"Coriane! You're going to be late!" Samantha called from the kitchen.
"I know! I'm getting ready!" I shouted back as I pulled a shirt over my head. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth before rushing out to her.
She already had her warm smile on her face, holding out a pop tart to me. "For your first year back at regular school, you've done so well."
I smiled as we hugged, her kissing my forehead. "Thanks, Sam,"
"Alright, just go to the last day and you'll be able to meet up with Annabeth and Percy."
My smile grew as I nodded eagerly before running out of our door, just barley catching the school bus.
I sat into an empty seat as the boys looked at me like they wanted attention, and girls looked at me in pure jealousy.
It took me forever to figure out why. Annabeth told me that one.
Perks of being Aphrodite's daughter. Yay...
We arrived at my private school, Meriwether College Prep, as normal as a 'progressive' school could be.
Fully ADHD and dyslexic friendly, one major reason I loved this school, especially when I had Percy here.
As I entered the doors, Matt Sloan came up to me, his signature smirk on his face.
"Hey, Cor," he said, draping an arm around my shoulder.
"Don't call me that," I snapped as I shrugged his arm off.
"You let that Jackson boy call you Cor."
"Because he's actually nice,"
As if on cue, I heard someone yell: "Cor!"
I turned from Sloan and grinned. "Percy!"
I ran towards him and held his arms. "We made it through our first year of school!"
Percy nodded excitedly, but something was missing.
I frowned. "Is everything okay? You seem off."
Percy nodded. "I'm alright. It'll just be weird without having school."
"Yeah," I agreed. "But, we'll be at Camp soon with Annabeth!"
That's when I knew what was wrong. His smile faltered, his shoulders slightly slumped.
"Something's wrong with Camp."
"I don't know, my mom said something and that we'd talk later. Just try not to think about it."
My stomach turned into a pit, but I only nodded.
•.•.•.•
Here's a run down of the day so far:
Got into a pebble fight during English.
Tyson, this one dude Percy and I were friends with (don't know a whole ton about him other then he likes peanut butter and is very tall), blew up the lab during science.
I sat next to Percy in social studies, where he flipped open his notebook to a picture of Annabeth and I.
Over spring break, my dad and Sam agreed to let me go with Annabeth to D.C., and of course, Annabeth made us take a picture in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
She was acting like she designed the place, and not just some random dude who me and Annabeth think was a child of Athena.
Anyway, Percy would look at it a ton. If he looked at it for Annabeth or for the both of us, I didn't know, but I always liked how he kept that photo of us.
Sloan came up and snatched the photo.
"Hey!" Percy yelled.
"Give it back, Sloan!" I shouted.
"Woah, Jackson, is that your—" Sloan frowned.
"No!" Percy fumed, quickly looking at me. "Give it back!"
"So Cor is—"
"Shut up and give it back!" I shouted.
Yet to no avail, and for some reason our teacher did nothing to help.
The picture was torn up and turned into spit wads, which really annoyed the both of us.
Sloan of course said some stuff to us about Tyson, made some threats and then went away.
"Sloan is gonna kill us during p.e." Percy groaned.
I shrugged. "Nothing new."
The bell rang and we left class.
"Percy! Cor!"
I snapped my head to look for the voice, but couldn't find who it was. Although it sounded an awful lot like...
Before I could even finish thinking, I was shoved into the girls locker room.
I changed into my shorts and t-shirt, tying my hair up into a ponytail before walking out to the gym towards Percy.
Apparently either class started early or I took too long changing, because teams were already sorted out.
"Same teams as always?" I asked.
Percy nodded and gave a sigh. "Sloan has found some new buddies to add to his list."
I grimaced as I looked at them. They were all the same size as Tyson, if not taller.
Another thing to add about Tyson was that I'd never looked him in the eyes. Each time I tried his face would look weird and blurry, so I just stopped.
Anyway, the new guys were definitely a problem. It also didn't help how they were looking at Percy and I.
"Smell funny." Tyson mumbled.
"What smells, Ty?" I asked.
"Them." Tyson said, pointing towards the new guys. "Smell funny."
I gave Percy a look right as the whistle blew, and I prayed my throwing arm could be just like it was at Camp.
"Cor!" Percy yelled before shoving me aside and falling down.
"Percy!" I shouted and kneeled by him. He looked like he was dying. I looked out to the other team, ducking as a ball came towards me and hit the wall with a deafening sound. "Watch it! You're gonna kill someone!"
"Yeah!" Percy shouted. "You want a lawsuit on your hands?"
I frowned at what he said, but it was wiped away when I noticed the new guys getting... bigger?
"I hope so, Perseus Jackson and Coriane Tucker! I hope so!" One shouted, his name tag saying Joe Bob.
Weird humor.
But also, weird that he said our full names, mainly Percy.
"You're kidding," I groaned at the realization.
"On the last day too," Percy sighed as he pulled him and I up.
As the kids grew, I realized they were of course, giants. Screams erupted as kids tried to run away but doors wouldn't budge.
"Let them go!" Percy shouted.
"And lose our tasty morsels?" Joe Bob growled. "No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"
With a wave of his hands, more dodgeballs appeared. However, they were bronze, cannon ball size, like wiffle balls with fire in the holes.
They started to throw them and craters went into the gym floor.
Reaching for my finger, I went to twist the gem, however I dawned on what would be my doom.
I always took it off before gym and since I technically didn't 'lose' it, it most likely wouldn't appear back on my hand.
I looked at Percy, who was already looking at me hopefully.
"What wonderful luck we have?" I tried to joke.
Another flaming ball came our way, and Tyson shoved us out of the wall, causing us the sprawl on the floor.
"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled and jumped in front of us, balls coming towards him.
"Tyson!" Percy and I shouted, but it was too late.
Two balls slammed to him, but he caught them. Somehow, some way, he caught the balls. He sent them flying back at the two giants who turned into flames.
I sat numbly on the burning ground as I tried to process everything.
"Cor!" Percy shouted and hauled my up.
He led me to the boys locker room door.
"I'm not going in there," I scoffed.
Percy looked exhausted. "Please, Cor, I need Riptide and then you can get your ring."
"We really need a better name for that," I said.
"Not the time!" Percy yelled as he yanked me down as a ball came flying by.
The door to the locker room exploded and clothes rained in the gym, making it smell horrible.
"Yeah, not going in there," I gagged and shrugged Percy off of me.
Percy frowned at the sight before us. A huge hole in the wall, Tyson knocked to the ground, and Joe Bob standing before us.
"Neither am I," Percy mumbled before running forwards.
"Percy?" I screamed.
Suddenly, Joe Bob went mental. Through his stomach was the blade of a sword, before he turned into dust.
And there stood the one and only Annabeth Chase.