Disclaimer: I'm not Riordan. It's called Fanfiction for a reason…and that goes for the whole story!

Annabeth wasn't at theater auditions on purpose. She would rather stay far, far away from the drama department a Goode High, thank you very much. But her best friend Thalia wanted to audition for the new play, even though they were both dyslexic, and since Thalia was staying with Annabeth, Annabeth figured that she might as well stay and do her homework. The play was Romeo and Juliet (go figure), and Thals was trying out for the part of Nurse—along with everyone else at auditions. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Most of the girls were going for Lady Capulet or Nurse, simply because they figured that everyone would be trying out for Juliet. Reverse psychology, anyone? All the boys were trying out for whatever part they thought would be the most violent. Annabeth and Thalia's friend, Luke, was trying out for the part of Paris. Luke was a jock, but that was okay. The girls had a long history with him. Suddenly...he walked into the gym. Annabeth and Thalia hated his guts.

He was Perseus Jackson, swimming champion, boyfriend of Rachel Elizabitch Dare (only the richest girl in school, tolerable only because...who is Annabeth kidding, she's not tolerable), son of one of Manhattan's crime lords (yeah, Thals has him pwned on that one), and all-around jerk. He walked into the theater like he owned the place, arm around Elizabitch's waist, followed by their posses.

Mr. Brunner, the Latin teacher and theatre director, looked up from where he was sitting and saw Jerkson and his followers.

"Mr. Jackson! Do you wish to audition for a part?" Mr. Brunner asked. Annabeth expected Jerkson to answer, "No, I'm just here to be my usual bitchy self."

"Actually, yes," Jerkson said. Annabeth's mouth dropped open-and so did everyone else's. "I'd like to audition for the part of Romeo, Grover wants to try out for Mercutio, and Rachel will help with the set." Grover Underwood was known for his sarcastic jokes and love of nature. He was a nice enough kid, in Annabeth's opinion anyways.

Elizabitch (fine, Rachel) slapped Jerkson's arm lightly. "I can speak for myself, you know," she told him.

"I know," Jerkson agreed. "I just like to do it for you-makes me feel manly, ya know?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. What. An. Idiot. How stupid can you get, anyways?

"Actually. I wouldn't," Elizabitch said. "That's why you're dating me, remember?" She and Jerkson looked like they were going to start a make-out session, but then Annabeth cleared her throat. Ha.

"Um, Mr. Brunner," Jerkson started.

Mr. Burner looked over at him. "Yes, Percy?"

"My half-brother, Tyson, well, he wants to try out for the part of Benovlio," Jerkson said. Annabeth winced. Tyson Jackson was a special-Ed kid. He meant well, he just wasn't...smart. Add that to his size, and you've got a recipe for trouble.

"That's great, Percy," Mr. Brunner said. "Thanks for telling me."

Jerkson exhaled loudly. "So will he be able to try out?"

"Maybe," Mr. Brunner decided. "Let's talk it over with your mother first. It's only Wednesday—there's still two more days to audition, after all."

Annabeth raced backstage to tell Thalia and Luke everything that had just happened. She skidded around the corner and ended up in the line for the part of Juliet. Oh shit.

"Hello Annabeth," Mr. Brunner (who was stuck in a wheelchair despite appearing young-ish), said. "Are you auditioning for the part of Juliet?"

Mr. Brunner was like a second father to Annabeth. How could she tell him "No, I'm only backstage to tell Thals and Luke that Percy Jerkson is here? Annabeth swallowed hard. "Well...actually, I...yes." Oh, Annabeth. What have you gotten yourself into this time?

Mr. Brunner grinned. "Excellent! Here's a copy of the script." He handed Annabeth a huge packet of papers. Annabeth looked at the one on the top, and, despite her dyslexia, noticed something wrong with the script.

"Wait a minute-why isn't this in Shakespearean English?"Annabeth asked. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but..."

"The school board decided that we should use a modernized version of the script, so that more people will be able to understand it," Mr. Brunner explained. "They decided that we should use the SparkNotes version, since the translation is clearest there."

Annabeth thought over that for a minute. "Okay...great, I guess. Which scene will I be doing?"

