Hello! So this is my first Percy Jackson Fanfic. It takes places after the 5th book of Percy Jackson and the Olympians during the time between that book and the first book of the Heroes of Olympus. I want it to be as accurate to the book as possible, so if you notice something that isn't quite right, please tell me! As well as with spelling/grammar mistakes, I want to know and I want to improve my writing as much as possible.

I really hope you enjoy this first chapter and if enough people review I'll post the next chapter right after this one! Thanks so much for choosing this to read, I hope you aren't disappointed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.

Chapter 1

~My Nosy Mom and Gorgeous Girlfriend~

Once again my Mom, Sally Jackson, was putting me into another new school, but this time I was determined not to blow anything up or set a fire or something. This time would be different. One of the reasons was that Annabeth would be there with me, we won't be roommates, obviously, but we'll be in most of the same classes and I'm sure that'll make things better. One of the motivations that got her to come with me, besides the fact that yesterday I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes, that was a little awkward, and the other reason is that we hope to keep our eyes out for young demigods. It's possible that there could be one or two at Goode's Boarding school and if there is, we are set on finding them and bringing them to Camp half-blood.

It's been exactly one day and 12 hours since our air bubble, under the water kiss and I can't stop thinking about it and the way her lips felt on mine. I guess the kids that threw us in forgot that, being the son of Poseidon, the water wouldn't affect me. I smiled to myself as I pushed my clothes into a small duffel bag. I had precisely one more hour to leave the campgrounds before the cleaning harpies would come and devour me before cleaning my cabin. There wasn't much for me to pack besides a few changes of clothes. Riptide was in my pocket as always, and my watch/shield that my half brother Tyson had created for me was on my wrist. That just about consisted of everything I owned.

A knocking at the door caused me to stop packing and check to see whom it was.

Grover, my best friend, and a satyr, stood at the door with Juniper the tree nymph and his girlfriend on his arm, both were smiling.

"Hey Percy!" Grover said, and pulled me in for a hug, Juniper was next.

"Hey guys." I smiled and invited them into my now almost empty cabin. "You two staying here for the holidays?"

Grover nodded, and took Juniper's hand again, "Yeah, Juniper won't leave so I'm going to stay here with her. Of course I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!" He added hurriedly, smiling down at the pretty girl on his arm.

"That'll be nice." I said and stuffed the rest of my clothes in the duffel bag.

"Sure will." Grover replied. His curly dark hair was a little wet on the ends and his horns stuck out about two inches now. "Need any help?"

"Naw, I got it. But thanks." I said and shouldered my bag. "Not much here anyways."

"I'm sure gonna miss ya Percy." I swear I saw tears glistening around his eyes.

"I'll miss you too man." I assured him and patted his back. "You too Juniper."

She smiled then leaned over and kissed my cheek, causing me to turn somewhat red in the face. "See you next summer." She said and I nodded affirmatively. Then after one last good bye, the two of them walked out of my cabin and down the path to the woods.

I sighed and after one last look at the room I'd been living in the last couple of weeks I began the short walk down to Athena's cabin to check and see if Annabeth was ready to leave. Being a girl you would think that she would have lots of stuff to pack, but Annabeth was no ordinary girl and she definitely wasn't very girly, but I loved her exactly how she was. Wait. Did I just say love? I hadn't meant to but I guess its true. After all we'd been through together, all the times we'd saved each other's lived. Yeah, I love Annabeth Chase. I admit it. But don't be expecting me to tell her right away, it might freak her out a little bit. I wondered if she felt the same way about me, I hope so but it could take some time. I mean, just because she agreed to be my girlfriend doesn't mean that she loves me and wants to marry me some day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking about marriage yet at 16, I'm just saying. Right now I had to get through my last two years of high school and I hoped they go better than the last few years. The camp bus would be picking us up right outside the camp boundaries in 30 minutes so I had to hurry, get Annabeth and go say goodbye to Chiron the centaur and camp administrator/activities director.

Not surprisingly, Annabeth, along with some of her cabin mates, was standing outside her cabin waiting for me when I arrived. I smiled and she smiled back tentatively, probably a little nervous at showing affection with the large-ish audience around us.

