Arthur's POV:
"I still have absolutely NO idea how the heck you swim so fast, Perce." I say to my best friend Percy Jackson. We were both on Goode High School's swim team, but he was much faster than I was.
"Just practice, and talent, and luck I guess. It's really nothing." he replies. Jeez, beating the state record by five seconds was just practice, talent, and luck, eh? Sometimes he's oblivious like this. "Plus, Annabeth would probably leak a tape to the entire world showing my fail."
I snort. "Dude, we know Annabeth isn't real. Seriously, blonde hair, grey eyes, tanned, perfect physique? And smart, and strong? I mean, you're hot, but there's no way in hell that that girl exists, let alone falls for you."
"Whatever."
"Hey, Cutie," I looked forward and gasped silently. Ashley Montgomery, the most popular girl in school, is walking toward us. I hope that she's asking me out, but she walks past me like I'm invisible. God, seriously?
"Um, hey?" is the reply Ashley gets. Of course, Percy had to take THIS moment to be oblivious.
"Me, you, at my house, at eight." she said commandingly, "I need you in bed."
The only tactic she hasn't tried yet. She's been trying to hit on Percy for the past month, with subtle hints, till this Monday when she straight up asked him to go the movies. She's definitely not the only girl who wants Percy, but she might be the only one that is this desperate, offering her body blatantly like this.
I watch Percy carefully. This could be his, OUR, big break right here. I mean, he's popular enough, but once my best friend is dating her, MY own popularity could SOAR! I mean, my life's fine right now, but this could make it SO much better.
Percy raises his eyebrows. Oh God, are you serious? "Sorry, Ashley, I've gotta go to a date with my girlfriend."
"WHATTTT!" she screeches. Ouch, my eardrums hurt now. "Alright I'm just gonna tell it to you, Perce, I want you in me RIGHT NOW!"
Percy backed up and started laughing. "Look, I don't know if you're trying to make a scene or something, but you know I have a girlfriend, honestly, and she's a lot more beautiful than you." Then he started walking away in the opposite direction.
I gaped. "Hey, Arthur, aren't you coming? I just realized that there's a whale between us and our lockers, so we're going to have to go the long route…" I looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Heh heh, you remind me of my old stepfather the last time I saw him, you're so frozen," he dragged me out of the hallway.
Once we were out of earshot of Ashley and her group, I started yelling at him. "Alright dude, I know you're interested in her! The way you look at her in English class, I know you've been checking her out.
"Seriously, Perce, your girlfriend can't POSSIBLY be that beautiful to get you to turn down HER! This could've been your freaking chance to get everyone's attention, start acting like we're the A Class!"
Percy snorted. "Alright, Arthur, seriously? First off, yes, I think she's a lot more gorgeous than Ashley. Secondly, even if I were single, her personality is absolute crap. And thirdly, I know she's gonna dump me when there's some new hot guy that comes walking by. She just wants to get into bed with as many guys as possible."
"Look, dude, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! We could be famous-"
"As if I'm not already," Percy muttered under his breath.
I raised my eyebrows. Whatever. "Well, we could be the most popular in the school! It would end our senior year with a BANG! Besides, she's a hottie! I would kill to be in bed with her, even once!"
"And I wouldn't be cheating on my long-time girlfriend, right? 'Cause she would definitely break up with me if I lost my virginity to anyone BUT her."
"Look, you can't turn down a girl like her! She's f***ing amazing!"
"Shut up. Alright, how about this? My family has high standards." He said it as if it were some lame excuse.
"High standards?" I questioned.
"Yes. Hmmmm, who are my family dating- OH! You know that action hero dude in that James Bond movie that came out last week?"
"Tristan McLean? What does this have anything to do with him?"
"My cousin's dating his daughter…"
"Yeah, and I have a Pegasus."
"Isn't that long of a shot." Percy muttered against his breath.
"What's that?"
A whistle cut through the air. I looked behind me. The school's entire swim team was behind us. "Arthur, Percy, we're going to swim practice." He looked back and forth between me and Percy's bewildered stares. "I just got an email that said that the schedule's been switched. Tomorrow we have a match against William Seward High, and if you guys don't know they're the best in our district right now, so we gotta step up our game."
Percy sighed, and said, "Well, if I can get home, get dressed, and get to Manhattan by 7:30, and Arthur can too, let's do it."
I got home at six, after half an hour straight of swimming, no breaks. I might have swam 5K, for all I know, and there wasn't a single muscle in my body that wasn't screaming for a break. But I refused to give one, 'cause for all I know, Percy's just bluffing about his girlfriend, and besides, I might as well have some fun there anyway. My parents weren't going to be home for the weekend (TGIF) so I might as well party, right? I put on my jacket just as the doorbell rang.
I opened the door. "Hey, Perce. You really are serious about this party thing, eh?"
"Yep, it might be the best night of my life since I started dating Annabeth."
"Hmph."
I got into his stepdad's Prius, and we revved away.
We stopped in front of a huge condominium tower that I recognized to be one of the buildings that that billionaire William Dare commissioned. "Our party is gonna be in a condo?"
