This is one of my best friends Fanfiction stories for Percabeth. She doesn't have a Fanfic account. I don't own this story or the characters in it. All rights go to my friend and Rick Riordan
It was a fairly normal day in New York. The sun twinkled brightly in the sky at 7 in the morning, smiling cheerfully at the world below. It did not realize that not everyone down on Earth was in a spectacular mood yet.
5 year old Annabeth Chase dragged her feet through the small hallway in her house. "Daddy, it's too early!" she said groggily. Her dad just shook his head kindly in understanding. "If you want to go to kindergarten, you need to wake up early. Besides, you should be used to this. It's already October, you should know to wake up now." Annabeth suppressed a groan. Locking herself in her small room, she changed quickly, combed through her blonde hair with the help of her stepmother, and brushed her teeth. She walked half-asleep down the stairs, where a pile of pancakes was waiting for her.
"It's time to go," her dad said, ruffling her hair, after Annabeth downed her orange juice. Annabeth slouched down and picked up her backpack, cranky at the turn of events after her hearty breakfast. "Say bye to Mommy."
"Bye." She just wanted to go back and sleep, but her dad was dragging her to the car door, slamming it shut, and helping her put on her seatbelt. Annabeth's head lolled to one side, against her seat belt, and she had to snap it to keep herself awake.
Ten minutes later, Annabeth's dad pulled into the small parking lot of the school. The bright, copper colored roofs did not cheer Annabeth up at all. The smiling hand-drawn pictures on the mural outside the school didn't offer much help either. "See you later," he said with a wink. He watched Annabeth toddle over to her classroom. He hoped that she wouldn't complain about the curriculum again today. Annabeth complained that it was too easy for her, already knowing how to do math much more advanced than her grade level. He just hoped she wouldn't get teased a lot at school.
Annabeth walked quickly into the classroom. It was half-full with chattering toddlers, talking about things like princesses and dinosaurs. She didn't want to ruin their moods anymore, since she told them all the dinosaurs died out a very long time ago or that real princesses don't live like that. She just sat in the corner and started doodling. Annabeth wanted the room to be quiet. She was so alone that out of all the people in the class, the only person whose name she knew was the teacher's.
The teacher, a smiling woman with protuberant eyes and a dimpled face, was at a a meeting. Annabeth was just there very early, with some of the other kids. She really hoped the teacher would come soon. The kids' racket was about to blow her ears off, though her sense of logic knew it would never happen. Annabeth was very logical for a five year old. She never said her thoughts aloud, in fear of offending others.
She continued doodling with her new set of crayons. Her favorite crayon was a blue green one, the color of the ocean tide. She liked going to the beach a lot. It made her feel happy, like she could do anything.
There was a soft tap on her shoulder, bringing her back to the real world. Annabeth whipped her head around, about to tell off the person for interrupting her. Standing in her face was a small boy with messy, raven black hair, sea green eyes the color of her crayon, and an impish smile. He put his hand on the back of his neck sheepishly. "Hi. I'm Percy Jackson. What's your name?" Annabeth was surprised. This kid actually noticed her before?
"Annabeth Chase. Why did you come? Did you want to play with me?" she inquired. She thought she saw him as one of the boys frolicking around earlier.
"I wanted to see your crayon. It matches my eyes, see?" Percy snatched the crayon and put it up to his eyes. He grinned lopsidedly. It startlingly looked exactly the same in hue. Annabeth screamed, "No!" Desperate to take it back, she leaned across the round table. She tried furiously to snatch it back, but it was pointless. The crayon snapped in two. They fell limply onto the dirty ground, as motionless as rag dolls.
Annabeth was about to cry. She just lost her favorite crayon, thanks to a boy she had never seen before. Maybe he did look like a small prince from one of her fairy tales, but at that moment, she really didn't care at all. "What's wrong with you?!" she said shrilly. Percy just stood dumbly in the corner, a frightened look on his face. He tore away quickly, his short arms flailing, his wind-blown hair becoming even messier than it already was. With tears threatening to spill, Annabeth crouched down and picked up the half with the tip. She started another drawing in the corner of her paper. She drew so hard that she thought that the paper would give way and rip. For an odd reason, she really hoped the teacher would come in and start talking about some stuff she already knew. Even that was better than her losing one of her favorite possessions. She felt like someone important died.
She was surprised, even at herself, when she was mindlessly doodling something she thought she would never draw. She had no idea what she was doing, taking random crayons of different colors and scribbling them in random spots on the paper. But, even 30 minutes later, and the teacher hadn't returned, Annabeth found herself staring into a familiar face with dark hair and sea green eyes and a crooked smile, but the face was made of paper. When she went home, Annabeth hung it up on the wall in front of her bed, and she was oddly comforted when she knew Percy's smiling face was watching her as she slept. Maybe, she thought, he would keep the bad dreams away. And he did. Instead, he crawled into her dreams, making the best she had ever dreamed.