Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Last Chapter: Percy and Annabeth bickered over Annabeth's desire to meet Luke. They had an awkward moment that both secretly enjoyed and Annabeth recalled the painful memory of losing Percy's friendship.

My Tutor

Chapter 3

Percy

I was chilling on my bed, just staring up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head. I find myself doing this a lot lately. It's sort of become my own way of meditation. I was still thinking about Annabeth even though we had talked almost three hours ago. I could still feel that I had a goofy smile on my face.

Grover walked in looking really tired. He and his girlfriend, Juniper Berry, were part of the school's Organic Gardening Club. Take it from me, organic gardening is a lot of work. One time, Grover called my debt to him and got me to help out because they needed everything done before spring break. They had me pulling weeds for hours while Juniper spread ash to discourage slugs and snails and Grover picked vegetables with the other members. It kind of pissed me off that I was the only one pulling weeds and killing any bugs that I saw. When I was finally fed up with all the bugs and weeds, I casually asked them why don't they just use pesticides and weed killer. They all got murderous looks in their eyes and kicked me out. I'm still not allowed near the school's garden.

Grover spent a lot of time at Gardening Club so he always came back to our dorm exhausted. He walked to his bed across the room and collapsed on it.

"Working hard or hardly working, huh, G-man?"

He turned his head to me and smiled.

"Yeah, Katie is freaking out and making everyone examine the mineral contents of the soil. She was also pretty ticked off because when she went to get her gardening gloves from her dorm, someone wouldn't hold the elevator for her. And guess who showed up to 'help out'? The Stolls."

I chuckled. Katie Gardner is the Gardening Club's president and is super knit-picky about everything in the garden. She had a certain way she wanted me to pull weeds and scolded my ear off if she caught me not doing it her way. And putting the Stolls with Katie was always a cause for alarm. They always end up arguing and nothing ever gets done with the three of them are going at it. Everyone suspects that Travis has a thing for Katie.

"And then," Grover continued, "Travis and Connor were going on and on about how we should switch our compost to bat guano and were trying to get Katie to buy some. They were this close," he held up his thumb and index finger really close together, "to roping Castor and Pollux into buying some but Katie kicked them out by that time."

I laughed out loud. As much as Katie hated being around Travis and Connor, everyone else enjoyed it because they were hilarious when they interacted.

"So where did you run off to in such a hurry this afternoon?"

What should I say? Should I just tell the truth about talking to Annabeth? Sure, why not?

"I went to go talk to Annabeth." Grover, despite his fatigue, sat up and stared at me.

"Really, what about?" He was grinning like crazy. I expected him to act like this but was hoping he wouldn't. His eyes had a hopeful gleam in them that they always seemed to have if I ever mention Annabeth.

"Uh, I asked her to tutor me."

"Oh, why did you ask Annabeth to tutor you when there are tons of other tutors like at the thing Will mentioned?" He was egging me on. I could feel it.

"Well, you know, she's probably the smartest person in this school." Grover's smile widened. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." He pulled a textbook from his backpack and opened it, still smiling, I might add.

"No, really, what's with the insane grin?" I knew he knew that I knew why he was smiling. But I had to act ignorant or else I would not hear the end of it.

For the past couple of years, he had been trying to get me to talk to Annabeth and make peace. Why couldn't I just ignore her?

"Well, you and Annabeth, talking?" He said without looking up from his textbook.

"Can we just establish that there is nothing going on with me and Annabeth?"

"I know that's not true, Percy." He looked up from his book at me. "Don't think I didn't notice that smile on your face when I walked in. You haven't looked that content since you were friends with her." I sighed. When it came to people's feelings, Grover had some kind of a sixth sense. He could pick up on people's feelings in an instant. It was kind of freaky. Whenever Annabeth passed us in the hallway, I would find myself holding my breath. Then I'd look at Grover to try and avoid looking at Annabeth only to see Grover grinning at me knowingly.

Most times his gift of empathy bothered me. Its like he knew exactly how I was feeling even if I didn't know how I was feeling, especially when it came to Annabeth. I just hoped that he'd drop this conversation.

"Do you still like her?"

I should just stop hoping for things because the opposite of what I'm hoping always seems to happen.

I didn't say anything for a while but that totally gave it away.

"You do, don't you?"

"No!" Number one rule of trying to convince someone you don't like a girl: Don't sound defensive. It's a red flag that you're lying. And I was sounding very defensive.

Grover just raised his eyebrows and smiled, as if he had just made a point.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go grab some dinner."

