My Boyfriend, the Greek God

Chapter 8—Silence In the Library

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable. (Including Percy Jackson, Ernest Hemingway's works, etc.)

What I love about the New York Library is its piles and piles of books, all hidden away behind the antique wood shelves and the solemness the place held. Most of the time, that's where I find to be most comfortable—behind the vast knowledge the books hold where no one can touch me, where I can drown in the fictional worlds and dwell about the information they give me.

I was definitely fortunate that my apartment was just a few blocks away from the library, making life infinitely better when I wanted to go there for a quick visit, to feel the serenity only that place could offer. Although I have mild dyslexia on top of my ADHD, I enjoy reading and acquiring knowledge immensely, and that challenge isn't about to come between me and reading anytime soon.

I got to the library about ten minutes earlier than the time I had told Percy to meet up, so in the meanwhile, I was able to wander around and browse for some literature to read. We were reading something about 'white elephants' and 'abortion' by Ernest Hemingway, who was admittedly a much better writer than I thought. Bearing that in mind, I walked among the shelves to see what else he had to offer.

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway Short Stories Collections, The Old Man and the Sea… I pulled that thin book out and proceeded to read the synopsis—it can even serve as my Am. Lit book project this quarter!

"After going 84 days without catching a fish, the experienced Cuban fisher Santiago set out to the Ocean and was determined to obtain good results. All alone, (his apprentice, Manolin, has been called back to his parents, forbidden to follow this "unlucky old man") Santiago sailed out with nothing but some water, a harpoon, and an oar on his small skiff. Sometime during the late afternoon of his first day at sea, a large marlin —"

"Santiago was a good fisherman, that one," A familiar voice jolted me out of my reverie, and I gasped slightly, turning to see Percy grinning at me. It has been a rather common occurrence—him appearing out of nowhere, startling me, making a conversation and then disappearing to who-knows-where.

"How'd you know?" I made a face at him, struggling to keep my voice down again, since we were after all in the library.

"I read the book, it's pretty good. Hemingway had enough experience at sea to write the book convincingly, and I appreciate that. The sea is to be respected for what it gives, and the author understood that."

I nodded, unsure of what to say to his acquired amount of knowledge. It seemed like Percy did his homework, and I guess that's a good thing for me if we were to do a project together.

"Cuba's pretty sweet too," he continued, "with their coral reefs and dreamy beaches." He seemed to look of into the distance with longing and then continued, "Not many shores are kept as well as Cuba's are these days."

I nodded, but quickly noticed that something isn't quite right here. "How did you get in there? Last time I had checked, there was an entire embargo placed on the country by U.S. for nearly half a century." In fact, 'Cuba embargo' is this year's policy debate's novice topic—Tracey, being the only one in my immediate friend circle without dyslexia, joined the team along with Will. It seems like that is the only thing she's talking about these days.

"Well, I told you, my dad's a marine biologist, so we can go to the island for 'educational purposes.' Plus, I'm a Greek citizen, so it really doesn't matter in the first place," Percy explained, sighing, as if he were trying to remember something long ago.

I led us to a quiet study room, so we can talk freely and finish our project without interruption. Once we settled down, Percy took out his laptop and I took out my old chromebook for research. His laptop was something I've never quite seen before. Aside from being having a slick, silver design like a MacBook Pro does, it has a glossy and reflective finish with a triangular symbol on top, emitting dim blue light.

I ran different models of laptops through my head, (as I've been looking to replace my own laptop pretty soon) but I've never quite seen this brand or laptop model before.

Percy must have caught me staring, because he looked at his laptop and looked back at me, giving me an indignant, "What?"

"I've never seen this model before," I answered honestly, "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, this baby?" He asked, mischief danced within his ocean eyes. "A really, really old friend gave it to me. We go way back. He's an architect of sorts, but also an insanely smart inventor. This is just one of the many things he made, by himself."

I nodded. That made sense. The design was amazing, but I was more intrigued by the interface and functions inside it. Percy's friend sounds like an interesting person—it'll be extremely cool if I could meet him.

"Want to see? It's quite different from your normally operating systems. Quintus calls it the 'Delta' model," he said fingering the front of his computer. That explained the glowing blue triangle.

"Quintus?"

"That friend I told you about. It's his nickname, since his family could quite easily find him if he used his real name to do businesses instead." Huh, I was even more intrigued to get to know more and more about this mysterious friend.

Percy lifted his laptop and tried to hand it to me, but as soon as it was placed in my hands, my hands slipped from it. My reflexes were usually quite fast amongst my friends, but even then, I knew I was not able to catch it before it hits the floor.

I closed my eyes. This is terrible—first time cooperating on projects together and I am already breaking Perseus's things. I bet he'll never want to even talk to me again. I hope he's not too mad; maybe his friend can make him another one? I hope I can afford to pay it for him—

"Annabeth, it's okay." Percy said, and I dared to open my eyes. I never heard the crash, that means— "It's fine, I caught it." Percy was biting on his lip, eyes searching my face for something. "Did you see what happened?"

"No, Percy, look, I'm so sorry about this, I didn't mean to drop it."

"You didn't see it?" his voice filled with relief and shock.

"See what?" I asked, confused. I was feeling better by the second though—Percy wasn't mad at me, and his laptop didn't crash. He must have had really good reflexes.

"Nothing," He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, nothing happened. But here, let me show you the amazing voice command on this thing. And let me tell you, this baby is completely waterproof…"

Percy went on and gave me a ten cent tour on the functions on his 'baby', and I was thoroughly impressed by Quintus, whoever he may be. The guy actually thought of anything anyone would need on the machine, and it even has Internet access anywhere with cell phone coverage. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call awesome 21st century technology.

I quickly directed us back to the project at hand afterwards, and was really impressed by Perseus's background on water quality and whatnot. We wrote a little about the Hudson river and the Atlantic Ocean, but he already knew all about the different pollution index tests: the BOD-5, nitrate, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and all the other shenanigans. I suppose his dad had after all taught him well.

I wished my father would have taught me all about this, when I was younger.

The project was over before we knew it, and I was glad to say that I was pretty much guaranteed an A on it. For once, I didn't even have to be the partner that carries the other. It was really refreshing.

"Finally done with it!" Percy did a small victory dance after we checked over the rubric, and I smiled at his dorkiness. He could be such a kid sometimes. It's like his dad never really let him act childlike before. I shuddered at the thought of a very serious and thoughtful Percy that I had seen the first day, who definitely had something against Will.

"I'm impressed," I said, "We managed to finish all of this before four!" I stood up, stashing everything away and taking The Old Man and the Sea to check it out.

"Well, with me here, nothing's gonna go wrong," Percy said as he sobered up and put his laptop in his bag and put it across his shoulder.

"Mhm, whatever you say," I said, going to the door. "See you Monday?"

"You know it!" Percy exclaimed, raising his hand into the air in a high five motion. Yet he then lowered it down after a bit of hesitation. "Thanks for everything," he said once more.

We left the study room, and parted ways.

I actually don't think I can stack any more references in this chapter… Anyone recognizes any?

Some questions: From 1-10, how would you rate this chapter? / Should this coincide (somehow) with the HoO series? / Is this story going too slow? / How realistic is the story? / And at last, would you like Annabeth to spend some one on one time with her other friends? (I'll give a 100-word sneak peek to any thoughtful replies.)

Thanks for reading! And special thanks to my new beta ciaomeansbye!