Summary: Annabeth gets roped into being made over by a daughter of Aphrodite and doesn't like her motives.

A/N: This is kind of fluffy. It got deleted half way through, so it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it, but I thought I'd post it nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Tenley is the only character I actually came up with. The rest belong to Rick Riordan!

As per usual at camp, the sun was blazing down, uninterrupted by a single cloud. A light breeze blew across the grounds, rustling the leaves of the trees in the forest. It did not, however, do anything to relieve the sticky July heat that had finally settled over New York.

Annabeth Chase was beginning to think that the enchantments protecting the camp from bad weather were more of a curse than a blessing. For the year-round campers it was handy – not much snow, no rain to screw up training exercises – but for those of them that only spent summers there it was only an excuse to complain about the excessive heat and sun. Annabeth knew, because she had just spent an entire hour training with them.

She herself, though silent, was cursing Apollo for the sunburn on her shoulders. One thing about armor was that it left some very strange tan lines 00 several times she had been asked about them by her mortal roommates at school, and each time she'd had to tell them some absurd lie. They already knew she was a bit odd, there was no need to give them anymore information.

Tan lines aside, she knew she still looked, to put it bluntly, like crap. Before training she had done her best to tie her hair back tightly, but it had still managed to come undone, leaving curly blonde strands hanging limply around her face, which was pink from both exercise and exposure to the sun. she could practically feel the sweat soaking through her clothes.

It was lucky for her that these things were par for the course at Camp Half-Blood, otherwise she would have been getting some strange looks for her current appearance. Never in a million years would she get away with looking like this during the school year. Still, she was looking forward to some down time. Percy would be teaching a class for another forty minutes or so, and Grover was off on what he liked to call a "mission" to guide a few demigods back to camp, so there was effectively no one for her to spend time with. She had been planning on reading in her cabin or possibly going for a swim in the canoe lake.

"Annabeth! Hey, Annabeth! Wait up, these are my good shoes!"

Indeed, Annabeth had pretended not to hear the voice the first time it had called her name, but there was no way to continue pretending the person wasn't there without coming off as incredibly rude. Slowly, with a bit of a sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned around.

The daughter of Aphrodite was tottering along in a pair of shoes that looked more like torture devices than footwear, her ruby red lips stretched into a wide smile that Annabeth didn't like at all. It was a press smile, like people in business always wore when they were trying to pitch ideas or win over new customers. It was the type of smile that a waiter wore just before he handed you a plate of food which he had spit in. It was the kind of Cheshire grin that said I know something that you don't! It was a smile that was reminiscent of beauty pageants and their desperate contestants. It was a smile that she had seen a thousand times over on hundred different people.

This did not bode well.

"Tenley," she greeted warily, scanning the girl up and down in the short silence that followed. Tenley – a trendy name if there ever was one – was a girl just a year or two older than Annabeth, with wavy brown hair down to her shoulders and chocolate brown eyes. Along with her pumps (which undoubtedly had some expensive brand name, though the daughter of Athena couldn't have told you what it was if her life depended on it), she was wearing a pleated denim skirt, a red blouse, and jewelery that all appeared to be in the shape of tiny cherries. Her hair, makeup, and outfit were all in perfect condition; it was obvious that she had been nowhere near the training arena today. In fact, Annabeth couldn't recall ever seeing the other girl there, "What's, ah... what's going on?"

"Oh, you know," Tenley replied, shrugging casually, "Just taking a walk. Getting some fresh air."

"Really?" Annabeth shuffled her feet, wanting to get to the point or get out of there. At the same time, she didn't want to ask outright what the other girl wanted for fear of being taken advantage of, "Seems kind of hot for a walk. In heels."

Tenley blanched slightly and looked down at her shoes, as if realizing that they were there for the first time, "Oh yeah. Well, it never hurts to look good, right?" Annabeth opened her mouth to argue, but the daughter of Aphrodite plowed ahead, "But since I ran into you, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"

Figures.

"What kind of favor? I was actually kind of hoping to change and finish a book I've been reading – "

"Great!" Tenley cut in, seemingly very pleased with this answer, much to Annabeth's dismay, "I'll help you pick an outfit and you can read while you're doing it!"

