A/N: So,the next chapter's here. Guys there is a review shortage here! Thanks to all those who favorited/alerted/reviewed/read my story. Sorry if I suck at conversations, I dunno what to make them talk about! But I think its pretty good, so READ and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! School's started so I'll do my best to update as frequently as possible but if I don't..just REVIEW!

Disclaimer: Do I have to do this everytime? I don't own anything related to PJO.. just ma story..

Third Person's POV

They walked to the bowling alley. Annabeth was in a mood to chat. She wanted to know everything that had happened in her absence. Now, Percy couldn't tell her all of it but he told her as much he could.

"You remember Thalia's twin brother, Jason?" Percy asked.

"He was at a boarding school, right?"

"Yeah, well, he returned a couple of months ago. Leo Valdez, his friend, son of Hephaestus, came with him. And Piper McLean, Silena's half-sister is there, too. She is so different from Silena that you would never guess they were sisters."

"You know a lot about her, huh?" she teased.

He just rolled his eyes. "Anyone would think as much. You'll see."

And, boy, did she. The first words that ran through her mind when she met Piper were She can't be Silena's sister. She sneaked a glance at Percy, who was smiling smugly but she didn't let that get to her. She went on with meeting everyone. They all said "hi" and hugged and generally it was a scene that any guy would want to be away from.

"Hey, Annabeth," Luke was saying, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Sure," she said. "What about?"

"Um," Luke hesitated, "actually, it's uh, well, I wanted to ask you, would you like to go for a movie this Sunday?"

"With whom?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

"With me, Annabeth," Luke said.

He was asking her out. She had no idea what to say. She liked him, sure, but she'd never really thought about it. He was a nice guy, though, so what was the harm? They might even have fun. Still she felt that it was somehow wrong. Then she remembered. Thalia liked Luke. She'd told her lots of times. She couldn't go out with her best friend's crush. It was really wrong. Inexplicably, she found herself glancing at Percy. He was talking to someone.

Annabeth was thinking of an excuse to say no when she spotted the person talking to Percy. She couldn't see her face but she could see it was a girl. Just then the girl turned and Annabeth saw -

"Thalia," Annabeth said. She couldn't believe what she saw. Thalia was here. Here, at the group party. And she'd left her alone at her mom's party. Not only that, she'd lied about it. To Annabeth, her best friend.

Suddenly the whole room seemed to fall silent. Everyone had stopped talking. "Annabeth," Thalia said, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Annabeth said quietly. She hadn't raised her voice but Thalia knew that it meant she was really angry. "I thought you were grounded?" Annabeth said. It came out as a question, just the way she'd intended.

"I can explain-" Thalia had nothing much to say. She'd not expected her to turn up. She'd thought that she could get away with the excuse. In fact, she wasn't going to come to this party, either, but she had, at Silena's insistence. More like threat. She could explain it to her, but she wasn't sure Annabeth would listen long enough to understand. She couldn't say any of it to an angry Annabeth.

"You lied to me, Thalia, your best friend," Annabeth said, unaware that everyone was watching her. "If Percy hadn't brought me here I wouldn't even have found out!" She exclaimed.

Thalia glared at Percy, deciding that she would kill him later. Percy stepped back in nervousness; he hadn't known anything about this!

"Don't blame him!" Annabeth said, her voice shrill, "he didn't know. But at least you could have told me! I wouldn't have said anything to you even if you didn't want to come with me. You shouldn't have lied, Thalia," she said, the last sentence quiet.

"Annabeth-" Thalia said, unsure how to explain.

"You don't have to say anything, Thalia," she said, "I'm leaving."

She went outside the bowling alley and started walking towards the party.

"Um," Percy said to everyone before following her, "I better make sure she reaches home safely."

Outside, he yelled, "Annabeth! Wait up!"

She paused, turned to look at him, waited until he was within earshot, and said, "You shouldn't have come."

"You're in no condition to reach there alone," he said. "And you're going in the wrong direction," he added. She was.

"Whatever," she said, turning to the right direction and starting to walk.

"Don't be upset, Annabeth," he said, "Thalia didn't mean to hurt you."

Deep down she had known it was true, but she didn't want to face it. "No," she muttered.

"Yes, Annnabeth," Percy said, "she wasn't going to come at all. I don't know why, but I guess she made last minute plans. Don't be so sad. You guys will be fine."

Of course, he'd known that Annabeth was not only feeling betrayal over what Thalia had done, but also guilt at her reaction and sadness at losing her best friend. Silent tears were running across her face. "No," she repeated. "I'm not sad," she said, trying to convince herself more than Percy.

"Yes, you are Annabeth," Percy said, "but its okay. You know she must have had her reasons. You know Thalia. She wouldn't do anything without a reason. Just talk to her tomorrow, when you're not angry anymore, and I know you guys will sort it out. I know you both."

