How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Author's Note: I absolutely LOVE "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." I just LOVE the story and I think it is soooo cute. Then, when I was watching it the other day, I got to thinking how it would be with Percy and Annabeth … resulting in the beginnings of this story. This will be in Annabeth's point of view and I'm thinking of doing Percy's point of view as a companion piece to this (probably something like "How to Win a Girl in 10 Days"). Anyway, this story will be based heavily on the movie. By the way, this will be AU, meaning, the Greek gods are not actually real.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the movie "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."

Chapter One - Let the Games Begin

"Do you not see the architectural beauty of this building?!" I asked my coworker and best friend Thalia.

"Annabeth, I think what you designed is brilliant and everything, but this will never get anywhere while you're working at Composure magazine," Thalia replied.

Damn, I thought. She was right. I had gotten a job at Composure in New York as the "How to…" columnist, but that was only to hold me over until I became an architectural genius and go down in history for my work. I couldn't very well quit my job since I actually do need to survive to get anywhere in life and God know how long it will take for me to get my dream of being an architect going.

"God, I busted my butt in grad school, just to be Annabeth Chase 'How to' girl," I complained, flipping my blonde hair out of my face. "And because of this damn job, I have to write articles like, 'How to Use the Best Pick-Up Lines,' or 'How to… Curl Your Hair Perfectly!' I mean, honestly, who gives a shit about curling their hair? I want to design buildings, and become the next Daedalus!"

"Hon, you do know that Daedalus didn't really exist, right?" Thalia asked, afraid I was going crazy at the mention of the old Greek myth.

"Yes, Thals, I know that it's all myth, but what if he did exist?" I replied.

"And what if there were no hypothetical questions?" Thalia joked before walking over to her desk opposite of mine. "But seriously, I've got something to cheer you up."

"I doubt anything's gonna cheer me up and get my mind off my quarter-life crisis," I said moodily.

"Well, ya know that editor at Sports Illustrated that I've been shamelessly flirting with?" Thalia asked me, blowing some of her spiky black hair out of her eyes.

"You mean Luke? The athletic, blonde-haired, blue-eyed cutie? I think you guys are really cute together!" I exclaimed.

"Haha, yeah, that's the guy! Well. He made a little delivery this morning," Thalia went on as I made my way over to her desk. "

"Ah, ha ha ha! Let me see!" I said excitedly, trying to grab the envelope from her hands.

After a little bit of grappling, I finally succeeded in my mission and got the envelope. I opened it and let out a squeal of absolute delight.

"What's in it?" Thalia asked me even when I knew she knew full well as to what her unofficial lover Luke got her.

"Oh, nothing really. Only four tickets to the most exhilarating and artistic display of athletic competition known to man!" I said, barely containing my excitement.

'The Ice Capades are in town?" Thalia asked, feigning ignorance and excitement with her hand to her chest.

I smacked her on the head with the envelope.

"Not, the NBA Finals are in town!" I yelled, turning to face the rest of my colleagues. "And we've got front row tickets!"

I turned back to Thalia.

"I'm coming with you and your little boy toy, right?"

Thalia looked at me as if I were crazy. "Of course! And you can bring a date! God knows how long since you've had one, what with you immersing yourself in work."

"Okay, okay, I'll pick up some guy off the street later, promise," I said dismissively, still on a high with excitement for the game.

Thalia laughed before one of our friends Rachel came over.

"Good morning, ladies," Rachel greeted us, looking uncomfortable in her formal wear. She liked being comfy and certainly did not like the heels she had to wear. "Don't forget, staff meeting in thirty minutes."

Thalia and I groaned.

"Oh, suck it up, you little pansies. I wish I was at some rally to save some endangered species, but you don't hear me complaining! Don't be late," Rachel told us before trudging off. "At least you guys are actually comfortable in these god damn heels!"

A beat. Hmm… something was missing…

"Juniper – I haven't seen her all morning," I realized. She was usually a bundle of energy here at the office. "Have you?"

We groaned. We seem to be doing that a lot lately.

"How much you wanna bet she's wallowing?" Thalia asked.

"Ugh. It's my turn. You get the coffee, I'll go get her. Meet me at the corner in twenty," I told her as I grabbed my purse and booked it out of the building. Before I left, I heard Thalia say her signature phrase.