"No, the penthouse." He walked in as if it was natural, which it clearly wasn't, since condos on THIS particular building cost a million dollars. He looked at my startled expression. "Dude, calm down. My ex's Rachel Dare. I wasn't joking about high standards, dumbass."
"Oh, um, okay?" I stepped into the elevator and looked around the walls. Even a standard ELEVATOR was lavishly decorated with modern art, and you could see New York from the glass wall behind us. It was absolutely awesome.
"Correcting myself, I'd kill to live in this building." I said.
"Pshh, I've slept here on at least twenty times, man. And who knows, maybe you'll get your own gorgeous girlfriend tonight." He grinned a smile at me, and I looked away. I don't know why it got under my skin.
"Penthouse Level, thank you for riding in Dare Enterprise's elevator." The female voice said. I was kind of stunned. I thought they only gave voiceovers on buses and subways, not ELEVATORS.
The lobby was empty, and the walls were plain. There were two modern paintings on the walls, and a door in the middle. There was a keyhole, but I wouldn't imagine a person would be sane if they gave Percy keys to their home. He loses things all the time. There was a handwritten, cursive sign that said "No knocking, please" and a huge hole in the middle of the door. It was hard to describe, but it was like a pipe from the door's surface to the inside face of the door. Percy said, "Look away, it's a password." I noticed he was gripping a water bottle fiercely. I looked away, and I could hear a whoosh, like a waterfall, and then a huge splash, then a ding!
A red-headed girl was at the door. "Oh, hey Percy! Annabeth's been fuming that you might even be a little bit late. I can't believe I actually won the bet against her!"
Then, she noticed me. "Oh, hey. Your name is..."
"Arthur Clay, Percy's friend from school."
"Cool! Come in. I'm Rachel." She gave me a mesmerizing smile.
There were a lot of people inside, and Percy introduced to me each one of them.
"That dude right there's Leo, he's an... inventor, I guess?" He pointed to a scrawly guy in a mechanic's outfit, flirting with a girl in brown hair. "And that's Calypso, his girlfriend."
"Who's that punk chick and the emo dude?"
"Oh, that's Thalia and Nico, my cousins on my dad's side. Don't try to flirt with Thalia, trust me."
"Who's that blond dude next to your cousin?"
"Oh, I didn't mention Nico's gay. That's Will Solace, his boyfriend."
"Is that Tristan McLean's daugh.." I couldn't finish the sentence, I was so impressed.
"Yep, that's Piper, and the tall blond guy is Jason, his girlfriend. And also my cousin."
"Lots of cousins, eh?"
"Yeah, that girl right there's one too." Percy pointed at a darker-skinned girl who was chatting up some muscular Asian. "Hazel, and Frank." I nod, not really paying attention.
"I thought there would some SINGLE girls, Percy." I casually take a glance back at Rachel, who had joined into Leo's conversation.
"Well, Rachel's single, but she isn't exactly..." He tilts his head in thought, "She can't date. Some job requirement, I think."
I notice a blonde girl with grey eyes in the corner, talking with Percy's punk cousin. "The blonde's available?"
"That's my girlfriend, idiot." He glares at me. Whoops. Great job, Arthur, trying to hit on Percy's girlfriend. He starts walking toward her, and I figure that I might as well follow him.
"Oh, you're finally here." The blonde looks toward Percy with steely grey eyes. If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure she might have been the female version of Jack The Ripper.
"Sorry, Wise Girl, I just needed to show around my friend here, Arthur."
I don't even know how I heard those words, I was so busy staring at her body. She was athletic, tanned, and you could tell, even though she was pretty slim, she had muscles. She was wearing skinny jeans and an orange tee with some foreign word inscribed on it, it looked like Greek. The proportions of her face were absolutely perfect, and the curls...
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Annabeth, this idiot here's girlfriend." She held out her hand to me, and I quickly snapped out of my gaze. I was pretty sure I shouldn't be creepy in front of her.
"I'm, umm, Arthur Clay, Percy's friend from school." Good job, Arthur, five stars for originality.
"Well then?" The punk girl interrupted. "Make out already! We've been waiting, like forever." She rolled her eyes.
"Ummmmm-" Percy blushed, just before Annabeth smashed her lips against his. Thalia sighed.
"Finally, the last couple. LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED PEOPLE!" She yelled the last part to the entire room, and people started yelling for music.
Suddenly, stereo music blasted out from some hidden speaker, and people started dancing. Annabeth and Percy continued to make out.
"Yeah, I believe you now, Percy. This girl's way worth turning down Ashley." There was no reply, and I didn't wait anyway. I looked around for someone to talk to, since Percy was evidently not an option. In the background, I feel like dancin' tonight! rung into my ears.
I approached a girl in a purple shirt with black hair in a French braid. "Hey, I was wondering if we could dance, I didn't bring a date. My name's Arthur."
The girl looked at me in the eyes. I was tempted to back off and run away, but I realized that Hazel and Frank were right behind me kissing and dancing.
She sighed. "Hey, my name's Reyna."