New chapter my fudge popsicles.

I love reading your guys' comments their awesome! Reply to something I saw: Yes, I know Tom Daley's a diver not a swimmer, as well as one of the sexiest things to walk this earth. But I pictured Percy to be like eighteenish (lyk TD) not 28 like Ryan Lochte is.

And this is a character story, so I'm just using the characters no matter if they're alive or dead. There is also no demigods, just links between the characters, and I changed some ages to make it fit. Other than that I tried to keep it as close as possible to the books that we all know and love.

Now that that's all cleared up read and comment!


**Since its been a while since the previous chapter here's a quick synopsis of the last chapter-if you've just read CH. 6 then skip this : )**

Annabeth POV

I drummed my fingers against the bathroom door, clenching my iPhone impatiently. Pick up, pick up, please pick up.

Finally Silena answered. "Hey Annabeth, what's up?"

I got right to the point. "I can't do the movie. Silena, you need to get me out of here."

I heard a huge sigh on the other end. "Annabeth, we've talked about this. You signed the contract—"

"Not before I knew I'd be doing it with Percy!" I interrupted.

"Moot point. You're doing this movie. Give it another chance."

"No!"

I heard impatient tapping and then—"Fine."

"What?" I asked. Had she really agreed that quickly?

"I'll talk to Mr. D, but one thing—promise you'll give the movie one more chance. If in two weeks you still can't stand it, I'll get you out of there. Take it or leave it."

"Deal." I was already imagining being away from the resort.


Chapter Seven

A Bit of Faking

Annabeth POV

When I went back inside Percy was back, texting on his phone. I remembered Silena's instructions and placed a big grin on my face. "Hey, who're you texting?"

He looked up in surprise. "Um, Nic."

"Who?"

"Nico di Angelo." He answered.

"I remember Thalia mentioning something about him," I offered. Finally. Some conversation we're trying not to rip each other's throat out.

"Really?" he said, an impish grin curving up his mouth. Then he resumed texting with more ferocity, chuckling about something.

I showered and changed into pajamas. Percy was in his boxers, facing away from the wall and humming something. I didn't question it, I just went to sleep.


Percy POV

~the next morning~

Pounding filled my head. I opened my eyes to see the Royal Palm I door shaking.

"Make it stop." I pulled a pillow over my face. Annabeth huffed.

"Go away," she called at the mysterious visitor.

There was some shuffling and clicking, then the door popped open. A familiar voice and smell wafted in.

"Wake up, guys! I have breakfast and news!"

Silena beamed, looking perfectly put-together as usual. Somehow managing to balance a cardboard tray of hot chocolates and a Krispy Kreme box in one hand, she slid her slightly bent bobby pin back into her smooth ponytail.

"Wake up!" Silena repeated. "Which do you want first, breakfast or news?"

"Breakfast," I said immediately, reaching for the donuts. Annabeth continued to look curiously at Silena. "Since when did you know how to pick a lock?"

"Since I dated Travis Stoll," she answered, taking a long sip of hot chocolate. I was halfway through a rainbow-sprinkled donut when Annabeth spoke.

"So what's the news? It better be good, it's like six in the morning."

"Oh, you won't find this boring." Silena smiled evilly, and I felt something clench in my stomach. "You two are dating!"

I choked on my donut, making a really weird hiccupping sound. Silena pounded my back a few times.

"We've been over this, Silena! Percy and I aren't dating!" Annabeth said firmly. I started to agree with her when Silena interrupted.

"Obviously, but that's what we want the media to think. We need you two to promote Message in a Bottle."

"No! Absolutely not! I—" Annabeth was cut off.

"Oh c'mon, Annabeth," Silena snapped. "Lots of movie couples do this to promote their movies. Miley and Liam, Demi and Joe—some of them have even ended up married!"

"Married?" Annabeth and I said together. "We are not getting married!"

Silena clapped her hands together. "Just like that! You guys are like a couple already!"

