Diclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or any other characters in Rick Riordan's books. Thank you!
After offering the rest of my food to my dad, praying that this plan won't backfire, it probably will, I leave the mess hall, walking to my next destination. I stop abruptly. I don't know where my next destination is. I roll my eyes. "Connor, Travis." I whisper softly, as I kneel, pretending to tie my shoe.
"Yeah?" they answer in unison.
"Where exactly am I supposed to go?" I ask them, now tying my other shoe.
"Easy! Where the Aphrodite girls are!" they exclaim. I stand up and walk slowly. "Just jog around the cabins a bit, maybe a detour by the canoe lake and then just head for the stables, they're usually there. You know girls and their unicorns and my little ponies."
"Ok." I head for the canoe lake, deciding to start there.
"Oh, good job by the way, back in the mess hall." Connor says through the earpiece. "But remember Percy, one cabin at a time, we've got limited girls for you to flirt with so don't let them all have a taste the first day, make them crave for it a little bit." Travis adds.
Crave for what?! I think in my head. "He's right. Let's start with the Aphrodite cabin first, and then we can move on to the Demeter cabin tomorrow, just show them a little bit of what they have in store for tomorrow."
That sounds so wrong "Alright." I stop by the canoe lake, where a mixture of Demeter, Hephaestus and Hermes kids are. Some for their activities, and some just to hang out. I stand there awkwardly, not knowing how to start. "Do I just start running?" I ask them. "Gods Perce, have you never jogged before? Stretch a little bit, catch their attention." Letting out a deep breath, I start stretching; first my biceps, my hamstrings, my neck. "They aren't looking!" "On it." "Wait what? What do you mean, on it?"
I stretch my arms a little more, when I feel two hands clap onto my back, with a lot of force. I see the Stolls on either side of me. "Hey Perce!" Connor greets me a little louder than needed. "What are you doing here by the lake?" I open my mouth to answer when Travis interrupts "You're going jogging?" he asks, emphasizing on the word 'jogging'. I can see heads turning in our direction. "Well, good luck! Make sure to stretch a little bit so you won't pull one of your great muscles!" Emphasis on 'great muscles'. Connor nudges him, "Too much. Are you the one trying to flirt with him?" Travis clears his throat "Right, no." Gods of Olympus get me out of here. "Well, we'll see you around Perce!" Connor pats me on the shoulder before they leave. I hear them laughing through my ear piece.
I feel more eyes on me now than before, and I'm really not sure if I prefer it this way or not. Probably not. I twist my hips, reach for my toes and crack my neck left to right before I start slowly. "Wink!" I hear them hiss. At what?! I look at some of the girls watching me and I flash them a smile and a wink before heading for the cabins. I run by the water, waving and smiling at other girls I pass in the process. "Based on research and observation, Annabeth should be gathering her blueprints and drawings for her Arts and Crafts class, so make sure you pass by her cabin when she's on her way."
"Blueprints." I pant out "Blueprints for what?"
"It's arts and crafts Percy, you get to make and design things and she's an architect, what do you think she does in arts and crafts? Macaroni picture frames with glitter on it? She makes scale model buildings!" Travis sassed.
"Alright, geez, don't get your toga's in a twist." I say, almost raising my hands in surrender, until I realize that I'm not actually talking to them in person.
"She's out Percy, hurry and catch her, she's heading to Arts and Crafts."
"No duh." I mutter under my breath as I pick up my pace. "I heard that."
I spot Annabeth with her blueprints, but she doesn't seem to notice me, so I slow down, timing when I should conveniently pass by her. She finally sees me and smiles and I jog over to her. "Hey!" I say, pretending to catch my breath.
"Hey. I see you've started your jogging." She says.
I nod "Yeah, but where are you headed?" I ask, pointing at her blueprints and notepads.
"Oh, Arts and Crafts. It's right over there." She points behind me.
"We belive that today, she's gonna be building a scale model of the Taj Mahal." The Stolls inform me.
"You should build the Taj Mahal in there, for me." I blurt out. "Great, you know, design. It looks very stable."
She looks surprised "How'd you know I was building the Taj Mahal today? You've never seen me in Arts and Crafts since your first year here."
I shrug "Instinct." She narrows her stormy eyes in the way only she can, not believing a word. "And, it does help to know that you are an architect and that you are unhealthily obsessed with monuments and architectural facts and stuff."
She laughs and it's a great sound. "Yeah, okay."
"Anyway, need some help with that?" I ask her
"When did you become such a gentleman, Seaweed Brain?"
"Hey! I've always been one, I just, have not, um, started until today."
