It's finally summer, so I figured maybe I'd toss you another chapter.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for Annabeth. She didn't have any classes with Percy, but the white-haired girl named Nova was in her 3D art elective, so she sat with her in there, and she did have lunch with Percy at least.

In every class, Annabeth had to go up to the front and introduce herself. It was truly the struggle of the new kid. She hated being up there, reciting that her name was Annabeth Chase, she moved here from San Francisco, and some irrelevant piece of information like how her favorite color was purple or something. The kids in the class always looked at her like they expected her to start tap dancing, or singing opera.

She met Percy outside the school, where he was talking to a few more friends that Annabeth hadn't even met.

"Hey Seaweed Brain." She greeted him. "Want to go do something?"

"Oh, um, sorry Wise girl, I told the swim team guys I'd go over for a guy's game night tonight yesterday, I can't." He replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's fine, you dork." Annabeth replied, smiling almost against her will. "I know you and your promises have to always be kept. Chill out."

Percy smiled back at her. "You're the best, Annabeth."

"Dude, your girlfriend isn't joining us for game night, right? That'd be so lame." One of Percy's friends interrupted them.

"No, she isn't, and you're lucky she isn't because she'd roast all your asses." Percy shot back, settling into the trashtalk guy friends shared.

"Percy, I don't even play video games." Annabeth told him.

"Well, I know that babe, but you're so great at everything it only makes sense that you'd be good at video games." Percy replied.

"Your logic is flawed, but your sentiment is appreciated."

Percy gave a devilish half grin. "Oh yeah, I love it when you talk nerdy to me."

Annabeth punched him.

"Okay, seriously," he said, not even letting the punch sway him. "You need to drop by my house sometime so I can train you to be my badass girlfriend who beats all my friends in video games. And speaking of which, where are you even staying?"

"Oh, in a hotel nearby." Annabeth said offhand.

"What?! Seriously? No, just stay with us! My mom probably loves you more than she loves me, she'd welcome you with open arms." Percy looked ready to beg.

"Perce, you know I can't do that. You don't even have a guest room for me to stay, and before you suggest I just share your room, I can't and won't based on the fact that my mother would make an attempt on your life, and your chronic messiness would drive me crazy." Percy deflated with every word Annabeth spoke.

"But-" He tried to poke a hole in her argument.

"Seriously Percy, it's fine. The hotel owner is my half sibling, and she says I can stay as long as I want."

"Okay... but that doesn't mean I won't tell my mom about you and hope that she makes you move in herself." Percy said.

"I guess I can't stop you there. Bye Seaweed Brain, I'm gonna go do all the homework the teachers assigned without even giving me a day to catch up." Annabeth started walking.

"Nerd, doing your homework as soon as you get home." Percy teased. He gave her a quick kiss before she went too far.

Annabeth gave him a wave as she walked away, letting it turn into a quick middle finger before she dropped it.

She had barely stepped off the curb in front of the school before someone appeared at her elbow.

"Hi there! Annabeth, right?" The cheerleader from this morning stood next to her bearing a massive grin.

"Hello Charlotte." Annabeth replied calmly.

"Whatcha up to on this fine day? Got any plans?" Charlotte asked.

"Not really. I was probably just going to do homework." Annabeth shrugged.

"Seriously? On a day like this, all alone? Come with me, I don't have practice today. Let's go grab a Starbucks and then we can go to my house and do our homework together or something, your schedule's in your binder and I can see that we have a few of the same teachers, just not the same periods." Charlotte was a fast talker, spitting out plans. Annabeth admired her observation skills to have noticed her schedule.

She was still a little wary of Charlotte, but then again, she was wary of everyone, and it would do some good for her to make a few friends, she reasoned. "Sure, where should we go? I don't exactly have every Starbucks in New York mentally mapped out."

"You really should." Charlotte giggled a bit. "Some people act all pretentious and say that Starbucks sucks and you should enjoy all the little coffee shops in the area that aren't Starbucks, with some reasoning like saying 'it's home made with love,' but that's just bull. The workers there are paid minimum wage just like Starbucks and don't care, and when you get your espresso, you're going to dump sugar and milk into it until it tastes just like Starbucks. Besides, I haven't yet found a little coffee shop that makes Java Chip frappes the way I like."

Annabeth struggled to process everything Charlotte managed to fit into the about thirty seconds she had been speaking. "Pretentious?"

"Oh, yeah, it's my current buzzword. It means-" Charlotte began.

"Oh, I know." Annabeth felt a little bad for cutting Charlotte off, but honestly she thought the girl could use a little bit of time to breathe. "It's just no one really uses it that often."

"Yeah, it just works so well with New York though." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "They're pretty pretentious sometimes."

"True," Annabeth admitted. "Lead the way to a java chip frappuccino, then."

"Alright!" Charlotte started to make a left, and Annabeth followed. "So tell me about yourself. Percy used to be a pretty well known assumed bachelor, I want to get to know the girl he stayed loyal to! He and you have to be pretty special, not many guys would be true. I know my ex-boyfriend wasn't."

"What, seriously? Some idiot cheated on you?" Annabeth was aghast.

"Yeah." Charlotte shook her head. "My parents and I went to Cancun last summer, and when I got back, I found out that Shaun had cheated on me. I guess maybe I should have seen it coming, he wore Sperries and Polo shirts with colored shorts, that's just total fuckboy material. I bet he says 'You'll be hearing from my father' too."

Annabeth laughed. "Why were you even dating him?"

Charlotte shook her head and made a sort of dismissing motion with one of her hands. "My dad is a total social climber, and the reason Shaun probably says you'll be hearing from his father is because his dad is some totally rich CEO of something or whatever. It made my dad happy that I was dating Shaun, and I guess I cared too much at the time."

Annabeth felt a little sorry for Charlotte. She seemed kind of lonely.

"Don't worry about it. Now, we've arrived at Starbucks." Charlotte pushed open the door. "What do you want? My treat." She pulled a shiny credit card from her purse. "And seriously, tell me about yourself? What's your favorite color? Subject? Month? Beyond those surface scratching small talk questions, how about something interesting? What are you most afraid of? Do you believe in aliens?"

Annabeth smiled at her. She kind of enjoyed hanging out with Charlotte.

Sooooooo... yeah. Female friendships are important to me. Anyway, sorry about the whole story move. I just didn't want this one story that I was actually proud and wanted to continue to be trapped on that old account with the crackfics I wrote when I was 9.