minutes!" Ms. Watkins shooed us out. I punched Travis in the shoulder when we were out of class. "Travis! What was that for?" I asked. "I was just trying to be funny, get some slime spewed on me and get an excuse out of class. Didn't mean to get all of you guys. Sorry 'bout that," he laughed. Piper laughed, I rolled my eyes, and was Katie...blushing? Nah. Who would blush over Travis Stoll ? 

"Hey, McLean," Travis smirked. "Want some more ashes?" he smirked and started to chase Piper down the hallway. "No! This is enough, thank you very much!" she laughed as she ran. That left me and Katie together.

"So how long have you know Travis?" Katie asked.

"Since third grade," I sighed, "my friends and I were sitting on the monkey bars when he and Connor (who aren't twins, btw, but for the story they are) came and spilled their juice boxes on us." I laughed a little. "How long have you known Piper?"

"Oh, basically my entire life. My dad works with her dad, so we've become close," Katie said. I nod my head in an approving matter. "You got a big group of friends?" I ask. She shook her head. "No. Pretty small, actually. It gets lonely. But I've known them forever, so I don't mind," she smiled.

We finally got to the bathroom when I heard Piper yell, "This is the girl's bathroom! You can't get me now!" "Wanna bet?" Travis asked as he started to walk in, but Piper shoved him out. "Nope," she said. He tried again, but this time Katie shoved him out, and he stopped after turning red.

"Ooh, somebody likes Katie!" Piper giggled when Katie came inside. "What? No...I mean...UGH!" She blushed. These girls weren't so bad after all.