"Good as Goode"
Mystic25
Summary: Annabeth Chase at Goode High School. Pretty self explanatory. Percabeth of course. Set after TLO.
Rating: T for a suggestive remarks and references to Ancient Greek Weapons.
A/N: This was just me wanting to write a "Annabeth goes to Goode" fic, hopefully avoiding most of the traps, or at least covering them better with leaves and using thick chunks of steak for the lions to naw at while they're down in their pit hole.
xxxxXxxxx
"'Won't change anything,' I said. 'You're still my best friend.'
'Except for Annabeth.'
'That's different.'
'Yeah,' he agreed. 'It sure is.'"
~Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood
The Last Olympian
"You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars."
E.E. Cummings "Silently, If Out of Not Knowable"
xxxxXxxxx
Annabeth knew the moment that she nearly set off the metal detector with her bronze knife that it was going to be an interesting sort of day.
It had started out mostly normal. If you didn't count that she nearly overslept (thanks to her smashing her alarm clock into bits with the flat of said knife in a fit of rage at her unimpressive speech) and that she had to shove her rats nest of hair up in her non invisible New York Yankees cap (the one from Percy from their date two weeks ago to the Yankees opener game). And that near choking incident on that Murray's bagel her roommate gave her as she flew out the door wasn't all bad. She knew how to do the Heimlich over a chair so, not a big deal.
But after flying up from a subway stop, then doing a 4 block sprint to the bricked building of Goode High School, Annabeth found herself in a long line of students at the 3 designated metal detectors into the school's archway entrance. That was a bit annoying, especially to a demi god like Annabeth who wasn't exactly adjusted to sitting still if it was just an idle thing. Also, she couldn't help but think of ways to make said archways a lot more sturdy and more aesthetically appealing while she waited for her turn.
Then after she finally made it the front of her particular line, and she placed her house keys into the bin, and was about to walk through the little black metal structure, she stopped. So sudden was her movement that the basketball player behind her ran into her back like a domino and gave her a 'Hey, watch it!'
"Sorry," Annabeth threw over her shoulder without turning around. She felt the weight of her bronze dagger strapped in its scabbard under her plaid button up shirt like it was an entire brick house. Celestial bronze wasn't a human type of metal, but Annabeth was pretty sure that it would still be detected by human means. Annabeth was so used to having her weapons on her like Percy that she had grabbed the thing off her nightstand on impulse.
She had realized the flaw too late, that Percy's sword had the convenience of becoming a ball point pen, a totally normal non metallic pen. Her sword on the other hand, it just stayed a sword, all sharp, and long, and all illegal to bring into a high school.
She was in so much trouble.
"Move it," the security guard in his crisp blue shirt and black tie, and big 'non lethal' taser strapped to his waist stared down at her.
"I'm sorry," Annabeth put on her most doe eyed 'I'm blonde and new' look. She wasn't that type of girl so she had no idea if it just made her look constipated. " I-"she improvised further by dropping in a dead faint kind of way.
"Whoa kid!" the guard grabbed her arm at the same time the basketball player grabbed her other one. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Annabeth said in her best impression of a weak voice. "I'm sorry, I got a little dizzy-" Annabeth used all her energy and focused the Mist on her dagger, making it look like a string of wooden beads, then she threw it over the metal detector and watched as it landed down the hall and underneath a water fountain. "I skipped breakfast this morning. But I'm fine."
"You sure?" the basketball player still had his hand on her upper arm. He was taller than her, taller than Percy by two inches. He was cute, in that sweet helpful kind of way. Which made Annabeth feel extra guilty for using him.
But in for a drachma, in for an Athenian Talent. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks." Annabeth smiled both at the kid and the guard who waved her through. "Cafeteria serves breakfast until 9," The guard held her backpack out to her. "Get something to eat."
"I will," Annabeth tried to keep her smile sweet and shouldered her pack.
A river of students and noise assaulted her as soon as she cleared the doorway. Her gray Converse squeaked on industrial grade white tile. Rows of lockers stood like sentries on either side of a massive hallway. Banners proclaiming the spring baseball season were tacked above these lockers.
And beside a girl in a really low cut red sweater dress was the water fountain where Annabeth's sword had slid under. The Mist must have still been in affect because the tip of the blade was by the girl's pedicure peaking of her thong sandals and she wasn't freaking out.
Annabeth had never bent the Mist to her will before. She had been taught how to by Thalia. But she wasn't sure how happy she was to use the trick from her friend to illegally smuggle weapons into a New York City public high school.
Annabeth walked past a group of girls talking by the lockers and said a quick. "Excuse me" to the girl drinking at the fountain. She bent down and picked up the dagger, dodging the girl's weirded out looks as to why she was kneeling next to her.
"You're new here-"
Annabeth turned and saw the guy who had been behind her in the line. The one who had caught her arm. His gray shirt with the words: Goode High School Basketball Champions and a Varsity number below it was the key reason she suspected his basketball status. He was tall, with a light pecan complexion and close cropped dark hair. She wasn't checking him out, she had just been hard wired to be observant from her mother. Yeah he was cute, but she tended to go with the guys with scruffy black hair and sea green eyes.
