A/N- CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST!
Okay! Simple rules to be eligible, 1. You must have done one of these a. submit a review, b. become a fovoriter (?), or c. put me on story alert. (hey!I gotta get sumthing out of this too!) and 2. Go look at this picture ./_1Xc65z_hfig/S8TWsO7PfLI/AAAAAAAAAVY/wp8iVB3_jj8/s1600/firous-+candice-+yankees+ (if it doesn't appear here, it will also be linked on my profile) and then 3. Inbox me with what it is and you will get a sneak peek of the next chapter! YAY! Okay, so heres why I want you to go look. The girl I picked for Annabeth (Candice Swanepoel) was like perfecto! And then I saw this picture and I was like, whoa she really is perfect because it fits with the book character and I didn't even know. I thought it was pretty cool that the original girl I picked also turned out to have this picture out! Sooo there will be A LOT of drama next chapter, not a lot here, but still review and favorite and read! Note to reviewers at the bottom!
ALSO FOR THE CONTEST DO NOT (!) PUT WHATS IN THE PICTURES IN THE REVIEWS BECAUSE THEN EVERYONE WILL KNOW AND THAT WOULD RUIN THE FUN LOLLOVE YOU GUYS!
I stepped out barely with my right leg and began performing tiny jumps upon it as my left curved mechanically around my back, my arms stretching gracefully above my head. My left and outstretched leg came down below my body and then back up again to its former position as my arms did the same. I stepped down from this uncomfortable position and the hoisted myself up onto my right leg to perform this same action. This continued twice more until I allowed both feet, en pointe, to touch the floor once again.
My arms came in and out in tiny sweeping motions as my feet did the same, one coming out in front of the other only to switch position in a matter of seconds, this carried me a couple of feet across the large dance room. I took my right leg out from under me, extending it forward letting the rest of my body stay behind, at the point of my toes met with the harsh floor the rest of my body caught up again. As soon as both pointed feet met the floor, the teeter in and out of each other carrying me far away from my first location.
I put my right leg in front of my left and bent forward as though I was just hanging, helpless yet strong, in the middle of the air. I quickly brought my right foot out behind me, jumping sharply on my left, carrying myself back a few steps. My arms were extended in both directions as my feet hopped in and out of one another. I brought my left out behind me again, but it only hung in the air for a second before I brought it down. I perched myself upon it as my right leg was brought out, midair as I performed miniscule jumps on my left, forcing myself back to where I had begun.
My feet began their sweet sweeping motion once again and then my left leg swung carefully behind me, but I didn't let it remain there, I brought it back down again and raised my right, copying my previous actions, moving backwards with slight leaps, only now I was not en pointe. I extended an arm below me as though I was flee-ing some imaginary object, my right leg extending above my head from behind me. Both of my legs flung out in front of trying to gain distance in front of the other one. My left leg protruded in front of me as my right catapulted me into a spiraling leap, I twirled only once before I landed, my whole body eager for another taste of that jump. I preformed it again, landing en pointe with my arms in a high V.
"What'd you think?" I asked, my eyes still shrouded in blackness….silence. I let my eyes shoot open when they were greeted with the sight of Percy. His hands were gripping at the rounded sides of a small bowl of plump purple grapes. He gently tossed one in the air above his head and caught it with perfect precision in his mouth. He lazily pushed himself to sit straight as he chewed nervously. "Well…?" I asked again, now just as nervous as he seemed to be. He swallowed his grape, and opened his mouth to speak when his hand hand came out of no where launching another grape into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes at his immaturity before reaching for my water bottle,clutching it, I lifted it until it was only a few inches from my mouth. I squeezed at the center allowing the icy cold water to squirt into my mouth and flow down my dry throat, like an icy waterfall of solice. "I didn't like it." Percy spoke bravely as I almost spit up water.
"What?" I managed to cough out in shock and partial sadness as my water somehow stayed down. Percy looked more scared then ever while I stared into his widened sea green orbs.
"Well, I mean don't get me worng it was skilled and precise, but it lacked…feeling. You know?" He asked me cautiosly.
"No, no I don't know, I can't just re-do it, I only have like 5 months left to clean this and perfect it-" I said defensively.
"Annabeth, it doesn't need to be 'cleaned' or 'perfected', it's already mechanically amazing, it's just that you're like some sort of dancing robot." He told me, trying not to be too offensive even though his words cut me like a knife, clean , cold, sharp.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, grabbing a towel from my dance bag and wrapping around my neck, looking at him expectantly.
