Chapter Two
Heads up, people. In this story, I made the Stoll brothers twins. I know in the Percy Jackson series that they are only brothers that looked practically identical but it was easier to say they were twins.
As always, these characters do not belong to me.
Annabeth walked the halls of her new school, already bored. She could feel the stares and whispers from the other students as she passed; the usual greeting for a new student. This used to bother Annabeth but now the rumours and speculation surrounding her sudden appearance was a form of amusement bordering on irritation.
She had only been in a couple of high schools on different jobs before and found them all the same. She often wondered as she walked through the halls how different her life would have been if she was never recruited. She could have been one of those girls, holding their notebooks to their chests even though they would never have wrote in them. She would stare at the new teenagers and give her opinion on how awful they dressed or how much they stuck out like a sore thumb.
Annabeth smiled to herself. She would never be one of those girls. She was always more focused in studying and learning new things than caring how she looked or what she wore. Most of the time her clothes became dirty or torn and ended up in the bin anyway.
Being in the high school, acting as a regular student, she always fantasised about lives she had never lived. About whom she could have been or what click she would have fit into. Mindless dribble, Chiron would have called it. She could hear his voice in her head telling her to focus, get her task done and come back to her home.
She had not forgotten to watch out for Percy Jackson, yet so far he had been elusive. She had expected this though, so she let herself delve into her alternate lives. It helped to pass the first couple of periods of her first school day.
She reached her locker during lunch, wondering how long she was going to have to stick it out before she went insane. She already had three guys trying to flirt with her and it was getting tedious trying to assure them she was not interested in them whatsoever. It did however give her an idea of how she might be able to worm information out of Percy Jackson. It made her uncomfortable to think it but if it got the job done who was she to question it.
'Something troubling you?' said a voice beside her.
Annabeth pulled her face out from her locker door. There he was. Percy Jackson. He wore jeans, a plain dark shirt underneath a simple black hoodie that accentuated the bright green of his eyes. His shoes were scuffed and well-worn but that didn't seem to deter him.
'I'm fine,' Annabeth replied to the boy with a small smile. Polite and friendly, just as any new student should be.
Percy smiled at her, wandering to a locker a couple down from her. Annabeth expected Chiron had a hand in placing her where she would likely run into him without causing suspicion. The boy was oblivious to her calculated stare before she remembered she had to be polite and friendly. She quickly rearranged her expression to match it.
'They'll get over it, you know,' he gestured with a nod of his head to the hallway. When Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows he explained. 'The other kids here. You're the new kid and it's a form of amusement for them to make up stories and try and guess why you changed schools.' He shrugged, attending to his locker.
Annabeth gazed at him again, a tad confused. He really didn't notice the stiffness in her shoulders? Or the way she tensed when he leant slightly in her direction, prepared to fight. He was certainly different to any of the other students she was sent to watch. They were reclusive, shying away from the public; almost constantly easy to spot as their target. It was almost as if he was unaware of danger he was being placed in. Or he was a very good actor.
'Like I care what they think of me,' Annabeth muttered to her locker. She hadn't realised she had said it loud enough to be mistaken as a response.
'Yeah, you didn't strike me as the self-conscious type,' he replied with a smile, offering it as a compliment. He shut his locker door and then leant against it, facing her. 'Have you moved to a few schools, then? The way you said that, it just sounded as if this wasn't your first new school.'
Annabeth had to hand it to him; he was more observant than she thought. She scrutinised him again, trying to find something, anything that would contradict this pleasant façade he insisted on doing. He waited patiently for her reply, still a small smile playing around his face. Well if he insisted on acting the innocent welcomer, then Annabeth was just as good at acting her role as he was.
'Yeah, just a few,' Annabeth said. She smiled, trying to make her seem a little embarrassed by that truth.
He smile widened and Annabeth blinked. 'Makes two of us. This one is proving hard to budge. I've been here since the start of high school.' He shook his head in surprise, gazing fondly at the roof and then gave her that same expression. 'Can hardly believe I've lasted this long. Maybe it will be the same for you.'
