Hello! I just wanted to thank everyone for clicking on my story!
So in this story, some things may seem a little strange, and that's because I set this in Australia. I did think about setting it in America to make it easier for most reader's but then I decided that you could learn a bit about the Australian school system and the fact that we say Mum with a 'U'. So here we have high school from grades 7-12 and other stuff too. Like, in Autumn, I can wear shorts and a shirt. We really only have 2 months of winter and 10 months of summer where I live.
Oh, and if I make the twins speak at the same time, it's because they both have the same answer and it is a matter of probability when they speak at the same time. I'm a twin, I should know.
Disclaimer: Unless I was secretly Rick Riordan on a FANfiction site, I do not own PJO.
When a child is born, they are found to have small circle tattooed on their bodies like a birthmark. This signifies the presence of their soulmate. When a person meets their soulmates, the name of the soulmate will appear in the circle as if by magic. In these modern times, scientists have tried to figure out this soulmate phenomenon, but they soon abandon the task as this matter was out of the hands of science. Some people never find their soulmates, others are born without the little circles and usually try to live their lives normally, maybe even falling in love with someone else, disregarding the fact that they don't have soulmates. But the worst case is if you find that someday, your circle has shaded over black. This means that your soulmate has died.
You shouldn't spend your life wishing to find that special someone. You need to go out and live your life. You will find that person one day, but that day will come when you least expect it.
At least, that is what Annabeth's mother told her when she was four. They lay there on her bed looking at the mark on the upper side of her left foot. Her mum told her this in the place of a bedtime story. Annabeth frowned and looked at the little circle that was decorating her foot. This thing would tell her who she would ultimately spend her life with? It was a troubling thought, but it didn't stop her from dreaming about what her soulmate could possibly look like.
12 years later
Annabeth was sitting in a café with her friends, Thalia and Piper. Rachel was at some sort of afternoon rich people party thing that her father forced her to go to.
"It's not fair!" She complained. "You guys aren't being ridiculed at school for not finding your soulmates yet and I am. There are heaps of other people who don't find them until they're older but apparently it is worse for me because I get the best grades. So what if I smash the other students in the ground at academics AND sport. They all say that if I'm so amazing, I should've been able to find mine by now."
Piper looked sort of guilty but pleased because she had met her soulmate a couple of months ago when he had moved in with his older sister Thalia who right now just looked really bored at this conversation. Thalia was born without a circle and she was proud of it. She didn't even want to fall in love anymore. She did once have a crush on this guy, but he had to move because of some family problems. She even went as far as to join a group of girls who vowed to never fall in love. They were a mix of girls who either had a mark, had no mark, or had their soulmate die before or after meeting them. But they all didn't want to fall in love.
Annabeth sighed and flopped back in her chair. She knew that some people never found theirs or they didn't find them until later in life, but everyone made having a soulmate sound amazing, she just wanted to feel that connection.
Annabeth checked her watch and groaned.
"Sorry guys, I've got to go and look after the house so that the twins don't blow anything up while the adults are out having fun. Lucky me."
Piper smiled sympathetically and wished her good luck while Thalia just sent her a sarcastic thumbs-up. Annabeth walked out of the café. Her house was just a couple of kilometres away but she decided to jog home to make sure that she got there on time. As she was jogging, she went through the process of her favourite game, trying to imagine what her soulmate would be like. He could be tall with light, chestnut brown hair that cut not too short, but not too long either. He could have clear blue eyes with long eyelashes that are almost too pretty to be on a boy. He could enjoy reading just like she does and could spend time with her curled up on the couch reading.
Imagining things like that often took her the whole way home and it was no different today as she reached her front door. She turned the knob and opened the door to find her step-mum rushing around, getting ready to go out for the afternoon. Annabeth slipped inside and quietly padded up the stairs to her room. She flopped onto her bed face first and just lay there.
The next day she was reading Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud while listening to her iPod on shuffle. She was glad for this day where there is nothing to do except laze around wearing stripy toe-socks. The song Words by Kate Miller-Heidke ends and one by Percy Jackson replaces it. (Disclaimer: The song is Superman by Five For Fighting)
I'm more than a bird
I'm more than a plane
I'm more than a pretty face, beside a train
And it's not easy to be me.
