Hey, guys. I know it's been a while and I'm really sorry! I just got back from a month-long vacation with no wifi at all, so I couldn't update, and now school started. Last night, though, I got into a bike crash and have at least 9 bleeding parts. My upper lip is swollen and I have a scar above my left eye and a raspberry under it. On the bright side...I got to stay home from school, so...now I can update! Yayyy

Also, I'm a little touchy right now because my little sisters are treating me like crud, and saying that I'm faking my pain over all my cuts and scars and bruises (If you two are reading this, NO I AM FREAKING NOT YOU TRY HAVING YOUR LIP IMPALED BY THREE OF YOUR BRACES AND HAVING IT HURT SO BAD YOU CAN'T FREAKING TALK AND IF YOU THINK I'M BEING OVERDRAMATIC AT LEAST I DIDN'T CRY AT ALL INSTEAD I GRITTED MY TEETH, TORE MY FLESH OFF MY BRACES AND BIKED AT LEAST 5 KILOMETERS HOME WITH A BLEEDING HEAD, LIP, HAND, AND KNEE, WHEREAS IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU YOU WOULD CRY SO MUCH PEOPLE IN SEATTLE WOULD HEAR IT) *pants*

Okay. I'm better now. Sorry. I said I was touchy!

Disclaimer: Nopeddy nope nope nope.

Annabeth sat on the beach, staring into the sunset. She clasped Percy's hand with her own, the two of them sitting in silence, admiring the view of the sun slowly disappearing into the ocean.

"So..." Percy started. "I wanted to talk to you about someth-"

Percy was cut off when Leo ran onto the beach engulfed in flames, yelling, "I AM ON FIRE!" And dove into the water. A moment later Leo's head popped up about ten metres out, water dripping from his hair. He started cracking up. "You...should've...seen...your...FACES!" He submerged again in his laughing fit.

Annabeth and Percy simply stared at each other with bemused expressions on their faces. Annabeth nodded her head in Leo's direction and Percy nodded back. Within a few seconds, a huge wave came out of nowhere and washed Leo ashore.

He stood up, spitting sand out of his mouth, and said, "Hey! Look what you did! Chicks don't dig guys with sand in their hair!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Leo, you have a girlfriend." Leo shrugged and walked back into the water to rinse the sand out.

At the same time, Jason walked up in hysterics, Piper trailing after him, looked bored and somewhat annoyed. "Dude that was awesome!" Jason called.

"For you, maybe," Leo shouted back grumpily. "Sand does not come out of pants! If you think it's so awesome maybe next time you should be the one to do it!"

"Leo." Jason gestured to his body. "Highly flammable." He then pointed to Leo. "Flame-resistant."

As the two boys bickered, Percy got up and joined them, supplying words here and there to fuel their argument.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Piper. "Hey, I wanted to go out and watch a movie with Jason or something. He was the one who dared Leo to do that."

Annabeth looked at the three boys who were all shouting at each other now. "Sometimes I question my choice of friendship," she sighed.

Percy shouted something unintelligible, waving his arms about. Another wave erupted from the shore, dousing the other two boys. Hands in pockets and whistling as Jason and Leo watched, shock visible on their dripping faces, Percy strolled up to where the two girls were talking. "Hey, do you guys know where Hazel and Frank are? They're supposed to be here in a few minutes."

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, when something shot past her at supersonic speeds. Wiping the hair that was blown by the wind away from her face, she turned and saw Hazel and Frank on Arion. Hazel looked bright and wide-awake; Frank looked like he was going to throw up. Hazel nimbly hopped off and went to feed Arion a gold nugget, and Frank almost tumbled off the horse's back, and stumbled around dizzily.

Arion grunted something, and Percy giggled. He turned to Frank and said, "Arion says you're a weak-stomached wimp." Arion tossed his mane and trotted off to stand beside Hazel, who had come closer to the group. Frank turned red. "Hey, man." Percy consoled him. "At least it's not as bad as 'silly Chinese-Canadian baby-man'."

Leo trotted up the beach in a manner not unlike Arion's. "He called you what now?"

Frank shot Leo a withering glare. "If you so much as try and-"

Leo ran off, no doubt about to spread the fact that Frank had gotten burned bad by a horse.

Arion nickered again, and Percy frowned at him. "Hey, watch your language." The horse whinnied, and actually stuck out his tongue at the son of Poseidon. Percy narrowed his eyes. "Now that is just inappropriate. Jeez, how can a horse like you belong to a girl like Hazel?" Arion whinnied once more, and turned and kicked sand all over Percy, who glared at him with much offence. "That is rude. You do know that he's your father too, right?" Arion neighed, and Percy snapped, "You, know what? It's high time that you learn to watch that mouth of yours. ARION THE HORSE, AS THE SON OF POSEIDON, THE LORD OF ALL HORSES, I DEMAND THAT YOU COME WITH ME."

Percy grabbed Arion's mane and ignored the horse's cries of protest. He proceeded to lead him away towards the stables.

Annabeth stared after the retreating pair with confusion and a hint of amusement. However, she was pretty sure of what Percy had in mind...

1 hour later

Percy came out with a lead attached to Arion's saddle. Annabeth looked up from where she sat on the beach chatting with the other two girls.

"'Sup?" Percy asked, covered in bruises that looked suspiciously hoof-shaped.

Annabeth looked at him warily. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Percy replied, as Arion sneezed out something that resembled soap bubbles. He glared (if horses could glare) at Percy, and cussed with words to rival Sadie Kane. Percy shot him a look, and he immediately turned and fled, racing across the ocean at 700 miles per hour.

From then on, all Percy had to do was pull out a bar of soap, and Arion would run away from him as fast as humanely horse-manely possible.