Percy was surprised on how quickly he'd made friends, especially since he never really made any in his many old schools. Boarding school was also quickly proving to not be a total shithole, even if he had to follow a bunch of rules. His stepfather had a lot of rules, most of them he'd make up randomly just to have a reason to be mad at Percy. Percy always hated that, but he's a minor and there was never anything he could do.

"So," Jason spoke, "how're you adjusting?"

"What are you, my mom?" Percy snorted, "I'm adjusting fine." He looked down at his math notes and sighed, "Though I'd love to set this whole classroom on fire."

"Oh, Leo would love to assist you. He's a pyromaniac at heart." Jason smiled as he solved a math problem. It was first period, math. Their teacher had given them an assignment and let them work on it while quietly talking.

"A pyromaniac and an insomniac? Interesting."

"Yeah, he's interesting alright. Frank has a bunch of stories about the weird shit he's done in their form, apparently they are now not allowed candles."

  "Frank is Leo's roommate?" Percy hadn't actually been told everyone's roommate, he wondered how strange the dynamics were. Frank was seemingly shy and kind, meanwhile Leo was loud and hectic. Percy was almost glad he was stuck with Jason, who seemed pretty mellow and chill.

"Yeah, they get along pretty well, which is surprising." Jason began working on a math problem, he entered formulas into his calculator. Percy decided to not bother with the math, he knew he wouldn't be able to focus long enough to figure out what to do.

  ——

  His second period was American Literature, an easy class if he didn't have dyslexia. If he tried as much as he could, he could probably read a whole sentence without messing up any words, but his brain decided it wanted to be different. That class was pretty boring, only Frank and Thalia (though Thalia was a senior, she just failed the class and had to retake it.)

  "The Great Gatsby is a piece of bullshit!" Thalia exclaimed as she slammed her fist on the table. Percy was quickly realizing how different she was from her brother, who rarely raised his voice at all.

  "Why's that?" Percy had only read one chapter, so he really didn't know how to feel.

  "It's just a load of straight people drooling over each other! The blonde bitch doesn't know who to love, and she's a skank!"

  "You call everyone a skank," Frank pointed out, Thalia only groaned.

  "Whatever!" Thalia closed the book and put her papers in her backpack. "The only reason I failed this class was because I decided to protest that book by not doing the work for it, but that ended up lasting for every assignment!"

  "That was a dumb idea." Percy smirked, Thalia was fun to be around.

  "Tell me something I don't know."

  That class flew by quickly, the bell rang and he headed to the gym. They were doing PE outside when it was warm, but they always headed to the gym first. Winters could be pretty harsh in New York, so they always made sure to prepare.

  Leo, Hazel, and Piper all were in his gym class, which he liked. They were nice people, especially Hazel.

  He entered the changing room and ignored the other people changing as he threw on his gym uniform. It was a simple T-Shirt and shorts, though he would much rather be wearing his comfy hoodie. He didn't see Leo anywhere though, which worried him for a reason he couldn't comprehend. He'd only known Leo for a few days, so Leo very well could've been somewhere else. Still, the feeling in Percy's gut definitely made him worry.

  He exited the changing room and looked around for Hazel and Piper, who were quietly talking whilst waiting for class to begin. Couch Hedge seemed to be late a lot, but that was just what he'd been told by his friends.

  "Where's Leo?" Piper asked immediately, noticing him walking alone.

  "He wasn't in the changing room," Percy shrugged, "Is he usually late?"

  "No, he always makes it to PE on time," Piper knit her brows as she stared at the doorway, but it remained closed.

  "He could just have a fever again, you know how he is," Hazel suggested, Piper nodded.

  "I guess, but usually he tells Frank to tell us, it's not like him."

  "Does he get fevers a lot or something?" Percy was starting to get nervous, maybe his bad feeling really was real.

  "Yeah, every since he was a kid. He gets them at least once a month, but he hasn't had one is three months so it's weird." Piper sighed as she watched Coach Hedge enter the gym, she sat down on the bleachers. "We'll ask Frank at lunch."

  "Yeah, okay." Percy sighed. Apparently boarding school was not going to be as carefree as he'd hoped.

—-

  Percy and Piper waited anxiously for Frank to arrive, the others were oblivious to the situation. Leo was a sophomore so he didn't really have many classes with anyone, but electives were open to every grade, hence him having gym with Percy.

  By the time Frank arrived to the table, everyone began to get concerned by the anxious gaze on Piper and Hazel's faces. Percy was a bit more calm, though he was also very worried. He'd spoken to Leo the night before and he'd seemed okay, though he did share a lot of personal information.

  "Where's Leo?!" Piper exclaimed as he sat down.

  Frank frowned, "I don't think he came back to the cabin last night, he wasn't there when I woke up. I just assumed he was at the medwing, but I checked after third period and he wasn't there."

  "Shit," Jason hissed, "You don't think he'd-"

  "No! Why would he? He literally loves this place!" Annabeth reasoned, though the way her voice cracked didn't quite prove her point.

  "What do you think he did?" Percy wished he knew more about Leo to be able to guess what he'd done, but he wasn't sure if he could 100% guess. He didn't want to think Leo ran away like he'd said he'd done before, it just didn't seem like him.

  "He left, he had to have." Piper stood up and threw away her untouched tray of food, "I'm going to go look."

  The others stood up and did followed her, Percy sighed as he did the same. They all headed outside to the forest, they broke up into groups of two. Percy ended up with Nico, who he hadn't really spoken to all that much.

  "So, where do you think Leo is?"

  Nico shrugged as he looked around, "Probably miles away, he could've left after we all went home."

  "No, I saw him last night, I think it was one. He was walking around and talking to me for a bit, but I don't think he would've left for a while after that." Percy sighed, "He said he'd see me today, but he itches his nose while saying it. I don't think it was a spur of the moment thing."

Nico nodded as he kept walking. He stopped suddenly when he heard leaves rustle, he glanced at Percy for a moment before slowly approaching the source of the noise.

"Congrats, you found me." Leo said as Nico moved a large branch that Leo was hiding behind. "Fuck."

——-///

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I had to spend some time getting all the info of this story written down so I can keep things consistent. Anyways, hopefully I can start writing longer chapters soon.

Hopefully after the next chapter I can start to subtly start focusing on more of the characters and their struggles.

Anyways, good night/good day/ good evening/ good whatever time it is for you. <3