Chapter 5: The New Kids

I dunno why I like writing this story so much. Like I begin the next No Choice and Dark Lord chapter but I keep getting dragged back here.

Chapter 5: The New Kids

Surprisingly, Artemis found herself really enjoying her first day at this new school. She had friends in every class, as Aphrodite or Hela were in the ones Percy wasn't.

She was also surprised to find that only a fraction of the school seemed to be typical rednecks. Most seemed like normal kids, many of whom were clearly from the land north of the border, but other than that they just seemed like suburban kids.

In first period they had Gym, which was entirely spent playing multisport, where they split into two teams and the coach called out a different sport every two minutes and four or five from each team would go on and play.

Thankfully she was on Percy's team, so he was there to back her up for hockey, touch football, basketball and soccer. And to top it all off, none of the guys catcalled her, she just got a lot of stares which made her a bit uncomfortable.

She hardly spoke to anyone outside of her new friend group during class, preferring to do her limited socializing during lunch. It was extremely embarrassing in her second class when the history 'professor' Mr Langley called upon her to introduce herself.

She stood awkwardly and crossed her arms at all the stares. "Uh, hi. I'm Artemis." She said quickly, sitting back down, but the 'professor' didn't accept that. "Now come on, tell us a bit about yourself." He pushed, and the flushed Artemis stood back up.

"Well... I'm from New York, I moved here a couple days ago. I'm Percy's neighbor, and I like sports." She introduced herself quickly, sitting back down. The failed professor sighed. "Well, if that's all we're going to get out of you."

The rest of her classes all the way up until lunch were pretty uneventful. She walked to the cafeteria with Hela and Aphrodite to meet the two guys before getting in line for their food. Now one of many things that she hated about city school was that the food was really shit. Probably literal faeces piled on their plates. This stuff, however, looked decent. Edible at the very least.

It was burgers and fries, only the patties didn't look like sponge and the fries didn't look like they were made of carrot so as far as Artemis was concerned this was a five star meal. The five of them got their trays and rushed over to a table, not keen on sitting on the floor. The cool kids waved them over but Aph shook her head. "Sorry guys, we're gonna sit here today." She said apologetically.

When they sat down Apollo smirked at her. "You ready for your tryouts?" He asked. Artemis swallowed her first bite and hummed, actually enjoying the food. "Which one?" She asked, confusing Apollo. "What do ya mean, which one?"

Percy laughed, choking on his burger. "That's right! At the end of gym the coach came over with a sheet asking what sports she'd wanna do and she ticked like five of em. What did you pick?" He asked.

Artemis thought back to the list. "Cheerleading, track and field, hockey and volleyball." She said. Apollo's jaw dropped. "How are you gonna fit all that?" He asked incredulously.

Artemis shrugged. "None of 'em overlap. Cheerleading at the football game on Friday nights, Hockey every Thursday evening, Volleyball Tuesday evening and Track Wednesday afternoon. Plus if I keep archery up then I can do that Sunday afternoons." She told him.

She then noticed Aph and Hela giggling and whispering each other, making her raise an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" She asked. The girls separated, trying to keep the smiles off their faces. "Oh, nothing. Just kinda funny how Percy does two of those four sports and cheerleading and football are pretty much their own pair, almost as if you've got the exact same interests. You like the same sports, you like shooting things, you have the same classes." She hinted.

Artemis blushed, trying not to make eye contact with Percy and looking down at her food. "I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, but it's nothing." She said, munching on her fries.

Didn't Obama get rid of unhealthy lunches, how is the school allowed to serve this? She thought to herself.

To say Artemis had a busy schedule that afternoon was an understatement. She had four tryouts to go to plus she and the other's would come along and watch Percy's football ones so in short she likely wouldn't be home before seven thirty. Thankfully they were all back to back.

First up was the track and field tryouts, which weren't really tryouts since there wasn't much competitive edge to it. Anyone could join. It was just running and the best runners would be picked for county/state championships. More like a fitness program with a level-up system.

Percy and Artemis got changed in the locker rooms after last period and met each other outside, intending to run together. The two went with the other runners and lined up at the starting point. When the coach blew the whistle they took off at a nice jog, not wanting to destroy their stamina in the first fifteen seconds.

