A/N: Sooo...this is my first story. Hope you liked it. I'd love some constructive criticism on my grammar and flow. I'm only a newbie and I have never actually written anything in 3 and a half years due to an emotionally traumatizing event, so I guess I am very prone to mistakes. That's all, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Percy Jackson had a universal secret.
How can someone have a universal secret, you may ask.
Well, the secret was a secret because everyone knew about it. Everyone knew about it, except her.
And she turns out to be the person around whom this secret revolves.
Every student in Goode High School knew that Perseus Jackson or Percy Jackson, as he insisted, the swim team Captain, the biggest defender of the bullied and one of the most handsome and popular guy of the school, had an enormous crush on Annabeth Chase.
Only she didn't know about it. How? No one had any clue.
Annabeth Chase was the most sought after girl in school. The brightest student, Class valedictorian, the Head Girl, part of the softball team and dance team, expert in martial arts and every teacher's pet.
There was no riddle, no trick she couldn't solve. Yet she could not see Percy's attraction towards her even when it stared at her on her face.
And much to Percy's dismay, Annabeth didn't even notice him. He was just a "friend" in her eyes.
The fact that Percy Jackson liked Annabeth Chase might've been a universal secret but the hurt when Annabeth did not even notice him once was not known by anyone.
But Percy braved it, braved that hurt everyday. He smiled at her his charming smile every single day in the hopes that she'd smile back and notice him. He talked to her during every break, stopping by the table she always sat in, with some or the other excuse. He tried getting paired up with her during every English and History projects. He asked her doubts after every Calc class.
But to no avail, Annabeth Chase remained Percy Jackson's "friend."
And thus, Percy's universal secret remained the same and the fact that Annabeth Chase might never like him back became a reality that stabbed him like a knife in the heart.
Until, one day, all of it changed.
All it took was a piano and a lie, an accidental meeting and lots of misunderstanding and stupidity.
And it was so worth it.
Percy was sitting in the music room after the school got over, holding his friend, Calypso's, violin. He was waiting rather impatiently for Calypso and his other friends: Rachel, Piper and Jason.
Calypso was one of the most skilled violinist of their school and Piper one of the most skilled pianist. Both of them were part of the instruments group their school had which played the music for the choir group. Jason and Rachel were both one of the choir group members.
Today all of them had after hours practice for the inter-school choir singing competition and as Percy had swim team practice after 15 minutes, he volunteered to hold Calypso's violin for her while they talked with their teachers.
Percy was carefully holding the violin when curiosity got better of him and he moved the bow across the strings. A rather high pitched sound was produced.
He did that a second time, just a little higher than before and he held down on the strings with the fingers of the other hand. Another rather melodic sound was produced.
Percy was engrossed. He ever so slowly went from fiddling with the violin, to beating on the drums set, to fingering the guitar, to eyeing the cello but never touching it as it was massive and then moved to sit on the small chair in front of the piano.
So for the next 10 minutes Percy tried playing the piano like he had seen his friend do and produced many disjointed sounds. Some sounded good and others made his ears metaphorically bleed.
Percy kept on trying again and again, getting too focused with it ("Blame the ADHD!") that he didn't notice someone enter the room.
It was only when a person said something to him from right beside him, did he notice that someone had entered the room.
He jumped in surprise, clutching the violin- which he had placed on his lap to prevent it from falling because heaven forbid, if something happened to Calypso's violin, she'd give Percy a slow, torturous death.
"Huh?" Percy blurted, completely surprised at the sudden voice.
"I said that I didn't know that you could play the piano." She repeated.
Utterly confused and blushing, Percy replied, "I do?"
Annabeth Chase, Annabeth- freaking- Chase was talking to him! It was the first time she initiated any conversation first. Percy couldn't help but feel a bit giddy.
This time Annabeth replied with a confused "huh?".
"I meant, I do. You just didn't know." Percy replied nonchalantly and then mentally kicked himself for lying.
"Yeah…." Annabeth trailed off. Then she looked up at him, determination set in her eyes. "See Percy, I wanted to play an instrument since I was 5 and I always wanted to learn the piano the most. Do you- do you think you could teach me to play it!" Annabeth asked, her voice pleading.
"Uhhhhh, I am not really sure, Annabeth." He said, laughing nervously.
"Why not?" Annabeth replied back, stubbornly.
"Because, I am in no way a good teacher. You know my attention span is like nil." Percy tried convincing her.
