Any songs in this story that I did not write have an MLA citation after they are used.
I do not own Percy Jackson.
This is my first Thalico story, as I am not too fond of the pairing.

"Talent?" Annabeth said the word like she'd never heard it before.

"Talent," Thalia told her. "Talent like Green Day. Ever heard of it, Annabeth? Born skill? Because you have a talent for singing."

Annabeth hit the play button, ignored Thalia, and continued to sing along.

"Annabeth, you could make it big," Thalia continued.

"So could you," Annabeth told her. "I've heard your music, Thalia; have you ever heard the saying 'don't stop to pluck the splinter out of your friend's eye before you take the plank out of yours?'"

"You're saying we were both clueless about this?" Thalia asked, joking.

"Precisely."

Annabeth snapped out of the flashback and finished applying her stage makeup.

"You're on in ten," her agent, Luke, said, poking his head in the door.

"Have you had them run the sound check, light check, and set check?"

"You never let me forget." Luke grinned. "Remember your show agenda?"

Annabeth nodded. "I never forget anything, Luke."

Percy sighed and excused himself from the table. They were televising Chasing Waves' concerts again.

"Is something wrong?" his mom, Sally, asked.

Other than the fact that I have a crush on a female pop singer who is totally out of my league? "Nothing's wrong, Mom." Gods, Perseus. Every guy your age wants to spend the night with Chasing Waves.

"Are you sure?" Sally glanced at the TV. "Oh, I get it. Her concert's on tonight." She passed him some blue corn chips. "Your father was famous, you know."

Percy turned around. "He was?"

"Chasing Waves' name was inspired by your father's. His stage name was Poseidon."

"I didn't know that."

"I didn't want to tell you. I figured as soon as you found out you'd want to go visit him and then you'd never escape the paparazzi."

On the TV, Chasing Waves began to sing a song Percy hadn't heard before.

I take you back to 1969

Let's hit the city of freedom like old times

It's getting dirty underneath the blue sky

Imagine you and me counting the butterflies

1, 2, 3

Let's bring it on

Keep on dancing in the streets

Of love

French kissing on JFK Drive

Till we crash at the beach where we watch the sunrise

Tell me what you waiting for

We're crossing the golden gate, party at the Frisco bay

Wake me up in San Francisco

We knew the power's in your head, girl, party everywhere, girl

Wake me up in San Francisco

Where the love is in the air, all the people stop and stare

Baby take me back to the city of love

To the place that I've been dreaming of…

[Cascada. "San Francisco." Original Me. 2011.]

Percy was entranced until the end. "She's amazing."

"Percy…" Sally's face was contorted like she was about to cry. "Do you want to stay with your father? You might get a chance to meet her."

His face lit up like Manhattan at night. "Of course!"

Sally smiled. "Don't get run over by paparazzi."

Annabeth finished her newest song, which she and her songwriter Will had finished writing last night. She was especially glad that one of her bodyguards, Charles Beckendorf, who everyone just called Beckendorf because he hated his first name, could sing and was able to fill in backup after Annabeth's normal backup, Leo, had joined Diamond's musical group. She still couldn't place why he would want to go sing with a girl band, although she really couldn't send her hate to Piper or Hazel.

The cheering crowd brought Annabeth back to reality. She continued her concert. She couldn't just leave them hanging. As she launched into an old hit, the crowd cheered even louder.

Reyna sneaked another glance at Jason. He was busy in scribbling down lyrics for their next song, Fly Away. She rebooted her synthesizer and attempted to work out a tune for the first few lines.

"Rey, what's up?" Jason asked her, sliding over another verse of lyrics.

"Jason…" She decided this was a good time to get this out. "I know you were drunk, but you're my boyfriend and my musical partner, and it bothers me that you said those things to Piper. She's from Diamond, Jason, and they're our biggest musical rivals."

"While I'm glad you finally came out and said that," Jason said, "Piper is my friend, Rey. This isn't just an attempt to get at Diamond's music. I first met Piper before they were ever a musical group. I was on a trip with Thalia."