The track was essentially just a circuit around the school field that they had to run three times, though the coach assured them that the actual sport involved running around town and during the cross country unit then through farmland (with owners' permission of course.)

Percy and Artemis kept a consistent third or fourth place the entire way, their minds focused on their breathing and thinking shower thoughts to pass the time. They finished the event with a time of five minutes twenty six seconds, which was pretty good considering one of em's the New Kid.

The teacher who ran the sport congratulated the two on their effort and signed them up. It wasn't really a sport, more like a club only it was full of physical activity. Artemis figured it'd be good to keep in shape.

Next place to go was the football field, where the team would try out first and then the cheerleading squad. The four of them: Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hela, all went to sit in the bleachers while Percy got changed.

They weren't the only ones there, it seemed like half the juniors and seniors were watching the practice, which in Elis Springs meant maybe 40 people. Thankfully everyone was pretty spread out so Artemis didn't have to socialize with any strangers. She'd done enough of that today.

The players all came out dressed in uniform and padding ready to go, and were instructed to stand in a straight line. There was just over the maximum amount you could have in a team, which meant that a few people would be getting cut.

"Alright. Wide receivers, step forward." Coach Hedge barked, and to Artemis' dismay, it was Orion and another kid who stepped forward. "Well that was easy. You two, stand over there. Ya made the team by default." He said, pointing to the water cooler. Orion grinned and high fived his lugs before walking off.

"Linebackers!" He called, and a few more guys stepped forward. He ran trials for them and picked out a few of the better ones. The coach did this for the rest of the positions until he had three left: halfback, fullback and quarterback.

"Halfback." He said, expecting only Percy to step forward, but they were pleasantly surprised to see another kid step forward. They had all assumed he was one of the 11 kids going for quarterback. He shrugged. "Alright, we'll start with catching I guess." He said, beginning the running back trial.

In the end it wasn't really close. Percy could throw sixty yards plus, while this kid struggled to reach fifty. Thanks to his track experience Percy was more fit leg-wise and easily outpaced and outran the guy. Both of them were pretty equal in catching and the guy actually had a pretty good kick, but unfortunately for him that wasn't as vital as the throwing and running abilities since it is, of course, the running back position.

The rest of the football tryouts finished up and it was the cheerleaders' turns, something Artemis had been semi-dreading all day. Hela wasn't doing it, as she was pretty secluded and didn't fancy the idea of dressing in skirts and crop tops and dancing for horny teenage boys to ogle. To be completely honest, neither did Artemis but her pride was apparently more important than her dignity.

Aphrodite had apparently vouched for her to the two other head cheerleaders, Drew and Silena. The two were still cautious when they saw Artemis, she didn't exactly look the type to be a cheerleader. She was definitely pretty but, in Artemis and Hela's words, she wasn't a hoe like the others.

Aphrodite, being a head cheerleader after getting elected the previous year to replace a leaving senior, was one of the three judges and thus Artemis would only need to sway one of the judges to get in.

The tryouts, to say the least, looked brutal. Girls were sent off crying by Drew's harsh words, Silena's plentiful criticism and Aphrodite's high standards. Thankfully for Artemis, Aph seemed like the hardest judge to convince seeing as she only gave about three of the eight girls before her a score above five. Since she already had Aph's vote secure, that made her job that much easier.

She was surprised to see how many girls were trying out. In New York there were maybe 24 who tried every year and almost all of them got in, whereas here in Montana there were at least forty girls from Seniors to Freshmen and only half would make it. It seemed like half of the female population at school wanted a go.

Eventually it was Artemis' turn to go and so she did. After a few minutes of showing off her athletic prowess, her flexibility and her ability to work with a group, it was left to the judges to council.

Aphrodite went first, and obviously gave her a ten- much to the annoyance of girls who had gotten scores below seven. The other two were more judgemental.

Selena leaned forward on her hands. "Well you're definitely good at the whole moving part, but you need less stiffness in your posture. This isn't karate. Also need to work on your actual cheering, it's very forced. We need girls who actually support the team, not Nazis who just get told to cheer and salute. Overall I'd give it a seven or eight, impressive skill." She decided, making Artemis sigh. Compared to the other girls who had gone so far she was pretty much in, 18/30 points.

