PART II

Aggression

PERCY

It was quiet in Jeevers Park. Awfully quiet.

Percy sat on a bench, overlooking the beach, and the cement road was filled with people, but people were relaxing. No one was talking, just relaxing. Of course, it was a really peaceful sight. A normal person would agree. But Percy, being nervous and a bit quaky, thinks it's too quiet. Too quiet, indeed.

It maybe because there's nothing to distract him, at all. Nothing except his phone.

Ah, his phone. He forgot. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and grabbed it and checked for text messages. There were two messages. One from Annabeth, and one from Callie.

Gods, even my cellphone is letting me choose between them, smh, he thought. It was uncanny he found himself in a situation like this.

He opened Annabeth's message.

Be there in less than 10 mins. Bought something.

He sighed. As much as he loved Annabeth (platonically, 100%, but romantically, not sure), this is the first time he's been out with her where he felt a little emotion called "a burden". He wasn't sure if that's a legit emotion, but he felt like something was out of place. Scratch that, hanging out with Callie or Annabeth was out of place.

It began to feel like that when Annabeth confessed. It made him confused.

There was a certain order to things. Annabeth was the best friend, Callie was the crush. When you mess up that certain order, things get mixed up. And by things, Percy means his 'mind'. Why the heck did it have to be like this?, Percy thought.

Deciding for last minute advice, he called Jason.

It only took two rings before Jason answered. Percy was surprised to hear an angry-sounding Jason answer the phone. "Hello, you stupid motherfucker. Stop calling me, stop talking to me, stop flirting with Piper, because the next time I see your skinny little face I will-"

"Jason! It's Percy! I need a minute of your time." Percy interrupted.

"Oh! Percy! Sorry, dude, I thought you were that fucker, Jonathan." Jason's normal tone returned.

"Jonathan?"

"Doesn't matter. Anyways, what is it?" Jason asked, and judging by the noise Percy's receiving, he's guessing Jason is at his family's coffee shop. "Is it girl problems?"

"Yes. Exactly that." Percy replied. There was no way he could ask for advice without telling the truth. "Um, you see, Annabeth confessed she liked me a week ago and-"

"SHE WHAT?" almost destroyed Percy's eardrums as he heard Jason's voice through the phone. "Holy shit! The plot thickens! Battle of the Ladies, man! Nerd vs. Geek! Then what?"

"She asked me out on a date in Jeevers Park. I'm currently here waiting for her, but..." Percy thought for a while. "...I don't know, man. I don't feel good around both of them. Annabeth and Callie. I feel like, I don't know. I don't really have words to explain stuff like this."

"You feel like betraying the other for going out with one of them?" Jason confirmed it. That was exactly wha Percy felt. Those thirteen words were the definite meaning of what he's feeling right now.

When he's going out with Callie, he feels like he's betraying Annabeth, since she's his best friend who's been there for him since he was a kid. He feels like he's throwing an old item away for a new item. But when he's going out with Annabeth, he feels like he's been playing Callie all along, letting her have false hope of a genuine relationship, and feeling like he's been using her. Damn, these feelings are hard to process.

"How'd you know?" Percy asked.

"I'm not Piper's first boyfriend, Perce. Remember? She had to choose between me and another guy." Jason said in a monotone, and Percy remembers.

"Yeah, I remember. You were so head-over-heels for her."

"Yeah, and I still am. But take a little advice from a junior." Jason paused for a second. "Choose the gal who's always there for you. No matter what happens. Choose a gal who puts your need before hers, and you can't make that decision unless you're willing to put your needs before hers too. A guy and a girl who understands each other, is made for each other."

Percy thought that was really good advice, but there was one problem with that.

"Yeah, how do I know if they're willing to do that? I know I am."

"Well, a simple question can answer that. Questions, if possible." Jason assured. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, thanks, man. I'll keep that in mind. I know exactly what to do."

When Annabeth texted that she was at the entrance of the park, Percy immediately stood up and walked over there. When he saw Annabeth, let's just say his mouth dropped open.

She looked absolutely stunning.

She was wearing a simple blue sweater, and even darker blue jeans. She let her hair down by not wearing a ponytail. Percy loved it when she didn't wear her ponytail. It made her even more beautiful. And of course, he loved the blue get-up. Blue looks so good on anything, that even in Annabeth, it looks good. Of course, he knew, her wearing blue was her trying to impress him, but still. Consider him impressed.