"I'll join you!" He closed his book and hopped off his bed.

We headed to the cafeteria, which was pretty fancy for a high school. But of course, this is Goode. The cafeteria was pretty much like a restaurant during dinner hours where students would sit down at round tables varying in size and have their food brought to them. But it was pretty much like other schools during breakfast and lunch.

Grover and I entered the cafeteria and I scanned the room for a table. Without looking for her, I immediately spotted Annabeth. She was seated at one of the smaller tables with three other people: my cousin Jason with his girlfriend Piper and a tall, buff guy I knew was named Dakota. Dakota was more Jason's friend than mine. I didn't even know Dakota's last name. Jason always joked that it was Fanning. At least, I think it's a joke.

Dakota was chugging down a glass of Kool Aid while Jason, Annabeth, and Piper talked and ate their dinner.

Wait a second; Jason and Piper are boyfriend and girlfriend. And they were sitting closer to each other than to Annabeth and Dakota. Annabeth and Dakota were also sitting closer to each other. Were they on a double date? Did Jason and Piper set them up? Those traitors!

I clenched my fist. Piper nudged Annabeth and she raised her eyes and saw me. We locked eyes for a moment, and then I glanced at Dakota and back at Annabeth. Ananabeth moved her eyes to Dakota, too, and then laughed as he told a joke. I almost gagged.

"Percy, don't just stand there! Come on, I got us a table!"

I didn't even notice that Grover had disappeared from my side. Quickly, I walked towards the table Grover had taken a seat at. There were five chairs there and four of them were occupied, one of the four by Grover. I took the last seat and put on a smile for the people already at the table, despite my growing anger at seeing Annabeth possibly on a date.

"Hey, Percy."

The people who were at the table with us were Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang and Leo Valdez. Frank had been the one who addressed me. Funny fact, he and I are related. In the eighth grade, Frank and I had done a family tree. Imagine our surprise when there was the same guy on both of our projects. It was pretty mind-blowing finding out that I was related to one of my friends. But we're distantly related, maybe thirty-first cousins eighteenth removed or something close to that. It hurt our brains when we tried to figure it out exactly.

Frank was seated next to Hazel, a freshman who he had a major crush on. On the other side of Hazel and next to me was Leo. He was, to put nicely, weird.

"Percy in the hizzouse!" Leo practically yelled in my ear and held up his hand for me to high-five him. I left him hanging and started eating the food that a kitchen staff placed in front of me. Leo quickly ran his raised hand through this hair to play off my rebuff. He was always fun to mess with.

Leo started talking about what was happening with the Robotics Club. Hazel nodded her head as Leo spoke and occasionally said, "hmm," and "uh-huh." But none of us really ever understood Leo when he was talking about Robotics Club. I don't think anyone really ever understood whatever Leo was talking about at any given time. He was more ADHD than even me.

I was busy stealing glances at Annabeth from across the room. She playfully hit Dakota on the arm, which was a sure sign of flirting. Dammit, they were on a date! But wait, she likes Luke. So maybe they were just friends. Yeah, just friends.

"Percy." I barely heard Frank call my name. My attention was all on Annabeth. She was smiling and laughing, having finished her dinner, but Dakota, Piper, and Jason were still eating so she was hanging around with them. She would occasionally run her fingers through her ponytail.

"Percy." Frank called my name again. I was still looking at Annabeth. She was thanking a kitchen staff member as he bused their table. Man, was she something.

"Hey, try saying Annabeth's name, maybe he will pay attention to that." Hazel said and I snapped my attention back to them.

"Huh?" I said stupidly.

"Told ya." Hazel began to laugh and everyone joined her. Frank tried to casually look over his shoulder but he ended up making it look even more obvious. He saw that I was indeed looking past him at Annabeth.

"Still stuck on her, I see." Frank shook his head. "Poor sap," he said under his breath but I still caught it.

"No." I said calmly.

"They why are you staring at her?" Hazel smirked but managed to look innocent.

"There's a piece of spinach in her teeth." Aw, why did I say that?

"But pasta was for dinner and the salad was romaine lettuce leaves." Leo said as they all stared at me, expecting an answer. I couldn't help but glance at Annabeth to see her and her group heading back to the dorms.

I sighed. "Whatever."

"Isn't it so romantic that he still loves her after all this time?" Hazel said dreamily and put her hands on her cheeks.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Frank would agree with Hazel on anything. Grover was giving me that knowing smile that was starting to annoy me.

