Annabeth's POV

I swear to you, it was just another day that changed my life forever.

Sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Annabeth, Annabeth Chase. I have curly, unruly blond hair, and gray eyes. I'm pretty athletic and tan from living in California my whole life, up until last month. I'm 16 years old, and have two annoying younger brothers. My dad is a crazed professor, and my mom is…well, she's gone.

It was a regular day of school, you know; the kind where scraping a cheese grater against your brain would be less painful than listening to Mrs. Padrosky drone on and on. Even though you may think you know why I hate school, you don't. I love learning, but I already know everything they're trying to teach us. Even though I have dyslexia, I'm probably the smartest girl in my school. I go to Crescentridge High School. Uh…Go Hammerheads? I don't have a lot of school spirit seeing as I don't appreciate the school. At all. And of course that lack of appreciation stems from the fact that I only started attending that school a week and half ago. I'm new and only have one friend named Thalia. Speaking of Thalia; I was talking to her that day.

Anyways, I was walking to AP Lit, when I saw my only friend, who I mentioned: Thalia Grace. Thalia is pretty much the exact opposite of me in looks. She has jet black hair that is cut short and spiked; she looks like a punk rocker with her Goth looking jewelry. She has black combat boots and has headphones draped around her neck. Her eyes are blue, really blue. I'm talking neon sign blue, especially with her black eyeliner.

I was talking to her about the Chem homework. Of course, she told me that she had thrown it away instead of bothering to actually, you know, do it. I was laughing at her work ethic and she was scowling at me when I saw him. He was literally the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen. He had raven black hair that was windswept as if he hadn't brushed it and didn't really care. He was tall, lean, and obviously athletic. He had muscle, but not so much that it was distracting. He had a sarcastic smile that I'm sure made him unpopular with teachers as it made him seem like a troublemaker. And his eyes, oh gods, his eyes. They were sea green, like the ocean, and so full of light. They lit up further when he smiled and laughed like he was now. He was easily the hottest guy in the school, and he was walking in MY direction.

"Annabeth…Annabeth...Annabeth…ANNABETH!" I blinked my eyes in surprise as I noticed Thalia yelling my name and waving her hand in front of my face.

"Wha…?" I realized my mouth was hanging open and shut it with an audible clack.

"Dude, you were totally zoned out," Thalia chuckled. I tore my eyes away from the boy's face to protest.

"No…I was not. I don't know what you're talking about…" I trailed off as Thalia followed where my gaze had been and caught sight of the boy. She gasped.

"Dang, Zhang! He's cute," Thalia exclaimed, using a common phrase we used to make fun of our friend Frank Zhang. (It started during the beginning of his first relationship involving two spatulas, a waffle-fight, more ribbons than I care to admit, and several plastic bags. You don't want to know. Anyways, back to the story.)

"Uh-I guess so," I muttered, trying to act nonchalant. Of course it was just then that, in my haste to get away, I closed my locker and backed away in time to collide with someone.

"Oof!" I grunted before I completely lost my balance and started to fall to the ground. My instinct was to shove my hands in front of me to break my fall. I did just that, unfortunately, my books and papers flew everywhere. Before I could hit the floor in a very painful way, a hand grabbed my arm and hauled me up. I found my balance and looked at the hand. I followed the hand to the arm, to the shoulder, to the neck, to the face. I sucked in a breath; it was HIM.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I'm Percy, Percy Jackson." I let out my breath, and took another one. I couldn't make a sound. Mortified, I looked sideways at Thalia who was trying to stifle her laughter with one hand. Percy suddenly let my arm go and looked at the ground.

"Oh, are these yours?" He bent over to pick up my books the same time I did and hit my head with his. Oh yeah, real smooth, Chase. How cliché. Since there inconveniently was no wall near to bang my head on repeatedly, all I could do was smile sheepishly and continue to pick up my stuff. I still hadn't said anything, which was seriously unlike me, when he asked me for my name. The five-minute bell rang.

I straightened up and said with such grace and clarity I surprised myself; "Annabeth…Chase." Then, I booked it out of there and to first period Chem with Mr. Greabs.