He tried to look cool and smile, and Annabeth seemed to buy it.

"Hello." Annabeth smiled, and yes, it made Percy swoon inside. "How do I look?" she continued, and stretched her arms wide to showcase her outfit.

"Like you're trying to impress someone." Percy replied with a smug look.

For a second, Annabeth panicked, but then she recomposed herself with a smirk. "Well, did it work?"

"A bit." Percy chuckled, and he beckoned her to go inside the park. "Come on."

ANNABETH

A chance. And this was it.

Gods be damned if she screws this up. It all depends on this one event here. And she hopes she goes through it like a normal person.

Annabeth, for the past few days has been reworking herself into the "perfect" girlfriend Percy would want. All logic got thrown out of the window whenever she was thinking of him, and of course, she needed to impress him, hence the blue clothes.

She would've had confidence to look stunning if Percy hadn't worn green that matched his eyes, because gods, he looked hot in green. To be honest, he looked hot in anything. The problem was, Percy didn't seem to enjoy her company right now, and semi-hates her, and that's exactly why she's different right now. She's not the Annabeth who would proclaim new discoveries or pick on him. She's the Annabeth who would fit as Percy's love.

She was currently holding a box of pizza in her left hand, and she was following Percy outside Jeevers Park and onto the beach, and he was beckoning her to sit on the sand with him. She did so, and placed the pizza beside her, and Percy noticed the box.

"Is that, all-meat?" Percy asked.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain. Just for you." Annabeth picked up the box, and placed it on Percy's lap.

"Just for me? You aren't eating any?" Percy asked jokingly, and it got him a slap in the back of the head.

"Well, duh, I'm eating! I bought it!" Annabeth cried out, and Percy smiled at her.

"Let's just eat, Wise Girl." Percy said as he smiled, and grabbed a slice.

Sometimes, Annabeth hates (loves) it when he smiles.

CALYPSO

Staying at home while the guy of your dreams is having a date with a a girl who's marginally in love with him? Not Callie's idea of a Friday afternoon.

While she liked the idea that there's no class because of a faculty meeting, she hates the idea of leaving Percy there with Annabeth on the park. Because she really doesn't trust Annabeth Chase. Maybe it's jealousy, maybe it's ego, but most of all it's because Annabeth Chase is very unpredictable.

This is a girl who rejected her handsome, nice guy-type best friend because she's scared of a relationship, and then confesses her love to him when she's losing her grip on him. Callie knows it's simple love, but a part of her wants it not to be love, but simple ownership.

She still thinks Annabeth Chase just wants him for possession, not love.

Percy Jackson was a guy who was too nice to everybody (Callie loves that), and Percy is a guy who'll always help you with what you need or want, and Callie thinks... that Annabeth has had too much of that and has made Percy an item, using him that she now fears losing him to another. Callie thinks her confession a week ago was a desperate attempt keep Percy, along with the "date" in Jeevers Park.

She thinks. But Callie knows Annabeth is too sophisticated for that kind of thing.

She's been playing video games all morning, Batman: Arkham City, to be exact, on her computer, and sometimes, she imagines Batman as her, and Joker as Annabeth. Batman beating up criminals and thugs was a good, refreshing way to let out her anger.

She paused the game and checked her cellphone.

Percy hadn't replied to her message, which was hows the date? :-D

It had been three hours, and she feared the worst.

Worst-case scenario: Annabeth was able to woo him back into her life and probably had a hot, make-out, sex session with him, leading to Percy ignoring the text. Average-case scenario: Annabeth convinced him Callie is not the one for him and told him to ignore her, and finally the best-case scenario: Percy simply was unable to open his phone.

Gods damn, she hates thinking like this.

Fucking Annabeth fricking Chase.

PERCY

Perseus Jackson had fallen in love with Annabeth Chase for Thor knows how many years. He liked her "no-shit-from-anyone" personality, genius mind, and charming looks. Today he was on a date with a girl named Annabeth Chase.

The only problem?

This was not the Annabeth Chase he knew.

This Annabeth seemed different in ways he could not describe in his mind. He's not one to notice little things, but his best friend changing, that he could notice. He knows it's a side-effect of her being in love with him (he still feels kinda giddy knowing that's even possible), but it hurts him a bit, because this is an Annabeth Chase that sucks up to him too much. And Annabeth Chase sucks up to nobody. Nobody.

He's kinda endeared of the gesture, but also kind of hurt. He loved the original Annabeth Chase, and is hurt that he's partly responsible for this change.