"How long has it been that you've had a crush on her? I think I met you when you were in fifth grade and I was in third grade." Hazel looked up at the ceiling, doing calculations in her head. "Like six years? And probably even before I met you. That's so cute, Percy." She smiled and started blushing.

"Whoa, wait a second, you like Annabeth?" Leo asked obliviously. I was about to answer "no," but Hazel interrupted me.

"Leo! It's so obvious! How could you not have noticed?"

Leo stared at her wide-eyed, trying to think of an answer. "Uh..."

"It's a rhetorical question." That made Leo close his mouth.

Okay, why does everyone assume that I like Annabeth? We hardly ever talk to each other now. And even when I used to have a crush on her when we were friends, it couldn't have been that obvious. And I don't like her anymore. Trust me, I don't.

"I'm heading back to the dorm." Frank, Leo, and Hazel said their goodbyes to Grover and me as we headed towards the boys dorms.

After brushing my teeth, I laid in my bed in my own personal meditation pose: flat on my back, hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling.

Thankfully Grover didn't bring up Annabeth. I was free to focus my thoughts on whatever I wanted. And my thoughts went straight to Annabeth.

Gah, I can't think of her anymore! I need to focus on getting my grades up so I can play basketball and swimming in the spring!

Okay, okay, here's the plan:

Go to tutoring.

I guess I have to suck it up and take whatever help I can get, even if that help does not involve Annabeth.

Stop thinking about Annabeth.

Yes, that was a great plan. Uh, except I mentioned Annabeth in both one and two!

I sighed and turned on my side. Maybe a good night's sleep will clear my mind of her. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

My dream was making me relive my birthday at the beach in the summer after seventh grade.

I didn't want a party because my mom would go all out and probably rent a circus or the whole aquarium. I hated it when people made a big fuss over me. I mean, it's just me, nothing special.

Instead of a party, I invited my friends who were still in town for the summer to the beach. We would swim, play volleyball, hang out, beach-y stuff like that, and then head back to my house for cake and ice cream. It was going to be a blast.

I called Annabeth the night before to make sure that she would be coming to the beach and to see if she needed a ride. I really wanted her to be there because it wouldn't be fun without her. She said her dad was taking her.

My cousins who live in California were also in town for a while. Jason was especially happy that his big sister, Thalia, was spending the summer with him and their mom. Their parents had gotten a divorce when Jason was a baby. I felt for him. My parents had just gotten a divorce a few months ago. But at least my mom and dad were still nice to each other. Jason and Thalia's parents were always arguing.

Thalia was okay, but we always butt heads. She was also nice to Annabeth, which made me happy.

Bianca and Nico were both younger than me. I never had a problem with Bianca because she was always well mannered and nice. It's just her little brother that annoyed me constantly, always asking stupid questions. They had met Annabeth last summer and were nice to her like Thalia. But Annabeth always fawned over Nico, which I hated! He wasn't even that much cuter than me. Its probably just because he was younger and a little dorky with his obsession with Mythomagic. Whatever. I'm the one who got to spend almost every day with her during the school year and most days during summer.

After I got off the phone with Annabeth, Nico started bugging me about how he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese instead of the beach.

"I don't want to go to Chuck E. Cheese, Nico! I want to go to the beach!"

He was throwing quite the tantrum and Bianca wasn't there to control him. She, Thalia, their moms and my mom had gone shopping earlier.

"Well, I don't want to go to the beach!"

"But it's my birthday, kiddo."

Nico glared at me and crossed his arms. What a brat. But I guess I could understand. He and Bianca lived in Los Angeles and their house was so close to the beach that they practically lived on the beach. So maybe he was a little bored with it. But I didn't care. It was my birthday and I loved the beach. And so did Annabeth.

"Listen up, if you don't stop making such a fuss over going to the beach, you don't get any birthday cake and ice cream."

Nico gasped loudly and dramatically. He pointed his pale finger at me.

"That's not fair!"

"If you don't want cake, I don't care, more for me." Then I walked out of the living room, up the stairs, and into my room.

He followed me and started jumping on my bed.

"Okay, I'll be good!"

He kept his promise the next day and was quietly building a sand castle with the help of Thalia and Bianca.

I came back on to the beach out of the ocean. All of the guys were horsing around in the water, tackling each other and splashing everywhere. Silena and Rachel stayed near the shore and just submerged themselves once to get use to the cold but only stayed knee deep at most.

Annabeth still hadn't shown up. Everyone had gathered around me while I was looking out for her dad's car.