All of the girls at school always gossip about how Percy Jackson hasn't found his soulmate yet and how they could be the one. It is kind of ridiculous actually. But she does admit that his voice is amazing and the lyrics that he writes are better than others that go Oh Baby, baby, baby Oh! and have people feeling themselves in the music video.
Her phone buzzed with a text message and she reached for it with a lazy grunt.
Rachel: Party at 2. The address is ********.
Annabeth (me): Why should I go?
Rachel: Because someone from the thing yesterday invited me and said I could bring friends if it makes me more comfortable. It is only a small get together with a few of his friends.
Annabeth (me): *sighs* Just because that is the longest message you have ever written with no incorrect grammar and you will drag me there anyway, I will go.
Rachel: J
Annabeth groaned and checked the time. It was already noon so she went to go her cupboard to find something presentable to wear in front of strangers. Since it had been a bit colder than usual for autumn, she went for the classic jeans and a shirt combo with her boots. She went downstairs and grabbed an apple from the kitchen.
"Dad! I am going out with Rachel! Bye!" she called up to her dad's office. Annabeth doubted that he heard her but she was already out the door. She left early for the address since, even though it wasn't that far away, she didn't feel like jogging and wanted to make sure she got there on time.
Annabeth was kind of miffed that her lazy day would be interrupted by a get together held by a person she didn't even know. At least Rachel made a friend at that rich people party so she could have someone to talk to. Rachel is never going to be able to find her soulmate because he (she is not a lesbian) died a couple of years after she was born. Rachel wasn't too cut up about it, but Annabeth believed that it was good for her to have many friends.
Annabeth arrived at a large house that looked really nice and homely. It had pots filled with pretty white flowers that seemed well cared for. There was a large tree in the front yard that had a rope attached to one of the thicker branches. She could hear music coming from the house and sudden shouts of laughter.
Taking one last mournful look at the path that would take her home, she trudged up to the front door. She knocked on the door and heard footsteps coming her way. The door opened to reveal a woman wearing a flour-coated apron and a smile.
"Hello, who are you?" the woman asked.
"Um hi. My friend told me to come to this address for some get together thing. The guy she met yesterday who invited her said she could bring some friends." Annabeth stumbled over a few words, a bit embarrassed to be at a place of people who she had never met and expecting to be allowed inside.
The woman's showed signs of recognition. "You must be one of Rachel's friends. My son said that he invited some extra people over. I met Rachel when I was picking him up from the party. He said the party was full of rich snobs but she was pretty much the only one he could stand talking to." She opened the door wider. "Come in. lots of his friends haven't arrived yet, but Rachel is here. By the way, my name is Sally for future reference."
Sally ushered Annabeth into the hallway and led her to the kitchen. There, she picked up a plate of cookies that were dyed blue. Then Annabeth was led towards a room at the back of the house.
"Percy! There is another guest and cookies!" Sally called through the door.
Annabeth heard the pounding of feet racing towards them and the door swung open to reveal a boy with messy dark hair, gorgeous sea-green eyes and a tall, slender frame. Percy Jackson, radio icon and the object of obsession for many a teenage girl stood right in front of her.
As Annabeth stood in stunned silence, Rachel came bounding forward. She grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. Rachel pulled her onto a soft, blue couch, looked her right in the eyes, and started laughing.
"You-ha ha-should've- hehaha-seen your face." She said, gasping for air through fits of giggles. Annabeth was not amused.
"Why the hell didn't you say that the guy you met was Percy Jackson?" She demanded.
"Because then it would've been harder to drag you out of your cave. Come on, he is not some stuck-up rich snob. You've met his mother, how can he be like that with someone like Sally to raise him?"
Annabeth sighed and glanced around the room. So far, it seemed that there was only two other people in the room. A guy who seemed to be a couple of years younger than herself dressed in black and silver was playing Mythomagic in the corner with another guy with a Rasta-style cap, curly hair and a green eco-maniac shirt.
