The day the apocalypse happened, it was the most popular topic in school.

All the kids at my high school were talking about at least. For the three days, we had all been hearing reports about disease and mayhem breaking out on the west coast. All kinds of rumors were circulating. The media took the story and ran with it. Videos were posted online. People were blogging about why it was happening. Radio shows talked about how it wasn't happening. But, it was hard to figure out the truth with all the reports and contradictions.

"That video is a fake, Grover," I say. "You'll have to do better than that before you can convince me that we're facing the outbreak of a zombie virus." I took a bite of pizza and returned to my calculus homework. Sure, it wasn't due until tomorrow, but I had soccer practice tonight and I liked getting a good night's sleep. Gotta make sure I'm fresh for class in the morning.

"C'mon, Annabeth. That's totally real," he argued. He tapped his phone and held it out to me so I could watch the video again. Beside him, his girlfriend Juniper looked away. The video wasn't much. Just some unstable footage of three people stumbling around and a lot of screaming on the cameraman's (and yes, it was obviously a guy) part.

"He never gets close enough for you to see them."

"They're zombies. If they get close, you're dead." To illustrate his point, the camera hit the pavement as the screams changed pitch. "There are reports from all over. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle. And it's moving. Yesterday it hit Denver and Houston. This morning there was an outbreak in Miami."

"Miami?" Juniper said. "Doesn't Percy have family down there?"

We all looked over at the unofficial "cool" table.

Now, I'm not saying that I am unpopular. I have friends. I've known Grover since preschool. But I'm not Big Three material.

If you go to Mount Olympus High School for Gifted Teens (MO for short), you know that when we say "the Big Three" we mean the children of business moguls Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. They're a pretty tight-knit group. Not because their snobs—okay, they can totally be snobs sometimes—but it's never intentional. It's just when you get used to things being certain way, you don't always think about the fact that they'll different for other people. Anyways, the cousins (there are five of them at our school now that Nico has skipped eighth grade) are close. Which is surprising considering that their dads are constantly at odds with each other.

"I wouldn't know," I said. I hadn't had a real conversation with Percy since we were twelve, right before I moved out to San Fran.

Percy's laughing at something his cousins Jason is saying. If Percy's worried, he doesn't show it. I look away before he can see me looking. Most of the girls in the cafeteria have or have had or are in the process of developing a crush on Percy Jackson. I refuse to identify with those girls as matter of principle. And pride.

Somewhere there might be an alternate universe where I'm part of that group. Where the people at that table are still my best friends. Where Grover and I spend time trading jokes with Thalia and teasing Nico. Where Bianca and I have sleepovers and I give Jason advice on getting a girlfriend. But I cut myself out of that world a long time ago. And just because I was back, didn't mean I was looking to get back in with my old friends. After everything that's gone down, it just wasn't a smart idea.

The bell rings. My books slide back into my bag, my lunch slides into the trashcan by the door. Grover gives Juniper a kiss on the cheek as he heads with the seniors to algebra. Juniper and I head to Latin.

Now, at most schools, it would be weird for me to say that my favorite class is Latin class. But at MO, I'm pretty sure Latin is every junior's favorite class. Even the ones who are struggling. Why? Two words: our teacher. Mr. Brunner is one of those people who was born to teach. He makes Latin vivid and alive for all of us, even people like—well, like Percy. He's always bringing his weapons with him and having us act out the stories that we're muddling through in class.

Juniper and I take our places in the back (more Juniper's preference that mine, but whatever). She pulls out her homework and checks it real quick. It's correct. I already helped her proof it. I pull out my notebook and start going over my notes from last class. Just to keep fresh. I'm halfway through when it comes to my attention that the entire classroom, which would normally be buzzing with pre-class chatter, has fallen silent.

I look up.

Percy is staring at the ground right in front of my desk.

"Hey, Annabeth," he says.

"Hey," I say back. "Um, what's up." Surely he's not desperate enough to be asking me to homecoming.