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "I mean, I'm not new- I don't go to this school. I go to Eisenhower Academy on 34th Avenue; I'm just here to give a presentation for my advanced Theology Class-"
"So you're smart girl on a day pass huh?" the guy smiled at her. "Nice."
"Thanks," Annabeth managed a bit of a laugh. She was still holding her knife, and the kid looked at it, obviously still seeing the bracelet of wooden beads because he hadn't started yelling at the sight of a pointy dagger in her hand.
"I'm Marcus-" He held out his hand.
Annabeth adjusted her pack and shook it. "Annabeth."
"Annabeth?" Marcus returned, testing out the name. "That's not a name you hear every day." He offered her another smile and glanced down again at the 'beads' in her hand. "Did you make that?"
"It was a gift," Annabeth returned "From my boyfriend." She saw Marcus' face go a little crestfallen at the word 'boyfriend' Which gave her perfect distraction to secure her dagger back under her shirt. The Mist couldn't hide gestures, and Annabeth didn't want to have to pretend to strap a 3 inch Celestial bronze blade around her wrist like it was a prom corsage.
"Oh, that's cool," Marcus' voice didn't sound like it was all that cool. But he was doing that thing Annabeth had seen guys do before when they didn't want to lose face. And that thing was called 'lying.'
"He actually goes here," Annabeth returned. Marcus' smile seem to drop the floor, and break on the tile. Nice one Chase. Why don't you find out if he has a puppy so you can kick it?
"What's his name?" Marcus asked, not sounding jealous, well not that jealous anyway. Not like he was going to stake a claim that Annabeth's knife would surely end. "I might know him."
"Percy," Annabeth returned. When Marcus didn't look like he recognized the name she continued. "Percy Jackson. He's a sophomore. And he uh-" Annabeth racked her brain trying to think of any sports or clubs that Percy competed in; which equaled zero. Unless you counted lava mountain rock climbing and capture the flag with Centaurs. "He's-"
Something touched her on the waist. Annabeth had 9 years of battle reflexes in her; so she reacted by grabbing at the arm she felt on her and slammed the body it was attached to against the wall with a heavy 'thud'. Her maneuver knocked her hat off her head, and her mass of blonde hair sprang out. Her knife poised at the neck of-
"Whoa Annabeth!" Percy held up his hands around the sharp blade of Annabeth's knife. "It's me!"
"Percy-" Annabeth lowered her knife. Her cheeks went a little red at the sight of Marcus, and several other students who had watched her Judo move on Percy with what looked like a string of wooden beads. "Don't," She punctuated her words with punches to her boyfriend's shoulder. "Scare. Me. Like. That!"
"Sorry," Percy's hands were still up and he lowered them very showily. He cleared his throat to the crowd of students that stood watching them like they were better than reality TV. "I'm just happy to see you. You're happy to see me too right?" he said his last words on a wince like he was testing his luck considering Annabeth was still grasping her knife.
"Don't push it," Annabeth muttered in her 'I'm going to kill my demigod boyfriend' way. She sheathed her knife.
Percy broke off in a semi laugh. "Yes Ma'am." He handed her back her Yankees' baseball cap. He could sense something off about her. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"She said she didn't eat." Marcus volunteered. "She nearly passed out at the line-"
Annabeth looked ready to murder someone she'd just met.
Percy gave her a wide eyed look. "Annabeth, what's going-?"
"I'm fine," Annabeth interrupted quickly . "I grabbed a bagel on the way out of my dorm."
Percy didn't look convinced at her statement especially since a stranger pointed out that she had 'passed out' in line. Very un-Annabeth like."You sure?"
"Yes, Seaweed Brain I'm sure." Annabeth returned, a bit exasperated at the way her lie got out of control.
Percy offered her a goofy lopsided kind of smile and leaned over to kiss her.
There were a few girls in the corner, and a few of them were of the 'pretty girl' persuasion. Some of them had their eye on Percy this year. Not because they considered him part of their league. But because he was mysterious new loner skater type guy they couldn't deny was cute; but who could they could just get with to tick off another check on the list of things they 'did' in high school.
But when Percy Jackson, the loner skater type guy leaned over to kiss someone of the female persuasion; and from what they could tell a hot someone, the whispers began. And not too subtly.
"Percy Jackson has a GIRLFRIEND?"
"Who is she?"
"Why was Marcus talking to her?"
"What is up with the crow's nest on her head?"
"You must be Percy," Marcus broke in after Percy broke the kiss from Annabeth.
Percy eyed him, and Annabeth could see a look in his eyes. Was that jealously? Annabeth couldn't decide whether to be upset or flattered. She decided instead to talk.
"Percy, this is Marcus. He was behind me in the metal detector line. He was just trying to help me find you."
"Hey man," Marcus held out his hand to Percy the same way he did Annabeth.