"Wait!" I held up my hands. "You can't just make us—"

"I've already arranged for you to see Titanic in 3D. Then you'll have a picnic in the park a couple blocks away. Lunch and a movie. It'll also give the media lots of time to get lovey-dovey shots of you." Silena plowed on, ignoring me. "And make sure it looks believable. Start getting dressed. Take my car to the Century 23. It has GPS, you should be able to find the park. I've also anonymously dropped a hint to the paps that you'll be out today, so expect lots of publicity."

I struggled to make sense of what she was saying. Silena tapped at her tablet. "I think that's all. Oh, here's your tickets and stuff for the picnic." She dropped a basket and an envelope on the duvet. "Have a nice date!" she smiled, before slipping out.


"What. The. Fuck." I stared at the door.

Annabeth seemed to be having some internal struggle. Suddenly her face morphed into something I recognized—grim unwilling agreement. She got up and started rifling around her closet.

"What are you doing?" I asked, bewildered.

"You heard Silena. Get changed." she answered, not looking at me.

"What? You're not actually going through with this?"

"I hate it as much as you do, Percy. More than you do." She turned on me, gray eyes blazing. "But I'm not losing this movie because some stuck-up swimmer decided to bail on me."

"O-kay." I held up my hands. "Don't blow something."

She disappeared into the bathroom.

Forty minutes later I was all dressed and flipping Silena's keys around on my finger. What was it about females that made them take so much time getting ready? I paced around, tossing the keys up and down, and then went over to hammer on the door.

"Stop curling your hair and just—" I didn't finish before the door flew open. Annabeth stood there, glaring at me. She was wearing an off-white tee and black short shorts. The shirt said Drama Queen in glittery blue lettering.

"That shirt is extremely accurate," I said, glancing down on it.

Annabeth just brushed past and grabbed the tickets and stuff, shoving her wallet and phone in her pocket. I followed.

We walked in silence through the resort. We were only stopped once, by an overexcited pool cleaner who desperately needed a signed autograph from Annabeth. We reached the car parking and I beeped the keys. A blue Mercedes responded and I got into the driver's side. Annabeth slipped in silently and I pulled out of the resort.

"You know," I said, as I managed to wedge Mercedes in a spot barely big enough for it beside the Century, "you might wanna ease up on the tension, just in case some of the paps catch you trying to kill me. Just so you know."

"Oh I know. Just don't take it too seriously." Before I could figure out what she meant our car was parked and we were being swarmed by cams.

I pushed open the drivers-side door and was greeted with blinding flashbulbs. Reporters on all sides were jostling and pushing, shoving questions at me.

"Percy is it true that you were on steroids for the Olympics?"

"What do you have to say about your relationship with Ms. Chase? Is it authentic?"

"Are you only dating Annabeth for publicity?"

I managed to wiggle my way out and make my way over to Annabeth, who was also fending off questions of her own.

"Ms. Chase Teen Weekly readers are very interested in Percabeth. Are you just doing it for fame?"

"Your last movie wasn't as successful as the others. Are you worried it's all just going downhill?"

"Is Percabeth still going strong?"

I was getting seriously annoyed by all the questions. Annabeth, however, was more patient, probably because she was so used to it. She slipped her arm around my waist and beamed, leaning into me. I was startled but remembered her words—"Just don't take it too seriously." I managed to paste a smile on my face and reluctantly put an arm around Annabeth's shoulders.

"Yeah, Percabeth is real. Percy's a good guy," she told one overexcited pap, who eagerly jotted down something. I never thought I'd hear her say that. Even if it was fake.

I decided to have a little fun with this. "She's my one and only. Don't know what I'd do without her." Barely keeping my smirk in control, I kissed her cheek.

I could feel her squirm under my arm and steered her toward the theater, surrounded by an armada of cameras.

"We've heard rumors of fights between you two. Do you think you'll be split up by the pressures of fame?"

Before Annabeth could answer I said, "Oh no. I'm confident we'll be together for a very long time. Right, babe?"

Annabeth shot me a look that said I'm going to cut you slowly to pieces and feed you to dogs, her cheeks turning red with anger. But the lady just mistook it as blushing and grinned.

"Right, babe?" I repeated.

"Oh…of course!" she chirped, fake happiness in her voice.

