Six Strings and Six Words

Chapter One – "Percy Jackson and the Stolen Song"

A Percabeth Austin & Ally AU

When the shy songwriter Annabeth Chase is reluctantly partnered with her polar opposite, the delinquent and confident singer Percy Jackson, Café Olympus starts getting packed nightly. The success of their partnership comes with a price though, seeing as they infuriate and drive each other crazy. But nobody could deny they made a great team, and eventually the frustration turns into friendship and the friendship into something.. a little bit more.

Austin & Ally AU.

I just had to be in charge, Annabeth thought and rolled her eyes at the chaos unfolding in front of her.

Their lazy –but hunky, as the other ladies cared to note- music teacher decided to leave them to practice their choir piece, which to Annabeth's dismay also happened to be their project. Mr. Apollo decided it would 'teach them independence,' but really he's just hanging around the teacher's lounge drinking illegal booze and flirting with Mademoiselle Bonevie, the bombshell French teacher.

Of course there would no independence or music practiced at this period, given that the class was outnumbered by jocks and cheerleaders who took it upon themselves to 'party.' As if they didn't have enough of that after class, Annabeth thought. To make things worse, Mr. Apollo left Annabeth in charge, being one of the most musically inclined and responsible, but that only made everyone else happier, because they could walk all over her, as the unwritten high school hierarchy of the populars and unpopulars so dictate. Plus, Annabeth knew that if she piped up, the cheerleaders' snobbery would just make her punch them in the face. Can't risk her clean track record for college.

The only people remotely interested in any sort of music were Percy Jackson and his friends, and they weren't even close to playing their project piece. Percy played the electric guitar, which he did pretty well, Leo Valdez was on the bass, which he clearly had no idea how to play. Jason Grace joined them by 'playing' the drums (though he also clearly didn't have any idea how,) which was weird since he was a jock, and he was close friends with Percy and Leo, who were both of the rebellious clique sorts. Nobody seemed to mind that discrepancy in the high school social order. And given that Percy was the only one who knew how to play the instrument he had, they made a horribly sickening cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

At least the riffs are good, Annabeth sulkily thought.

Annabeth gave up at trying to control the rowdy group, her "Listen ups!" and "Guys we need to practices" only got drowned out by the noise. She marched to the corner of the room near the instruments, flopped down on a chair, propped her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her palms. With a sense of the defeat, she groaned.

Her anger flared as the noise was topped with Percy messing up the lyrics of the chorus, going "Mashed potato! Fried gelato!" and a bunch of other nonsensical lyrics that rhymed with the original. Then he started a wild guitar solo, flailing around the room. When he got near her, he tripped on his shoelace and almost fell on her. But he regained his balance and mouthed I'm sorry then moved on with his shredding as if he never stopped. She rubbed her temples and seriously considered walking out of the hellhole.

Moments later, the crazy (and rather sexual) dancing between the jocks and cheerleaders finally stopped. The cheerleaders walked up to Annabeth, and for a moment she had a flicker of hope that maybe they've come around. "Let's go practice Annabeth! We just decided that we'd celebrate Mr. Apollo leaving us alone. Now let's go ace that piece and get a good grade!" she'd hoped they'd say.

But they didn't. "Oh, thanks for letting us go early, uhmm," the blondest, most cliché cheerleader said instead, pausing as if trying to remember Annabeth's name. Wait, she was trying to remember her name, despite being schoolmates their entire high school life and Annabeth being the consistent top student of their grade. Annabeth felt like another pile of dung got dumped over her, the first pile being dumped the moment Mr. Apollo left the class.

"Annabeth," she reminded under her breath.

"Right," the cheerleader nodded, but Annabeth could only see the excitement of cutting class in her eyes, not a spark of recognition. "You're so nice and sweet for letting us go early. We have tons of things to, lots of practice!"

"But I never said-"

"Thank you, Annabelle!" the cheerleader perkily but awkwardly hugged her for a second, then headed back to the other jocks and cheerleaders, who were already planning their early school getaway.

Annabeth rolled her eyes again, which she's been doing a lot of the past few weeks of the new school year, and watched as her classmates happily sauntered out of the classroom like it was the last day of school.

