I sat down on the bench and laced up my rented skates. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," I complained to Percy as he smirked at me.
"It'll be fun. C'mon, you'll love it!" He tried to convince me, but I thought otherwise.
"I've never skated before, so prepare yourself for a long day of teaching." I warned him. I pulled off the gray skate protectors and attempted to stand up. The thin blade held almost no support and I fell forward. Percy grabbed my shoulders to steady me.
"Maybe you're right," he said, probably regretting that he'd volunteered for this little outing. "Oh well, it looks like we're just going to have to deal with your suck-ish skating habits until we can find you some balance."
"Hey," I warned. He held on to my arm as we wobbled over to the entrance to the rink. He stepped on and turned to face me with ease. I placed one skate firmly on the ice, but hesitated to give up the other. Percy raised an eyebrow. He took my hand and pulled me out to my doom.
He was right. I had absolutely no balance whatsoever. I clung to the railing that circled the rink. "Come on, Annabeth, you have got to be better than that. I'll help you, I promise, just let go of the boards." I reluctantly did so. He took me by the wrists and gently pulled me away from the wall. "Keep your feet under your shoulders… that's it. Now, just push off of one foot and glide on the other."
"I think I'm getting the hang of it." I glided forward while Percy pulled me gently. I must have spoke to soon. The toe pick on my left skate caught the ice. I pitched forward and hit something, but it wasn't hard. My face was stuffed into Percy's sweater. When he had seen me falling, he pulled my wrists so I hit him instead of the ice.
He chuckled above, supporting me with his hands around my waist. "Yeah, you really got the hang of it," he teased. I blushed and pushed away from him. Something flashed behind him. It was a frizz of red hair.
"Rachel," I whispered. I hadn't seen her since the summer. I was still mad at her for kissing Percy. Why he wasn't angry still worried me. She was wearing a green sweater that clashed with her hair. Tacky.
Unfortunately, Percy heard me. He whipped his head around to see what I was talking about.
"Rachel!" He exclaimed. Percy turned and skated over to see her. "How've you been?" He asked as he gave her a quick hug.
"Percy! What are you doing here?"
"I'm just here ice skating with my friend." He waved a hand in my direction. Rachel's smile dimmed a bit when she saw me, but she hid it when Percy looked back to her.
"Oh…hi, Annabeth," she said reluctantly.
"Come over here and say hello, Annabeth," said Percy. I nodded slowly. I moved my feet in short, choppy movements to where they were standing. Rachel raised her eyebrows at me, but she let it go. "Do you want to skate with us Rachel?" asked Percy.
"Um…I can't skate very well." Said Rachel. "I've been coming here every day for a week, hoping I would get better. I would've taken a lesson, but I don't want to pay for it with my dad's money." She winced as if the thought of it made her sick.
"Oh, I could help you out," said Percy. "I can teach you to skate. And, it won't cost a thing." He flashed her a big grin.
My mouth dropped open. Wasn't he teaching me to skate? Was he ditching me for Rachel?
"Uh, Percy, what about me?"
"Oh, sorry Annabeth," he said. "It's just that I haven't seen Rachel in so long. I thought I could just spend some time with her for a while. Why don't you just try it by yourself for a while? You know, experiment?"
I glared at him. How could he do this to me? I turned and pushed away. I don't even know if he noticed my sigh. I skated to the wall and pulled myself to the other side of the rink with the railing.
*****
I leaned on the railing, staring at Percy and Rachel. He had his hands on her shoulders. Yuck. How could he touch her?
Someone moved to block my view. He looked about my age, maybe one or two years older. He had a handsome face, framed by longish brown hair. He was wearing an expensive looking sweater.
"Hey, babe, I'm John Winslow. You wanna skate with me?" I glanced back at Percy. He was looking at me, confused. Rachel was looking too, but she was smiling.
I thought about what Percy had done to me. I thought about how Rachel had done to me. I thought about what Percy and I had been through. Did I have the right to ditch him just because he had ditched me?
I looked back. Rachel turned Percy by the shoulders. He pulled his eyes off me and looked at Rachel.
