A/N: …So apparently this has been floating around on my hard drive for about two months and I completely forgot to post it. Oops. Well, I've been having weird attachment issues when it comes to Annabeth lately, and I have way too much fun writing from her POV. Please do not hate me for it.

Read, review, enjoy!

"So there's a new Aphrodite girl," said Piper, examining her nails. "I should probably paint these at some point, right?"

"Meh," I replied. "It's not that important, right? Nail painting. It'll just get chipped the next time you come in contact with a monster."

Piper rolled over on the sand, grinning up at me. "See?" she began. "This is why I would so rather talk to you. I don't understand how much all the other Aphrodite kids think about their looks. I just cannot possibly force myself to give a damn."

I giggled. "What's the new girl like?"

Piper looked around, as if trying to make sure no one could hear us. "Well," she began, "apparently Risa – that's her name, Risa – saw Nico and Percy first off when she got here. She was wearing half an outfit, too. I mean, really, it's winter!"

"Maybe she doesn't have that vast of a wardrobe," I suggested. "Is she a runaway, like I was?"

Piper shook her head. "Oh, no. Risa made it very clear that she was a total trust fund baby. She brought a freaking suitcase. Apparently her dad was worried about her and sent her here so she could learn to defend herself. I mean," Piper put up her hands in front of her, "she's not a bad person, necessarily, but I kind of got…Negative feelings once I heard her first comment."

I blinked. "Which was…?"

"Don't shoot the messenger, okay?"

"What did she say, Piper?" I asked, beginning to get defensive.

"She looked over at Percy and said, 'Damn, where do I get one of those.'"

My first reaction was to stand up, find this new girl, then hit her with a various assortment of construction materials, but then I began to rethink my initial response. "Okay," I said slowly, "okay, she's attracted to Percy. No fault there. Who wouldn't be?"

Without a word, Piper put her hand in the air. I raised an eyebrow. "What?" she responded. "I like blonde guys."

I laughed. "Okay, fine. But I scored a hot guy, you've got to admit. And she didn't know Percy was taken. Here," I began to stand up, "we should go introduce ourselves."

Piper stared at me. "But I already –"

"Piper McLean I am not doing this alone," I said, pulling her up by the shoulders. "Plus, I need someone to be my backup so I can have proper reason to meet her."

Piper allowed me to pull her up. "You are insane sometimes, you know that?"

"Am not," I replied, "just curious."

"Or terrifyingly calculating…"

The two of us made our way to the cabins and eating area, where Piper suddenly grinned. "And there she is," she said quietly. "Risa Phenz, the newest daughter of Aphrodite."

I frowned. "She looks a lot older than thirteen," I muttered.

"That, my friend, is because she decided not to come to camp because her father said he could protect her from the monsters himself. Naturally, she hit sixteen and realized he was very, very wrong."

"Ah," I said.

Piper blinked. "You are halfway to killing her just on principle, aren't you?"

"Of course not," I replied, staring at Risa, "just halfway to giving her a piece of my mind."

"Or a piece of your knife."

I shrugged. "Tomato, tomahto…"

From the opposite direction, Percy appeared, and he didn't spot me. Risa, at that moment, had a little grin appear on her face, then turned her head toward Piper and waved.

"Hold on a moment," said Piper, "she looks like she's about to – oh my gods, Risa's going over toward Percy. What," she said, changing her tone to one similar to a newscaster, "is miss Annabeth Chase going to do next?"

I snorted. "Nothing."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Well it looks like, ooh, crisis averted!" Percy had switched directions. "And apparently I don't get to watch a gigantic fight. Darn."

"Like you didn't get enough of fighting during the War with the giants."

Risa suddenly began to walk over toward the two of us. "Hi, Piper!" she said brightly. She swung her hair over her shoulder, and popped her hip out as she stopped in front of us. I was never one to judge a book by its cover, and I never bought into the blondes-are-dumb theory, but I was wondering a bit how much that theory was right when she started giggling for no reason.

"Hey, Risa," said Piper, not sounding particularly happy or annoyed that Risa was in her presence. That was one think I always admired about Piper – she could keep a poker face no matter what the situation.

"And hello to you as well," said Risa turning to me. She stuck out her hand. "Are you a daughter of Aphrodite too? We have the same color hair, you know."

I blinked. "Um, no, actually I'm a daughter of Athena – she has blonde hair as well."

Risa tilted her head to the side. "That's so weird since, like, blondes are usually supposed to be stupid, right?" She smiled. "I think you should maybe dye it. Just so people don't get the wrong idea."