Reyna tried to conceal her… annoyance? Anger? Reyna didn't know what she was feeling. Maybe this was how it felt to be thrown into the friend zone, but Reyna really hoped he wouldn't do that to her. She just wished he'd get over his Piper phase and focus on their relationship for once. They were hitting it off when he returned from that trip and announced he'd met another girl. It just wasn't fair. Jason handed Reyna the last of the song and left the room, soon replaced by his sister Thalia.

"Trouble with him?" Thalia asked.

"No, I'm fine. Really."

"Even I can tell that he's got an extreme crush on Piper at the moment," Thalia told Reyna. "I know it probably bothers you, but his loyalties will always lie with you, whether his heart does or not."

"Is this why you told the media you'd never get a boyfriend?" Reyna asked.

"Precisely. But, you know, a girl can't stick to the word 'never' forever…"

Annabeth collapsed in her chair and ripped off her microphone. "Suppose 'San Francisco' will sweep the top charts?"

"Every song you've written has," Luke told her. "You're just a woman of every's, aren't you?"

Annabeth smiled. "You flatter me. Stop it."

"Annie!" Piper squealed from the doorway. "That song is brilliant! You just poured inspiration into it! Leo admitted he misses singing with you already since hearing your bodyguard sing the backup part! Even Hazel called it 'good!'"

Annabeth sighed, rose from her chair, and air-kissed Piper. "You guys haven't written anything new in awhile."

"Our new album is set to release next month," Piper said. "It's a surprise- no early releases and no sneak peeks."

"Miss Chase," Luke said, "your carriage awaits. Piper, meet us at the restaurant later. And has anyone seen Thalia?"

"She went to talk to her brother, I think," Annabeth noted. "She'll meet us at the restaurant as well."

Sally hung up the phone. "He's in New York today. It works out perfectly. He's visiting his agent's office at the Empire State Building. Are you ready to go?"

Percy picked up his duffel bag. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Ready to go where?" asked Percy's stepdad, Gabe, as he slammed the living room door on his poker buddies.

"Percy's going to stay with his father," Sally told Gabe. "I apologize if we interrupted your game."

Gabe snorted and returned to the living room. "I swear, as soon as I get the divorce papers…" Sally muttered.

"I approve," Percy said.

Sally laughed and opened the front door. "Shall we get going, then?"

Percy smiled at his mother. "Yup."

Thalia excused herself from her seat next to Reyna. "I've got a dinner with Annabeth tonight," she said, being careful not to mention Piper and her band. "I have to dress up, call her, and finish writing my newest song."

Reyna nodded. "Alright, then. I've got a song to finish as well. See you soon?"

Thalia smiled. "Naturally."

Reyna clicked her mechanical pencil up and wrote down the first few notes on her music staff. Jason returned from wherever he had been for the last twenty minutes.

"Song ready yet?"

"Actually, I've been talking to your older sister."

Jason frowned. "You haven't come up with anything in twenty minutes."

Reyna corrected him by playing the first verse. "I've gotten this far." She sang along with it, thinking of the irony of the lyrics.

"I thought we were friends to the end,

The day I first met you.

We wouldn't need to mend 'cause we're never gonna bend

But that proved to be the opposite of true."

Jason nodded. "I approve."

"Good," Reyna said, "because lately you seem to approve of Piper and only Piper."

Why had she let that slip? Reyna nearly slapped herself.

"Rey, it's not like that," Jason told her. "I told you, Piper is my friend. As long as she stays in the friend zone, you don't need to worry about her."

"And what about Thalia? She said she could tell you like Piper."

"She's my sister," Jason told Reyna. "She's just paranoid for my safety. You know how she never wants a boyfriend."

"About that." Reyna told Jason. "She said something about 'a girl can't stick to the word never forever.' Do you have any idea what she meant by that?"

"I think," Jason said to Reyna, "that my sister might have a little crush on the lead singer of Planet of Angels."