That's it. I turned back to John and nodded enthusiastically. "I'm Annabeth." I said to him. He smirked back to a group of friends. They all looked like idiots, but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting back at Percy.
John took my arm and pulled me away from the wall. I put so much weight on him that I might have broken his arm if he wasn't so buff. He didn't notice. He was too busy giggling at his friends.
I skidded slower than a snail next to John. Percy was pulling Rachel along by the hands, like he was doing with me. He kept glancing up at me. His eyes extremely hard to read, just like the sea. He seemed sad and confused and disappointed and angry at the same time. He stared at me so intensely that he banged into the wall. I turned away to hide my laughter.
John had started to actually look at me. "Come on, baby, you can go faster than that." He frowned slightly, but looked at me expectantly. I glanced down at my skates. Come on, Annabeth. Your mother is Athena. You are stronger than this.
I stood up straighter. I pushed off on my left foot and tried to glide on my right. I was a little shaky, but I was doing better. After a few minutes, we got around the whole rink. I was really proud of myself when John interrupted my little victory dance.
"Hey babe, want me to help you with your skating?" He said with a suspicious glint in his eyes. I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Why not? " I sighed to him. John moved behind me with his hands on my back. Percy was staring at me again. Rachel had given up on trying to get him to forget me and was leaning against the rink wall with him, babbling aimlessly.
John pushed me a little too fast across the rink. My skates wobbled under me as we went. "Hon, you doing OK?" He yelled at me.
"Uh, yeah…woah, yeah!" We zoomed past Percy and Rachel. His head followed me with a worried look on my face. He was well aware of the fact that I couldn't really skate yet.
John pushed me faster. He pushed past groups and couples, swerved through crowds of people. As we turned back toward Percy, John stumbled. He pushed me forward as he went down. I zoomed forward, heading for the wall. My feet wobbled and my arms flailed. I distinctly heard Percy yell "Annabeth" but I didn't have time for my mind to process it. My boots twisted as I banged into the wall. My head slammed against the ice and everything went black.
*****
I blinked twice before really opening my eyes. Percy was staring down at me with a severe look of concern on his face. Relief washed over him when I woke up.
"Annabeth!" He hugged me. "Oh my gods, are you alright? Are you hurt? Is anything sprained? Broken?" He sounded genuinely worried.
I tried to sit up, but the room started spinning. I fell back down, and Percy held me up by my shoulders. "I-I…" I couldn't think. "I'm d-…dizzy," I said before I fell back again. Percy leaned my head against his shoulder.
"Nice job, Winslow," Percy muttered under his breath. John, standing over me, rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, hon, I fell," said John.
"Y-you know him?" I asked Percy.
"He went to Yancy with me," He shook his head slightly to tell me that John Winslow was not a nice guy. "That doesn't matter right now. Are you sure you're okay?"
"My head hurts," I said again.
"Let's get you off the rink," said Percy. "Can you stand?" I put my arm around his shoulders and leaned on him. He stood up carefully. I leaned on him heavily, but I couldn't walk straight. I kept slipping on my skates.
"That's it," he sighed. He slipped his arms under my back and knees and lifted me up. We had attracted a crowd, filled with worried faces. I realized that one of these faces belonged to Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She gave me an encouraging smile.
Percy carried me the entrance and stepped off the rink. He went over to our bench and carefully placed me down. He kneeled at my side and pulled off my wool hat. He gasped at the huge bruise that had formed near my hairline.
"Annabeth," breathed Percy "what did you do?"
"I got pushed into a wall," I said while giving John a grudging smile.
"I said I was sorry, babe." He didn't seem to care.
"That doesn't sound so convincing," said Percy. He stood up right in Winslow's face. Since when did he get that defensive of me?
"Is that a threat, punk?" asked John as Percy got closer.
"Absolutely," he replied as they both drew angry expressions.
"Percy," I reasoned. "It's okay."
"No, Annabeth, it's not okay. This jerk hurt you and he doesn't even care. That is not okay in my book." He seemed really angry.