'Oh no, oh no, this couldn't be happening to me.' Percy thought, feeling slightly panicked.
"You don't need to worry about your attention span. I'll keep you on track. And I am a good student. It will be fine, Percy." Annabeth assured him.
The look in her eyes told him everything that will happen and everything that he didn't want to go through. Annabeth Chase would make him her teacher, no matter what.
"Well...fine, don't blame me if you end up learning nothing." Percy warned.
"Oh believe me, I won't leave you until you teach me how to play, don't worry." She said, eyes glinting.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid, Percy!" Percy screamed at himself. 'You idiot! What the heck did you do?"
She then got up and said, "Bye, gotta run for softball practice. I think you should go for your swimming practice or else you'll be late."
"Uhhhhh how do you know it's my swim practice?" Percy asked, thoroughly confused.
"I am the Head Girl, Percy. I and the other Student Council Members designed the practice time tables with the staff." Annabeth said and rolled her eyes.
"Oh...oh! Yes. I forgot." He said goofily, running a hand through his hair.
"See you tomorrow over here after school?" Annabeth asked.
"Works well with me. See you!" Percy replied and waved back at her.
Percy sat down and just felt doomed.
Tomorrow, at 5, Percy Jackson was supposed to teach the extraordinarily smart Annabeth Chase, who also happens to be his crush, an instrument he doesn't know.
And despite the mess he got himself in, he smiled.
"Percy!" His coach called out.
"Yes, Coach Hedge?" Percy answered, climbing out the pool. He gave an involuntary shudder due to the sudden exposure to cold and wanted to get inside the pool and immerse himself in the comfortable room temperature.
"My boy, you seem rather lost today. We have the competition in a month. I want your full attention. If you don't pay attention, then the team won't." Coach Hedge scolded him.
"Sorry, coach. I will pay full attention." Percy apologized.
"Is there anything you want to tell me, Perseus? Like the thing you are dedicating your attention to rather than the thing you should dedicate your attention to?" Coach Hedge asked.
Percy cringed at his full name.
"No, sir. Not really." Percy said, slowly.
Coach Hedge raised an eyebrow (a thing he took 5 years to learn and still needed to put a lot of effort in doing).
"Coach...it is girl problem…" Percy trailed off.
"What did Annabeth do?" Coach Hedge asked surprised.
Percy winced and asked, alarmed,"Sir?! You too know about Annabeth? I thought it was only the students…."
"Percy Jackson, the entire school, as in entire school knows about your liking for Miss Annabeth Chase." Coach Hedge replied with a smirk. "Now get going, pumpkin. I won't let a certain blonde girl ruin my chances at the competition and you shouldn't, too.!"
"Y-yes, sir!" Percy said, his voice strung a bit too high for his liking and he literally jumped into the pool.
His teammates, who happened to hear the entire exchange, just laughed at him.
'Gits.' He thought.
And to remove Annabeth from his mind he took extra 3 laps around the pool.
Unfortunately, his mind still wandered back to her and their piano "lessons". Percy never wanted to kick himself more than he wanted to at that point of time. And that is saying something.
After practicing swimming, coming back home and helping his mom in the kitchen, going and doing his shift in Starbucks and eating dinner, Percy finally sat down to start his research on the violin in his room.
His first step was: Call Piper.
So Percy called her and after waiting for hours (which might've been 40 seconds, but still), Pipes picked up.
And before she could say anything, he blurted out, "Pipes, I promised Annabeth that I will teach her the piano."
Silence.
After what seemed like hours, she said, "What?!"
"Uhhhhh yeah. When I was in the music room, I tried playing the different instruments like Caly's violin, drums, guitar and the piano. Unfortunately, Annabeth saw me toying around with the piano in the room a little, she assumed that I knew how to play piano. Okay she might've asked if I knew how to play the piano and I might've said that I did, but that's beside the point. And then she confessed about how much she wanted to learn a musical instrument and especially the piano and basically convinced me to teach her an instrument I myself have no idea about. Help?" He pleaded.
"When did she call you over for teaching her and HOW DARE YOU MESS WITH MY VIOLA!" A new voice- which turned out to be Calypso- questioned then roared. So Calypso was there with Piper. He mentally kicked himself. Seriously the girl had bad mood swings. And yes, her violin's name was viola which as far as Percy knew, was a different instrument.
"Tomorrow and HEY! It's right with you and in class condition." Percy protested he said to Calypso.
