Annabeth was still in a state of shock when she returned to her dormitory, dripping wet with her hair tied up in her towel.
"And you claimed you took such quick showers. That was nearly half an hour, missy. That is not quick. At least by normal person standards," Thalia laughed, leaning back dangerously on her desk chair, she was so close to falling flat on her bottom.
"There was a guy in my shower."
For a moment, Thalia just stared at her. She was already in her pajamas, which like everything in her wardrobe, still consisted of band t-shirts that no one had ever heard of. This one was screaming Black Flag at Annabeth.
"What did you say?" Her roommate reached up as if to unclog her ear, like she hadn't heard right.
"There was a guy. A boy. In my shower." Annabeth was just now coming to terms with it, and she was trying to discover what the hell was wrong with her that she had acted so calmly throughout the ordeal.
Thalia, meanwhile, was hooting with laughter, tears coming to her eyes. "Man, and here I was putting you in the prude category!"
"It wasn't like that!" She hadn't actually thought about what it might sound like out loud. Now her roommate thought she brought boys to the shower for fun. "He just walked in! And I am not a prude!"
Gradually, her roommate's giggles stopped. Laughter still clung to her eyes, but she did her best not to smile. "Are you serious?"
"I'm telling you! I was taking a shower, and then this guy just walks right in like he owns the place," alright, that was a bit dramatic, Annabeth conceded. The intruder had definitely not acted like that, more like a small animal frightened by a pit bull. But now that the event was really hitting her, exaggeration was natural. "Clarisse was after him. So he used my stall as a hiding place."
"You are serious," Thalia stood up from her computer, walking toward Annabeth slowly. "Did he…?" Her words died out, but it was easy enough to understand what she was implying.
"No, nothing like that. That's not what I meant either."
Now the older girl's look of concern transformed to confusion. "So he was just in your shower?"
Annabeth nodded, heartbeat still pumping a bit wildly in her chest.
"What the hell?"
"My sentiments exactly."
"So you're just going to do nothing?" Her roommate sounded incredulous, though she seemed as lost as Annabeth did.
"Honestly, I don't even remember what he looked like," a lie, but Thalia didn't need to know that she could still see those green eyes, pleading as they stared down at her. In all truth, she really didn't want to remember that either, but she had no control over that. "And campus is big. I doubt I'll see him again."
"You'd be surprised how small this place can seem," Thalia muttered. She looked like she didn't really want to end this conversation, but she did slip her headphones on over her heavily pierced ears, returning to her latest composition. Annabeth wondered why she even used the things, as she could hear every word of "American Idiot" as it blasted and most likely damaged Thalia's ears, but she didn't say anything. Thalia was mostly a laid back person, but if someone decided to knock her music, she pounced like a jaguar, teeth bared and ready.
Slowly drying off and dressing in her pajamas, Annabeth's mind raced back and forth with different pieces of information. No, he hadn't looked anywhere at her except her face. But he'd just come right into her shower. No, he hadn't made a move on her at all. But he'd come into her shower! Who just walks into a running shower? Even if Clarisse La Rue was after you!
She should have punched him. Hard. Punched that stupid grin and those sparkling eyes black and blue. She hoped she would never have to see him again, but after Thalia's words, Annabeth wasn't too sure. Well, if she did, she resolved to do just that; slug him right in the gut. He would regret that it was her shower he interrupted. Not that he should be doing that to anyone else.
Climbing up into her bed, she didn't even reach for her book, for she knew she wouldn't be able to focus on it. Her mind was already engaging in a battle for sleep versus her thoughts of the recent events.
-x-
"I hope you all studied over the weekend," Professor Dionysus announced from his chair. Usually, it was the students who looked the worse for wear the Monday morning after a particularly rowdy weekend, but the theater appreciation professor definitely looked the worst out of all of them.
"Like I had time! There was so many other things to do!" The kid sitting next to Annabeth, Leo, she recalled, complained quietly.
