A/N: This is just a hearty love story that will make you melt! Not.
Thanks to Lils (my friend) for helping me! Check out her profile on Wattpad! (Penguin-The-Book-Lover) (Without the dashes, because if I don't put them in, the site will edit it out)
Annabeth carefully brushed out her long golden curls. But unfortunately, today was a bad day to try to comb it out. Her hair simply would not budge - it was as bouncy and curly as possible. In fact, it looked like Annabeth curled it many many times, even though all she did was try and put leave-in conditioner in it.
"AUUGHHH!" She screams. With a brush full of golden hair in one hand and the bottle of leave-in condition in the other, Annabeth definitely looks like a person you did not want to mess with.
The sparkly phone on her dresser suddenly chimed. Annabeth gave up on her hair and went to answer it, sighing repeatedly.
"Hello?" Annabeth says, collapsing on her bed.
"OMG, ANNABETH! Are you up yet?! I can't believe it! I SLEPT THROUGH MY ALARM CLOCK THAT WENT OFF TWO MINUTES AGO AND NOW I'M LATE! FOR HIGH SCHOOL!" It was Piper, her overactive-slash-dramatic friend. "OH NO! MY HAIR LOOKS AWFUL! ANNIE I AM COMING OVER TO YOUR HOUSE NOW AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME! WAHHHHH!" Make that very overactive-slash-dramatic friend.
"Re-lax Pipes. We've got like, three more hours till school starts!" It was true. Right now it's 5:30 am, because Piper had to insist that they wake up that early. Hazel was up too, but unlike somebody, she didn't call at 5 in the morning just because she overslept 2 minutes.
"But An-nie! I have to come! I'll bring my makeup and some clothes!" Annabeth could just hear Piper pouting.
"Fine. But hurry up!"
Five minutes later, Piper came over hauling a big bag of makeup and hair stuff and clothes and shoes and - you get the idea. "Okay," She says, blowing a strand of dark hair out of her face. "It's work time." Annabeth laughed, shaking her head.
But it was work time.
Piper spent 10 minutes on Annabeth's hair. She said the curls were pretty, but don't brush it or else it would get frizzy. Then she braided a small strand of hair from each side of her head to the back, letting the rest of the curls fall down past her armpits. Despite her dramatic-ness, Annabeth thought as she admired the effect, Piper was really talented at hair.
Next was Piper's choppy chocolatey hair. She had gotten a haircut over the weekend, so it didn't have as many split ends. Her hair was surprisingly smooth and shiny - she usually washed it once every two weeks.
Annabeth brushed it out, and Piper pulled out her phone to show her the picture of the hairstyle. It was a half-up half-down, with little ringlet curls at the end. There was also a small braid on the sides, and it was tied with a elegant twist.
"That's too hard, Pipes. Choose something else." Annabeth complained as she ran the brush a couple more times through her hair.
After a couple more seconds of arguing, Annabeth decided to stick with the hairstyle, but without the braid. When she was finished the twist, Piper squealed. "Is it done? Is it done?"
"Yes." Annabeth sighed. She turned the excited child on her chair around so that she was facing the mirror. The excited child squealed and turned around, admiring the effect. Despite her frustration with Piper, she had to agree that the hair was really pretty. The little curls at the ends put a bounce to the whole look.
"Come on, it's almost six. We need to eat breakfast."
After some pancakes and blueberries, the girls trudged upstairs to hit the big parts - makeup and outfits.
Annabeth decided on an orange tank top and athlete's shorts. She added some silver bracelets to give a little light, and her normal orange sneakers. For makeup, she applied some concealer to get rid of the dark circles and some pimples. Piper insisted on adding powder to her cheeks, giving it a nice rosy color. But when she offered mascara to her, Annabeth drew the line. After putting on some tiny owl earrings, Annabeth was ready to go.
Piper, was a different story. She wanted, quote, something sassy, but not slutty. Classy but not boring. Pretty, but not too girly. Mature, but not too mature, unquote. So, you can see why Annabeth's patience was low, very low.
"Hurry up already!" She snapped.
"I'm done!" Piper came out of the closet. She was wearing a shimmery crop top, denim shorts, and a pair of red high top sneakers with sequins. Annabeth sighed. "Might wanna switch the top, Pipes. You'll get dress-coded before they even start school."
"Ugh! This is the only one I like though!" Piper threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Lemme do this." Annabeth went in the closet, which was a mess, by the way. "Just wear this!" She came back holding up a shimmery blue T shirt that said Cats R Awesome. Piper immediately started to sulk.
"But that doesn't match my shoes!" She cried, putting her hands on her face dramatically.
After another 10 minutes of arguing, Piper finally decided to wear the shirt and the shorts, but change the red high tops to shimmery high tops to match the shirt. By then, it was already 7:30.
"I still need to do makeup!" Piper yelped, panicking.
Annabeth dabbed some shimmery eyeshadow and mascara on her eyes. Piper insisted on the new blush she bought, and blah blah blah, 10 minutes later, they were finally done.
Piper and Annabeth walked to Goode High, chatting and panicking.
"Oh no! I think I forgot my English book!"
"That's why you should always prepare. But don't worry, you can borrow mine."
"But you're in like, college classes!"
"You can borrow my old one, when I used it in 7th grade!"
"You still have it?"
"Like I said, I'm always prepared, even if somebody's not."
As the girls walked to their high school, Hazel, their other friend came up to them with her boyfriend Frank.
"Hey guys!" She grinned and hugged them both.
"Hi Hazel! Hi Frankie!" Piper squealed. Annabeth had to roll her eyes.
For her first period, she had GT/AA/CH Algebra 9 with Ms. Dodds. In short, she had crazy hard, gifted talented, advanced academic Algebra 2,394 with Ms. Dodds. Okay, that's not the short version but it's still correct. No one she knew was also in that class, but she recognized Nico D'Angelo from her old school. And like its name, the class was crazy hard.