Annabeth, who was always getting these types of offers and was not particularly interested in any of them, had to stop herself from groaning or rolling her eyes, "Actually, I was just going to put on some shorts or something, no big deal..."

"Oh but Annabeth!" she pleaded, tugging on Annabeth's arm and pursing her lips into a well-practiced pout. Annabeth was sure this had melted many hearts in the past, but it was doing absolutely nothing for her, "You have such nice hair... so much I could do!"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes and pulled her hand away, taking a step towards her cabin, "What exactly...?"

"A makeover!" Tenley squealed. She looked dangerously close to jumping up and down while clapping her tiny hands together; something that Annabeth most certainly did not need to see.

"No."

"But – "

"Tenley, I really don't want one. Really."

"No, listen, it's for school! School, Annabeth!"

Annabeth didn't know why everyone thought she wanted to hear that – she supposed she came off as a brainiac at times, but that didn't mean she worshiped everything academic – nor did she know why any sane teacher would assign someone to do makeovers over the summer, "Why me? Won't one of the other girls want one?"

She knew that the Aphrodite girls felt that she was the one at camp who most needed a makeover, especially now that she had a boyfriend, but objection to it was always worth a shot. She tried not to be too offended that Tenley had picked her specifically to do this. None of them really meant for it to be hurtful – they just wanted everything around them to be pretty.

"Oh, I've already done so many of them! I need a challenge this time."

Thanks.

"You need this for school?" Annabeth pressed, a little incredulously. It was all she could do to keep herself from going off on the other girl. Besides, it was a legitimate question.

"Yeah – cosmetology, duh," she grinned as if Annabeth had been joking about this. Annabeth attempted a smile, but she got the feeling that it wasn't very convincing.

"Of course. Well, I'm sure you'll find someone. Have you tried Clarisse La Rue?"

Catty, Annabeth. Very catty.

Tenley looked horrified, as if Annabeth was purposely trying to get her killed (which was completely, totally, absolutely one-hundred-percent untrue), "Clarisse? Are you serious? She would murder me. I mean, I know we don't talk a lot, but I do like you."

Annabeth was softened: It appeared that she had shocked the girl into being sincere, because she was considerably less bubbly and the ominous smile was (thankfully) gone from her lips.

"I guess... if it's for school..." she relented, mentally kicking herself for letting compliments sway her. She supposed she was so hot and tired from training that she didn't have it left in her to argue. Too bad.

"Oh, thank you!" Tenley exclaimed, throwing her arms around Annabeth in what was probably supposed to be an expression of how grateful she was. Almost immediately, and much Annabeth's relieve, she pulled away, perfect nose slightly wrinkled, "But first... yeah."

With no further explanation, she took hold of Annabeth's hand once more and began dragging her towards the Aphrodite cabin. Annabeth looked around desperately for someone who might have been able to get her out of this, but most people were too absorbed in their own affairs to pay attention to the blonde's silent pleas for help.

After being led across the grounds like a child holding its mother's hand, Annabeth finally came to a halt behind Tenley as they stopped at the door. The brunette, with much difficulty (Annabeth assumed she didn't want to break any nails) opened the door and hurried inside. Immediately, she began rooting through a chest of drawers that looked to be made of very dark, very expensive wood; most likely from some thinning rainforest on another continent. Had a nymph or satyr been present to witness this, she had a feeling that Tenley would not have been in such good spirits. In fact, she probably would have been pelted with acorns and wrapped up in various types of vines by now. Given the situation, Annabeth couldn't say she would have minded.

The rest of the cabin was just as lavish, with each set of bedding matching its counterparts and the curtains on the windows. There were no desks along the walls as there were in the Athena cabin, but there were plenty of vanity tables, each one equipped with a large mirror. The only thing Annabeth particularly liked about this specific cabin was that it was always impeccably clean when inspection time rolled around.

"Here," Tenley said suddenly, thrusting a pile of clothes into Annabeth's arms and effectively ending her observation of the cabin's finer details. On top was a white skirt, turquoise blouse, and a pair of embarrassingly frilly underwear that she quickly shoved in between the other two garments, her face feeling hot. On the bottom of the pile was a thick white towel, neatly folded into a triangle.