Percy and a guy with blonde hair and flip-flops walked into the room, each with a cookie in their mouths and holding the plate as well. The blonde guy walked over to the kid wearing black, ruffled his hair and plopped down next to him. Percy came and sat down next to Rachel and Annabeth. He offered them a cookie from the large plate that he was carrying.
Annabeth gingerly took one. "Umm…I am almost afraid to ask this but…"
"Why are they blue?" Percy supplied. "It is really silly. My ex-stepfather, he was a jerk by the way, said that there was no such thing as blue food so my mum went out of her way to make everything blue. The habit stuck, I guess. Besides, everything tastes better when blue."
She blinked in surprise. "Okay then."
Rachel turned to face him. "Did you see her face? It was hilarious! Piper won't be as surprised since she hangs out with mega-famous people all the time because of her dad but Thalia and Jason might be. I was really just waiting for Annie's reaction."
Annabeth looked at stared at Rachel with one eyebrow raised.
"Rachel," she said in a soft but dangerous voice, "what did you just call me? Did you just say the forbidden word?"
Rachel gulped. "I am going to go see if Sally needs any help." She then ran out the door, making the sign against evil at Annabeth.
Annabeth fell back against the couch laughing. "That was just too good. You would think that she would learn not to call me that by now. Is it so hard for her to remember to call me Annabeth?"
Percy seemed amused. She surveyed him. He was still a ridiculously good-looking superstar but he appeared more real up close with cookie crumbs on his shirt. He had the same smiling eyes as his mother, they were just a different colour. Other than that, he looked nothing like his mum.
An idea popped into her head. "Sing for me." She didn't really ask so much as she ordered.
"Why?" He asked with a confused expression on his face. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"You are a world famous singing mega-star, why wouldn't I ask you to sing for me? Sing whatever you want, I just want to hear you live. My own private concert." She smiled tentatively. "Please?"
He shrugged and smile back. "Okay." He then started softly singing the start to The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book.
Annabeth giggled. "No, sing something else." He then went through songs from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and The Lion King until he finally reached Frozen.
"Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymore!" Percy sung, loud and proud while everyone else that had walked into the room just looked on amusedly. Now there was a lot more people in the room but Annabeth was laughing too much to take notice of them.
"Stop!" She wheezed. "Please stop! Do you have some kind of Disney fetish or something?"
"You cannot beat Disney! Disney is the foundation of every kid, adult and teenager."
She looked at Percy's beaming face and could feel a sense of easiness and familiarity from hanging out with him. He was just like any other dorky but funny guy. Not some big-headed, arrogant prick who lived on the lap of luxury.
"So Annabeth, tell me about yourself." He said eagerly, leaning forward with is chin on his hand. So they both talked about themselves. Small things like favourite colours to stuff like what they want in life. They also exchanged entertaining anecdotes that had them in fits of laughter. She really felt as though she had made a new friend.
Annabeth felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around to see Thalia, Rachel, Piper and Jason standing behind her with sinister grins on their faces.
"Hey guys! When did you get here?" She asked, standing up to give each of them, including Jason a hug.
Thalia laughed. "We've been here for over an hour, you were too engaged to notice though."
"I've really been talking for that long?" She looked at the clock on the wall then smiled sheepishly at Percy. "Sorry for taking up so much of your time."
"Nah." He said. "It's fun talking to you. But I think that I should introduce you guys to everyone now that everyone is here.
Percy led them around the room, introducing them to the teenagers that had crowded the room. She recognised them all from her school either in her class, different classes or in different grades. There was Nico and his soulmate Will; they were the Goth guy and the sunshiny one in thongs. Then there was Silena, a beautiful girl with her soulmate (Charles) Beckendorf. Leo and Calypso. Travis and Katie. Reyna on her own. Connor on his own. Frank and Hazel. Almost everyone there had a soulmate.
"So I guess it's true that you haven't found your soulmate yet." Piper mentioned to Percy. "Annabeth hasn't yet either. See Annabeth?" Piper said to her. "Even a superstar hasn't found his partner yet. You're not alone."