"Right. Well, I can handle this, thank you. Wouldn't want to interrupt you and your jogging session." She says as she walks past me and towards the cabin like room. I shake my head and smile. "Don't get the details wrong, Wise Girl!" I call behind her as I start to jog away. She ignores me.
I jog away only to stop when I hear the Stolls arguing through the ear piece. "Hurry up and push the button Connor, she's almost at the door!" I turn around, watching as Annabeth neared her class. "Wait! I can't find it! AHA! Alright, in 3, 2, -" I start to call for her, but my voice is covered by the sound of an explosion and the sounds of clay and paint smashing onto the walls, ceilings and windows. Annabeth stood in front of the door, one hand on the knob, frozen in place. "Yes!" the Stolls cheered.
The door opens and Annabeth backs off as a few campers come out covered in layers of clay and paint. One had a paintbrush stuck on his, well, somewhere uncomfortable. It rhymes with nut. Chiron trots into the scene, examining the scene with a tired, knowing look on his face. He stomps his foot, hoof, on the ground. "I'd like to announce that Arts and Crafts will be unavailable for campers until further notice. I suggest that those who belong in this class, proceed to their next." He trots down to the Big House.
I can hear Travis and Connor's laughter on the other end. I watch as Annabeth walks back to her cabin, a wild storm raging in her eyes.
"That was awesome!" they cheered.
"Um, you do know Chiron will look for you now right?"
"The consequences of this plan, and being awesome, yes we do know that."
"Why was that necessary for the plan again?"
"Well our dearest Perseus, the whole point of this whole operation is to make Annabeth jealous, right?"
"Right."
"Well, how can you make someone jealous when they aren't even in the same place as you while you're flirting the day away? That's like, giving away free food or drachmas, except less valuable."
I ignore his comment. "Annabeth's next class after Arts and Crafts is Pegasus flying, in the stables, the place you need to be so you can flirt with the Aphrodite children. You get it now?"
"Yeah, yeah." I wave them off. Mentally.
"Now go over there! You need to be there before Annabeth!" He orders and I continue my jog.
By the time I reached the stables, I was covered in a thin sheet of sweat. Passing through the forgery where heat emitted from everywhere certainly helped with that. And although the running had left me slightly sweaty, it didn't leave me breathless, and so after breathing gulps of air to calm my heartbeat, I walked towards the stables, where I could already see the children of Aphrodite tending to their pegasi.
A few of them noticed my approach and started giggling, while some hastily tried to fix their hair and make-up. I don't know why, everything looked fine to me. Like mother, like children I guess. At least they're not using me as a mirror holder.
"Percy you're killing it! They are definitely gonna be all over you! Just keep it simple for now, wait until Annabeth gets here to get your super flirting on!" Super flirting? I barely knew how to talk to girls and they want me to flirt with girls, and Aphrodite girls at that. "Don't worry too much about what you'll say, they're already in love with you, all you have to do is smile and wink a few times." How can they read my mind like that?
As I get closer, I see Silena Beauregard feeding her Pegasus an apple. She doesn't notice that I'm there until she realizes that half her cabin has been distracted, mostly the girls of course, and, well, one guy. I clear my head. I turn to Silena and smile "Hey Silena." She smiles back "Hey Percy, what are you doing here?" Most of their brothers has flown up in the air on their pegasi and I'm left with a group of girls. I shrug "I just wanted to check on BlackJack. And, I may or may not have heard that your cabin would be here." I turn away from her and look at each of the girls "Ladies" I give a small bow. I swear I heard squealing. Silena looks at me with an eyebrow raised, her eyes questioning me.
"She senses something wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone knows that Percy likes Annabeth. Silena Beauregard definitely knows that Percy likes Annabeth,and she's wondering why Percy is doing this."
"Ok, well, where's Annabeth?" she snaps me out of the Stoll's argument. I see some of her sisters roll their eyes. I feel anger boil inside me. What's wrong with Annabeth? "Um, I think she's in arts and crafts." I point behind me. She nods "Well, I have to take my baby up, so I'll see you around then, Percy." I help her mount her Pegasus, holding her hand for support. Once she's safely on, she calls my name and I look up. She leans down next to my ear and whispers in my ear; "Don't hurt my sisters too much, ok?" My eyes widen and she gallops away, before jumping into the sky. I could feel my ears turning red. She knows. "She knows" How did she know. "How did she know?" They really need to stop repeating my thoughts. "Doesn't matter! Focus on the girls Percy! They're staring at you!"
I shake out the redness in my ears and smile at them. Some of them is downright staring at me, while some hide their gazes. "So, the pegasi tells me you've all been doing a great job here." I smile at them and the horses whiny in agreement.
I walk over to BlackJack and rub his nose. "Hey Boss! What are you doing here so early? You're never up this early!"