Percy eyed Marcus' hand like it was a monster from Tartarus. But in the end he shook it. "Hey."
Percy released Marcus' hand, and Percy cleared his throat. Both boys looked at each other a bit awkwardly. They had just come to know of each other's existence a second ago, and over meeting Percy's girlfriend. It's not like they were going to go blow off second and third period and have a Halo gamer session in the art room now.
But thankfully, in the life that was Goode High School; distraction from teenager/demigod awkwardness came in prepackaged form. This year's model was the assistant principal Mr. Anter. He had large round brown eyes that were almost black and a long curved nose that almost looked like a deer muzzle. Percy had mistakenly called him: Mr. Antler at the beginning of the year, and now had a giant bull's-eye painted on his back for it.
So Mr. Anter had moved towards Percy with the speed of an angry Minotaur when he caught wind of the commotion.
"Jackson!" Mr. Anter said Percy's name the way jail wardens would. His black tie was clipped securely to his short sleeved white shirt and didn't' move as he came upon Percy and Annabeth, and the other guy Marcus.
Mr. Anter eyed Percy like he could see him already in cafeteria for after school detention. "Is there a problem here? The students said you were trying to beat up a girl-" he eyed Annabeth as if checking for bruises, and then trying to mentally find the forms in his office that he needed to fill out in order to get Percy more than just detention.
"No Sir," Percy said, this time when he cleared his throat he tried to not laugh. The idea that he could beat up Annabeth was as insane as him going on a movie date with Hera. "We were rehearsing for a school play."
Mr. Anter wasn't buying it. "There's no school play on the roster for a month, Jackson."
"For my school," Annabeth added onto the story. She saw the round eyes of the assistant principal turn to her: "We're doing Our Town-"
"I don't recall a fight scene in Our Town," Mr. Anter interjected.
"It's an interpretative adaptation," Annabeth's voice reeked logic.
Mr. Anter looked at Annabeth, like he knew she was wrong, but he couldn't find a compelling fact to argue how she was wrong. "You don't go to this school. You're not skipping your own classes to meet up with this delinquent are you?"
"I go to Eisenhower Academy," Annabeth answered the same way she did Marcus. But while her voice was polite enough to the man, it wasn't reeking of warm fuzzy feelings. Especially because of the 'delinquent' remarks he made about Percy. "I'm here to give a presentation-"
"On what?" Mr. Anter interrupted with a bit of a sneer like he was about to catch her in a dastardly lie. He crossed his arms across his chest, already smug in his own sense of superiority.
"Ancient Greek Athenian influence on modern western politics." Annabeth returned without missing a beat.
"Where's your diorama?" Mr. Anter eyed her empty hands suspiciously.
"It's a speech." Annabeth volleyed back, as quick as a knife attack. She fought monsters on a daily basis. A beady eyed principal with tape on his glasses and an attitude problem didn't scare her. "I have note cards."
"What class?"
"AP Advanced Theology."
"How many minutes?"
"Just at five."
"3,000 words?"
"It's a Gordon Rule requirement after all," Annabeth added a dazzling smile.
Percy's eyes had been following their conversation like a tennis match. And when Annabeth delivered the last smart sounding point, he couldn't help but grin proudly.
Mr. Anter growled at her, like he was angry at her for giving him no reason to argue with her. He pointed a sausage like finger at her. "If you have to give this speech, Ms.-"
"Chase," Annabeth finished for him.
"Chase. Then I suggest you apply yourself to the task at hand." Mr. Anter said her name like he drank too much mouthwash. "I don't know what you're used to at your fancy liberal school, but we don't loiter in these hallways! So I suggest you stop carousing with your delinquent boyfriend and get to your destination. Am I clear?"
Annabeth's hand resting by her knife twitched the second time the assistant principal had called Percy a 'delinquent'. She took a breath, and balled her fist at her side to keep from doing something stupid, like sticking her dagger into his forehead like a unicorn horn.
"Yes Sir," Her voice was all sweet, but the muscles in her hand started spasming because of how tightly she was making a fist.
Percy took her hand and tried to unclench her fingers. But when he couldn't pry them apart, he rested his closed his fingers over her fist.
"I'll show her where to go," Percy said to Mr. Anter, adding a: "Sir" to placate the man who looked like he was ready to call Annabeth's school and try and expel her just to see if his reach extended that far.
"Thank you," Annabeth was smiling so sweetly it dripped like a honey comb; but she was sure Percy could hear the audible grinding of her teeth.
Mr. Anter looked satisfied that he had diffused the situation. He turned to Marcus like he was had just now noticed him standing there. "Mr. Johnson, I suggest you find where you need to go." He stole once last glance at Annabeth, at the cap dangling in her hand. "And hats aren't allowed in school grounds!"
With those departing words, Mr. Anter himself departed in a half elephant, half duck kind of walk down the hallway.
