Sorry for all the verification things in your mail in the past chapter. It was a mess. Everytime I upload it, it becomes chapter 4. Ok. Sorry, really. Also, I am very sorry for posting late. Got some problems. Anyways… I've changed my pen name to BeautifulEscapades18. This chapter is about Christmas. And Annabeth is starting to fall for Percy. I'm so excited. Plot: Annabeth's parents are in California and she is alone in her house alright? So, she is going to stay with Percy for a while. Percy's mom was on vacation a week ago and is coming back on Christmas night. Cheers to chapter 10.

Percy POV

"Thanks for the other day." Annabeth told me. We were on my room, music blaring as soon as we step out of my room. "Also, thanks for letting me stay in your house until my parents come back."

"You're welcome. When will they return?" I asked her.

"Maybe after Christmas." Annabeth shrugged. "Where's your mom?"

"She's on a vacation." I told her.

"With your dad?"

"No."

"Then, where's your dad?" Actually, my parents' life was actually complicated. My dad was a fisherman, and a rich one, I tell you. But he never came back after an exciting voyage. I'm being sarcastic on the word 'excited'. My mom now, has a boyfriend named Paul Blofis. When she first introduced me to him, I actually blurted out, "Blowfish?"

"Do I need to have one?" Lady Gaga started playing downstairs and more people joined in the song 'Poker Face'. "Well, my mom has a boyfriend." I told her. Annabeth just nodded. "Why don't you go downstairs and party?" I asked her.

Annabeth shook her head, "I don't really like parties especially if there are so many people. Why don't you do it instead?"

"It's better to just talk to your best friend than party downstairs." I told her. "Besides there are so many girls that want me to be in their bed after the party." I joked.

"That's a bad joke, Percy." Annabeth stifled a laugh.

"Well, it's true!"

Annabeth smile melted away "Did you mention that it's better to talk with me than party?"

I blushed, "Oh, uhm. Yeah." Actually I just wanted to be with her.

Annabeth smiled again. It was one of her smiles that was mesmerizing. Because it always brighten up my mood. She grabbed her book from her bag, the title read 'Beastly'. She started reading her book and I just stared and stared and stared and… well you get the idea. She turned a couple of pages (she was a fast reader) Annabeth looked up from her book and raised her eyebrows, "What?" she snapped me out of my reverie.

"Uh, nothing."

"Ok." We stared at each other for a while. Her eyes keep getting my attention.

"Anyways… I should get dressed. It's one in the morning already. Aren't you going to end the party downstairs?" she asked.

"Naah, let them have fun." I said nonchalantly.

She went inside the bathroom to get changed and I paced around the room for 5 minutes. After a while she went out and I stifled a laugh. "What?" Annabeth asked.

"You look cute in your pajamas." I blurted out.

Annabeth blushed, "Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

Annabeth settled on my bed (and,yes I am sleeping on the floor, because sleeping on a couch will cause me problems downstairs). I took some bedsheets from my closet and placed them on the floor. "Will you really be okay there?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I lay down and heard more music downstairs and Annabeth started humming the song.

"Have you been using the violin I gave you?" I asked.

"Every day! I practice new songs there." She mused.

"That's good." I grinned.

Annabeth hummed again and her voice made me sleepy, like a lullaby luring me to sleep, and her humming successfully put me to sleep with a smile on my face.

I woke up to find Annabeth finished reading her book. "Oh, you're awake already." She said

"I just woke up." I told her.

She nodded. "It's a mess outside." She looked around the room and added, "By the way, there's glitter in your room."

I looked around to see the glitters. "How?"

"A couple of girls went in when you were asleep. Then they sprayed glitter on your room. I let them all out. I didn't want you to wake up." She explained.

I smiled. "You didn't want me to wake up? Why?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I figured that you might be dreaming something really good because you were smiling." She laughed.

I blushed. I was smiling because of her humming but I didn't tell her that. "Yeah, I had a good dream." I lied.