"Act one, scene five—the scene where Romeo and Juliet meet," Mr. Brunner said.

"Great, good to know," Annabeth said. She flipped to the correct page and started reading. There was a lot of stuff about pilgrims and saints and "profaning holy shrines". Dyslexia should go to hell.

All too soon (and yet still after everyone else had gone), it was Annabeth's turn to audition. And guess who was acting as Romeo? Jerkson, that's who.

"Okay, begin," Mr. Brunner said.

"Your hand is like a holy place that my hand is unworthy to visit. If you're offended by the touch of my hand, my two lips are standing here like blushing pilgrims, ready to make things better with a kiss," Jerkson said. He was a surprisingly good actor.

"Good pilgrim, you don't give your hand enough credit. By holding my hand you show polite devotion. After all, pilgrims touch the hands of statues of saints. Holding one palm against another is like a kiss," This Shakespeare stuff is actually sort of fun.

"Don't saints and pilgrims have lips too?" Jerkson looked so...woebegone when he said that, it was absolutely hilarious.

"Yes, pilgrim—they have lips that they're supposed to pray with." Haha, Romeo's asking Juliet if he can kiss her and she's telling him off. Good for her.

"Well then, saint, let lips do what hands do. I'm praying for you to kiss me. Please grant my prayer so my faith doesn't turn to despair." God, Romeo was such a flirt. Annabeth hated guys like that-the ones who would talk to girls and tell them that they were really hot or sexy or whatever. Then the boy would take her to some party where everyone was wasted and rape her. Someone tried that with Thalia—he was still on crutches. Sucker.

"Saints don't move, even when they grant prayers," OMG Juliet's flirting back! What was Shakespeare thinking! And yet, Annabeth was doing a good job acting. She could tell from the way that the other students were watching her and Jerkson.

"Then don't move while my prayer is granted," Percy read. He looked up and over at Mr. Brunner. "Umm, Mr. Brunner, do I have to act out this part of the script?"

Annabeth looked down at her paper and turned bright red. The script read, 'He kisses her.' Well, that's not gonna happen anytime soon. Annabeth didn't want to kiss anyone, let alone Jerkson.

"Hm? Oh, don't worry about that yet. You two will have to kiss in the actual practices, though," Mr. Brunner said. Jerkson made a face. Annabeth couldn't help but notice that Mr. Brunner was talking as if he already knew that she and Jerkson were going to play Romeo and Juliet. Shit.

Jerkson cleared his throat and continued reading his line. "Now my sin has been taken from my lips to yours."

"Then do my lips now have the sin they took from yours? Annabeth read. Wow, Shakespeare was either a genius or an idiot. Maybe both.

"Sin from my lips? You encourage crime with your sweetness. Give me my sin back." And yet another non-kiss pops up.

Annabeth read the last line-"You kiss like you've studied how." Finally, it was over!

Mr. Brunner rolled his wheelchair over. "Great job, both of you. Auditions will continue tomorrow, and callbacks will be announced next Friday-not in three days but a week after that. Thank you for your time, everyone!"

Everyone got up and started walking out. Before Annabeth could go, Jerkson grabbed her wrist.

"You did a great job, Annabeth," he told her. "I hope we both make the callbacks."

"Yeah, I do too," she replied. "It seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun. So…see you next Friday, I guess?"

"If not before that," Jerkson replied. He walked away, and Annabeth remembered just who she had a conversation with. She banged her head on the nearest wall in response and went to go join Thalia and Luke outside.

"You did a great job with your audition, Annabeth," Thalia said. She looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. "You and Jerkson make a cute couple."

"Thanks," Annabeth auto-replied to Thalia's first comment. "You did a good job too—wait, what!"

Luke and Thalia were both laughing now. "She said, you and Jerkson make a cute couple," Luke managed to get out. "And it's true, too!"

Annabeth shook her head. "Shut up. Besides, it was only an audition. We're not dating or anything."

"Yet," said Thalia. Annabeth glared at her until she looked apologetic.

"Sorry. Well, not really. But you know what I mean," Thalia said.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Annabeth sighed. "Do you two wanna come over to my place and do homework?"

