A/N: Surprise! Since so many people asked for a sequel, I decided that it would be cute to do the same story from Percy's perspective. Hopefully it's not repetitive, as it's a companion chapter to the first one.
Thanks so much to the people who reviewed the first part. There's nothing better than waking up to an email filled with such wonderful and supportive comments from you guys :)
One last note... If anyone is interested in doing the cover art for my stories PLEASE message me. I'm in desperate need of an artist and I think it'd be awesome if someone could help me with that. I like to draw in my spare time but let's just say... I have a long way to go :P
As usual: read, review, and enjoy!
September always brought a wave of terror to Percy. September meant the start of school. The start of school meant work. Work meant frustrating attempts to get it right even though his dyslexia and ADHD made it nearly impossible. A nearly impossible ability to do work meant failing. And failing meant going to another school and trying it all again.
His first day at his new school was like all the other first days— nothing special. Just the normal insatiable nerves and the small ounce of hope that maybe this time it would be different.
Percy's first class was English, which was already a bad omen, as it was his worst subject. Handing a dyslexic boy a book on the first day in his first class was a recipe for disaster.
He entered the room and tried to remain unbothered by the typical who-are-you stares that he always received when coming to a small private school for the first time. His eyes landed on a seat in the back of the room and he gratefully worked his way there, thankful to be momentarily spared of the spotlight. Plus, all the know-it-all kids sat in the front of the room, and Percy definitely didn't fit in with them.
His teacher was average and Percy settled in for what he was sure was going to be another long year.
By October, Percy had grown accustomed to his new school. He had a small group of friends that he really liked and was the star of the swim team. Like always, he started getting the attention of a lot of flirtatious girls but gently ignored them, knowing that he probably wouldn't last long in this school anyways.
In terms of classes, Percy was doing the same as usual. Naturally, English was the hardest for him, especially since his class started reading The Catcher in the Rye. On top of having to endure what Percy considered bad reading material, he slowly started to dislike his teacher more and more, since he always attempted to get everyone involved in the class discussions. Despite this, he picked favorites and it was blatantly obvious that he loved the girl in the front of the room with the curly blonde hair who always seemed to have the right answer and could talk a person's ear off within a matter of minutes. Therefore, his teacher's attempts at class discussions were often fruitful as Percy was too intimidated to try and join in on the conversations that he couldn't contribute positively to.
The teacher also gave tons of homework every day, which Percy rarely completed. It wasn't for lack of trying— Percy always at least started the work. But the same thing happened every time he tried and within a few minutes all the letters would float off the page and no matter how hard he struggled he could never get them to go in order the way they did for everyone else.
November was a bad academic month for Percy. Swimming consumed all of his free time and he didn't have the energy to study or do homework or pretend he even had a chance at not failing miserably.
He really didn't like English class now, and used it as an opportunity to catch up on some desperately needed rest. Even worse, his teacher had started to notice Percy's lack of involvement in the class and would randomly call on him to answer questions, even when his hand wasn't raised.
One day, Percy's teacher asked him a question about Holden, a character that puzzled him to no end. Percy, who had been hardly paying attention in the past few moments, tried to search for an intelligent answer. Just as he was about to attempt to participate for the first time, the girl in the front with the curly blonde hair turned to glare at him with gray eyes that were cold and unforgiving.
Instead of thoroughly embarrassing himself with a stupid response, Percy just shrugged, ran a hand through his hair because it was sticking up, and said he didn't get Holden's character. He could see the blonde scowl at him from across the room and Percy didn't understand the goosebumps that rose on his arms, or the sudden warm pricking in his cheeks.
At the end of class, Percy's teacher asked him to stay a few extra minutes to give the typical lecture about how Percy wasn't contributing in class and wasn't even trying to succeed. As usual, Percy listened, apologized, and said he would try to do better.
In December, Percy's English teacher announced that they would be starting a new book, Othello. If there was one thing that was sure to make Percy's dyslexia even worse, it was Shakespeare. Not only was it confusing and boring and totally pointless, but there were always those few students who loved Shakespeare and read his plays in their spare time.
One such person was Annabeth Chase, the girl in the front of the room who was never wrong— completely and utterly perfect in her own mind. When the teacher asked for a student to help pass out the novels, she eagerly volunteered. Percy would never forget the smirk she gave him as she dropped the book on his desk with a formidable thunk. He was happy she didn't see him wince in horror at the noise.
Annabeth always gave Percy a weird feeling. It wasn't that he disliked her; she seemed nice enough and he had no reason to hate her. It was simply a minor annoyance— the way she would light up when they were handed a new novel, the way she would beam when the teacher praised her for another brilliant answer, the way her gray eyes would scrutinize the board and copy down every single note every single day. He would always get this fluttering sensation in his stomach.
It drove him crazy.
Which is why he was terrified when the teacher stated that the class would be completing long-term partner projects on the novel, and each group would be assigned a character to analyze.
Because Percy could never seem to catch a break, he was told to move front and center, right next to Annabeth Chase. He tried to give her a friendly smile, but she didn't even pretend be pleased with the arrangement. She introduced herself, pulled out her notebook, and immediately turned her attention back to the board, writing in handwriting neater than type.
Percy pulled out his notebook and tried to follow suit, but was greeted with blank pages, a fact that made Annabeth huff in annoyance.
The teacher handed them a slip of paper that said Roderigo and for some reason this caused Annabeth to make another little sound of frustration.
January was filled with relentless bickering between Percy and Annabeth. Every day in English class before Percy could even sit down, she would demand to see his homework. Sometimes he had work to hand her—usually messily written scraps with terribly inaccurate ideas that she would read, roll her eyes, and push back to him.