"Tenley, what are – ?"

"Well, we can't do your make up when you're all covered in sweat! You have to shower, don't you?" the other replied, her tone implying, once again, that this should have been obvious. The way Tenley talked as if everything she said was exceedingly stupid was really beginning to get on Annabeth's nerves. Not to mention that the thought of taking a shower in the middle of the day seemed quite uncomfortable to Annabeth. Then again, this entire day was shaping up to be quite uncomfortable, so what was one more thing?

"Are you sure I have to take a shower? Maybe I could just wash my face or – " But she was shushed almost immediately by Tenley and shoved out the door in the direction of the bathrooms.

If anything, she thought she might be able to make a break for it as she walked to the shower, but Tenley didn't give her a chance to walk on her own or even speak all the way there. Before she knew it, her armor was being tugged at and soon after she was shoved into a tile stall.

"Tenley!" she hissed, pulling her clothes tightly to her body as if they might fly off of their own accord, "This is stupid! I don't need a makeover! I don't want a makeover!"

"Don't be so self conscious, Annabeth, I'll guard the door for you," Tenley replied, sounding flippant and cheerful and all around unconcerned with Annabeth's problems. Annabeth thought for a moment that she could just sit here fully clothed until Tenley gave up, but frankly, she didn't have time for that, and she really did need a shower...

Slowly, she began removing the sticky clothes Tenley had not yet been able to tear off of her, throwing them one by one out to the other girl, who was guarding the door, as promised. At last she was down to her underwear, which she draped tentatively over the bar. From outside she heard Tenley call, "Is this your bra?"

"Erm... yeah," Annabeth replied as she turned the water on, feeling slightly puzzled and quite aggravated at the same time. She didn't exactly appreciate the nosy questions, and she didn't even know what else the garment could be taken for.

"But it's so... beige."

"Yeah, well... it's not like anyone sees it but me. Usually," she added pointedly, not liking the fact that the other girl was probably turning the item over in her hands as she kept watch. Even worse was the fact that she had automatically assumed Annabeth would be dressing up under her clothes – the very thought made her want to squirm. What did people say about her relationship behind her back?

"Oh. Right," Tenley replied, poorly disguised surprise evident in her voice. It was lucky for her that she didn't elaborate, because Annabeth was about ready to lose it as it was. The Aphrodite girls had been begging to do something like this for so long that it was a small miracle that it had not happened sooner, but Annabeth still did not like the way things were going.

Before she even had time to collect her thoughts and calm down, there were bottles and washcloths being shoved at her through the gap. Without thinking, she took the items in her arms and looked over each label, totally lost for words. Then there was a face looking in at her, and the bottles clattered to the floor as she hastily tried to cover herself.

"What are you doing?" She squeaked incredulously, her voice sounding quite unlike it usually did. Tenley looked her up and down, face straight as a board. Annabeth was quickly beginning to learn that her opinions differed from Tenley's even more than she had first thought: When had it become acceptable to look in on someone while they were taking a shower?

"When was the last time you shaved your legs?" she asked.

"Last night," Annabeth snapped, "Tenley I am taking a shower."

"Right. Well, don't forget conditioner!" Tenley replied cheerfully, popping out just as quickly as she had come.

Annabeth let out a long sigh as the girl disappeared around the corner once more. She'd had her reasons for not wanting to do this kind of thing before, but never in a million years did she think it would be this stressful. From what she'd heard, makeovers were supposed to be fun, something to do at sleepover parties with hot cocoa and caramel corn. Not that she wanted to attend a sleepover party either, but still.

At least she was getting a shower out of it. And if any of the other campers asked her what she was doing in the bathroom in the middle of the day with a daughter of Aphrodite, she would tell them that she had been forced.

Yes. It never hurt to think positive.

Finally, Tenley deemed her to be clean enough for copious amounts of makeup to be applied and began instructing Annabeth on how to put on her new outfit. Already, she had lost the argument in which she attempted to convince Annabeth to tighten her bra straps and stuff the cups full of Charmin, which would supposedly change her whole body shape. Now she was pleasing with Annabeth to, "just put on the skirt, already!"

