Annabeth drummed her fingers to no consistent beat as she attempted to read the analogies. She knew the material; she knew how to calculate the net force acting on an object--it was pretty straightforward, after all. However, reading a paragraph with a teacher who isn't the best with students with disabilities is a bit challenging.

She reread the paragraph slowly this time. She focussed on the spaces between the words and thought of the scrambled letters as a game. She knew them all, but the letters just kept moving.

Just one last question. That was it. Read the fucking paragraph. The words that aren't easily decodable don't matter. Just hurry up.

She read the paragraph one last time.

If there are 30 Newtons of force pushing the object south, 10 Newtons pushing the object down, and 15 Newtons pushing the object North, which direction would the object go, and what is the net force. Show your work and give reasoning.

She sighed in relief, then she fought the urge to slam her head on the desk.

It was two sentences. Annabeth couldn't read two sentences.

She stayed up late studying for her math exam today. That must be it. Annabeth isn't doltish; she's just tired...right?

She quickly answered the question and turned the paper in.

Being exhausted was no excuse for this. Annabeth's an intelligent girl, so why can't she read? Life won't give you extra time in real life, so she needed to get used to reading like a normal fucking person.

Normal.

There was that word again, slowly eating her up as she realized she wasn't that. She's disabled in a school that doesn't usually allow kids to use simple tools like text-to-speech or print out an essay.

Normal people didn't need that; hell, mentally ill people put in this school because they have mental illnesses and disabilities don't need that.

And yet, Annabeth, a literal genius who has competed against Leo Valdez for grades in every class but English, does.

People around her thought she was brilliant, but she knew they were wrong. She was smart enough to know that.

She was brought back to the present when a black muzzle was on her desk.

She glanced back to Mrs. O'Leary's owner, who had his fingers in her hair, pulling the mastiff back.

"Sorry," he mouthed.

Annabeth smiled. "It's fine," she mouthed back.

"You have five minutes left, hurry up," Mr. Hoffman said.

Percy's eyes widened, and he scrutinized the paper. He was on the same question Annabeth was stuck on not even a minute ago. Every few seconds, Mrs. O'Leary would lick his face. Annabeth wasn't sure why. He turned the quiz in precisely three seconds before the bell rang.

Annabeth grabbed her textbook and bolted out the door and to her locker. The gym was across the school, and getting to the changing room with enough time to get in uniform was a bit arduous.

As she put her book back into the sloppy pile, she noticed Percy grabbing a USH book from his locker. He was just across the hall.

How did I not notice a fucking Tibetan Mastiff next to my locker?

She disregarded the question and ran to the locker room. She had to memorize two locks for the school year, and her brain was already clustered enough. So, she met with Leo and asked him to change the code to her "educational" locker, as she liked to call it. And, somehow, Leo managed it. With two locks having the same combination, it made life that much easier for Annabeth.

She quickly changed into the oversized T-shirt and her own black track shorts. Afterward, she sat on the scalding hot outdoor basketball court. The class was forced to sit on the floor in alphabetical order (based on last names), so Nico sat behind her.

"Hey," she said, nudging him lightly.

"Hi, what are we doing in physics?"

"Pop quiz on net force."

"Was it easy?"

"Yeah. Ten questions, asks for reasoning, show your work, yadda yadda. How about history?" When Nico snorted, Annabeth raised an almost invisible brow. "What the hell is going to happen in History, Nico? Do our teachers not share the same syllabus anymore?"

"No, it's not that," Nico explained. "So, we were taking notes on chapter three, and he called out Sadie. You know her, right?"

"She's the English girl, right? Carter's sister?"

"Yeah, so, he called her out for having a tank top on. Which I thought was weird because it's fucking 85 degrees out here. And then Sadie said that Piper had on a tank top, but she didn't need to change. We believe in equality under the dress code, so we asked him why Piper wasn't getting coded."

Annabeth's mouth hung open. "And?"

"This girl, Shel, said that she wasn't distracted by the sight of shoulders and that she was a lesbian."

"Oh my gods."

"Hold on," Nico said, causing her to let out a breathy laugh. "There's fucking more. Piper pointed out that Sadie had a bigger chest than she did, causing Davidson to go fucking feral. Then Reyna reported him, and he just got fucking fired." He sighed. "Anyway, Sadie told me we're running today."

"You can't just--" Annabeth squeaked before she was interrupted by Coach Hedge.