Drew sat looking like a bitch as she chewed bubblegum. "Don't you dare show up to games with you hair in a fucking ponytail. Free flowing for you. If you've got some kinda stomach piercing, which let's be honest you probably do, get rid of it before I tear it out. And do something with your face. Get some eyeliner on there. I hope your stomach's the same shade as your face and hands, it'll be disgusting if you're one of those people with olive faces and pale bodies. Five." She decreed, making Artemis grin. Twenty three points.

She walked off the field happily after that, certain she made the team and that she'd shown her brother up.

The other two tryouts were uneventful. She easily made hockey and volleyball, thanks to her previous experience with both. After that was all over it was about seven in the evening and Artemis, to say the least, was spent.

"You guys wanna get pizza?" Percy asked as he and Apollo walked ahead of the girls who were tired from volleyball. Her stomach rumbled, making the group laugh as Artemis accidentally answered. "Guess that's a yes then."

Upon climbing in Percy's pickup Artemis relished in the feeling of a seat beneath her as she practically snuggled into her seatbelt. Aphrodite and Hela were doing fine in the back with Apollo as Percy started the ride, turning down the radio so as to not disturb Artemis.

At the local pizza joint, the only one in town, the gang left Artemis snoozing in the passenger seat while they waited for their food to be ready. When it was finally served to them Apollo came out and tapped on the window.

Artemis jolted awake and bumped the knob, turning Its The End Of The World As We Know It up to 84 volume, nearly blowing Artemis' eardrums out. Apollo cackled as his twin struggled in her dazed state to find the volume knob.

When it was silent she turned and glared at him, rolling down the window. "What?" She asked. Apollo waved his hand. "Pizza's ready, bring the keys." He said, and after taking the keys out of the ignition she hopped out and followed him inside. Why the fuck did Percy leave his keys in his truck with only a sleeping person guarding em?

She walked into the pizza joint which looked like more of a bar. There were booths everywhere and stools by the counter where a middle aged woman was chatting with a man in his upper sixties. The girls and Percy had planted themselves in a corner booth with the pizzas so the twins made their way over and sat with them. Artemis was in between her brother and Percy as she took a seat, and it was hardly a second before she was digging into the pizza.

Aphrodite giggled from across the table, and when she got deja vu from earlier, Artemis raised an eyebrow. "What now?" She asked. Aphrodite flipped out her phone and snapped a picture of her, confusing the girl. "You two just look so cute together!" She squealed, and it was then that Artemis realised how close she was to Percy. Her arm was brushing up against the guy, who was a full six inches taller than her. The teens blushed and continued to eat their pizza in silence.

Not as good as New York.

When they were all full, with only Apollo continuing to gorge himself on the pizza, they wondered what to do next. "I mean, we can't do much since we have school tomorrow. Do you guys have a curfew or anything?" Hela asked, and Artemis shrugged. "No set deadline but I'm sure mom will be pissed if we're not back before ten or something like that."

As always, Percy had the good ideas. "You guys should come back to our place for a few hours. We could just hang out in our rooms or explore the farms or something?" He suggested. Artemis was unsure at first, but Apollo was definitely keen.

"Sounds lit. Do you got anything to do at your house?" He asked, and the three shrugged. "Playstation? Uno? Just sitting around?" Hela listed off.

Aphrodite clapped her hands at the thought of them coming over. "Ooh, yes! Arty, you just have to let me glow you up! Pleeeeeease?" She begged, making Artemis grimace. "Arty? Uh, no." She decided firmly without thought.

Aph huffed, but didn't push any further with it. She hadn't expected the girl to agree with her request anyway, Artemis didn't look the type to sit with her and talk about boys while they did their makeup. No, she seemed more inclined to go out with Hela and hose them down with Nerf bullets. Actually, no, she seemed like one of those kids who'd take the tips off the bullets and shove thumbtacks in there before executing her brother. Hela had done that once and Percy was hit in the eyelid.

When Apollo had decided he'd finally had enough, so by the end of the third pizza, the crew got their bags and returned to the truck. Artemis, now full and still not recovered from being abruptly woken up, was still very tired and was almost asleep when Percy started the pickup and pulled out of the restaurant's lot.

