Here is a simple one-shot, mostly because I am hopelessly torn and lost and yeah. Plus, I had crab legs tonight for dinner. And I was just sitting there, coming up with a storyline in my head, while my parents chit-chatted on either side of me.

This is the result. Takes place after The Last Olympian.

Enjoy! :D

Clarion Academy hadn't worked out for Rachel. By spending her sophomore year there, she'd managed to (unintentionally) convince every teacher on the staff that she had special needs, freak out every girl on her side of the dorms, and blow up a couple lamps and a ballroom. It's not like she meant to. But even Apollo couldn't protect her from everything that being the Oracle implies. While she didn't have visions very often, she would spout a small prophecy every once in a while. (Luckily, there was a daughter of Aphrodite around to record Rachel's prophecies and send them to Camp Half Blood.) Once Mr. Dare noticed Rachel's lack-of-progress, he decided she wouldn't be returning for her Junior year.

As for me, my sophomore year went by practically normal. Percy and I attended classes at Goode high school. There were only 2 monster attacks, one of which was behind the school and after hours, so no one (besides Percy and I) got hurt. The other time, we ended up destroying the football coach's science lab. Aside from that, Percy only got suspended once, and that wasn't even his fault.

We went to the football games and the dances and the end-of-the-year parties. We returned to Camp Half Blood as camp counselors, spent our summer there, and returned to Manhattan to discover that Rachel was in half of our classes.

We'd go to class, laughing and talking, and float through the school day. Life seemed surprisingly boring compared to our previous days of monster-fighting and battling Kronos' army.

Weeks passed. Class elections were held, the teachers passed out textbooks and course descriptions.

And then came homecoming. It was mid-October, and the homecoming dance was approaching fast. Nominees for homecoming queen were posted, themes were voted on, and guys asked their girlfriends to go with them.

Percy asked me in class. We were doing a science lab that involved water (go figure). I was over at the sink, rinsing out beakers and test tubes, and then there he was, standing right next to me in his bright green t-shirt and faded denim jeans. He wrapped his arm around my waist and took the beaker from my hands, filling it with water before dumping it on the counter. Before I could even react, he'd held out his hand and shifted the water around to spell 'Wise Girl, will you go to homecoming with me?' He even added a little heart at the end, for good measure.

I rolled my eyes and he pulled me closer.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain," I replied. I placed my hand on his chest and kissed him before pulling away and walking back to my desk, leaving him frozen by the sink, grinning like an idiot.

A boy even asked Rachel. She knew it was against Oracle rules to date, but it was really hard to resist, what with the way he asked her (plus, it's not like she was going to do anything, anyway). This boy had found out that Rachel liked to paint. So, he'd painted her a picture, on a canvas that covered the gym wall, of them slow dancing. Underneath, painted in big black letters, read 'Wouldn't this be nice?' Rachel was in gym class when she saw it, and Riley Gordon walked out from behind the bleachers with a red rose and asked, "Rachel, will you go to the homecoming dance with me?" Rachel took one look at his eyes, glanced back at the painting, and said yes without hesitation. The painting really wasn't half bad, though Rachel swore that her chest wasn't that big in real life, and that her eyes weren't that green.

We went dress shopping together. The first dress I tried on was a gray, shimmering, Greek-styled gown, and it was perfect. I bought it immediately. Rachel's dress was a little harder, though. She tried on a red one, but that made her look like she was on fire, because of her hair. Green dresses made her look Irish. Purple dresses looked horrible with her emerald eyes. Yellow was too happy for her.

Eventually, she decided on a blue-and-black chiffon, off-the-shoulder number, which looked amazing on her. We got our shoes, made appointments for our hair and nails, etc. It wasn't like either of us to care so much, but we got really caught up in the moment. It was fun.

And we looked great on homecoming night, with our dates on our arms and our ensembles perfect down to every last detail. The 4 of us went to some fancy restaurant off Lexington Avenue before the dance. A man named Mitchell was our server.

"You all go to Goode?" he asked as he gave us our menus.

"Sure thing," Rachel replied, smiling.

"Well, I hope you have fun at the dance. Can I start you kids off with something to drink?"

We ordered our drinks and looked over the menu. I decided on chicken and a salad, Rachel ended up getting spaghetti, and Riley got a steak. Percy still hadn't decided by the time Mitchell got back.

