AN: Wow! I'm already getting some great responses for my story! Thank you fellow writers and readers! It really encourages me to continue doing something I enjoy. I appreciate all feedback-not just the positive. Be critical, please. :)

Again, I do not own PJO. Nor do I want to leave you with that many cliffhangers. Nah. No Cliffhangers. I'll try, at least.

Without further ado, here's chapter two. Enjoy!

"Yes! I am the people's champion!" Percy let out a victorious whoop.

There was no way he won—again.

"Let's go again, Seaweed Brain! The higher they rise, the harder they fall. Isn't that the phrase?"

"You're on."

Ever since discovering our conjoined closets, we have been visiting each other on a regular basis. Almost daily, actually—it has become a bit of a routine. I would sneak in and help him with homework, and, in turn, he would come in and sneak me some of his mom's famous blue cookies. And they had officially become famous with all the college kids in our complex. 'The boy with the blue cookies'.

I think it was a Hunger Games reference, changed to fit the cookies. The only reason I knew was because my roommates dragged me along to go see it, quite literally, and debated the entire time which 'team' they were on.

I was on team 'get me out of this theater without killing me first', thanks to all the girls freaking out whenever someone hot was on screen. I found it ironic, concerning the plot. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the plot, I just didn't thoroughly enjoy the debate of which one people thought would look hotter without their shirt on.

No, thank you.

Anyways, we have been playing Mario Kart: Double Dash all afternoon. It was the beginning of winter break, and both of us have decided to stay here for the time off. Percy's mom and Paul were vacationing on a cruise ship while my parents were in New York exploring Times Square. Rachel and Thalia went home to see their families, the Stolls—Connor and Travis, who were twin roommates of Percy's—also left for break. The only ones in the two apartments were Percy, Leo and I. Over the semester, our roommates have become close, almost like a family. So, instead of having just the three of us in our apartment for 'family dinner', we had all four of the boys over from next door, too. They were pretty good cooks, actually. Connor was especially the culinary expert, with his Mac 'N' Cheese and pizzas.

Hey, we were college students. Any food was fantastic.

Percy and I had played through the competitive mode twice already, once as a team then once against each other, and were about to start our third round when Leo burst into the room, protective glasses askew and papers flying everywhere. It appeared he was frantically looking for something. Percy paused the game and turned to look over his shoulder.

"Whoa, buddy," Percy laughs. "What's up? Got a hot date or something with your books?"

"Sorry," Leo said sheepishly. "Wrong room. I'll just leave now—"

Right then something jumped out from his arms and landed on the floor.

"Dude!" Percy yells. "What is that? A robotic R.O.U.S.? They exist!?" I bust a gut laughing.

"Perce," I laugh, "It's just a robot! Relax. No R.O.U.S.'s here."

"R.O.U.S.?" Leo asks interest piqued. "What is that? Is that a different class of robot?"

"Nah, Leo," Percy 'face palmed'—I just learned the term the other day when Percy did it in my direction. Apparently eating a healthy salad on a regular basis and being too sensible was worth 'face palming'.

"That's something from the movie 'The Princess Bride', made in the eighties." Percy explained quickly.

"It's probably one of the greatest films of all time." I chimed in. "Even better was the book."

"Wise Girl," Percy turned his attention to me. "Not everyone reads books like you do. Sometimes we just to settle with the movies."

"Sometimes you just need to read a book, Seaweed Brain." I shot him a victorious glance. He puffed out a breath of air and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, sorry I'd rather be playing video games and hanging out with people than sitting in my room looking at some pieces of paper with words on it."

"It's called 'imagination', ever heard of it?"

"No, please, enlighten me."

"Um," Leo timidly interrupts. "I'm going to go now if you guys are going to continue flirting. I'll be in my room dealing with things I actually understand. See you guys for dinner?"

"Sure, buddy," Percy said unsure. He was probably confused why Leo said 'flirting' when he's the most socially awkward on in the room. "See you later."

Leo grabbed the robot, whatever it was, and turned to leave. As he was shutting the door behind himself, Percy turned to me, eyes swimming.

"Sorry about apparently 'flirting' with you," he said while sitting back down on the ground. "But are you ready to continue this thing? Or are you too scared?"

"Oh boy," I deadpanned. "Look who's talking big. Let's settle this once and for all!"

And away we went. Race after race, we both swapped out first and second place. We were tied up until Rainbow Road where I slid in front at the last second thanks to a blue shell a computer fired off.

