Well, the day had finally arrived. I was going to high school. I'll be honest I had some... mixed feelings on the subject. My past experiences with this kinda thing hadn't been the best, to say the least. But even as my stomach performed its own gymnastics routine, I still found myself standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill with Frank, Nico, and Piper. The four of us were waiting for the others so we could say our goodbyes to the rest of the camp before heading off to school. I grasped the handle of my suitcase tightly, treating the foam grip like a stress ball. Frank, who stood next to me, noticed and gingerly took my hand in his.

"Don't worry about today," He said, looking down at me, "we're all going to be in this together, ok?" I met his eyes and gave him a small smile before sighing,

"But that's just it, we won't all be together. I'm the only one out of us who's a Sophomore, so that means that I won't see any of you all day."

"So we'll see each other in the halls and after school." Frank reasoned, "We're still all in the same building, and if you need anything we're here for you."

"Thank you, Frank. While my anxiety is still through the roof, it still feels good to hear that," I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek. As I pulled away, I noticed the slight blush that had suddenly appeared on Frank's face and couldn't help but smile to myself as I looked out at the rest of the camp. It didn't take long for Jason, Leo, Annabeth, Thalia, and Percy to make their way to the hill and before I knew it, we had said our goodbyes to Chiron and Mr. D and were now on our way to Goode High School in one of the Delphi Strawberry Service vans.

If I told you the ride to school was an interesting one, that'd be an extreme understatement. Since we only had one van, the nine of us (plus Argus and our luggage) had to squeeze into a vehicle that only seated seven people safely. Needless to say, there was a lot of complaining... and fighting, can't forget that. I'm pretty sure Leo will never look at a Pillow Pet the same way again after Jason whacked him hard on the head with one several times.

Eventually, we pulled up at the front of the school and piled out of the van. It looked as though the bell hadn't rung yet, seeing as most of the students were hanging out in clusters by the front doors, chatting and catching up with people they hadn't seen all summer. As we began to walk up to the school and Argus drove away with our luggage, Percy looked around at the crowd of students.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just looking for some friends that go here," Percy explained. "They're usually... ah! There they are!" Percy broke away from our group and jogged over to a few kids leaning against the school's brick wall. The rest of us followed awkwardly behind as Percy cheerfully reunited with his old friends. There were three of them, two boys and a girl. The first boy was tall with skin a little darker than mine, his black hair was partially hidden by the hood of his GHS Swim Team sweatshirt. The other boy was slightly shorter than the first, with tan skin and short dark brown hair. Lastly, the girl had fair skin, straight caramel-colored hair, with a few freckles dotted across her face.

"Dude why didn't you tell us you were leaving?" The boy with the sweatshirt asked as we drew near enough to hear the conversation.

"Yeah Percy, we were actually really worried about you. We haven't heard from you in months." The girl added, looking very concerned.

"To be honest, I didn't know I was leaving either." Percy shrugged, "Some important... family matters came up."

"Hey, Percy!" Leo called out, "Mind introducing us to your friends here?"

"Oh yeah, sure." He replied, "This is Matt," Percy gestured to the sweatshirt boy, "He, Alexander, and I are all on the swim team together." The two boys both waved as Percy moved on to the girl. "And this here is Andrea, I met her last year when we were partnered together for an English project."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys, but who are you exactly?" Alexander asked.

"We all met Percy at a summer camp a while ago, we're friends of his and of course Annabeth is his girlfriend," Piper explained. We went around introducing ourselves and spent the next few minutes getting to know each other while waiting for the bell to ring. As much as I didn't want it to, the loud ringing of the bell still rang clearly throughout the courtyard and students began to file into the building. After taking a deep breath, I followed them up the stone steps and into my first day of school in almost seventy years.