"You could try the KC strip ribs," Mitchell was suggesting. "They're really good."

"Ooh, that does sound good," Percy agreed. "But I'm not in the mood for ribs. What else do you have?"

"The menu is right there, dude," Riley pointed out with a goofy grin on his face.

"Percy, just get pasta," Rachel said, laughing and shaking her head. Percy thought about it.

"Nah. I could get my tux all messed up. You know how I am with pasta."

Rachel nodded, obviously thinking about how much of a messy eater Percy was.

"Honestly, Seaweed Brain," I sighed. "You're such a girl." I took his menu and looked it over. "What's the house special?" I asked.

"It's different every night," Mitchell replied. "And a surprise to everyone but the chef."

"Cool, I'll have that!" Percy said, taking the menu out of my hands and giving it to Mitchell. "I like surprises," he added as Mitchell walked away with our orders.

"No you don't," I pointed out.

"Whatever, Wise Girl, I'm sure it'll be fine," he replied, a smirk on his features. I rolled my eyes at his confidence.

"If you say so," I said.

"So much love between them," Riley muttered sarcastically to Rachel. She chuckled and agreed. I snuggled up to Percy on our booth seat and he placed his arm around me. Rachel and Riley talked about their favorite music and classes while Percy and I engaged in sword-fighting with our straws. Very mature, I know.

When the food showed up, Mitchell placed our respective orders in front of us on the table and left, but not before saying, "If you need anything, just let me know. Enjoy your food."

Rachel and Riley starting devouring their meals. I stabbed a few pieces of my salad and was lifting them to my lips, when I noticed Percy hadn't started on his food yet. I put my fork down.

"What's wrong, Percy?" I asked. Percy just glared at his plate.

"I'm not eating that," he said. I glanced at his meal. Four crab legs sat next to a dish of melted butter and a lemon. Seemingly harmless. I sighed.

"And why not?" I asked calmly, not wanting to have to treat Percy like a 5 year old. He looked over at me, shocked.

"Do you know what that is?" he replied, bewildered.

"Crab legs?" I tired.

"Exactly!" he barked. Riley raised as eyebrow, and Rachel stopped eating.

"And what's wrong with crab?" I snapped.

"I can't eat this!" Percy replied. He leaned closer to me and whispered, "I probably knew it!"

"Percy, don't be ridiculous," I hissed. "You didn't know that crab. There are thousands of them in every ocean. The odds of you knowing that crab are extremely slim, and I know you don't want me to calculate them for you." I turned to Riley, who was really confused by the looks of it, And Rachel, who looked like she had no clue what to do.

"He doesn't like seafood," I said to Riley. Rachel took his hand and stood up.

"C'mon Riley," she said, "Let's go outside for a minute." Just before she walked away, she turned back and whispered, "Calm down, Perce. You're freaking out the mortal." And then they were gone

Percy and I sat in silence, staring at his plate.

"Send it ba-"

"I'm not sending it back," Percy replied before I finished.

"What's the big deal?" I asked. "I thought you liked seafood."

"When did you think that?" was his reply.

"I dunno," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I just always thought... Y'know, son of the sea god, seafood. It just made sense."

"I can't stand eating marine life when I can understand their thoughts," Percy muttered. "It's just weird to me."

"I get your point," I said. "So send it back."

"No."

"You aren't making any sense."

"Do I ever?"

"No, not really," I agreed.

We sat in silence for a few moments.

"Here, take my food," I suggested. "We'll switch."

Percy raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm not kissing you at all tonight if you eat that crab."

"And I'm not the one who would have a problem with that," was my response.

More silence.

"We'll share," I said. Percy held my gaze for a few seconds, then looked away.

"Fine," he said, giving up. He pushed his plate aside and slid mine over just as Rachel and Riley walked back in.

"Get everything sorted out?" Rachel asked. I nodded. Riley turned to Percy.

"So, why do you hate seafood?" he asked. Percy shifted uncomfortably. I handed him a fork.

"My dad..." he said. "Uh, my dad liked to fish and eat seafood. I guess I just got sick of it." He took a bite of my- or rather, our- salad. Riley nodded.

"Alright," he said, cutting off a piece of his steak and sticking it in his mouth.

And the night continued.

Well, that was fun. :)

Like it? Mind telling me if you did?