"The thing is, Tenley," Annabeth was saying gently, trying to sound reasonable and calm and not use big words, "I don't really do skirts. Don't you have a nice pair of jeans or something?"

Tenley looked horrified at the very thought, "Jeans? But... you have tons of jeans already!"

"Well, yeah," Annabeth replied, trying to be patient, "Because that's what I like to wear."

"Annabeth," Tenley began, sounding almost as exasperated as Annabeth felt, "This outfit is my gift to you. It will open up to so many new possibilities!"

"Erm..." Annabeth shuffled uncomfortably, completely lost for words.

"Now, see, you can fluff out the bottom like this, and if you want it shorter you can roll up the waist like this. That's the nice thing about these elastic bands," She nodded and demonstrated the techniques with a very practiced air, "They're very versatile."

"Nice," Annabeth replied weakly, hoping to keep Tenley talking about skirt-fluffing techniques until someone came to rescue her.

"Here – you try it."

Damn.

She took the skirt from Tenley gingerly, holding it out in front of her as though it was radioactive, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Tenley looked positively ecstatic with the progress that was being made.

After a significant pause, Annabeth let the towel drop, revealing her brand new underwear and "so beige" bra (which was not stuffed with toilet paper, thank you very much), and quickly slipped the skirt and blouse on. Unfortunately, it didn't help the feeling of being exposed very much.

Tenley gave a little squeal of delight, "Perfect! Oh, you look so good! Let's go."

"Go...?"

"Cabin! Makeup! Hair!" The other girl waved her arms, clearly desperate to make Annabeth understand how important this was.

"Should have known," she replied dryly, following Tenley back to Cabin Ten.

This was the one thing that Annabeth had truly been dreading more than clothes or showers or anything of the sort. It wasn't that she had never worn makeup before; more that applying make up on a day like today seemed like a complete and utter waste. If she was going to cake foundation and glitter on her face, she figured she should have a good reason for it. Tenley, apparently, felt quite differently about the matter.

She was shoved through the door once again, but this time Tenley steered her to the chair in front of the third vanity.

"Ready?" she asked excitedly.

"As I'll ever be," Annabeth replied wryly. Tenley looked puzzled for a moment before shrugging it off and getting down to business.

Annabeth endured twenty long minutes of being poked, prodded, tugged on, and burnt by a hair straightener before she finally snapped:

"So," Tenley said, finishing off the eye shadow on her left eye, which looked much to heavy to Annabeth, "The fireworks are coming up."

Annabeth nodded, not liking where this was going.

"Are you going with Percy?" Tenley pressed.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," Tenley replied innocently, "Just wondering."

There was yet another pregnant pause in which Tenley began working on the other eye and Annabeth began working on taking slow, calming breaths.

"Bet he'll like your new look, though."

"Do you?" Annabeth asked through gritted teeth. She hadn't even thought about what Percy would think about all of this. He had never really mentioned anything like makeup before (she doubted he knew the difference between lip gloss and nail polish), so naturally she just assumed it wasn't an issue.

Was it, though? After all, Percy had been known to keep things to himself, or else ignore the situation until it got hideously out of hand. What if he had put Tenley up to this? Would he do that? Somehow she couldn't imagine him chatting it up with the Aphrodite girls, but any excuse to take her anger out on something and escape was fine with her.

Tenley was still bustling around the chair, humming something high pitched and upbeat as she worked, "Definitely. Boys love it when their girlfriends put a little effort into their appearance. Not that you're not pretty, but I mean, there's nothing wrong with a little variation..."

Between that, the constant questions about her personal life, and the fact that she had just been poked in the eye with a mascara wand, Annabeth couldn't handle it anymore. She could tolerate Tenley on a good day, but this was just too much.

"Tenley, I have to go," she said stiffly, standing up abruptly and causing a long, black streak to appear on her cheek, "I forgot I have a class to teach."

Tenley looked disappointed and more than a little suspicious, "But you can't go like that! You only have makeup on one eye... your hair needs more straightening."

"I'll survive," she replied, eager to get out of there as quickly as possible, and before Tenley could say anything more, she hurried out of the cabin.

