A/N: This one's extracted from my now deleted story, "Once Upon A Summer", which originally featured three Camp Half-Blood AUs. Now I think I couldn't do the sequel anymore, so I made the three parts stand alone.
This one is from my "When The Cameras Stop Rolling" universe and features actor Percy meeting Annabeth for the first time. This is a short piece.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, HoO, or any other familiar references in this story. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Before The Cameras
A tall man in a blue button-down shirt opened the door to the room where Percy and a bunch of other twelve-year-olds were waiting. He had an earpiece and he was holding a clipboard; he looked like those typical movie producers Percy saw on the behind the scenes bonuses of his DVDs.
"Next!" the man cried out, eyes on his clipboard. "Where is… Percy Jackson?"
Percy stood up, nervously straightening down his shirt and giving the other boys an I'm-scared-but-here-I-go look. It was weird and somewhat rude that no one offered him a "Good luck!" when he gave one to all the other auditionees.
But whatever. This was competition, anyway. He just didn't like the fact that all the other guys were desperate for the role to be nice to him. But then again, that was probably how the world of entertainment worked.
"That's me," Percy told the man with a clipboard. He nodded and ushered Percy to another room.
He entered a new room that was considerably "homey" compared to the waiting area. There were several couches arranged in a circle. On one of them sat two people – a man and a woman who both had really dark hair and serious looks on their faces. They also held clipboards with them. On another chair sat a cameraman holding a filming device so huge that it was enough to make Percy nervous. The biggest couch stood right in front of the other two, and there sat a girl with blonde hair and a stack of papers on her hands.
Percy definitely knew the girl on the big couch. It was child star Annabeth Chase.
He had seen her before, all right. She used to be a star on a comedy sitcom when she was younger, but she was one of those lucky few that were still able to continue their career despite growing older. She was in a few commercials, too, and a few family movies that Percy and his mom watch every Friday night.
"Percy Jackson," the dark-haired woman acknowledged Percy. He remembered her from the first round of the auditions; she was the casting director (but he forgot what her name was). She motioned for him to sit down. The clipboard guy who called him earlier went to sit by the two other people opposite Annabeth.
"Hi, Percy," the woman continued. "Congratulations for getting into the second round of auditions! Now, you already know me; Jessica Daze, the casting director. This is—" she motioned for the guy next to her. "—Eric Williams, the director of the movie. And this…" – the first clipboard guy – "…is Marc Eclipse, the producer. Now, we don't want to get your hopes up for the role because there are still other audtionees in the other room, but you got our attention enough to be called back."
The man named Eric Williams spoke next. "I trust you that you did your research for this role, Percy?"
Percy nodded. "Uh, I've read the books before, sir."
"Good, good." The director motioned for Annabeth, who had yet to speak. "Now, this is Annabeth Chase, and she'll be playing Alliah Carter, a daughter of Athena and your possible future character's – Chase Mitchell's – best friend."
First clipboard guy – Marc – gave Percy a serious look. "Alliah and Chase's relationship, as you know, is very crucial to the series. That's why we have to make the casting perfect and see that our two main actors have chemistry. Do you think you can impress us, Percy?"
"Uh… I'll try?"
Annabeth laughed lightly beside him. "He's already stuttering. I say he's perfect for the role."
"Too hasty to be concluding anything," Jessica said. She handed Percy something that looked like a script, like what Annabeth was holding. "Right, so! We'll have the two of you read some lines together. We'll be recording this for future references. Percy, if you'd turn to page 231, please and thank you. Now, this scene depicts Chase and Alliah's relationship in the first movie. They're not exactly lovey-dovey here yet… but oh. You've read the books. Let's see what you got, Percy."
Percy stared at the words on the script and took a deep breath. He tried to become Chase Mitchell in his head, and he tried to imagine that he wanted to strangle the girl in front of him (which was almost kind of hard to do; Annabeth Chase was really pretty).
He began to read. "Remind me again – why do you hate me so much?"
Annabeth had an annoyed expression on her face as she glanced up at him. "I don't hate you."
He scowled at her, raising his eyebrow. "Could've fooled me."
"Look…" She shook her head and pursed her lips. She sounded like a know-it-all and Percy was impressed at how convincing she was. "We're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."
Percy frowned at her, not wanting to break character even if he was enjoying himself already. "Why?"
Annabeth sighed at read the lines about a bunch of reasons why Poseidon and Athena couldn't get along. All the while Percy listened in awe, except he was still scrunching his eyebrows and frowning at her. He pretended that the girl in front of him was one of those annoying ones at school who wouldn't stop talking.
It was his turn to talk. "They must really like olives."
"Oh, forget it."
Percy grinned boyishly, giving Annabeth a look that was supposed to annoy her or any girl for that matter who hated dimwitted, dorky boys. "Now if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."
"Okay, cut," the director said calmly. "Well, Annabeth. Your opinion matters, too. What did you think of Percy here?"
"Wow," Annabeth said, smiling at her possible future co-star. "For a second there, you were convincingly annoying. I honestly hated you for a total of two seconds."
Percy tried his hardest not to blush. "Uh… thank you?"
"You were great, Percy," she continued. "Is this honestly your first time acting?"
"We're more impressed that you got Annabeth to smile, Percy," Jessica chuckled. "And that's quite an accomplishment."
Annabeth shrugged. "He was the best one, in my opinion."
"There are still two other guys out there."
"We'll just bring them in," Marc the producer slash clipboard guy said.
"We'll be wasting our time," Annabeth insisted, but she really couldn't argue. "But, oh all right. Hey, Percy. If these guys don't cast you, I will personally be your agent so we can start your own acting career."
Eric laughed. "You're only twelve, Annabeth."
"I know talent when I see one!" she defended herself.
Clipboard guy started to get up, motioning for Percy to do the same. The latter stood up and gave his thanks to the people in the room.
"I hope to see you soon, Percy!" Annabeth called after him as he was exiting the room.
He might've stumbled after that, and he could swear he heard the other people chuckling at his clumsy gesture.
And it was probably his clumsiness and his dorkiness around Annabeth that got him the role for Chase Mitchell and the Olympians.