"I have to come anyways—" Thalia began.

"And as long as we do stuff other than homework, I'm in," Luke finished.

"Deal," Annabeth said.

During Thursday at lunch, Thalia's friend Silena and her boyfriend Beckendorf came and sat down with Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke. Silena was a bit of a beauty queen, but she wasn't bitchy like you'd expect. She was really nice, actually. She and Annabeth were in a few classes together.

"So Annabeth, I heard you tried out for the school play yesterday," Silena said. "How'd it go?"

"Okay," Annabeth replied. "It could've been better, though."

"As in, you and Percy not being paired together better?" Silena teased.

"Yeah, I guess so," Annabeth said. She laughed. "Too late for that, though." Then Annabeth remembered something. "Wait, how'd you know?"

"Everyone knows, my dear," Silena said comfortably. "I heard it from Drew, who heard it from Lacy, who heard it from Piper, who heard it from Katie Gardner, who heard it from the Stolls, who heard it from Grover. And that's only the person who first told me. I think that over twenty people have told me now, and at least fifteen of them were guys. At least."

Annabeth banged her head on the lunch table. "Shit."

"For you, maybe, but not for me!" Silena said cheerfully. "Oh, and all these people tried out too. I don't know which parts—I'm good, but not that good—but they did try out. See you around, Thalia!" Silena and Beckendorf got up from the table and walked away.

Annabeth banged her head on the lunch table again. "Shit," she said. "Shit shit shit shit shit."

"Well, look at the bright side," Luke said. "All of the people who auditioned have similar familial situations to us."

"That's not a bright side, you dumbass," Thalia said. "Silena said that Drew was the one who first told her, and Drew is a bitch of the first degree. She'll be spreading rumors about Annabeth and Percy sleeping together in no time."

"But Annabeth wouldn't do something like that," Luke said, obviously confused. "Why would Drew say that?"

"Because she's a bitch and wants to make Annabeth look bad," Thalia explained. Luke still looked mystified.

"Hey, you two aren't making me feel any better about this," Annabeth pointed out. "I'm the one who's being talked about, remember?"

Thalia glanced at Annabeth. "Right, I forgot. Sorry. Help me explain Drew's behavior to Luke, will you?"

"That's impossible.

"Good point. I'm gonna try anyways, though."

On Friday, Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke all went to Tyson's auditions. He did a good job—hardly messing up on any lines at all. Percy and Grover helped him through it. Lots of Tyson's classmates showed up. They didn't get much of what was going on, but they were enthusiastic anyways. It was cute. Elizabitch showed up too, but she did not look happy about it. Sucker.

On Saturday, Annabeth and Thalia went to Luke's basketball game. Their team won, though it was a close game. Afterwards, the team had a pizza party at a local Domino's. At one point, someone started a game of Truth or Dare.

"Luke, Truth or Dare?" One of Luke's teammates—Annabeth thought his name was Lee—asked.

"Dare," Luke replied.

"Kiss Thalia."

The whole team simultaneously went, "Ohhh." Thalia looked at Annabeth with a panicked expression.

Luke flushed a deep red. "Umm…we get one skip, right? Can I use mine?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Fine. But that means you don't get any more skips. At all. As in, you have to do everything you're told to for the rest of this game."

On Luke's next turn, he chose Truth. The question was: 'Do you want to kiss Thalia?"

Thalia cleared her throat. "Um, Annabeth and I have to go now. It's her curfew." It was eight o'clock, and Annabeth's curfew was eleven. But no one said anything at all.

On Sunday, Thalia avoided Luke as much as possible. At the end of the day, she and Annabeth were exhausted, and Thalia had many more clothes from Hot Topic—which just happened to be Luke's least favorite store. The next week was gonna be awkward—especially because callbacks would be announced that Friday.

A/N: Haha, I'm having so much fun writing this…I apologize in advance for any OOC-ness. There is a link to the ACTUAL SparkNotes version of Romeo and Juliet in my profile, past all the copy/paste things. If you review…you will receive a sneak preview of chapter 2 (wait will be 1 week minimum so that I can write it)! Okay, now go click the little button with the speech bubble!