"I, um," I began to stammer, "I think…I don't want to have…" I couldn't figure out how to respond to something so ridiculous. "I'm good," I decided.

"Oh, I see," said Risa. "Also, I was wondering…" She nodded over to the Poseidon cabin which Percy was now exiting. "Who's that hottie?"

Piper briskly turned a laugh into a cough and managed to choke out, "He's got a girlfriend."

"Really?" she asked. "That's not difficult to fix. Girlfriends are just chain link fences." She punctuated it with a wink. "You know what I mean?"

Piper immediately turned to me, expecting me to do something in response. "Oh, no," I replied, sounding confused. "I don't know what you mean at all."

"It's the blonde," she said, tapping her head. "It means all you have to do is get your footing and then you can hurdle right over the problem."

I stared at her, horrified, but it seemed as if she took it as me being confused. "It means he won't have a girlfriend for long. I'll be back in a few."

It took me a few seconds as she walked away to recover from what just happened. "Did she just suggest that I was stupid because I'm BLONDE?" I said, scandalized. "I…I have never been so insulted in my life! And now she's going over to hit on my boyfriend! I just…I'm not even sure if I'm mad or if I'm honestly impressed at her level of general confusion."

Piper was fighting back laughter. "See, I was not expecting that even a little. I can't…I have never seen someone hold up a negative stereotype about themselves on purpose! That was…That was ridiculous. And how are you taking this so well?"

I shrugged. "That girl get in between Percy and me? Please. The head honcho of the damned Titan's couldn't keep up apart. Eight months and a million monsters couldn't keep us apart. One girl who thinks flipping her hair and sticking out her chest? Piece of cake."

Piper's eyebrow went up. "You're confident."

I folded my arms across my chest. "When it comes to Percy? Hell yes I am."

Risa walked over to Percy. "Hey, cutie," she said, a little louder than necessary. Piper and I, to make sure we were in earshot of the conversation, slowly walked over to a table near where Risa and Percy were sitting. I tried not to drop my head on the table at what Risa said next. "How you doing?" Piper actually snorted.

"I'm okay, thanks. Do I know you?"

Risa looking him up and down, and Percy looked wildly uncomfortable. "Not yet."

"I'm, uh, Percy," he said, sticking out his hand to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you, Percy," she said in a tone I'm guessing she thought was seductive. "So what are you up to?"

"Um," said Percy, staring at Risa as if she were bog water, "I was going to go to archery."

"Why bother?" she asked. "Wouldn't you rather, I don't know," she leaned even closer to him, her lips far closer to his ear than necessary, "go for a walk with me."

"I've got a girlfriend," Percy said, looking in either direction to try and get out of the conversation. "But, um, thank you for your, er, kind offer?"

"Don't worry, your girlfriend doesn't have to know if you don't want her to," said Risa, trailing her fingers up and down his arm, then around to his back. I tried not to laugh as I realized she was about to hit what used to be his vulnerable spot, which is inexplicably really ticklish now.

"EEEE," squealed Percy, jumping away and shivering. "Um, yeah, she doesn't need to know anything, because there isn't anything to know."

Risa looked affronted. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged. "I've got a girlfriend means I'm not interested in anyone. I mean, I don't mean to be mean or rude, it's just…We've been together for a couple years now and we've been through so much that even the end of the world wouldn't break us up. Believe me," he said with a laugh, "it has tried."

I snickered, and Percy turned his head over in my direction, his familiar smile lighting up his face as he saw it was me. "And speaking of my girlfriend, there she is!" He waved at me.

As I got up to go say hi to him, Piper burst into laughter and nearly fell off of her seat as I walked over. "Hi, Percy!" I said. "What's up?"

"This is Annabeth," said Percy. "My girlfriend."

"Hi, Risa," I said, fighting back the ridiculous grin.

Her jaw dropped. "You're his girlfriend?"

I nodded. "It seemed like you didn't really care about if a guy had a girlfriend, I didn't think it would be relevant to mention she was me."

For a brief moment she spluttered a little, as if trying to get the taste of her flirting with Percy out of her mouth, until she managed to say, "I'm really, really sorry," she said, "I, um…Yeah, I'm going to…I'm gonna go now. N-nice to meet you."

Risa walked away, leaving Percy dumbfounded.

"You'd think I'd have learned by now how to respond to that," he said. He still looked confused. "I don't understand why girls come up to me."

I laughed and pressed a light kiss to his lips. "Perhaps because you're about six three, ripped, and, if I do say so, pretty gorgeous." Percy rolled his eyes. "No, really," I said sincerely. "On second thought, there's no reason for you to worry about that. I think I like it better when you aren't sure how to react when girls are hitting on you."