"I went outside to check the surroundings, there were pink flamingos in the pool."

"Whaat?" Ok? Pink flamingos?

She saw my face and quickly said, "Not literally real flamingos, your lawn ornaments." She grinned.

"Oh." I sighed. "So, there's more cleaning up to do."

"Pictures of last night ended up online already."

"Wow, they're fast."

"Yeah, I know. I also let the people leave already to make thing easy for you."

"My mom would be back tonight. So I think we should clean up." I stood up and stretched. I looked at the time and it was 10:43am. "What time did you wake up?" I asked Annabeth.

"6am. I've already drank coffee, took a bath, and finished my book." She beamed.

"And you've that all on 4 hours?" I raised my eyebrows. Annabeth just shrugged. "Well, I better take a bath." I told her.

"Should I cook breakfast?" she asked me.

"If you want to." The truth is I don't know how to cook. It would've been awkward if I asked her to cook for me. But I guess she was hungry to offer.

"Alright. I'll cook pancakes."

"Cool. I love pancakes."

She rolled her eyes playfully. I entered the bathroom and started taking a bath.

Annabeth POV

Percy started taking a bath, and I started to cook. Cooking pancakes was very easy. You just flip it and wait until it gets golden brown. I made 6 pancakes and Percy came down without a shirt on… again. "The water's refreshing." He told me.

"It was better a while ago." I told him.

He just shrugged and he looked at the pancakes on the table and smelled them. "You might be a better cook than my mom. Because she can never make a perfect golden brown pancake."

"Thanks. But I'll tell that to your mom"

His eyes shown panic. "Hey, I'm just kidding." I laughed.

"Oh, whatever. I'm hungry, I'll just start eating." I sat down and grabbed a pancake and put syrup on it. Percy did the same but took two pancakes. I raised my eyebrows on him. "Hungry much?" I asked him.

"What?" his voice was muffled due to pancakes in his mouth. "You make good pancakes. It's tasty and again, better than mom." He informed me.

"I'll tell that to your mom too."

"Are you serious about that?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Aren't you going to put on your clothes?" I asked him.

"I'm going swimming afterwards."

"But the pool's messed up."

"I'm going to swim because I'm going to clean up."

"Oh, alright."

"Wanna help?"

I shook my head. "I prefer the land." I told him.

"Scared of the water?" he asked me teasingly.

"I am not." I told him.

We spent our breakfast eating and chatting. After we finished eating, he offered to wash the plates and I agreed.

"I'll just go to your pool. I wanna see it." I told him.

"Alright. But be careful, it's slippery there." He warned.

"Okay. I will."

I went outside and went past their garden and saw the pool. Their pool was long like a marathon race had been held here. The shallowest being 3 feet and the deepest—6th. I sat be the water, I was wearing shorts so it doesn't matter. Pink flamingos were floating (not real flamingos, you know, lawn ornaments), bottle of vodkas were on the side of the pool, and some candy wrappers. "CANNONBAAAAAAAALL!" Percy yelled and jumped to the pool doing the cannonball. When he made impact to the pool, it made a big splash, soaking me.

"Percy!" I screamed.

He was still underwater and he rose up after a few seconds. He looked at me and he laughed . "This is not funny!" I glared at him.

He stopped. "Okay, sorry."

"It's fine." I said.

He smiled. My heart started beating fast. Ever since the day I knew about Rachel and Luke, I'd become very comfortable with him. I love it when his arms are around me especially if he's comforting me. I've only known him for 4 months, so why am I feeling warm and fuzzy when I'm with him? Was it because I was falling for him? Maybe this was inevitable, I knew that but… my promise. The promise that I've kept for so long. For one year. I just don't know anymore. "Annabeth! Can you help me here?" Percy asked.

I saw Percy's hands full with the lawn ornaments. "Does that mean that I have to go to the water?" I asked.

