What Are The Chances?
Summary: Annabeth Chase has always lived a normal life, that is, until that day in sixth grade that changed her life. She remember exactly what happened. From the cafeteria exploding, to the beast trying to kill her, but mostly, she remembers that guy with dark hair and green eyes who came out of nowhere and saved her, only to leave just as quickly. Now, she's in tenth grade and none of her questions have been answered and she thinks they never will be. That is, until she see's a certain dark haired, green-eyed boy walk into her English class. Not your average Percy and Annabeth go to school story. Involves camp and other dangers. Percabeth obviously.
A/N: Important! Please read this first! Includes my plans for this story and when I am planning on updating.
Okay, first things first. Where am I going with this? Well, you might think that it's just another one of those percabeth stories only in school but it's not. Some of it is in school but most of it has to do with Annabeth finding out who she is and what they are going to do when she finds out.
Characters I am going to put in this story: Annabeth, Percy, Grover, Bianca, Nico, Thalia, Chiron, some other people from camp half-blood (ex. The Stolls), and maybe some of my own characters but they will only be minor characters.
How long will this story be? Well, I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking at least 20 chapters and 40,000 words at the very least.
Am I going to give up on this story ever? Nope, never. I have never quit on anything before unless it was impossible and this is not something I can claim as that. So no. Never. You can personal come to my house and beat me up if I do.
Update frequency: I know this is something that you all need to know. I am planning on updating twice per week throughout the course of this story. Once, if I'm having a bad week or if I have a lot of homework.
So, with all that important stuff out of the way, let's move on. Here's the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: My back-story
It all started that one day when I was in sixth grade. Of course, back then, I had no clue what was going on. One second I'm having a normal day at school, the next second the whole school is being evacuated after what I like to call, the incident.
I guess I should start from the beginning. Hi, my name is Annabeth Chase. I'm currently a sophomore at Goode High school in Manhattan and I have straight As. I like to rub it in my friends' faces whenever I get the chance that I'm smarter than them. I don't know why, I just have the urge to show everyone that I know these things, even if they are just random facts. I have curly blonde hair that I usually wear in a loose ponytail and stormy-gray eyes. My friends say that's what's most unique about me.
I'm not gonna argue though. Being unique is a good thing in my book, even if 98% of the people here think otherwise. The other 2% being my friends.
Speaking of my friends, let me tell you about some of them. My best friend is Grover. He's really...how can I put this...interesting. Yeah that works. He has a lot of facial hair and acne and looks like he should be a senior or a freshman in college instead of a sophomore in Goode.
Don't get me wrong, he's not really tall or anything, in fact, he's my height and I'm average height. He just has this older look, no not look, this older aura surrounding him telling people that he's older even if he doesn't look like it. Anyway, back to what's so interesting about him:
He's always walking funny. I mean not like he does it on purpose, it's more like he's just not used to walking, as if it's his first time walking, but it's every day, not just one day. He's also got a note that excuses him from PE for the rest of his life. I know, weird. But I'm not complaining, I don't want him to get hurt trying to run, let alone walk.
Then there are my other friends, Bianca and Nico. They're brother and sister. Bianca being the elder by a year. Actually, Bianca is older than all of us. She's a junior, while Grover, Nico, and I are sophomores. She's really protective of her brother but at the same time, she isn't like some other siblings who think of their brothers and sisters as just annoying brats. She truly loves him which is a quality that I like about her.
Nico on the other hand is really independent. With his dark hair and dark clothes, he looks emo. Of course, just like every other emo, he hates being called emo and denies it. Pfft, yeah right. But other than that, he's really a nice guy and cares about his friends and his sister more than anything.
The only down side to their life is that they never met their father before - like me and my mom - and their mom hates them and doesn't care about them. My dad used to be like that, but after I ran away in third grade once and my dad found me again, he became a lot more caring.
Anyway, back to what happened in sixth grade that changed my life. I only knew Grover back then and I was new there so I only talked to him. It all started during lunch...
*Flashback*
I was making my way over to the cafeteria since it was time for lunch.
