Maybe I'm starting this fic off with 2 chapters so if I never update again my basic hope for this fic will have been achieved. Maybe.
"Woah, Percy, before you kiss this random girl who just shows up, who is she?"
Percy pulls away (dammit) but still keeps his arm around her waist and runs his hand through the front of his hair. Annabeth mentally applauds whatever caused him to develop that glorious habit. He gives a crooked grin to the latino boy what said that and says "Sorry guys, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth. Apparently she just transferred here."
"Wait, so you mean to tell me you had a girlfriend all along and never told us? Dude, we were trying to play matchmaker love god over here!" It's a girl with tawny skin who says this.
Annabeth and Percy exchange a small grin at her saying love god. They didn't need any more 'love gods' messing around in their relationship. "Well Kristina, if you had just asked if I had a girlfriend before trying to set me up with some random person, maybe you would have known." He replied. Kristina looked about to reply before turning and seeing someone round the corner. The words died on her lips.
"Oh no, it's Kristina's biggest girlcrush!" A girl with white blonde hair smirked.
"Aw, Nova, you know you're my biggest girlcrush." Kristina turned and pecked the white blonde who accepted it with a small smile and rested her head on her shoulder.
A girl rounded the corner Kristina had been looking at. Annabeth had to congratulate how absolutely put together she was. She wore a cheerleader's uniform in the school colors of red, black, and white, and she stuck to those colors.
She had black winged eyeliner and red lipstick, and in general her makeup was at the level of making the Aphrodite cabin shed a tear of pride. Her shoes were spotlessly white tennis shoes and her fingernails were painted red on hands that swung way lower than the tight skirt hem of her uniform, and on the back of her uniform the name Charlotte was stitched in cursive.
So her name was Charlotte, Annabeth figured.
Charlotte had sandy blonde hair pulled into a tight high ponytail and brown cat shaped eyes. She had high cheekbones, a wide face, and her lower lip was thicker than her upper lip, making her look pouty. Her nose was upturned, and while she wasn't the most flawless person in the entire world, there was a beauty around her, like those supermodels who you think look good but have no idea why. She sort of reminded Annabeth of those china dolls her paternal grandmother always bought her as birthday presents, the ones she wasn't actually allowed to touch or play with, because they were the pretty fancy dolls that could be broken very easily.
She stopped next to Percy and his friends. She took in Percy's hand around Annabeth's waist and smiled at him.
"Percy!" She exclaimed with a bright smile. "So nice to see you again after the summer. Listen, so I'm cheer captain this year," She paused for the congratulations Percy gave her. "Thanks. And I was talking to the girls and the coach, and we were wondering if maybe the swim team needed cheering or something, and when your first meet would be? We are award winning, and the football team doesn't appreciate us or have games enough for us."
Annabeth had to admit Charlotte's flirting was pretty flawless. Reasonable reason to talk to him, good tone of voice, just the right amount of eye contact, head tilted at perfect angle, occasional looking through eyelashes; this girl had it down.
Too bad for her Percy was just so incredibly clueless. Annabeth had tried the whole flirting thing too until she realized that Percy was not going to get it. She got bold and was now his girlfriend. She dully noticed how as his girlfriend, she should be getting jealous or something about Charlotte's flirting, but that wasn't very mature. She trusted Percy not to cheat, and besides, it didn't look like Charlotte's attempted were going anywhere.
"I guess you guys can come cheer if you want." Percy shrugged. "The swimmers might be a little busy though." He gave Charlotte a smile in return.
"Alright. And hey, who's the lovely lady next to you? Percy, don't be rude." She lightly hit him in the chest. Another point to good flirting. "Introduce us!"
"Oh, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend." He kissed Annabeth's cheek.
When Charlotte turned to look at Annabeth, her smile wavered just the tiniest bit. Ouch, the feeling of a crush being discovered as unavailable. But then her smile returned full force, like she hadn't ever stumbled.
"Welcome to Goode, then, Annabeth. I love your hair!"She said happily.
"Thanks." Annabeth replied. "You look very put-together and coordinated. It's pretty impressive."
Charlotte let loose an easy giggle. "I try. I'm a bit of a perfectionist." Annabeth could see that, since Charlotte's lipstick was the exact shade as her uniform. "Hey, if you need any help finding your way around the school or anything, ask me! I'm happy to help."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Annabeth returned Charlotte's smile.
Gasp! What's this? A girl who has a crush on Percy who isn't a horrible slut who wears bad makeup and is determined to ruin his and Annabeth's relationship? Blasphemy. Everyone knows girls with crushes are just horrid witches and if they dare wear makeup or a short skirt they're terrible, gross people.
Basically I like high school fics but I'm also a feminist who hates this "The Other Girl" trope. It's so slut-shamey and horrid.
So I offer Charlotte up as a good person who just happened to have a crush on a taken person, and she will not be a brat about it or try to make Annabeth's life hell. She'll just pack up and move on and not hold any grudges against Annabeth or Percy.