Collision Course Set

The Beginning

Last night, Percy had woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He had gotten an awful feeling, that was also inexplicably intriguing. One thing he knew for sure was that tomorrow was going to be interesting. Then he fell asleep.

In the morning, Percy got out of bed and ready for school. Monday's were the worst. Especially when Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, was not at Camp Half Blood.

When Percy finally got ready, he went into the kitchen where his mom was setting down a plate of blue waffles. Sally looked worried when her son didn't immediately attack the food, but tried to not let it show. "Paul's already at work, honey," she said kindly,"Now sit down and eat your breakfast, then we'd better get you to the first day of school. Percy,who didn't want to make too bad of a first impression at the new school,hastily sat down and devoured the waffles with his usual vigor.

Sally smiled when he finished in almost record time. Then, the two walked out of the house and to Sally's car. Percy eagerly hopped into the passenger seat, and his mom jumped in with almost the same enthusiasm. Percy was happy to see his mom feeling good. They made small talk on the short drive, then Percy hopped out with his backpack and lunch,waved goodbye, and walked into the school yard. His mom drove away after waving and blowing a kiss to her son.

  When Percy walked into the area where smaller children were frisking about, and older kids sat around and talked, laughing and having fun in their own way.

The layout of the school seemed different than when he had toured it with his mom and Paul. Percy shook off the disorientation and walked into a more crowded hallway. One kid looked curiously at his necklace,so Percy quickly tucked it into his shirt. Percy would never leave his camp necklace behind.(He also had a ballpoint pen in his pocket.)  It took Percy roughly ten minutes to find his locker, so he quickly put in his combo, stashed his backpack and lunch, then grabbed what he needed for first period.

When he finally gathered all his stuff, the bell rang and Percy shuffled off to his first class. He got there a little later than everyone else, and was forced to take an undesirable seat in the front row. He shared the wide table desk, obviously meant for two people, with his school supplies.

The bell rang again, and the teacher stood up and addressed the class,"Welcome to Algebra!" The teacher kept talking, but Percy was no longer paying attention.

In the middle of the teachers long explanation, a kid with bright red hair and a ton of freckles rushed in. There was lots of giggling as the teacher watched the newcomer take the seat next to Percy. The teacher, a nice-looking guy who seemed to be in his thirties, looked at the new student with amusement. "Well," said the teacher,"luckily for you I haven't taken attendance yet, so consider yourself warned. You'll have to be faster next time." A kid wearing dark glasses snickered at that, for no apparent reason.

The teacher walked to his desk and picked up a sheet of paper. Then, he looked at the kid that had laughed, and said, "Please take off your sun glasses. There's no need to hide among peers." Now, it was the redheads turn to laugh, also for no apparent reason. Percy figured they must have been friends.

The redheads friend looked a bit panicked, but slid off the glasses and tucked them in a pocket.

Their teacher started taking attendance, calling names and getting mixed results from his students. When the name 'Richard Grayson' was called, the kid who had been wearing the sunglasses raised his hand and said, "Present." He had dark hair and serious looking eyes.

When Percy's name was called, the teacher, predictably, called, "Perseus Jackson?"

At least he pronounced it right, Percy thought, before raising his hand and saying,"Here. But,please,can you call me Percy?" The teacher shrugged in acceptance and continued down the list.

When Percy's name had been called, the redhead had snickered, again. Percy, who was used to fighting bullies and monsters, didn't mind. Even he thought his name was laugh worthy.

The last name on the list was 'Wally West.' When the redhead raised his hand and claimed the name, Percy allowed amusement to enter his expression, mostly to spite Wally. The teacher, who also seemed to want to tease Wally said,"Unless you would prefer to be called Wallace."

Percy couldn't help but let out his own snicker at this. 'Wallace' made a face at Percy, but quickly said,"No way Big Mac!" The teacher, who had introduced himself as Mr. Mac earlier, looked bored. "At least try to be original," he said to Wally. Wally just smirked and doodled a hamburger on a piece of paper.

While the teacher went back to the lesson, Percy watched Wally try to list better nicknames on his paper. Wally noticed Percy's interest and whispered, "Got any ideas?"

Percy, always the joker, had already thought of a few. Before Wally had time to think, he quickly listed off about ten names. Wally looked impressed, and looked at the paper, obviously thinking. Then, faster than Percy could follow, he scrawled down about fifty names. Percy, surprised, exclaimed, "Whoa! How'd you do that?"

Wally smirked and replied, "Practice. A lot of practice."

Suddenly, the teacher said, "Wallace and Perseus, if you prefer for me to call you 'Wally' and 'Percy', then you had better be quiet."

"Yes sir!" They both replied, then grinned. This was going to be a fun year.

A few hours later...

Finally, it was lunchtime! Percy, his lunch in hand,rushed into the cafeteria. He looked around for somewhere to sit, and saw Wally frantically waving at him. With a grin, Percy walked over to a table in the middle of the huge cafeteria, the center of attention. Wally sat at the table with Richard.

"'Sup Perseus," Wally joked when Percy came over. Percy rolled his eyes and sat next to Richard. "Sweet!" Wally said, his arms spread wide, "Plenty of room on this side for the ladies!"

Richard rolled his eyes. "Keep dreaming Wally!" Richard teased.

"So," Wally said, ignoring his friend, "What's your story Percy?" Percy grinned. "Well, let's just say this isn't my first school. I've been kicked out of so many, I lost count."

"Join the club," Wally grumbled in response, "They just aren't ready for my awesomeness yet." Wally sighed tragically. "Of course, Mr. Perfect over there hasn't ever been in trouble. He has a perfect record. Trust me, I checked."

While they had been chatting, a kid who looked the same age as them had sat quietly at their table, on the same side as Wally. Wally glanced over at him, and said less teasingly than usual, "Hey kid, it's okay. We don't bite. The ladies don't seem to know where the Wall-Man is, so we can spare a little room for you." The kid moved over a bit, but still seemed pretty nervous."

"What's your name?" Percy asked, "I'm Percy, the one with the big mouth is Wally, and the silent one is Richard." The kid looked hesitant, but finally said, "My name is Billy. Billy Batson. Nice to meet you."

Now that he knew their names, Billy seemed a little calmer. Richard, who seemed calm as always, said, "Don't call me Richard. That is so lame. Call me Dick. But just 'cuz we're friends. Everyone else can call me Richard."

Percy and Billy shrugged in acceptance, but Wally, of course, had something to say. "I heard, if we're you're real friends, we get to call you Rob-" Before Wally could finish, Dick interrupted him and said, "No way KF!"

Percy and Billy exchanged a puzzled glance, but both decided to just accept their new friends weirdness. Before anyone got the chance to say anything, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. All four groaned, then gathered their stuff and headed their separate ways.