"Oh, boy. Drama, drama, drama."

I ran through the traffic of New York City streets instead of taking a cab.

I got to Juniper's apartment in less than fifteen minutes. Hmm… new personal best. I knocked several times before Juniper finally opened the door.

"Hi!" she greeted me in an overly cheery tone with tears in her eyes and a box of Kleenex in her hands.

I looked at her in her flower and tree printed onesy.

"OH!" She started bawling, clutching the tissues to her chest.

"Good morning, sunshine," I said, rubbing her shoulders in an act of comforting her. "Okay, get dressed. Get dressed."

Juniper continued crying.

"Staff meeting in fifteen minutes. Come on, Juniper, let's go," I continued, walking into her relatively small, tacky-wall-papered apartment.

"I'm going back to bed," Juniper said, climbing into her bed and covering herself with her comforter. "I have no reason to live!"

"Oh, come on, the sun's out! It's just sitting there, waiting for you to bask in its sunlight!" I exclaimed, drawing open the curtains to her windows. "Here, I have something for you."

I handed her the green cashmere sweater I stole off one of the clothing racks as I was exiting the Composure building.

"Cashmere?" She sounded hopeful. Juniper loved cashmere.

I nodded. "Put it on, it'll bring out your eyes and make them fiercely green. Now, get up. I'm not gonna let you lose your job on top of everything else that's going on with you. Now come on, get up."

"Oh, Annabeth. You're such a good friend; I don't deserve you!" Juniper cried, getting up and hugging me.

"It's okay," I said, still wrapped in her embrace. "It's okay. You only dated the guy for a week."

"It was the best week of my life, " Juniper said before going in on another round of tears.

After ten or so minutes, I coaxed Juniper out of her apartment and to the corner where Thalia was supposed to meet us.

As we all walked into the building, Thalia handed us our coffee.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Juniper said.

"Okay," Thalia and I said at the same time.

We walked one step before Juniper stopped.

"Why does this always happen to me?" she asked us, just about to burst into tears. Thalia and I looked uneasily at each other. "Everything was going great for, like, a week and a half and then all of a sudden, it's over!"

We continued walking into the building.

"And I am mystified, guys!" Juniper continued, walking ahead of us. "Seriously, I am mystified! Because it always starts out so well!"

"Poor baby!" Thalia said sympathetically.

"Let's just roll with this one," I whispered to Thalia.

"Oh, Grover and I had such a connection," Juniper said as Thalia and I caught up to her. She stopped and turned to us. "The first time we had sex, it was so beautiful, I cried."

Thalia and I exchanged looks.

"You cried?" Thalia asked skeptically.

"You mean, like, one glistening tear on your cheek, right?" I asked.

"No," Juniper said, gesturing with her hands. "No, I was really emotional. I even told him that I loved him."

"After how many days?" I asked giving my I.D. to show Argos, one of the security guards in the building.

"Five," Juniper replied. I got my card back from Argos and looked at Juniper.

"Two," Juniper sighed. "It was how I felt! I wanted to express myself."

"Okay, well, what did he say?" Thalia asked as I pushed the button for the elevator.

"Oh, Grover didn't have to say anything," Juniper replied looking wistful. "I know that he felt the same."

After a slight pause, Juniper continued. "But then he started getting really busy, and I didn't know where he was. So I kept calling him and calling him. He was never home…"

"You kept calling him?" I asked her exasperatedly.

"I didn't leave a message," Juniper said. "He didn't know it was me. My number's blocked."

Thalia rolled her eyes, but she tried comforting Juniper anyway. "Oh, I-I'm, sure he thought it was one of his friends. You know, men frequently call their friend's answering machines and hang up twenty times."

We squeezed into the crowded elevator.

"Anyway," Juniper began. "I know why he dumped me: I'm too fat."

"You're not fat!" Thalia and I yelled.

"Oh, Juniper," I said as we exited the elevator. "If the most beautiful girl in the world acted the way you did, any normal guy would still go running in the other direction."

"No, Annabeth," Juniper retorted as we climbed up the small set of stairs into the conference room. "No guy would go running from you. You could…barf all over him and he would say, 'Do it again.'"

