A/N: Hello everyone... I'm back! Yes, this story is very cheesy and cute and fluffy and I just couldn't help myself. The plot bunny attacked me at 3 in the morning and I couldn't resist so here it is. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to write so hopefully you'll feel that way when you read it :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Read, review, and enjoy!
In her opinion, Annabeth's English class was average. Just like every other class, the attentive, good students sat in the front, and the students who tended to slack off on their work sat in the back.
She didn't have many friends in this class but it was okay because in general Annabeth didn't have too many friends at school. It wasn't that she was antisocial; it was just that she found a lot of the other students her age boring to talk to and she didn't mind being alone. Schoolwork was her first priority and she didn't have time to waste interacting with others when she had little desire to, anyway.
On the first day of school in September, Annabeth chose her seat in the front row of her English class. The chairs surrounding her were filled with other bright students who actively took notes and didn't text during class, so she was content enough.
Annabeth went to a small private school, and knew everyone in all of her classes, which is why it surprised her when a new student walked into the room. He looked around, and Annabeth could sense his nervousness just by his posture alone. His eyes landed on an empty seat in the back of the room and she could see the relief in his face as he slunk to the back and sat down, effectively labeling himself in Annabeth's mind as a slacker.
Annabeth would have turned to examine him further, but just then her English teacher started class and she pulled out her notebook, completely forgetting about the strange boy with the green eyes.
In October Annabeth's English class started The Catcher in the Rye. Like in all her other classes, Annabeth actively participated and was one of her teacher's favorite students.
By that time, she had learned a little bit more about the boy in the back of the room. She knew his name was Percy and he was a transfer student. He swam on the swim team and was apparently quite good at it, but Annabeth didn't really care. He didn't participate at all in class and always looked confused and uninterested in the lessons. She paid little attention to him and to her, he was just simply another student who didn't care about school and didn't value his education.
By November Annabeth hated the boy in the back of the room. Usually she didn't pay much attention to people she didn't like, but Percy irked her to no end. All the girls were obsessed with his "amazing body" and "breathtaking eyes" and Annabeth was sick of hearing about it. She thought it was a shame that all they could focus on was whether or not Percy had looked at them today, rather than worrying about more worthwhile things like grades and their futures. Although Annabeth didn't have much experience with guys, she knew that she would never be interested in someone who didn't work hard.
Percy had yet to willingly say one word in English class, and Annabeth didn't even think he did his homework. The one time the teacher called on him to answer a question, Percy just shrugged and said he was having a hard time reading the book, especially since he didn't get Holden's character.
Plus, his hair had this annoying habit of sticking up in the back, so Annabeth had no clue why the other girls found him so attractive.
In December the class started Othello, much to Annabeth's satisfaction. It was one of her favorite books that she had already read many times, and she was excited to analyze the play with her peers.
Unlike her class, Annabeth's English teacher was above average, and she was sure there would be invigorating class discussions to follow. Her teacher was good at getting students involved, except he seemed to have given up on Percy.
Much to Annabeth's disappointment, her teacher announced that for this novel the class would be completing long-term partner projects, and each group was to analyze a different character in the play.
Naturally, her teacher assigned partners and in a final attempt to get Percy involved, told him to sit in the front row next to a very sour looking Annabeth Chase.
She introduced herself stiffly, and turned back to her seat, copying down the remaining notes on the board. Percy took out his notebook and Annabeth wasn't at all surprised to find the pages completely empty. She buried herself in her work, trying to hide her bitter disappointment.
Not only that, but she and Percy were assigned Roderigo as their character, and everyone knows Iago is much more challenging to analyze.
By January Annabeth could hardly get through a class without arguing with Percy. Every day, she would have to nearly beg him to read the assigned chapters and do his homework for the night so they could be productive in class.
Even when he did his work, his handwriting was absolutely terrible and all his ideas needed revising. Annabeth felt like a babysitter, having to practically hold his hand while she broke down the book for him piece by piece, even having to explain the not-so-obscure parts in detail over and over. Annabeth had given up hope on getting an A on this project, and was thoroughly upset by the prospect of disappointing her teacher.
But, in the end, it was too much work to do all on her own. If she just had a more capable partner, it would be a completely different situation.
One day, Percy passed her a note asking, much to Annabeth's horror, who Emilia was.
Annabeth scribbled back: Iago's wife. Gosh, you're such a Seaweed Brain.
Percy gave a sarcasm-laced reply: Thanks, Wise Girl.