"And why is this your problem?" asked John. "If the lady has an issue with me, that's none of your business."
"When you hurt my friends, it becomes my business. Now, apologize. Really apologize." Rachel was standing awkwardly behind the two. She skirted around them to come sit next to me.
John turned to me reluctantly. "I'm really sorry, uh … what's your name again?"
Rachel had to hold Percy back as best she could to keep him from strangling the other boy. John waved a quick goodbye and disappeared on the rink. Percy sat back down, muttering "no good son of a…"
"Percy," I said to him. He looked up. The anger was still in his eyes, but it dissipated as he stared at me. I blushed, but I had to thank him. "Thanks. I didn't know you would stand up to a jerk like that for me."
He gave me a bashful smile. "Of course I would. I would face anyone for you. I've done it before." He replied with a laugh. I giggled, too, thinking of all the gods and monsters and titans we had faced together.
Rachel blushed, as if she were embarrassed to overhear our conversation. "Well Percy," she said, trying to hold back laughter. "Thank you for teaching me to skate. I actually better get going. My dad will freak out if I miss my plane back to Clarion Academy tomorrow."
"You're still going there?" I asked. Percy had told me about Rachel's deal with her father.
"Yeah, actually, it's not so bad. They have an art program that I take so it isn't so boring." She explained to us.
"Oh, well, that's good. At least you can do something you like," said Percy. "I hope you had fun, Rachel." He reached up and gave her a hug goodbye.
She gave me a hug. I whispered in her ear, "Good luck," She smiled at me and walked out of the arena.
Percy turned his attention back to my head. He examined it carefully.
"So," I said nonchalantly, "It was nice to see Rachel again."
"Yeah," he said absently. He prodded a tender spot on my forehead and I bit back a curse. "Sorry! I'm not much of a doctor. I don't have any ambrosia left."
"It's…" I swallowed. "…okay."
"I'll be right back," said Percy. "I want to see if I can find you an ice pack." I nodded and he walked over to the concession stand to talk to the cashier.
He's so sweet. I thought. I can't believe I was… jealous of Rachel. There was no need. So what if she kissed him? I'm his best friend. I have nothing to worry about.
Percy came back over and sat down in front of me on the bench.
"I found an ice pack," He said.
"Fantastic," I said sarcastically. Percy laughed.
"So, uh…" He held the pack near my head, but he stopped to brush a curl that had escaped my ponytail out of my eyes. His hand lingered near my face. "Um, here," he said. His cheeks were the color of ripe strawberries. I bit my lip to keep from giggling.
He held the ice to my forehead. "Thanks," I whispered. He nodded, but was unable to speak. "Percy-"
"No, don't say anything." He cut me off. "I'm sorry. Even if Rachel showed up, I shouldn't have ditched you. It was rude and mean and I'm really, really sorry."
"Percy, I'm not mad at you." I replied.
"I know, you'll be- what? You're not mad?" He looked shocked.
"No," I sighed. "Well, I was, but I was being stupid." He giggled as if that were impossible. "I was a little…" I faltered. Could I tell him how I felt?
"A little what?" He pressed me.
"A little… jealous," I braced myself for his laugh, squinting my eyes. But when I opened them, Percy was smiling. "What?" I asked.
It took a minute for him to find his voice. He lowered the ice pack away from my face. "I was jealous, too. Of you and John. I was freaked out because I hadn't realized how jerky I had been. I can't believe… Are you really jealous?"
I hesitated. This was my chance. I could lie and just pretend there was nothing between Percy and I. On the other hand, I could tell him the truth and just get it over wi-wait What did he just say? "Did you just say you were jealous of John? Winslow?" Percy nodded slowly. Oh my gods. He really cares about me.
"Percy," I looked back up at him. We were almost nose-to-nose. "I-I…" His sea-green eyes twinkled in the light of the rink. His finger came up and stopped my voice.
"I love you, too." He leaned in and kissed me.
It was so right. It was so satisfying. I had always wanted to do this, kiss him with no monsters attacking us.
My ice pack landed on the floor of the arena with a thump. But, Percy and I were too busy to notice.