When Sally informed me that I had to go to school, I almost ran away right then and there- the door was looking pretty nice right then. Then Sally went on to explain that, one, it was the law that I had to go (I disagreed 'cause I had no paperwork proving I existed, but I didn't mention that), and, two, she had already talked with the school and I had permission to leave early, if I got to overwhelmed, but I did have to wait until it was passing time to leave. Sally then went to ask me, with pleading eyes, to at least go to my first hour class on Monday. It was Thursday, and she said that we'd go in for a tour- and get my stuff- on Saturday. I gulped, but nodded my head in agreement.

On Monday, I was gripping my bag so hard my knuckles were white. I felt like puking, not that anyone could tell that. Percy and Annabeth stood behind me- they would've been seniors, but they missed to much of their junior year, and now they have to make it up- giving me a sense of security.

"Remember that if you need to leave early, find Annabeth or I, so we can text mom to come for you. Okay?" Percy asked me, looking at me with a worried look. I nodded and decided that I should really suck it up and deal with this shit face on.

Percy proceed to lead us to the office, where he explained the situation to the office ladies. They were rather polite to him and smiled kindly at me, telling me that they'd get someone to escort me to my classes. Percy said that he'd see me later and left with Annabeth, leaving me alone to wait for my escort.

"Are you Pelagia?" a pretty girl with caramel hair asked, smiling at me. I nodded, not used to how friendly she seemed. She continued, just as friendly and not upset by my silence. "I'm Calypso. They asked me to show you around because we have the same classes."

I stuck close to her, not wanting to get lost or make a fool of myself. Calypso seemed perfectly okay keeping up the conversation by herself, telling me things about the school and other little things. When we got to the door to our first hour, she stopped us right outside.

"The teachers sometimes have new kids do introductions, do you want to do it?" she asked me. I rapidly shook my head, not wanting anything to do with talking. She smiled gently at me and lead us in. I was immediately bombarded by the unfamiliar sound of a group of teenagers. Calypso went up to the teacher, I assumed to explain, and I followed close behind, unsure of what to do.

"Hello Miss Botsford, Pelagia doesn't want the introduction." Calypso told her, sounding extremely polite.

Miss Botsford smiled and nodded. "Well Pelagia, you can take it at your pace. You'll be sitting next to Calypso. If you have any trouble, don't be afraid to come to me."

I nodded at her, then looked to Calypso to find out were I was going to sit. She lead me to the back of the class and pointed to the desk to the left of hers, by the window, saying that I could have that one. I set my stuff by it and sat down, not sure what to do.

A bell rang, startling me, seeing as I was not expecting it. After looking around the room, I deduced the bell was a normal occurrence because no one else seemed surprised by it. Miss Botsford stood up and started the lesson. I glanced at Calypso to see what she was doing- writing down what Miss Botsford was presenting in a notebook. I was so confused.

Another bell rang soon after Miss Botsford told us to read from this book for homework- what was homework. Calypso gestured for me to follow her, which I did because I didn't understand anything that was going on. School didn't make any sense at all.

"So how was it?" she asked me, and I just gave her a confused look. She laughed in an understanding way. "I felt the same when I first started. Do you know anything about school?"

At the shake of my head, realization dawned on her. She told me to wait outside the door for my second class while she went inside to explain something to the teacher. When Calypso came back out, she lead me to this pretty little pavilion.

"I decided that it would be better for you to actually understand what you have to do, before we continue with any classes- I hope that's okay with you." I nodded in agreement. Knowing what the heck I had to do would clear up so much. She smiled, looking revealed. "That's good. It's gonna take a while, so you'll just meet our second hour teacher tomorrow."

She went on to explain everything. Thankfully, Calypso started with the basics and made sure I understood that, before she continued on to go deeper into the explanation of each basic thing, such as homework and the bells. I discovered that her writing down what the teacher said earlier was called note taking- apparently teachers seemed to like that and believe that help you remember. The bells were there so that everyone knew when each class started and ended. Homework was something the teacher tells you to do, that you have to do by the day the teacher said it must be finished- I thought that was rather stupid.

My head was spinning by the time she finished explaining, and when we walked back into the school, she was surprised to see that it was time for fourth hour. She went on to say that since we have a math class the next hour, we eat lunch in between the two hours. The way lunch was set up tripped me up- they divided the school in half and had some eat before fifth hour, while the others ate after fifth hour, like why couldn't they all eat at the same time.

Fourth hour flew by, and I was glad that I actually understood the general premise for what was happening. Even I knew what art was- and appreciated it- because even some of the shitty assholes who "cared" for me liked art. Calypso explained that we were supposed to draw something they dreamed and something that was reality.

Apparently I can do art. What I had was basically a wispy thing in the center of a shattering glass jar. The wispy thing was punctured by the glass in some parts and the jar was partially intact on the bottom. The art teacher, Mr. Avon, complimented me and asked if he could hang it up in the hallway. I shrugged in a way that conveyed sure, but became confused when he asked me to sign it. I put a 'p' on it because that was one of the few letters I wasn't shaky on writing; I didn't want him to ask why my handwriting was worse than a four year olds 'cause there was no way in hell that I'd spill to him why.

As we walked out of fourth hour, Calypso complimented me, and I smiled with my eyes at her. She went up to a locked up slim metal door and unlocked it, explaining to me that this was a locker- where your stuff goes. I kept my with me because I decided I had enough school for today.

I almost sprinted away at the noise that hit me when I entered the lunch room. Luckily, I located Percy almost immediately. I ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll contact mom, just wait here." he got up and left, leaving me awkwardly standing there. I sat in deserted spot and studied the people around me. The most interesting people were the ones that were obviously hiding something: like the couple who kept glancing at other people, the girl who wasn't as angry as she looked, and the boy who had darkness in his eyes.

Percy lead me to the office and said that he'd wait with until his mom came. We sat there for a bit, him asking me questions about my day so far and keeping the conversation flowing by himself. When Sally entered, she smiled when she saw us.

"Common Pelagia. I'll see you soon Percy." she told him fondly. I almost smiled at them, but the moment was gone as soon as it came, and I followed Sally out to her car. Glad I could escape the mess that they call "good for kids," aka school.