They were already three hours on the date, and so far, it's been a mixture of fun and awkward.

Fun, being that they chat, laugh, and hang like they normally do, they bump each other and put arms around each other like they normally do, and they eat pizza and ice cream like the normal Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. He talked about school and his mom, she talked about college and her dad.

Awkward, being that Annabeth wants to hold his hand, and she squeezes it too much, and how she semi-flirts with him (which she never does), and how sometimes, the topic reaches in really deep depths, like the so-called "Disaster" or Calypso.

Percy's not sure if he likes this date too much, but he enjoyed spending time with Annabeth nonetheless.

They were currently in a bench inside the park, talking about careers and such, with Annabeth doing much of the rambling, and sometimes, Percy thinks she's cute when she talks about the future, about architecture, and about her life in general. He wonders if that future life included him.

Then again, he also wanted a future life with Callie.

Here we go again. NO, Percy told his brain.

"...and of course, as such, dad thinks it's better in Yale, because of their equipment, but personally, I think Harvard is a much better choice. Don't you think?" Annabeth finished talking, and Percy let out a laugh beside her.

"Wise Girl, if I had ambitions like you, do you actually think I could get inside schools like that? No." Percy added a chuckle.

"You actually could if you tried hard." Annabeth replied with a joking, bitter tone.

"I do try hard, but sometimes, it's not enough." Percy replied with an honest defeated tone. Annabeth is visibly panicking, feeling she had hurt Percy's feelings. Percy noticed this, so he felt it was time to pop the question Jason told him about. He decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Wise Girl. I got a question for you." Annabeth looked up, curious.

"We are best friends, right? So I got one..." Percy cleared his throat. "Hypothetically speaking, if you, Annabeth Chase, star-genius, got accepted to a school like Harvard or Yale, and me, Percy Jackson, got accepted to a regular-joe college, and we'd no longer be in the same place, and of course, not see each other... what would you do?"

Annabeth breathed for a minute. Trying to come up with an answer. Percy could read her face knowing that she's analyzing it as hard as she can.

"To be honest, I would make it work." Annabeth started, looking at him directly in the eyes.

"I would have to leave. For college. But we could make it work. We could Skype, text and chat, even if it takes four years. Percy, you're mature. You know, that school comes first. That much has been taught to me. School comes first. We're advised a lot not to let our love, yes, you, get in the way of our education. I've always wanted to be an architect ever since I was a kid. I won't let anything stop me on my way to becoming that. But for you, I would make it work. I'll come back for you, and then we can go on with our lives after school."

Annabeth huffed, hoping he got the message. "You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you, Seaweed Brain?"

"Of course, I would." Percy simply replied with a (fake) smile, and dipped his head.

Choose a gal who puts your need before hers, and you can't make that decision unless you're willing to put your needs before hers too.

Percy understood now, but he needed to make sure.

A guy and a girl who understands each other, is made for each other.

"Hey, um, can I go to the bathroom, for a while? I kind of need to pee." Percy said as he fumbled, and Annabeth nodded with an "okay."

Going to the bathroom, Percy took out his cellphone and dialed Callie's number.

CALYPSO

Callie was still playing a video game when her phone rang. It had been hours since she sent a text to Percy, so she was surprised Percy was calling her. She was also a little nervous as to what would Percy talk about.

Did he hate her? Did things go well with Annabeth? Had he already made a decision?

Shaking those thoughts away from her brain, she decided to answer the call.

"Hello? Callie?" Percy said through the phone, with an urging tone.

"Hi, Percy. What is it?" Callie asked casually, hoping not to push something to the edge.

"Can I ask you a hypothetical question?" Percy asked, sounding frantic. Callie wondered what was wrong with him, so she simply replied, "Shoot."

"So, um, you like hanging with me, right? What if, you were chosen for a school, and I mean a university, that's miles away from where I'm going to college, and you're going to a university that's for smart kids and is prestigious as fuck, and could get your career going... how would you deal with us being not close to each other? "

Callie already knew the answer to that.

"Simple. I'd cancel going to that university and go to your school. That's an easy solution." Callie replied.

Percy was quiet for a minute. Panicking, Callie explained herself.

"Look, I'm being honest, and I'm not trying to impress you, but it's the truth. I'm not really an ambitious girl who only cares about careers or jobs and such, so what's a better college life than spending it with the one you love?"

"Right..." Percy breathed, and Callie honestly thinks that he thinks she's lying.

