*I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters mentioned in this story. They belong to the amazing Rick Riordan*
Percy's POV:
"Jackson! Would you like me to get you a pillow and a blanket? Pay attention." Mr Hall's voice rang through the classroom, snapping me out of my day-dream. I looked around, realising I had missed about twenty minutes of the lesson, including Mr Hall explaining the entire assignment we were about to get. "Sorry Mr Hall. I'll try to pay attention." Which is easier said than done for an ADHD kid like me. Mr Hall is one of the only faculty members who knows about my 'Problems', and he usually cuts me some slack, but lately it's been getting worse. Some people can only be patient for so long.
"Good to hear Percy. Now, this assignment is a pairs project. I'm going to be choosing your groups so no, Charlie and Selena, you won't be working together. I actually want these assignments done guys, it's half your grade. So no Charlie and Selena, this isn't another opportunity to get in a quick make out session before your parents get home." The room erupted into a chaos of whistling and cheering, while Charles and Selena sank slowly into their seats. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Annabeth Chase, the school's freaky genius girl, rolling her eyes. I don't know what it was, but Annabeth was just generally unliked, mainly because of the fact that she thought she was better than everyone else in the school. The sound of Mr Hall's voice pulled me back into focus as he began calling out partners, getting multiple groans in reply. "Charlie, you're with Jason. Selena, you're with Thalia…" Selena started to protest, but one look from Thalia and she was staring at her shoes. Thalia is completely bad ass! That's why she's my best friend, and had been since pre-school.
I was laughing to myself when I heard my name called, but it was followed by the one name I was praying to the gods I wouldn't get paired with. "Percy, meet Annabeth. Don't think she's going to do all the work on this one either." I looked over at her, dread written all over my face, only to see that she shared the same expression. As Mr Hall finished calling out the partners, a shrill ringing echoed through the classroom. I grabbed my backpack and shoved my classics textbook inside when a curtain of blonde hair appeared at my shoulder. "Don't expect me to fail because you're completely incompetent." A snarky, yet strangely melodic voice called to me. My eyes rolled automatically, my usual reaction to hearing her voice. "Hello to you too Annabeth." I replied. "When do you want to meet up and work?" My first comment received a displeased grunt, but I didn't get the usual abuse. Instead I found myself an hour later standing outside a small apartment. I knocked, and a familiar curtain of blonde appeared at the door. "Hey. Excuse the mess. My dad's working a double tonight so it's just us." Her voice sounded shaky and nervous.
She led me down the hall to her room, which was littered with books and other random stacks of paper. I notice a picture of her, obviously a few years ago judging by the baby face, and another woman. The other woman looked just like Annabeth. Same sandy blonde hair, same storm grey eyes. "Is this your mum?" I asked curiously, getting a half-hearted nod in return. You look just like her. How come it's just you and your dad?" from the look on her face, I knew I had touched on a sore subject. "You don't have to tell me. It's none of my business, don't worry about it." I say, but the damage has already been done. I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and I felt an overwhelming urge to comfort her. My feet seemed to move by themselves, and before I could stop myself, I wrapped my arms around her. I could feel her sink into me, as if my arms were the only thing protecting her from her pain.
Suddenly, realising what was going on, she pulled away from me. "I'm sorry. Umm.. Okay, Greek mythology." She rambled, reaching for her textbook. As she pushed a stray strand of hair from her face, I felt my heartbeat falter for a second, and I couldn't stop myself from constantly glancing in her direction. "Okay, so Mr Hall said we had to pick one Ancient Greek hero and do a report on why they were an important historical figure." She said, climbing onto her bed and flipping her book open. I sat down next to her and we got to work.
About half an hour later, her voice wafted up from the book she was reading. "Hey. I don't know about you, but I could sure use a break." She said getting to her feet. "Pepsi?" I watched as she wandered off down the hall, returning with a can in each hand. She tossed one to me, then panicked as it exploded all over her bed. "Crap! Go get some towels or something!" she ordered as she stripped the Pepsi covered sheets and threw them in the wash. I handed her the towels, then stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. When she had finished, she glanced down at my Pepsi covered shirt. "You should probably give that to me to wash…"
Annabeth's POV:
What was wrong with him?! First, he spills Pepsi everywhere, and then just stands there like an idiot, not bothering to help clean up. That's not even mentioning the look he gave me when I offered to wash his shirt, like I was some sort of pervert. "Percy, that's going to stain your pretty white top if you don't let me wash it." Annoyancefilled my voice as I spoke. He looked at me for a moment, then reached up and pulled his shirt off over his head. I watched in awe. When he moved, every perfectly toned muscle in his chest tightened. He must have caught me staring because when I look at him again, he's smirking, clearly pleased with himself. "Get over yourself Jackson." He looked at me and burst out laughing. What can I say, his laugh is contagious. It made my stomach go all kinds of weird, and within a minute, we were collapsed in a fit of laughter. Somehow, I manage to control myself. Suddenly I realised that Percy had slowly moved closer to me. He reached up and pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
I looked up into his eyes, noticing the amazing sea green colour to them, then he leaned in. His lips brushed against mine, slowly at first, then harder, His lips perfectly moulding into the shape of mine. I found my hands twisting into his soft hair as he gradually pulled away. His eyes met mine for a moment, then stuttered out something that sounded like an apology. I didn't have time to process what he said though, before I crashed my lips to his. He seemed surprised at first, but melted into the kiss, placing his hands on my hips and lifting me onto the washing machine. My arms tangled around his body, pulling him closer to me, feeling him pull me even closer still. It was the most incredible feeling I'd ever experienced. Slowly, I pulled out of the kiss, before things got more intense. "We've still got a project to do Jackson." I said mockingly, pulling him by the hand back towards the stacks of books cluttering my bedroom.