Frank Zhang, September 8, 1:55 PM

Chemistry was as boring as it was hard. I didn't understand a thing our teacher was saying about stoichiometric calculations or whatever, but I did understand one thing: I was bored as fuck. I've never felt this way about school. I looked over at my other friends, lined up in a row like clones assembling for war.

"Three hundred mols!" one of them yelled, their hand shooting up to the sky.

"Actually, it's three hundred and one mols!" another cut in.

This is my problem with being a stereotypical Asian. It's all competition, even if you're friends. Now, that's not always true, but most of the time, it is. That's why I don't ever feel like my friends are my real friends. They're always hiding something from me, as if their knowledge is a precious piece of gold and if I steal it, it'll ruin their entire lives. Sometimes, I wonder if we're even friends at all.

"Hey, you okay?" Hazel nudged my forearm and I smiled softly at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I shifted my attention away from my friends and tried to focus on the board in front of me.

"Mr. Zhang, can you tell me what the average atomic mass of carbon is?" Does the teacher have to call on me at the worst damn time?!

"Uh..." I grabbed a pencil and furiously began to scribble on the page. I could feel my 'friends' staring at me, as if they were hungry lions waiting for me to slip up. "Gimme a second..."

Shit, shit, shit! I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead.

"Miss!" one of my 'friends' called. "I've got the answer--"

"Well, thank you, Fred, but I've asked Frank, not you."

Hazel quietly tilted her notebook ever so slightly and I breathed a sigh of relief. "12.01."

The teacher nodded in approval. "Correct. Very good, Mr. Zhang."

"Thanks," I whispered to Hazel, who smiled.

"No problem." She frowned. "What's with you and those kids who look just like you? You guys are friends, right?"

I shrugged. "I... really don't know. They're supposed to be my friends, but it always feels like they're my competition. Which, they are. They don't really care about me, if I'm honest."

Hazel placed her perfect hand on my forearm and drew a smiley face on the corner of my notebook. "Well, I'm your friend. And I'm not your competition. I care about you, whether you like it or not."

I stared at her, a weird jolt in my stomach. "I like it."

Percy Jackson, September 8, 2:00 PM

Ugh. Chemistry class. I could see Frank in the front with Hazel. A smirk flickered onto my face. They seemed to be hitting it off, huh? I scribbled something down on my notebook, but it ended up being a doodle of a lightning bolt and red highlighter marks. I glanced back up at Frank and quickly drew a heart, writing FZ + HL inside.

"Thinking the same thing, huh?" Annabeth asked from beside me.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention we somehow always end up sitting next to each other, no matter how early I try to make it to class? It's always us two stuck taking the last table. I shivered. It was almost like the teacher was trying to set us up or something--No. NO. Percy, do not go there. Annabeth is anything but attractive and you are ANYTHING but romantic. Gross. Why would you think such a thing?

"Yeah," I whispered back. "Did you see what she did for him?"

"No." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I can't see over Sean's big-ass head."

"Sh!" I snickered quietly. "Shorty."

"I am not short!" Annabeth pouted.

"Short."

"I'm not!"

"Short."

"Shut up!"

"Short."

"Stop it!"

"Miss Chase, Mr. Jackson." Oh, shit the teacher's here. "Would you like to share what you've been talking about with the class?"

"No." Annabeth glared at me. "We don't."

"Very well then, stop talking in my class." She shot us a death stare before continuing her lecture.

"Now you've got us on strike one," Annabeth hissed.

"Not really me. You were the one who stopped talking last," I shot back.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was--"

"MISS FITZERGALD!" Sean's big-ass hand shot up in the air.

Oh, fuck no. Not this kid. Not this kid.

"Sean, shut the fuck up," Annabeth growled at him.

"MISS!" Sean practically screeched.

Miss Fitzergald threw her Expo marker on the floor, steam practically blowing out of her ears. "WHAT?!"

"ANNABETH AND PERCY ARE TALKING AND IT'S DISTRACTING!"

"SEAN, YOU FAT MOTHERFUCKE--" Annabeth screamed and I clamped my hand over her mouth.

Sean's mouth hung wide open and he glared at her. "See? This is bullying! A hot girl like her with an ugly, fat kid like me!"