"I don't't know, it's just like something changed, when I saw you dancing a couple of days ago and at the beach, it was like you could FEEL something and you could make me…people feel what you were feeling, but now, it's different" he told me looking into my eyes, into me. I wrinkled my eyes and nose in uncomfortable sadness, looking down at the ground wondering what to do know, when my thoughts were interrupted.
"Grape?" Percy asked me, smiling cheekily and holding a tiny purple grape between two fingers, though it was obvious he was trying to make up for what had just happened. I looked up at him as if to say yes as he tossed the gre to me, I bent my body over positioning my mouth under the grape, catching it easily in my mouth. "He shoots, he scores!" Percy yelled with excitement.
"Whatever!" I began, walking towards him to take a seat next to his," That was all me!" I told him, chuckling as I grabbed another grape out of the bowl that was resting on his lap. Going back to square one.
SKIP THIS LINE BECAUSS FAN FICTION .COM ALWAYS DELETES MY SEPERATION LINES AND IT SUCKS
History, Chemistry, Latin, English, Health, Speech; I made a mental note as I quickly ran my finger across the short line of books in my locker. I quickly tapped the last as though I was a mother tapping her youngest child on the nose I smiled, grabbing my history book and throwing my locker shut. I turned when my face nearly met with that of a tall and muscular blonde boy. His hair was gelled and pushed lazily around his head, so you could tell he tried, but not really. His eyes were a faint blue, they were perched handsomely above his dagger like nose. He had an almost tired face, but it wasn't in any way un attractive "Hey." He said, looking straight at me form a semi uncomfortable distance.
"Hi…?" I spoke as though that one word were a question.
"What do you mean 'Hi…?'" he asked laughing just a little.
"I mean, and I'll try to put this as politely as possible, who are you?" I asked him, fidgeting with embarrassment.
"tisk tisk, I can't believe you don't remember me," the boy began as he walked around me and to the other side of me and my locker, "I remember you, Annabeth Chase, the first girl to actually play football with the guys at our annual bonfire. Truly, truly brave."
"That would be me," I told him "but I still don't know who you are."
"I'm Luke…Castellan, " He told me with subtle hint of 'you should know who I am', but I tried to ignore that. He looked up at the clock and then back at me. "I'll see you around, Annabeth."
"Later..Luke" I added quirkily as he walked away.
"Oh right," he began again, turning partially to look at me "I got this for you." Luke told me as he tossed me a fluffy football plushy, he smiled as I looked down at the stuffed football now residing in my hand and chuckled. I watched his blue letterman jacket sway along with his body until I could no longer see him in the crowd of students, when I turned to put my new 'toy' in my locker, I was greeted with the stares of two very skeptical teenagers.
I walked over to where Grover and Nico were watching with two very displeased expressions on their faces, I knew Grover's was from what had just happened, but I wasn't too sure about Nico, he always looked this way. "What was that about?" I asked them, motioning towards my locker and trying to make conversation.
"I don't know," Nico began, "Luke and Perce are pretty close, he should know not to hit on his girl."
"Oh… Luke likes Rachel huh?" I asked raising my eyebrows at the idea.
Grover chuckled and lightly hit my shoulder, "Not exactly." He told me looking at me as though I should have picked up on something. I turned skillfully to watch them walk away, shaking my head, as Percy began walking to me in the hallway that was now nearly empty.
"Hey there dancer boy." I joked lightly punching his arm and showing him a bright smile.
"You can't call me that forever you know?" Percy said, looking down on my smiling face, as we began walking to class together.
"And why not dancer boy?" I asked trying to get that nickname in as many times as possible before Percy asks me to stop.
"What would you think of me joining the swim team?" He asked me out of no where.
"Well, other than the fact that we'd all miss you at SAB and that I would have to expend a lot of energy to find a new nickname for you, why not? If it makes you happy, go for it." I told him, looking straight ahead, by now we were adjacent to the door of World History. He looked at me, surprised as I threw him a puzzled look.
Percy looked up at the classroom quickly, "You go ahead of me, I think I dropped something." I shook my head, taking a quick look at the elongated hallway, nothing was on the floor yet Percy still insisted that I enter ahead of him. I went in and took my usual seat at the front of the classroom, expeditiously shoving the tiny stuffed football into my backpack.
Percy came in minutes after the bell had rung and Mr. Berkley had already begun todays lesson. "Sorry I'm late." He said as he continued to his desk.
"Find what you were looking for?" I asked him as he passed my desk, but he did the thing I least expected, he kept walking. I looked at him, his face filled with remorse for what he just did, but his eyes remained fixated on the back of the room and his seat behind Rachel.
