Enjoy this updated section. Percy's POV is next.

Annabeth's POV:

You think this is a story where boy meets girl, instant sparks, fall in love, and happy ever after.

Wrong. There's twists and turns and drama. How does it end? Well, I can't say.

You'll have to read and find out.

I padded into my room from the bathroom. I had gotten dressed in black leggings and a white over size sweater in the hopes that Percy would actually show up for our dinner date. We weren't dating. We were just friends, best friends; though, it was getting harder and harder to tell.

He devoted all his time to his girlfriend, Calypso. She was beautiful. He'd been attracted to her ever since he was fourteen and she'd saved him from slipping on ice and getting a concussion. Never mind all the things I'd done for him.

Not that I was jealous or anything.

I tilted my head at the silence in the house; my parents were out visiting my stepmother's mother. She hated me since I wasn't Helen's child. Helen decided to take pity on me and let me stay home; we'd been getting along a lot better lately. I pulled my copy of Pride and Prejudice off the shelf, resigning myself to the fact that I had nowhere to go for the evening, despite the fact that I was a junior and was supposed to be at some wild party.

I heard a tap on my window. Percy was crouched on the fire escape probably freezing his butt off. Why couldn't he use the front door like everyone else? I frowned at him. He tried for a cute smile, knowing I was mad. I'd been ditched one too many times for Calypso. I glared once more then returned to my book.

He knocked on the window and yelled something that sounded like, "ANNABETH!"

I sighed and went to the window. I unlatched it and Percy tumbled in a flurry of snow.

"Seriously, Annabeth?" He stood up and brushed himself off.

I scowled and crossed my arms.

"I'm sorry, ok?" He closed the window.

"And I'm supposed to forgive you?" I said.

"We can go to Royal King." Percy suggested. Royal King was a Chinese restaurant, a block away from my apartment. It was basically our "place".

"Fine, but you're paying." I said.

We ordered our food and made small talk for a little while.

Percy groaned.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Don't look now but it's Matt from school."

I let out groan of mine own. Matt Parker was a major nerd, to put it simply. He practically followed me around because I was a female with 4.0 GPA.

"Do you trust me?" Percy asked. I nodded but I always dreaded conversations that began with those words that. He pulled me onto his lap. I panicked.

"Percy, what the–" I started but he cut me off.

"Do you want Matt to come here and with flirt you endlessly?" Percy raised his eyebrows.

I shook my head.

"Then kiss me."

It was then I realized the proximity of our faces.

"I don't think–"

"He's coming." Percy singsonged.

I pulled his face in and pressed his lips to mine. I would've kissed him longer but I heard a strangled gasp from behind me.

"Calypso, no!" Percy all but pushed me from his lap.

She ran out in tears and Percy banged his head on the table. I told our waiter to make our order to go. When he brought the order, I paid for it and brought a distressed Percy back to my apartment.

"Great!" Percy was pacing. "Now what?"

"We should sit and think about this rationally." I said.

"If you hadn't kissed me…" Percy accused.

"You told me to!" I cried.

"You're right this is partly my fault."

I glared at him.

"Fine all my fault!" He relented. "But it didn't mean anything."

To you. It meant something different to me.

"Right, of course not." I sat down on the couch. "So what you are going to do?"

He looked towards me with puppy dog eyes. "Please, you have to help me."

I frowned. Help him get back together with his girlfriend? No, thank you.

"Come on. Just tell her you kissed me so Matt wouldn't bother you. It's the truth."

Not all of it, I thought but kept quiet.

"Please?" Percy knelt in front of me.

"You're my best friend." He continued.

Sure, go right ahead and pull that card. "Fine."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He grinned, giddy.

"You're really crazy about her, aren't you?"

"I think I love her, Annabeth." He said quietly.

I frowned at my hands resting in my lap.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked.

I punched his arm. "I'm just pissed that you think that this is my fault."

His grin returned.

It was then that I sadly realized that this is all we would ever be. Best friends. Percy will be with Calypso and I'll be alone. And I have to accept that.

