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CHAPTER ONE : THE CHOSEN ONE GOES TO MY SCHOOL!

Easton walked into her (abhorrently) early math class with an iced, sweet coffee drink in her hand and was surprised to see none other than Percy Jackson sitting in one of the middle rows. It was weird, like it was probably weird to see Achilles in the market or Mr. D at the liquor store. Ever since he was twelve (and even before that, probably), Percy was special because of his dad and the whole huge prophecy.

But, here he was, looking tired and annoyed in math class at Goode High School. Percy was always an intimidating figure around camp, but there was something about the human world that changed him. Easton had seen him smile and laugh while playing capture the flag or while training with the Hermes (and unclaimed) kids when he wanted more practice with Riptide. However, sitting there, he seemed to be permanently scowling and his aura just exuded fuck off to everyone. A couple of the girls that were in the room were turning and whispering to each other, very terribly, Easton could hear it from where she stood, about how hot he was.

It was at that moment Percy seemed to notice at least one person staring at him. He looked up, caught Easton's eye and she watched his eyebrows furrow. Easton knew he recognised her. It wasn't hard, considering she watched his face start blushing in real time, the pink colouring the apples of his cheeks. She wondered vaguely if he was embarrassed being seen in school, but didn't care enough to process it.

Easton moved then, walking through the rows of desks. There was a second where she almost decided to sit next to Percy, some stupid thought in her head thinking this was her chance to get to know him. They had talked back at Camp, though they were usually short conversations about the critiques Percy had about how she fought and where she could improve. Other than that, Percy never sought her out to chat nor anything else.

Out of that group of three, Grover was the one who talked to her the most. He was nice, and it was mostly because she liked to hang out with Juniper whenever the nymph was out of her tree. The woods, despite the monsters, were quite peaceful. Plus, they provided privacy for her to get Iris messages when she didn't want anyone but the trees listening to her.

So, she made her way past the boy, felt his sea green eyes follow her, even turning in his seat to watch her. Easton chose one of the desks in the back, slouched into the seat, and grabbed her scribbler and pencil case. She took a sip of her drink and looked back into Percy's eyes, trying not to squirm. Having the boy's full attention was strange. He usually had so much to do, whether it was a quest, or something to do around camp, or talking with Chiron and Mr. D. And even though the Camp was busy with the impending war and battle coming, Percy still seemed to be ten times busier than everyone. The disadvantage of being the most known living demigod.

They were staring at each other. Easton could hear the girls that had been gushing about the new mysterious kid start whispering about the two of them now. She tried not to listen to it, knowing it was just speculation on their relationship and how they knew each other, and she could honestly care less. It's not like whatever they were saying was really going to affect her in anyway other than maybe stopping her from having friends. Which, then again, she didn't need.

Percy seemed to have different ideas. He got up, scooping up the stuff he had set on his own desk, and walked to the back to plop into the desk beside her's. Easton furrowed her own brows at him, wondering what was going on, opened her mouth to ask, but was cut off by the teacher.

And then they were learning. Most of the students were listening, a few talking lowly to one another so as to not get scolded by the math that was happening on the chalkboard. Easton, who was trying to copy it down so her mother would stay off of her back, saw a slip of paper slide into her vision on the edge of her scribbler. She blinked at it, looked at Percy, who was blushing slightly again, and grabbed the paper to open it up.

There was a simple hey written on it, making Easton blink back at Percy as he smiled sheepishly. She had to admit it was weird watching him act like this. Two months ago, she had seen him charge into battle as the Titan's forces attacked the camp out of the Labyrinth. He had been probably the most fearless of them all, and probably the best swordsmen they had. But here he was, acting awkwardly as he kept looking at her face to the note and back to her eyes.

Easton scribbled back a hi with a roll of her eyes and pushed the note back to him. Then, she tried to focus on the teacher, who was explaining something on the board that Easton thought looked vaguely familiar. She's sure her mom had made her study it before it was actually time for her to learn it.

The paper was back in her peripheral, with more words written on it. Easton looked back at Percy, who was now acting like he was focusing on the teacher, his knee bouncing in concentration. He was holding a pen in his hand, which made Easton's eye twitch. It was a general rule you did math in pencil in case you made mistakes. Clearly, Percy didn't know that, or he didn't care.

She didn't read the words on the note that had been passed to her, just wrote that they'd talk more at lunch and then shoved it back at the boy, focusing on the teacher again. One of the girls was talking about Percy, not that she knew his name. It was gushing, something about him accidentally bumping into her earlier that morning and she could see that they had some kind of special connection. Easton couldn't really concentrate, not when the girl was weaving a tale of their life, planning it out, even though Easton's pretty sure Annabeth Chase held Percy's heart in her wise hands.