"I'm serious. People say that 'oh, golly, don't date before school' or 'education before a love life' but to me honestly, love is more important." Callie was being wholeheartedly serious. "It's spending time with the one you love, the one you're going to be with for the rest of your life, the one you're going to have kids with, and the one who will hug you and kiss you when you wake up. That's love. A job... is just a job. It has a lot of meaning, but compared to love? It's meaning less. The world didn't get better because of jobs. It got better because of love."

All that Callie was saying was from the bottom of her heart. Maybe she didn't understand a thing about stuff like that, since her family is rich and she could get anything, but learning neglect from her dad taught her better. She learned to love, and she knew, that a middle-class, happy couple was happier than a rich, single, person.

"That was actually really passionate, Callie." Percy said through the phone with sincerity, that she couldn't help but blush.

"Thanks, Percy. Is that... all? Why'd you ask me this?" Callie asked, still curious about the question.

"Nothing! It was just, um, random thinking. Annabeth's waiting for me, so I gotta go, bye!" And just like that, Percy ended the call.

Callie just sat there, still wondering what all that was about.

ANNABETH

Waiting for Percy was really hard, and especially worrying. When he came back, he didn't look all too happy. He looked kind of sad, to be honest. Surprisingly, when he came to her, he didn't bother sitting down beside her again. He was scratching the back of his head.

"Um, hi, Wise Girl. Look, I'm not feeling really well right now, so maybe we should just call it a day."

Annabeth knows when Percy's lying. And he definitely is, right now.

Shit! Did I say something wrong?

"Percy, what's the matter?" Annabeth asked, reaching for his hand. As she began to hold it, he immediately let go. "Did I say something wrong? What is it?" Annabeth couldn't control it anymore. "Tell me. What is it?"

"I, uh-" Percy closed his eyes and slapped his forehead. "I called Callie, and we talked, and..." Percy facepalmed himself and breathed out heavily. The next words she heard almost broke her entire humanity. "This was a mistake."

Percy refused to explain himself, and was a second away from leaving. "I'm going. Have a good day." His tone was with fake jolly, an attempt at comfort. "I need time to think." he adds.

Annabeth knew that she had fucked up. And she now knew that she HATED Calypso. She hated her so much that if she could, she would downright murder her at her house. And she wouldn't have cared. If they talked, then what Calypso might've said was the reason Percy thought this entire 'date' was a mistake.

Desperate, Annabeth went to stop him from leaving. She grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Percy, please. What did she tell you? Did she tell you something to antagonize me?"

Percy was now visibly angry. "She didn't tell me anything, Annabeth! We just talked for a sec. This is my decision, mine. Not hers. Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But I need time to think. Again." Percy jerked away his arm again, and proceeded to leave.

With nothing to do, Annabeth did exactly what she last time. She grabbed his arm, pulled him in close, and kissed him full in the lips. But during the kiss, she knew she had failed. His lips were unresponsive, again, and it was him who stopped the kissing and proceeded to go to his car and leave.

"Percy! I'm sorry, okay?!" Annabeth shouted, but Percy's car was already meters from her.

Unable to control herself, she found herself bursting into tears.

Her last chance was gone.

Annabeth was in a cab right now, crying, and her handkerchief was wet as the entire ocean. She replayed the date in her mind, over and over and over again. What had she done wrong? She knew she had lost, and had nothing to lose anymore, and where her cab's going, she knows it's not home.

She was at Callie's home.

Slowly, she got out, paid, and went to knock on the large front door. It opened.

Callie stood there, in Avengers pajamas, looking at her. Callie was wondering why she was crying. Annabeth only started with a few words, before her tears kept pouring.

"Great job. You've won. I've lost him. I don't know what you said to him, but great job."

And we shall end there! Wow, what a long chapter!

Onward to the final chapter: PART III - DECISION

And of course, this is the second chapter, so that means...

IT IS TIME TO VOTE NOW!

WHO WILL REIGN SUPREME? ANNABETH or CALYPSO? sound off on the reviews! Simply state if you choose Annabeth or Calypso, and you COULD make a really long reason why I should choose your vote, because the better the explanation, it counts as 5 votes.

VOTING on this CHAPTER. VOTING ends on APRIL 26, 2017! (Again, depends on your timezone, right now it is April 24, 3:30pm)

FINAL CHAPTER WILL BE POSTED ON APRIL 28!

see ya, fellas - OTPMaker22