Now that their FOIL protagonist had lumbered out of sight Percy was back to dealing with Marcus. But thankfully Marcus wasn't the type of guy to be 'dealt with' Because the next thing he did was flash them both a smile:
"Guess I should 'find where I need to go.'" Marcus made exaggerated air quotes. He gave a slight laugh then lowered his head for a moment, returning it up to Annabeth. "It was nice meeting you," He offered her half a smile, but the other half disappeared at the way Percy was basically watching him like he was a tap dancing Hydra trying to make a move on his girlfriend.
"Both of you," Marcus finished quickly. He left so hastily it was like a health hygiene film strip had been chopped off before the ending about loving your funky new odor had happened.
"Percy-" Annabeth turned to him the moment Marcus had disappeared down a corridor of doors then ducked behind one of them. "Marcus wasn't trying to date me, you don't have to be jealous."
"I'm not jealous!" Percy defended a little too quickly and a little too shrilly for Annabeth to believe him.
Which is why her eyebrows were currently arched at him and her arms were crossed underneath her chest.
"Okay, I'm not jealous much-" Percy defended. "Marcus didn't want to date you Annabet;, but I didn't like the thing that his eyes did."
"What thing?" Annabeth asked.
"That up and down thing like he was a Cyclops trying to find his missing eye-"
Annabeth couldn't help it, she snorted. "You're so jealous Seaweed Brain-"
"Have you seen you Annabeth?" Percy was still a little shrill. "I have reason too!"
"Percy," Annabeth returned with a look like the flavor of Ambrosia had suddenly tasted like week old popcorn from underneath the movie seats. "I haven't even brushed my hair-"
"Exactly!" Percy said this like he had would have said: 'ah ha!' "It's like you don't even try and guys are still hitting on you!"
"Percy," Annabeth set the flat of her hand on his chest over his gray shirt. Percy doing jealous was actually very sweet. "Relax. I don't want those 'guys'. I want you." She leaned up to kiss him.
This finally loosened him up from the frozen garden gnome look he had earlier. Percy couldn't help it; he relationship with Annabeth was one of the best things (besides his mom) he had going for him. And his life had a tendency to drop a Wil E. Coyote sized anvil on his 'best things.' He was always afraid that she would have enough of being monster bait with Poseidon's son and settle for a guy like Marcus, nice, normal with no godly parent lineage.
But when she touched him, and kissed him, and was around in general, he always felt a million times better. So he decided to go with it and returned her smile. "Me too." he took the baseball cap from her and stuck it back on her head.
He must've said the right thing because she reached both arms up around his neck and kissed him properly.
"Percy-"
The decidedly female voice made Percy break from Annabeth. One of the pretty girls from the corners of the school had separated herself from the others.
She was blonde like Annabeth, but a platinum blonde, in tight jeans and a red tunic sweater. A Junior; Percy had seen her walk the hall, usually with an entourage of 5 other girls, always smiling plastic smiles. He also had a class with her (though he didn't like to admit to it, and would never tell Annabeth on the grounds that she might murder him on principal). These girls were the top of the Goode High School social clique. At least according to the rumors and the scribbling on the front of the girls restroom doors (He hadn't been paying attention one time, he still had two days detention from Anter for that one).
"Hi, Celeste." Percy got out as politely as he hoped his mother would like him to be around girls. He knew Celeste by popularity, but she had only spoken to him three times in two years. And all of those times she was forced too for some school function, handing out flyers and such; or one time to tell him that she needed to cut in the lunch line.
Celeste walked over to him with a click of heeled boots, a red bag hung from her elbow and Percy eyed her more suspiciously than he had Marcus or a real hydra. He also wondered why no teacher had come out with a grim warning about how classes were in session in 5 minutes and they were idling.
But right now he decided to focus his attention on the obvious threat, the one walking over to him in shoes he was sure were causing her feet to hate her right now.
Celeste smiled with bright red painted lips and held out her arms like she wanted to embrace both him and Annabeth or strangle them. Given Percy's track record with pretty cheerleader type of girls, he wouldn't put it past her for the second.
"Who is this?" Celeste appraised Annabeth with a smile and a cock of her head. "Is this your girlfriend?" Celeste answered her own question.
"Yeah, -" Percy stumbled over the words for a moment. "Annabeth, this is Celeste – uh-" Percy didn't actually know her last name. "She's a junior-"
"That's right," Celeste said with a sense of importance, like she had just been appointed a Goddess on Olympus. "I've never seen you here before Annabelle-"
"It's Annabeth," Annabeth corrected, forcing a smile out. "I go to a private academy. I'm just here for a presentation-"
"Ooh! a field trip!" Celeste said like she was complimenting a toddler. "How quaint!" she laughed. "Though it's a bit of a disappointment to realize that Percy has a girlfriend-" her smile widened like chesire cat. "He never told us!"
Annabeth searched around for the 'us' Celeste was mentioning. She spotted a cluster of three girls in the corner whispering to each other behind their hands, making laser eyes at her. Annabeth had been given the evil eye by Medusa and her sisters, so it didn't exactly phase her. She was more phased that Celeste had seriously used the word 'quaint.'
