Annabeth found it so hard not to look at Percy during class that day.

Since she was little, she has had a massive crush on the popular, handsome jock Percy Jackson. He was captain of the swim team, starter on the varsity basketball team, super attractive, and was liked by almost every girl in the school.

Annabeth tried to dislike him, always telling herself reasons why she shouldn't like him, but despite all her trying, she did. She really liked him.

All the "popular" girls flirted with him all the time. For some reason, he never dated any of them, even though he talked to them and flirted with them all the time.

Annabeth kept the way she felt a secret. No one knew about it.

Sometimes she would daydream what her life would be like if he actually liked her, but she knew that something like that would never happen.

She liked to think that at one point Percy might have actually liked her, but she knew deep down that that wasn't true.

Regardless, she still found herself glancing his way during History class that day.

Once the bell finally rang, she left to go to study hall. On her way to the library, she saw a usual sight in the hall, the "populars" being total jerks to poor Ed. Ed was a special needs student. Annabeth has never really talked to him, but he seemed nice enough.

Annabeth felt guilty, but continued to rush down the hall towards the library, past the tragic scene. It wasn't until Annabeth heard a different kind of laughter coming from the group that she turned around.

She saw Percy approach the group of girls surrounding Ed. She suspected he would join them to pick on Ed, and maybe flirt with the girls, so she began to turn around.

She heard him say something unexpected: "Hey Ed! I'm so happy we are hanging out this weekend!"

The girls' laughter stopped at once. Their faces turned red and they walked away, giving random compliments and saying they were "just joking" to Ed as they went. They were embarrassed that they were being mean to one of Percy's friends, and, wanting to impress the most popular boy in school, they tried to make up for it. Annabeth couldn't help laughing at that.

She had not expected Percy to say something like that, to be so nice to Ed. Without thinking, she walked up to him.

Percy was alone now, walking down the hall in her direction. "Hi, Percy," she said nervously. Her hands were shacking. She hadn't talked directly to him in so long.

"Hi," was all he could respond.

"Listen, Percy. I thought that was a really nice thing of you to say to Ed to get all those girls away from him."

"Oh, you saw that?" He blushed. "Thanks. It's not that big of a deal. Ed and I are friends. He's really awesome when you give him a chance."

Annabeth felt like melting. She immediately felt horrible for ever misjudging Percy, Ed, or anyone else. Percy seemed like a great guy. She knew it would be impossible to get over him and this stupid crush.

Without anything left to say, Annabeth nodded, turned around, and began her walk back to the library.

.

"Hey is this seat taken?" Annabeth looked up to see Percy standing over her while she sat, waiting for History class to start. Her friend who usually sat there, Ashley, had been out sick, so she said yes, and he sat.

In the few moments before the bell rang, he confessed to her, "Hey, thanks for what you said yesterday in the hall,"

Why is he thanking me? She thought. "Oh, it's no problem. It was a really nice thing of you to do."

"Yeah, well, I know what it's like to be bullied, and no one deserves that," he confessed. He had Annabeth's full attention now. She was staring at him wide-eyed, mouth ajar.

"Really? I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"Yeah well, it's not your fault, but thanks."

Annabeth was so stunned by this sudden honesty in Percy, how he completely trusted her enough to tell her something so secret, how there was so much more to him that she didn't know. She hardly listened during that class, which was a first.

After class, Percy found her in the hall again while she was walking by the "populars".

They all tried to flirt with him, talking to him, telling him how cute he was. They were so desperate. Afraid she had lost him in the crowd, Annabeth continued on.

"Annabeth!" he yelled. "Hey, Annabeth! Wait up!" The other girls seemed furious.

"What are you doing Percy?"

"She's nothing,"

"Why would you want to talk to her?"

"She's not nothing. She's a great person, much better than any of you. And I like her." He confessed, locking eyes with a stunned Annabeth, making his way through an even more stunned crowd. "Annabeth," he said as he approached her. "Would you like to, um, maybe hang out sometime?"

She smiled, feeling a blush creep its way up her cheeks, "Of course."

She later learned that Percy had had a huge crush on her, too, but was too afraid to say anything. She also learned that she should never have judged him, and that she would never stop liking Percy, because he was perfect for her.