There weren't many restaurants in Elis Springs, in fact only four: the pizza place, a bar that could technically be considered a restaurant as it served meals like steak and vegetables, there was the Chinese shop that was built into the side of the Hong house, and finally there was the diner which was five star according to the Jacksons. Artemis knew that the first bad day she had would be ended gorging herself on cheeseburgers and fries and strawberry milkshakes.

She was barely kept awake by Percy's music as they sped down the long straight country road towards their farms, though Artemis was too tired to even bother telling him to turn it down. She was shaken awake as Percy literally drifted onto their shared private road, and the accompanying squeals from the back courtesy of Aphrodite and Apollo. Percy chuckled under his breath as he heard the two fear for their lives.

They pulled up to the fork and Percy stopped, making Artemis look at him. He looked at her then back at Apollo. "So you guys coming to ours or what?" He asked. Artemis just shrank down in the seat and sighed. "I don't care just get me to a couch or bed or something." She said and, after Apollo's vehement agreements, Percy turned right onto the Jackson property.

They pulled up in the gravel driveway and all hopped out. It was after sundown now so the outside was dark. The lights were on inside and, upon opening the door, the five were attacked by an excited Casey. "Hilo!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around Percy and Hela's legs. The former smiled and tousled her hair. "Sup pumpkin. Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" He asked, checking the time.

Just then Sally walked in wearing her bathrobe. "Yes she is, now c'mon miss- Oh, Artemis, Apollo, so nice to see you again! Do your parents know you're here?" She asked, and the elder sister shook her head. "No but I can text herm~" She slurred, yawning humongously, making Sally look at her with a bit of sympathy. "Oh lord, well I'm sure Aph wouldn't mind letting you crash on her bed for the night. Good thing about being neighbors is that you can just hop the fence and run home in the morning." She winked.

Artemis smiled lazily at the thought of a good night's sleep and nodded. "Thank you Mr Jackson." She said, not realizing her mistake. Sally laughed and bid the group goodnight before dragging Casey off to bed. "Bye bye!" The little girl yelled, waving to her siblings and neighbors who all smiled and waved back.

They walked past the living room where Percy's dad was sat on the couch with a beer watching the Monday Night Football. "Who's winning?" Percy asked, and his father looked over his shoulder at the five. "Oh, hey guys. Uh Steelers are up 14 - 10 going into the 4th quarter. How was school?" He asked offhandedly, not caring too much, so Aphrodite didn't provide him with much info.

"Well the girls absolutely love Artemis, well most of them. Some don't care but frankly they're not worth her time anyway with their shiny fake-ass faces and forty dollar jewelry. I got to judge cheerleading tryouts today and, oh yeah how could I forget Apollo tricked Artemis into joining and now she's in the team and she's doing volleyball with us too! Hela and Percy and Artemis got into hockey and Percy's somehow still halfback for the team and he also has a friend now for track and it's, you guessed it, Artemis! Apollo was really funny today in Music, he kept making us laugh while the teacher was playing and we almost got sent out for it-" She rambled, before thankfully being cut off by Poseidon.

"That's all very great hon and I'm so proud of you for making the hockey team but could you be a dear and get me another drink, please?" He asked, not caring to notice his mistake in the sentence. Aphrodite sighed and took the empty can before heading to the fridge to get another one.

Poseidon nodded at the twins as they walked past to head to the rooms. "Hey. We had lunch with your parents today, Herschel's Diner. Showed them around town, introduced 'em to a few people. You guys staying here the night, then?" He asked, and Artemis and Apollo shrugged. "If we're allowed?"

Poseidon nodded. "Of course! Just no, uh, foolin' around." He winked, making literally all of the teens blush as Aphrodite walked in with that other beer. She raised an eyebrow at her friends while Poseidon laughed, proceeding to usher them all into the hallway.

"What now?" Apollo asked, and Artemis had a pretty solid answer. Sleep She thought to herself, but that thought was deposed by Hela's chiming in. "Hide and seek sounds fun?" She suggested, getting the ever so energetic Aphrodite and Apollo on board.