"But," Annabeth was crying in earnest now, "We won't. Not this time. She must be so angry at me for reacting this way. I didn't even hear what she had to say! And now I'll be all alone." She was now blaming herself, sure that their friendship had been ruined.

"No!" Percy insisted. "You guys will be fine. You will. It'll be all right. And even if you won't, which is not about to happen, I will always be there for you. You know that." He, too, was babbling now, hardly making any sense. But, being with her did that to him. He had no idea what he was doing or saying half the time.

Without knowing how, they found themselves very close to each other, faces almost touching. Neither pulled back, though. Percy moved forward as if about to kiss her. Suddenly, there was a sharp noise from somewhere in the street and both of them pulled back, blushing, as if they'd just realized their proximity. It wasn't a kiss. It could have been, but it was not. However, it was enough to remind them of their first kiss.

Flashback

They were both fourteen and were having a sleepover at Percy's house. Annabeth would leave for San Francisco in a week and Percy was happy for her because she was so excited and would go on and on about the architecture there.

So you can imagine his surprise when he woke in the middle of the night, to the sound of weeping. Even more surprising, it was Annabeth who was crying. Annabeth, who was so strong, who hated the thought of crying, who saw it as a weakness, who was so happy. Percy has no idea why she would cry.

"Annabeth?" He said in the darkness. He went over to her sleeping bag, next to his. They were using sleeping bags on Percy's room's floor, because Annabeth couldn't sleep in Percy's bed and he didn't want to leave her alone on the floor. So they both slept in sleeping bags on the floor.

"What happened, Annabeth?" He asked.

"Nothing," she murmured. She wouldn't tell him, but after a lot of persuasion, she finally gave in. "I'm leaving, Percy."

"I know," he said in confusion. What did she mean by that? He already knew she was leaving.

She sighed. "You know what this means, Percy? I won't be in New York. I won't go to school here. I won't see any of my friends. I won't see Thalia, I won't see you. We won't be together. We won't meet. We won't have sleepovers. We won't talk. We won't share secrets, we won't have fun anymore. We-"

"Shh, Annabeth," Percy said. "It's okay. We can still talk over the phone, or IM or something. We can still share secrets and have fun this way. We can visit each other. And then, think of all the good things you've said yourself. How much fun you'll have there. And you can always make new friends and we'll always be in touch. I'll always be there for you, Annabeth." He gave her a warm hug.

He'd comforted her, been strong for her sake, not letting her know that he'd felt the same way. That their lives wouldn't be the same anymore. He wanted her to feel better, though, to feel that it was okay to go. It didn't matter that his words were hollow. That he couldn't be there for her always, however hard he tried. They both knew that, but didn't mention it.

"Really?" Annabeth said.

"Yes," he replied. "Always."

And then, as if on impulse, he'd kissed her. It was not a real kiss, just a soft touching of their lips, but it made both of their hearts beat faster. Electric current flowed through them. They stayed that way for ages, feeling the warmth of each other's bodies. It could've been seconds, minutes, or hours, they didn't know. When they finally pulled apart, they seemed to realize what had happened, then blushed, and generally felt awkward.

They both returned to their sleeping bags after that, and though they never mentioned it, both of them were lying awake, thinking about THE kiss. It had been their first kiss, for both of them, even if it wasn't a real one.

End of Flashback

They pulled back, blushing. There was an awful lot of that going on lately. Neither said anything, but Percy was wondering whether he should have kissed Annabeth anyway, while Annabeth was wondering what she would have done had he kissed her. Then she remembered Luke asking her out, being so sweet. It made her feel guilty for no apparent reason. She also remembered Thalia.

"I should talk to Thalia, right?" she murmured to Percy.

He simply said, "Yes."

"I'll call her tomorrow morning," she decided, "when both of us are less angry." Of course, Thalia would be angry at her for not listening to explanations. She knew Thalia well enough to know that.

"Sure," Percy agreed, "for now, though, we should go to the party. Your mother has to take you home."

She sighed, and they set back towards the stupid party, holding hands, though neither realized it.

A/N: The ALMOST kiss.. I just love it! haha.. sSo now, Luke ask Annabeth out, she hasn't replied yet, Thalia likes Luke..Percabeth almost kiss..Percabeth's first kiss(no way I'm messing with that!) can it get any more complicated..YES! How? Read and REVIEW! Or maybe I'll change my mind and make it PercyxThalia or LukexAnnabeth! *kidding* Btw, should I add other couples, like Jasper or Jayna? What about Thalico? That could work, too!

So, its pretty long, but just so you know, school's started so I won't update as frequently.. maybe once a week or something. Also check out my other story 'The Strange Quest'.