AN: Hey guys. I edited some previous spelling/grammar mistakes in some of my other chapters and even changed a bit of the dialogue in certain parts. Now, don't worry. You don't have to read the chapters over or anything; you probably wouldn't even notice what I changed. Anyways, I'm back with the 10th chapter of To Die For Love. I loved your reviews! A lot of people are asking about the uh..."event" involving Thalia and Percy and even the one involving Annabeth and Percy. They're asking if they "did anything" or if they just slept there. Now, I'm not trying to write a porno here, but I thought the way I wrote it would make it pretty obvious what went on. Just because two people sleep together, DOES NOT mean that the girl will get pregnant. There's simply a chance that it can happen ;). If you still don't know "what happened" after reading this, then I suggest you go back and read over the last few chapters. Anyways, enjoy the chapter (its the longest one yet!)
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Chapter 10: A Night on the Town
Annabeth's eyes fluttered open the following morning. Her gaze drifted over the ceiling, walls, and other familiar things that marked the white room. Her memory flooded back to her and she realized that Percy must have saved her from the water. She sighed. He was without question her best friend. Friend? It occurred to her that they had done a lot more with each other than friends usually did. A lot more, she thought as she remembered two nights ago. She silently scolded herself for letting Percy convince her to drink, but a blush creeped up to her face when she realized she didn't exactly regret her decision. She shook her head to clear the thoughts away. Ugh! Get a hold of yourself Annabeth! No dignified daughter of Athena would act this way! She got out of bed and realized she was in the same clothes as yesterday, except they were dry. She silently thanked Percy as she stripped of her clothes and got into the hot shower.
Percy was manning the steering wheel when Grover walked next to him. "Percy, we have a bit of a problem. It's actually why I wanted to talk to you when…well you know," he said trying to keep the grin off his face.
Percy ignored his jibe. "Well, what is it, G-man? Run out of tin cans already?"
"Actually, yeah. We're pretty much out of food, drinks, and other necessities."
"Well that explains the chewed up mattress in your room," Percy joked. "We'll have to stop at the nearest port, so get your stuff ready and can you wake the others up?"
"Sure thing, Percy."
Soon enough, they were all ready and headed into the city.
"Its great to finally be off that boat," Thalia said, stretching.
"Not really," said Percy.
"You're such a Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.
"Guys, I'm starving," Grover cut in. "Can we get something for breakfast?"
"Yeah, sure thing, G-man." Percy said.
After a bit of walking around, they found a nice little diner where they had breakfast. Percy ordered a stack of pancakes, Thalia ordered French toast, and Annabeth ordered Eggs and bacon. Grover got extra napkins and asked if they had any paper plates. When the food came they dug in gratefully.
"Wow, that was good," Percy said rubbing his stomach.
"You said it," Grover replied after they left the diner. "I still can't believe you ate that bacon though, Annabeth. Do you know what they do to those pigs?"
"Yeah, yeah, Grover. We get it." Percy said laughing.
They walked in relative silence after that. Percy felt a bit awkward walking with both Annabeth and Thalia. Whenever he met Annabeth's eyes, she looked away and blushed and whenever he looked at Thalia, she gave him a sly smile before he turned away. He shook his head. He'd fallen for two totally different girls.
"Percy, look!" Thalia said excitedly.
He looked over and saw she was pointing to a boxing ring. "You're kidding, right?"
"Don't underestimate me, Seaweed Brain," she warned. "I beat Luke every time we fought."
"Doesn't mean you can beat me."
"Did I mention Zeus is way better than Poseidon?" she asked matter-of-factly.
"Oh, it's so on," he replied.
"Race ya!" she said and both of them started running.
Annabeth watched them go. Then she looked and saw a Ron Jon's Surf Shop across the street. "Grover, we should go in there to get, um, sunscreen and stuff," she said. When they went in, she started to pick out sunscreen and sunglasses, but was eventually over by the swimsuits. She picked up a white bikini and silently wished Silena was here to help her choose the best one. Suddenly she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. She turned around to see Grover with a huge grin on his face like he knew something she didn't.
"What?" she asked with steel in her voice.
"Picking out a new swimsuit for Percy, I see."
She realized the bikini was still in her hand and she turned red. "I am not!" she said angrily. "I was just picking one out because the one I brought is too small!"