Annabeth was about to come up with some remark that would've been really cool (shut up, it totally would've) but then she got a text message. She checked her phone to see a message from her dad asking her if she could come home and help her stepmother make dinner.
"Sorry guys, I've got to go." She said apologetically.
"Do you want me to drive you home?" Thalia offered. Annabeth smiled, sometimes it was beneficial to have a friend who was a couple of years older.
"Sure, bye everyone." She hugged them all, lingering with Percy, holding him just a couple of seconds longer. For some reason, it felt nice to hug him. It just felt right.
Annabeth stepped into the warm bath, sending delightful shivers through her body. At the end of the day, a relaxing bath or shower is her Elysium. Dinner was an awkward affair with her dad taking his dinner up to his office and her stepmother trying to reign in her twin stepbrothers who were being rowdy as usual. While she was just sitting there quietly eating her dinner. But now in the bath, she was in a state of bliss. Her lemon scented bath oils made the steam that rose up have a heavenly scent.
Annabeth grabbed the pumice stone from the edge of the bath, and started scrubbing her feet, making her skin smooth. Her eyes focused on the mark that lay on the upper side of her left foot and gasped. There were two words written in gorgeous cursive, spelling out the name; Perseus Jackson.
She stood up and wrapped a towel around herself. She walked into her room, put her pyjamas on and took her phone from her bag.
Annabeth (me): Come to my house ASAP.
Piper: We are all still at the party. What's the rush?
Annabeth (me): Just come. It is urgent.
Piper: Should we bring Jason?
Annabeth (me): Sure. Unless he wants to stay there.
Piper: Jason is having a broment with Percy. I will get Thalia to drive us girls.
Annabeth buried her face in her pillow. But then her mind decided to work against her and she took another peek at her foot. The name was still there. To be honest, in all of her years of imagining what her soulmate may be like, she never imagined him to be anything like Percy.
The weight of three teenaged girls sitting on her bed suddenly appeared and she rolled over to see Piper, Thalia and Rachel staring at her with concerned looks on their faces. Without a word, Annabeth waved her foot at them. Rachel caught her foot and gasped, just as she did. The others sited the little circle and reacted much the same as they both did.
Then the three girls started squealing hysterically.
"Annabeth, this is so great!" Piper exclaimed.
"No, it is not." She answered.
"Why not? He's a hottie and has an amazing singing voice." Rachel questioned confusedly.
"But he will always be surrounded by fans and he would always be travelling as well. Plus, the girls would either hate me even more or they would pretend to be nice to me so that they could get close to him. I can handle that but it seems a little scary." Annabeth was so conflicted. She had been dreaming of this moment for forever but now that it has finally come…
"The truth is that I am scared. I am afraid that he will reject me or die while he is still young. Just like Mum died and Dad lost her."
Her friends climbed up beside her and started to squash her until she disappeared into a best friend hug. They were so close together that Annabeth could see Piper's circle on the inside of her wrist and Rachel's shaded circle on her deltoid. She remembers Jason showing her his on his chest when he was going swimming at the beach. He was proud to show off the fact that Piper McLean is his while all Annabeth is thinking right now is how much she wants to hide hers.
Rachel then pipes up. "You know the travelling problem that you would have with Percy? Well yesterday when I told him what school I went to, he said that his manager is allowing him to take a break from travelling so much and that his mum chose our school as most of his friends either go to our school or go to schools near it."
"Hmm?" Annabeth hears her, but she is already falling into a deep slumber, undisturbed by dreams.
The next morning, Annabeth wakes to find a pile of limbs tangled around her. She rolls over to see Piper curled up like a cat snoring peacefully. Rachel and Thalia intertwined with her own legs as well. She can smell frying eggs and tomato wafting up from the kitchen and her stomach rumbles, as if agreeing with her nose.
Annabeth sits up and then pushed the sleeping girls off the bed, hearing the thuds and exclaims of surprise coming from them.
"Come on ladies, time for breakfast!" Comes the chirping of an over enthusiastic stepmother.
They traipse down the stairs and are hit by a wave of the holy smell of breakfast as soon as they reach the kitchen. At the dining table there are plates of scrambled eggs, fried mushrooms and tomatoes and hash browns. Each with a glass of apple and mango juice.