Now it was Annabeth who was in a hurry to get away from the paparazzi. She dragged me toward the entrance of the theater. I purposely dragged my feet. "Wait, honey, don't you want to answer the questions?"

"I hate you so much, Percy, I'm not even joking." Annabeth hissed into my ear as the starstruck snack guy busied himself with getting our popcorn.

"I know, babe. Oh, and a box of M&Ms." I pointed at the display counter and the guy nodded.

I scooped up our stuff and headed to the ticket counter. "Two for Titanic 3D."

"Percy if you ever do anything like that again—" Annabeth stopped and smiled brightly. I had to hand it to her; she really did look like she wanted to be in the dark with me for three hours and fifteen minutes.

The girl nodded and scanned our tickets and pointed us to Theater 7. I found a seat and started on the popcorn.

"That was the single most humiliating experience of my life," I heard Annabeth mutter as she sipped her soda.

I just smirked.


Annabeth POV

I slipped the 3D glasses up onto my hair and checked the time discreetly on my phone. Okay, I know. No phones in a theater. But I really needed to check how much longer the movie was.

Titanic is the longest movie ever. It felt even longer than usual to me because the single most annoying person in the world was seated right next to me, chewing loudly on popcorn.

I texted Silena, trying to hide the glowing white screen.

Why did u have to pick Titanic? It's already been 2 hrs and it's not even halfway done!

I looked around. Everyone else was still engrossed in the movie and no one was giving me the finger. I turned down the sound and checked her reply.

: )

She'd done it on purpose. Seething, I started to type back but the person behind me leaned forward and hissed, "What are you doing? Turn off that phone!"

"Sorry," I muttered, shoving it back in my pocket.

I tried to enjoy the movie, I really did. But all I could think about was the torturous walk through the paps earlier. "Percy's a good guy…" My acting teacher must've been really good.

I still managed to cry, though, when I saw Jack die in 3D. Seriously. That is the single most heartbreaking thing ever. I'm not completely heartless.

Several hours too late, the lights came back on. I immediately got up and collected the trash. Percy and I exited the theater and were about to head to the car when I felt his arm sling around my shoulders. I started to shrug it off before spotting the man with his oversize camera.

"Be cool, Annabeth." Percy whispered. We walked to the Mercedes and I let out a huge sigh.

"Don't be too excited." Percy grinned wickedly. "We still have the picnic."

I inwardly groaned. Damn. I'd forgotten about that.

Percy drove the car through the busy streets of L.A, following the directions on the GPS. He stopped Silena's car beside a small park with a playground and a fountain spraying water in the center.

I got out and grabbed the basket, but we didn't get two feet before I heard someone behind us.

"Oh my god, like is that Percy Jackson?"

We turned. A group of girls ran toward us, shrieking and giggling. They all looked cut from the same cloth—microminis, see-through tops, heavy makeup and lots of perfume.

"I love you!" One of the girls screamed, and they surrounded Percy, asking him to do things I never wanted to hear again.

Then the tallest, thinnest, most heavily made-up girl came sauntering toward me, smiling a big fake lipsticked masterpiece with death in her eyes.

"You're such a golddigging hoe. Percy Jackson doesn't deserve a slutty bitch like you. Go crawl back to hell," she hissed at me, not bothering to hide her contempt.

I was stunned. First the fake date, now this. Her friends were coming over, laughing cruelly at what their leader had just said. I opened my mouth to reply before Percy materialized beside me. I groaned inwardly. Why did he always have to appear when I least wanted him there?

"Back off my girlfriend." Percy's voice was low. I was too stunned by what he said to react. He continued, "She hasn't done anything to deserve insults like that. Why don't you just go and walk the fuck away from us?"

I just stood there, my expression mirroring the shocked ones of the slags though for a totally different reason. Had Percy Jackson just stood up for me? That's something to go in the Guinness Book of World Records.

"Okay, god." The leader got her mouth back and stalked away, nearly tripping on a rock in the sidewalk with her seven-inch heels.

Percy turned to me. "You okay?"

"I—um, yeah," I managed to say. He turned and walked over to the tree in the center of the park. I stumbled after him, my mind spinning. What had just happened?


Hahahaha cliffhangers.

R&R!