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Perseus Jackson, though he insisted that everyone, especially his friends, called him Percy and not Perseus, would hardly ever be called a ‘pleasure to have in class’ throughout his years in elementary school for a variety of reasons.
Many of them weren’t even his fault, bad things just happened around him no matter where he and his mom went. Anything from one school completely burning down due to some faulty wiring and a lightning strike all the way to herds of black rams surrounding and partially destroying his former schools. (It was weirder than it sounds, especially for being deep in New York City.) There were also the two times, which was weird that it happened at two different schools, that nests full of owls made their way into the roof and vents of the buildings that got them shut down for the rest of the year. But all of that aside, all of the misfortune that had followed him around New York, was what led him to find his best friend in the entire world in Virginia.
Shortly after Percy and his mom had moved out of New York, ‘just for a little while’ according to Mom, and down to Virginia, on his very first day at his fourth, or maybe it was the fifth, school in just three years of attending school, that was when he met who quickly became his best friend in the entire world.
The one and only, Annabeth Chase.
And the whole thing just got that much better when they both realized that he had moved into the house right across the street from hers on the bus ride home. Within two days of their first meeting in class, the two of them arranged for Annabeth’s dad and Percy’s mom to meet each other, which was surprisingly difficult for the two seven year olds to accomplish, and from that point on they spent nearly every second they could together. Most days after school, Percy would go over to Annabeth’s house with her, since her dad was usually home and working in his office while Percy’s mom was at work, and they’d do whatever homework they got assigned and then play all kinds of games until Percy needed to go home for dinner. And nearly every weekend, because Annabeth’s traveled most weekends to different universities and conventions, whatever those were, to report whatever it was that he did in his office all day long, Annabeth got to sleepover at Percy’s house from Friday night until Monday morning at least twice a month.
Even if they hadn’t been friends prior to their parents' meeting, between the arrangement her dad and his mom had worked out as well as being seated next to each other in Mrs. Dodds’ second grade class, they wouldn’t have really had any other choice than to be friends.
When Percy and Annabeth had first met and quickly clicked together, it had still been in late August, just a few weeks after his birthday and over a month after hers, but now it was late December, just a few days off from their winter break from school. From the time that Percy and his mom had been living in their new house, he learned that it didn’t usually get too cold in Virginia compared to how cold it got back in New York, which had, of course, meant that he didn’t need to wear anything more winterwear than his coat out to the bus stop. And usually, that ended up working out perfectly fine for him since it barely ever dipped below 40℉, except for one or two days here and there.
One thing that Percy liked about Annabeth was how she was almost always prepared for any kind of situation. Even if at first he thought she was a bit insane to constantly be preparing and planning for all kinds of things that never actually ended up happening at all. And her preparedness came in handy when someone, him, would forget something that they needed.
Their bus stop was just a few doors down from Annabeth’s house, on the corner of the block even though they were the only two kids that used that bus stop. Percy typically barely made it out to the bus stop just as their school bus was pulling to a stop just a few feet from where Annabeth had been waiting for at least five minutes for the vehicle’s arrival. Somehow, Percy had only missed the bus three times, but since Annabeth had told him where the next three, and closest, bus stops were, he’d just hop on at another stop and find Annabeth waiting for him in their bus seat.
Today, however, as soon as Percy had stepped out his front door, immediately spotted Annabeth waiting with her winter coat and hat on, her silver sequin and glitter covered backpack hanging off both her shoulders, waiting for him at the bus stop as always, he immediately noticed how it was just extra cold that morning. By the time Percy had walked from his front door to the sidewalk just in front of his house, his hands were already freezing cold, but he wasn’t too worried about it since he’d be on the warmer bus in no time.
Or, so he thought.
As soon as Percy crossed the street over to the corner where Annabeth and the bus stop were, his hands were almost painfully cold. “Hi, Annabeth.” Percy said as soon as he was stepping onto the sidewalk. But he wasn’t about to say anything about it.
“Hi, Percy!” Annabeth replied back to him, way too cheery this early, this cold, in the morning, “Did you ask your mom yet?”
He could never understand how her brain was able to work at all hours of the day. Which meant that he had no idea what Annabeth was even asking him about, “Uh, asked her about what?”
“Gods, Seaweed Brain.” Was the first thing she answered him with, rolling her eyes while having one of the biggest grins he’d ever seen on her lips, as she laughed through her response, “You were supposed to ask your mom about our plans for the solstice.”
Percy vaguely knew what Annabeth was talking about, but it was still way too early for his brain to help him out. “The solstice?”
“The winter solstice.” Annabeth replied matter of factly, like that cleared up all of his confusion, “On the 21st.” When he still didn’t understand or remember what she was saying, Annabeth continued, “Don’t you ever listen to me when I talk? My dad is making me go to Boston on the 22nd and he said we’re not coming back for like over a week, so we’re going to do something together before that.”
The more Annabeth reminded him of the plans they had made the day before at school, then Percy’s brain recalled what she’d been referring to. “Oh yeah, the, the winter solstice stuff.” Percy started, “I forgot to ask her, but I’ll ask her after school.”
“Promise?” Annabeth asked, pulling one of her gloves off her hand and sticking her pinky out toward him.
Percy locked his pinky around her pinky as he told her, “Promise.”
To be perfectly honest, Percy had kind of forgotten about how cold his hands were, idly wondering where their bus was since he’d been at the bus stop for at least two minutes, until his pinky had locked around Annabeth’s warm, formerly gloved pinky.
And just as Percy was reminded that his hands were freezing cold, after they had pinky promised, Annabeth quickly shoved her glove back onto her hand as she shrieked, “Your hands are so cold Percy!” Which obviously he knew that much. Then, Annabeth was slipping her backpack off her shoulders, “Why didn’t you say anything about it?” The silver sequined backpack dropped onto the ground at her feet as she dug through it looking for something, which evidently she found as she said, “Here.” and was pushing something in his direction.
A pair of black, wooly mittens.
“Why did you have these in your backpack?” Percy asked as he slid the mittens that were definitely not meant for someone their age, onto his cold hands, “You’re already wearing your gloves.”
The bus rolled around the bend further down the block, finally deciding to show up at their bus stop.
“That’s because you insist on never being prepared for anything,” Annabeth told him, her gray eyes watching as the bus pulled to a screeching stop right in front of them, slipping her backpack back around both her shoulders in the blink of an eye as she finished, “so I have to be extra prepared all the time for the both of us.”
Percy couldn’t get another word in before Annabeth bounded up the steps of the bus, her blonde princess curls, as he insisted on calling them, bouncing as she did. “Jackson, come on.” Their bus driver, whose name Percy could never remember, gruffed at him, “You’re holding everyone up.”
“Sorry, Mr. Bus Driver.” Percy told him, quickly scurrying up the bus’s steps just as Annabeth had, avoiding the annoyed look their bus driver shot him for the name as he walked to seat thirteen, which had been the seat Annabeth had picked out on the bus before she’d ever met him.