Disclaimer: I am a middle school fangirl, not Rick Riordan. Dang you, universe! *shakes fist at sky*

Rating: T

This prompt came from Athenachild101! Thank you, Athenachild101!

Easy Road

My foot tapped impatiently on the ground.

"Explanations," I said, glaring at the three boys coated in whipped cream in front of me. "Now." They all looked sheepishly at their feet. Under different circumstances, it might've even been funny, but I was just pissed off right now. "I'm waiting," I sang, looking up at the sky. "If you all want to live to see tomorrow, I suggest that you start talking. Very, very soon." My arms were crossed over my stomach. It was twelve o' clock at Camp Half-Blood. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and, if this wasn't targeted at me, it might've been funny. The problem was, it was just irritating, which left me irritated, which, as most of camp should know by now, was a very, very bad idea. On the whole, it was most definitely not a good day.

Three boys stood in front of me, right by the door to the Athena cabin. Moments before, I had opened up the door to find three boys soaked in something that was either whipped cream or shaving cream. As far as I could tell, the three boys were Travis and Connor Stoll- and, of course, Percy. I glared at my friend. Though I didn't expect much from Travis and Connor- nobody did, as long as they were sane- I had expected better from Percy. Though, of course, according to Silena, that was normal of a girl who had a crush on a boy. You started seeing the best in the boy. Percy was, however, severely trying my patience.

Travis cleared his throat sheepishly. "Well, it's April first."

I stared at him. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. That is the explanation I get? 'It's April first'? Was I born yesterday? I know the date, you obstinate imbecile! I'm going to need a bit more than the sodding date if you want to leave this porch alive!" Behind me, I knew that Athena campers were watching and snickering at the spectacle. The amusement had not yet spread to me, however.

"What does imbecile mean?" Connor whispered to Travis, who just shrugged. I threw up my hands, barely resisting the impulse to bang my head against the wooden planks. This was frustrating. It was before nine o' clock in the morning, which meant that I was a very, very cranky person. The term 'morning person' meant nothing to me. At this time of day, I was more likely to say, 'I hate morning people. And mornings, and people.'

"Never mind that!" I said, gritting my teeth together. "Just tell me what the hell you're all doing on my porch at eight forty-five am, coated in whipped cream. On April first," I added, at Travis's raised finger. He sheepishly lowered it back down. I jutted out my jaw. "Well? I'm waiting, for about the billionth time!"

"Somebody likes their hyperboles," my brother Malcolm said behind me, sniggering. The Athena cabin joined in on the joke, and though I was loathe to do so, I whirled on them, clenching my fists at my sides.

"Shut it, Malcolm, before I shove it, 'kay?" I growled. The tall, glasses-clad, sandy-haired boy nodded frantically, backing off. My other siblings guffawed at him. "You too!" I said. I turned to face the boys. "Now, for the last time, I'm going to ask what happened. If you don't answer me, there will be extraordinarily bad consequences. Are we clear?"

Connor shuffled, and Percy remained conspicuously silent. I kept my eyes carefully trained on Connor. I had gotten lots of practice over the two years that I had developed my enormous crush on Percy. All it took was determination and sheer willpower. I didn't look him in the eyes whenever I could. He was falling for Miss I'm-So-Rich-And-Beautiful Rachel Elizabeth Dare, not me. I focused my attention back on Conner. Keep your thoughts focused, Annabeth. There you go. That's it.

"Well," Connor said quietly, "April Fool's day is April first." He chewed his lower lip, scuffing his shoe against the beaten-down wood of the Athena cabin. I stared at him, my mouth slowly dropping.

"You were all trying… to… prank me?!" I shouted. A few campers looked over. A growl erupted from my throat. "And what? You screwed up so badly that you ended up covered in shaving cream? You insolent, insufferable little bitches!"

"We're female dogs?" Percy said, scratching the back of his neck. "I thought we were just giant marshmallows. Or the dough boy from Ghostbusters. Either one works." At my livid look, he just shrugged and grinned, undaunted. "I mean, c'mon, Wise Girl. We're three boys in whipped cream. Who you gonna call?"

Nearly everybody who had seen the movie around me snickered. I shot him a livid glance. "I'll deal with you later, Perseus Jackson," I told him, maiming a slitted throat. He just smirked back at me. The arrogant twit. I stalked forward, grabbing the Stoll brothers by the scruffs of their neck, dragging them off. A crowd of spectators had gathered to watch, and I dragged the brothers over by the fire pit. They looked frightened out of their minds.

"Now, listen here," I said, but as soon as the words came out of my mouth, the Stoll brothers turned and sprinted for the woods, a look of pure terror on their faces. Their pallor was sheet white. I stared at them, gaping. They… they had just… run away. "They ran away," I said, aghast. "The bastards ran away from me!"

"Who knew you had such a mouth, Wise Girl?" Percy Jackson said, still spitting bits of whipped cream out of his mouth. I whirled on him, a jaw muscle twitching in my mouth. My gaze was positively livid as I contemplated what to do to him. I could dangle him upside down from a tree- well, maybe I could've a couple of years ago, when he was still scrawny, but the boy certainly wasn't shrimpy anymore, I thought with a hard swallow.

My father used to tell me that 'simple was sometimes the best'. Though I didn't have any godly powers, I was very smart. There were moments, however, when I was a little too smart. I complicated things too far, and that left other people- and, on the rare occasion, me- confused. There were times that I made things a lot harder than it had to be.

For once, I decided to take the easy road.

I walked right up to Percy Jackson and promptly slapped him across the face. I paid no attention to the tingles that jarred my hand, or the way that my hand trembled ever so slightly. For once, I paid attention to the easy path. He made a sound like a strangled cat, and I flipped my hair, feeling for all the world like a confident, independent girl. People were bent over laughing, pointing to Percy Jackson's red face.

Yes, the easy road was definitely best.

A/N: Yep, that was this chapter! Still daily (WHO HOO!)!

I think I'm going to go take a nap now. I got about 3 hours of sleep because this huge 'killer' moth came into my room. It was literally the size of my pianist hand. Yeah. It was like midnight, too, so I was trying not to wake my family. First, I tried to throw a shoe at it, which failed, seeing as how I have incredibly shoddy aim. It was in my room, and I was like cursing profanities under my breath because all I wanted to do was go to sleep, and there was a giant moth on my ceiling. Then I tried to sic my cat on it, but my cat apparently sucks at eating moths, and I really didn't want to touch the moth (I am terrified of moths) and so I just sprayed it with the only cleaner available to me: toilet cleaner. It was... it was not good. At all. Now, I am very loopy (as I am whenever I get tired) and hating moths, so I'm going to go take a nap.

ZZZZZZZ

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