At least I still have my takeout.

I was hoping I didn't see Calypso at school as I walked through the doors. I practically sprinted to my locker and buried my head in it, deciding on what to say.

"Annabeth, what are you doing?"

I dragged my head out enough to see Thalia, my other best friend, giving me an odd look.

"You don't want to know." I told her. "Have you seen Calypso?"

She shook her head. "Why?"

"I have to talk to her."

"Why?" Thalia repeated.

"It's a long story and I have to go. So I'll see at Starbucks for lunch?" It was a tradition for us to go to Starbucks whenever we had a bad day or we needed to talk.

"I'll get the drinks, you bring the food." She studied my face before leaving. I sighed. I had my first class with Calypso.

I debated whether I should actually talk to her. I mean Percy could move on. But then I'd be a horrible friend. And I felt bad for Calypso. He was her boyfriend, after all.

"Can I talk to you Calypso?" I asked.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." She was always so nice, all the time. I could see why Percy loved her. Had it been me in her place, I probably would've beaten the girl up in an alley after school.

I stalled my pride (not very easy seeing as I have a lot of it) and began, "Well, you need to know that it's not Percy's fault. It's mine. I just didn't want Matt to flirt with me. It didn't mean anything. And I'm really sorry."

Calypso gave me a hug. "It's fine. I should've given Percy a chance to explain before I ran out."

"Do you forgive me?"

"Of course, you got me and Percy back together."

I was happy for them but I was also jealous. Not of Calypso though, just because she had a caring boyfriend and I had Matt was no reason for me to be jealous.

"What happened?" Percy ambushed me the second I stepped into our Greek class.

"She forgave you." I said, tossing my bag onto my desk.

"Really? You're the best." He gave me a bone crushing hug.

"She's waiting outside for you," I said once I could breathe.

He dashed out the door as soon as the words left my mouth.

Lunch took forever to come. Thankfully, Thalia was already there, waiting for me.

"Spill." She demanded. I took a long sip of my drink while ignoring the dirty look she was giving me.

"We were at Royal King," I began.

"You and Percy?"

I nodded. "Then Matt came."

"Your stalker."

"He's not a stalker! Anyways, I don't know what happened but Percy pulled me onto his lap"—Thalia's eyes widened—"and then he told me to kiss him. Well, I did but—"

"You guys kissed?!" Thalia shrieked. Luckily, we were the only ones there except the barista who was used to our spontaneous outbursts.

"You didn't let me finish. Calypso saw us. Percy felt so bad about so I had to take the blame for it." I finished then took another sip of my drink.

Thalia shook her head. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "It didn't mean anything to him, just drop it."

"It sounds like he was jealous." Thalia eyed me as she sipped her drink.

"What do you mean?"

She just smirked.

"Thalia! Answer me!" I yelled.

"What? You couldn't tell?"

"He is not jealous of a 4.0 GPA, chess playing, sock ironing Matt Parker." I said.

"Why else would he ask you to kiss him?" Thalia had a point.

"He's dating Calypso! It doesn't matter."

She held her hands up in surrender. "Fine, let's get back before lunch ends."

With Percy and Calypso back together, everyone in the table was dating someone except me. No boy would even look my way, except for Matt. I sat down next to Rachel who was talking animatedly to Calypso. Thalia coiled her arm around Nico's as she sat down. Percy grinned at me and then returned to his conversation with Nico.

The bell rang; it wasn't for dismissal but for PDA time. Our school would rather have it during lunch than in the hallways so they allot five minutes of time for PDA. It's great…for those who are dating. The couples started to kiss while I directed my eyes to the ceiling. That speckled white pattern is so in season. I glanced down at my drink.

Gods, I wish I had a boyfriend. Preferably Percy.

I did not just think that. Percy was with Calypso.

The bell rang again. I sighed with relief. Finally.

"Hey, Annabeth." Matt.

I forced a smile onto my face. "Matt! What a surprise."

