Hi guys! This is just a preview to a fanfic that I'm going to pursue later on. I won't update this until after I've finished Oceans Away, unfortunately. And that probably won't be for another couple of months. Speaking of which, if you haven't seen Oceans Away, the fanfic I'm currently working on, please check it out!

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this story. Please review! :D

Disclaimer: The only thing I own here is the plotline. And even that is terribly cliche.

Day one.

I slam the door to Paul's Prius shut. Shouldering my backpack, I pull my grey beanie over my head and walk across the parking lot. My eyes are trained on the ground in front of me, but I periodically glance upward to locate my friends.

"Welcome to Goode!", reads a banner, hanging low over the school's entrance. Green and white balloons (our school colors) are scattered across the front lawn. A couple of jocks play volleyball with them, while others take to popping them in front of girls' faces.

As I walk up the steps, I try my best to ignore what's going on beside me. A football player is kissing a girl against the railing. A freshman is flipping a water bottle down the stairs, trying to land it upright at the bottom. A group of popular girls are staring at me as I shuffle past. As soon as I'm a couple feet beyond them, they giggle like they just saw the lamest thing on the planet.

I squeeze my eyes closed and barge through the door. Not many people are inside, since it's a good twenty minutes before school starts. It's typical for me to be at school early though, because I ride to school with my stepdad, Paul. He's an AP English teacher at Goode. He normally doesn't walk in with me. His classroom is towards the back of the school, so he drops me off at the front and parks near the back entrance.

I perk up when I notice that my best friend, Grover, is already waiting in front of my locker. Grover's a pretty chill guy. He's nice, funny, and smart too. However, the rest of the school treats him like a social outcast. To be fair, they treat my entire friend group like that, but him more than most. Maybe because of his appearance. Puberty hit him hard a year ago, so now he's stuck with an acne problem and a voice that sometimes sounds goat-like. He has curly brown hair and a goatee as well, so he looks less like a teenager and more like he's in his late twenties.

He doesn't deserve that kind of treatment, though. He's one of the coolest guys I've ever met. If the nicest ones were always the popular ones, Grover would practically be school royalty.

Plus, he's great at playing reed pipes. If the pipes were a guitar, I'm sure he would be making all of the girls swoon. Unfortunately, pipes don't have as good of a reputation. One girl did swoon, however, when he played them last year in the middle of lunch. That girl is currently his girlfriend, Juniper.

I slip my other backpack strap around my shoulder (I normally just use the one), and I jog over to him.

He beams at me. "Percy! Happy first day!"

I roll my eyes. "It's anything but happy, but same to you."

We give each other a quick hug.

We talk for a while about each other's summers. That is, the part of summer that we didn't spend together. My friends and I spent a good portion of it together in Montauk, my favorite vacation place. We also hung out a lot outside of the trip, watching movies, visiting amusement parks, and going swimming. We're a pretty tight-knit group, in my opinion. We've been through thick and thin together. If anybody in our group is going through something bad, we've all got that person's back, whether they like it or not.

Within ten minutes, Juniper arrives, and I take that as my cue to leave. I've spent enough time with the couple to know that third-wheeling them is not a great idea. It's alright though, because I run into Nico and Hazel on my way out.

Nico and Hazel are both sophomores. They're half-siblings, but they couldn't look more different. Nico has the palest skin you've ever seen, while Hazel has a warm, brown skin tone. Nico has straight, pitch-black hair, while Hazel's is curly and chocolatey brown. His eyes are black, her eyes are strangely gold.

They act completely different too. Nico is more of the brooding type and tends to disappear into the shadows. However, if you know him really well, like I do, you can bring out his more happy-go-lucky, innocent side. Hazel is lively and friendly all around, to anyone she meets. She has this infectious energy around her that automatically makes you happy, even if you've just been crying your eyes out. She can make anybody feel better.

Grover, Juniper, and Hazel's boyfriend Frank join us a couple minutes before school starts. We all laugh together about my friend Leo's summer escapades (Leo's currently in Texas, on an extended vacation). The bell interrupts us with its unmistakable screech, and I sigh in frustration. Back to school again.

The excitement of the summer leeches out slowly from every student, the farther we get into the day. By the time fourth period ends and lunch begins, the classroom is filled with brain-dead zombies. We all shuffle out as soon as the bell rings, massing towards the school's cafeteria.

Seconds later, I remember that I have to leave my backpack in Paul's classroom. My last period is PE, so it's more convenient to leave it with Paul than struggle with the throngs of students battling their own backpacks into their lockers. I can always pick it up at the end of the day, anyway, when Paul takes me home.

I push through the crowd of kids walking towards the lunch area. As soon as I escape the horde of students, I race to Paul's classroom. However, as I jump through his doorway, I fail to notice another student walking out.