After another moment of silence Piper said remorsefully, "Sorry, Percy. You just have to tell the truth to her. You have got no hope of doing anything here."
"Hell, what did I get myself into? Whatever, I have to take things in my own hands now. Bye, Pipes and Caly. See you." And he ended the call without waiting for their response.
Percy stretched and then went for his laptop.
He'll have to do something about this himself now. Because no matter what, Percy would spend at least a few hours with Annabeth before he got caught.
Percy rubbed his eyes and looked at the instructions written on the website.
'The basic steps to learn the piano is:
Step 1- Getting Familiar With The Notes:
Music notes are marked by the alphabets C, D, E, F, G, A, B. They show the tune and will be used to help you get the pitch of the notes as well as to learn the keys.
The note on the centre of the keyboard of piano is the middle C.
Tip: The notes on the Treble Clef (top) are the higher pitch notes and those on the Bass Clef (bottom) are the lower pitch. The treble clef notes (higher notes) match up with the keys going to the right of Middle C and are often played with the right hand unless the music piece requires otherwise.
Step 2- Getting Familiar With the Piano Keys:
The black keys are used to play what is known as sharp (#) and flat (b) notes and appear in groups of twos and threes. Look for the set of five black keys (1 group of 3 and one of 2) that are in the center of your piano.
Middle C is the white key to the left of the two black keys in the middle of the piano.
To make things easier, assign the notes numbers. That is, C is 1; D is 2; E is 3; F is 4; G is 5; A is 6; B is 7; C is 8. Notice that 1 and 8 are the same letters, but the pitch of both the C's are different. 1 is the middle C and 8 represents a higher or lower C.
To play the piano properly, you have to place your fingers according to the numbers. So your thumb is 1 (C note) and your little finger is 5 (G note).
Step 3- Playing Do-Re-Mi:
Have fun trying to play this tune.
You need to start at Middle C or 1 which is Do, then you keep on playing the keys till you reach the other C or 8 which is Doh.
Practice until you can play it fluently. You can even start playing from Middle C to the left side to the other C to play the tune in reverse.
Step 4- Learning the beats:
Try playing another easy song, such as, Jingle Bells. Study the diagram showing the keys and the music sheet. The 4/4 to the left of the clef means that each measure/bar requires four beats - 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Go on to the next step to learn the count for each note on the music sheet.
Step 5- Music Notes and Timing:
Each note indicates how much count it should receive (how long you should down the key). Three notes are used in the music sheet but there are more.
Whole note represents 4 beats.
Half note represents 2 beats.
Quarter note represents 1 beat.
Step 6- Review and Practice:
Revise steps one to five and continue practicing until you can play Jingle Bells. When you are confident you have learnt your piano keys and the music notes you can play other songs which will even require both hands.'
Percy printed the page out and many other pages related to it and the sheet with the notes for Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had A Little Lamb.
He stapled them together and put it inside his bag.
It was past 1 am. Helping his mom, swim practice, his part time job, dinner and completing the homeworks he just couldn't keep for later, had already cost him a lot of time. But he did all of that and prepared for tutoring Annabeth. To the extent, he downloaded a piano app on his phone and tried doing the basics, so now, at least he knew how to play 4-5 nursery rhymes.
He won't let Annabeth down. Ever.
Paul had come in in between and asked him what he was doing. When Percy said research, Paul was surprised. He wanted know whether the school was overburdening him or was it his procrastination. Paul was further surprised when Percy replied, "Neither. This is extracurricular activity."
He peeked over Percy's head to get a view of Percy's laptop screen and asked in alarm, "Percy? Are you teaching yourself how to play piano?"
Percy finally looked at Paul and said, "Uhhhhh yeah.."
Paul looked like he was about to burst with happiness. If there was anything Paul loved other than literature (explaining why he is Percy's English teacher), then it was music. And the fact that his step son wanted to learn piano made him feel dizzy.
Paul went out of Percy's room, clapping his hands together and muttering under his breath about getting a piano teacher and a small piano.
Percy didn't know what to feel about that and just face palmed. Percy really didn't want to learn piano, but if he got a tutor, it would be hundred times easier to teach Annabeth.
Such was Percy Jackson's devotion for Annabeth Chase.
Percy walked from his English class ("Son, I am so happy that you want to practice piano in the music room!"). To say that he was nervous was an understatement. Percy was shivering with anxiety.
