Annabeth Chase rose from her seat as the bell rang signaling the end of fourth period. She picked up her grey book bag and walked out the door. Before heading towards the cafeteria for lunch, she stopped by her locker. Annabeth was just about to close the locker door when she heard people screaming.

"ANNABETH! SHE WANTS TO KILL ME!" She turned around to find her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, running towards her. Chasing him was one of their best friends, Thalia Grace. Her eyes looked darker than usual and Annabeth realized that her eyeliner had spread. People were making room for them as they ran, really trying to get out of Thalia's way. An angry Thalia meant a lot of trouble.

"Percy, what's going on?" asked Annabeth as Percy skidded to a stop and hid behind her, using her as a human shield.

"Hiding behind your girlfriend, Jackson? Not very manly," said Thalia, trying to pull Percy out from behind Annabeth.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for splashing your face with water even though you started it. I didn't mean to mess up your very important eyeliner, because it was so important," said Percy sarcastically. Then he smirked. "I bet you're trying to impress Nico, aren't you?"

Now Thalia was mad. She had gotten Annabeth out of the way and she had her hands choking Percy's neck from behind.

"I don't like Nico! How many times do I have to tell you that?" protested Thalia, tightening her grip. Percy began to cough.

"You don't like me? That's not fair, what have I ever done to you? Besides, I believe that I am a fairly good looking person so you have no right so say you don't like me," said a voice behind Thalia. She released Percy's neck and turned around to find Nico di Angelo himself. Thalia's cheeks turned bright red and she turned back around. Grabbing Annabeth's arm, she dragged her to the cafeteria.

"Thanks Nico. I swear, if you hadn't come, that girl would have murdered me," said Percy, rubbing his neck.

"She wouldn't have done that. Maybe a couple bruises, a cut or two, broken arms, and permanent brain damage, but nothing too serious. She probably wouldn't have killed you," answered Nico.

"That makes me feel so much safer, thanks a lot."

They began following Annabeth and Thalia to the cafeteria, and they spotted Grover Underwood making out with his girlfriend Juniper next to a vending machine.

This will be interesting, thought Percy. He and Nico walked up to them, completely unnoticed. Usually, they did this to Silena and Beckendorf, but it was amusing to do it to anyone. Once they got close enough, Nico and Percy screamed into their ears. They both jumped back and Grover hit his head on the side of the vending machine.

"I should go, I have to pick up my English book," said Juniper, blushing. "Bye, Grover."

Nico and Percy were on the floor cracking up. Once they stopped, they stood up and found Grover glaring at them. They just fell to the floor and started cracking up again.

"You guys are really great friends, really, really great friends," he grumbled as he walked away.

When Percy and Nico finally stopped laughing completely, they ran to the cafeteria. After grabbing their lunches they sat at their usual table with Annabeth, Thalia, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris, Piper, Leo, Katie, Travis, Connor, and Tyson. Plopping his tray onto the table, he sat down next to Annabeth. He looked around at his friends who were enjoying their lunch like always. Travis and Connor were attempting to disgust Katie by eating their pizzas in the sloppiest way possible. Leo was tampering with Piper's cell phone that seemed to be broken. Piper watched him intently, making sure he didn't try anything funny with it. Clarisse and Chris were arm wrestling. Thalia still hadn't taken off the makeup and was giving the evil eye to whoever made the mistake of looking at her for more than five seconds. Nico was trying to make her feel better, but Percy didn't think it was working. Rachel and Tyson were having an argument about string cheese. Annabeth had her nose in a book and hadn't even touched her burger.

"What's with Tyson and Rachel? I've never seen them argue…about string cheese," Percy asked Annabeth, trying to make her stop reading.

"Apparently, Tyson didn't understand why it was called that and began to feud with Rachel about it. He thinks it should be called 'stick cheese' or something like that," she answered, still reading.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"Nope, you want it?"

"If you weren't going to eat it then why the heck did you buy it? It seems like a waste of three dollars."

"It is. Now will you let me read?"

"No, I don't feel like it."

He pulled the book out of her hand and closed it, holding it up too high for her to reach.

"Percy! I didn't even mark the page! Give it back, already!"

He pretended to think it over and then leaned in closer to her and smirked.

"If you want your book you are going to have to kiss me first."

"You son of a bitch…"she muttered under her breath. Percy laughed at her comment.

"I love you too."

She glared at him. Suddenly, the bell rang and Percy got up. He shoved the book into his backpack and slung it on his shoulder.

"Where are you going? What about my book?" she asked.

"I have gym next. I'll give it to you during English, after I get my kiss."