"I noticed you weren't kissing anyone."

Like the day before and the day before that. "You were watching me?"

"You are really pretty."

That might be flattering but after hearing it day after day the excitement wears off.

"Thanks." I deadpanned.

"So…I was wondering if you wanted to go to the museum with me." Matt asked offering me a smile.

"Just because I'm the only 'visually appealing' female with a 4.0 GPA," His words not mine. "Doesn't mean you have hit on my all the time. What will it take to get you to go away?"

"A kiss."

I feigned puking. "I'd rather throw myself down the stairs."

"Fine! Have fun with Percy. You can throw yourself on him when Calypso's not there!" He left in a huff. I blushed and glared at the table.

"Is that true?" Calypso asked.

"No! There's nothing going on." Percy assured her.

"It was all my fault." I said.

He so owes me.

"I don't like the fact that you're flirting with my boyfriend." Calypso's usual happy nature was gone.

"I'm not. It was one time. It won't happen again." I said.

"You're right. You're going to say away from him starting now. You can't sit here."

"You can't just force me out. I'm not trying to steal Percy from you." I said.

"Go." She pointed.

I grabbed my bag. "Hope you're happy, Percy."

He looked away.

"Can you believe him?" I was on the phone with Thalia.

"I know. Nico and I will sit with you at lunch tomorrow."

"Thanks but you don't have to do that."

"It's fine." She said.

I glanced at my window. He still hasn't come. What a jerk.

"I'll call you back, some butts need to be kicked."

Thalia laughed. "Ok, bye."

I started on my homework to distract myself but it was too easy; I finished in thirty minutes.

Still no Percy. Forget him. He can have all the fun he wants with Calypso.

Ding-dong.

That had better be Percy. With an apology and hopefully a break up.

"Hey, Annie." Percy said.

"I thought I told you never to call me that." I said.

"I'm really sorry about earlier, I talked to Calypso and she said you can sit with us again."

"Why should I? Especially, after I took the blame for your entire fight to begin with!" I crossed my arms and turned away.

He put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around. "You're right and I'm sorry."

"And?"

"I should've defended you in the first place…" Percy hung his head.

"Thank you." I turned and started into the kitchen.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't kissed me in the first place…"

I paused, glass of milk in hand. "You told me to!"

"After four years of friendship, you choose then to listen?"

"You're the one who freaked when Matt came." I set down my glass of milk and crossed my arms.

So he'd just come here to point fingers.

"Because you would've let him flirt with you endlessly."

"I didn't today." I reminded him.

"And you got yourself kicked out of the table." He pointed out.

"I could've told Calypso that you told me to kiss you, but I didn't because I'm a good friend!" I snapped.

"Are you saying I'm not a good friend?"

"I didn't say that." I replied coldly.

"Look, you know I care about her. She saved my life."

"I know you do. You still should've defended me."

"I said I was sorry."

I placed my hands on my hip. "Listen—"

"No, you listen. I think you're jealous."

My jaw dropped. "I don't think you're one to talk. You practically jumped me when Matt walked in."

"I was trying to stop him flirting with you!"

"Why do you even care? You have a girlfriend." I said.

"He would've ruined the night."

"I'm sorry he had to waste the few minutes you allotted me." I said, scowling.

"I'm sorry for spending time with my girlfriend."

"What about your friends? We were friends before you met Calypso."

"You are jealous of Calypso." He accused.

"Well, you're jealous of Matt."

Percy laughed. But it wasn't humorous, more like harsh, cruel bark. "That's cute. But I have a girlfriend."

"And I'm not jealous." I told him then smirked. "I'm happy for you."

"I'd be happy for you if you even had a boyfriend." Percy muttered. I flushed and looked at the floor.

"Get out." I snapped.

He stepped forward like he was going to say something but thought better of it.

I finally looked up when I heard the door slam.

How dare he?

I slammed my locker door. Hard.

"I can't believe he did that." Thalia frowned after I filled her in.

"I know. Forget Starbucks, I'm ready to ditch." I said.