Percy P.O.V.
I felt bad, really bad, EXTREMELY bad. I looked down at my notebook, tapping the back of my pen on the blank page, waiting for the sweet release of the bell. It was only seconds before I received it. I waited for Rachel to leave before approaching Annabeth, I already had something deeply apologetic prepared, but Annabeth kinda screwed those plans over.
"What the hell was that?" She asked me in a firm tone. I was completely frozen, silence came over our conversation. "You didn't tell her that we're friends, did you?" She asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence, though the only thing I could focus on was the word friends. Whether it was negative or positive I didn't know.
"Not in so many words…not in any words, actually." I breathed out, mumbling the last part though I'm sure Annabeth heard me. She rolled her eyes, grabbing her two bags and walking away,
"I guess I'll see you tonight." She told me as she began to leave. I glanced at her backpack, the front pocket was hanging open when something floated to the floor, like I was meant to see it. What was it exactly? A tiny fluffy football plushy… Oh God, I cringed just saying those words.
SEPERATION LINE, SKIP THIS LINE, BECAUSE FAN FICTION DELETES THE LINES I PUT DOWN ALL THE TIME
"So, you ready to cash in that promise you made me the other day?"I asked Rachel as we walked through the opening of the school.
"Of course!" She responded, "Anything you want, on me." She told me, looking straight ahead instead of at me.
"Well, I'd like to trade that for you not being mad at me for what I'm about to tell you." I told her, hoping she wouldn't be so mad about the Annabeth thing, but something else came out instead. "Swim team… I want to try out for the swim team. Thoughts?" I said almost inaudibly. Rachel flung me a concerned look and quickly took a seat on one of the benches outside of our school.
"Well, I would say no, I mean you already have football to worry about and swimming starts after that right? So, if you're on football and practicing for swimming it would eat up your time and skills and I , as the head cheerleader, can't be dating an unskilled football player. I can see why you'd think I'd be mad though, I mean how could you do this to me?" To her I thought…to her? Somehow she finds a way to make everything about her, everything. I just smiled at her and waved off the idea. "Well, glad that's over," she began as a couple of girls began calling her name, "I'll see you later." She finished, kissing my cheeks and running in their direction.
I softly touched the football toy in my hand and I knew who it was from, but why would Annabeth have it? Why would Annabeth have ANYTHING from Luke much less THIS?
"Annabeth? Annabeth?" I called out into the empty dance studio, I opened the door to see Annabeth emerge from the corner in a bright blue and gold sparkling Arabian garment. It was stunning, the shirt topped just under her…chest, and was embroidered with gold beads, the sleeves were loose and hanging off of her slender arms. Her ocean colored harem pants continued to the floor where they slightly bound her ankles.
"What?" she asked slightly concerned as she brought me out of a state of shock.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Me first." She began "did you tell Rachel?" she asked me, raisin one thin blonde eyebrow.
"Yes," I lied, "Now me, where'd you get this?" I asked her, holding up the soft football. Her eyes widened as she came over to me and grabbed it out of my hand, smiling when she looked at it.
"Nunya." She said "and good! I want to be friends, NOT just in secret" she smiled as she threw the little football in her dance bag and walked over to the radio, I assumed she prepared another dance for me to judge.
"Annabeth, I really want to know, I mean I think I-" but Annabeth had already started the music.
Annabeth shrouded her face behind her hand as she ran almost across the dance room, her arms then burst out to her side as she spun interchanging on which foot she applied pressure. Her arms then returned to their shy, shrouding position as she ran to the other side of the room again. She spun once on the points of her feet, moving her snake like arms melodically out to her side, moving her pink fabric clad feet in and out of each other.
Her right leg came out, she bent it then let it straighten out again as the other lagged behind her, she dragged it across the floor eventually bringing it out in front of her firmly, the points of her fingers tapping the point of her arched foot. The other leg mimicked this action as the other reached the ground, her face turned in my direction though her eyes were closed.
When her foot reached the floor it was as though her feet began to race, one always behind the other in a constant struggle to gain first place as her arms bent over her head. She turned forward, bring her arms down and around her face as though she was paving the way for what she was about to do, she mimicked her striding action, moving towards the other side of the room now. When she stopped, she turned and cast her arched arms above her head, as she walked her legs were brought up to about her chest quickly as though she had some sort of supernatural control of over them.
