~Jason~

I was running late, hurrying as I got ready for school. I shoved on my last shoe as I hopped down the hallway. This was the first day of school and I was going to be late . . . fantastic. 

"Jason, don't hurt yourself." My sister teased. Her black hair, cut short and spiked up a little, shook as she held in laughs at my predicament. A piece of toast hung out of my mouth, my purple hoodie was barely on my arms, my white T-shirt was askew, and my jeans needed pulled up further. 

Blue eyes sparkled back at me, the same as my own, as our father's. He was away on a business trip, but that wasn't new. "Thalia, I'm taking Percy, I have to leave early! You know he takes forever." I rolled my eyes as she laughed, her freckles danced over her nose as she grinned. 

"Kelp Head only takes forever because you let him." Thalia grabbed my back pack off of the couch and handed it to me as I fixed myself. "He isn't ever late for me." Another roll of my eyes and she chuckled at me again. Nice to know my sister has my back. 

"That's because you're the cousin he's scared of." My sister had gone to the same high school I'm going to but she graduated two years ago and was currently in collage. All of our cousins, Percy, Nico, and Hazel, went to Goode High too. I thought back to when we first met Percy, his dad, my dad's brother, had died when Percy was only a year old. His mother hadn't really kept in contact with his side of the family. 

But finally when Percy and I were in freshmen year of high school, Thalia was a junior, Nico was an eighth grader, and his sister Hazel was in sixth grade, we met up. It was like we had finally found the missing pieces, we bonded and ever since had been inseparable. 

"No it's because he loves to aggravate you." Thalia bopped my nose then chuckled for the last time. "Go to school, little bro." She ruffled my hair then shoved my shoulder. I pushed my glasses further up the bridge of my nose then waved goodbye to my sister. 

I hopped into my white car, parked on the side of the road from the entrance of my apartment building. The high reaching stack of homes was owned by my father, he bought and sold property. All things considered my car wasn't flashy or anything, just plain and simple-my father protested saying it looked bad on us, but I didn't want something fancy. 

I wanted to blend in. 

But when you're a wide receiver on the school's football team, you get plenty of attention.

The drive over to Percy's wasn't bad, and surprisingly he was out of the door quite fast. His black hair was the same color as Thalia's, they both got it from their fathers. I got my Mother's looks expect the eyes. Honestly Percy and Thalia looked more like siblings, if it wasn't for his green eyes he could be her clone. 

It was a bit annoying when I introduced us all and people always assumed I was the cousin, not Percy. However, it wasn't a huge deal. Percy slumped down in the passenger's seat and grinned over at me. "Hey there Superman!" He hit my shoulder and buckled up. He wore a blue shirt under his black hoodie with a pair of skinny jeans. 

The usual Percy attire. 

He shoved his bag into the back and yawned. "Let's get this over with, my mom promised cookies after this." His black hair only got more messy as he ran his hand through it. 

"Well, if there's cookies involved you'll do anything." I rolled my eyes as I chuckled and pulled out into the street. 

"Hey," Percy pointed at me with a finger, and completely stone faced said, "I'm not gay but a cookie is a cookie." I bit down on my lip but it didn't stop my laughing fit. "Ha! Got ya! I should tell that one to Nico." 

"Yeah, he'll love that." I sassed. 

"He will!" 

"Yeah right, just tell me when you're planning on doing this so I can watch him punch you." 

"You're just jealous because I'm the favorite cousin!" Percy faked flipping long hair over his shoulder and grinned. I sighed and turned the radio up further. 

Once I pulled into the school parking lot Percy hopped out and slung his arm over my shoulder as we walked up the steps. He parted for his first period with a wave, leaving me to walk to Choir by myself. 

I shoved through the mass of people that were wandering around waiting for the bell to ring. My backpack slumped onto the riser with a thud, as I sat down next to a brunet girl in the right corner. I pulled out a pencil and notebook, planning on doodling until the bell, but fumbled and dropped my pencil. 

I sighed and picked it back up. 

The girl looked up at me and nearly knocked my breath out of me. She was gorgeous, with eyes that kept changing and feathers braided into her hair. I tried to keep cool and talk to her. 

Her name was Piper and she sung soprano. She was already friends with someone in our group and was already eating lunch with us. My heart did a little flip at that. 

Oh no.

The guys were never going to let me live this down. Especially Percy once he got hold of the fact I liked someone. When I had a crush on a girl named Reyna, Percy didn't drop it for years. Even once I told him I moved on, only stopping when she transferred schools. 

This was going to go one of two ways, completely amazing, or utterly awful. 

There was no in-between. 

Not with our group. 

But as we walked out of the music room, I had a pretty optimistic look.