"Well, if you want I could go to you." He offered.

I thought for a while, since I was wet and all, I could go to him. "No. I'll go there."

I went to the water, it was cold since it was winter, but the water wasn't frozen and I wonder why? Fortunately, Percy knew what I was thinking. "Thinking of why the water is not frozen?"

I nodded as I go near him. "Well, every 30 minutes there's a heater in the sides of the pool, and it heats it up for five minutes." (AN: I just made this up) He explained.

"Oh." I said dumbly. He gave the lawn ornaments to me, and his hand brushed through mine. I felt a thousand volts travel through my body. He blushed as he continued to gather flamingos. I put the flamingos on land and I asked Percy, "Do you need more help?"

"No, thanks. I can handle this." He replied.

I went back up and figured that I can help him by putting back the lawn ornaments in their right place. We cleaned their pool area silently and I dried myself. We finished by the time it was lunch. Percy rose up from the pool and I gave him his towel, and his shirt. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I hear his stomach growl and I laughed. He blushed of embarrassment and I asked, "Want some McDonalds?"

"Yeah, that would be good."

We went inside the living room and I grabbed the telephone. I ordered some nuggets for me and burger with fries for Percy. I put the phone down and I saw Percy cleaning the living room. Then I remembered something. "Merry Christmas, Percy."

Percy looked up and smiled. "Merry Christmas too. Sorry if I don't have any presents for you." He apologized.

"The violin you gave me is worth three birthdays and two Christmases. You don't have to apologize." He smiled again. "Actually, I should be the one apologizing. I mean I didn't even try to buy a present for you."

"It's fine." He said. "You're presence here is better than a present." He grinned and I blushed.

The doorbell went off and I said, "It must be our food."

"I'll go and get it." Percy said.

He went out the door and I continued cleaning the living room. He went back in a minute holding the food. "Let's eat! I'm hungry." He grinned.

We finished eating and started cleaning the house. We finished by the time it was night. Percy stretched, "Finally!"

"Job well done." I remarked.

The house was really cleaned, free from party mess. "I never really like cleaning." Percy said.

"You seemed to enjoy it a while ago." I noticed. Percy looked at me skeptically. "It's true!" I told him.

He shrugged and grabbed his jacket, he went outside. "What are you going to do?" I asked him.

"I'm going to wait for mom outside."

"Can I go with you? I don't want to be alone here."

"Sure." Percy smiled.

We went outside and we both sat at the swinging bench. Silence embraced the both of us, neither of us wanting to break it. Cold wind started to blow, snow started to fall, and I was dumb enough not to bring my jacket. I shuddered. I looked at Percy and saw him looking at me and he looked away. The cold air blew again and I shuddered. Percy noticed this and took off his jacket and wrapped it to me. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Giving you my jacket." He said matter-of-factly.

"Aren't you going to get cold?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Thanks." I whispered.

I looked at the sky and found stars. I stared at the sky for a while and soon, I fell asleep.

Percy POV

I felt something on my shoulder and saw Annabeth sleeping. I snuggled her closer to me and I laid my head on hers. I thought of the time we accidentally touched hands this morning at the pool, the time we chatted, she even told me I had fun cleaning. I did have fun, because she was there. I stared at the horizon, thinking of her. She made me feel fuzzy in the head, seeing her actually made my heart beat fast. I admitted that I liked her, but there was something more to it. I don't know. I saw lights in front of me, and my mom's car came into view.

*sighs* Not exactly my best chapter. Ah. Annabeth's falling in love with Percy! Yey! I'm trying to read some cheesy books to spice up this story. So far, I feel like I'm getting worse in writing. I'm running out of ideas. I don't know what to do. So, next chapter would be about Annabeth debating whether to like Percy or not considering she still has that vow. Chapter 11 is written by me and my friend. Mostly my friend. So yeah… Any requests? And REVIEW!

-BeautifulEscapades18