Perci Jackson, Alex Hayda, and the Lightning Thief

Alex Hits Nancy and Perci Annoys the Alamabian Teacher

Alex was running. From or to who or what, she couldn't tell.

She never could.

The rain made it impossible for her to see further than 3 feet in front of her. She nearly ran into trees with dancing branches multiple times, but she dodged.

The sounds of breaking branches came from behind her and in front her making her legs move faster as if she was running from her responsibilities. The sounds from behind sounded like a herd of cattle was closing in. The sounds from ahead sounded like a little girl crying about something. Something about a... purple toucan?

Not the weirdest thing she's dreamt.

Right as she reached a clearing, she whipped around and pulled out a silver sword. She swung it and-

Alex jerked up when the bus hit a bump in the road. She looked around and saw that Perci and Grover were on the seat across the aisle.

Right. She wasn't in a forest. She wasn't running from a herd of cattle out for blood. There wasn't a girl with a fear of purple toucans.

She was on the bus heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts with the rest of her Latin class, their teacher, Mr. Brunner, and the Pre-Algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds. Something about there needed to be multiple teachers there in the event of unruly students. She noticed the looks she and Perci got when the headmaster said it.

So, what if they accidentally blew up the school bus when they went to a battlefield in 5th grade? There shouldn't have been any gunpowder in there! Okay, maybe hitting the wrong lever on the catwalk over the shark pool was a bad idea. The sharks didn't even try to eat anybody! Plus, it was her and Perci who made sure everyone got out fine considering the sharks seemed to love them, and that the guides had left them to fend for themselves. They shouldn't have let two dyslexic kids try to read the labels, so that was on them.

She rubbed her face and shook her head to get rid of the sleepiness. She tuned in to Perci saying, "I'm going to kill her." She looked behind them and saw Nancy with her sandwich chunks in hand and Grover with pieces in his hair.

Now, Perci couldn't do anything because she was on probation. She was threatened by the headmaster with death by an in-school suspension. That was harsh on an ADHD child, even for Yancy.

"It's okay," Grover said, sticking his hand out. "I like peanut butter."

"In your hair?" Alex asked, making her consciousness known.

Nancy blushed. "O-Oh, hey Alex."

Alex ignored her and grabbed a paper bag from her backpack. She handed it to Grover as Nancy sat back down and sulked about being ignored by her crush. "You can use the pieces to feed the birds."

Perci calmed down and slid over to Alex's seat. "I swear, I'm going to deck her one of these days."

Alex ran a hand through her brown hair. "And I'll help you get out of trouble."

Alex stretched as Mr. Brunner lead them through exhibit after exhibit. Her favorite one was of a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a sphinx on the very top. It looked like the cat was about to fall off the top.

Mr. Brunner spoke about the carvings on the sides. Perci was trying to listen in and ask questions, because she was actually interested in the stele, or grave marker, for a girl about their age. However, almost everyone was talking. Every time she told them to shut up, the other chaperone would give her a small glare. Alex responded with a stronger glare she reserved for those she didn't like and got a bad feeling from.