"NO!" Percy threw the controller on the ground and, continuing the perfect imitation of a two-year-old tantrum, rolled over and tucked his knees into his chest, moaning.

"Hey, big baby," I said, placing my hand on his back. "That's how it goes. Why is it suddenly not okay when it happens to you? It was perfectly fine last time when you won."

"Because you don't have to tell your roommates that you lost to a girl playing video games."

"Well, if it's any consolation," I sighed with an eye roll. "I've got two younger brothers. I'm a lot tougher than I look." I place my fists on my waist, the picture perfect pose of power. He just started laughing as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"What?" I ask incredulously.

"I bet I can take you, miss toughness." He glared playfully.

"You know," I said hesitantly, knowing where this was going. "You're probably right. And don't need to prove it, eith—"

He pummeled me to the ground as he cut of my squeak of terror. His full body weight on top of mine, gripping my wrists and pinning them to the ground next to my head. Luckily, my hair was in a loose ponytail so it wasn't all over my face.

And it wasn't obstructing my perfect view.

Yes, people told me all the time that my best friend was attractive, adorable, what have you. I couldn't disagree, especially when he did things like this to make us closer. His strong jaw was set in a fine line, eyes swimming with playful emotion, and a smirk that—Gods forbid—sent my heart flying, face inches from mine. As I was distracted with his sudden proximity, he shifted his hands, fingertips lightly brushing my arms as he moved them down to my stomach. Oh no.

He started tickling me. And there was nothing I could do but take it. Take it proudly and with as much dignity as I could muster. My laughter filled the entire room, along with his, and eventually I started snorting, which ended up making him stop tickling me due to fits of his own gut busting laughter. For another five minutes we would go through bouts of laughter, taking turns, and eventually it faded out. We were both lying on the floor, arms intertwined, heads close together. Breathing labored. I was grinning ear to ear, thankful that he was my best friend.

He was the first to move, standing up using his bed; he went to the closet to grab a sweatshirt. He ended up grabbing two and threw one on top of my face.

"What was that for?" I ask, shooting him a glare as I remove the deliciously Percy-smelling hoodie from my face.

"Look outside." He said with a smile.

I did as I was told and inhaled a sharp gasp. It was night time, so I had to go to the window to confirm what I was seeing.

It was snowing. Hard.

I smile and whip the sweatshirt over my head, catching up to Percy since he already ran out and down the stairs. As I made my way to my shoes and hurriedly threw them on, I bolt outside. As I looked up, I felt like I was trapped in a snow globe. I lifted my hands as if to catch the snow falling over me and started spinning. My peaceful being was disrupted, however, by a not so surprising snowball to the back.

I turned around to see Percy retreating around the corner of the building. I bent down to make a snowball; I felt the moist snow melting by the heat of my palms, forming a solid ball. Turning around the other direction, I rounded the corner and found him running straight at me. I throw the snowball straight into his chest. He brought his arms up to guard his face and ran straight into me, laughing as he then wrapped his arms around me trying to stop his momentum, knocking me over for the second time that night.

We fell side-by-side in a decent sized snow bank, laughing. Snow had somehow sifted into the sweatshirt I was wearing making me shiver with cold, but I didn't care. I was having too much fun with Percy. As our laughing fit ceased, he lifted his hand from my waist to push a stray strand of hair from my face. I closed my eyes and sighed at the touch.

"Percy," I started.

"Let's get back inside before we catch a cold." He suddenly said, getting up then offering his hand to me. I slowly put my hand in his and let him pull me up. "Besides," he adds, "Leo is probably ready for some dinner right about now. I know I could be persuaded."

We had pulled off all of our wet clothing and threw them in the dryer. I had snuck into my room via Percy's to change my clothing and grab some food. I found some ingredients to make potato soup and was making my way back when I heard Leo laughing.

"What's so funny?" I ask, curious.

"Percy. He's hiding in the bathroom like a little girl."

"Oh, really?" I turn to the room in question.

"No! Leo! Get that thing away from me! GAH!" His voice sounded muffled. Leo started laughing. It was then that I noticed the remote in his hands.

"I see you fixed the robot you were working on," I quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes I did. Turns out all it needed was a little fine tuning, and it was rearing to go! Now it just needs a name—."

