Jessica's POV

Percy Jackson. The most popular guy at school. Captain of both the football AND swim team. Yet he was single.

He still didn't have a date to the homecoming dance, which was in a week. All the girls had a crush on him, but were too scared to ask him out, even me, one of his best friends at Goode High School. We were all waiting for him to ask us.

Supposedly, he had no girlfriend. Or at least, he never mentioned one. We all thought he was single. That is, until that text came out.

I remember it clearly. It was the day before the dance when I received a text message from Katie Gibson, one of the popular girls at school. It read: Guess who's taken? Underneath that was a picture of someone that was clearly Percy kissing some athletic looking blond girl behind a tree in Central Park. I had no idea who this girl was, or even how Katie got this picture. All I knew was that Percy had a girlfriend.

Then I realized that Katie sent the text to all the girls in the school. I wasn't the only one feeling rejected, but I was one of his closest friends at school, and having a crush on him and knowing that he didn't like me back? That stung.

Percy's POV

My friend Matt and I were hanging out in the courtyard before school. He was asking me who I was taking to the dance tonight. When I told him I no one, he gave me a blank stare. He opened his mouth to say something, but then Jessica walked up to us, her phone in her hand.

"Percy..." she started. She didn't seem to know what to say. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

I don't know why she was asking me this. She didn't know Annabeth. I never even talked about her, so how did she know?

"Yeah," I told her. "Why?"

She put her phone in front of my face so that I could see the screen clearly. It was a picture of me and Annabeth at Central Park. We were there earlier this week.

Then Jessica began to dump loads of questions on me. I tried to answer them, but there was one that caught my attention.

"How come you never mentioned her before?" she asked.

I thought about that. Why hadn't I? I just shrugged my shoulders. Jessica was about to ask me another question, but then ring! Saved by the bell, I thought.

I dashed inside. I felt bad for Jess, she was one of my mortal friends after all.

I walked to my locker, the photo stuck in my brain.

Jessica's POV

I caught up with Katie on my way to first period.

"Where did you get that photo?" I asked her in a hushed voice.

"So you saw it, did you?" she smirked, turning around. "I caught him and that girl the other day while I was at the park. I took some discreet pictures too."

"Oh... um, do you know who she is?"

"No idea, but they're mad in love. I heard Percy say that she goes to a different school.

"You listened in on their conversation? What did they say?" I didn't want to be nosy in Percy's love life, but I really wanted to know.

"Something about a camp, I guess. I stopped listening after they said Olympus." With that, she walked over to her friends.

I dreaded class all morning, which was unusual, since I usually loved learning. When the class was finally dismissed to lunch, I was the first one out the door.

Percy was sitting at our usual table. I sat down next to him.

"Sorry about this morning," I apologised.

"Don't worry about it. I should've told you sooner," he said. I let go of the breath I had been holding onto all morning. He wasn't mad at me.

"So, what do you want to know?" he continued.

My face flushed. I had so many questions. Which one should I ask first?

"Well, how about her name, and how you and the blonde met," I said.

"Well, her name's Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. We met at a summer camp about five years ago. It's funny because the first thing she said to me was, You drool when you sleep." He sighed and put his head in his hands. "That's my Wise Girl."

They even have cute nicknames for each other, I thought bitterly.

"I didn't know you went to summer camp," I said.

"Yeah, each year we get a bead." He revealed a leather cord hanging around his neck. On it were five brightly colored beads.

"What do they stand for?"

"Um... It's probably best I not tell you."

"Oh, ok."

He went on to tell me about himself and Annabeth at their summer camp. It sounded pretty fun. Percy and Annabeth seemed to have a really tight bond.

Suddenly an idea occurred to me. "Are you taking her to the dance tomorrow night?"

Percy shook his head. "I'm going with a couple of friends."

"You should totally take her as your date! It would be cool to meet your girlfriend." I exclaimed.

I don't know why I was telling him this. I still had a HUGE crush on him. At the moment though, I was just glad that he was happy. The thought of him being my crush seemed super minor now.

"Well... I guess I could ask her to come," he said. I smiled. If Percy was going to the dance, then so was I.