Thanks for the reviews! In case anyone's interested, I'm also working on another PJO fanfic. Oh yeah, I forgot to say in the last chapter that Julie and Annabeth have been friends since eleventh grade when Annabeth's family moved to New York and she started going to the same school as Percy. I'm not sure if anyone wanted to know that or not, but I might mention it later in the story.
Oh yeah, I think the whole story is going to be from Annabeth's point of view, so I'm not going to say it at the beginning of each chapter. I'll let you know if it's someone else's point of view. Anyways, here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
Lunch time couldn't have come sooner. In biology, Mr. Skittles made us dissect frogs and I had to try my hardest not to throw up. English wasn't any better. Ms. Lima got mad at me again because I wasn't reading when we were supposed to be. I've told her ever since school started that I was dyslexic, but she didn't believe me when she saw me reading an architecture book in Greek once.
"If you can read in Greek, you should be able to read English," she'd said. In athletics Coach Foils wouldn't let us go to lunch until everyone ran three miles. Just a typical Monday.
When I got to the cafeteria, I saw Julie in line and stood behind her.
"Hey. What's for lunch?" I asked. She pointed to a girl's tray as she passed us.
"That," she said.
"Gross!" I said. The stuff on her tray didn't even look like food. It was brown pile of mush. I watched the girl sit down and pull a long hair out of it.
"There's no way I'm eating that whatever it is!" I declared. "Let's go eat off campus." We had an hour for lunch time and a few fast food restaurants were close by, so we would be back in plenty of time for class.
"Okay," she said and we got out of the extremely short line. As we were walking toward the door, I saw Percy coming into the cafeteria with his friend Trevor.
"Juls," I said and she turned. I pointed to the guys and raised an eyebrow in question. I knew she would be perfectly fine with Trevor coming along since she had a huge crush on him, but since we would be taking her car, I figured it would be more polite to ask permission first. She smiled and shrugged.
"Why not?" I grinned back at her and started toward Percy and Trevor, who were too caught up in their conversation to notice me.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain," I said as I snuck up behind him and Trevor. He jumped and both of them turned.
"Hey, Wise Girl. What's up?" Percy asked.
"Juls and I were just wondering if you guys wanted to come to get lunch with us."
"What are they serving here?" Trevor asked. He had spiky black hair and was a little taller than me. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans with brown flip-flops. In answer to his question, I pointed to a kid who was eating cafeteria food. Ironically, right when Trevor looked where I was pointing the kid ran over to the trash can and puked.
"Okay," he said. "I'm going with you guys."
"Me too," Percy said. A few minutes later, we were in Julie's car. Trevor was in the front with her while I sat in the back with Percy.
"Where to?" Juls asked as she turned the key.
"I'm feeling like seafood." Trevor said.
"Sounds good to me," Julie agreed.
"No!" Percy shouted and everyone looked at him.
"What's wrong, Percy?" Julie asked.
"I can't eat seafood. I-"
"He's allergic." I said, realizing that Percy didn't want to eat something he would be able to communicate with if it was alive. I wasn't sure if someone could be allergic to seafood, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind. I crossed my fingers, hoping they would buy it and just move on to another topic. "He can't eat anything that's from the ocean."
"Oh, okay." Julie said.
"Thanks," Percy mouthed and I nodded in response.
"How about fried chicken?" Trevor said. "Anyone allergic to that?" He turned around to look at Percy, who shook his head.
"Nope, it sounds fine to me. What about you, Annabeth?"
"Fried chicken is good." Julie started driving and got deep into conversation with Trevor. I just sat quietly looking out the window.
"Hey," Percy said and I jumped from surprise. "What do you think your dad wanted earlier?"
The question caught me off guard and I desperately tried to think of something logical. "I'm not sure," I said after a slight hesitation. "Maybe I forgot something inside."
"But why did you want me to drive away so fast?" Oh, gods, how was I going to get out of this? I decided the best way to do this was to play on the defensive and maybe he'd leave me alone.
"Did you seriously want to talk to my dad? You see him all the time and he never even bothers to say "hello" or "how was your day?" Now you want to take his side?" My voice was getting louder and I was starting to really sound angry. Percy put his hands up in surrender and I turned away to keep him from seeing my smile. My plan had worked. Or so I thought...
"By the way, it's boxers," he said after a few seconds.
I turned back to face him. "What the heck are you talking about, Seaweed Brain?"
"You asked if I wore boxers or briefs earlier and I didn't tell you, so I figured I might as well answer your question. I wear boxers." He shrugged it off like it was no big deal that he was telling me what kind of undergarments he wore. My jaw dropped. Was he being serious?
"What?" he asked.
"Oh my gods, Seaweed Brain, I told you my brothers sent that text."
"I know. I didn't want to tell them, but I figured if you wanted to know, then I don't really care since I've known you for so long and... I should stop talking, shouldn't I?"
I nodded and tried to think about something other than the conversation we were having. So much for avoiding awkwardness.
"Umm, guys, we're here." Julie said and I was relieved. We all got out of the car and went inside.
"You guys go ahead and order," Julie said. "I'm going to the ladies' room. You coming, Annabeth?"
"Sure," I answered before turning to Percy. "Just get me the usual."
