I followed Grover to the bus and climbed on ignoring the world around me as I stared out the window at the storm settling over New York, I pushed the worried thoughts about my mom to the side knowing that she would stay inside if the storm got too bad and instead thought back to my dream and the name the man had called me. "Hydna," I whispered just loud enough for me to hear while easily being drowned out by the chaos on the bus, "Hydna Jackson." I felt the same smile form on my face as I get in my dreams, why did that name feel so right? I closed my eyes and allowed myself the chance to daydream about a world where things had happened just slightly differently and I had been born a girl, I was about to push the idea aside reminding myself just how stupid the whole idea was when suddenly I felt someone grasp onto my beanie and tear it off my head a few strands of hair going with it. I yelped in pain and turned to see none other than Nancy Bobofit smiling cruelly down at me with her crooked teeth while she crammed my purple beanie over her crazy nest of ketchup colored hair. I was about to confront her when Mrs. Dodds randomly came over.
"Ah Mr. Jackson," she exclaimed in a tone that could've frozen a lake of lava, "how kind of you to share your hat with Ms. Bobofit." She ended her statement with a cruel smile that made it clear that she knew that wasn't the case but didn't care, I sat down and sighed knowing it was pointless to try and argue at this point. Grover put his hand gently on my arm in a show of trying to comfort me.
"Don't let it get to you Percy," Grover whispered, "they're not worth it besides you know what the dean said you break the rules one more time and you get expelled." I let out a sigh and nodded going back to looking out the window as I clumsily pulled my hair back and into a messy braid of course Grover thought I was going to blow up and cause a scene, that's what always happens no matter how nicely I try to handle something it somehow always ends up blown out of proportion and I get in trouble. Likelihood is that if I had tried to get Nancy to give me my beanie back it somehow would've ended with the bus pulled over on the side of the road broken down and no I'm not joking.
We got to the museum and all filed off the bus after Mr. Brunner. We went through the museum and got to explore artifacts from ancient Greece. It was really cool. The best part the only thing that went wrong was Mr. Brunner thinking that I was talking to him when I snapped at Nancy to be quiet. Eventually we left the museum for lunch and I sat down with Grover over by the water fountain, everything was fine until Nancy threw a wad of chewed gum at me which Grover jumped in front of getting it stuck in his hair instead of mine, no doubt in an attempt to keep me from getting upset but honestly I had enough I stood up and shouted at Nancy, "What the hell is your problem!"
"Awe is the girly boy upset that his broken friend got gum in his hair," Nancy mocked as she walked over to us.
"No I'm upset that you won't leave us alone," I said, venom dripping from my voice, "seriously did mommy and daddy hurt you so much that you need to lash out at others so you don't feel so ugly!" Big mistake, really big mistake, I should've just kept my mouth shut, let Nancy do whatever she wanted and made it back to school, but nope I just had to open my big mouth. Nancy roared something at me that I didn't quite make sense of as she moved to punch me in the face and she did. Hard! I lept at Nancy and not quite knowing what I was doing tore my beanie off of her head along with a large clump of ketchup colored hair. I got up seeing red ready to make Nancy pay as my face throbbed when the next thing I knew I was standing about a yard from the fountain Nancy laying in it soaked crying out saying I pushed her. I tried to explain that I didn't even touch her when I was cut off before the words could even leave my throat.
"Come with me Mr. Jackson," Mrs. Dodds called out her voice carrying across the courtyard from where she stood by the entrance to the museum.
Fuck.