Settling in

Life at his new home was beginning to take on a constant pattern which was fine by Percy, after so many years of inconsistency he ached for a predictable lifestyle. He woke up haphazardly from his new bed in his new room and smiled sleepily, glad that the move wasn't a figment of his extraordinary imagination. He walked into the joint kitchen and living room to find the sight of his mother adding blue food colouring to his pancakes. If possible his smile got broader. Another perk to living without Gabe was that he could finally eat to his hearts content as at the moment his wiry frame was malnourished from the lack of food his step father allowed him. His face was a little too skinny to be defined as healthy and his limbs looked bony and stick like.

"Good morning mummy." He said while pouring a dangerous amount of syrup on to his food.

"Good morning honey" She smiled tenderly. She sat down beside him and the both of them began to tuck in. "Listen I've enrolled you to the local school here from this Monday so you can catch up on your work." Percy accepted this piece of news with a loud groan.

"Do I have to go? I don't know anyone there it will be horrible." He said dramatically. His mother opened her mouth most likely to admonish him for his attitude when the loud ring of their doorbell interrupted her. Percy seeking his chance to escape from his mother's lecture immediately turned to open the door.

When he did open it he found himself face to face with yellow hair, silver eyes and a cheerful smile.

"Hi I heard there were new people moving in here? I'm your neighbour I live in number 28 just next to your door and my mummy made some pie as a welcome to the neighbourhood I'm Annabeth Chase who are you?" She smiled at him, a pure confident smile that resonated her fearless attitude. Percy simply stared at her, there was no other word for it. She pushed past him and walked comfortably into his home and placed the dish on their kitchen table.

"Oh hello." Sally smiled warmly at the young girl.

"Hi my name is Annabeth Chase I'm your neighbour and my mummy made you some food by the way your son doesn't talk much is there any reason why?" She said all this in one breath managing to stun Sally as well as her son.

"Oh erm thanks for the food Annabeth that's very sweet of you and I'm sure Percy is fine he may be a little shy." She replied.

"Oh all right then so I guess you want me to show him around?" Annabeth asked promptly. Sally decided she was liking her more and more. Percy who had come back from the door stared at her still speechless by her boldness.

"That would be lovely Annabeth thank you I have some shopping to get done and it would be nice to know someone was looking after him." Sally saw the girl bounce with joy and grab Percy's arm. Percy to put it mildly was alarmed. How could his mother cast him off so easily to a girl who was clearly a lunatic? He didn't really have much time for objection as less than a minute later he was dragged out of the door by a girl with yellow curly hair that bounced up and down.

"Come on we're running late we have to meet the others at the oval" She said, not one word making sense to Percy as he ran to keep up with her.

"What's the oval?" His confusion evident in his voice. She stopped running so quickly Percy flew past her before he came to stop in front of her. She stood hands on hips.

"Of course I forgot you don't know the area. Well the oval is our hangout it's just in front of our block and all the kids meet up their to carry out the tradition." She continued walking seeming in less of a hurry now that her thoughts were preoccupied with something else.

"What's the tradition?" Percy asked.

"Tag of course." Something about the tone of her voice implied 'What else would we play?'

"Of course." Percy replied. Something about his sarcastic tone implied 'How could I be so stupid.' The girl noticed and she smiled at him.

"There may be hope for you yet." And with a small smile that confused Percy once more she ran off, leaving him to chase after her.

Percy noticed an assortment of children once having arrived at the oval. The oval was essentially first and foremost a play ground. In that playground was a handful of characters that would later become close friends and acquaintances of his. One such character was a tall girl with a fierce looking face and spiky midnight hair. She smiled when she saw his companion and when she turned to face him her eyes pierced through him like an x ray.

"Thalia meet Percy, he's the new boy here and I'm showing him around." Annabeth introduced him and he nodded at her shyly. Another shorter boy introduced himself as Grover and shook his hand rather formally but still polite. He had bright orange coloured hair.

After meeting all the kids on the oval Thalia clapped her hands decisively and went about the usual business of deciding who was the tagger today.

"I know." Her eyes glinted mischievously (the only sign Percy needed to see to surely tell something was about to kick off) "Why don't we have Percy as the tagger since he's the new kid?" The statement was asked as a question but no body was stupid enough to argue. Percy accepted his sentence philosophically. Clearly this Thalia girl was trying to test his worth and he was determined that he should prove it magnificently. Well he was as determined as a seven year old could be.

"Great let's start, Percy you have to count to 40 to give us a head start." And when she smiled he could see the light glint off her razor sharp teeth.

Everyone rushed around the oval distancing themselves from the fateful boy who had been deemed tagger. After 40 seconds the real show down began.

The rush of childish breath filled the play ground as feet scuffled and kids dodged. Even though Percy had skinny legs he could use them well to his advantage. Years of running and dodging away from Gabe and childhood bullies had taught him well and soon he had tagged majority of the kids playing.

The only person left untagged obviously had to be none other than Annabeth Chase. She weaved through the taggers like human water and ran with surprising speed. Her body seemed to consist of 80% legs.

"Percy you want to do this carefully." Grover warned. "She's a smart girl, going for her the obvious way won't work you have to think of something clever." The other taggers looked to him for a signal and Percy thought of something.

"I want to do this one on one, no other taggers involved this is the real test." Percy said seriously. He meant business. Thalia shook her head as though he had declared suicide which in a way he had. No one could catch Annabeth even when they were working in a team. How the hell was Percy supposed to do this on his own?

"Percy you do know that you won't be able to win right?" Grover weaselled his voice into Percy's head and made him doubt himself. The other kids nodded their heads emphatically. One boy echoed all their thoughts and said it out loud.

"Annabeth's crazy no one has been able to catch her, there's a reason why we call her the loose devil." Each new piece of information was drilling through his resolve but he remained adamant. He was not going to let that crazy lunatic neighbour of his go even if it was the last thing he did. And from the sound of it, it probably was the last thing he was going to do.

"No, no let him have a go guys." Annabeth called from across the grounds. Her voice reached all of them like a friendly breath of fresh air and in spite of themselves they couldn't help relax. When she smiled at Percy, like Thalia she seemed to be all teeth. And her smile contained one emotion in abundance: cockiness. And she had good reason after all no one had been able to tag her in months, there was no way that scrawny little boy could be a match for her. The new boy was determined to wipe that smile off her face some way or another.

Percy replayed Grover's words in his mind and decided to do exactly the opposite. If Annabeth was a smart girl then surely she would be expecting Percy to make a smart move? But if he did something incredibly simple she was bound not to see it coming.

Annabeth came tantalisingly closer now, her liquid silver eyes bursting with excitement. Clearly this was as momentous for her as it was for him. Percy did the only thing he knew how and lunged at her spectacularly. She dove to the side but miraculously he had managed to touch her elbow. He lay face down in the grass and when he stood up silence and shocked faces greeted him. Not a second had passed until he was once again laying face down on the ground roughly. Spewing grass from his mouth he sat up to find Annabeth Chase grinning like a maniac at him.

"That's payback." Then she ran off to join her friends who were beginning to celebrate her defeat finally.

"That moron." He whispered vehemently as he stood up. Surely this was just a prelude to a glorious friendship.

Hey guys so I introduced Annabeth in pretty quickly and don't worry her character isn't totally OOC she's still a genius she just has a little wild streak in her which is in the percy jackson books as well. Anyways please review lots and tell me what you think.

Oakleaf Girl.