A/N: Percy's thoughts are italicized and bolded.
Annabeth's are italicized and normal.
The next morning was the day before the Chariot Competition, and Percy and I got the arena all to ourselves for combat training on chariots.
I was reluctant to give up my knife once I got to the arena in favor of a huge mace. It really didn't help that rushing through my mind was, Big weapon, wow, nice, cool, shiny, glitter, pretty.
"Did you seriously just call weapons glittery and pretty?" I scoffed at him, weighing the mace with my hands. Percy's face instantly darkened with a flush as he pulled out the biggest sword in the pile of weapons. Its blade glinted bronze, and it didn't help that when he held it, Percy's biceps looked amazing.
"My 5-steps look amazing?" Percy muttered to me, swinging the sword. I swallowed, hard, at the muscles rippling beneath his shirt. He wasn't ripped, per say— he was strong in that 16-year-old sort of way. He was such an idiot. He must have been so occupied with the sword he hadn't heard what I had thought. The hot blush in my cheeks trickled away.
"Heard what?" Percy asked, admiring the sword with excited eyes.
"Nothing!" I spluttered. I was such an idiot. Yeah, you are. Thank you, Fish Face. Hey!
"Ready to get started?" Percy asked after he was through swinging his sword around. I took the mace in my hands and nodded, mocking his serious expression.
"Yes, sir," I said, throwing a hand up to my forehead in salute.
"Stop that," Percy said, though I saw a smile lit his face.
"Yes, sir." She is such a dweeb. "Yes, sir," I said again, my face growing red.
We took our weapons to the broken-down chariot in the center of the arena— funny story; Percy and I had broken it— and positioned ourselves. I stood for a few seconds before I nudged Percy.
"You have to get the dummies," I said impatiently, rolling my eyes.
"What? Why me?" Percy asked, irritated, but he was already standing up to get them from the storage closet. I could hear his R-rated thoughts all the way from the weapons closet.
"LANGUAGE!" I yelled after him, following by even more grumbling. He finally came back with Tiffany and Chuck, who were two dummies. Tiffany was missing an arm. Chuck looked like he spent his free time repeatedly bashing his head into ceiling fans.
"I call Tiffany," I said quickly, and my mind was flooding with yet even more profanity. "Dammit, Jackson! Language!" Percy snorted and dragged Chuck next to Tiffany. Then, we boarded the chariot and got to work.
We focused on our angles and the best ways to take out the enemies— we also imagined there was a chariot and swiped at wooden wheels. When Chuck and Tiffany were hacked to shreds, we sat back on the wooden walls of the chariot, breathing heavily.
"Success," Percy said, sweat glinting on his forehead. His hair shone in the dusty light of the arena. I grinned at him, smelling the musty air and only seeing green. "Why am I hearing 'Green, green, green, green' in my head?" Percy asked suddenly, confused. I snapped out of my daydream and grinned sheepishly.
"Thinking about grass," I lied, and Percy rolled his eyes, a smile playing across his lips.
"Wanna spar?" he asked mischievously once my blush had died away.
"Of course," I replied. "Prepare to lose." For the hundredth time. I can hear you. I know!
We took our positions across from each other, the armor pressed against my back growing hotter by the second from the unrelenting sun. I breathed out slowly, my breath a whisper, as one thought that wasn't mine flashed across my mind. Thrust, top right, disarm.
Percy moved as quickly as lightning, and my mind reeled as I remembered: I could hear his thoughts. I knew what he would do! Percy stumbled in surprise, though I blocked his weak blow.
"Aw, crap!" he exclaimed, and I remembered that he could hear my thoughts too.
"Is this gonna work?" I asked, blocking another one of his blows.
"Whatever," he said, breathless, as he sidestepped one of my thrusts. "It'll help in combat, right?" I snorted, sweat beginning to glisten on my nose.
"Sure." I was becoming short of breath, and since we knew what the other was going to do, I was stumped. And then it hit me. Maybe I wasn't good enough for Percy; I wasn't striking like Drew, I wasn't nearly as gorgeous as any of the Aphrodite girls. (Around here in my thoughts, I heard a little outburst of surprise— he was probably wondering how I could be thinking about Aphrodite girls during a sparring match). But maybe I could distract him.
My arm shot out suddenly, and Percy was only caught slightly off guard at the sudden movement. He blocked it, and I burst into action. I caught the hilt of his sword with my blade, held it there with my arms shaking, and stared right into his eyes with all the intensity I could muster. He froze, his green eyes widening as I pushed his sword slowly towards his body, my face growing nearer to his. What the… What is she doing? What— His thoughts dissolved into some emotion I couldn't register as I pushed my sword against his arms. I flicked my wrists, and his sword flew out of his hands and landed a few feet away in a cloud of dust. He stood in front of me, breathing heavily, his hands emptied and his gaze unfocused.
"Sorry, Jackson. Maybe on the hundred-and-second time we fight." I turned, flipping my hair over one shoulder, and made my way back to the weapons closet. Her eyes— I almost stopped walking, and Percy's voice in my head was cut off. I hung my weapon up, feeling a smirk spread across my face. My eyes, I mimicked Percy. I saw his figure shifting his weight as he came towards the closest to hang the weapon up.
"Your eyes are frightening," Percy spluttered as he passed me. I heard the clink of metal and approaching footsteps. I didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult. "Both." He fell into step beside me. "Hey, did you hear about the new demigod in camp?" I looked sideways at him.
"No?" I said. Percy shrugged.