"Ready?" I asked and she nodded, grabbed my hand and we made our way to the Big House.

Chiron was standing on the porch when we arrived.

"We're going to miss you two around here." He said as we climbed the steps.

"Same here." I replied.

"You guys stay out of trouble out there." He smiled, "Especially you Percy. You are older now so even more monsters will be attracted to your smell."

"That's comforting." I murmured and Annabeth smirked. "Don't worry I'll keep him out of trouble."

"Good. But remember that you aren't out of danger either." Chiron said to her.

"Yeah, I know."

"Chiron, weren't a lot of the monsters destroyed when we defeated the Titans?" I asked, feeling a little dumb.

"Yes Percy, many disintegrated into Tartarus, but monsters are reforming all the time and they will never be totally extinct. I'm sorry to tell you that you'll never stop fighting them."

"Great." I said sarcastically.

"Oh and be watching for any strange kids, kids that are abnormal. I'm sure that you'll find demigods where you go to school." Chiron told us.

"Yeah, we were already thinking of it." I said and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Good, good. Well I guess I don't have anything else to say. Just be safe and I'll hopefully see you next summer."

"We're planning on being here." Annabeth said. "Unless Percy gets us kidnapped by monsters or killed or something."

"Whatever. Just remember who has the super powers." I said, hiding my smile. I knew she was kidding.

"Goodbye then." Chiron patted us each on the back then watched us descend the steps to the path that would take us to our waiting bus that would take us to my mom's apartment.

"I hope we make it back next summer." I said quietly, mostly to myself.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on letting you out of my sight seaweed brain." Annabeth grinned and took my hand, letting our linked hands swing in between us. We made it to the bus at exactly noon. Argus, our security guard with eyes all over his body, opened the door and we hopped in and found a seat near the back after he'd stowed our bags underneath.

"Another summer over already." Annabeth sighed and lay back on the seat.

"Yeah, we've known each for four years already, it's kinda crazy." I agreed, closing my eyes, our hands still laced together.

"Fought a lot of battles together." Annabeth added.

"Saved each other's lives quite a few times too." I put in.

"Yeah, you need a lot of saving." She chuckled and I lightly punched her arm.

"If I remember correctly, I'm not the only one that needs saving from time to time."

"I know." Is all she said. I slowly opened my eyes and watched her.

Annabeth's long light brown eyelashes lay gently on the top of her cheekbone. She didn't wear make-up but she didn't need any. She was beautiful without all that extra junk the Aphrodite girls liked to cake on their faces. Her lips were perfect too, and I knew that from experience. Her skin was flawless and smooth with a little tan. For a warrior she was pretty faultless.

Suddenly her eyes fluttered open and I quickly looked away.

"Were you looking at me?" She accused, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Maybe." I said, still not looking her in the eye.

"What were you looking at exactly?"

"You're face." I tell her honestly.

"OH! Do I have something in my nose? Why didn't you tell me earlier Percy?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "No, nothings wrong."

"Then why were you looking at my face?"

"You really are clueless about how pretty you are aren't you?" I said and her cheeks turned pink.

"I look nothing like the girls from the Aphrodite cabin. They are all so beautiful."

"Yup, you're clueless. I bet you don't notice the way that most of the single guys around camp look at you, am I right?"

"They look at me?" She asked, a surprise look on her face.

"Annabeth let me say this again. You are beautiful and most guys realize it too. I was just lucky to get you as my girlfriend."

She blushed again and I just rolled my eyes and squeezed her hand with mine.

An hour later we arrived in Brooklyn at my Mom and her husband Paul's apartment. Argus handed us our bags then returned to the driver's seat before some passerby saw him. Even though the 'mist' obscures most people's view of these sorts of things, you never really know exactly what they are seeing.

My mom greets us at the door, enveloping me in a bone-crushing hug. Then she sees Annabeth.

"Annabeth, sweetie it's so good to see you!" Annabeth smiled and hugged my mom. "So Percy told me about what happened yesterday but left out details, so I want to hear the whole story!" Both Annabeth and I turned as red as the tomatoes is Mom's mini garden.