"So, you admit it to be a truth," I quickly blurted out. "Technically, she's not really insulting you if you've affirmed that about yourself. Then, it's just a fact that you've made known."

Sean stared at me, at a loss for words. "I, uh, I..."

"Thank you for your sentiment, Sean," Miss Fitzergald growled through clenched teeth. "You're on strike one and detention if you don't shut up."

Sean followed suit and stuck out his tongue at us. In response, I stuck out my middle finger where Miss Fitzergald couldn't see it.

"As for you, Miss Chase and Mr. Jackson: DETENTION. Go to the principal's office now." Miss Fitzergald pointed one of her ugly-ass nails toward the door.

Annabeth grabbed her backpack and I furiously grabbed mine, shouldering it. Before I left the room, I decided to screw it up even further, because junior year totally meant nothing to me with a bitchy teacher like her.

"Go get a nail job, whatever that is," I muttered, slamming the door behind me.

Annabeth Chase, September 8, 2:30 PM

"And what exactly happened?" Principal Sassan said tiredly, twisting in his chair.

"We were arguing--" Percy began, but I cut him off.

"Quietly. And Sean decides to snitch like the bitch he--"

"Sean decided to snitch." Percy smiled. "We were taking notes, we promise. We never meant any harm to Miss Fitzergald's lesson."

Principal Sassan sighed, flipping a paper out from a little manilla folder. "Well, according to Miss Fitzergald, Annabeth yelled 'Sean, you fat motherfucker,' and Percy told her to 'go get a nail job, whatever that is.'" He let out a quiet chuckle. "Hate to admit it, but you kids are right." Immediately, he straightened his back and let out a cough. "Sorry. Don't tell anyone I said that."

"If we don't, will you not give us detention?" I pleaded.

Principal Sassan raised an eyebrow at me. "Nuh, uh, uh, young lady. You are in no place to be making negotiations right now."

I hate this. Why did I have to bicker with Percy? We already agreed on a truce! I looked over at him. Why does he not look bothered?! BRO, WE'RE GOING TO DETENTION! AT LEAST FIGHT BACK!

"Given that you two are new this year, have a relatively clean slate, and the co-captains of two very important teams, I'll let you off easy this time. You will have one week of detention for your actions, whereas Miss Fitzergald requested giving you a month's detention." I shivered at that. "Your detention will start as of this afternoon, so please... do whatever you need to do. I don't care."

I quickly rose from my seat and ducked my head apologetically. Percy waved a hand at Principal Sassan, which I quickly pulled to his side.

Principal Sassan pointed to the coffee machine sitting behind the door. "Do feel free to grab whatever you'd like. All these students try to get me gifts every year and it never helps their cause to get a recommendation letter from me." He sighed. "I think I'll go home early or something. My back has been killing me these past few days."

The minute we got out of the office, I glared at Percy. "Did you have to get us into detention?"

"Me? This was your issue, lady," Percy scoffed.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"WAS NOT!"

"WAS TOO!"

"THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM!" We both turned to see Sean standing in the middle of the hallway, arms crossed. "The both of you are to blame."

Rage filled my vision. "No, it's you who is to blame."

"Me?" Sean put his hands up innocently. "I'm the victim here. You called me a fat motherfucker."

"Because it was true," I muttered.

"You even affirmed it," Percy said with a smirk.

Sean stared at us, seemingly confused and... constipated-looking. "I... You two working together is worse. What the fuck?"

"And it was your fault," I growled. "You snitched like the little bitch you are! We haven't done anything to you since we got here!"

Sean shrugged. "You have. You've reminded me of how young love will never come to me."

I glanced at Percy, who returned the same look in my eyes. Do I feel disgusted? Flattered? What are these butterflies? Why are they also flipping my stomach? Why do I want to throw up? Ew. EW! EW!

"And let's just say, getting you two into detention was my chemistry project." Sean flashed a wink at me. "Gotta go back to class."

"Chemistry project?" Percy asked when he was gone. "There's nothing about chemistry in putting us together in detention."

Chemistry. The fuck? "UGH!" I groaned. "He's trying to set us up."

"Fuck, no." Percy gagged and ran to the boy's bathroom.

I rolled my eyes. What a drama king. A hot drama king, a voice sang in my head. I gagged and ran to the girl's bathroom. Holy fuck, no. NO.