All the grad students waited in the room for the professor to arrive, talking quietly amongst themselves. Percy stifled a yawn and ruffled his hair, and he sighed when he stole a quick glance at the clock. 8:02 AM — too early for him to be fully functional. He didn't even have time to grab a cup of coffee since the email he'd gotten stressed the need to be on time.

There was a girl standing next to him, so he tapped her should to get her attention. "So is the professor gonna show up anytime soon or what?" he asked.

She shrugged and said, "Well, I assumed that the prof would be here by now since the email was so anal about punctuality, but it looks like this is another professor that doesn't abide by their own rules."

Percy pulled a face and said, "But we have to work under them all semester."

"You must be a freshman. Don't worry, this is the way things work. You'll get used to it soon enough," she said.

He wanted to say something more when the door burst open and a slender woman entered, walking straight to the front of the room. She set down a briefcase and took out a pair of glasses that she took the time to adjust before facing them.

"Sorry I'm late everyone," she said.

There was an accent to her voice, Percy realized. British maybe? Either way, the thought going through his mind right now was that this woman was way too young to have completed a PhD. What came after that was the recognition that she was ungodly beautiful, and the fact that she wore glasses made him forget his qualms from before.

"I'm Dr. Annabeth Chase, and you all are the graduate students that've been assigned to TA Biology 188 for me," she said, continuing with a twinkle in her eye. "If this isn't the case, then you should leave discreetly so that you don't get embarrassed."

That made everyone in the room smile just a little, which was an impressive feat considering the fact that they were all jaded adults in their early twenties. Still, Dr. Chase couldn't have been much older than him, Percy couldn't help giving her a once over, which confirmed his initial observations. She was gorgeous. She wore a pencil skirt and a white blouse with black polka dots. He imagined helping her out of her blouse, his fingers ghosting over her beautiful alabaster skin as he unclasped what was probably a practical bra. Then he'd slip her out of that pencil skirt, taking his time to kiss along the inside of her thighs and then he'd—

Fuck, pay attention. She was talking.

"—and your discussion section sizes should be about twenty to thirty undergrads, so it shouldn't be unmanageable. Now, I know you're all busy with research and stuff, but I want you to take teaching in discussion seriously," she said.

"I'll be telling you what I'd like you to focus on in section, but you're free to tailor it to what the students want from you. I'd like you to host three hours for office hours instead of the school mandate of two. Like I said, I take teaching very seriously. Now, I think that's most of what I wanted to say, so I'll take any questions or concerns you might have now," she concluded.

Percy wanted to groan, and he raised his hand lazily in the air. She looked at him, giving him silent permission to speak.

"Um, I mean no disrespect, but isn't three hours stretching it? I know you said your understood that we had separate responsibilities, but this feels like it's verging on the impossible," he said.

There were murmurs of agreement in the background, but none of the students spoke up clearly. Even though Dr. Chase was as young as them, there was an air about her that everyone in the room could feel — this woman knew what she wanted, and she expected you to deliver.

"I understand your concern, but I don't intend to change my stance. If you think you're unable to TA for this class because of other responsibilities, then you're more than welcome to leave and TA for a different class," she said, an icy smile on her lips.

A frisson of irritation ran through him. She knew full well that all the TA assignments had finished and that changing to TA a different class was virtually impossible. Giving them the illusion of choice was just to mask the fact that her word was law.

His annoyance compelled him to ask, "When are your office hours, Dr. Chase?"

He could hear the entire room fall pin-drop silent. Fuck, why did he say that? He was so screwed. Still, he stared her down defiantly, making sure that his eye contact never wavered. He expected her to chew him out, but instead her lips curved upwards into a Cheshire cat smile.

"What's your name?"

Percy's throat was bone dry all of a sudden. "Percy Jackson."

"Okay Mr. Jackson, why don't you come to my office hours and we can address your concerns, of which I'm sure you have many more. I host office hours from between 2:00-4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We can chat then," she said.

He knew he'd lost, and she knew it too. His jaw clenched as he looked at her, and he could've sworn he saw a flicker of amusement and something he couldn't quite place in them, but it happened too fast for him to be sure. Satisfied that she'd beat her opponent into submission, Dr. Chase looked around the room for any further questions, and when no one said anything, she dismissed them.

Percy sighed and walked out the door, ruffling his hair again. The urge to punch a wall tempted him, but he decided to put all thoughts of her behind him for the rest of the day. As he walked to the labs, he stopped when he heard someone call his name.

He turned and saw Dr. Chase walking down the same hallway, her briefcase thrown casually over her shoulder. Percy's jaw clenched. Someone that annoying shouldn't be that attractive. It was like she stepped out of a fashion catalog that showcased business formal haute couture for icy bitches.

"Walk with me," she said.

Percy frowned; she didn't ask if she could walk with him. Instead, she'd ordered him to follow her, so out of spite, he said, "I'll pass on that offer."

She looked at him with that same icy smile and said, "My my, you've got a rebellious streak in you."

When he didn't respond, she asked, "So what do you study here, Mr. Jackson?"

"I'm doing work on the identification and classification of marine organisms, specifically deep sea, to see how they've adapted evolutionarily to survive in extreme, hostile environments," he said, choosing to omit "environments like this one."

"Interesting," she said, and Percy was thrown off because she sounded genuine. "Why marine organisms?"

Percy shrugged. "I've just always been fascinated by them and stuff. As a kid, I'd always bug my mom to take me to aquarium, and I'd watch specials on TV about creepy shit like goblin sharks and angler fish," Percy said. Why am I telling her this?

"Huh, living out your childhood dream, huh?"

"I guess," he said, uncomfortable with the personal turn the conversation had taken. "Anyhow, I've been wondering. How old are you?"

Dr. Chase gave him a look. "Don't you know that there are two things you never ask a woman about? Her age and her weight," she said.

Percy felt his cheeks prickle. "N-No, I didn't mean it like that—" he stammered. The fact that she could consistently outmaneuver and tease him heightened the weird mixture of irritation and attraction that he felt towards her.

She laughed and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm just messing with you. I'm guessing you mean how is someone so young a professor, right?"

When he nodded, she continued. "Well, I went to Oxford at 14, and that helped me finish my dissertation and get my PhD when I turned 22. Fast forward three years, and I get called to be an adjunct here at the Neuroscience Department," she said.

Gorgeous and smart. For fuck's sake, she was only three years older than him.

"That's kind of scary," he admitted.

"Good," she said. "You should fear me, Percy Jackson."

With that, she turned into the adjacent corridor and left him standing there without time to respond. He took a second before he turned to leave when she called out to him again.

"47.6 kilograms," she said.

"What?" Percy asked, turning around.

"You're a smart lad, I'm sure you'll figure it out," she said, a mischievous smile on her lips, before she vanished around a corner.

He stood there for a while, trying to understand what she meant. It was useless. He decided to ignore it and went into the lab room closest to him. It was in the middle of prepping microscope slides that he worked out what she meant. 47.6 kilograms was roughly a 105 lbs, her weight. Now, he knew both her age and weight. He couldn't help the shaky laugh that escaped him. Then he blushed as he wondered why she bothered to tell him that. Maybe she was flirting with him. No, probably just teasing him again. Either way, Percy sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was going to be a long day.

Dr. Chase: 1, Percy: 0.