"Too much other homework?" Annabeth inquired, knowing what that felt like. She'd had an essay for her communications class to finish as well as studying for this test. To say the least, she hadn't gotten to sleep the night before at a very good hour.
"No, not homework…I was working on a project. Not school related," no blush was evident on his face, but she could hear the embarrassment in his voice.
He thought she might make fun of him, she realized. Annabeth could sympathize; many kids in her graduating class from high school had made some comments about all of the blueprint ideas she had carried around along with all of her school books. She would much rather have been working on those this weekend rather than schoolwork, but she also didn't want her grades to slump.
She wanted to say something, ensure that there was no way she would laugh at him for that, but Mr. D was already handing out tests to their row, giving the "no talking" warning to every person, ingraining it into their minds.
Annabeth was biting her lip in frustration over one of the essay questions (this hadn't even been on the study guide, Mr. D, she cursed), when the door slammed open.
"Sorry I'm late. Slept through my alarm," the voice announced to the class. Some giggles and rude comments were whispered among the students at the interruption, but Annabeth was not one of them. She had frozen, her pencil led breaking as she pressed it hard onto the page as a rush of déjà vu flowed over her.
So he interrupted classes as well as showers.
The green eyed and grinning face that had busted into her shower now stood tall at the front of the classroom, giving Mr. D his charming grin, waiting to be given his test.
How had she not realized before that he was in her class? The class was big, filling the whole lecture hall, but she still might have noticed him! Those eyes were sort of hard to miss!
"You'd be surprised how small this place can seem," Thalia's words chimed in her head, mocking her.
Not this small, Annabeth shouted back, sinking low in her seat. She tried to shake some curls in front of her face, glaring down at her test.
"This is the third time you've been late to my class, Jensen."
"It's Jackson, sir."
Jackson. The intruder had a name now too. But was that a first or a last name? Why should she care? He was just some shower intruding delinquent.
"And that is true, but I'm not late on purpose," Jackson shook his hair out, that stupid grin coming to his face again. Annabeth sunk a little lower in her seat, earning herself a strange look from Leo out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you okay?" He asked, probably more referencing her sanity rather than her wellbeing.
She nodded, giving him a small smile, but then Jackson spoke again.
"You see my roommate turns my alarm clock off because I don't wake up to it. Then he doesn't bother waking me up. So it's really not my fault, Mr. D."
"Make all the excuses you want, Jackson. Last week it was karma, this week it's alarm clocks."
"I'm telling you though, just because I cursed the bus, it decided to stop right in front of me last week and I almost got run over-"
"Just sit down and take your test." Mr. D sighed, taking a long drink from his usual Diet Coke as he handed off the sheet of paper to the boy who was now grinning in triumph. "You're lucky I'm even letting you take it, Johnson."
"Jackson, sir."
"Whatever."
There were a few more giggles all around the classroom, but with a harsh look from Mr. D that could have made someone go mad, everyone quieted down, turning back to their tests.
Annabeth's mind was whirring; unfortunately not with thoughts and answers for the test. She tried to get her focus back, but it and her gaze kept wandering back to the shower intruder.
After more minutes than she would have liked had passed, she shook her head, rushing through the last half of the test. She just thanked any gods listening that she understood theater basics pretty well.
Jackson hadn't left yet, since he'd gotten in late and was still working on his test. The problem was, he had taken a seat right by the door. So she had to walk all the way down the lecture hall, past him to turn in her test, and then past him again in order to leave. Swearing under her breath, getting another look from Leo, though this one was amused, she stood slowly. Swinging her backpack onto her shoulders, she heaved a deep breath and began her way down the stairs. Mr. D was looking at her expectantly, as she was the only student up at the moment, but Annabeth's eyes were on Jackson. Don't look up, don't look up, she silently willed to him as she grew closer to the back of his head.
She passed in front of him, holding her breath as she handed in her test. So far so good; the head of messy black hair was still bent towards his desk, his mechanical pencil stuck between his teeth.