Annabeth nodded but knew her and the high school would never work out. He was so sincere it was seriously putting her off guard. He was so honest with his words it was hard to think of him as being wanted for questioning. Students milled around them, getting things from their lockers, moving to their next classes. Some stared at her before whispering and giggling to each other.
Percy wasn't deterred from Annabeth's lapses of silence as she thought. Instead, he watched the gossiping students, impassively. He turned to her and shrugged. It was only a slight move of his shoulders as if to stay, 'what can you do'? Annabeth rolled her eyes at him.
Percy smiled. 'I'll catch you around. Stay resilient, newbie.'
Percy turned and walked leisurely down the hall. Annabeth watched him, trying to work out his deal. Why didn't he offer to walk her to class? He didn't even introduce himself when he knew who she was. Annabeth thought this was wildly unfair until she remembered she did, in fact, know who he was. Did he like to just be some sort of masked knight, attempting to sweep a girl off of her feet and then leaving her to chase after him. Annabeth folded her books to her chest, unimpressed.
Some teenagers around their age smiled in a polite greeting at him while others stoped and talked briefly before continuing to their classes. Annabeth was so puzzled, she was scowling. He was popular with his classmates but he did not seem to take it in his stride. He was not one to promote his image with others. He bore no sports jacket and he didn't seem to be in any of what was considered the nerdy groups that would give him such a status. Maybe he was just an overall friendly person that got along with everyone?
Annabeth was having a hard time wrapping her mind around that notion. Percy could not, or would not be stereotyped to a specific teenage click. She pondered this through English and her history classes, which for Annabeth who enjoyed those two subjects was a sign it was a serious issue. It was even harder to determine her theory with Percy being in neither of those classes with her. By the time her afternoon gym class came around, she was relieved to be able to run out all of the tension she had built up.
Annabeth threw her uniform on, feeling as if she had been at this school for weeks even though it had only been one day. This assignment was proving to be infuriating. She followed her other classmates out into the gym. She walked up to the bleachers, gazing around the others all out on the court. Most of them were talking and laughing with each other, with a pair of twins mulling in-between each group, playing a different prank of all of them. Annabeth smiled and made a mental note to remember them for the future.
She was watching another group of boys who were acting much too pompous and superior to the others. They were mucking around with a basketball, not wanting to look as if they were overly trying but not wanting to miss the shot and get paid out by their mates. Annabeth was thinking she would avoid that group as long as she possibly could in this place when her eyes fell on the black haired boy a few paces away.
So Percy was finally in one of her classes and it was gym of all things. It gave her the chance to study how strong and agile he was physically. And it may give her some hint of The Brotherhood's interest. First thing though, she had to work out how to be around him so he would confide in her. She originally thought to be flirty and cute but after their conversation in the hallway and her other conclusions, she struck that out with much relief.
Percy was consoling a curly brown haired boy who looked to be a nervous wreck. The boy had a stubbled beard and Annabeth noticed how out of place he was in a gym. Percy said something to the boy and he laughed nervously, standing a little straighter. Percy gazed across the gym and spotted Annabeth watching them. Annabeth thought about darting her eyes away but he smiled warmly at her and she knew she was forgiven for staring. She smiled back, wondering vaguely why it was so easy to smile with this boy she barely knew; apart from the information Chiron's profile had given her that was probably not nearly enough. Percy gestured for her to come and join them and, thinking of nothing better to do, she complied.
'I was wondering when we would meet again,' he told her when she arrived.
'I've been in hiding to avoid the hordes of whispering students,' she replied offhandedly.
For a second, Annabeth thought he took her seriously. His eyebrows pulled together, his mouth losing its smile. Annabeth opened her mouth to assure him she was fine, but she was too late.
'She's in all of the smarter classes, Percy,' the boy beside her joked, grinning at her. He still looked nervous, wringing his hands together.
Percy rolled his eyes, his concern dissipating. 'Yeah, yeah, then I guess you already know her.'
'Only from the whispers around the school. I'm Grover by the way. Grover Underwood,' he told her before giving Percy a makeshift look.
