I just had to forget my homework.
I had even taken extra care this morning to be sure I wasn't late. I woke up early, skipped breakfast, grabbed the backpack I'd packed the night before, I even finished my homework yesterday. But it was now at home, sitting on the counter, and here I was, in math class, without it.
Plopping down in my desk, I flipped my hood up and rested my head on top of my arms. I didn't bother taking the backpack off; I didn't have to take anything out of it.
The bell rang.
Mrs. Dodds walked to the front of the classroom, probably having already taken roll before the bell even sounded. She wore a prim black suit today - just like everyday - and her hair was up in a tight bun. Her glasses clung to the tip of her nose for dear life, and her talon-like nails clicked on the clipboard in her hands disdainfully.
"Homework out!" she barked loudly, making me jump, "Pass it to the front!"
I groaned. I did not need to give the other kids in his class another reason to laugh at me. I'm not used to deadlines, and having to be punctual; at Camp Hero, it's much more relaxed. Sure campers had classes and such, but they were much less mandatory. I learned a lot more there in one day, than I did here in three. However, my mom thought it best to send me to a normal school for a little while, claiming that I should at least know what normal teenagers are forced to experience everyday.
It's not like I've never been to school; the youngest kids allowed at camp were about eight or so, so I had gone to kindergarten and first grade, before Mom enrolled me in this camp that was producing great results with kids like me. Normally, being dyslexic and/or ADHD would be really tough for a kid going through normal public school. However, at camp, Chiron made it his specialty to teach kids who have a hard time learning.
A throat cleared, snapping me out of my reverie. Mrs. Dodds stood above me, her arms folded and an eyebrow raised. I stared at her for a few moments, unsure what she wanted, before she shook her head and reached behind me, pulling back with a stack of homework. She looked at me expectantly for a minute, then when I didn't procure my nonexistent homework, she huffed and stalked away.
There was laughing from the back of the room. That blond boy from the lunch table yesterday was staring at me, leaning back in his chair, grinning in amusement. His Asian friend was snickering into his hand.
I whipped my head back around, feeling the heat creep up my neck. I tried to ignore the feel of their gazes on my back as Mrs. Dodds began talking about logarithms and other gibberish. But the problem with being ADHD was: it was hard to focus. The annoying guffaws echoed in my head the entire class period.
By the end of it, I decided I was done. I needed a break. I decided to call Thalia during lunch and ask if she wanted to hang out. I needed to be with someone who didn't laugh at my every word - not that Thalia was any better.
As I was walking out of the classroom, I caught sight of the blond boy smirking at his friend. Blood pounding in my ears, I shouldered my backpack and tromped out the door.
Second period was worse. So much worse. There were three girls in there that seemed to think everything I did was ridiculous, the same girls that had been there when Clarisse tried to give me a swirly. I managed to walk in right as the bell rang, and Mr. Johnson raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything.
I carefully surveyed the class, immediately picking out the three girls sitting in the second row. The blonde one, whose hair was pulled up into a mess of curls, was staring at a piece of notepaper so hard, she could have burned a whole through it; she wasn't paying any attention to me. The second girl had crazy red hair that she tamed by tying a tie-dyed bandanna around her head, she was doodling idly on her hand, glancing at the third girl expectantly.
The last girl was smirking at me. She wore two long braids down each side of her head ending in colorful feathers, she had darker hair and tanned skin that said she was probably of Native American descent. The way she was looking at me though, told me that she had hatched an evil plan and was waiting for me to walk right into it.
I gave one more nervous glance around the room, but I couldn't stand there forever. Taking the safe choice, I decided to walk to the other side of the room and sit in the back-as far away from those crazy girls as possible.
Class started, and the tension in the air made my ADHD act up so bad my leg wouldn't stop bouncing and I understood about two percent of what the teacher was saying.
Partway through the class, the worst possible thing imaginable happened: the teacher called on me.
I think that is one of the most unjust things a teacher can do: calling on random kids just because you're so sure they're not paying attention. You can't possibly know if they are or not. Maybe they just honest to goodness don't know the answer.
"Percy?" Mr. Johnson said.
I could feel sweat beading on my neck as I looked over at the three girls from the bathroom incident. They were all watching me; the whole class was watching me.
