I hate to say it, but… this is just your average cliché 'Percabeth go to high school' fic. With my own twist. Hopefully.

Disclaimer: If I owned PJO, I wouldn't mess with feelings in the dedication. So clearly, anything recognizable is not mine.

-Percy-

Percy Jackson walked into school on the first day of his senior year, oblivious as ever to the stares of both girls and boys alike. He walked towards the locker he'd had since freshman year (although he'd missed most of high school since then), his friends already standing there, awaiting his arrival. He couldn't blame them, he'd disappeared for a year again without reason. But they knew not to ask questions, which was why they were his best friends outside of Camp. Corey Anderson, Lily Holland, Oliver Brooks, and Skyeler Springs. The four people who had made Percy's time at Goode High survivable. As the son of Poseidon reached his locker, Skye met his eyes and pushed off of the wall, meeting him in a suffocating bear hug. "Hey, Skye." The girl released him, anger flashing in her eyes for a moment.

She punched him in the arm, hard, and said, "A year and all you have to say is 'hey'?!"

Percy put his hands up in a mock surrender, a smile forming on his face. "Fine, fine. Hello, bestie. How's it been?"

Skye glared at him a moment longer, but it was useless when his eyes held only laughter.

She broke into a smile, hugging him again before she let him pass her to meet his other friends.

He walked up to Oliver first, smiling as he pulled him into a hug. "Hey again, Ollie." He said, pulling away from him.

He turned his head, his sight catching on one Lily Holland. "Lils! How's it been?" And then he hugged her too, and she hung on for just a moment too long.

"It's been good, Percy. Missed you, though." She replied once they'd separated.

He smiled. "Missed you too." And finally, Corey. "Corey, what's up? What've you been up to?"

The two 'bro-hugged', and he replied, "Nothing much, man. Nothing much."

Percy stepped up to his locker, glancing back at his four smiling friends with a matching grin of his own. He opened his locked and started putting his binders on the shelves, talking with his friends about their summers. He was taping a picture that Chiron had taken of everyone after the second war up in his locker when Ollie asked the question Percy had been expecting. "Why does everyone in that picture look like they just fought in a war?"

Percy laughed, muttering under his breath, "You could only imagine." Earning a baffled look from Ollie and a 'what?' from Corey. Percy cleared his throat and said, "Capture the flag is pretty intense at my camp." Well, it's true… Percy thought as Ollie nodded, accepting his excuse. He started taping up his other pictures, amongst them plenty of Annabeth.

Corey leaned closer to the pictures, pointing to Annabeth. "Is that the girl? Damn, Perce, you scored" He'd mentioned Annabeth before, in passing to them, and it seemed that Corey was finally figuring it out.

Percy grinned. "I know."

"Who is she?" Asked Lily, her green eyes flashing with barely concealed envy.

Percy's lopsided grin grew. "That's Annabeth. My girlfriend."

Oliver scoffed, leaning closer to the picture. "Percy, buddy… as much as I would love to say I believe you, I really can't. She's way out of your league."

Percy's grin faltered as he pulled out his Leo-certified phone, going to his camera roll. He scrolled to a picture of the two of them on a date on the beach. "See? I swear, I'm not lying."

Ollie laughed playfully, walking past him. "Photoshop, Perce. I'm going to be late to first." Skye handed Percy his schedule, who looked down at the jumbled letters, groaning a minute later once he'd deciphered it.

"I've got math first, every Monday. But marine biology second, so that's a plus… then lunch, gym, greek, and lastly ELA." Percy looked up from his schedule, finding Skye, Corey, and Lily waiting expectantly. "You're waiting for me…?" He guessed, and they nodded, starting to walk away. Percy grabbed his backpack and was starting to chase after his friends' retreating forms when a girl he recognized all too well intercepted him. A girl that he hadn't missed, not one bit. She was wearing a skirt that was clearly way past dress code, heels that looked too high to be comfortable, a tight tank top, and more makeup than anyone needed. She might've been pretty... if she could learn that she didn't need all that. This girl was Maddie Mills, the girl who'd been trying to get Percy to go out with her since freshman year. The problem was, Percy was already late. "Maddie, I'm sorry, but I have a girlfriend." It suddenly seemed that he hadn't left at all.