If this wasn't enough, during silent reading time in class, Percy mouthed the words as he read and if there was one habit in the world that ticked Annabeth off the most, it was that.
In February Annabeth was getting extremely frustrated with the project. In her mind, it was ridiculous that they were spending so much time on a quite simple novel. This month they started assembling their work and finalizing the main ideas for their character study.
Annabeth was shocked when, one day, Percy came in with a neatly typed chart listing in detail the main points they would try to make in their project and presentation.
She learned this month that, similar to her, he was dyslexic, and she allowed herself to soften up on him a bit. She knew firsthand just how hard it was to deal with. Granted, some of Percy's ideas needed work but Annabeth was happy to find that they weren't all too bad. Mostly, she was thankful that he started to contribute and put forth some effort.
It also crossed her mind for the first time that maybe their project wouldn't turn out terribly after all.
Although Annabeth would never admit it, by March she didn't mind going to English class. In fact, an oh-so-very-small part of her actually looked forward to it.
It certainly wasn't because of Percy. She told herself over and over that she just really loved Othello and their project was turning out to—shockingly—be a success.
It was also quite amusing, but she and Percy had adopted and put into practice the nicknames they previously invented for each other— she was Wise Girl and he was Seaweed Brain. Annabeth reasoned that being able to call someone Seaweed Brain was enough of a reason alone to enjoy class.
More than that, each day, she could see the satisfaction in her teacher's eyes when he walked by to examine their work so far.
Annabeth even didn't hate the way Percy would give her a dopey smile when they got positive feedback, and she didn't find him so bothersome anymore. Sure, he was still a nuisance and she would be better off with a different partner.
But she was stuck with him, and that wasn't quite awful either.
In April Annabeth developed this annoying habit of blushing whenever Percy looked at her. It had just happened one day, and now there was nothing Annabeth could do to stop the warm color from staining her cheeks. When Percy called her Wise Girl, her stomach did this sort of flip-flop thing that Annabeth wasn't sure if she liked or disliked.
She noticed that she didn't mind when Percy passed her notes in class, no matter how stupid or idiotic they tended to be. Nor was she mad when the teacher caught them scribbling to each other once. He gave a halfhearted threaten for detention if he caught them doing it again, but Annabeth wasn't too upset because detention meant more time with Percy.
The worst was that she found herself often sneaking glances at him during class. And it happened that more than once he was already looking at her. She would meet his eyes for a brief moment before returning her gaze back to her notebook and furiously jotting down notes in handwriting that was far from her usually impeccable scrawl, trying to hide her utter embarrassment.
One day she found herself counting the shades of green in Percy's eyes. For someone so smart, it was odd how she kept losing count and having to start over. By the end of the class she had no notes in her notebook, and for once Annabeth didn't care.
Their project was almost done now, and ironically Annabeth was happy that they were spending so much time working on this stupid project in the end. Percy even started coming up with ideas that Annabeth wasn't so sure she would have thought of herself.
And they were actually pretty good.
In May it was time to present the completed work. Annabeth and Percy had planned their presentation down to the last second, making sure every detail was perfect and every conceivable question from their teacher could be answered and explained.
When the day came to finally present, Annabeth was a nervous wreck. She was sure that every component was flawless, but still hardly slept the night before. She was convinced that Percy would forget something important— or even worse, she would mess up and let Percy down after all this time and all her complaining.
Her anxiety intensified when she walked into class and saw him waiting for her, dressed formally in a button-down shirt and khakis. She sat down next to him, not meeting his eyes.
Annabeth's heart leapt to her throat when Percy's hand found hers under the desk and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
In June they were assigned new seats, and Annabeth was moved to the back of the room. Despite this, just like Annabeth would have wanted, she was placed next to another overachieving, intelligent student who participated in class and had nice handwriting and most importantly didn't mouth the words when she read silently.
But Annabeth couldn't shake the feeling that the seat next to her was vacant. Sure, her new partner knew all the characters in the short story they were reading in class, but what was the fun in that?
She survived though, because whenever she was feeling annoyed at her neighbor or bored with her work, she would wait for the frequent moments when the boy in the front of the room with the green eyes would turn to look back at her. In fact, the teacher probably saw more of the back of Percy's head than the front, but he only called him out on it a few times and Percy didn't seem to mind.
If you asked her she would never say it, but in the end, Annabeth rated her English class above average— especially when she would exit the room to find a particular Seaweed Brain waiting to walk her to her next class.
And after all this time, Percy's hair still stuck up in the back, but Annabeth actually thought it was kind of cute that way.