They all looked to her after Percy agreed, and she sighed. "Do we have to?" She groaned, and they nodded vehemently. "Yes! C'mon sis, be fun for once in your life!" He teased, and the elder sister glared at him. "Fine, but don't expect me to try." She crossed her arms, and Apollo wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I wouldn't expect anything of the sort.

Well Artemis lasted approximately forty-eight seconds, having stood behind the barn with her arms crossed waiting for Hela to come find her, which she promptly did. She'd seen the other's run out down the paths through the farm to find places in the wide fields, thick bushes and under tall pines. The borders were the Jackson and Olympia farms which was many, many square miles so this round alone would likely take an hour.

So, now that she had a chance to rest, Artemis walked over to a rise not far from the house and plopped her ass down on the thankfully dry grass. She picked the earphones from her pocket and sorted out her music, proceeding to lay down on the cool grass and stare up at the night sky, hands behind her head.

As she stared at the sky Artemis felt her soul fly out of her body to the heavens above in sheer awe of what she was seeing. The sky was clear, courtesy of the Blue Sky Country fashion, and the results of such a clear sky was what drove her into Nirvana.

See, back in New York the weather was shit. Rain, snow, wind, cloud, maybe some sun for a couple of weeks in August. Either way, the sky was pretty boring and bland in NYC. But this... this was something out of this world. Artemis had no idea skies like these were real.

It was different shades of black and blue, and the entire blanket over the Earth was filled with stars from the North to the South, the East to the West, and a slightly brown cream-colored strip flew across from one corner to the other like watercolor paint. She suddenly felt enlightened, like her spirit had become something more. The sky glowed above her and she became more aware of the feeling of the grass blades swaying around her like seaweed.

"Stargazing?" She heard a familiar voice ask, and her head shot to the side. Artemis sat up and pulled out her earphones, seeing Percy walking over to her. "What the- What time is it?" She asked. Percy checked his watch. "It's only been twenty minutes since the game started. I had a shit spot over by the trees. I think Aph and Apollo went deeper into the farmland so I'd give it an hour for Hela to find them." He said, sitting down next to her.

Artemis lay back down, followed suit by Percy. "It's so... amazing." She said in awe, staring at the sky. Percy smiled and nodded. "Never gets old, not even after 16 years." He told her. Artemis was happy to lay there, basking in the glory of that beautiful sky. "I never thought the sky could look this good. Usually it's just grey in New York, maybe blue on a good day. We never get stars like these." She said.

Percy turned his head to look at her. "It's beautiful." He noted, and Artemis couldn't help but blush as she turned to face him when he said that, only to see his sea-green eyes staring at her, their glow standing out in the darkness.

It didn't take much longer for Artemis' eyes to close and for her to fall asleep, and after about ten minutes Percy realised this. He laughed slightly and stood, considering leaving her there as a prank but obviously cancelling that thought right away. He wasn't that mean.

The teen knelt down and placed his arms under her knees and back respectively, picking the girl up in a sort of bridal fashion. He'd had experience from Aphrodite and Hela falling asleep on the floor of his room, so he had no trouble carrying her across the field back to the house.

He crept in through the back door past the living room where his father saw him. Poseidon chuckled as his son walked through with a sleeping girl in his arms. "Put her to bed, Romeo." He teased, making his junior son's face burn.

He walked past Sally in the hallway, who nearly squealed in delight when she saw the scene, watching every moment as the two scooted past off to Percy's room. When they got there Percy made sure to not wake her up, setting the girl down on the bed gently.

Almost immediately Artemis settled herself in unconsciously, crunching up into a semi-fetal position for comfort and warmth. Percy grabbed a fuzzy blanket and threw it over her, to which the girl quickly pulled it closer to herself, all the way up to the neck.

Percy smiled as he saw the girl tucked in and happy. She is kinda cute. He noted to himself as he left, turning off the light and shutting the door before heading out to the back porch to wait for his friends.

There you go paige, sorry i'm like a week late. Hope 4400 words was long enough for you. Where do I go next with this story? How do percy and Artemis get together? Please give ideas cause I had no idea what to write after the football tryout part way back that way dere. Will update No Choice next and, spoiler, threesome lemon incoming.

Word Count: 4494