"It never came up," Percy said, looking at Annabeth in an almost guilty look, like he had been caught making out with Celeste by the gym.
Annabeth was smart to the point that Percy teased her about the pressure of her brain on her skull. So it took her all of a few seconds to understand what Celeste was trying to do. The evil eye, the smile. Celeste wasn't into Percy; not enough to be a real threat. She was just trying to get him in trouble with her.
Wrong move sister. "Percy's had a lot on his mind," Annabeth returned. "He had a hard summer," If the Titan War was a 'hard summer' than Annabeth would grab a bull horn and shout her love for spider right there. "Family problems."
"Oh," Celeste said the word like a baby voiced: 'aww.' She placed a hand to her chest and gave Percy a half pout of a smile " I feel you Percy I really do. I know hard times too this year. I had to start three new freshman cheerleaders-" she sighed dramatically like it was a comparison worthy of Percy and Annabeth fighting to save the world against annihilation. "They were so dramatic, and whiny. Wanting me to put them in actual games ahead of the seniors. It's just- ugh, dramatic people, you know?"
"Not as much as you do," Annabeth rebounded, her gray eyes unblinking.
Celeste looked at her with a sharp glare. Annabeth hadn't come right out and insulted her, so she couldn't volley back anything. It left her feeling weirdly taken down. "I've got to get to class."
"I'll bet you do," Now Annabeth had come out and insulted Celeste. She normally tried to compose herself more, being the head councilor of the Athena Cabin, a role model of sorts. But well, she'll call this one strategically necessary. Annabeth was a blonde too after all. And Celeste was an insult to her hair color.
Celeste pulled her lips back into a sweet smile. She looked like she wanted to scratch Annabeth's eyes off with perfect manicured nails; but there were too many witnesses and teachers around to get away with it.
And Percy smiled too, but for an entirely different reason. Annabeth was no dumb blonde, and Celeste had just found that out. "We should get to class," he offered the other blonde a smile to mask the first one that was gleefully happy that she had just been pwoned. He raised his arm, and when Annabeth didn't glare and him in a murdering way, lowered it across her shoulders.
"Nice seeing you, Celeste."
Percy and Annabeth walked away to a disjointed set of heels clip clopping in the other direction.
xxxxXxxx
Annabeth's presentation was in front of Percy's 10th grade home room class. His teacher Mr. Goldstein had requested a student from Eisenhower and Annabeth's Theology professor had put forth her name to give the presentation.
It was purely arbitrary that it had been Percy's class she was speaking in front of. She had spoken to him over the phone from her dorm room about her presentation. And he had gone so quiet when she mentioned the teacher's name that she had checked to make sure her phone battery had been charged and that Percy wasn't being attacked by anything.
["Mr. Goldstein?"
"That's what I said Seaweed Brain, three times already-"
"…"
"Percy, what? Are you okay?"
"Annabeth I think you're speaking in front of MY class."
"Oh..OH!…that doesn't bother you, does it?"
"…"
"PERCY!"
"Yes, I mean, no, NO it doesn't bother me!"]
The door to the classroom was a peeling painted brown with an inverted rectangular widow. Through it Annabeth could see the class, half of them in the back not paying attention to the teacher was holding a book open speaking in front of them.
"So what was all that about you passing out-?"
"Ugh," Annabeth said under her breath. 'Nothing, it's-" she lifted the hem of her plaid shirt up. Percy made the widest eyes for the one moment he thought she was going to raise it higher. She glared at him and he finally focused on the knife sheathed there.
"I forgot about the metal detectors." She lowered her shirt back down. "So I had to make something up."
"So fainting?" Percy returned with a bit of a grin. "Not your best move Wise Girl."
Annabeth smacked him in the chest. "Shut up."
"Hey you just told one of the biggest names in cheerleading at Goode that I have 'family problems'. Let me enjoy this."
The door opened in the middle of Percy's laughter, and he instantly sobered up at the sight of his teacher, Mr. Goldstein watching them through his Harry Potter style glasses. He stared at Annabeth with eyes like an owl (which made it a bit too funny considering who her mom was). "You must be the speaker from Eisenhower. Amy is it?"
"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected with a forced smile. She got it, it wasn't a regular sounding name. But really? Amy wasn't even close.
Mr. Goldstein pumped her hand excitedly. "Well, welcome! We sent Mr. Jackson out to come get you." He eyed Percy like he was trouble. "I trust he behaved himself?"
"Ever the gentleman," Annabeth returned with a glance at Percy who gave his best 'innocent demi god' look to Mr. Goldstein.
"Come on in," Mr. Goldstein backed away from the door and held it out for them both.
Percy waved Annabeth in ahead of him, and there was a brief moment of his hand on the small of her back that made her smile and Mr. Goldstein give him a bit of a look.
"Guys," Mr. Goldstein addressed his class as 'guys'. He was one of those hip kind of teachers, or at least he tried to be. Most of the time the students took advantage of his laid back attitude.