"The one you brought is also a one-piece," Grover replied with that grin still on his face.
Her eyes widened and she turned red again. Then she let out a defeated breath. "Fine. You caught me."
"So you finally admit it then?" Grover asked smiling.
"Will you just tell me which one Percy will like best?" she said with annoyance.
He chuckled. "Yeah, alright. But just because you two look so cute together."
She spent the next hour or so trying on swimsuits with Grover making commentary until she found a light pink bikini. She looked at herself in the mirror and had to say, she looked pretty good. She let Grover see and he agreed it was definitely the best one.
When they left they saw Percy and Thalia walking out of the ring. "Hey guys, how was it?"
"I won the race," Percy said triumphantly.
"Yeah, well I won the wrestling match."
"Well I won the swordfight."
"Correction, Seaweed Brain. The swordfight was a draw. And I would've won if I wasn't rusty." She said, a smile playing on her lips.
"Excuses, excuses," Percy said rolling his eyes. "So what did you guys do?"
"Oh, well we just got…you know, sunscreen and stuff." Annabeth said hastily.
"Alright, well we should find a super market so we can restock on the other stuff. Then we can head back to the ship."
They found a Wal-Mart and spent an hour or so getting what they needed. When they got back to the boat and got everything situated it was around 8 and dark. Percy saw a shimmering light from the makeshift fountain he had made in the boat.
Please deposit one drachma, a female voice said. He took one out of his pocket and tossed it through the mist.
"Hey, Chiron," Percy said when he saw him.
"Hello, Percy. You haven't left town yet, have you?"
"Well, we were about to, but—wait, how did you know we were in town?"
"That doesn't matter. Percy, I've received reports of two half-bloods in that town. I'd like you to retrieve them while you're there."
"Sure thing, Chiron. Uh…any idea where to look for them?"
"The school might be a good idea," he said amused.
"Oh, right. But won't the school be closed this time of night?"
"It's quite a stroke of luck that you came on this day, actually. They're having a school dance at the moment."
"Alright thanks, Chiron."
"You should get going, and good luck," he said and the image disappeared.
Percy told the others about the message from Chiron.
"Two more half bloods?" Annabeth said in thought. "It reminds me of your prophecy."
They pondered it as they headed down the same road as before. They eventually realized they had no idea where they were going so they started asking around until two girls in a four seated corvette stopped.
"Are you guys headed to South Beach Academy for the dance?" the girl driving said. She looked about 16 and had long blond hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Yeah we are, but we don't really have a ride," Percy told her.
She looked at Annabeth. "Is she your date?"
"Oh, her?" he said looking back at Annabeth. "No, we're all just friends."
She smiled at him showing her perfect white teeth. "Well, you two boys can ride with us. And you two girls can ride with our friends behind us."
They noticed, for the first time, a similar corvette behind the red one. The only difference was that this one was white. Thalia and Annabeth got in the back car while Percy and Grover slid into the front car.
"The school's only a few minutes away," the girl said. "I'm Brittany by the way."
"That's cool and I'm Percy," he said with a smile. "This is Grover."
Brittany smiled back through the rearview mirror. "I love your name, Percy. We learned about the hero Perseus in History class the other day."
"Oh yeah, uh, same here."
"I haven't seen you around school; do you go to South Beach?"
"No, but we have friends that invited us, so we thought we'd come."
She smiled at him again and he swore she was flirting with him. Not that he minded though; she was damn good looking.
"Well, we're here." Brittany said.
The school was huge. There was a tall main building with a beautiful courtyard and a fence surrounding it. On the building there were letters made in stone saying South Beach Academy Grades 6 – 12. It was a joined middle and high school. The lock on the fence was open and they could see lights coming from inside the school. They all went up the steps and through two tall arched doorways. Inside was a huge room that looked like it could be the auditorium or cafeteria. All the tables and chairs were cleared away to make a huge dance floor. There was a table on one side of the room that had chips, soda, and of course, a punch bowl. There was a slow song playing on the radio.
Percy was about to take out Riptide when Thalia interrupted him. "Percy, we have to blend in. You can't just take out your sword."
"Yeah, hadn't thought of that," he said putting it away. "We should probably be dancing."