I moistened my lips, "Could you repeat the question?"
A few people laughed; I tried to keep a straight face.
"Why did the Marines accept such a sudden influx of Navajo recruits during World War II?"
"Uh..." I blinked. I remembered learning about the world wars at Camp, however, we only covered them briefly; Chiron like to focus on the ancient histories like the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Navojo...Navajo...what had Chiron said about Navajos? But his mind drew up a blank. "Because...uh...."
The blonde girl raised her hand with a sigh of impatience. The Native American girl laughed and was joined by several other people.
Mr. Johnson gave me a knowing look then called on the girl, "Annabeth?"
"Because the Japanese had cracked every code we tried to use to send messages during the war. The Navajo language was extremely hard for anyone who wasn't native to it to learn, so the Marines charged them with the task of coming up with a code the Japanese couldn't crack."
The teacher nodded in approval, then moved on with the lesson. The Native girl offered Annabeth a high five, which she bestowed. Then the girl turned and looked at me with amused, yet taunting eyes. She mimicked staring of into space and mouthed incoherently. Then she smirked and turned back around.
Anger buzzed in my ears. I knew she was making fun of me. I tried shrugging it off, they were just a bunch of mortals, (kind of the camp word for everyone who's never been). They didn't know me.
When class was over, I jumped up and made for the door as fast as I could, but before I could fight my way through the mob of students clamoring for the exit, someone said my name.
"Hey, Jackson!"
Steeling my breathing, I turned. The Native American girl was watching me with curious eyes. Her blonde friend, Annabeth pulled on her arm, "Piper."
After a long moment of me wondering whether I should make a run for it, the girl, Piper, grinned, "You'd better hurry up, don't want to be late for class."
I glared at her, then turned my back and marched out the door.
Lunch couldn't come fast enough, so when it finally did, I almost ran to the commons like some little seventh grader (no offense to seventh graders).
The commons area was as crowded as ever, and I had to navigate my way through lines and clumps of students. I didn't get in line, I never did; I preferred to eat whatever my mom decided to make at home after school. It was always better than the junk they make us here.
I finally made it out the front doors and dropped my bag down on the grass, throwing my body down next to it. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialed Thalia's number, held the phone up to my ear, and closed my eyes.
"Hello?"
I smiled, it was good to talk to her, even though it had only been about two weeks, "Hey Thals."
"Percy! What's up?"
"Nothing. The sky."
"Ha ha, what's wrong then?"
I took a deep breath and looked up at the clouds shifting above my head. It looked stormy, unfortunately. "Just crappy kids at school, doesn't matter. I wanted to talk about tomorrow."
"Well, Nico, Jason, and I will be picking you up at the Java Jones cafe at 2:30, as planned. Then we can do practically whatever we want, we have all weekend."
"I want to go home," the words left my mouth before I could stop them. I didn't want to complain, I loved my mom, and I knew she just wanted what was best for me, but I was really convinced that public school was not the answer.
Thalia was silent for a moment, "Have you talked to your mom about it?"
I shook my head, then remembered she couldn't see me, "No. I think she really likes having me around more often, and I really don't want to say that I'm leaving again."
"Well, it's not like you never see her while you're going here, you still go home on weekends sometimes."
"Yeah, I know." I didn't know what else to say, so I left it at that.
Thalia gave a short laugh, "Alright Kelp-Face, we'll bring you home this weekend, if you talk to your mom about making it permanent again."
"You got a deal," I couldn't help grinning, "Thanks Thalia, you're the best. I just really need to get away from this place."
"Whatever," Thalia threw back up her punk-girl act, "Don't take it personally, I'm just glad to have an excuse not to take Jason to get brownies."
I laughed, "Why can't Jason get his own brownies?"
"Good question, you should ask him. Look, I gotta go. Micheal Yew challenged me to an archery contest. You understand."
I snorted, "He should know better than to do that!"
"I know right, I warned him that he'd have to do my chores for two weeks if he lost. He's still convinced he can beat me though." Then her voice grew quieter, as if she were holding the phone away from her mouth, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!
"I'll see you tomorrow, Perce."
"Bye."