"Don't be embarrassed around me. Remember I only have one kid so this'll be the only time I get to hear this, so just humor me and tell me everything. Paul is at work so it's just the three of us."

"Yay." I said sarcastically and took a seat on the couch next to Annabeth. Mom took the rocking chair across from us like she was about to read two little kids an exciting story.

"Uh, where do I start?" I stuttered and blushed red again.

"The beginning of course." Mom said immediately, grinning all the while.

"Well, after we were thrown in the lake and all that we all went to our separate cabins and I couldn't stop thinking about her, hardly got any sleep that night." Annabeth blushed, I hadn't told her that part yet. I don't think I'd seen my fighting partner blush so much in all the four years I'd known her. She was always tough and whenever we had a 'moment' or so I thought, she would always change the subject or something. Well until she kissed me for good luck a year ago, that changed my feelings for her entirely.

"Percy, continue." Mom probed.

"Okay, um. I waited till we were alone after breakfast and approached her. We sat down outside and before I could say anything, an arrow from one of Apollo's kids came flying towards her. I caught it in mid air, and while she was thanking me for saving her life I asked her and she said yes. End of story."

"Hold up!" Annabeth put up her hand. "That's not how it happened at all. Let me tell it." Mom just smiled and motioned for her to tell the story.

"So this is how it really happened Mrs. Jackson."

"Call me Sally." Mom said.

"Okay, Sally. So after breakfast yesterday I was feeling a little down because we'd be leaving camp the next day. I guess Percy noticed and followed me after we left the breakfast pavilion. He grabbed my hand and I immediately knew something was different. I as well couldn't stop thinking about that underwater, air bubble kiss that we had had the night before and was going to confront him about it. But as you already know, he came to me first." She stopped for a breath, her cheeks still pink.

Mom was full out grinning now.

"Well we found a nice spot under a tree and sat down, neither of us said anything for a few minutes. Then Percy started blabbering and I couldn't understand what he was saying so I kissed him to shut him up so that I could speak." It was my turn to blush.

"I told him that I'd been thinking a lot about the kiss and wanted to know what it meant for us. Before he could answer a random arrow from the Apollo cabin flew toward us and lodged itself in Percy's shirt, pinning him to the tree. He pulled it out quickly and threw it back to whoever shot it. We both then started laughing for no particular reason and I ended up somehow in his arms and then when we were staring into each other's eyes, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. And that's is actually how it happened."

"Beautiful!" Mom sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

"Wow Annabeth, I didn't know you could be so romantic!" I exclaimed, causing her to blush again.

"I guess you don't know me as well as you think Percy Jackson."

"Guess not." I smirked and squeezed her hand, not wanting to make things more awkward than they already were by kissing her in front of my mom although I wanted to really bad right about now.

"Thanks so much for sharing that with me you two." Mom smiled. "But it's time for me to drop you guys off at your new school."

"How far away is it?" I asked.

"About 2 hours in the car. And there is a bus that travels back and forth on weekends so that you can come visit me."

"I really need a car Mom, I'm 16!" Camp had run two weeks later than usual so I had my birthday for the first time with all my friends. I had wished that my mom could've have come but it was still pretty fun; even Clarisse was civil during the whole party.

"We'll see about that. You'd probably trash it with the amount of monsters you run into."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Annabeth laughed in agreement, I just shrugged.

I stood up and the girls followed suit. Mom helped Annabeth with her bags and I got my own; together the three of us descended the apartment steps to outside. I packed our luggage in the trunk of Mom's car and then instead of sitting in the front with her, Annabeth and I took the seats in the back.

"You'll call me often right?" Mom asked before we were even on the highway.

"Mom, remember that demigods can't use cellphones very often because of the monsters, but I'll call from the school phone as much as I can." I promised her.

"Okay, and I'll be holding you to that. Annabeth, you'll make sure he calls his poor mother at least once a week won't you?" I rolled my eyes but Annabeth smiled and told mom that she would.

"And I heard something about searching for more demigods?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Chiron wants us to keep our eyes alert for any kids that we could bring back to camp half-blood while we're at school. I just wish that Grover could have come with us, he's could at sniffing out demigods."