"Well, I was wondering—" He pauses. Or maybe he is. A hand runs through his messy hair as he leans against the desk in front of mine. "Look. Mr. Brunner's essay is due next week and I was wondering if you'd be able to help me out. You know, being the smartest girl in class and all."

Wise Girl.

That's what he used to call me when we were friends.

"Sure, I guess." I reply. Every eye is on us. They all know about the bad blood between our parents.

"Okay. So…meet up at the library after school?"

I nod. Percy stands there for another minute as the silence continues. Then he turns and takes a seat next to Bianca, another one of his cousins, and Jason. Suddenly, everyone is talking again and more than a few stares are directed at me. Never at Percy, just me.

Then it's all over because Mr. Brunner is walking in. He writes five Latin verbs on the chalkboard.

"What ho, Percy!" Mr. Brunner says as he tosses a piece of chalk to Percy and asks him to start conjugating the verbs.

The rest of the day passes quickly. Too quickly for me. I am justifiably concerned about my little study session with the son of Poseidon.

When I was twelve, my best friends were Grover Underwood, Thalia Grace, her future boyfriend Luke Castellan and her dorky cousin Percy Jackson. My mom was a designer for Kronos Travel Industries, a company owned by Zeus and Poseidon Kronos (for some reason, Bianca and Nico's dad, Hades decided to go into the funeral home business). Thalia and Jason's dad built planes. Percy's dad built boats. I'd known Thalia since I was six when she took the job at KTI. It was a great job for my mom, she loved designing the planes and boats. But eventually, she wanted to move on. She wanted to start her own architectural design company. Zeus was all for it. Poseidon wasn't. Things happened and Poseidon totally screwed my mom over when the split happened. It was a big scandal in the business world. My mom sent me to live with my dad in San Francisco for a while. And I lost Percy and Thalia and Luke as friends. Not that they didn't try, especially Thalia, but after what Percy's dad did to my mom, I just couldn't talk to any of them. Grover had been the only person who it wasn't awkward to talk with when I left New York. Consequently, he'd sided with me in the whole Athena vs. Poseidon thing.

I'd known when I came back for my junior year that I could probably rebuild the bridges my mom burned. But so much time has passed and so many hard feelings remain, I'm not sure I want to. I hadn't expected Percy to ever speak to me again.

He was waiting for me when I got to the library. It's surprising. I'd expected things to be the other way around. I dump my backpack on the table and pull out a chair.

"Jackson," I say.

"Chase," he replies.

We stare at the table.

"So, why me? Of all the people in that class, Percy, why me?"

Percy fidgets with the cuff of his letterman's jacket. Finally, he looks at me.

"I really want to get an A in Mr. Brunner's class," he says. "The rest, I don't really care about as long as my grades are good enough to keep me on the swim team. But Mr. Brunner—he just, he believes in me. I don't want to let him down." I think back to earlier in class. And he's right, most of the teachers ignore Percy. But Mr. Brunner knows what I know, Percy Jackson is smarter than he looks. "I figured you were my best shot. Nobody else would take me seriously."

"Okay."

Percy leans down and pulls out his Latin notebook.

"This is what I've got so far."

I look at his notebook.

"I really like the first two ideas, but I didn't want to stop there." Mr. Brunner was always encouraging us to think past our comfort zones.

His ideas aren't half bad. I point to the second one. It reads 'Strength vs. cunning in Greek mythology'.

"This one could work, but it's too general. You'd be writing for hours. What if you focused on two specific examples?"

Percy nods.

"Maybe I could use Hercules as one of my examples and then—" He starts going through his notes.

"You could juxtapose his stories with Odysseus."

"Odysseus. He, um was the one…"

"Who thought up the Trojan horse. Yeah."

We sit there for an hour. Percy flips back and forth in his notes, writing down everything he can about the two heroes. I continue to do homework.

"Hey," I say, "I have soccer practice in an hour. You've got a good start." I start putting my books back into my bag. Percy grins. I have to grab at my train of thought. "How about we meet back here on Thursday and go over what you have by then."