Without a second thought, Percy walked past her, nearly groaning when he heard the tapping of heels behind him. The demigod quickened his pace, leaving Maddie behind as he caught up with his friends, who were all trying (and failing) to hide their laughter. Percy rolled his eyes, knowing they meant well. Skye and Lily walked off when they reached their math class, as the classes were separated by skill, and they were a few levels above Corey and Percy. The boys entered the class, sitting down near the front and pulling out their binders. The teacher, Mrs. Harding, was only ten minutes into her lecture, writing numbers he couldn't decipher on the board, and Percy was distracted already, doodling on his page and wishing he could talk to Annabeth.

-Annabeth-

Annabeth woke up at 6:30 to an obnoxious alarm on the first day of her senior year, a smile already on her face. Not because of school, but because she would see her Seaweed Brain soon. She'd transferred to Goode High, on account of the fact that she would be closer to Mount Olympus in order to finish it. Besides, everyone knew that she operated better with Percy, as did he. She swung her legs out of her bed and was in the shower within five minutes.

By seven thirty, Annabeth was standing in front of the mirror wearing acid wash jean shorts and a Camp Half-Blood shirt. She had on her camp necklace, owl earrings, and a pair of grey converse. Annabeth strapped her dagger to her leg, knowing it would be hidden by the mist. The demigod threw her golden princess curls into a messy ponytail, walking out the door of her hotel room with her backpack and car keys as she did.

Annabeth arrived at Goode ten minutes before eight, walking into the building after locking her car and throwing the keys into her backpack. She walked into the front office, right by the door, telling the woman at the front desk, "Hi, I'm a transfer from San Francisco. My name's Annabeth Chase. I was wondering if you have my schedule?" The woman, Ms. Woods as her name tag read, nodded with a kind smile as she rifled through a pile of schedules, searching for 'Chase'. "Here you go, Annabeth." Ms. Woods said as she handed her a schedule. As she deciphered the jumbled letters, she discovered that she had architecture first, then math, lunch, gym, greek, and ELA. Annabeth laughed. Greek class… she felt sorry for the teacher. She knew herself well enough that she knew she wouldn't be able to resist correcting her teacher. Annabeth walked in the direction she assumed her locker was, according to the map she'd gotten, ignoring the stares as she concentrated on her map. Her eyes were vigilant as she approached her locker, keeping an eye out for Percy. She wanted to avoid him until they had a class together, hoping to surprise him.

Annabeth dropped the things she didn't need in her locker after finding her combination on her schedule, leaving her locker as she spotted a cocky looking brunette guy walking towards her. She followed the map on the back of the paper in her hand to find where the architecture classroom was. She was nearly there when the cocky brunette caught up to her. "Hey, I'm Steph Stevens. You new?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, continuing to walk without sparing him a glance. "Yeah. Annabeth Chase."

"Cool... are you from Tennessee? 'Cause you're the only-"

"Ten you see? No. I'm from San Fransisco. Nice try. I'm not interested, but thanks."

By then, they'd reached her classroom, and she walked in, ignoring his quiet mutter, "Playing hard to get..."

The teacher wasn't there yet but there were students in the room, so Annabeth walked in. She ignored the fact that movements stilled and conversations quieted as she sat down at an empty table near the front, pulling out her plans for a fountain for Olympus. Everyone watched as a grey-eyed girl got lost in her work, not even looking up when Mr. Pearce walked in. Annabeth calculated and sketched, her pencil filling in the lines of the base.

She didn't even acknowledge that the teacher was standing behind her now, and no one noticed when her free hand grasped the hilt of her dagger. "That's beautiful. What's it for?" Mr. Pearce asked, and Annabeth relaxed a bit, noticing the lack of hatred that lies in the tone of a monster. He was human... probably. Her hand stayed on her dagger, but she didn't even hesitate before replying, "Just a project for a friend."

Mr. Pearce chuckled. "Some project… do you have any other sketches?"