THUNK. Two notebooks and a pencil pouch hurtle to the floor, the contents of the pouch spilling over and rolling on the cement.

I pick myself up and glance at the student I crashed into. A pair of grey eyes meet mine, and I gasp.

Only one person in this school has eyes like those. Annabeth Chase.

She looks really good today. Her blonde curls hang loose and are held back by a thin headband. She's wearing a black miniskirt combined with a see-through white button-down and a white tank top underneath. Her getup accentuates those splendid curves and incredible muscles, objectively speaking. It's just the right amount of revealing, not too slutty, not too modest, like the perfect popular girl. Silver owl earrings dangle from her ears. They're paired with a matching ring around the ring finger of her right hand.

I know you're all like, what the heck? You act like you know her.

Unfortunately, I do. For years now, we've been circling each other like boxers in a ring, waiting for the other to throw a punch. I honestly don't know what I did for her to hate me so much, but here are the more significant events from our eternal feud.

It started in sixth grade, when she attended the same summer camp as I did. While that year was her sixth at the camp, it was my first, so naturally, I didn't have any friends. Having made buddies with Grover that school year, I hung out with him ninety percent of the time. He was, pretty much, the only guy I knew. At camp, I also made friends with this really nice older guy named Luke, who spent a good amount of time with me as well. What I didn't know was that Annabeth had been really good friends with both Grover and Luke for years. So every time one of them hung out with me instead of her, she got really jealous. She refused to talk to me that summer, unless she wanted to insult me. Just an FYI, she's dating Luke now. The fact that he's a college guy only bolsters her popular status.

The next year, I attended the same middle school which Annabeth went to. Bad idea. I walked into her during lunch one day, and my drink found its way onto her shirt. She screamed at me like a banshee for that, even though she knew it was completely unintentional. Ever since then, she was determined to make my life miserable. Later that year, she 'bumped' into me while I was holding my favorite memento. It was a bull horn from a trip to Montauk with my mom. I had found it on the side of the road while we were driving. The moment I picked it up, I fell in love with it. It became my new favorite toy. During that entire trip, I pretended it was a sword and battled random people with it. Days after that vacation, I was showing the horn to Grover when Annabeth 'bumped' into me. It flew out of my hands and crashed onto the floor, shattering into pieces as my seventh-grade heart did. When I glared up at her angrily, she didn't look apologetic at all. She just brushed right past me and ignored the whole scene. One of her cronies, Thalia, just stuck her tongue out at me as they sashayed away.

It mostly died down until sophomore year. Oh gods. That was a terrible year. Annabeth and I were both nominees for a sports scholarship, me for my swimming, Annabeth for cross country and track. After many ugly glares across the school and taunts about who was going to win, I ended up securing the title. That itself made her blow up. She stormed out of the room the moment it was announced, and she made every member of her clique refuse to acknowledge me. After that day ended, I walked to Paul's car, only to find Annabeth making out with Luke on top of the hood. When she noticed my presence, she gave me an oh, silly me look, but I knew she did it on purpose, just to spite me.

The final straw was the end of sophomore year, when the Stoll brothers created this elaborate prank to target the popular group, which consisted of Annabeth, Thalia, and a bunch of other rich, good-looking guys and girls. It was pretty bad, and Annabeth got the brunt of it. She went back home with wet hair and silly string matting her clothes. Somehow, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was accused of conducting it. I got detention for it too, all while the Stolls giggled in relief. I gave them a talk about it, of course, but Annabeth still thinks that I was the culprit. And so, she hates my guts.

Contrary to popular belief, though, I don't hate her. Honestly, I feel like if we could get past the kill-each-other stage, we could be pretty good friends. I want to be her friend, but I mean, considering the circumstances, I don't think that's ever going to happen.

I pull myself out of my thoughts and refocus on the girl in front of me. Her grey eyes are narrowed as they bore into my face. Her arms are crossed, and she's tapping her foot on the floor. Uh oh.

I decide to play it cool and keep my manners. New year, right? Maybe we could start a new phase in our relationship that isn't full of hostility.

"Sorry, Chase," I say. I bend down to pick up the supplies that had spilled from her pencil pouch.

She slaps my hand away and grumbles, "Don't touch my stuff."

I raise my eyebrows and step back. I guess not. "Ookay."

She ignores me and continues gathering her pens. Then, she storms out of the classroom. Shrugging to myself, I drop my backpack next to Paul's desk.

Paul seems to notice me just then, and his eyes lift. "Hey, Percy! I brought some Chick-fil-A today for us. That cool with you?"

I reply with a grin, "Of course!"

I ask him how things are going and chat with him for a little bit. Then, I walk back to the cafeteria, my Chick-fil-A in tow. Yet I can't help but feel bothered by my encounter with Annabeth.

It's a new year. New classes. New experiences. New memories.

But the one thing I hoped would actually become something new has steadfastly stayed the same.