"Be quiet for a moment please, BlackJack!"
"Why? Is it so bad for a horse to get excited when their owner comes by to visit, and you've never jogged before, what's up with tha-oh!"
"What?" I ask mentally, still smiling at the girls.
"I see what you're doing boss. A little sneaky, don't you think? But, I like it anyway. Genius, trying to make Annabeth jealous!"
"How'd you know?"
"I saw it in your thoughts." He said in a 'duh' tone.
"Percy!" Travis' voice hissed through the ear piece "Why are you just standing there? Do something! Annabeth is almost there!"
I pick up an apple and toss it in the air to my other hand, every pair of eyes on me. I catch it and moisten it with my breath before rubbing and cleaning it on my vest. I take a slow bite out of it, staring at all of them, before chewing slowly with a smirk on my face. I see one of them swallow. "Annbeth is in range."
"They all think you're really pretty." I tell them, nodding at the pegasi. "I think so too." They all blush. Some turn back to their horses, and I notice that one of the pegasi is whinnying wildly, Claire, who is petting him backs off. I steady her from behind before she falls over and she looks up at me, wide eyed. "Don't worry, he just doesn't like to be touched in that spot. Here." I grab her hand, her back to me and reach towards the horses left ear. I help and guide her as she pets the Pegasus, lowering its head in comfort. "He likes it here best. Just, be gentle and keep your hands light and soft, ok?" she nods her head, blushing madly "Ok."
I see Annabeth by the entrance, watching intently, other campers behind her. I walk over to Mary, pretending not to see her. "I wouldn't feed her that if I were you." I told her as she was about to feed her horse a stick of, well, a stick of something green. "She doesn't like that very much. I think she likes juicy apples." I grin when I raise my bitten apple up. "I'm not sure if its really juicy though, find out for me? For her?" I offer her the apple and she takes it slowly. She is deep red when she bites off of it, close to mine. I hear her sisters gasp behind me. She chews and nods. "Juicy enough, I'd say." She stammers. "Good." I take her hand and guide it, along with the apple, to her horse's mouth.
"All right Percy, leave them for now and go shower and prepare. Remind them about your sword training with them 10."
"Well, I better get going; I still need to prepare for sword training later. I'm teaching your cabin today, yeah?" I ask them. They all nod. I smile "Well, I'm looking forward to it." I start to walk away, towards Annabeth's direction, when I turn around for the last time "Oh and, thanks for distracting me, I'm not really into jogging anyway. I enjoyed this detour very much." I wink at them before turning to leave.
"Hey Annabeth." I greet her as I pass by. I see a mixture of confusion, surprise and disbelief swirl in her grey eyes. And, maybe a little hint of irritation?
"Smooth, Percy. Real smooth." Connor praised me. I'm starting to enjoy this plan.
Here's a sneak peak to the first chapter of the re-write of "High School For Annabeth Chase" yet to be renamed:
"So, any of you up for a movie tonight?" one of them asks
"Please! I don't want to hang out with you guys while you make-out with your girlfriends in the theatre!" another one exclaimed "It sucks being single man!"
"Aww, is little Ricky sad and forever alone?"
"Shut up, man!"
"Don't worry man, you're not alone. You can make out with Jackson right here!"
My head snaps up as I hear that last name.
"Haha, very funny guys!" I hear that very familiar voice say.
I feel my heart flutter and my stomach suddenly churn. Ugh, what Aphrodite makes me feel.
"But, seriously dude, you need to get a girlfriend." They continue
"I told you, I already have a girlfriend!" I feel a small smile crawl to my lips.
I take a deep breath and decide now is as good a time as ever to introduce myself. I was about to turn, but something they said stopped me.
"Did you guys hear about the new transfer kid?" someone asked
"I hear she's really hot!"
I roll my eyes.
"I just hope the rumours are true this time, and maybe Rick can finally get a girlfriend."
I smile and shake my head. I finally turn around and find that it really is him, and he is currently facing away from me as he leans against what I think is his locker door.
I walk the short distance towards them and stop right in front of them. I see a few faces turn towards me.
The first guy to notice me was who I assumed as Rick. He had short platinum blond hair with emerald eyes. He was about 3 inches taller than me, maybe around 6'0, and had a lean, tan body. His eyes widen slightly as he sees me. He opens his mouth to say something, but quickly closes it and clears his throat.
"Hi, how can I help you?" he asks in a deep voice.
Three faces turn to me, which all morphs into a shocked look.
"Um, I was wondering if you knew a guy named Percy Jackson." I asked with a sweet smile.
Ok, that's it! I hope you guys liked the chapter and the sneak peak! Reviews are greatly appreciated!
-Kayla-TheBored