"Never thought I'd hear those words from you, Annabeth." Thalia grinned.

The bell rang as an interrupter to our conversation. Thalia gave me a hug and dashed off. I considered ditching but in the end, I knew it wouldn't be worth it. Calypso smiled at me when I walked into English.

"Sorry about yesterday. I can get pretty jealous."

"It's fine." I said.

That translated to: I'm not falling for that act again.

I ignored Percy in Greek. He kept passing me notes which I wadded up and threw back at him. I retold the story to Rachel in art. She was also shocked at Percy's behavior.

"Thalia's right, you know," She'd told me. "He's obviously jealous."

Percy cornered me in the hallway before lunch.

"Annabeth, how are we supposed to move on if you won't let me apologize?"

Thankfully, the hallway had mostly cleared.

"Right. Like an apology will work." I snapped, glaring icily.

"I said I was sorry. What else do you want me to do?"

"You shouldn't have said those things to begin with." I said.

He started to speak but I cut him off. "And it's not my fault only Matt Parker is interested in me. I've never kissed a guy except you,"—his eyes widened at that—"and that really hurt my feelings."

"I'm really sorry." He said. "That was incredibly mean." He then proceeded to produce a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back. "Read the card."

I quickly scanned it. It read: Will you please forgive me?

I sighed. "Fine but just this once."

He grinned and gave me a hug. "Let's go to lunch."

"Will you just go away?" I asked.

"Like I said, one kiss to make me disappear." Matt grinned.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"I'll have a story to tell the chess team."

"Then they'll come bother me." I reasoned.

"I'll just hang out here then."

"Matt, let's talk about this in the hallway."

When I returned, I had a detention slip.

"How did you of all people get a detention?" Thalia wondered.

"I threw Matt into the lockers and the hall monitor coincidentally walked by at that time." I said.

"I didn't think you'd last that long." Calypso smiled. "Who gave you the flowers?"

I glanced at Percy. Calypso didn't need another blowup.

"No one." I answered. "No one at all."

She smiled again, cooler this time. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." I shot a sideways glance at Thalia, who mouthed 'Let's go' and pointed to the next table over. "If you really feel that way, I'll just leave."

"Annabeth!" Percy called after me but Calypso whispered something in his ear and he settled down.

Thalia led me and Nico over to an empty table.

"That Calypso character has a real temper." Nico commented. Thalia nodded and began discussing something with him. I sighed. I was glad I didn't have to eat alone but I was third wheeling hard.

"Annabeth." Matt Parker sat down next to me. "One kiss and I will leave you alone. Unless you like it, then I'm here to stay."

Well, I was tired of being bothered by him.

"One kiss?" I asked.

"Just one."

I glanced back at Percy's table. He was watching us intently. I gave Matt a chaste kiss and sent him, dazed, on his way. I looked back at Percy, who was pretending he hadn't seen a thing.

I was the only one in detention. Apparently, you do homework there. (As you can tell, I'm not very experienced with detention). They should just call it study hall after school. I went to Thalia's after school because I was pretty sick and tired of sitting at home by myself.

"Hey, girlie. What's up?" Thalia smiled at me.

"I'm pretty bored."

"Well, we can't have that. You're officially spending the night." Thalia pulled me in. Thalia was pretty lucky. Her mom died when she was really young so Thalia's father just funded her mansion.

Yes, mansion. She lived with her father's good friend, Artemis.

"So what do you want to talk about, Annie?" Thalia asked.

I opened my mouth to give her a word about 'Annie', but she beat me to it.

"I know, I know; never call you that."

I half smiled. "You know me too well."

"Oh let's talk about Calypso."

I groaned.

"What's her problem?"

"She's acting nice to me one minute then the next she's telling me never to cross her path. I mean, it's not like Percy likes me anyways."

Thalia shook her head. "I don't know. I think he's jealous of Matt."

"Why? I don't like him that way anyways."

"Percy or Matt?"

"Either."

"Right." She said but she didn't sound convinced.