Percy was also a pretty distracting body next to her. She knew she was the same way with the restlessness, hell, she was tapping her pen on her notebook (though she stopped when she realized she was doing it), but Percy seemed to always want to be in motion. Even if she was a demigod, Percy was a lot more athletic than she, basically a greek demon in battle. His knee was still bouncing, she watched him dance his thumb across his finger joints, cracking each one, before doing another run through of them as if to check if he had gotten them all. It was... weird yet mesmerizing to watch. Easton had never been in a classroom with another demigod. The only time she was with her half-godly kin, she was at camp and they all were slightly hyperactive in their own way.

She reached forward to her cup and took a sip of the vanilla flavoured coffee as she watched Percy, vaguely listening to what the teacher said. She could kind of see what the girl weaving her and Percy's life together was talking about. He was pretty cute, now that she was as close as she could probably get to the boy. Don't get Easton wrong, he was intimidating. His face was a resting scowl, as focused as he was on outward things. But, she could see that he was cute. His dark hair was fluffy, in a sea salt, windblown, beach day kind of vibe, and his sea green eyes were some of the prettiest she had ever seen. He was tall and athletic, a menacing presence even now, as they learned.

Easton realized she was staring at him, felt herself blush, and turned to stare at their math teacher once again. She wanted to reach out and place her hand on Percy's knee to stop him from bouncing it, but decided against it. Despite the fact that she knew who Percy Jackson was, they weren't friends, and they barely interacted at camp. He had been too busy going on quests or saving the world or whatever for them to talk other than in training.

Plus, Percy was a lousy shot with a bow and arrow and that's where Easton excelled. Though, because she is technically unclaimed, she has trained with Percy in the arena when they were doing swordplay. He was brutal, usually, but only in the way that he wanted everyone to succeed so he pushed everyone to do better. And Percy, even just in the arena, wacking at the dummies or training with other half-bloods, was magnificent.

He had probably improved the best of all the half-bloods Easton had seen. But, she supposed he had to, with the Big Prophecy looming over his head and with how many quests he had been thrown into. Percy Jackson was a regular old hero of legend, if you looked at him, and Easton sat for a second in quiet contemplation wondering if he would have the fate of one.

Then, she shook her head, because it wasn't her problem. Her problem was the fact that she wasn't at camp when she really should be, helping to patrol and getting ready for the war. The only time the Fates had made her in the spotlight was her coming to camp, though nobody but she remembered it. Maybe because it had been late and all the campers had been in their bunks. Easton is slightly glad for that, considering it's the only time she's felt that much godly aura in one room.

Their classes went by slowly. Turns out, Percy and her shared all of their classes, at least for the first half of the day. Percy sat beside her in most of them, she could hear that same girl talking about Percy in the way girls with crushes do to her friends. Easton kept herself glancing at Percy, to see if he heard it. It wasn't like she was being quiet about it either, if Easton could tell by some of their other classmates' reaction. But nope. He was oblivious to it. Which was startling, considering you'd need good hearing on quests. But Percy just listened as best he could to the teachers and wrote down notes he thought were important.

There were a couple times he had glanced over at the scribblers Easton had, who had been trained to colour code her notes and be able to write notes in real time. Her mom used to put on presentations and TEDTalks and tell her to write notes for every thing she thought was important. So, not only was she very good at spelling despite her dyslexia, she was very good at listening and recalling information. Percy seemed surprised to see how good her notes were, and Easton could see the self-consciousness seep in as he tried to write more.

Lunch rolled around and Easton was glad she had some of her iced drink still left over. She was heading towards her locker to grab her wallet to buy lunch, either at the cafeteria or somewhere close by the school. Percy appeared at her side, making her jump and reach for a quiver that wasn't there. Percy blinked as she shoved at his solid shoulder, "You ass, you scared me!"

He had the audacity to look sheepishly cute as he said, "Sorry," with a little shrug. Easton narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest as she raised her eyebrow at him in question. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "You said lunch?"

Right, the note passing. Easton sighed, dropped her arms, and turned to see which way everyone was moving. When she got the, what she was hoping, general direction of the cafeteria, she turned back to Percy. "Okay, let's go, I'm hungry and hoping they have nachos."

Percy nodded, his face one of contemplation for a second, before saying, "I hope they have a combo for fries and a burger." Easton found herself nodding in agreement too. A greasy burger sounded just as good as nachos, but she wanted something she could dip in sour cream right now. The gods truly blessed her for not making her lactose intolerant.

There wasn't any idle chit chat as they made their way to the cafeteria. Just two half-bloods walking together, Percy probably looking a lot more intimidating than Easton. That same pack of girls who had been talking about Percy had been at a table close to the entrance, Easton spotted, and immediately started talking as soon as they saw the boy. Easton couldn't help herself, not after how many classes of them not-whispering about the blue-green of his eyes, and the curl of his hair.