Percy changed into his swimming trunks and joined the rest of the swim team. At Half-Blood High, Gym was organized into events like swimming, track and field, archery and more. Each student could only practice one event. Looking over to the grassy area for archery, Percy saw Thalia with her bow and quiver full of arrows. Percy was glad that they were only allowed to use lethal arrows in the Games. Thalia would have definitely taken advantage of having lethal arrows and being in the same gym period as Percy. She was obviously still mad at him since she continued to glare at him whenever she had the chance.

"Okay guys, today is the day you've all been waiting for! We will choose our representative for the Games today. Whoever swims 50 meters the fastest will go against Panem Academy. Is everybody ready?" asked Coach Hedge.

"Why do we have to this?" asked Tyson. "Percy's going to win anyway."

Percy grinned. It was true. He had won for the past three years since he was a freshman. Now he was a senior and nobody could beat him. He'd even won the Games for swimming every year he had gone.

"It's tradition. Both Panem and HBH do this every year to choose who will go into the Games."

All the guys got into the pool. They had a couple minutes in the water before they started. Percy looked over to Thalia. They had already started their competition. Coach Artemis was watching them carefully as they shot their arrows at targets. Then Coach Hedge blew the whistle and Percy began swimming as fast as he could.

Thalia stopped firing arrows to watch the boys swim. The one in the lead was way ahead of the rest. It was obviously Percy. She looked around at the other peoples targets. She was the only one who had hit the bull's eye every single time. Zoë Nightshade was pretty close, since she only missed it once. Thalia reached into her quiver and found only one arrow left. She looked back to the boys swimming and saw that Percy had won. The rest of the boys didn't seem disappointed because they knew Percy was going to win. Thalia suddenly got an idea. She turned around and aimed her arrow at Percy.

"Hey!" yelled Percy when the arrow stuck onto his forehead. Everyone burst into laughter.

"You're welcome!" she shouted back. Coach Artemis smiled at Thalia.

"I guess we know who's going to the Games," said Coach Artemis, who was trying her best not to laugh.

Percy tried to pull the suctioned arrow off his forehead. Once it came off, the boys burst into laughter again.

"What?" asked Percy, who was completely confused by their laughter.

"Umm, there's a…dot on your forehead," answered Tyson.

Percy ran to the locker room. In the mirror he saw it. The spot where the arrow had stuck was now completely red.

Luckily, after he took a shower, the dot had vanished. The bell rang and he began walking towards English class. Thalia caught up with him on the way.

"You should have seen your face, Percy! I am a genius, aren't I? And I won too!" said Thalia, grinning.

"You will regret that, Thalia Grace. You will REGRET it," warned Percy.

"Hey, we're even now. Don't make me wish I had made you run around the school naked like last time."

Percy remembered the day that he had accidently spilled chocolate milk on her 'death to Barbie' shirt. She had stolen all his clothes during Gym and he had to chase her in nothing but a towel. He shuddered at the thought of all those girls giggling.

"Fine," he answered just before they entered their English class.

It was strange how the entire class was filled with their friends even though they were all in different grades. Percy, Nico, Travis, Connor, Clarisse, Chris, Silena, Beckendorf, Grover and Tyson were all seniors. Annabeth, Thalia, Juniper, and Rachel were juniors. Lastly, Katie, Leo, and Piper were sophomores. Percy often wondered about this, but didn't really bother to ask because he enjoyed having all his friends here.

Mr. Blofis hadn't come to class yet. Everyone was talking and laughing, minding their business. Annabeth was sitting at her seat absolutely bored without her book. Percy took her book out and walked over to her.

"Want your book?" he asked, sitting down on her desk. She tried to grab the book from Percy. He held it out of her reach again.

"Are you serious, Percy? You aren't a two year old, just hand me the book," she replied calmly. Percy stuck his tongue out at her.

"Not until I get my kiss. Now hurry up before Paul gets here."

"That's very mature, Percy."

Annabeth sighed. She knew that Percy would get his way at some point. She got out of her seat and sat in Percy's lap.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me," he smirked, pulling her closer. But her lips never met his and instead went to his cheek.

"You never told me where to kiss you," she mentioned, pulling the book from his hand and sitting back in her seat.

"That's not fair!" pouted Percy.

"Percy, are you done? I'd really appreciate if you went back to your seat," said Paul. He had come in the classroom and was waiting for Percy.

"Sorry, Paul. I mean, Mr. Blowfish," answered Percy, earning a laugh from the class. He ran back to his seat.

"You are so lucky you are my step-son…" he grumbled.