She did this twice, in both directions when she stopped. She bagan bouncing, extending one leg out in front of her , touching it quickly, before leaning back and gently tapping the other in a see-saw like motion. Her legs crossed over eachother, turning, as though Annabeth was unfolding her body, this occurred twice, before she executed a beautiful standing leap, going straight into another series of turns.
She fluidly brought one leg off of the ground, followed by the opposite leg, this motion collaborated into a dynamic leap, executed perfectly, twice. She lept again, her front leg was perfectly straight as the back curved sharply upward. Once she landed she began to move her feet in and out of each other, her thin arms moving melodically around her as if carrying her off to a distant place, this carried her in circles around the room. She finally came to the center of the room, facing the mirror head on.
She pushed herself gently off of the ground, one leg curved beneath her and the other curved behind her head, she landed percectly, twisting her body en pointe. She pranced in around in an almost semi circle, reaching the middle once again. She raised her arms into a high V shape and brought herself up onto the points of her feet performing the same leap again, prancing once again. She began scuttling her feet together as her arms moved in a random yet structured way around her head.
She began prancing once again in miniscule circles, raising her left leg above her midsection as she grazed her thigh with her fragile hand. She gently placed her left leg back beneath her and raised her right leg behind her grabbing, quickly, the tip of her feet. She brought that pointed foot around to the front of her body, extending the curved leg and making it straight, clutching it and raising it over her head, tilting her chin up confidently.
She let it fall beneath her as she began tracing circles around herself with her feet, she paused, bending right leg in a little bit then slowly letting it spread out beneath her into a perfect split, no strain or concern. She traced her leg with her hand as her back leg came up to gently tap her head, her whole body arched forward as her head leaned back to touch her foot. She leaned forward for mere seconds as her legs twirled together on the floor, rolling her body around.
She stood upon her knees, arms gracefully pulled above her. Her upper body came down to the floor, as her hands, almost like claws, were pulling her forward on the ground towards the mirror in what looked like two Annabeths pulling themselves toward each other. She lay, face down on the ground as she extended her right leg over her head. Annabeth's lower body rested on the floor while her upper was supported by her elbows, her face was thrown back in an almost lustful way, her eyes closed (as usual) as her left foot was brought up and over her head, just dangling there in empty space.
She opened her eyes and bit her lip, looking up at me expectantly as she brought herself out of that awkward position. I knew the question she wanted to ask me and the way she wanted me to answer, but there was only one thing on my mind. "So, why'd Luke give that to you?" I asked pointing to the ball at the top of her dance bag.
"How'd you know?" She asked me, shocked.
"Luke gives these to A LOT of girls, mostly girls he wants to hook up with, just because he's a big football star, so I just wanted to know." I told her, as she looked down. Surprised and hurt by what I had just said
"A lot of girls?" she asked me, which hurt me too, why did she care? She gulped and the loud noise overtook the hit her face and put on a smile. "So, what'd you think?"
"Do you want me to be honest?" I asked her, wrinkling my nose and fearing to offend her.
"Nope, lie to meh dancer boy…if I can still call you that!" She samiled as she sat down on the floor in front of me.
"I didn't like that one either-" I began before I was interrupted.
"Well, I didn't exactly have a long time to prepare it." Annabeth began before I started to talk again.
"No, that's not it. Again, it's mechanically perfect, its different, it shows great variety, but it lacks feeling, like you're some sort of dancing-"
"Robot! Ya, I get it, you don't understand how incredibly offensive that is!" Annabeth began, shit, this was far from over. "I don't know what's changed, I LOVE ballet. I eat it, drink it, sleep it, breathe it, hear it, feel it, see it, its EVERYTHING to me. I don't understand what's happening, it's like ever since the whole beach thing, something isn't the same. Like, something isn't adequate anymore, like, hearing that music, it just spoke to something inside of me and that's what classical music used to do to me and now it doesn't do it anymore."
"No, I- I get it. You like 'Normal' music. Why don't you just dance to that then?"
"My mom would get really offended and think I'm becoming just a 'normal' teenager, I can't."
"Well, from what I've seen, dancing like this isn't going to cut it anymore, you can't just be all mechanical, you need to feel it. If you're competing against 20 year olds to get a spot in the NYCB, you can't just be amazing, you have to have a passion too and maybe that comes from you're music." Annabeth opened her mouth to protest, but I wouldn't let her. "Here!" I said, taking my Ipod out of my pocket, and throwing it to her, she caught it hesitantly and looked at it, then back up at me.
"What is this?" She asked me as she fidgeted with it.
"You don't know what an Ipod is?" I asked her in utter shock.