"Shut up."

"I'm going to invite everyone over for a sleepover." Thalia decided.

"How is Artemis going to feel about that?" I smirked.

"Oh, nothing's going to happen." Thalia said.

"Are you going to invite Calypso?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.

"You know Percy won't come if we don't invite her." Thalia said.

"Fine." I relented. "Let's get them here."

We were gathered around, playing Truth or Dare—the most cliche game ever.

"Annabeth," Calypso smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "Who was your first kiss?"

"You know, I don't even remember I've kissed so many guys." I said nonchalantly.

"Sure," Rachel drawled. "Like Matt Parker today."

"Shut up! I'm sure you've kissed millions of guys. And that was a onetime thing." I retorted.

She glared at me.

"Any day now, Annabeth." Nico yawned.

"Fine, fine. It was that guy with that name…that started with that letter." I confessed.

"Seriously, Annabeth," Calypso huffed. "We don't have all night."

"Ok! It was…Percy." I muttered.

"Why am I not surprised?" Calypso glared. "Was it at the Royal King?"

"No." I snapped.

She rolled her eyes.

"Thalia, truth or dare?" I asked.

"Let's just pretend I went because I have a great dare for Percy." She said.

"So truth is out for me?" He tried to look mad but he was smiling.

"Definitely." Thalia replied.

"Lay it on me." Percy was still smiling.

"I dare you to kiss Annabeth for at least a minute." It was Thalia's turn to smile. My jaw dropped and my eyebrows drew together.

"Um, I don't really feel comfortable–"

"Just kiss her!" Thalia cried.

"Thalia, honestly," Calypso said. "Why would you—"

"Please, save it, princess." Thalia snapped. "Now, on with the kissing."

"Wait," Calypso leaned over and kissed Percy.

"He's not going to war," Rachel groaned. Calypso finally pulled away.

"Does he have to kiss me?" I knit my eyebrows.

"Oh, please." Percy said.

"I hate you, Thalia." I grumbled.

She just smiled. Percy leaned forward and kissed me. The kiss was over as soon as it started.

"Hope you're happy, Thalia." I rolled my eyes at her.

I heard her whisper, "Part one complete," to Rachel afterwards.

It was two a.m. and I couldn't sleep. I sat on Thalia's window seat and stared out the window.

"You couldn't sleep either?"

I turned and saw Percy. "Yeah,"

He sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Did you know," I began. "Ninety-two percent of people fall in love with the most unexpected person?"

"What are you saying?" He asked, looking down at me.

"I shouldn't. It's not the right time, I don't know if it'll ever be." I admitted. And it was true, Calypso was forcing us apart. I had feelings for Percy; I couldn't tell him though. He had Calypso.

When I glanced up at him again, he was frowning. Then he kissed me. On his own free will. It took me a minute to realize what was happening. I sat there frozen, momentarily. Then I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. When we finally stopped, I had no regrets about what we had done.

I rested my head on his chest and fell asleep.

When I woke up, most everyone was still asleep. Percy was gone and so was Calypso. I crept out of the room and listened at the edge of stairs.

"…know you kissed her, Percy." Calypso was saying.

"But how…I didn't…"

"I'm not mad, Percy. You two have something…that you and I will never have. I'm sorry I was so mean to her. Percy,"—she paused—"you have to promise me you won't let her go. I know you'll regret it. I've got to go."

"Calypso…you're right." He confessed.

"I know. Goodbye, Percy." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The door closed and was locked with an audible click. I waited a few minutes before going downstairs, so Percy would think I'd just woken up. He sat with his back against the door, his head in his lap.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked taking a seat next to him.

"Calypso and I just…broke up." He said.

"Oh, I'm sorry."I can't even tell you how much of a lie that is.

"It's fine. I think I have feelings for someone else."

I nodded.

"And about last night, I should've…" Percy turned towards me. "Kissed you again."

"Don't you think it's too soon?" I breathed as he leaned towards my face.

He paused and moved away. "Maybe you're right."