"See you next week, Annabelle." Mr. D acknowledged.
On instinct, she whispered back, "It's Annabeth."
Then as if in slow motion, she saw Jackson's mouth turn up into a knowing smile, as Mr. D's stubbornness with names was something of a private joke among all of the students who had him. And his head tilted up.
No! She was half way to the door, there was nothing she could do. Even if she started running now, it was too late. His eyes came up from the paper last, sending her a grin.
At first, she stood frozen under his smile. Alarms were going off in her head, accompanied by every colorful curse word she could think of in every language she knew. But he just kept grinning at her. Was this some sort of joke?
Then like a slap in the face, the smile fell and his face paled.
Now he recognized her. It must have taken him a moment to realize who she was with her clothes on, Annabeth thought drily.
With no ceremony, she whirled on the spot, shooting straight for the door. Even when she was in the hallway, she didn't slow her pace.
"Someone's in a hurry. Did you even hear me yell for you back there?" Thalia was suddenly at her side, keeping up with her every stride, a crooked smirk on her face.
"I just saw the guy."
"What guy?"
"The shower intruder. He's in my theater appreciation class!"
"Oh gods."
"I know."
She didn't have to look at Thalia to feel her roommate's concern, but she wasn't sure she wanted it. Concern wasn't her primary emotion right now; her mind was a little bit more preoccupied with panic.
No more conversation occurred between the two of them as they made their way back to the dorm. Attempting to distract herself from her wild knot of thoughts that even she could hardly make sense of, (and that scared her), she took in all of the surroundings that she had grown accustomed to over her past few weeks here at Half Blood. All of the dormitories made a makeshift U shape on one end of campus, while all of the academic buildings took up the other side. Artemis Hall was the only all girls dorm, while Apollo was the only all boys, though they shared a lobby, which sort of defeated the purpose of keeping genders separate. The rest of the dorms were co-ed. Annabeth hadn't found a reason not to like Athena Hall yet, except maybe for the fact that there could be someone lurking, waiting to jump in on your shower. But besides that, the hall seemed great.
Back in the room, Annabeth collapsed at her desk, throwing her backpack to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Usually the words were so casual, not really meant to find out real information. But Thalia's voice was genuine, and her brow was creased with worry.
"Yeah," which wasn't too far from the truth. Sure, her heart was still pumping doses of adrenaline into her system, causing her to shake slightly. But she didn't feel to out of sorts. Maybe I should, but there was no feeling like that in her; at least that she could find.
Thalia did not look one bit convinced, but Annabeth waved her off, making some excuse about needing to start homework.
The mention of homework got Thalia's mind off of the present situation. "Ugh, I swear you are the only student here who does their homework right away."
"Well, we are at school, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to study. College is meant for partying and meeting cute guys! Right?" Thalia gushed, doing a spot-on imitation of the girl in the neighboring room, Drew Tanaka.
The two laughed, becoming so uproarious that their RA, Silena Beauregard, who roomed right across from them, came barging in.
"Sounds like you two are having a fun time," she commented, leaning in through the doorway.
The two sobered up pretty quickly. Silena wasn't exactly strict, (and she definitely wasn't the biggest fan of Drew either), but their chosen topic of laughter wasn't necessarily something she needed to know. She was still the RA.
"Oh yeah," Annabeth nodded.
A figure came up behind Silena, waving at the two girls.
"Hey Beckendorf," Thalia acknowledged. She and Annabeth exchanged a look that said Looks like Silena was having a fun time of her own, and once again had to restrain themselves from laughing once again.
With a blush, Silena ushered herself and Charlie Beckendorf back into her own dormitory, closing the door behind her.
"They're cute."
Thalia swiveled her head to Annabeth. "I wouldn't have expected that from you."
"What, you think I don't like relationships?"
"Well, you are a prude," Thalia teased, throwing one of the pillows from her futon at the blonde's head.