Today was one of those times. The first two rows of students were talking across the aisle to their friends in the next seats. And those in back weren't even pretending they were paying attention. Their phones sat out blantantly on their desks, the 'pings' of their text message alerts sounding off like a game of Pac Man.
"Guys!" Mr. Goldstein shouted over the din. His voice successfully got a few of the students to look up from their texting.
One girl in front actually held up a finger as she hit the 'send' button.
"We have a guest," Mr. Goldstein finally decided to just talk because it wasn't going to get better than this. "This is Am-Anna-beth?" He looked over at Annabeth for confirmation, and when she nodded her head, he continued. "Annabeth Chase from Eisenhower Academy. She's going to be giving a presentation today. So let's be courteous."
Mr. Goldstein gestured towards Annabeth. "Ms. Chase-"
Annabeth stepped away from the door with Percy and immediately felt over 20 pairs of eyes on her. Whispered comments sounded off behind people's hands. She caught a few ' blonde bombshell hottie' remarks from guys and rolled her eyes. She didn't mind being called pretty, but these guys weren't even trying to be classy about it.
Annabeth stopped in the center of the classroom next to a black lectern with a white smart board behind it with a poem by E. E. Cummings.
"Yo baby," A particularly skinny red headed kid shouted at her. He was wearing so much Ed Hardy wear it looked like he a graffiti tagged his whole body. He eyed Annabeth up and down like she was for sale. "You wanna be courteous with this?" he made a lewd gesture at his pants.
Percy grabbed Annabeth's arm and pushed her slightly behind him like it was a direct attack from a monster. He glowred at the kid, gripping Riptide in Bic form, itching for it to change into a deadly weapon.
"Mr. Townsen-" Mr. Goldstein cut in. "That's enough!" He looked over at Percy. "Mr. Jackson, please take your seat. We've held up class long enough."
Percy glanced at Kevin Townsen like he wanted to slash the smile off his face. But he released Annabeth's arm at her 'let it go please' look and claimed his seat, which was in the first row by the door.
Annabeth cleared her throat at the scene she had created, and set her bag on the ground. She removed her cap and set it beside the bag, then grabbed out her note cards. She stood back up and placed them on the lectern. She dived right into her speech without any introduction. The cards were only for tangible evidence that she had written the speech. She had memorized the whole thing weeks ago.
It was a good speech, complete with a few choice diagrams she had designed on her Daldeus laptop which she projected onto the smart board, and added a laser pointer for affect. She finished 5 minutes later to a sea of quiet talking, and a silence to those who had actually been paying attention. And to Percy grinning at her for being a brianiac.
Mr. Goldstein stepped away from where he had been standing by his desk. He clapped his hands as he approached Annabeth. "That was very educational Ms. Chase." He offered her a smile, then looked out over his class. "Does anyone have questions for Annabeth?"
A hand shot up from the middle row. It was Celeste, her legs perfectly crossed, her bag perched just so on the corner of her desk. "I have a question." She lowered her hand like it was a etiquette technique and didn't wait for an answer. "Who does your hair Annabeth? It looks so good!" Sarcasm dripped from her words.
There were a few laughs from the two friends on either side of Celeste, and from other random students. Percy was giving Celeste the evil eye, and playing his pen again.
Annabeth met Percy's eyes briefly. He was being very protective; he had been that way since they had come out of the Titan War. Some days it drove her crazy because he hovered. But today she was appreciating it. Just not enough to chop cheerleaders heads off over.
"I was up too late preparing for this presentation and I overslept," Annabeth said to Celeste. "And you're excuse would be-?"
Annabeth shouldn't have said it. And judging by the roared laughter and the 'ooo's!' said into fisted hands, she really shouldn't have said it. But it was a little too late for 'should've's. Plus there was the whole mentality she had going that Celeste was a Centaur's ass and deserved it.
"People, enough!" Mr. Goldstein addressed all of them, including Annabeth. "Ms. Chase there's a certain decorum that I like to see in my class, and even if you're not a part of said class I still expect you to follow it!"
"Yes Sir," Annabeth said trying to defuse the situation before it got back to her school, or Gods help her to her mother. Athena wasn't exactly pro rebel. "Sorry. It won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't." Mr. Goldstein returned, his voice steely. "Are there any real questions?"
Percy raised his hand much to the classes' and Mr. Goldstein's surprise. The class was a hodgepodge of students from all grades who needed to take a remedial course in English Composition. Annabeth's speech was about politics, but she was invited to show the elements of writing a speech. And Percy just was one of those students in the class who showed up. He didn't participate.
"Mr. Jackson." Mr. Goldstein said. The look of surprise was still on his face and made his eyebrows look like they were trying to flee his forehead.
"Where do you get your material?" Percy lowered his hand, eyes on her. "I mean, you sound like you really know what you're talking about."
Annabeth waited for Mr. Goldstein to say: 'are there any real questions?' again. But only she and Percy knew the irony of his words. "I read a lot about the subject; and my family helped out some. They're good at providing inspiration on this particular topic."