Way to go Annabeth, you ruined it.

"I didn't mean that I didn't want you to." I blushed. "Kiss me, I mean."

"No, you're right," Percy stood up. "I've got to go."

I got up a few minutes later and bumped into Thalia in the hallway. I'm pretty sure I was still dazed because she asked me how I was doing and I said, "Boys are stupid."

Monday wasn't much better either.

I dropped by Percy's house after school.

"Hi, Mrs. Jackson," I said when she opened the door.

"Annabeth, please. Call me Sally."

"Is Percy sick? He wasn't at school today."

"You could call it that." Sally said.

I frowned. "He's not sick?"

"He claimed to have a headache."

"So he basically ditched." I summed it up.

Sally shrugged.

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"I…guess."

"Oh, I get it," I took a small step back. "He doesn't want to see me."

"No, honey, of course not." Sally said. "Those weren't his exact words."

I turned away. "Then what were his exact words? 'Oops, chose the wrong girl, better hide for the rest of my life.'"

"Annabeth, I'm sorry." She put a hand on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shake her off. "I don't know what's going on between you two, Percy didn't tell me."

"I'm going to go before I can embarrass myself any further."I jogged to my car. I glanced over my shoulder before getting in. I saw Percy had come up from behind his mother; he had one arm outstretched as if reaching for me.

I shook my head and got in.

I ditched the next day. I was really glad no one was there to force me to go to school. I sat around moping. I didn't even know why I was sad. It's not like we were dating. He just kept acting like he had feelings for me then rejecting me. It had started to hurt.

Unfortunately, my day off didn't last very long. Thalia was texting me threatening to send the police if I didn't get to school before lunch. Last time I ignore one of her texts, it didn't end very well for me.

I walked to school instead of driving. I wanted to make the most out of my ditch. The receptionist didn't pay me any attention though I flashed my student ID at her three times. Everyone was waiting for me outside the cafeteria. Thalia nearly crushed me with her hug.

"I thought you'd been jumped or kidnapped." She said.

"I just ditched."

Thalia's hand flew up to my forehead.

"Are you sick?"

"No," I said, swatting her hand. "I'm fine. School isn't everything."

Thalia feigned fainting. I rolled my eyes at her. I took that time to scan the group. Percy was actually here today. I averted my eyes.

"So lunch?" I asked. Rachel came up on my other side and looped her arm through mine.

"Let's go," She told them.

Of course, the only seat was next to Percy. They were so planning that.

"You know I forgot what it was like on the other side," Percy said, after the bell had rung.

"Yeah," I said, quickly looking at his lips then back up to his eyes.

"I'm going to apologize in advance," He began.

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to kiss you now."

And then he did just that.

And it was fine by me.

"Ahem."

I pulled away and flushed when I saw speaker.

Everyone sat opened mouthed except Thalia, who looked amused.

"The bell rang," She informed us.

"I was just…we were…" I trailed off.

"Kissing?" Thalia offered.

"Yes, that."

"Care to explain?" She asked.

"You know, it's such a long story." I began and Percy nodded in agreement.

I checked my bare wrist. "And I've gotta get to class, bye!"

I hightailed it out of there without waiting for their responses. I didn't know where I was going, probably back home, but before I could even decide I heard footsteps announcing a purser.

"Annabeth, wait!" Percy grabbed my wrist and spun me to face him. "Annabeth, before you go you need to know I'm in love with you."

My eyes widened at this.

He continued, "The truth is I couldn't help falling in love with you. And I never told you this but the reason I slipped on the ice was because I was chasing you after you kissed me," I blushed. "But now I know that it was never Calypso or anybody. It was always you and it was me who failed to see that."

I couldn't believe it. He was pouring out his heart for me and all I could do was blink in disbelief.

"Um, I…"

"It's ok. I know I just dumped everything on you." He kissed my cheek and disappeared.

I leaned against a locker and slid to the floor.

What just happened?

