I opened the door to Goode High School and stepped into the hall. It's September 17, and it's Monday. Yay. Mondays.

We were supposed to get a new student today. A girl from all the rumours I heard.

I hope she's my soulmate. I'm not sure how much longer my mom can last.

Let me explain.

My mom is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She deserves to be married to some rich guy who will treat her well, but instead she married Gabe, who I nicknamed Smelly Gabe the second I met him.

We were already to badly, but Gabe has made things 10x worse.

My mom used to be able to save some money from time to time so she can finish her education and write a book.

She can't do that now. Gabe forces her to work 16 hours a day, and 90% of the little cash we get goes straight into his stupid poker games, and the other 10% is for rent.

(He also is making me apply to different places, but I can't seem to be hired anywhere.)

To be blunt, I never complained about getting an education (at least not that much.)

My ultimate dream? Find my soulmate, ask them for help, and, hopefully, everything will get better from there.

I know it's a really dumb dream since half the details are flying around, but it's really I can do.

Dream.

I trudged into the halls, trying not to bump into anyone. This is my last year at Goode. Senior year.

I turned the corner to my locker. A boy was standing in front of my locker. He had curly brown hair, and he was wearing a Rasta cap as he always does. He was wearing a grey hoodie with a dark orange shirt, blue jeans, and black vans.

I automatically grinned and headed over to him. "Hey Grover!" I said, giving him a high five. Grover was my only friend in this mess of a school. He too was starting senior year, but he looked like he should be in college or university.

"Percy guess what's on the menu today?" Grover beamed.

"Let me guess...enchilada's?"

"Yep."

Grover loves enchiladas. I'm not even joking when I say he once thought that cheese enchiladas were his soulmate (foodmate? I don't think food has a soul..)

"Well well, would you look at this?" I heard an all too familiar voice say. I gripped my locker tighter, but somebody spun me around by my shoulders.

It was Clarrise La Rue, and her sidekick Nancy Bobofit, both wearing matching leather jackets with their names on them. Clarrise was wearing a blood red T-shirt underneath, camouflage pants, and brown combat boots. Nancy was wearing an olive brown shirt, dark blue jeans, and black combat boots.

You might be thinking, Percy, you're letting two girls pick on you? But you can take them easily!

Uh, no. Not these girls. Sure I've gotten stronger over the years, but they've bullied me since I was 10. They seemed to follow me to every school I transferred to. Plus with Gabe's, uh, teaching methods, I'm  not exactly used to fighting back.

Also, how dare you think girls can't be the bullies. Stereotype much? You think guys are always the bad guys?

Clarrise had her hands on my shoulders, gripping tightly. To anyone else, this could have looked like a friendly gesture, but to me it was a sign she meant business.

Grover started trembling, then tried to hide that he was trembling. It didn't work very well.

"Aw look look Nancy, the little Goat Man is scared." Clarrise mocked.

The nickname Goat Man started in 8th grade, when Grover laughed at someone's joke, and somebody decided to make a joke about how Grover's laugh sounded like a goat. Ever since, Grover's nickname to most people has been Goat Man.

Nancy laughed and punched his arm, hard. Grover yelped and gripped his arm, biting his lip.

"Leave him alone." I said, stepping in front of Grover.

Clarrise smirked and rolled up her sleeves. Nancy grinned wickedly. The first bell had rung, so the halls were empty. That's already a bad sign.

She threw a punch towards my head, which I barley dodged in time. She threw a second punch, which landed straight on my gut. Nancy punched my nose, which started bleeding, and took out a small pocket knife which  she cut my cheek with. I felt the blood drip down.

I shoved her away, grabbed my backpack and started walking away, dizzily, with Grover beside me. "Get back here runt!" Clarrise shouted.

"She's not worth it." Grover reminded me as I wiped the blood off my cheek.

As we rounded the corner, I saw a girl down the hall. She had curly blonde hair, and a tan. She was wearing a grey shirt and purple jean shorts, with blue sneakers. I didn't recognize her. Maybe she was the new kid?

I couldn't focus very well, so I could only assume.

She turned towards me with a frown on her face, and waved. I waved back. She started coming towards me, gripping a piece of paper.

"What does she want?" Grover whispered.

"She's probably the new kid," I whispered back "she might need directions."

She was coming closer down the hall when her face turned into horror. "Behind you!" She shouted. I whirled around to see Clarrise holding a made stick of metal, and swinging it towards Grover.

"No!" I yelled as I shoved Grover out of the way. I felt the metal hit my ribcage and moaned. That was probably gonna leave a scar. I watched as the girl smacked Clarrise before the previous beating and this one took its toll as everything went dark.

Time skip..? I guess

I woke up groggily on a lumpy mattress. 'The medical room.' I thought. Then I noticed the girl from the hall was sitting next to me, on a chair.

"Who are you?" I said, blinking, trying to get the bright light out of my eyes.

"You drool in your sleep." She responded, ignoring my question.

I froze. I was wearing a long sleeved jacket, so she couldn't have seen the words on my wrist. Does this mean.....this girl is my soulmate?