They all dig into the food, too tired to talk. While eating, Annabeth though about the events of yesterday, trying to formulate a plan.
When they all go back upstairs, Annabeth tells them her plan.
"I think I will just wait for him to find out that he is my soulmate. It would be too awkward to tell him and it might seem too demanding, like I expected something from him."
The other girls all agreed grudgingly. They then started making plans for the day. Annabeth gave them all fresh clothes that were left here from the last time they slept over so that they all looked presentable. She called out to say goodbye to her dad, but again, she didn't think that he heard her.
They were walking to a park that was empty most of the time. It was just a fun little hang out where they could act like weirdos and not get any funny looks from the people around them. It was small with only a swing set, a slide, a park bench and clusters of trees. Today they were just lounging around. Annabeth swinging lightly on the swings, Piper texting on the slide with Thalia above her braiding her hair and Rachel sketching the scenery that surrounded her with a little sketch book that she carried around.
There was a certain peacefulness hanging around that was soon broken by the arrival of two unexpected guests.
"Thanks for coming Jason!" Piper ran towards Jason and wrapped her arms around him. Standing behind him looking uncomfortable was Percy Jackson. Piper was whispering in Jason's ear and Annabeth could see a sneaky grin form over his face. Rachel and Thalia bounded over to Percy and started pulling him towards the spare swing next to Annabeth. When they reached her, Annabeth sighed.
"You guys planned this, didn't you?" She sounded really annoyed.
"Planned what?" Percy asked, still quite confused as to why he was being dragged to random places. He just sat on the swing, dragging his legs across the ground.
"It doesn't matter, they're just meddling." She told him in a tone that told him not to question it.
"Oh, okay."
They swung in silence until the meddlers (Rachel, Piper, Thalia and Jason) decided it was time to start talking.
"So Percy," Piper started, "where is your soulmate mark?" Way to go Piper, could you be more obvious?
Percy just laughed. "It is on the small of my back, so I usually get one of my friends to take a picture of it. I got Nico to take a picture of it yesterday before the party. I could've asked Grover, but I wanted to see how Nico reacted to my hot bod since he is gay."
"Are you trying to suggest that Nico would like you better than his own soulmate? He looks very happy with Will." Annabeth admonished him.
"Nah. Nico used to have a crush on me but when he told me that, he then followed by saying that it turned out that I just wasn't his type. I mean, c'mon! I am everybody's type!" Percy sounded so ridiculous that they all started giggling.
Percy huffed. "Whatever. Hey! Since we are at a park, do want to play tag?"
Jason grinned. "Sure, why not? Let's all be kids again with our hot, sexy bods."
Percy pouted at how everyone was teasing him, but they all just laughed it off and nominated him as the person who was it. They all ran away from him while he waited ten seconds before he chased them. Annabeth felt a certain lightness fall over her as she ran across the grass, playing at being a kid again.
She looked around to see Jason chasing after her, having been tagged by Percy already. She pumped her arms and legs faster but it was no use as Jason's long legs caught up to her quickly. She put on a burst of speed but then she felt her ankle give out from beneath her and she fell down.
Annabeth cried out in pain when she hit the ground. Her left ankle was throbbing and it felt like her blood was made of fire around her ankle. She was barely aware of her friends talking around her. She felt warm, strong hands picking her up and taking her some place. She didn't know how long it took for them to get to her destination but she could feel herself being lain down on a soft couch that smelled like chocolate chip cookies and the ocean. Someone gave her water and a tablet and the pain started to ease. Annabeth looked up to see Sally taking off her shoe. As she was peeling off her sock, Annabeth could see her eyes widen and her face start to smile uncontrollably. But Annabeth was falling asleep, somewhere far away from the pain.
She woke to find her legs up on Percy's lap with him stroking the mark on her left foot that was peeking out from behind a bandage.
"Hey Percy." She said, her voice still groggy from sleep.
"Hey Annabeth." He answered. "The tablets you took were pretty strong and you mustn't be used to them if they knocked you out cold."