'I was going to introduce you,' he told Grover, rolling his eyes. 'But I should probably introduce myself, first.' He smiled at her. 'Percy Jackson and you're –.'
'Annabeth Chase,' two voices replied for her.
The two twins causing havoc earlier had come over, flanking her on either side. Wavy brown hair, crystal blue eyes, tall, slim and wearing matching attire; even with Annabeth's training in profiling people, she had a hard time trying to distinguish differences between these twins.
'Connor –,' the one on her left started.
'And Travis Stoll –,' the one on her right continued.
'At your service.' They finished together, wearing identical mischievous smiles.
'And how did you come by name and what else have you been told?' Annabeth asked them, trying not to size up the pair of misfits.
'When you have two sets of ears –,' Connor started.
'And a knack for appearing at the right place at the right time –,' Travis continued.
'It's easy to hear stuff you aren't meant to.' They both finished.
'The resident masters of vexing speeches,' Percy stated, watching the two of them carefully but with amusement.
'Seriously, do you have to talk like that?' Grover exasperated, looking so nervous that he was almost biting his shirt.
'No,' they replied together with smirks. 'But it is entertaining.'
They took a last look at Annabeth and then left to terrorise a group of girls a few metres away. If she was a regular student she would have been worried by the impish expressions they gave her. She was wary yes, but she knew she could handle them.
'They really are cool guys, once you get over your locker being befouled every now and then,' Percy told Annabeth, smiling.
Annabeth could not help but grin back. She reminded herself that he was the target, a threat to the agency that had to stopped, eliminated if necessary. She couldn't afford to be overly friendly with this bunch of people. Was she, her mind argued. She had to get close to his friends, see if she could retrieve any useful material on Percy. They had to trust her, didn't they?
'Yeah, real cool Percy,' Grover responded sarcastically. 'You're not the one who continues to get goat manure hidden in their bag.'
'Aww … C'mon G-man.' Percy wrapped an arm around Grover's shoulders. 'I've asked them to cut it out and they promised they would. They're saving it for Luke now.'
'Because that's reassuring.' He shrugged away from Percy. 'Juniper's over there. It was nice to meet you, Annabeth.'
Percy and Annabeth watched as Grover moved through the expanding crowd of students to a short girl with porcelain skin and long, fiery red hair. He pulled her into a hug and Annabeth noticed her rubbing his back, trying to comfort him.
'Why did he look so nervous?' Annabeth asked Percy.
Percy sighed, his face solemn. 'When he was a boy he had a lot of issues with his legs. It is a miracle he can walk without assistance really but he gets embarrassed when he has to run. It is sort of a hobble.'
Annabeth frowned. 'That's a little harsh if they pick on him, knowing his condition.'
'They don't. He doesn't want anyone to know.'
'But you do?' Annabeth guessed, wanting an explanation.
'Yeah.' Percy smiled sadly at the memory he was reliving. 'We've been friends since we were twelve. He was still on crutches back then and I wormed it out of him. I was very persistent. Now, well, he can't keep anything from Juniper. He's too smitten.'
Annabeth gazed back at Grover and Juniper. She was leading him to one of the hoops in the far corner, her hand in his. Annabeth could see from where they were how much Juniper meant to Grover. Her eyes flickered to Percy, who was also watching them with a small smile. He was compassionate, Annabeth noted. And open. And friendly. This was not going to make her job easier.
Annabeth could feel a pair of eyes on her. She turned and found one of the jocks blatantly watching her. Blue eyes, fair hair, good looking; Annabeth did not have to question why he was popular. He raised his eyebrows at her, his arms folded against his chest. Annabeth turned away, sighing. She knew that look; he was a hunter and she had become the perfect prey. Getting rid of him was going to be difficult.
'You know how to play basketball?' Percy asked.
She gave him a face, which made him smirk. 'Alright that was a stupid question. C'mon, let's shoot some hoops.'
He led her over to the closest hoop but not before Annabeth saw him sneak a look in the boy's direction. He shot from the three point line, running to retrieve it when it hit the rim and bounced away. He faced her, that smile back on his face, passing her the ball. He never watched the boys again.