As if on cue, Thalia took his hands and led him to the dance floor. A girl who looked like she was in the 7th grade took Grover's arm and pulled him away to dance while Annabeth started dancing with some jock.
"This is nice," Percy said. He put both hands on her waist as they slow danced to the song playing.
"Keep your mind on the mission, Percy," she scolded.
"Your right. But I don't see anyone that looks like a half-blood in here."
"Just keep looking."
While they danced, Percy looked over and saw Brittany eyeing him with a smile. He smiled back and decided it would be fun to tease Thalia. He started pulling there dance closer to Brittany and, when he was close enough; he took the hand that was on Thalia's waist and grabbed Brittany's hand. He then let go of Thalia with his other hand and started dancing with Brittany. Thalia glared at him and he just chuckled, twirling Brittany around.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Annabeth and he looked over. He saw that she was dancing with some Jock and got annoyed for a second. Then he looked back at Brittany and smiled when he realized how close they were. He put both hands on her waist as they danced. She put her arms around his neck and he realized what she was going to do a second before she did it.
She closed her eyes and kissed him. He held the kiss for five long seconds before breaking away. Then something caught his eye.
"I've got to go find my friends," Percy said with an apologetic smile. "I'll see you around."
He was about to walk away when she started rummaging through her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and scrawled something on it. "Call me," she said with a smile as she stuffed the paper in his hands.
"Will do," he said turning away.
He walked toward Annabeth and she pretended not to notice him. He tapped the jock on the shoulder. "Mind if I borrow your date?"
The jock turned around and was about to say something but Percy gave him a hard look and he decided he didn't want any trouble. Percy put his hands on Annabeth's hips and started dancing with her as the jock disappeared in the crowd.
"What do you want, Percy?" she said with annoyance.
"What? I can't dance with you?" he said, a smile playing on his lips.
"I thought you were too busy kissing your girlfriend," she said accusingly.
"Annabeth, relax. I'm just trying to blend in…even if that means taking one for the team," he finished with a grin.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. You know you liked it."
"Maybe just a little," he said with the tiniest hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Ugh. Why are you here, Seaweed Brain?"
He nodded his head toward the end of the room they were in. "I saw those two kids over there. Take a look; they have dirt and bruises all over them." A boy and a girl were sitting in the corner of the room. The boy looked like he was 12 or 13 and the girl looked around 13-14. They both had black hair and pitch black eyes.
She looked over and nodded. "I'll get Thalia and Grover."
When they were all together they went over to the back corner where the kids sat. But they were gone.
"The back door!" Percy almost yelled. They ran out the back door to find they were in a second courtyard. Percy caught his breath when he saw them backed into a corner by a manticore. He spotted a fountain in the middle of the courtyard and felt a tug in his gut and sent all the water in the fountain toward the manticore. It turned just in time to be hit with a huge wave and sent sprawling on the other side of the courtyard. Annabeth and Thalia ran and sliced him up before he could recover.
Percy walked up to the two kids in the corner. "Are you two alright?"
The girl nodded. "Thanks for saving us," she said. "I'm Bianca. And this is my brother Nico."
Nico eyed Percy suspiciously. "I don't know if we can trust him, what if he's another monster?"
Percy shook his head. "I can take you guys to a place where you can be safe. Where monsters won't come in and chase you."
With the help of Grover, Annabeth, and Thalia, Percy told them about Monsters, Camp Half-Blood, and the Gods. Nico still seemed suspicious but they more or less believed them.
It was late when they left the school, but they managed to get back to the boat before midnight.
They all went to bed except for Percy (Bianca shared a bed with Annabeth and Nico with Grover). He had to get the ship on track before he could go to sleep. He turned the wheel as he pondered the prophecy. Find two allies young, but old. He was sure the two allies were Nico and Bianca but wasn't sure about the "old" part.
The boat gently eased its way back into the water. Percy retreated back to his room, and after such a long day, was grateful to fall asleep in his own bed for a change.
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AN: I have good new and bad news. The good new is that, with the help of the readers, I've gotten over 100 reviews! The bad news is that im going out of town for the weekend. Now, I know that by now you probably don't trust me when it comes to vacations, but I promise Ill have a new chapter out sometime next week. I expect to see a bunch of new reviews when I get back so REVIEW! It seriously makes my day. Hope you liked the chapter.