Several people outside gave her funny looks as she hurried back to the Athena cabin for a change of clothes. She didn't exactly care; all she wanted to do right now was get out of this skirt and chop the heads off a couple of dummies.

"Annabeth!"

"For the love of Zeus, can't anyone just – oh. You."

Percy had fallen into step beside her, looking tired and hot but still smiling at her, "'You'? Is that really all the greeting I get?"

"Yeah, well," she grumbled, looking down at her feet, which, come to think of it, were clad in a pair of borrowed shoes, "It's been that kind of day."

"Is that why you put on a dress and messed up your hair?" He asked cautiously.

"No, Perseus. I spent my day in the Aphrodite cabin getting made up like a... like a Barbie doll because Tenley Richards seemed to think my boyfriend would appreciate some 'change' and some 'variation'," she snapped. Percy stared at her blankly for several seconds until she could only deduce that he had no idea what she was getting at, "Where do you think she might have gotten that idea?"

Comprehension dawned on his face, "Wait. You think I told her to – to make you up like a really lopsided raccoon?"

"Well, where else would she have gotten that idea?" Annabeth snapped back.

"I dunno!" he replied, looking uncomfortable, "She's Cabin Ten, they're all really nosy, she probably just wanted to get you talking about it... about... us."

"She couldn't have talked to me without doing... all of this?" she gestured wildly to her hair, which was still slightly damp and frizzy in the humid air; then to her single made up eye.

"I don't know, Annabeth, I don't know what girls do for fun!"

She hesitated, grazing her bottom lip with her front teeth as she deliberated this. He really did seem surprised, which led her to believe that this really had been a strange coincidence. And since there was nothing left to argue about, there was nothing left to say. Funny – she had been gearing up for a big fight, and all she had gotten was... this. Perhaps she was turning this into a bigger deal than it needed to be. Just a little.

Percy seemed to take her silence as a cue to apologize, "Look, Annabeth... I don't even talk to Tenley Richards. I wouldn't just... walk up to her and ask her to force you to straighten your hair and stuff. I mean, I like your hair. And your... face."

Damn. This was not how things were supposed to go.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain," she replied dryly, resisting the urge to laugh in spite of herself, "I'm really glad you like my face. Honestly."

Percy looked relieved, "You know what I meant."

She smiled, the caked on makeup and fried feel of her hair seeming a lot less important as he slung his arm around her shoulders. They walked in companionable silence for several moments before she looked up, jarred by the feeling of the ground changing.

"Percy," she said cautiously, observing the hard wooden surface of the dock under her feet, "What are we – ?"

But before she could say anything more the earth seemed to fall away, and the next second she was in the water.

Percy was beside her, "Thought you might like to wash your raccoon make up off."

"Seaweed Brain!" she gasped, sputtering. It wasn't that she really minded a swim. It was just... "I borrowed these shoes!"

"So?" he asked, still grinning and looking perfectly dry.

"So? They belonged to a daughter of Aphrodite! They could be, I don't know, Prada or Gucci or something!" Annabeth hurried to pull them off, consumed by panic as she fumbled for the label. She honestly couldn't care less what brand of footwear she was wearing – a shoe was a shoe – but she didn't want to owe Tenley a thousand dollars because her boyfriend had had the bright idea to toss her in a lake while she was wearing brand new clothes.

"What? What is it?" Percy asked, swimming closer as he noticed the look on her face, "Did they cost a million dollars? Are they ruined forever? D'you think we can sell them on eBay if Tenley doesn't want them back?"

"They're – they're from Payless!" she exclaimed indignantly, "She has all that money to spare and she lent me a crappy pair of cast off shoes from Payless?"

Not that she cared about the shoes, really. It was the message that counted there.

"What?" she asked as Percy began to laugh, "What's so funny?"

He looked at her, "I love you, Wise Girl."

She stared at him for several seconds before thinking of a decent reply. It hadn't been said in a serious way, but it was still not what she had expected for an answer.

"Yeah," she replied casually, "I guess you're not too bad either, Seaweed Brain."

Laughing, he pulled her into his arms, and she was left with the thought that maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.