Percy almost snorted at the last part, but he composed himself. "Sounds like a Goode set up," he flashed her a bit of a trouble maker smile as he joked on the school motto. Which was prominently etched into a banner that hung above the office:
"Goode High School. We're good as Goode!"
She rolled her eyes at him, but returned his smile.
The redheaded kid who had hit on Annabeth, eyed Percy then her, then Percy again like he was watching a ping pong match: "Are you two macking?"
"Okay," Mr. Goldstein was done being a pushover, and now was trying to gain back control of his class. "Let's just thank Annabeth for the speech and save the street slang for The Facebook."
The class groaned at the words: 'The Facebook'
"Come on," Mr. Goldstein jerked his thumbs to the smart board. "We have this thing, it's called class. How about we get back to it?"
The class groaned again, some face planting in their desk like they were all about to die.
Annabeth shouldered her pack and grabbed her baseball cap. She smiled her way through pleasantries from Mr. Goldstein about how "well she showed the structure of a speech in first person narrative." and tried not to cringe at the way he smelled like he fell into a vat of 'Polo for Men'.
She caught Percy's eye and mouthed: 'lunch?'
He nodded with a smile and an over enthusiastic thumbs up.
She rolled her eyes again, but blew him a kiss which ended in a wave as she exited the class.
xxxxXxxx
Up until that day Percy was convinced that there was nothing better than Pizza Square day in the cafeteria. Not only did it come with your choice of sugar processed fruit in watered down syrup (today he went for pineapple squares with cut up peach globes), but the food was actually almost edible. As a demi god Percy had eaten his share of funky things while on the run, including that half eaten bon bon he fished out of a New York City dumpster. But even the dumpster smelled better than the gray stuff in cube form they usually served outside of Pizza Square Day.
But Percy was now having to take back his last thought. Because today he had pizza squares with mini cubed pepperoni and Annabeth. Much better than just plain old pizza squres. It made him feel like had taken too much Ambrosia and was all giddy right before he burned down to charred coal.
Annabeth's hair was a bit more tamed than it was this morning. It looked like she had wet it down with water from the girl's bathroom, judging from the water dampening the collar of her shirt. He didn't know how much of it had to do with her wanting to tame her thick curls, and how much Celeste's words had actually affected her. Annabeth was a tough girl, Percy had the bruises and the cracked ribs to prove it. But he had seen instances of her being insecure, with Rachel, even with the servants on Circe's Island.
He could never understand it. Ever since he had first woken up on Camp Half Blood all those years ago and laid eyes on her, she had seriously tongue tied him. And she had only been 12 at the time. Now that she was 16; she was, well there was a reason guys like Marcus and Kevin hit on her.
And if she couldn't see it right now, well, then, that's what he was for. Part of the good boyfriend code. "Allow me my lady." He grabbed her Styrofoam tray and balanced it on top of his, and both on top of his history book. Some pizza sauce spilled out on Abraham Lincoln's face when he reached into his pocket for his money, but Annabeth still gave him a smile for effort.
"Thanks Seaweed Brain." She held out the 10 dollars to the hair netted lunch lady behind the register. When she got back the change set it on top of Percy's pizza.
They made their way out of the line and into the general populous of the cafeteria. The noise of 150 students and the smell of pizza, canned fruit, and 2 pecent immitation milk assaulted them as they hunted for an empty table.
The tables were the long brown kind with plastic orange chairs. They found space at the end of a table in the middle of the cafeteria and sat across from each other.
Percy dived into his pizza like he was starving, but Annabeth picked at the food, pushing it around on her tray.
Half of the pizza square was gone into Percy's mouth in under 3 seconds, but when he looked up from chewing he saw Annabeth not eating. "Your speech was amazing Annabeth. You so earned that processed fruit." he pointed to the plastic square receptacle of her pears with his fork.
She offered him a half hearted smile, but still didn't raise a bite to her mouth. Percy put down his pizza. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Annabeth dumped out all the pears onto her pizza and made a shape that resembled the Flat Iron bBuilding over the cheese. She swirled the roof of the flat iron building around with her fork.
"Hey," Percy leaned over the table to get her to look at him. When that didn't work, he reached out and touched her elbow. "What is it?" He had been reading her in battle, and in life for years. Something wasn't right.
When she raised her head, her gray eyes were swirled like a raincloud so heavy with raindrops that they all couldn't escape at once.
"It just gets to me sometimes-"
Percy's eyes widened at the way she looked like she was very much on the verge of crying. "Annabeth- Celeste is just a dumb blo-" he backed up. "She's just dumb," he reached out again and stroked her arm. You're beautiful."
Annabeth looked over at him, her smile a bit sad. "It's not about Celeste, Percy."
Percy's mind whirled at the new information. He had no idea then what was wrong, but he didn't like seeing her sad. "Then talk to me, what's going on?" He continued to rub her arm.
"It's about all of them," Annabeth looked around the room at the students eating, laughing, texting their friends in the seats next to them. "They have no idea how close they came to their entire existence from ending," her eyes flicked over to Percy. "We risked it our lives to save them all, and people like Celeste, Kevin, they just use their iPads and and text in class, and make bad jokes, and don't even care."