She nodded sleepily. "So, your full name is Perseus. A friend of mine had a grandfather called Perseus. I was a bit too surprised to notice that fact when I saw it last night though."
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, finally looking at her with his eyes full of hurt and concern.
She looked down. "I didn't want to seem like I was expecting something out of you. Besides, it would've been awkward to just go to you and say 'Hey, guess what? You're my soulmate!'. I was just hoping that you would find out on your own but I didn't want the way you found out to be so painful for me." Annabeth winced as she remembered the fire that shot through her ankle. Now it was just a dull throb, still uncomfortable, but bearable.
Percy was still tracing the circle that was tattooed on the top of her foot and it felt nice, like the pain was easing as he touched her.
"Um…Annabeth," he started looking a bit anxious, "does this mean that you would accept an offer of a date from me?"
Annabeth shrugged. "Sure, why not? Only if you let me see your mark." She was really curious to see how her name looked. She was NOT just doing this so she could see him shirtless (shut up brain!).
He raised his eyebrow suggestively at her but then turned towards the door. "Do you eavesdroppers want to come and see as well?" He called through the door. The door opened and her friends and Percy's mum came tumbling through the door over to where they were sitting.
"Well come on Percy." Rachel demanded. "We all want to see how Annabeth's name looks on your 'hot bod'." She snickered and did the little bunny rabbits over the 'hot bod' part. She will never stop teasing him for that.
Percy rolled his eyes and took his shirt off. After being momentarily distracted by his smooth, tanned skin, Annabeth's eyes focused on the circle on the small of his back. There was her name, written in the same cursive as his name on her foot. Sally squealed and hugged them both, exclaiming at how excited she was that her son had found such a pretty soulmate. And that he had even found his soulmate.
Annabeth returned Sally's hug, feeling as if she had been accepted. Soon, she felt Percy's arms around her and then all of her friends. It felt nice to be surrounded by people who cared for her.
Sally drove them all home in her seven seater family car that she absolutely loved and had to buy. The seats folded down so it had room for Percy's equipment when he went to do a local show. Thalia sat in the front seat, claiming her rights as the oldest. Piper, Annabeth and Rachel sat in the middle while Percy and Jason were kicked to the back of the car with their heads brushing the roof.
They went to Annabeth's place first since she was the closest and needed to get home and rest her foot. They all clambered out of the car because….well really because they could. Jason and Sally helped her up to the front door and she told Rachel, Piper and Thalia to hide Percy behind them. She didn't know what her family's reaction would be if they found out that her soulmate was on the radio daily.
She knocked on the door and it opened to reveal her stepmother. She looked surprised to see this amount of people plus a lady she didn't know but she ushered them all in to the living room.
"Sorry for intruding, it's just that Annabeth here sprained her ankle and her friends brought her to my place. I wrapped it up for her and gave her pain relievers. Oh, and I am being terribly rude, my name is Sally Jackson." Annabeth could see her stepmother's eyes widen when Sally introduced herself. She started gushing about how she had read all of her books and couldn't wait for her next one (Oh! So Sally was the author that she was always raving about. She would have to read them).
Piper couldn't keep herself quiet any longer. "Annabeth found her soulmate!" She quickly covered her mouth and mumbled a sorry.
Her step-mum turned to her. "Really?" She could see the glimmer of excitement in her eyes.
Annabeth sighed. "Yes, really. I met him because the party yesterday was held by him. Percy! You can come into the room now!" When he walked into the room, her step-mum became even more surprised than before. But she maintained her composure this time.
"Come in and sit down! I need to get the camera. I need to get a picture of you all together and then of just those two! I will drag Frederick out of his cave as well so he can meet you." She rushed upstairs and they all just stayed where they were, blinking.
"You know, your step-mum might have had her brain fried from this last ten minutes." Thalia said thoughtfully.
"I think so too." Piper agreed.
"Well," Sally smiled brightly, "she is a very lovely woman. I can't wait to see what your dad's is like. We will be seeing a lot of each other from now on anyway."
"Yes. We will also see a lot of Percy when the 2nd school term starts in a few days." Rachel said gleefully. Percy groaned. "I don't know whether to be excited, afraid or disgusted that I will be going to school."