"Waiting for your Princess Annabeth, Perce?" Rachel joked playfully. She used to have a crush on me and if Annabeth didn't exist, there was a microscopic chance that I might have been into Rachel. But Annabeth did exist and I couldn't imagine myself liking anyone but her.

"Yeah," I said while still looking around.

"Oooh, Percy likes Annabeth." Travis sang obnoxiously.

I snapped my head in his direction, embarrassed and about to deny it. Everyone else started laughing except Silena, who had always been good at lovey-dovey stuff.

"Oh, shush, Travis." She scolded him. "I think it's sweet." She smiled at me and I didn't feel embarrassed anymore.

"Me, too." Grover patted my back. "And I think she likes you, too."

Hearing that made me feel amazing. Grover was pretty close to Annabeth, not as close as I was, but still close. Maybe she had told him that she liked me. The idea of Annabeth liking me made my stomach do cartwheels and I felt like I was invincible. The only thing that could possibly make me feel even more fantastic was if Annabeth said that she liked me herself.

"Nuh-uh!" Rachel suddenly interrupted my inner moment of ecstasy. "She told me that she likes Luke!" Everyone stared at her. She suddenly realized what she said and covered her mouth. She was always such a blabbermouth.

"Luke Castellan?" Will asked and everyone looked at Rachel for reaffirmation. She looked away, ashamed that she had said anything at all. Her silence confirmed it was Luke Castellan.

Luke Castellan? He was the most popular guy in our middle school. But I don't ever recall Annabeth ever even speaking to him. Why would she like him?

I felt like my heart was bit by a snake and then constricted until all the blood had emptied out of it.

My face contorted into a fierce scowl.

"Sucks for you, Percy!" Travis and Connor started laughing and a few others joined in because their laughter was so contagious. They weren't trying to be mean. They probably thought that I didn't care that much or that Annabeth was just a small crush and I would be over her in a few days.

But they were wrong.

Through their laughter, I clenched my fists and felt my whole body shaking with the desire to take my hurt and anger out on something, someone, anyone.

"Percy!" I heard Annabeth's voice. I turned in the direction I heard her voice come from and my attitude worsened. It hurt to see her after Rachel revealed that she liked Luke. I just couldn't stand to look at Annabeth without feeling like someone was trying to pull my stomach out through my throat.

She held out a card to me. "Read it!" She said happily. I snatched it out of her hands and she recoiled. It was a cute card, blue, my favorite color. But I couldn't appreciate it fully, not with the information I had learned.

I couldn't take the pain anymore. I ripped the card in half and threw the pieces in her face. Everyone gasped but I didn't care. I couldn't let Annabeth hurt me this way without getting back at her. If she wants to like Luke instead of me, I told myself, fine!

Annabeth started crying. Tears were running down her face rapidly as she looked at me, hurt. It took all of my willpower not to wrap my arms around her and apologize. Annabeth ran away and Silena chased after her.

Rachel hit me upside the head. I turned to glare at her.

"Now what the heck did you do that for, dumbass!" She yelled at me. Everyone else fell into an awkward silence.

"I'm going home!" I announced and stomped away.

Nico saw me approaching my cousins and smiled. Their sand castle looked well done with a lot of attention to detail.

"Are we gonna go have cake and ice cream now?" His happiness was rubbing me the wrong way. I stomped right over his sand castle, ruining it. "Hey!" Nico yelled and stood up to follow me. He slammed his small fists into my back but I hardly felt it.

My chuffer was waiting with a limo to take us all to my house for cake but I got in and told him to take me home. He looked at me, surprised. Jason, Thalia, Bianca, and Nico, whose foul mood was rivaling mine, got into the limo but stayed silent. They knew better than to bother me when I was angry. Only Annabeth was ever successful at calming me down, and I just didn't want to see her.

I awoke from my dream/memory to a dark room. Grover was quietly snoring on his bed. My breathing was heavy. I threw the covers off and stood up to walk to the foot of my bed. I opened the trunk and retrieved a plain tin box.

I walked back to sit on my bed and ran a hand through my hair. Inside this box (my secret box, not even Grover knew about it), were all of my keepsakes. There was a photo of my mom and dad and me before their divorce, a couple of Valentine's cards, a leather necklace with assorted clay beads, and lastly, a handmade card made out of blue construction paper. It had been ripped in half but was carefully tapped back together.

I read through it and smiled. It always made me happy to read it, but also really sad and ashamed of myself.

A name left my lips in a whisper.

"Annabeth."

Next Chapter: Percy and Annabeth come to an agreement.

Thanks for reading! Please review.