He entered the room, expecting to have a few moments alone and to give himself a prep talk. But no! As Fate had it, Annabeth Chase just had to be earlier than him, waiting.
Annabeth clapped her hands and jumped up when she saw him enter, her eyes alight with excitement. And just like that Percy felt his nerves calm down and get jittery together.
"Okay show me how to play Jingle Bells and you can't stumble, or else practice it repeatedly 5 times." Percy instructed.
He had to admit, Percy was having fun. And so was Annabeth. And the fact that he could actually teach Annabeth even a single song gave him immense pleasure. He was growing confident. If he prepared the day before he had to give Annabeth lessons, both research theory at night and do practical after school hours in music room, he could actually teach himself and Annabeth to play piano.
"Aye aye, Captain!" She said and saluted. And then she started playing, humming along.
After she finished, Percy gave a round of applause.
"Congratulations, Annabeth Chase! You learnt your first song on piano!" Percy congratulated.
"Yep, sir. I have pretty much grasped notes and reading of the sheet. But what about these beats and rests and chords?" Annabeth asked.
"Woah woah, Annabeth. One step at a time. No matter how genius you are, even you can not play Mozart in an hour. As for the beat and the rest, you'll get it as you keep practicing. You don't need any additional lessons for that. And yeah, the chords are tough, maybe one of the toughest, but we'll work on it, okay?" Percy said, reassuringly.
Annabeth huffed at the Mozart comment and then nodded. But then her expression changed to one of curiosity and asked him sweetly, "Sir, please can you show me how to play chords."
Percy gulped. He himself did not practice chords. It was the truth when he said chords were difficult. At least that's what the internet said. It required lots of time and practice to master playing chords perfectly.
But the determination with which she said it told Percy that he'd have to show her.
So Percy nodded and moved towards the left side of the piano to the chords section when his phone buzzed.
Percy immediately welcomed the distraction. He took out his phone, gave an apologetic look and said, "Sorry. Give me a minute." Annabeth smiled and replied by saying, "No problem! It might be important."
Percy again said sorry and looked at the missed call by Piper. She texted him right at that moment. It said: Hey Perce, how's the lesson going on? Have you bailed out yet or is the act miraculously still up?
He texted back saying: Miraculously still up. But won't be up for long if you don't help me make Annabeth understand the ins and outs of chords. Send helppp!
She texted back an excruciating long minute later, she replied back saying: Tell her that chords are the framework of the music piece that is being played. A basic major chord is formed by a triad, that is, the first, third and fifth notes in the scale. Like C major, the notes for C major are C, E and G played on the left hand side of the board. C Major is in its natural state. Other chords like F major, which is C, F and A, are inverted chords. These are too complicated for her now. Best of luck, Perce.
Percy texted back a "Love you, Pipes!" and he returned back.
"Everything okay? You looked a little worried, there?" Annabeth asked concerned, but there was something else in her eyes he couldn't place. A look of glee or understanding, whatever it was, it didn't worry Percy.
"Yeah, just my mom felt a bit faint so she called me. But by the time I texted back, she felt fine. I told her to take her meds properly. Nothing else." Percy lied.
"Oh. She should take care of herself." Annabeth said, concerned. Then she took Percy's hand and said, "Don't worry, Percy."
Percy blushed. Even though Percy wasn't worried about his mom, he knew that if he would've been then the gesture would truly comfort him.
Annabeth had been doing these light touches and friendly gestures since the starting of the lesson. Holding his arm, leaning in close to look at him play, smile a lot at him, laugh at his sarcastic comments and reply back with sarcasm of her own. But what got Percy everytime was when she blushed.
"It's fine. And come on, don't you want to know about chords?" Percy teased.
"Of course, I do!" Annabeth said enthusiastically.
"Okay, then watch and learn." He said and moved to the piano.
"See, what you need to know about chords now, which is NOT everything as that will get you confused, is that they are the framework of the musical piece you play. Basic major chords are made of triads, that is, the first, third and fifth note on the left side of the keyboard. An example of a basic major chord is C Major and the notes for it is C, E and G. The chords which are composed of triads are in natural state. There are other types of chords like inverted chords. An example of it is F major which is composed of the notes C, F and A. These are too complicated for you now." Percy explained and then pressed the C, E and G notes together. "This is C major." He said.
"Woahh. Percy, personally, I never thought you were actually the dedicated pianist type or the pianist type at all but you seem to be experienced and skilled." Annabeth complimented and gave an appreciative look.