Next was Marine Biology. Where she met the boy of her dreams. Oh-so-very gorgeous Percy Jackson. My, how glad was she to have let Piper put on the makeup! But not that she stood a chance. Percy Jackson was with Rachel Dare, a popular and nice girl with red hair. Annabeth didn't like her very much, but she had to admit that Rachel was one of the nicest people she ever met.
Speaking of her, Rachel walked in right now.
"Hey Percy!" She says, grinning widely enough so that everyone could see her shiny pearly whites. Percy also grinned, but in Annabeth's opinion it wasn't as big as Rachel's. But then again, Annabeth does have a big imagination.
The couple turned towards each other to kiss, but Annabeth turned her head at the last second so she didn't see it. Good.
The class was basically torture. Rachel sat in front of Annabeth, and Percy sat behind her. So Rachel would always turn around, flash that big silly grin at Percy so much that Annabeth had to throw up.
During lunch, Rachel and Percy sat at their table, much to her disappointment. Annabeth guessed from Rachel's fake smile, Percy had made her sit here. "So, what's up?" He asks. Piper rolls her eyes.
"What in the world are you doing here?" Piper snap. She dislikes Rachel as much as Annabeth does, mostly because she's dating Percy.
"Well, I didn't want to sit with the girly girls." Percy says, shooting Rachel a sharp glance. "And she didn't want to sit with my friends."
"Excuse me? Since you diss my friends, it's only fair that I should diss yours!" Rachel protests.
The couple holds a angry staring contest, which Annabeth supposes Percy won, because he relaxed and Rachel had pouted.
Before anyone could say anything, Jason, Frank, Leo, and Hazel arrived. "What are they doing here?" Jason asks, not glancing at Percy. They have some sort of feud a couple years back, but they healed. Then, when Percy started dating Rachel, they grew back out again.
"Oh, just some couple problems." Piper waves her hand like I don't care. Percy and Rachel stiffens. Jason nods, but the disapproval in his eyes is clear enough for a blind person to see.
Just so you know, the awkward silence is awkward.
Finally, Rachel decided that this was enough. She stands up and says in a clear voice, "I don't care anymore Percy. If you don't like me, why don't you date her? I mean, I don't feel like having a boyfriend anymore."
If the gushiness in the morning annoyed Annabeth, it was nothing compared to that comment. Annabeth's nostrils flared. Rachel clearly knew that Annabeth had a crush on Percy, and how could she just diss her by announcing that Percy had a crush on someone else!
Annabeth could feel anger pulsing in her. She got up from the table and left.
"Anniieeee!" Piper protests. "Why did you leave us?"
Annabeth didn't answer. Piper has no idea that she had a crush on Percy. And besides, she had to do her homework!
"ANSWER me! Pleaseeeee!"
"Go. Away." She says through gritted teeth.
"Fine! But this ain't over yet, Wise Girl!"
A couple sounds of shuffling feet and Annabeth sighs a breath of relief.
"So, why did you leave, eh?" A deeper voice sounds behind her. Annabeth turns around slowly in her chair.
"What do you want?" She snaps at Percy.
"I want to know what's in your head."
"Your head has a big, dumb, Seaweed brain in it."
"It does? Oh, my lady. I didn't know!"
"Shut up and go away."
"Fine! Fine..." Percy raises his hands in a surrender gesture. He slowly backs up...
...and then he runs straight back. Annabeth groans. "What do you want?!"
"Come on, Wise Girl! I know you have the hots for me!" Percy protests. "Everyone knows that!"
"Who told you to call me Wise Girl?" She snaps, hoping her face isn't turning too red.
"Who told you to call me Seaweed Brain?"
"That's different."
"Oh, it is?"
"Piper made up that nickname for me. Not you."
"What if I say that I made it up, and Piper simply stole it from me?"
"Not believing you."
"Gods, you are so... "
"Unbelievable?"
"Exasperating."
"Why are you here? Isn't Rachel waiting for you?"
"Uh... About that, we broke up."
"How surprising."
"Wait, you knew?"
"No, I'm just a calm person." (It's true, Annabeth is one of the calmest people she knew.)
"You annoy me."
"You annoy me even more."
"Shut up."
"Go away."
Silence. Then silence again.
"Wise Girl?"
"Don't call me that."
"Fine. Annie?"
"Don't call me that either."
"Ugh! Annabeth!"
"Yes?"
"You're really pretty, did you know that?"
"Luke told me, and look how that turned out."
"Geez! You make every attempt for a guy to flirt a major mistake!"
"Ha ha. Very funny."
"No, I'm serious."
"Percy, I'm serious. Now go away."
"Annieee!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Can I play with your hair?"
Annabeth turned, surprised. "What?"
"Pleaseeee?" Percy pouted.
"Fine. Don't mess it up, Piper spent 1 hour on it." That wasn't exactly true, but Annabeth was willing to exaggerate.
"Can I braid it?"
"Whatever."
10 minutes later, Percy announces that he is done.
"What horrible braid did you do to mess my hair up?"
"French fishtail."
"Okay. Can you go now?"
"How about a thank you?"
"Thank you."
"Okay."
"Not. Now go away!"
But the annoying black headed boy didn't. Instead, he reached over, cupped Annabeth's face with both hands, and pressed his mouth gently to hers. Annabeth was sure that she must've turned into a tomato, but she didn't care.
The pressure on her mouth, the warm hands, she didn't want it to end.
"I knew you liked it, so don't even pretend!" Percy let go and skipped away, apparently pleased.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face for the rest of the day.
And one small fact, she kept the braid - it wasn't that bad anyway!