Percy nods. I pick my bag up and walk away.

"Hey. Annabeth."

I stop.

"What?" I ask.

When the silence forces me to turn around, Percy is standing with his backpack over one shoulder. His other hand is in his pocket. He's watching me. I want to disappear and stand out all at the same time.

"Is your mom still mad about…you know?" He shrugs.

"You mean about the time she walked into her office to find him screwing her assistant? Or did you mean when he cost her the Architecture Award? Or how about the fact that half of her designs are still sitting on some computer at KTI?" I should sound angry. I should be angry. My mom's career was seriously set back by Poseidon's jealousy.

But Percy is not Poseidon. And despite the fact that he has a super-rich dad, he is surprisingly down to earth. Most of the time.

"That's a yes, then."

"I haven't heard any apologies." I turn and walk out of the library. If I don't leave now, I won't have enough time to change into my uniform.

"Wait." Percy runs up beside me. He's not even breathing hard. "Wait, Annabeth. If it makes any difference, I'm sorry. For what my dad did."

Where is this coming from? I've been here since the beginning of the semester and this is the first time anyone from Percy's group has reached out to me. Why now? Percy is obviously not done. I lean back and cross my arms. Percy looks at the ground again and for the first time I realize that Percy Jackson, who can stand on top of a tiny platform in nothing but a Speedo and grin at the crowd, is nervous talking to me.

What if he's not the only one?

"Look, I know Thalia and the others miss you. So if you wanted to hang out with us, we're going to the new Thor movie tonight at 8:30. Ask Grover and Juniper if they want to come. We miss them too."

"I, uh,-"

"Think about it, Annabeth." And then Percy is blending into the traffic on the street.

I start to head off in the opposite direction. Ringing interrupts my train of thought before it even has a chance to begin.

"Hey, Mom?"

"Annabeth, thank God. Where are you right now?" My mother does not ask questions. She demands answers. But this is weird, my mom sounds different. Not confident. Worried maybe? Did I lose track of time with Percy. Did my coach call her to ask where I was? But no, my phone clock confirms that it is exactly the time I thought it was.

"I'm headed to soccer practice right now."

"No, Annabeth. Get inside. Find somewhere safe. Somewhere hard to get to and call the police. Stay inside and stay quiet."

I don't remember much from when the Towers fell. I was only five. What I do remember is the sound of my mother's voice when she picked me up from school hours too early and rushed me home.

"Mom, what's going on." I look up in the sky. But you can't really see anything. Not from down here on the street.

"The reports are true, honey. They're all true." My mom talks quickly and I struggle to keep up with her rtrain of thought. What is true? The reports. Reports about wh—oh my gods. I realize what my mom is saying just as she gets to the point. "The virus broke out in New York this morning."

"Okay. Okay. I'm not far from school, I can just go back there."

I hang up on my mom and head back to school. A wave of people rushes past me. I drop my phone. I bend down to pick it up. A foot almost stomps on my hand. These people are panicked. Scared. I stand up, trying to see what they're running from. From way back in the crowd someone screams. High and piercing. Just like the screams at the end of Grover's video. My phone can stay where it is. I turn and run.

The school isn't far. My foot is on the first steps when I think about Percy.

He's out there. Five minutes or so to my left and he probably has no idea. Maybe his mom called him. His dad, I know, is on a business trip, he and Jason were talking about it in algebra this morning. But even if he knew, would he think to go back to the school?

I jog back down the steps.

"Percy," I yell. Even though there is no way he'd hear me. He could be anywhere.

But I can't just leave him.

I really cannot believe that I am writing this story, it has so many elements that I usually don't like reading (AU is very rarely a temptation for me). In the end I blame it on the artist, viria. She posted this great pic of Percy and Annabeth fighting off zombies on her blog and suddenly I needed PJO AU zombie-fic. I haven't been able to get this story out of my head since then.

Just a warning, I have no idea where I am going with this story...Or how long it will be...Or how often I'll post...Or if I'll even finish it. So...Read at your own risk? There's at least one more chapter.