They had begun to play one on one, getting bored of just shooting. They were both too competitive to let the other win so easily. By the time the coach blew his whistle to signal the end of the lesson, both Annabeth and Percy were panting heavily with huge grins on their faces. This class was exactly what Annabeth needed. She felt she had sweated out all of the tension built up in her system and she felt oddly at peace and not just because she beat him by three points.
She was wandering back to her locker, still elated but also focused on Percy's behaviour during gym. He was competitive but did admit defeat when he was dealt it. The more Annabeth thought about him, the more she realised he was simply an overall genuine virtuous person. There was no way he could cross paths with her line of work and his persona not be a disguise. The two things did not go together; it wasn't natural.
He must have been coached in how to speak and be around people this way, Annabeth reasoned, oblivious to her surroundings. There was no other explanation for his behaviour. Annabeth began to wonder what his personality actually was. She could picture herself question him while he was tied to a chair, revealing all of his secrets, under torture if necessary. He would be a tough one to break though, she told herself but she knew she would just have to be stronger.
'Well, well, well boys, what do you we have here?'
Annabeth halted and raised her head to find the blonde haired, blue eyed jock from her gym class leaning against her locker, staring at her with a wicked gleam in his eye. Annabeth sighed inwardly. She should have foreseen this coming; instead she was too preoccupied with Percy's odd behaviour. Otherwise Annabeth would have just left her books in her locker, forgetting schoolwork altogether.
Now, she had to play her role, much as is disgusted her. She blinked innocently at the boy, smiling shyly at the boy as she walked up to her locker. He looked her up and down as she came toward him, not bothering to hide his interest. Annabeth felt like punching him in the nose.
'I'm Luke Castellan,' he informed her, smiling.
So this was the Luke the Stoll brothers were going to prank. Annabeth secretly wished she was around when he found his befouled locker.
'Annabeth Chase,' she replied and his smile grew wider.
His smile was too forced to be considered charming and Annabeth knew most people would not be able to spot the difference. To them he was irresistible and gorgeous, not the self-absorbed jerk Annabeth could see in front of her. Another smile popped into her head. One that lit up the owner's face and had all the meaning in the world behind. When he smiled, it was as if it enchanted the other person to smile as well. No one could fake a smile without it being detected and once again Annabeth was left questioning if Percy was actually being honest.
'So Annabeth, you like our school?'
'Same as any other I've been to,' Annabeth shrugged, wanting this conversation to be over.
'Is that right? Well, I don't want to brag or anything but none of those schools had me.'
A few of his friends behind them snickered and Luke grinned at them before gazing back at Annabeth. Stuff playing a role, Annabeth thought angrily.
'School's loss obviously,' Annabeth muttered.
'And not yours?' Luke asked, leaning a little closer.
'If I was interested maybe, but I'm not,' she said bluntly.
'Aww, come one babe. One date and you won't go back.'
Annabeth snorted. 'How many girls fell for that?'
'None but I am very persistent,' Luke told her truthfully, a lopsided grin on his face.
'You underestimate how stubborn I am,' Annabeth told him. Her tone suggested she was finished talking to him.
Annabeth went to go to her locker but Luke placed an arm against it, cutting off her access. He leant in closer so he was almost breathing on her.
'Move your arm, Luke,' Annabeth warned.
She had had enough for one day. She was beyond caring about her assignment or blowing her cover. This guy needed a serious wakeup call and Annabeth was more than happy to give it to him. She clenched her right fist, relaxing her shoulder slightly so she would be able to move quickly and efficiently. Her fist was between her and the lockers so Luke and his buddies did not notice them. Luke noticed her slight shift in movement and went to lean in closer, thinking it was to get away from him. Wrong move, Annabeth snarled at him in her head.
'Or what?' Luke joked, going to stroke her cheek with his other hand. Annabeth prepared to strike …
'Hope I'm not interrupting anything,' said a voice behind Luke.
Luke turned around, his arm falling to his side. Percy was standing a few feet away, his hands leisurely in the pockets of his jeans. He took a quick glance at Annabeth, his eyes returning to Luke soon afterward.
