My mom was taking Annabeth dress shopping since Annabeth's step-mom was busy. Prom was just two days away, so I was home just with Paul. I had been just hanging out, watching television when the phone rang. I could hear Paul pick it up from the other room.

"Hello?" A pause. "May I ask who is calling?" he asked in a friendly tone. "Sure, one second. Percy! Phone!" I jumped up and went into the hallway where Paul had the cordless phone. He handed the phone to me with a strange expression on his face.

"Hello?"

"Hi Percy, it's Julia."

Julia again? "Hey Julia, what's going on?"

"Not much. Hey, I have a question for you." She said, confidently.

"Shoot." I replied.

"I know the guy is supposed to ask the girl and all, but would you go to prom with me?"

You would have thought I said something like, "Sorry, but I can't.", but what I did do, was nothing. I just stood there in my hallway gaping, open mouthed until she started saying, "Hello? Percy? Are you there?"

I came out of my trance and said, "No, sorry. I can't. I have a girlfriend."

"Oh, okay." She sounded only the least bit disappointed.

"I have to go." I said before she could try to start up another conversation.

"Okay. I'll see you later Percy."

"Bye." I hung up, and walked back into the living room, going back to my show.

"Hey Percy," Paul said, walking into the living room from the kitchen, "Who was that Julia?" He sat down next to me on the couch.

"She's a girl from school. It's so weird, I barely know her. She talked to me a few days ago too." I said, flipping through the channels, trying to find something else interesting.

"Oh." He said, but I could tell what he was thinking.

"She's nothing compared to Annabeth. I wouldn't give Annabeth up for the world, not even if the sky was falling." I smiled and thought of Atlas kneeling on top of that mountain. He probably hated me more than ever for giving him his burden to carry again.

The next day when I got on the bus, I sat down next to Annabeth, as I always did. "Hey Percy!" She smiled.

"Hey Annabeth!" I kissed her on the cheek. "How was dress shopping?"

"It went really good!" I was so lucky I had a girlfriend who didn't like spending hours talking about dresses and clothes. "Except for that dang Empousa."

WHAT?!

"An Empousa?! You saw her?!" I asked, bug eyed. I met a couple of Empousas a few of years back. I would have been dead if not for my friend Rachel. She had warned me of what the cheerleaders were.

"Yeah. But Percy, really, it was nothing. She was very inexperienced. She must've still been an apprentice. It was barely fun." She smiled at me.

I couldn't stay upset when she smiled that way.

"So what did you do yesterday?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"I mostly just watched TV. I got a call on the phone. Not a lot." I wasn't fighting monsters or anything. That's what my girlfriend was doing.

"Who called?" She asked, purely out of curiosity. Probably trying to keep me distracted from the Empousa subject.

"Oh, it was just someone from school." I tried letting it go there, but girls are so perceptive.

"What are you trying to hide from me Seaweed brain?" How does she see through me?

"It was just that girl Julia again." She pouted then slumped a little in her seat. "What? What's wrong?"

She mulled over her answer a little bit then said, "She just, looks at you, like, she likes you. And she, I don't care how beautiful she is, should not be flirting with another girl's boyfriend!" She faced the window.

"Is that really what your upset about? That's your problem with her?" I smiled. I gently turned her face so she was looking at me. "I don't like Julia. I didn't even realize she was, as you said, beautiful. I only see one girl, and she's more beautiful than all the supermodels in the world put together." I kissed her a little bit more than gently. I would've told her she's more beautiful than Aphrodite, but then the bus would most likely explode or something like that.

I pulled away, and she said, "I still don't like her." Stubborn girl.

"I know. Just forget about her, okay?"

"Maybe." She said. Typical Annabeth.

Then, the bus all of a sudden, stopped abruptly. Annabeth and I turned to look out the back window, wondering with what was going on.

There, standing behind the bus, was the Chimera, staring directly at me.

Annabeth and I wasted to no time jumping into action. We darted out the door at the back of the bus. She whipped on her Yankee cap and drew out her dagger, and I uncapped my sword, Riptide.

Annabeth and I had been fighting alongside each other long enough where we just knew each other's moves. I kept the beast's attention while she ran around the back of it, to get a good hit.

Easier said then done.

This thing was mad. Apparently it remembered me from the last time. It lunged at me, blowing fire my way. I almost got fried, but I jumped downwards to the side at the last second. It started circling me. I prayed Annabeth was close to it, but undetected.

The Chimera's tail spurted the poison near me, almost hitting me in the chest. I charged the beast, not entirely sure it was a good idea, but I made the split second decision. I almost drove my sword through him, but he fell to the opposite side of me. He went down. Then he turned to dust and disappeared.

Annabeth appeared behind the beast, putting her cap into her back pocket. "Let's go to school now, before any more monsters attack us."

~~~ Hey, I'm still working on expanding my story, and new monster attacks! Please review! I always love comments and constructive criticism!