"Shut up," Annabeth muttered, a grin still on her face.
"Do your homework."
"Yes, mom." Sticking her tongue out at Thalia's back, Annabeth pulled out her planner, looking over all of the assignments she had. There was a paper for theater appreciation, (though Annabeth was more keen on not thinking about that class right now), and a speech needed to be prepared for her communications class by next Tuesday. She also still needed to contact Hazel Levesque for their group project in her history class.
Now, Annabeth had never been much of a procrastinator. But looking at her planner made her want to curl up under her blankets with a book and pretend she had no classes to worry about.
"When do you want to go get dinner?" Thalia broke the comfortable silence.
"Didn't you just eat lunch? And you're already thinking about the next meal?"
"I'm a bottomless pit who loves her cheeseburgers. Sue me."
"I will. For everything you've got. I mean, I've got to pay my loans somehow, right?"
More laughter was shared between the girls. Annabeth had to admit, she liked her roommate. She'd heard some horror stories from Luke, who had roomed with a kid named Connor Stoll. The kid had been a trouble maker, and he'd had a twin who was much of the same. Luke swore he had lost some of his belongings that had never even left his room, though the Stoll brothers had never fessed up. His freshman year hadn't really been too calm.
"Oh shit," Annabeth turned to face Thalia at the sudden outburst.
"What?"
"I promised my brother I would go to dinner with him tonight. Do you mind if he joins us?"
Thalia's little brother, Jason, wasn't actually too little. The two were only a year apart, so he was in Annabeth's year at Half Blood. At first, Annabeth had thought the two were just good friends, as they looked nothing alike. Save their eyes, Jason was tall, lean, and blond. Thalia was shorter, with dark hair and paler skin than her brother. Annabeth hadn't exactly spent too much time with Jason, but from what she'd seen of him, he seemed nice.
"No, that's fine. I think it's nice he still wants to have dinner with you even when you guys are at school."
Thalia scoffed. "I'm not so sure he wants to. It's not like we don't get along, but the kid's shy. He doesn't look like he would be, but he's always had some trouble talking to people."
Annabeth could understand that.
"Though he has made some friends in his hall. He's in Apollo this year."
"That's good."
"Yeah. I think they're his neighbors. Frank and Percy? I'm pretty sure that's their names. They might join us too."
"Cool," dinner was turning out to be a party. Not that Annabeth minded too much. She needed to meet new people. If her old friend Grover, whom she'd been friends with since elementary school, was making new friends, then she could too.
Time and homework sheets flew by until the sun was already on its way down, and Thalia shook her shoulder.
"Time for grub!" Only Thalia could get excited about The Pavilion Dining Hall's food. There were rumors that the food was provided by the same people who fed the inmates at Tartarus Prison, but Annabeth liked to hope not.
Jason met them at the door of Athena Hall, followed by two boys. One of whom, Annabeth recognized.
"Leo!"
"Hey," the boy waved, sending her a big smile. He probably still thought she was crazy, but there wasn't much Annabeth could do about that anymore.
"So you've met my roommate?" Jason commented, giving his sister a quick hug. "This is our neighbor, Frank."
Frank, a tall, burly Asian boy waved, eyes flicking between the two girls quickly before he glanced down at his phone, thumbs typing a long message.
"What about your other friend?"
"Percy couldn't make it. He had to make up something for a professor."
"It's the third week of school, and he's already got to make up something? Sheesh."
"Well, that's Percy for you. He's already got someone out for his guts here. I think she's in your dorm too."
"He must be a real charmer. You coming, Annabeth?"
Annabeth had become a little distracted by the impish grin that Leo was giving her the whole time the siblings talked. Then he had leaned over to whisper something to Frank, who then had glanced up at her as well, though he quickly looked down at his phone again.
Thalia linked arms with her, tugging her along with the boys as they made their way to the Pavilion, but Annabeth kept sneaking glances towards Leo and Frank?
What was that all about?