Rain

Pitter-patter.

The raindrops fall, one after another, hitting against the glass of my window. The steady rhythm pounds soothingly against the darkening evening sky, washing away the dirt, the dust, the evil of the world, cleansing, cleaning, ready for a new day.

I place my palm against the window. The coldness of the glass washes over my body, making me shiver. Outside, rivets of water flow down the glass, challenging each other to races. The plants outside turn their smiling faces up to the sky, welcoming the rain, watching gratefully as the rain beats steadily into their soil, ready to be absorbed by their roots, providing them with water, letting them live.

Flash.

In that moment, lightning lights up the sky, illuminating everything around me. For a moment, everything is bright and bathed in a sharp flash of sparkling white, making me blink as the brightness blinds my eyes.

Turning, I hurry down the stairs, heading towards the front porch, where I stand, breathing in the air, that certain scent that comes with rain. Rain means a soothing pitter-patter; a life force for nature; starting over. Rain means so many things; how can one not appreciate it?

I step out into the garden, laughing as I twirl around, feeling the rain on my arms, my neck, my legs, droplets of coldness and ice running in rivers through my hair. I feel alive, animated. Rain washes through my veins, helping me forget the horrors, the nightmares of the past months, helping me get back on my feet, helping me start again. Watching so many campers get killed as Percy, along with I, of course, Thalia and Chiron led them into battle has left me scarred, making me scream my voice hoarse as I wake up from nightmare after nightmare. Just then, a familiar voice makes me look back towards the house, shading my eyes from the rain with my hands as I try to make out it's owner.

"Care for company?"

Percy.

Percy was my shoulder to lean on in these months. After I screamed myself awake, he would always be there, comforting, hugging, reassuring me as I cried into his arms. The nightmares would leave me shivering, trembling, unsettled for hours as sleep remained frustratingly out of my reach. Percy helped me through them, never complaining, even when I called him at 2 a.m. just to hear his voice, just to reassure myself that it was all a nightmare; Percy wasn't dead; we had won the battle; camp was safe.

Of course, this meant that occasional 'rewards' and 'favors' had to be arranged. He is a teenage boy, after all.

I laugh. "Sure you won't slip and knock your head out here, seaweed brain?"

He pouts, his green eyes playful and alive. "You hurt me, wise girl."

He steps out into the rain, letting it wash over him in sheets of water as he makes his way towards me. However, Percy being Percy, the water doesn't wet him the slightest, leaving him as dry as before.

He smiles playfully. "Jealous of my water-proof ability?"

I roll my eyes. It was just like Percy to make me want to laugh, yet smack him at the same time. "You wish. Getting wet is the best part of rain, seaweed brain. Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that has condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated. It's a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet - it won't kill you to get wet just once in a while, seaweed brain." I smile proudly. Looks like all that extra time spent searching for random things on Wikipedia and then memorizing them wasn't wasted after all.

Percy stares back at me. "I did not get one word of what you just said."

I huff. "Fine, then."

I turn my back to him, tilting my head towards the sky and closing my eyes as rain splashes down my face, bathing my face with drops of ice-cold water. I feel refreshed, like a new leaf on a tree, ready to start over, to leave behind the horrors of my past.

Suddenly, I am picked up and twirled around, making me gasp as the wind flies across my face. My eyes fly open to stare at Percy accusingly as he innocently widens his eyes while lowering me towards the ground, turning me so that our foreheads are touching. He's grown so much in the past year; before, I used to be almost his equal height; now, He's at least half a head taller than me.

He smiles. "Nothing's changed, has it, Annabeth? You're still smarter than me, and I still don't understand a word you say when you sprout random facts at me."

I smile and roll my eyes a little. "I'm still better at fighting than you are."

He laughs and leans towards me, capturing his mouth with mine. I sigh as I stand on my tip-toes, leaning up to loop my arms around his neck, pulling my body closer to his. He wraps an arm around my waist, and I'm about to wonder about the whereabouts of his other arm but I'm too distracted by the kiss. He tastes salty, like the sea and, strangely enough, rain even though he doesn't have a single drop of it on him.

Suddenly, I notice I'm not feeling droplets of rain on my body. I pull away, wondering if the rain has stopped, when I realize that Percy's holding an umbrella he's produced out of nowhere over the two of us.

I frown, puzzled. "Where did you get the umbrella from?"

He still looks dazed from the kiss, but replies anyway. "Son of a Sea God, remember? I magically produced it from thin air, since it's connected to water."

I widen my eyes before I realize he's only joking. "Percy! Seriously, tell me how you randomly produced an umbrella!"

He laughs. "That, wise girl, is for me to know and you to find out. Besides, I thought it would be romantic."

I smile. "It was."

I lean in and kiss him again, knocking the umbrella out of his hand and placing it on my waist instead. Around is, the rain continues falling, oblivious to the young couple, but falling, falling, endless sheets of water in a darkening world.

This is, to me, a modern Romeo and Juliet fairytale.

Boy meets girl.

They quarrel over the slightest thing, with her instantly taking a dislike to him.

Do they fall in love?

Of course.

Their names are Percy and Annabeth, and this is their story.