"Yeah, why didn't he come with you guys?" Mom inquired.

"Juniper." Annabeth explained.

"Is that his girlfriend?"

"Yup, she doesn't want him to leave again and she wouldn't be able to live in the city so far away from the forest so he agreed to stay with her this time." I filled in.

"But he might visit us sometime during the school year." Annabeth said and I looked at her and said, "Really? He never mentioned anything like that to me."

"I don't know." Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he was going to surprise you, but he didn't say so."

"Oh, guess we'll see then."

The rest of the trip to Goode's High school and Boarding School went by relatively quickly, but I could tell that Mom was barely going the speed limit, although I found it strange that she would be so reluctant to send me off when she'd been doing it about twice a year for as long as I can remember.

"We're almost there." She said and I swear her voice got a little choked up when she spoke.

"You ready for this?" Annabeth asked me.

"More than ready." I told her confidently.

"That's good." She said quietly.

"Are you?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"Pretty sure." She replied and guessing that she didn't want to talk anymore, I kept quiet.

"I can't believe my boy is going into 11th grade!" Mom exclaimed all of a sudden, taking the nearest exit to the school and slowing down.

"It's not that exciting." I said.

"You just don't understand." Mom said. "You're not a parent."

"Okay." I said.

Five minutes later we pulled into the parking lot at our new home for the next few months, if we're able to stay in it. It was a tall, red brick building with two smaller buildings on either side of it that I guessed were the girls and boys dorm rooms. There were lots and lots of windows and the place looked relatively friendly, from the outside at least. A cobblestone path let to the front door that had an old-fashioned brass knocker in the middle of it. Fresh cut grass surrounded the building and blooming flowers lined the path invitingly. From my past experiences it was hard for me to be excited about this school, I'm sure it's not too different than any of the others I've attended, but I had Annabeth this time so at least one thing would be different and I was determined to make the best of this year and make mom proud.

Mom found a parking spot relatively close to the entrance and we all got out and collected our things. Being the man of the group and since no one else seemed to be volunteering, I led the girls up the path and with my free hand, banged the knocker three times on the tall oak door. We only waited about thirty seconds before the door was unlocked and swung open by an elderly lady that looked like she could be some kids' Grandma. Mom then moved in front of me, introduced herself and then Annabeth and I.

The lady told us all to come in and have a seat while she filed the paper work and got our schedules. The entrance area was set up like a hotel lobby with a front desk in front of us and two small open rooms with couches and chairs on either side.

A girl, probably around 20 or something, sat at the front desk, talking on the phone. She had short brown hair that was cut in a bob and big silver hoop earrings. She clicked on the keyboard in front of her with fake, long fingernails that were a bright orange, while she talked on the phone. I couldn't hear what the receptionist was saying because a thick wall of glass with a little sliding window in the middle stood in the way.

Mom pulled us over to a large comfortable looking couch to sit while we waited. She picked up a world magazine and began reading, leaving Annabeth and I to talk to each other. Our bags lay at our feet.

"I hope our rooms aren't too far apart." I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, me too." Annabeth sighed and laid her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes. I found this quite comfortable and decided to put my arm around her as well. Thankfully she didn't pull away. Mom looked up from her magazine and smiled then went back to reading whatever she was reading.

Then the silence returned but I didn't mind; it felt so right to have this girl sitting next to me with her head on my shoulder and my arm around her and I wasn't about to ruin the moment.

But I didn't have to because about a minute later, the grandma lady returned, binders and papers in hand. Mom placed her magazine back on the table and rose to meet her.

"Okay dears, I have a binder for each of you that contains your schedules and other important information." At her voice Annabeth lifted her head and opened her eyes and I immediately wished that she would go back to what she had been doing, but now was not the time. The old lady handed Mom some papers for her to fill out then she called over to the receptionist who had the little window opened now so we could hear each other, "Sara honey, would you be a dear and show these two lovely kids to their dorms?"

Sara nodded and disappeared only to reappear coming out of a side door towards us.