"So this is about Celeste?" Percy volunteered jokingly.
Annabeth glared at him. "That's so not funny!"
To his horror he watched two fast moving tears travel down her face and her hand hastily wiped them away. More fell and managed to escape her hands, falling into her cold pizza.
"Annabeth," Percy pushed back his chair with a squeak and came around to the other side of the table dropping into the empty chair beside her. "Hey-" he set a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. It was stupid joke-"
Annabeth turned and threw her arms around his neck.
Percy's was stunned for a moment, but then his arms encircled her, and her started to rub her back. He could feel her crying on his shirt. He burried his face into her thick curls.
By this time, they had attracted an audience. Those closest to them had seen Annabeth hug him and had whispered to their lunch mates about it, and it traveled around the cafeteria like a game of telephone.
Now almost the entire cafeteria was watching them like it was a horrible reality show. The whispering picked up louder like a drone of insects.
"Hey," he rubbed her shoulder and looked down. "Wanna go for a walk?"
He felt her nod against his chest. She pulled away and looked at him with a tangle of hair around her face. He pushed a few strands back from her face, and tucked some of the damper ones behind her ear. He stood up with her hand in his, shouldering both their packs.
The cafeteria watched them leave. The scene was like a car accident, something so out of the ordinary that gawking was like commonplace.
A teacher on lunch monitor duty stopped them midway to the door. She was about to give them a lecture, but the sight of Percy holding the hand of a girl who looked like she'd been crying made the woman back off and let them go.
They left the cafeteria and came out into the side entrance of the school. The weather was warm, but not hot. The sun shone with a bright clarity making the sky stand out a crisp September blue. They walked down the steps to a risen fenced in walkway where a series of sidewalks flowed like rivers around a bricked flag staff. The bricks of the two story high school stood behind them like a guard, the windows like eyes watching them.
There was a green bench in the middle of these sidewalks. Percy steered Annabeth towards it and they sat there side by side.
To the left of the school was the East River, a few barges moving past them, their horns echoing off the water.
Percy still held onto her hand.
Neither of them talked for a long moment.
"Sometimes-," Annabeth was the first one to speak, her eyes fixed on the bit of the river that she could see. "I mean, don't want an award or anything. I don't want fame, Percy." She turned her eyes away from the water and over to him. The gray in them was piercing. "I just want someone to know about the friends we lost, the things we had to do to keep all of this standing," she sighed sadly. "It just gets lonely being a hero sometimes."
Percy watched her with eyes that were green like the sea, comforting, familiar. The smell of salt water permeated from around him. "Yeah I know." His voice was honest, true. Sometimes he would find himself holding onto her extra tightly at night after a date because of just how much he knew. "But that's why I'm here. His hand squeezed hers. "So you won't be so lonely." He raised an arm across her shoulders.
His other arm followed suit, going around her until they were in an embrace. Her hair was still damp from the water from the sink and he ran it through his fingers while she lay her head against his chest and felt the familiar beat of his heart.
They stayed like that for a long while, just watching the river, listening to each othe breathe. Remembering the voices and the breathing of the ones they couldn't hear.
She finally pulled back with a sad sort of smile, sad but grateful that he was there. She leaned over and kissed him.
They both stood up from the bench.
"I'll walk you back to your dorm," Percy told her.
"Percy, it takes two subway stops to get to my dorm," Annabeth reminded. "And it's the middle of the day, and you'd be cutting class!"
"What's your point?" Percy returned.
"Percy, I'll be okay," Annabeth insisted.
"I'm supposed to be your escort for the day," Percy reminded her. "And I take my escorting duties very seriously-"
"Seaweed Brain, you're not getting suspended because of me!"
"Annabeth not everyone is as scared of school suspension as you are." Percy reminded. Annabeth opened her mouth like she was going to argue, but he beat her by speaking first: "And I told you I don't care. You're more important to me."
Annabeth wanted to argue with that, she really did. But he was standing there making it harder than Hades to do so. "I'm calling your mom after my classes and tell her that you skipped." she said it as a threat, but it didn't really have the 'omph' to back it up.
Percy gave her a smile. That's my girl. "You're on. How about you just come over and tell her? Mom's been after me to invite you over. She says I need to be a better boyfriend and ask you to dinner more often."
Annabeth muttered 'Vlacus' under her breath.
Percy took her baseball cap from her pack and slid on her head. "Six it is then." A smile came to his face as he leaned over and kissed her this time.
Annabeth muttered something harsher than 'idiot' the next time. But she took the hand he offered and they walked back down the sidewalk. When they past the flagstaff they came to a set of stairs leading down to the parking lot. Percy placed an arm around her again, and she leant into him as they walked down these stairs to the street.
xxxxXxxxx
End.
I didn't really know where this was going. I just went with what came to me. Let me know how that worked out for ya'll.:).
I just needed some Percabeth after reading The Mark of Athena for the third time.
~Mystic.