She elbowed Percy in the side and subtly pointed the table out to him, "They have not stopped whispering about you since you started existing here, Percy Jackson." He furrowed his eyebrows at her, before turning to look at the table of girls that were, again, very clearly whispering about him. It was worse though, because they were pointing and giggling and it seems Percy was a little shocked to hear the statement and the words from the girls.

"Why would they be whispering about me?" He shifted uncomfortably, clearly a sign of insecurity from something. Easton waved it away, immediately, as they got into line for food.

"Because one of them has a crush on you, Jackson. She planned your guys' lives out in math class this morning," Easton told him, shoving her hand in her pocket. She then took a sip of her coffee drink, almost forgetting she had it in her hand in the excitement of that group of girls. Percy still looked confused. Easton watched him open his mouth to respond, but they were both interrupted by another girl.

This one had flaming locks of red curls, like fire was shooting out of her head. She must've known Percy, because she nailed him in the side even harder than Easton had, smile wide under bright green eyes. There was dozens upon dozens of freckles coating her skin, and she was wearing paint covered clothes.

"Rachel!" Percy seemed excited to see her. His whole demeanor changed, actually, with the way his face lit up and his body seemed less tense, suddenly. He didn't blush, like he had when he saw her (which was weird, now thinking about it), but he was definitely... freer, it seemed, with this mortal girl.

"Percy Jackson," she said, her smile widening just that much to make a difference. Easton found herself clocking it immediately. "We meet again." Her green eyes found Easton's amber ones and Easton found herself smiling awkwardly, her lips pursed together. "Who's this?"

Percy turned to look at Easton then, who gave Rachel another once over. There was something about her that came from money, Easton could tell. She's sure Rachel could pick up the same thing from her. "Oh, this is Easton! She's another camper, like Annabeth and I."

Easton knows what that means. She can't help turning to Percy, cocking her head to the side just a bit, and blinking at him in disbelief. He told Rachel about half-bloods?! Easton wondered how Annabeth took that. Probably worse than she did, as she doesn't know Percy well, but she does know that everyone she used to tell about the Greek Gods in a more real way called her crazy as a kid. There must have been something special about this girl.

"Oh!" Rachel leaned in, "Are you the child of Athena too?" Easton looked into her green, curious eyes, looked back at Percy, feeling herself tense. She honestly could feel all the metaphorical hair on her back stand up at the question. Plus, how did she even look like an Athena kid? She was made as good a tactician, but she didn't have the signature grey eyes. Her's were a warm golden brown, bordering on amber-like colour.

"No," Easton deadpanned. "Some of us aren't lucky enough to know who are godly parent is." She wasn't going to admit that she had a (pretty good) idea who it was, not to a complete stranger. Maybe if she was hanging out with Will Solace, or even Malcolm Pace, who she was probably the closest with at camp (other than Charles Beckendorf), considering how much she intruded on him and the other Athena kids' mock-war planning. Annabeth was there sometimes, though she had gotten a new laptop recently and was pretty much fixated on that.

Rachel looked taken aback by the statement. Easton didn't really care, if she was being honest. This red haired girl knew Percy, somehow, but that didn't mean she knew Easton. The girl took a step forward, ignoring the looks Rachel and Percy were giving each other. She was trying to squint to look at the menu and felt herself frown at the fact that nachos were not on it. But there was a burger and fries, so Easton guessed that's what she was having.

They started talking about other things, then, to diffuse the tension. Percy tried to include her more than Rachel did, but the redhead made an attempt to do so. Easton was getting a feeling that she had some sort of feeling for the boy who stood taller than them both. And Rachel did seem cool. She was pretty artsy and talked about some of the things she did on the weekend to raise money, but Easton felt out of place. She could see Rachel's want to try to get to know her lower everytime Easton answered with a curt reply or a shrug.

It wasn't something that Easton could help, either. There was always something about new people that scared the absolute shit out of her, more than the monsters. Her mom had always told her that friends were a nice luxury, but not a necessity. A necessity was a good job, or clothes, or water. And, Easton didn't mean to get her social skills from the women who barked orders in an operating room, but she didn't really have a charismatic dad to show her, like all the coming of age movies she watched at movie nights she planned with her teddy bears.

She's surprised Percy was still trying to include her. Her shoulders almost felt like they were getting tighter and her mouth with them, and she couldn't stop it. The two of them were talking about something in New York, both of them natives to the city, and Easton couldn't even respond because she was from Oregon and had no idea what in the House of Hades they were talking about.

Easton literally knew where her apartment building was, the cute cafe on the walk to school, and Goode High School was. And so her jaw was tight and she was grumbling out answers until she grabbed her lunch when it was finished being made and took a beeline towards the exit so she could find a hallway to eat in without Percy or Rachel talking about something she wasn't privy to.

She ignored Percy's call to slow down and let herself be swallowed by the lunch rush.

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welcome. i have been in love with percy since i was twelve. that is all.

also, the gif has nothing to do with the chapter lmaoooo