"I'm not completely retarded when it comes to modern technology, I know what an Ipod is I've just never really seen one." My eyes widened as she tried to turn what was to her a foreign contraption on. I chuckled and walked over to her, pressing the power button lightly, as it was still in her hand. Our fingers connected lightly, as she smiled up at me and I looked down at her before moving my finger away. "Thanks" she began as I took it out of her hand and plugged it into the stereo in the dance room and taught her how to use it.
Annabeth P.O.V.
"So, you're good right?" Percy asked me as I awkwardly stared into his sea green eyes, feeling breathless, though wasn't sure if it was because of him or my dance.
"uh.. Yeah, I think I can manage from here." I laughed out as Percy began leaving the room. "Hey Percy!" I exclaimed as he turned in my direction again "Thanks again."
"For what?" Percy asked.
"Everythng." I told him as I smiled at him, letting him leave after that. I went over to the ipod curiously and began searching through all of the music he had. I blasted random songs through the empty room, feeling something inside of me shift for the first time since Montauk. I heard the music pulcing through my ears, through my veins and I just started to move.
A/N- Okay! DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CONTEST!
Reviewer notes-
Amazing-Anna'beth'1 – THANK YOU SOO MUCH!I thought it was cute too lol I just felt like Percy wasn't showing that he liked her enough, thanks so much for reviewing.
Rawr Ashley Rae –Thanks! I hope you keep reading! Ps. Rawr is dinosaur for I love you.
ChildrenOfTheGreatGods- you have no idea how much that means to me! Thank you soo much! No, :( I'm not a dancer, well I mean not a good one lol I took jazz for 5 years and recently started hip hop(yes, me, the whitest girl on the planet does hip hop!), and modern! I don't do ballet.
Musafreen –Thank you! I know Rachel would, and that's what I love about her in the books, but I had to change her for the story, which sucks, so I'm sorry!
Skywriter5-thankyou! Those seriously take forever to write so I'm glad to hear someone say that!
Wisegirl-Seaweedbrain – 11 years? That is amazing! I so wish I had done that, I swear you and braveryx11 are going to be dancing professionally one day! I'm not a dancer, well not a ballet dancer, I do jazz, hip hop(yes, me, the whitest girl on the planet does hip hop!), and modern!
C-Nuggets N.L – hahaha! Yes you do! Oh look you see it again! Lol ur reviews make me laugh, thank you soo much! Yes, you are an awesome fan!
braveryx11 – thanks for the love! I hope you have great success with your story and I will for sure read it! Thank you so much and keep dancing! Thank you again for commenting on the dance scenes they take a loooong time to write!
MelRose5200- thank you for reading and loving! Lol I will for sure start picking ppl out, I won't be surprised if you're one of them.
Angel's Detective- haha I totally could just make things up, but no I do dance just not ballet, I did jazz and just started hip hop (which is pretty funny to watch me doing because I'm this tiny little white girl with no mph!) and I just started modern! Thank you sooo much for reviewing they are rlly appreciated!
WiseGirl393- no problem! Thank you so much for reviewing!
xoxo SamuraiGirl – No problem! I love answering reviews, it seriously is my favorite part of writing on this website!I remember telling myself that if I was a celebrity I would always write my fans and make them feel included so since I'm not a celebrity I still feel as though I should honor that promise! Oh and believe me I will not end it abruptly I have HUGE plans for this I'll even drop a little teaser, one character dies! THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING! Oh and writers block, I cant avoid it lol writers block like hunts me down! (this chapter being an example) but usually just making outlines helps me to keep everything in check.
jahfreenalam – I cannot believe you reviewed on all three chapters…IN A ROW! Thank you soo much! I really appreciate that!
Buzzlessbee- thank you soo much for the compliment, that made my day! I love ur username, I gave a speech on how bees fly one time! Lol and I'm glad you like both because I think I'
storyteller1425- THANK YOU SOO MUCH! U have no idea, ur revews make me want to scream with joy! I love them and I soo look forward to reading them every story! Oh ya! And lots of fluff! I looove it! It's so cuteeee, sometimes I feel like I might die of cuteness poisoning, Prachel! Ewwww that's not even an attractive couple name, like bebomez! I'm glad you don't like them, I don't either! I sooo love your reviews anyway and haha ya! I guess I review pretty fast until I get writers block then its like ughhhh
summergirl881 Haha what you suggested gave me some new ideas and is actually pretty close to what happens! I love that holy zeus thing! I like Percy's pov too, but idk if I'm a believable boy!(which I guess is good, because I'm a girl) thank you so much for everything! Reviewing ,complimenting, everything!