"He's okay, I guess." Hate him. I thought you said he was okay? Oops. We left the arena and walked towards the eating area for lunch. As we were rounding a tree, I caught sight of the other training arena— the one used for solely sparring and combat. Someone caught my eye— all abs and flashing blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Gross, Annabeth. Keep your teenage thoughts to yourself. Shut up. But I couldn't stop myself from saying,
"Who is that?" A dark emotion—not mine— flashed through me as Percy glanced over at him.
"The new guy. And your thoughts are disgusting." I snorted, though my eyes focused on the boy. Sure, he was nothing compared to Percy, but he was cute. "Did you just think that he was nothing compared to me?" Percy asked, looking at me sideways again. I felt my face grow bright red.
"I don't know him as well as I know you," I corrected, fiddling with my hands behind my back. That was a close one. I knew Percy would be listening to my thoughts, so I immediately filled my head with thoughts of the new kid's crazy-fit body.
"Dammit! Annabeth!" Percy clawed at his eyes like my thoughts were blinding him. They are! Dammit! Sooo gross. You're such a baby. You wanna play dirty? We had gotten to the lunch area and I could just see Drew standing, her dark hair glinting in the sun. Let's play dirty. And then I was mentally scarred by thoughts of Drew slamming into my mind.
"OH MY GODS!" I shouted out loud, my hands instantly flying to cover my eyes as if it would help get the thoughts out of my head. Percy snorted, and the thoughts ceased. "That was so gross, Percy! Ugh! I only thought about his abs—" I cut myself off immediately once I realized almost the entire camp was staring at me. And behind me. I spun around only to look straight into a wall of orange t-shirt and a glowering face belonging to Percy. My eyes trailed up to look at the person with the t-shirt and gulped loudly once I realized it was the new camper.
"Hey," he laughed. His eyes sparkled. Oh, gods. Oh, gods is right. I'm getting such vivid imagery over here. I ignored Percy and the annoyance tingling in my body that didn't belong to me. The campers went back to eating their food happily, and the chatter resumed. I still found myself staring at the new kid— and to my surprise, he wasn't looking away either.
"I'm Annabeth," I said after a few moments. A new wave of annoyance rolled off Percy as the kid took my hand. His hand was warm but rough and slightly sweaty from sparring, probably. Why are you noticing his hand so much?
"Darren," the kid said, and my heart did a cartwheel. What a cute name. What a stupid name.
"I, um, I… I'm going to eat lunch," I babbled like an idiot. And then I did the most intelligent thing I could think of: I smiled like a lunatic. I probably looked like a madman. You do. Close your mouth. I snapped shut my lips, embarrassed that I could have been drooling over Darren and I wouldn't have even noticed.
"Cool… I should go do that, too," Darren said, and I didn't hear one note of sarcasm in his voice as he smiled and my insides melted into putty. Gods, Annabeth, if you melted this easily, then why the Hades— And his voice was stopped short again. I wondered why he did that.
"Nice meeting you," I stammered as Darren grinned. His teeth were so beautiful and white and perfect. I want to smash them.
I wandered to the table I shared with Percy in a daze. I could feel the distaste rolling off of Percy again in waves.
"I hate that guy," he muttered under his breath. "I don't like how he looked at you."
"Oh, please, Fish Face," I said, rolling my eyes. "He was probably thinking about how frightening my eyes were." Embarrassment— not mine— flooded through me as Percy's face reddened.
"Let's just eat," he muttered as we sat down at the tables. We filled our plates, made our sacrifices, and then began to dig in.
These ribs need to bear my children. I almost gagged on my mashed potatoes. Excuse me, but what? Crap, sorry, but these are just heaven. I tried to eat my food normally, trying to block out the mental picture of a pregnant barbecue rib. Oh, gross!
"Do you want to practice after lunch?" I asked, and Percy muttered his consent through a mouthful of ribs. "We need to prepare for tomorrow's race. Whose turn is it again?"
"Apollo," Percy said, accidentally spitting out ribs on his p's. Explanation time: For the chariot competition, each cabin was supposed to make a course for the chariot drivers. Percy and I were already partners, and we would be competing. The first course would be made by the Apollo cabin.
"Good," I said, and then I switched into Wise Girl mode. Goody. "Apollo. Definitely planned by Will Solace— lots of bright objects, maybe some made to blind people momentarily. Things to steer us off track in honor of Apollo's journey across the sky. Probably small, golden monsters or mechanical creatures of some sort, with thanks to the Hephaestus cabin— I saw them working on golden creatures a few days ago. Nothing a little celestial bronze won't kill. Lots of glam, little threat. Maybe deafening music. Sand pits. They'll be using their golden horses and will know the course by heart. We'll have to target them first, and then Ares second, and so on." I took a deep breath as I reached the conclusion of the course. Percy sat, awestruck, a rib half-raised. She is amazing. I felt myself blushing. He probably forgot again that I could HEAR HIM. Whatever. You are amazing. My face was probably a tomato by now. It doesn't look bad. Percy shoved the rib into his mouth. I returned to my mashed potatoes, my face burning. What was up with all of the compliments?
Nothing! You just— He was silent for a few moments. You're just so— I waited patiently, though excitement sparked inside of me. You're just so smart, Percy finished rather lamely, and a little drooping emotion weighed down on my stomach. I immediately tried to quell it so Percy wouldn't feel it. Then I shoved a giant forkful of green beans into my mouth.
We're going to crush them. Oh, I know, Seaweed Brain. I know.
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