Annabeth sulkily walked towards the studio piano and pressed a few keys to play a random chord and sighed. "Well, at least I have more time to write my song," she said, then unzipped her backpack and plucked out her songbook. She opened it on the last page she was working on, which was dirty with smudged ink, scribbles, and erasures. She'd had to cross out whole paragraphs until she was happy with the lyrics. And somehow, she still thought it needed revision.

The notebook, which she calls her songbook, was extremely precious to Annabeth. She clung to it like it was her lifeline, and somehow, maybe it was. She had a rocky childhood with her parents' divorce, her father's remarrying, and her mother still trying to get an iron grip on her life. After the bad audition that cursed her with stage fright years ago, her parents were sure Annabeth would never make it to a prestigious music school, so they made her stop taking lessons. They made her stop pursuing a music career altogether.

They still had a piano around the house (or both houses, now that they were separated), But they made sure she only played classical music with it, so she could be a cultured lady (this thought made her want to puke), and not modern pop music in hopes she could make it to the scene. She had to sneak in making her own music, where neither of her parents could hear her. At first, she thought she could give it up entirely, she couldn't understand her longing to crack open her songbook and convert the thoughts of her heart into a song. It was like her life depended on it. Like she'd explode from all the hurt and anger if she didn't put the thoughts into words and put appropriate chords.

So she had her writing sessions at the school's band room during her free cut after music class. She'd sit in front of the piano, her songbook and pen nearby, ready to write revisions after testing the sound out. She'd been trying to write her latest song, but something always felt wrong about the chorus. Maybe it was repeating some of the words over and over again? She sang the song repeatedly, accompanied by her piano, trying to listen for the weak spots.

"Great song."

Annabeth was so startled she almost jumped out of her seat. She began to breathe deeply. It was Percy Jackson, who she realized didn't leave the room after all, after being so sure she was all alone. He walked near her, so near Annabeth could smell his scent (cheap soap and wood.) He hovered beside her, and she realized he was reaching over to play the keys on the piano. "But I think it would be better if it were a lot faster," Percy demonstrated and started playing her song, only faster. Then he began to sing, and when the chorus rolled by, it sounded great. It did sound great faster.

Annabeth looked up at Percy who towered over her, considering he was standing and nearly six feet tall. Annabeth was caught off guard with his smug grin and sparkling green eyes, which popped n contrast to his shaggy, jet-black hair, but managed to pull herself together. I'm supposed to be angry, she thought, then hastily stood up, her motion pushing Percy away.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth half screamed.

"Whoa there," Percy flung his hands in their as if caught by cops, "I was here all along, I never left."

Annabeth's anger flared inside her. She gave her most intense glare to Percy, who honestly looked scared. Sure, no biggie, you only just heard my song which only contained MY DEEPEST MOST PRIVATE THOUGHTS! Annabeth wanted to yell at his face.

Annabeth gathered her courage, which was inspired by her anger, and grabbed Percy by the elbow and lead him out of the room, marching him out of the door, which she abruptly slammed shut after he left. She was deaf to his protests. Not even her close friends have heard the song before, and now a near stranger did, albeit uninvited.

Now she had all the more reason to loathe Percy Jackson. Okay, maybe she didn't loathe him, at least not before. Maybe just annoyed. Maybe just stood clear of. Not only was Annabeth part of the unpopular crowd, the lowest of the high school caste system, but they were also polar opposites. She'd heard rumors of the number of schools Percy's been kicked out of. He'd apparently only managed to stay for more than a year in the same school during high school. He'd been in a ton of fights. He's always late and he frequents detention. He was always either mischievously smiling or scowling. He's a rebel, all he needed was a motorcycle, tattoos, piercings and a leather jacket to make him fit the part more.

Although, his skater look already did its job. At least a lot of girls who pined for the bad boy type would seem to agree. Annabeth didn't care that his eyes and smile were beautiful, which she realized after glimpsing them so close for the first time, she still wanted to steer clear. He was nothing but trouble.

Still he did have a great voice and musical talent. And did she mention that his eyes were pretty?

Like the music class, job hunting didn't go so well for Annabeth, either. The odds just weren't in her favor. A day after the Percy incident, she went job hunting with her friends. Her friends Piper and Rachel already got them before she did, given they didn't have the same complicated schedule. Usually jobs for high schoolers were open after class hours, but Annabeth just wasn't free then, she had advanced classes, all in prep for prestigious architecture schools. So while everyone had jobs or engaged in extra-curricular activities, or whatever it was other teenagers did, like get in trouble, Annabeth was learning way ahead of her peers with advanced maths and sciences.