It was my second month at this middle school and Grover was my only friend. He opened up to me right from the day we met and we've been friends since. I don't know much about him though. Whenever I asked him about his family, or where he was from, or even his last name, he would try to change the subject or make an excuse to leave. Probably just a touchy subject.
Anyway, I made it to the cafeteria and saw Grover at an empty table waiting for me. He saw me and waved at me. I smiled as I approached him.
"Hey Grover." I said casually.
"Hey Annabeth, how's it going?" He said
I looked down at his plate and saw that he got enchiladas again.
"Really Grover, again? If you keep eating what the cafeteria here serves you, your going to get sick. That's why I always get lunch from home." I chuckled
He looked at my lunch - a simple turkey sandwich - and cringed in disgust.
Did I mention that he was a vegetarian?
"No way Annabeth, enchiladas are the best thing ever invented by mort- people." He finished looking a little nervous as if he almost said something he shouldn't have.
There it was again. That wasn't the first time he did that and gave me that look. I had a feeling that he was keeping something from me and it was big. Something told me that it had to do with me, but I wasn't sure.
I decided to forget about it and just enjoy myself. I was having a good day. I had good grades despite my dyslexia, and I was able to concentrate in class despite my ADHD, and I have a great friend to hang out with. I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not proud of myself for these things.
Grover and I continued our conversation for a little while. Talking about random things.
That's when it happened.
I don't know how I knew something bad was going to happen but it felt abnormal. Usually, I predicted stuff from pure knowledge. Like predicting when the next pop quiz is going to be in math by means of inductive reasoning.
But this was different. As if knowledge had nothing to do with it, which for me, is a scary thought. It felt more like...what's the word...
Instinct. Yeah that's it. I don't know how or why but I know it is.
I'm not sure if Grover felt it too but he did have a weird look on his face, as if he had been afraid something like this would happen. I'm not sure what this is yet but I had a feeling I was gonna find out soon.
Suddenly the side of the cafeteria next to the windows looking outside exploded.
Kids screamed. Some even fell off their chairs onto their butts. I didn't have any reaction other than shock. Grover's reaction was more dread than shock. I wondered why. Had he known this was going to happen? Why didn't he tell anyone?
My gaze swiftly drifted over the the massive hole in the wall of the cafeteria when I saw something moving.
There, right in front of my eyes, about 15 feet away, was the weirdest and smelliest thing I had ever seen. It was a cross between a bull and a man. It was ten feet tall with horns on it's head and a snout for a nose. I was in awe.
I knew what it was. I couldn't believe it but I knew what it was. It was from Greek Mythology. What did they call it? Minicar? No, it was the Minotaur. Half-man, half-bull.
I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. Heck, I don't even think I can breathe right now. Grover got up and tried pulling me away but it was no use. I was in shock at the sight before me.
Grover stumbled and fell onto the ground.
That got the beast's attention. But not at Grover, he saw me first and fixed his eyes on me. Wow, lucky me. Just when I was talking about how everything was going good today.
Ironic isn't it?
Grover tried getting up only to stumble and fall again. I think it was because he was shaking too much.
The Minotaur didn't pay him any attention, as if his soul purpose was to track me down and kill me.
Lucky me.
The Minotaur charged. Somebody made a high-pitched scream. I think it was Grover. I just sat there, in shock, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly, my view of the Minotaur was taken away, thankfully, when someone tackled me and we stumbled to the ground a few feet away from where I was. At first, I thought it was Grover but then I looked up and saw black hair. Grover didn't have black hair. Who was this kid?
The Minotaur suddenly passed by us, crashing into a few tables until finally, he smashed into a wall head-on, although I had a feeling it hurt him less than it would have hurt an average human. The guy who just saved my life got up and helped me up. I looked around. The cafeteria was empty except for Grover, the mystery boy, the dazed Minotaur, and me. I got a better look at the mystery guy. He had jet-black hair that was messy in a natural way and green eyes that reminded me of the sea. He was probably around my age.