Annabeth nodded, putting down her pencil and handing him her sketchbook. Without a word, Mr. Pearce opened it, flipping through pages of sketches for walkways, fountains, thrones, and pillars. He turned to show everyone a sketch of a fireplace for Hestia. "This, class, is architecture." He placed the sketchbook back on her desk and walked back to the front of the room, leaning against his desk. "Architecture isn't just drawing. It's measurements, perfection, and creativity. If you don't have a sketchbook, I have extra. Spend the period on one thing. I want you to give me something close to complete at the end of class. Let yourself loose. Welcome to architecture." A few people rushed to get sketchbooks, whilst others, like Annabeth, just started drawing.

By the end of the period, she'd designed a new path from the elevator into Olympus.

-Percy-

Math was horrendously boring, but Marine Biology was as fun as Percy had expected. He'd spent most of the period conversing with a stingray that the teacher had somehow gotten into school and correcting his teacher. By the time lunch rolled around, Percy had learned where the stingray, Louie, was from, and how he'd ended up in the back of a classroom.

He walked to lunch with Lily, who raved about her biology class as Percy, still clueless about Annabeth's arrival, watched for Maddie, hoping against all hope he wouldn't run into her. Percy was seemingly lucky as he walked into the lunch room, still listening to his friend's comments on biology class. The duo walked to their usual table, where Ollie, Corey, and Skye already sat. Percy, the demigod who'd saved the world countless times, was still oblivious to the fact that Annabeth had transferred to Goode.

-Annabeth-

Annabeth laughed as she watched her Seaweed Brain walk into the lunch room, clueless as always. She walked towards him, as he had his back turned and was talking to one of his friends. A girl with golden brown hair and bright blue eyes looked up as she grew closer, raising an eyebrow when Annabeth placed a finger against her lips. Don't say anything. The blonde stood right behind Percy, silent as ever. Annabeth smirked, placing one hand on his Achilles Heel and the other on his shoulder as she whispered his name. She felt him go rigid under her, already pulling riptide out of his pocket when she tossed her dagger onto the table in front of him, stepping back. She knew better than to scare him into stabbing her. His eyes widened, staring at the familiar blade.

"Annabeth?" He said, more a question than a statement as he spun around.

She stepped closer to Percy, calculating grey eyes looking into his sea green ones as she said, "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

And then he hugged her, whispering "Gods, I missed you so much." Then he kissed her, and all she could think was, Damn, I missed this. For a moment, she could forget about the horrors of the past year. For just a moment, she felt Percy lift the weight of the wold off of her shoulders once more. She was so caught up in the moment that she barely heard the click-clacking of heels as someone walked over towards them. That someone tapped her shoulder roughly before pulling her off of him. But Annabeth didn't miss a beat before hugging her boyfriend, who held her close. She closed her eyes, breathing in his ocean scent. "Uhm, excuse me?" Said the girl with the heels, "What the hell do you think you're doing with my boyfriend." Annabeth laughed, turning towards a girl who might've been pretty... without makeup, and wearing actual clothes. She stepped away from Percy and towards the girl, forcing her to take a step back.

Annabeth stood there, her eyes hard and her smile venomous for a moment before she spoke. "Let me get this straight. I've known Percy for over five years, and in that time I've been through things with him that you couldn't come up with in your worst nightmares. So I suggest that you never do that again because I haven't seen him in a month and I would like a damn minute with my boyfriend." Percy expected her to walk away. Annabeth expected her to walk away. Hell, the lunch lady expected her to walk away. But instead, Maddie slapped her. Or rather, she tried, because Annabeth's reflexes were faster than that after fighting monsters her entire life.

The silence after that was the epitome of the saying 'you could hear a pin drop'.

Annabeth held the girl's wrist tight, but apparently, she wasn't a fast learner. Maddie tried to slap her again and succeeded as Annabeth's gaze caught on Percy for a second.

Annabeth turned back to face her slowly, staring her down with ice in her eyes, her smile gone. Then, before anyone could even register what had happened, she twisted her arm behind her back, turning her. She whispered in her ear, a silent threat, "Touch me again and I'll break your arm." Annabeth stepped back, and this time Maddie walked away, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. She turns to Percy, grabbing his arm as he moved to follow Maddie.

"I'm okay." She says, her voice soft as she stares up at him. His ironclad glare faded in the light of her gaze, and he smiled as he said, "Welcome to Goode High."

And as much as Annabeth hated to admit it, she melted a bit when he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.