'Jackson, welcome to the party,' Luke said mockingly. He spread his arms out wide as if he was greeting Percy. His friends laughed. 'I don't recall inviting you though?' he continued, turning to Annabeth with a frown and a wink. 'Are you stalking me?'
'I was about to ask you the same thing,' Percy said, striding forward. 'That is my locker you are waiting at. I recall you are the first one out of the gates of an afternoon. Surely you aren't going to offer to walk me home? Because I would have to decline.'
Luke snickered. 'You think you are so witty when all you are is a blot on this school. No one wants a fatherless loser hanging around like a bad smell.'
'You would know about being a bad smell,' Percy said, still as coolly as before.
There was a slight tightening of his eyes that Annabeth only just noticed. To brush off such insults meant he had heard it before, possibly multiple times.
Luke and Percy continued to stare at each other until Luke motioned to his friends to leave. They slouched off, some of them laughing at Percy, others muttering about him under their breaths. Percy ignored all of them, not letting Luke out of his sight.
Luke turned to Annabeth, that fake smile on his face.
'Until next time babe,' he told her.
'Can't wait,' Annabeth murmured sarcastically, over exaggerating a smile.
Luke followed his friends, giving Percy a scowl and Annabeth another suggestive smile. Annabeth breathed out her tension, unclenching her fist. She opened her locker, shoving her books in her bag with unnecessary force.
'You alright?' Percy voiced his concern.
Annabeth shut her locker. 'He's not the first slime that tried to hit on me and he won't be the last.'
Percy exhaled loudly, adjusting one of the straps on his bags. 'I still feel like I should apologise to you for his ambush.'
Annabeth's smile was small. 'He'll just try again and I won't be so lenient.'
Percy smiled, believing her statement to be a joke. He threw a few things in his locker with that amused smile still on his face. Annabeth was itching to ask what he thought was so amusing but kept her silence. Was it still because of the comment she made earlier about wanting to maim Luke? Did she really not look like the assassin she could be? How demeaning…
'I feel weird leaving you alone after you ambush,' Percy said seriously as Annabeth began to walk towards the office. He fell in beside her.
'Careful now, or someone might think you're about to offer to walk home with them,' Annabeth said with a wry grin.
'Maybe I should,' Percy said seriously.
'Thanks but it is really okay. I've got to stay back a bit longer, filling out office records. I have no trouble walking home alone.'
Annabeth could see that Percy was still doubtful. 'Are you sure?'
'Seriously, Percy. I'm better on my own.' This caring thing he was doing was really starting to annoy Annabeth.
'Alright…' Percy agreed hesitantly. 'I'll see you tomorrow then.'
Annabeth smiled reassuringly and continued to the office, leaving Percy wandering slowly behind her. She turned around to face him at the door of the office. He looked a bit confused but he smiled when their eyes met. He continued towards the gates via another passage adjacent to the office. Annabeth let her smile drop as soon as he was out of view, sighing. His continual care and friendliness towards her was making her irresolute in thinking he was a criminal. She went in and got the rest of her attendance sheets filled out quickly. She had not lied to Percy, she did have to fill in those tedious forms but her main purpose was to follow Percy.
She spotted him a couple of blocks from the school, wandering leisurely through the busy streets. Annabeth placed a navy blue Yankees cap over her hair, hoping it might give her a little secrecy. It didn't seem to matter. Percy never turned or looked around to see if he was being followed. This didn't deter Annabeth. If he was up to something, he would want to look as normal as possible.
He stopped at one point and Annabeth did the same from her position a few metres behind him. Annabeth thought finally she would be able to report something to Chiron. She was mistaken. He had stopped in front of the fruit stall, talking animatedly and laughing with the owner. Annabeth was nonplussed as she watched him take an apple under the owner's offers, smiling and reassuring he would stop by tomorrow.
Annabeth felt like pulling her hat off and ripping it to shreds once she reached her apartment. She threw it on the bench, almost screaming in frustration. She went and took a hot shower, having discovered that there really was nothing bad or criminal in Percy Jackson. What then, she asked herself for the thousandth time, did The Brotherhood want with this kid?