He was kind of cute. Unfortunately, he caught me looking and raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. I looked away blushing a little and tried to act scared about what just happened. I don't know why, but I felt safe when this guy saved me and was now protecting me from the now fully awake Minotaur.
"Stay back." The guy said. He had the voice of a caring and gentle person but had the potential to become fierce and harsh when put in danger.
I nodded and got behind him. I steeled a glance at Grover and saw that he looked a little relieved that this guy was here. I would have to ask him a lot of questions after all of this was over.
The Minotaur charged. The guy who saved me (I'm really getting tired of saying that. I wish I knew his name already) charged as well. For a second, I thought he was trying to sacrifice himself to save me but then he did something that I never expected.
He reached into his pocket and brought out a pen. He uncapped it and there, right before my eyes, it grew into a three-foot long sword. The guy just kept going as if this was completely normal. At the last second, he sidestepped so the Minotaur would pass him.
For a second I thought he changed his mind about sacrificing himself for me and he was just gonna let the Minotaur kill me.
Thanks a lot, kid. I thought. But then he took his sword and jabbed it into the monster's side. The monster cried out in pain and exploded into dust.
The guy, again, acted like this was completely normal and looked around to make sure nothing else happened. He ran over to me and held me by the shoulders.
"Are you okay?" He asked in that gentle concerned voice of his.
I could only nod. He nodded back and then he quickly ran over to Grover. They exchanged a few words and Grover looked happy to see him. The guy then ran off to where the Minotaur made a hole to the outside. Before he left, he gave a smile and wave to Grover and then he looked at me.
For a second, he just looked at me, and then he winked, smirking a little, and then left through the hole.
At that moment, I knew that wouldn't be the last time I would see him.
*End Flashback*
That was four years ago. Now I'm in tenth grade and I still have nightmares about that day. I ask Grover about them but like always, he just changes the subject nervously. I would get irritated sometimes but I could tell he was just trying to protect me as he would always say.
As for the school, they claimed that a mysterious driver in a dodge truck was driving the car when he crashed into the school and when he realized what he had done, he got the car out of the cafeteria and drove away before anyone could blame him.
I thought that it was the stupidest piece of crap I had ever heard. I know what I saw and even if I don't really understand it, I knew it was true and I know Grover knows it too but he's trying to convince me otherwise for some reason.
I was thinking about all of this in English class. I was sitting in the front, not really paying attention since I already knew everything that, Mr. Smith, my teacher was talking about. Grover wasn't in this class so I didn't really have anyone to talk to. I wondered about that boy who saved me. Who was he? Why had he been there? How did he get that pen/sword? How did he know Grover? How did he beat the Minotaur? So many questions, and no one could answer them. It's very frustrating for me since I hate not knowing things.
Suddenly, Mr. Smith said he had an announcement.
"Okay class, today we are going to have a new student join us. Please be nice and show him around if you have any classes with him. Young man, please, come in!" Mr. Smith said.
A boy about an inch taller than me with jet-black hair walked in wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He looked familiar. I don't know from where but I knew I had seen him before.
"Hello, please introduce yourself to the class." Mr. Smith said to him.
He nodded, and turned to face the class. At that moment I knew who he was. Right when I saw his sea-green eyes, everything came back to me.
He's that guy who saved me that day in sixth grade. I thought.
I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. What are the chances? I knew then that at least some of my questions would be answered soon.
"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson." He said in that same gentle voice only it was a little deeper this time. It really was him.
He hadn't noticed me yet but he sat down two rows to the left of me and two seats back, still oblivious to me.
I smirked inwardly. I couldn't wait to see his face once he realized I was here and that I remembered him. Oh yeah, this is going to be an interesting day. I thought.
A/N (Don't worry, I won't put too many of these. Only for the first chapter.): How was it? Good? Bad? I know I did something wrong so don't be afraid to tell me!
Also, if you don't have anything good to read, go check out my profile, I made a list of my top ten Percy Jackson fanfictions. I've looked at almost all of the good ones out there and these are my favorite. Definitely check them out.
Oh, and of course, please review! I need feedback and motivation to keep this story going! Thanks for reading!