"Thanks." Percy said and ran a hand through his hair, blushing.
"There is no need to thank me. I said the truth." Annabeth said and did one of her little gestures again, just that it wasn't little, she ran her hand through Percy's hair.
She then stood up and said shyly, "I gotta go. It's about to be 5. Thanks for teaching me. Uhhhhh let me know if you want to get paid for it, I am happy to pay." Annabeth said.
Percy was taken aback. "The hell no! I can never take money from you, Annabeth. You are my friend! Friends do this sort of stuff for each other! Even you help me in calculus!" Percy said.
"Percy, your doubts take 15 minutes and my lesson took around 2 hours. But fine, I am not gonna lie, a friend teaching me my favourite instrument free of cost is the best deal I could find out there." Annabeth said cheekily and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Heh, agreed." Percy replied, already remorseful to leave Annabeth.
"If you have time, I can take an hour to teach you Calculus. It'll be only fair." Annabeth said, grinning at him. She knew what his answer would be.
"Annabeth, no! Just no! Piano is way better than Calc, please." Percy replied, clutching his heart in mock horror.
"So... I must get going. Thanks a lot, Percy." Annabeth said and then she gave him a heart attack by doing something.
She then waved and left. And Percy just stood there, wide eyed.
Annabeth Chase had just kissed Percy Jackson's cheek.
12 classes and 1 month later:
"Wow, Annabeth, Wow." Percy appreciated, awestruck. "You actually played Fur Elise composed by freaking Beethoven! You have to be proud of yourself!"
"I am proud of myself, Seaweed Brain. For you, it might just be because I played Beethoven. But for me, it is because I played my favourite composition." Annabeth said, calling him the nickname she gave him. She called him Seaweed Brain because he is a good swimmer but an idiot and he called her Wise Girl because she was the smartest person he had ever known.
She smiled, then looked down and started stroking the ivory keys of the piano.
"I am proud because of you, Annabeth. I am proud because you learnt how to play piano from possibly the worst teacher ever." He said, softly.
Annabeth leaned and placed her head on his shoulder and laced her fingers with his.
These sort of gestures had become common between both of them and, generally, he'd categorize them as 'romantic gestures', he still wasn't sure about it when it concerned them.
It was not like Percy stopped liking Annabeth, hell no! If possible, Percy went from liking Annabeth to loving Annabeth. He loved her thirst for learning, he loved her thirst for knowledge. He loved how her eyes would glint when she teased him, he loved how her deep, stormy grey eyes flashed when angry and sparkled when happy. He loved the sound of her laughter, he loved the sweetness of her voice when she hummed along with the song. He loved how she glanced at him with a knowing look in her eyes. He loved her blonde, long curls which bounced whenever she moved and he loved the creases that seemed to appear on her forehead when she concentrated. In short, Percy Jackson was utterly and irrevocably in love with Annabeth Chase.
But, the fact that he loved her made his heart ache more, the knife dig more deeper into his heart, because she didn't. She didn't love him back.
Percy hated the fact that he still was on square one.
"Percy…" she whispered. He hummed back as a reply.
"Thanks. For spending time with me and teaching me and being there for me." Annabeth whispered and looked in his eyes.
And deep down, in her grey eyes, he saw love. But what kind? He had no idea.
"Thanks to you, too. For all of the things you said, and all the things you have done, and all the times you were there." Percy whispered back.
Annabeth just gave a small smile, straightened, positioned her fingers again and started playing.
My Heart Will Go On from Titanic.
As if on cue, Percy's heart did stunts in his chest but he still kept a straight face, tried hard to hold back his blush and teased Annabeth, "Annie, so cheesy of you."
Annabeth just smiled softly and continued playing and he just placed his head on her shoulders like he did.
In all honesty, he loved when Annabeth played. And using this as an excuse, Percy had learnt to play so many things. But still as days passed and so did classes, Annabeth, his student, was becoming way better than him, her teacher. And he was so proud of her for that. She truly was the best kind of student out there.
She played and played, hitting all the right notes and humming along in perfect synchronization, Percy lost himself in the music.
As the song ended, he felt like he was coming down from being high. Such was the feeling you get when a piece is played in perfection, at times, better than the original.
Annabeth then proceeded to stare him in the eye and in that precise moment, everything changed. Percy could sense it.
"For someone who doesn't know how to play piano, you teach wonderfully." She whispered.
