Cadenza

Percy isn't so fond of his classmate, Annabeth Chase, but he can't deny that she has amazing taste in music. Music is his life, so when she suggests they go on a road trip across the country to a once-in-a-lifetime concert, he can't say no. No matter how much she annoys him.

Chapter One

Percy Jackson wasn't quite sure how his life had come to this.

He'd never been what people called a natural musician, and it was coming back to bite him in the ass. Yes, he loved playing guitar, yes, he had a little bit of talent but yes, he'd worked his fingers until they bled. And now he was doing that again, three-thirty in the morning, trying to play this song without screwing it up.

"This fucking riff," he muttered to himself, frustrated. He rubbed his rather sore, calloused fingertips with his thumbs before running a hand through his hair. He should've practiced more, but this semester was crazy and before he knew it, his exam was in less than twelve hours.

He closed his tired eyes for a moment, taking a couple of deep breaths in and out. Percy didn't get into one of the world's best contemporary music colleges for nothing. The proficiency was just the final for one course out of the eight he took that semester. He wasn't going to fail because he screwed up a little bit. With that thought in mind, he straightened his electric guitar and fixed the tuning, trying to ignore his aching back.

"There's no one else here, Jackson," he whispered to himself. "You can do this." He closed his eyes, beginning the intro by memory. He could do this. He could.

Before he knew it, he was at the bridge, his foot tapping to his inner metronome, his fingers shredding the riff he'd been struggling with, because at this point it was muscle memory – or at least, he hoped to any god up there that it was.

Anticipation built up inside of him, because if he could just get through the bridge without stopping, just once, he knew he could do it again, and he was almost there, just four more bars –

"Excuse me, do you mind you using headphones?"

Percy almost screamed at the voice, his fingers halting on his fret board. For fuck's sake, he'd almost got through that entire fucking bridge if it weren't for this fucking person and gods he was so tired and his fingers were aching and fuck. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes to the person who'd decided to barge into his tiny little practice room.

"What?" he asked, trying not to snap at her.

The intruder was blonde, which was distracting, because Percy really liked blondes. But she had curly hair with a slightly wild personality to it, and it matched the look in her eyes.

Her eyes narrowed at his tone in his voice, and she pointed to his headphones. "Can you use them?"

"Why?" he all but whined, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Because I'm trying to record –" she jabbed her thumb in the direction of another practice room "– and your amp is bleeding into my microphone."

Percy wasn't convinced. Normally, he wouldn't mind, but he was exhausted and his headphones hurt his ears after a while. Besides, this girl had interrupted his practicing that stupid bridge right when he had almost played it through perfectly – who did that, anyway?

"Fine," he grumbled. She nodded and closed the door shut behind her. Just like that, no "thank you" or acknowledgement that she appreciated what he agreed to. As if he was obligated to wear his headphones for her, just because she'd barged in and rudely demanded him to do it.

Without another thought, he turned to his amp and twisted the knob labelled 'MASTER VOLUME' all the way up.

A/N: Hey guys! New fic, drabble-y, will update frequently. (Also will update Threadbare soon, for those readers!).

I go to music school, am a musician and wanted to write this fic. Ta-da!

Let me know what you think in a review :)