"Yeah buddy, that's great and all" came Percy's voice from inside the bathroom, "but if you could just call him off, that would be swell. I'd like to use this room if you wouldn't mind."

Leo and I laugh silently. Percy apparently doesn't realize that I'm back.

"Dude, just relax, it's fine" came Leo's response.

"No it's not! I have to take a dump and your little robot is—" I lost it. I started laughing loudly and Leo along with me. "A-Annabeth? Seriously!? You couldn't have said you were out there any sooner?" He sounded sheepish. How cute.

"Nope. Couldn't miss the show! Good luck with that, though," I turn to Leo. "Do you guys have any potatoes? I found some ingredients for potato soup in my place but don't have the main ingredient."

"Yeah, they're in the pantry." Leo points over his shoulder to the kitchen.

"Thanks. And Percy?" I raised my voice a bit.

"Um, Yeah?"

"Wash your hands!"

Leo and I laughed as we heard a moan escape the bathroom.

"Come on, Percy, I don't see what the big deal is."

We were walking back to his room upstairs; Leo had popped in a movie and sunk into the couch with a blanket officially turning in for the night to wind down. I was walking in front of Percy, and didn't notice he stopped walking until I was already through the doorway to his room. Confused, I doubled back and approached him. He looked—defeated, for some reason. Defeated and embarrassed. I raised my hand to give his arm a gentle squeeze.

"Percy? What is it?"

"I'm worried about Leo."

Okay.

"Why are you worried about him?"

"I think he found a girl he likes."

"Good for him! Who is she?"

"She's a sophomore, just like us. Her name is Calypso. Caly, for short. You know her?"

Yes. I knew Caly. She was in my Bio lecture freshman year. She seemed sweet, though, so why would he be worrying about it? I grabbed his hand and lead him into his room so Leo wouldn't overhear.

"Yeah, I had a class with her last year. She seems nice. Why are you worried?"

"I'm afraid that she only likes him as a friend, and I don't want to see the little man get hurt," he responds. "He's so young here and already feels out of place, and I don't want to see him go through that pain. What would you do?"

I pondered for a bit. It was strange for him to feel like he needed to do something in this situation, but this was the unpredictable Percy. He was almost acting as if he was a big brother. Or something else was getting under his skin, but what?

"Well, I would tell him to ask her out. If she says no at least that way he could get off of her hook. If she says yes, well, you know what happens then. Happily ever after."

"Get off her hook?," he cocks his head to the side with a smirk. "Is this some sort of sordid fishing analogy?"

"Wow, what a word, Perce. You have been reading those books I loaned to you months ago!"

"Maybe," he admits. "Seriously though, what is the hook?"

"Um, have you ever watched How I Met Your Mother?"

"Gods, yes," he laughed. "I love that show."

"Me too!" I smiled. "There's an episode where they are talking all about being caught on someone's 'hook', like you're hung up on them. Telling her he likes her would be a good way to either further the relationship or get off of her hook."

"I see. So no sordid fishing analogy like 'the bigger the fish doesn't mean the better the meat'?"

"Wow. Where did you come up with that one?"

"Um, internet? My brain? I can't remember."

"You're such a Seaweed Brain. Sordid fishing pun intended."

He gave me a smirk.

"Well, this was just day one of vacation," he dropped the subject and plopped himself on his bed. "What are your plans since no one is around?"

"Nothing too much," I respond. "I'll be hanging around here, maybe reading too many books in your opinion, beating you at Mario Kart, and all around relaxing. You?"

"I was thinking about hanging out with you all break," He said softly. I turned to him to see what caused the sudden change in emotion. As soon as I did, his usual playful boyish attitude was back. "You know, since there's no one else around."

"Of course," I deadpan.

"What are you up to tomorrow?"

"Sleeping, maybe reading, nothing I couldn't heartlessly abandon. Why do you ask?"

"Wanna go do the '300 ways to get kicked out of Walmart' list? I hear that's a riot."

"As long as we don't get cops called on us I'm game. I don't have my car here, though, so you're going to have to drive."

"Dang it," he breathed. "My car is still at the shop. We'll have to do that another time I guess. How about just a coffee shop down the road? I hear the 'Bean Scene' is pretty good."

"Sounds great. See you around ten?"

"Ten it is. Crank that Ludovico stuff, please. I could use some good sleep tonight."

"Sure thing, Seaweed Brain. Goodnight," I open the door to my room.

"Goodnight, Wise Girl, and thanks for the advice."