Percy should've panicked, should've stuttered, should've explained himself or even lied, but he did none of that. He felt completely calm.
"You know what, I am on the same page as you regarding this." He said solemnly.
Annabeth then blushed deeply, moved even closer to him in such a way that their lips were inches away from each other and asked, "You know what I love more than learning the piano, especially from you?"
Percy went still, aware of the fact that if he moved even a bit, his lips would touch hers and he asked, "What?" His voice sounded hoarse even to himself.
"You." She muttered before kissing him full on the lips, one hand at the back of his neck, another knotting in his already messy hair.
Percy froze for a moment, and then he kissed her back with all that he had. Percy had kissed many girls, but none of the kisses could even come close to this. His one hand gently cupped her face, the other wrapped around her middle.
They kissed each other with passion and ferocity the likes of which they had never felt or imagined. Percy could feel every nerve, every molecule in his body about to spontaneously combust. He could feel sensations in places he never thought he could feel them in. Every inch of his skin was alight with a certain kind of fire, certain kind of thirst.
And as much as he wanted to continue kissing her, just pull her onto his lap and kiss her senseless, he had to pull back for air.
Gasping, he searched her face, for what he didn't know, but she seemed to do the same.
"I love you, Annabeth." He whispered. "I have loved you for a long, long time now."
"I love you, Percy." She whispered back. "And what? To be honest, the same goes for you."
"What? How?" Percy whispered back, utterly confused.
Annabeth's eyebrows creased, and she got a thoughtful look on her face. Then, after she had contemplated whatever she had been thinking, her eyes grew wide with, what he thought was, enlightenment and her she smiled.
"Oh, I think I understand. Whatever it is, I'll explain later, it's a long, long story." She said. "And right now, I really like the feeling of your lips on mine. So shut up, Seaweed Brain, and kiss me."
"Gladly." Percy murmured before he dove in to capture her lips again. And this caused Percy and Annabeth to stay in the music room for half an hour more, doing things which definitely did not involve the piano.
Annabeth Chase had a universal secret.
Well, the universal secret was a secret because everyone knew about it. Everyone knew about it, except him.
And he turns out to be the person around whom this secret revolves.
Everyone in Goode High School knew that Annabeth Chase, the Head Girl, Class Valedictorian, the smartest kid, school softball and dance team member, and experienced in different forms of martial arts, had a thing for Percy (Perseus) Jackson.
Only he didn't know about it. How? Annabeth had no idea.
Percy Jackson was one of the most handsome and popular kids, the school heartthrob, the swim team Captain, the nightmare of bullies, one of the funniest people of the school and epitome of kindness.
It was believed that Percy could smell attraction and douchebaggerry from miles away. Yet he could not sniff Annabeth's crush on him out.
And much to Annabeth's misery, Percy seemed interested in her only platonically.
The fact that Annabeth Chase liked Percy Jackson maybe a universal secret but the hurt when Percy did not even notice her once was not known by anyone.
Annabeth tried really hard to get his attention, though. She smiled whenever he looked at her and flashed his heartwarming smile, hoping that his feelings towards her would change. She waited for him everyday, sitting on the same table so that whenever he'd came around to grab his lunch, she could strike up a conversation with him. She tried her best to do all her group assignments in English and History with him. She waited by the door after every Calc class, giving some or the other excuse to her friends, just so he could come and ask his stupid, silly doubts.
But to no avail, Percy Jackson remained Annabeth Chase's "bestie".
And thus, Annabeth's universal secret remained the same and the fact that Percy Jackson might never like her back became a reality that made her cry before sleep.
Until, one desperate night, she decided to change all of it.
She called all his friends, fleshed out a plan to get him to like her and slept soundly that night.
All of it, the "practice", the "discussion" with the choir teachers, the "accidental" meeting, and her supposed "love" for piano, all of it was her plan to get him to like her.
She thought it was all her plan, she thought she was the one working on it to get Percy. But when Percy said that he loved her for a long, long time, she realized that neither Percy nor her were the ones playing, they were the ones played by Percy's friends. But Annabeth didn't mind.
The ultimate goal: to make her love hers had worked. And Annabeth would see to killing Piper, Calypso, Jason, Rachel, Thalia, Leo and others later.
All it took was an arranged meeting by the piano, an act of meeting accidentally and lots of misunderstanding and stupidity.
And it was so worth it.
O.o.O