Author's note:

Thank you for being so nice and supportive! Here's the first chapter of "We Keep Our Secrets to Ourselves."

-SOS

Chapter 1: Blue Waffles and Blonde Hair:

"Perseus Jackson," called Sally Jackson from down the stairs, the smell of blue waffles cooking wafting up along with her voice. Briefly, the boy who was being addressed wondered if his mom regretted never giving him a middle name, especially since she called for him very often. But then he realized that though his mother did call him a lot, she very rarely yelled at him in a bad way. So, just having a full name he hated was enough for him.

"Good morning, Mom," Percy shouted back, zipping up his jeans and throwing on a red polo shirt. He dragged a comb through his messy black hair and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Satisfied with his outfit, he sat down on his bed to pull on some socks, not matching ones, of course; he needed all the luck he could get.

After he was ready, he peered out the window, just in case. But his actions were to no avail; the girl was not there. The last time Percy had seen the girl next door was three nights ago. She had been crying, her blonde hair covering her face and her hands over her tear-filled grey eyes. Through the window he could see her shut the light off every night. Otherwise, he could have watched her longer.

"Percy, are you coming? The waffles are getting cold," Percy's mom's voice was getting desperate. She also sounded hungry. "I'll eat all of them myself if you don't come down."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Percy yelled. He took one last peek out the window, hoping the girl would be there. But she wasn't, and there was no sign of her either. The light was off, and even though he could sort-of see into her room, there was no figure on the bed like there had been at this time all summer. Furrowing his brow, he sighed. Maybe she had woken up early and had already gotten ready for school?

Percy had never seen the girl next door come out of her house. She should be going to his school, or at least his district, because they lived next door to each other, about a block from the school. In fact, Percy walked there every day. But he didn't know whether she did actually go to his school, because he had just moved to the house he was in just before summer started last year. It was possible he had been too distracted with fitting in to notice a beautiful girl like her.

"Percy!" his mom screamed in a last attempt to get her son downstairs to eat before he was late for school. Percy sighed again, and closed his curtains. He whispered a soft goodbye to the window next door, and then raced downstairs.

"Love you so much, Mom," Percy said quickly, kissing his mother on the cheek. "But you know I love your waffles more." As his mom put a plate of perfectly blue waffles in front of him, she untied her apron that said, "Kiss the Cook," which Percy had already done anyway. Before she could tell him not to use too much syrup, he grabbed two waffles from the heaping stack, and slipped his feet into his sneakers. "Bye, Mom. See you later."

"Bye, sweetie. Be nice to everyone, and no friends over if you have homework for more than one subject," his mom warned. She opened the door for Percy, whose hands were busy finishing tying his shoes and holding his waffles. She gave him a quick side-hug, which he escaped jokingly.

"I'll come home quickly, or should I take the bus?" Percy asked, stepping out the door.

"Whichever, Percy. I have to start working, okay? See you later." The door closed, and Percy was confused by her sudden change of attitude. Then he realized she had her first meeting with a potential publisher and a green car was coming down the street at the moment. A very fancy green car, possibly one of a publisher. Percy decided to clear out of there.

He started to walk down the street, and he was just past the girl next door's driveway when the door to her house opened, and the beautiful blonde came out. She waved to a woman inside, and walked slowly down her front steps once the door closed behind her. Percy waited until the girl caught up with him to keep walking. He wondered if she would talk to him.

"Hi," the girl said, standing next to him awkwardly, and playing with her hair nervously. "I'm Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."

Thanks for reading. Leave a review; let me know what you thought!