"Come with me." She said and took one of Annabeth's bags, I took all of mine. We walked side by side behind Sara down the nearest hallway, then got into an elevator and she pushed the flashing 4.

"This elevator leads to the boys section of the dorms, and girls are not allowed over here but I'm making an exception this once because school has not officially started yet." She explained.

"Gee thanks." Annabeth said quietly but Sara didn't to seem to have heard. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stepped out then followed Sara to the end of the hallway to door number 9. She unlocked it with one of the many keys on a chain in her purse and I went in, the girls waited at the doorway.

Apparently my roommate had already moved in because the bottom bunk of the bunk bed had a pile of stuff on it. Guess I got the top. The room was quite small. It had a bunk bed on one side of the room and a desk and chair on the other. A door next to where the desk was, led to a bathroom with a sink, a toilet and a shower, simple, but it was all I needed. I dropped my bags on to the floor, throwing my more valuable items onto my bed. There was a large window at the back of the room that overlooked out into a courtyard that I'm guessing was at the back of the school.

Annabeth stood at the door while I looked around for a few minutes, then Sara said that we would drop Annabeth's stuff off at her room then we would go back downstairs to say goodbye to my mom.

"Here is your room key." Sara said and handed me a key on a little chain. "Both you and your roommate have one and it is the only one you get, so if you lose it, you're out of luck. Best to keep it in a safe place." She then gave me a necklace-looking thing with the school's name written on the fabric and a hook at the end for my keys and what looked like a slot for a student id that I did not have, yet.

We took the elevator down to the main floor then got into a different elevator that took us up to the 5th floor where Annabeth's room was located. I memorized the way in my head so that I'd be able to find her easily if necessary.

She was in room #12. Sara handed her a key and necklace just like mine and we entered the girl's room. I waited outside like Annabeth had done at my room and watched her inspect the area. Instead of bunk beds shoved against one wall, this room was a tad larger and had a twin bed on each side of the room. Neither of them had been claimed so Annabeth just set her things on the one with the blue bedspread, the other was pink. The window at the back wall between the two beds looked out over the front yard and you could even see the parking lot in the distance and Mom's car parked there. A bathroom was off to the side with all the girl's basic necessities and a desk and chair was propped up against the wall next to the door. They even had a bookshelf with a few books on it. Now Annabeth would have room for all her architecture books and such. A short chest of white drawers stood at the end of each bed.

She smiled and turned around to face me, "It's perfect isn't it?" She said, gesturing to her surroundings.

"Yeah, nicer than mine." I agreed jokingly.

"You'll just have to make it nice." She told me and I nodded. "I can try."

"Okay guys, are you ready to go back down?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I'll unpack later." Annabeth said. So we followed the pretty, young receptionist, she didn't hold a candle to Annabeth's beauty but don't tell her I said that, down the hallway to the elevator and Sara pressed the 'L' that would take us back to the lobby.

Mom had just finished filling out the papers when we arrived back into the lobby.

"All settled in?" She asked and we both nodded. Sara had gone back to her desk.

"Next time you come you can see our rooms." I promised.

"Yes, and you'll have to tell me all about your roommates when we talk on the phone." Mom added.

"Will do Mom."

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go. Paul will be home for supper by the time I get back."

"Okay, drive safe." I pulled her in for a hug and she squeezed so hard that I could hardly breathe. "Take care of that pretty girl for me." She whispered.

"Not to worry." I whispered back, my cheeks turning slightly pink.

"I love you son."

"Love you too Mom."

She then turned to Annabeth and hugged her like she was the daughter she never had, and in a way she kind of was.

"Bye guys, call me as soon as you can." And with those words, my mom walked out the door without looking back and drove away, back to Brooklyn.

So what did you think? I just love Percy and Annabeth and think that there could have been just a little bit more romance in the other books. But since there isn't, so I'm going to have some in here. Not a whole lot, partly because it's rated T, but mostly because Percy and Annabeth aren't total romantics and I want to keep their characters pretty close to the book.

This first chapter was kind of like an introduction, so nothing really exciting happened, but more is to come!

Please let me know what you thought of it through PM's or reviews! Thanks again for reading!

~FirePearl