The one job that had a vacancy at the time slot she was free was already taken. When she saw the ad for a job opening for Café Olympus, she nearly jumped for joy. But upon arriving there, the manager announced it was already booked, they just haven't taken down the flyers yet.

"Looks like I'm not getting a job," Annabeth groaned, "it's not like I need it." She said it mostly to console herself – she didn't need the money, she had a well-off family, but she didn't want to be so reliant on them. They'd probably want her to 'show her gratitude for their generosity' one day by surrendering the full course of her life to them. They'd probably end up arranging her marriage, or something equally horrendous. Her mouth tasted like bile at the thought.

Piper patted her shoulder and gave her smile, her bright eyes reassuring. Piper McLean was as nice as she was beautiful, and Annabeth mouthed a thanks. "Come one, let's go," she said, but was stopped by Rachel grabbing her by the arm. "Wait," said Rachel, her green eyes transfixed on the stage. Her red hair was wilder than ever, reminiscent of Merida in Brave. "Isn't that Percy from school?"

Annabeth recoiled at the sound if his name. Wow, he affects me that much, she thought.

But she followed Rachel's gaze, and she found him setting up his amp on the stage. The crowd actually became excited, shouting a few hoots and clapping here and there. Then he started singing a cover of Ed Sheeran's Sing! And is doing a really good job at it, Annabeth noted. The crowd seemed to agree with her, too. "He's really good," Rachel elbowed Annabeth, trying to get her to pay attention to the song. "Let's just leave," Annabeth started to turn around to make an exit through the glass double doors, but Piper took her by the shoulder. "Let's just stay," said Piper distractedly, her eyes glued to the stage where Percy Jackson was singing. To her annoyance, Rachel was already clapping along with the crowd. Figures, Annabeth thought, with Rachel being the biggest sucker for Ed Sheeran and all, despite her claim of repulsion towards the mainstream.

"Now, sing!" Percy shouted after the chorus, pumping his fist in the air, and the crowd began singing the "Oh, whoa" part with him. To Annabeth's horror Rachel and Piper were singing along. Although it's not like they would if they knew what happened in the band room, they'd know she was pissed. And as much as Annabeth loved the song, she didn't want to sing along. Not after Percy got to delve into her deepest thoughts that day not so long ago.

When Percy finished, the crowd roared. "Thank you," Percy said, and it was the first time Annabeth saw him smiling for real, gleaming and from ear to ear. Genuine, like the stage was where he belonged.

"Now's the time that I have to take requests," Percy picked up a hatbox from the floor, which was passed around the crowd earlier. "I'm going to draw what song to sing next, since we don't have much time to sing all the requests in here." Percy dug into the hatbox full of pieces of paper.

"And thank you so much for sending in your requests," Percy said as he fished out a folded piece of paper, and before opening it he said, "there are so many you guys want me to sing, and I'm overwhelmed." He let out a hearty chuckle Annabeth didn't think bad boy Percy Jackson could make.

He opened the piece of folded paper, and began to read aloud, "Percy, please sing an original song. You're so good it makes me wonder what you're still doing at small stage like this," Percy beamed again, and Annabeth's heart would've done a somersault, had she not been so angry. "Aww, thank you! And it makes me wonder how you fit all this in a small piece of paper, too!" Percy joked, and the crowd genuinely laughed.

"I hope you're making your own music and we'd love to be the first to hear it before they start playing on the radio," Percy continued reading, and his smile got bigger at every word, " Love, Jay." They crowd roared in approval at this, and Percy chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been working on my own songs lately," Percy's smile waned, but only slightly, he still looked happy with the audience's feedback. But the crowd protested, and Annabeth heard a few "Aww, come on's!" and "You're just being modest's" and "We know you're working on something," from various audience members.

"Alright, alright!" Percy buckled under the pressure, and Annabeth became genuinely curious as to what kind of music Percy could actually make on his own, after hearing him alter her song that day.

He began to strum chords with his guitar, and when he began singing, Annabeth realized he couldn't make his own kind of music. Because he was singing her song - the one she made at the music room, the one she poured her soul into, the one she made while he was apparently and practically spying on her. Percy Jackson had stolen her song.

Without waiting for her friends, she bolted out of the café.

End of Chapter One.

Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it! I appreciate reviews.