"Me too," Julie answered and we walked into the bathroom. Once we were inside, Julie closed the door and just looked at me.
"Well?" she prodded.
"What?" I asked. "You're the one who wanted to go to the bathroom. Don't you need to pee or something?"
"Of course not," she said like it should be the most obvious thing in the world. "What was that?"
"What was what?" She was really starting to irritate me. I mean, seriously, why couldn't she just say what she wanted to?
"In the car! You know, with you and Percy?"
"You mean him telling me he wears boxers? I didn't know you were listening and I'd really like to forget that information."
"Ugh," she stomped her foot on the floor. "You're so oblivious sometimes! He said that because he was nervous."
"Nervous?" I asked. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, the guy who had saved the world on his sixteenth birthday getting nervous around one of his best friends? "Yeah, I don't think so."
"Didn't you see how red his cheeks were when we got out of the car? He was rambling whatever came to mind because he was nervous and then he realized he made a fool out of himself."
"But why would he be nervous around me? We've been friends for years."
"Guys don't get nervous around girls who are just friends; they get nervous around girls they like, and are probably even in love with."
"That's crazy," I told her. "Percy-" I was cut off as a stall door creaked open and I looked at Julie. We had forgotten to make sure no one else was in the restroom before we started talking.
"Hello, Annabeth," the girl sneered as she came out of the stall. My eyes widened in horror as I looked at her. I opened my mouth, but no words would come out. This was like a scene from my worst nightmares. Shelby had never liked me, but she could, and probably would, make my life an absolute living hell with this kind of information.
"What do you want, Shelby?" Julie asked.
The girl shrugged innocently. "Nothing. Of course, I know what other people want." She looked right at me and smirked. Oh, yeah, I was going to get it.
"Leave her alone," Julie stepped forward. "You don't have to be such a-" This time, her phone cut her off and I didn't have to remind her about her language (not that I would have anyway). Julie slipped her phone out of her pocket and was about to press the ignore button when I stopped her.
"You can take it," I told her.
"But-" she started, but then nodded. "Are you sure?"
I nodded and she walked out of the bathroom. This was my fight, and while I appreciated Julie standing up for me, I needed to take care of this on my own.
"What are you going to do?" I asked, getting straight to the point.
"I'm going to help you," she said softly, sounding nice for once. I laughed and shook my head.
"Seriously, Shelby, I know you hate me, so just get it over with."
She shook her head. "Annabeth, I never hated you. I just…didn't want you to get hurt."
I snorted. "Yeah, right."
"I'm serious." She got closer, and looking into her eyes, I almost did believe her. "I was trying to keep you away so you wouldn't get your heart broken, but you just wouldn't back down." She paused and started walking in slow circles around me. I felt like I was under a microscope and tried not to let her know how uncomfortable I was.
"Annabeth, don't get me wrong, Percy does love you, but only as a friend. You're just…" she paused for a moment as if looking for the right word. "Not good enough for him."
"What do you mean?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. She's just trying to mess with you. Don't fall for it! I tried to listen to the voice in my head, but maybe Shelby was right.
"Boys can be pigs," she said softly. "And you…" She shrugged like she didn't want to say it and I couldn't help myself.
"Percy's not a pig," I said a little shakily. I wasn't quite sure of anything at the moment.
"Well, he's not necessarily trying to be one, but he can be sometimes. Like the fact that he chose me, someone he's only known for a few months, over you, the girl he's known for years. Face it, Annabeth, you're just not good enough for him."
I felt like the air had been knocked out of me. Not good enough? I'd been through so much with him and even saved his life. How could I not be good enough for him?
"Of course, if he sees what he wants on the outside, I'm sure he'll realize how much he loves you for who you are." She paused and looked me straight in the eyes. "I can help you become irresistible and there's no way he could avoid you then."
"What's in it for you?" Her offer sounded great until I remembered that helping me would mean she would be pushing herself down, and no one, especially not Shelby, would be willing to do that.
"I'm moving to Oklahoma next month to get ready for college. Percy is great, but there's no way I'm going to be able to have a long distance relationship with him. I figured I might as well help you out before I leave. Of course, I'm sure there are plenty of other girls who would love to-"
"Okay," I gave in. "What do I have to do?"
She smiled and the light in her eyes was almost scary. "I thought you'd say that. Hmm, where to start?" She began circling around me once more, picking up strands of hair and studying my face. "Your hair is really frizzy, your clothes are horrible, and boy, do you need some makeup!"
"I thought you said you would help me," I said, trying to block out the words she was saying.
"Don't worry; I'll drop off some supplies at your house later today, all right?"
"You know where I live?" I asked, suddenly a little freaked out.
"No, you need to give me your address," she said, pulling a pen and notepad out of her purse and handing them to me. I hesitated for a moment. Did I really want to give my worst mortal enemy my address? Surprisingly, I decided to do it. Sure, she was mean, but she was also beautiful and Percy's girlfriend.
"Okay, great! See you later." She patted me on the shoulder and left.
I turned towards the mirror. I wasn't fat, right? No, I was perfectly fine. And who cares if I don't wear any makeup? That didn't make me any less pretty than Shelby. I left the bathroom, feeling a little less sure of myself than I had before.
There's chapter 2! I hope you liked it! Ideas are welcome and helpful. Review! Please and thank you! :D