"Listen up, cupcakes." He blew his whistle once for emphasis. "Today, you're running the mile. That's four laps around the track, got it? After you run it, you can do whatever you want. Tomorrow, we do the pacer." He blew the whistle again. "Line up at the start."

Annabeth went up to the white line with the word START written just below it. Nico was beside her, at his side, a blond Annabeth recognized as Will Solace.

"Nico," Annabeth whispered. "If I find out you're bullshitting me about that story, please use your ability to write and make me an audiobook."

"I'm not bullshitting you," Nico said with a small smile. He was always comfortable with Annabeth. She'd known him for years, but they always talked in large places with people in them. Nico wasn't the biggest fan; he always kept quiet. But now, however, he seemed to be just fine, even with Will next to him. "Will was there, he can confirm."

"Ready..." Coach said with his whistle between his teeth and his hand atop a baseball bat. "Set..." He glanced at his watch. "Go!" He blew his whistle at an ungodly volume.

Annabeth took off. She always excelled in gym. It was a stress reliever, so she would work out quite often. She wasn't surprised to see Nico at the same pace as her. She'd seen the guy when they had a sparring club back in the days of last year, and he was a beast. Will was a bit more perplexing. Perhaps it was because she never fought with him, but he always seemed to be this "I'd rather stab myself than condone in more physical activity than necessary for my health" kind of guy.

"I can confirm what?" he asked a few seconds into the lap.

"Mr. Davidson was fired." Annabeth slowed her pace as they reached the halfway point and glanced at the students behind them. "He was attracted to Sadie and couldn't control his dick?"

"That's basically what happened," Will said with a nod.

"That isn't even what I told you," Nico laughed.

"I got the general vibe."

"She isn't wrong, though," Will argued. "I'm pretty sure he's harrassed a ton of people because of it."

"I never said she was wrong. I just said that wasn't what I said."

"Same difference."

They reached the starting line again, and Will quickened the pace. "Wonder who's going to replace him."

"Probably some brand new graduate who is excited to teach high-schoolers, but doesn't know we're all depressed and anxious fucks," Annabeth responded.

Annabeth waited in line for the shitty meal the school was serving today: too-salty chips, watery and unflavored taco meat (Annabeth didn't know what it was), and cheese with a weird texture. All of them on a styrofoam tray for students to make "nachos."

She sighed and got out of line. The last time she ate the nachos, she'd thrown up, and every time after that, she got diarrhea. It wasn't an enjoyable experience.

She had $50 on her in cash and a credit card for emergencies. She doubted she'd need to pay a taxi driver more than twenty after taking the subway, but Helen wanted her to be safe. Annabeth would fulfill her wishes by going to a vending machine for lunch.

There were two vending machines: Coca-Cola drinks and water, the other for chips and various M&M flavors. She got Doritos, Cheez-its, and three cans of Fresca, which she put in her empty water bottle. Students weren't allowed to have any other drinks than water, and Annabeth made the poor decision of bringing a clear bottle. Usually, she would have gotten Coca-Cola, the original, of course.

She didn't have anything else to do, nor did she want to deal with designing a kitchen, so she popped on her headphones and listened to the audiobook of The Bone Houses. It was a good book thus far, though it wasn't saying much; she was still in the middle of the exposition.

Ryn was saving the map-maker from the undead when the bell rang again.

Holy shit, I pulled this out of my ass in two days! Good job me!

Again, who exactly is a updating schedule? Y'all ever heard of her?

Jk I'm trying to write more, but exams are coming up and I'm *stressed*

Anyway, did you guys know that the first hundred free paragraphs were up on my updating story? What?

Yeah, if you read my random shit thing, you might get sneak peeks or little one shots that couldn't make it into the story!

Okay okay but HAVE YALL SEEN SHADOW AND BONE

HOLY FUCK IT WAS AMAZING

WHEN I TELL YOU I FUCKING COMBUSTED I MEAN I FUCKING COMBUSTED

it's been #1 on the Netflix top ten for a bit, and we must keep it that way. At least until Friday. We need it to be on the top 10 so we can get season 2

So, content creators, make some stuff. (Easier said than done, I know) but we need Wylan Hendricks and Nikolai.

We
Need
Them

I don't care if you've never read the damn books, watch the fucking show.

Do it for me.

I'll tell you what's happening if your confused

That's all

Love y'all!

Okay @-yerp-merp- try spamming me now