The days he didn't have his homework were more frequent. Perhaps he could have tried a little harder, but usually he didn't do his work because he was amused by the way Annabeth's eyebrows would knot together, how she would stick out her chin, cross her arms, and threaten that if he didn't do his work next time they were sure to fail.
He liked her because Annabeth wasn't like the other girls who would giggle whenever Percy looked at them. She was confident, unwavering, and even slightly arrogant. The exception to her collected demeanor was when she was working with Percy. Even though she tried to act calm and in control on the outside, he liked seeing her flustered. In fact, he even sort of thought it was cute.
For some reason on one February night, Percy found himself typing up a neat chart listing all the ideas that he and Annabeth—well, mostly Annabeth— had for their presentation. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly found himself eager to impress her for once.
He walked in on Valentine's Day and announced that he had a present for her. She gave him one of her typical dubious looks and her eyes followed his hand closely as he pulled the only slightly wrinkled chart out of his backpack.
Annabeth smiled at him for the first time, and said that she was, in fact, impressed.
Annabeth also found out this month that Percy was dyslexic. He usually didn't tell anyone because he thought it was something he needed to work out on his own.
Giving one of her wildly unpredictable answers, Annabeth shocked him by admitting that she, too, was dyslexic. She gave him some tips that helped her overcome the problem and from then on didn't berate Percy quite as loudly when he didn't do his work.
Percy discovered that Annabeth's face was even prettier when she wasn't scowling at him all the time.
In March he called her Wise Girl for the first time. It just slipped out and there was that awful moment of silence where Annabeth froze, bit her bottom lip lightly, and continued to work without acknowledging it.
But from then on, whenever they needed to get each other's attention, they used the silly nicknames that they had invented for one another. She was Wise Girl and he was Seaweed Brain.
Percy and Annabeth also started to excel with their work. Even though Percy was still often confused and occasionally got the characters jumbled up, there was no denying that their project was coming together successfully. Their teacher would walk by and scrutinize their progress, always leaving with a thumbs-up.
Each time that happened, Percy would flash Annabeth one of his signature lopsided grins and she would roll her eyes and tap his paper impatiently, informing him that there was still a lot of work to go.
Even so, Percy had to admit that maybe English class wasn't so bad after all.
By April, Percy loved English class, mostly due to the fact that he could tell that Annabeth had warmed up to him. Whenever he asked her a question or even looked at her, her face would take on this reddish color and she would avert her eyes.
Thank goodness Percy wasn't a huge blusher, because if he was, then his face would have been red nearly all the time as well.
Percy passed her more notes than ever during this month, and it wasn't because he was confused. In fact, the contrary was true. Percy had gained an understanding of the book and even felt brave enough to make some suggestions for the project to Annabeth.
The real reason he frequently passed notes was because Annabeth would always reply with some witty remark that would have them both snickering under their breaths. She would then always hide behind her soft curls, so Percy would take the blame but he wasn't really bothered.
Overall, Percy started to really do well in school this month, not just in English class. His small group of friends had expanded, but even still, he spent most of his time wishing he was talking to Annabeth. It was the first time he ever looked forward to doing work.
He looked even more forward to the moments when, during a boring part of class, he would glance over to find Annabeth staring at him with this quizzical expression on her face. The instant his eyes would meet hers, she would turn back to the board and pretend to be paying attention.
After class one day, Percy pointed out that she had missed some of the notes, to which she just shrugged. She also didn't shoot down all his ideas anymore, which Percy knew was her way of saying they were good.
May might have been the most stressful month of Percy's life. The deadline was quickly approaching and Annabeth went into super-crazy mode, panicking about every little detail, even the minor things that a normal person would have never noticed were wrong.
In the week leading up to the presentation, Annabeth lectured him every day on what to say, how to dress, and what to do if he didn't know how to answer a question. Percy's backpack was stuffed with backup papers in case the projector died during the presentation or a slide wasn't working properly or for some reason the aliens decided this was a perfect time to invade Room 412.
On the big day, Percy made sure to arrive early to class. Sure, he was nervous, but if Annabeth had anything to do with the project then he was certain it would turn out well. His eyes remained locked on the door, waiting for his partner to arrive.
Annabeth showed up with a million papers in her arms, wearing a modest black skirt and a light blue blouse that Percy thought went really well with her eyes. She sat down next to him Percy cringed, waiting for another stream of last-minute warnings and repetitive advice.
To his surprise, she started ruffling through her papers without saying a word, something that was very uncharacteristic of her. The teasing came to the tip of his tongue and he was about to make a joking comment about the almighty Annabeth Chase being nervous.
Which is when she looked up and her eyes, usually hard and secretive, flashed with fear. He realized that this meant a lot to her, and under no circumstances was he going to mess this up.
It wasn't a conscious decision on Percy's part, and he blamed his ADHD for making him impulsively reach under the table and take Annabeth's hand in his. He became even more jittery by the fact that she didn't pull away.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought she even might have held on a little tighter.
In June Annabeth got moved to the back of the room, and Percy was forced to remain in the front. Usually, this would have bothered him, but he didn't mind because it was the perfect position to run to the door and wait for Annabeth just outside when class was over.
Every day, she would slip her hand into his as they walked and tell him to stop looking back at her during class because he kept getting in trouble. Their English teacher would always complain that the front of Percy's head was much nicer than the back, which is why Percy felt compelled to give Annabeth full viewing pleasure, even if it was met by the occasional shout from his teacher.
Still, this was the first time that Percy did well enough not to be kicked out of private school at the conclusion of the year.
It wasn't a secret why. In fact, Percy was willing to tell anyone who would listen that the only reason he did above average in English class was because of the beautiful girl he was lucky enough to hold hands with every day.