"That is both incredibly disgusting and categorically untrue," I laughed. "If I did the things you did, I'd get dumped, too."

"Okay, family, shoes off," Lana, our boss, told us, her employees, as we gathered into the conference room and sat on the deceivingly comfy couches. "And breathe."

Everyone took a deep, calming breath.

"Okay, Rachel, let's start with you," Lana began.

"Well, the botox for beginners piece is done," Rachel answered enthusiastically. "Now, it's a little scary, but mostly upbeat. Now I'm on, 'What Your Gyno Won't Tell You,' which is also pretty scary, but, you know, upbeat."

I laughed silently at that gyno piece.

"I finished my research on deadly pedicures," Rachel continued. "About the woman who contracted that fungus from the unsterilized tools, yeah, it's a terrible story," she told us, looking at our disgusted expressions. "Although, surprisingly…"

"Upbeat!" Thalia finished for her with a faux look of excitement on her face.

"Marvelous," Lana commented before turning to me. "Now, what's next for 'How to with Annabeth?'"

"Well, I've been working on something a bit different," I began apprehensively. It would take a miracle for Lana to approve this one. "It's an … uh, architectural piece –"

"No," Lana interrupted me. "Annabeth, you work for Composure Magazine. We are fashion, trends, diets, cosmetic surgeries, salacious gossip – that's Composure."

"Okay," I said. "But…"

"Look," Lana interrupted me again. "Annabeth, okay – the column is new for you. When you turn it into a must-read, then you can write about or do whatever you want with it. Until then, however, you can write about whatever I want. Understood?"

"Yeah," I replied, a bit put out.

"Good. Juniper, what have you got?" Lana asked, turning to Juniper.

"I'm sorry, Lana, I wasn't feeling very well…" Juniper began.

"She got dumped," Thalia explained.

"Oh, no!" Lana cried out. In an attempt to comfort her employee, Lana continued. "What a hellish ordeal for you. But I must say, you are looking fabulous. Are we loving the way she looks, all?"

Everyone murmured a positive.

"Well, I haven't eaten since the split…" Juniper said by way of explanation.

"Good for you!" Lana exclaimed. "Write about it."

"I can't use my personal life for a story," Juniper replied, aghast.

"I understand completely," Lana said, oblivious to the discomfort she was causing for poor Juniper. "Who wants to use Juniper's personal life for a story?"

"Oh, I will," Rachel said, raising her hand, and apparently, also oblivious to Juniper's discomfort.

"Go," Lana told Rachel.

"No, no, no," Juniper said indignantly. "Lana, with all due respect. Rachel has no business mucking around in my personal life, and I can't – I can't let her…"

"I'll do it," I interrupted Juniper, surprising everyone. Including myself.

"What?" Juniper exclaimed, whipping her head around to look at me.

"I'll… I will… I'll sort of do it. It's… you, Juniper, you will be my inspiration," I started saying, looking at both Thalia's and Juniper's shocked expressions. "I mean, look at Juniper!" I said, turning to Lana. "She is a great girl, right? An amazing woman, but she has a problem hanging onto relationships, and doesn't really know what she's doing wrong, which is like a lot of our readers."

"Uh-huh," Lana said, signaling for me to continue.

"So, I was thinking that I could start by dating a guy, and then drive him away, using only the classic mistakes that most women, like Juniper, make all the time. I'll keep a diary of it and it will be sort of a… dating 'How to' in reverse," I improvised.

"Oh, I get it, what not do in relationships," Lana said, smiling brightly at my idea.

"Yeah," I agreed, looking over to my best friends. Juniper mouthed a silent 'thank you.'

"How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days," Lana stated. "Yes, go. Connor, what's new in the shoe world?" Lana went on.

"Wait, wait, Lana, I'm sorry," I interrupted Connor. "Why ten days?"

"Because five days is too short and we go to press in eleven," Lana replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Okay then, I thought. Ten days it is.

Let the games begin.

So… did you like it? Hate it? Please let me know your thoughts 'cause I'm debating whether or not I should continue with the story. And remember, this is based heavily on the movie "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." It is also an alternate universe story, so if things are different, it's supposed to be that way.

If you're wondering, "Where's Percy?" He will be coming into the story next chapter. =D