"Oh, be afraid. You have a bunch of girls who think that you should be theirs at our school. But most of the people will be cool towards you. It is just a handful of people who are crazy."
They heard the sounds of a very rushed man coming into the room and Frederick appeared with the twins and step-mum behind him. He came and sat down on the edge of the couch next to Annabeth.
"Annabeth." He said seriously, looking straight in the eye. "If is good for nothing else except singing…" he looked at Percy threateningly, "…then he at least would be able to serenade you." Frederick started sniggering, amused at himself while Percy just sat there stunned. Everyone broke out into fits of laughter.
"Percy." Jason said. "You were shaking you were that scared" The twins jumped up onto Percy and started pulling his hair and poking him. Then they turned to Annabeth.
"We approve." They said together.
"You just like because you can brag to your classmates. You are not allowed to sell tickets to see him." Annabeth said.
"You know us so well." Said Matthew, the eviler of the twins.
Sally then stood up. "I'd better be driving the rest of them home as it is getting late." She addressed her parents. "Do you want to come over for dinner sometime? I would like to get to know you better." The adults exchanged contact details while the kids walked (well, she limped) out to the front yard. They were just standing there silently when Percy suddenly spoke up.
"Oh hey! We haven't given each other our phone numbers yet either."
Annabeth blushed. "Um, yeah. Give me your phone I guess." They swapped phones and entered their numbers and took selfies for the profile picture. Piper and Rachel looked as if they could barely contain squeals while Thalia and Jason were trying to conceal smiles.
Sally came out and shepherded them all to the car. Before he climbed into the car, Percy kissed her on the nose then hurriedly climbed in and closed the door. Annabeth stood there waving goodbye with her face tingling until they disappeared down the street. She sighed and hobbled back inside. She was going to be bombarded with questions when she went inside. NOT her idea of fun.
A few days later, her foot was 98% better (she could walk without hobbling now and it only hurt a little bit sometimes) and Annabeth was waiting at the front of the school with Jason, ready for the first day of the term. Jason was dropped off by his sister before she went off to University. Annabeth missed when Thalia still went to their school. Anyway, Jason and she were waiting for their friends to arrive because it was Percy's first day of school in a while. Percy wanted them to all walk in together, partly to partially hide him, and partly for the dramatic effect.
Annabeth heard a shout and turned to see Piper and Rachel running towards them.
"I am excited to see the school's reaction when they see Percy." Rachel said enthusiastically.
As they were all talking, Annabeth felt a tap on her shoulder. All of the people who were at Percy's party were there, including Percy who was partially obscured by the large frame of Beckendorf. Silena looked really happy.
"I can't wait to introduce Percabeth to the world! I totally called it. I was the one to see Percabeth being born!" Silena whisper-shouted excitedly. Annabeth was confused until Rachel told her that Percabeth was hers and Percy's couple name.
Annabeth had never been surrounded by so many people at school and was kind of overwhelmed. Nico seemed used to it and he just stood with his head hanging down with Will beaming beside him. Leo was bouncing on the balls of his feet while Calypso was trying to get him to calm down, with an annoyed but amused expression on her face. Reyna seemed resigned to it and Frank and Hazel stood quietly to the side. Connor was cracking jokes with Katie and Travis. It felt nice to be surrounded by a big group of people. Like she was somewhere that she belonged.
Percy cracked a grin at her and poked tongue out. She rolled her eyes in response.
"Come on dorks." She said.
Leo grinned. "Let's show the school our awesomeness."
When they walked through the school grounds, the people who noticed them were surprised to see Annabeth with such a big group. They were used to her sticking with Piper and Rachel with Jason tagging along sometimes.
When they reached the office, the rest of the group left Annabeth to inform the office of his arrival. The office lady gave him his timetable and his school diary. Annabeth took them from him when they were walking out of the office and slipped the timetable into the plastic sleeve in front of the diary and looked at it. She groaned.
"Percy, you're in the homeroom next to mine so our lockers will be near each other. I think that a few of your friends are in the same homeroom. We are in the same sports house, which is blue by the way. And you are in the same core class as me plus we have music together as an elective. I think the world is tormenting me."