I paced the living room. Percy confessing his love for me had confused me even more. Oh gods, I sighed and pushed my hands through my hair. I'd never been a situation like this. I sat on my bed and watched the rain fall outside. I knew I felt something for Percy but was it love? Or was it just a deep affection that was the by-product of our long friendship? I didn't want to lead him on. Percy didn't deserve that.

What did this mean? That I wanted the best for him? Obviously, he was my best friend. I sighed and flopped onto my back. If Percy hadn't told me he loved me, would I still be conflicted?

I pondered that. Definitely a yes, because of the kisses. This was so confusing! This situation would be the one thing my mind couldn't wrap itself around. I just needed a yes or no answer. I closed my eyes so I could focus better. I knew for sure I loved Percy as a friend. But I didn't know how to tell if it was more.

If Percy was jealous of me and Matt, then it would make sense for me to be jealous of Calypso. But I wasn't in the least, not anymore. I mean I was jealous because she had her claim on him and he never had any time for me but that wasn't love. I wouldn't mind having him all to myself and the more I thought about it, the more I saw myself with Percy. Only Percy.

I need proof, I thought. Why would I love him? What could influence me to love him?

Percy was always there for me, that much was true. I smiled when he smiled and vise versa. I realized then that I didn't need a reason. You couldn't look at what I felt for him and trace it to one sole reason. It was him. The way he was. The way I relied on him. The way we clicked like he and Calypso didn't.

I realized that as I needed him, he needed me. There wasn't a why or a how or a what. You couldn't define it. You just…knew. You could say it happened then. While I dwelt on my physiological findings it all snapped into place. I had to tell him.

I looked outside, it was pouring buckets and it was one am. This wasn't the ideal time but he had to know. He had to know that I, Annabeth Chase, loved him and there wasn't a why, how, what or anything like that. I just did because…it was him. I loved him in a way, I could never feel for someone else because they weren't Percy. Him. They weren't him and that was enough.

I thought myself crazy as I drove, clad in pajamas, at one in the morning through pouring rain to the Jackson's. That's how important it was. Sally opened the door. "Annabeth, honey, what are you doing here so late? Or early, I should say."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." I apologized. The one thing that had slipped my mind.

"I was already up," Sally ushered me in.

"Is Percy up? I really need to talk to him."

"He's awake," She said then sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"He's not doing so well," She sat down on the couch and I joined her. "He came home and told Paul he had 'girl troubles' and they had practically an hour discussion over that. But he wouldn't tell me and I'm so worried."

I rested my head on my hands. "This is all my fault."

"No, it isn't." Sally tried to wrap her arm around me but I shook her off.

"Yes, it is," I stood. "Where's Percy? I have to talk to him."

"In the kitchen with a gallon of milk and a dozen blue chocolate chip cookies."

I pushed kitchen door open.

"Hey, Percy." I said softly. He glanced up at me, gave me and smile before frowning.

I sat across from him.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked.

It was my turn to frown. "You want me to leave?"

"No, I just wanted to why you're here." His voice was emotionless.

I sighed. "I wanted to talk."

"At one in the morning?"

"Cut the act; it's getting us nowhere." I said.

"And the midnight chat will?" Still no expression.

"Maybe, if you'd listen." I answered, using the last bit of patience I had.

Percy leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "Go ahead."

"I realized that I do feel something for you."

Now he was listening. He nodded for me to continue.

"I'm pretty sure I do love you." I said confidently.

"And I love you."

"But I'm scared." I added.

He came over and knelt beside me. "What are you scared of?"

"Us…together. We won't be friends if this ends badly. I need you as my friend."

Percy glanced up at me. "I think we've given up all chances of going back to being friends. I couldn't be just friends anyway. Not when I feel this way about you."

"I don't want to friends either but there's no going back. Not now, not ever." I told him.

"If there's no going back, forget the one toe at a time thing. Just jump right in."

I lowered my head to his and kissed him. "Don't let me drown."

Okay, so that was part one of two of the new and updated Twists and Turns to Him.

~CharminglyWitty~