"Why would the world be tormenting you?" Percy asked, his bottom lip sticking out.
"Because, class 10.3 has your most rabid fans who will pretend to be my closest friends in order to get close to you." She sighed. "Anyway, this is your homeroom, wait outside after homeroom has ended for me so we can walk to class."
Percy sent her a cheery wave and walked into the room. Annabeth walked into her own homeroom to suffer the next fifteen minutes with Jason and Connor talking about football (blech) while the teacher read out the notices.
When the bell rang, she raced out of the room to find Percy being surrounded by students asking all kinds of questions while Leo, Travis and Reyna looked on helplessly. Annabeth squeezed through the crowd, grabbed Percy's hand and yanked him into safety. He smiled gratefully and walked along with her to her next class. She shared her core class with Rachel and Piper and now Percy.
They walked into English to find a dozen slack-jawed students and an amused teacher. She walked up to the desk and introduce Percy to Mr Blofis.
Percy frowned. "Your name is Mr Blowfish?" The teacher blinked in surprise then howled with laughter.
"Oh, I like you." Said Mr Blofis.
Percy smiled proudly. "Thank you Sir. I like me too." The rest of the students started grinning at how normal Percy seemed and unconsciously made a unanimous decision to accept him as a normal pupil.
Annabeth led Percy to where Piper and Rachel were sitting in a row of four and they sat down. Mr Blofis began the lesson and she let the familiarity of sitting in class wash over her. Since it was the first day of term, the teacher let them have the last ten minutes to spend as they wished. Annabeth took a book out from under her textbook and started reading. She was reading The Hunger Games trilogy for the thousandth time.
She was up to the bit where Katniss finds Peeta on the riverbank when someone cleared their throat. Annabeth looked up to see Drew Tanaka standing over them. Annabeth nudged Percy and he paused his computer game and looked questioningly at her. She pointed to Drew and he smiled brightly.
"Hello, what's your name?" Percy asked pleasantly.
"Hello hon." Drew said. "My name's is Drew, I just wanted to ask a question. Is it true that you haven't found your soulmate yet?"
"Well yes, that was true until several days ago."
Drew frowned. "So that means that you have found your soulmate? Who is she?" Percy pointed at Annabeth. Just then the bell rang and Annabeth hastily gathered her things and pulled Percy outside. She's glad that they had a double period so that they can go to lunch hopefully without the people from their class.
They grabbed their lunches from their lockers and they were intercepted by Silena and Will.
"Come with us, this is where we usually eat lunch." Will led them away while Silena waited for Piper and Rachel to catch up. They were led to a group of lockers near the Science block that surrounded a set of stairs. There, the rest of the group including Jason was eating lunch and recounting stories from the classes before. Rachel, Silena and Piper came up behind them and joined in. Will and Nico were telling them about what happened in health class for grade 8.
"Okay, so the teacher was talking about the proper diets young teenage boys are supposed to maintain, and then Nico was all like 'do happy meals count as a wholesome meal?'. And then the teacher brought him up to the front of the classroom to then point out how skinny, small and pale he is. She was using him as an example of malnutrition." Will grinned and ruffled Nico's hair as he scowled.
They were all laughing boisterously when an ominous presence came up to them. A group of students from Annabeth's class and several others (There were even some midgets from grade 7!) were all looking at her with her side pressed up against Percy.
"Is it true that you are Percy Jackson's soulmate?" One of them asked. Annabeth nodded cautiously. They all looked at each other. Annabeth could tell what was going to happen next so she stood up.
"Hey guys, I am going to go get a juice from the tuckshop. I'll be back in a few." She then did something that had everyone squealing, laughing and shrieking as she walked away. Annabeth pressed her hands to her steaming cheeks and tried to bite down the huge grin that was overtaking her face. She was surprised at herself. She had never done something so reckless and impulsive before.
Annabeth Chase had just kissed Percy Jackson.
Thank you for reading my story. Remember; reviews make it easier for me to actually write. And remember to check out the sequel to this story "The Names That Surround Us".