Summer, 2003

"Do you remember when I told you I was 104 years old?" Jesse asked Winnie.

On TV, Winnie nodded her head.

"Well... it's the honest truth."

This movie was disappointing. Annabeth was excited to see the Tuck Everlasting movie because she really liked the book, but the movie was nothing like the book. It was all... kiss-y and romantic. And Winnie was so old! She definitely wasn't ten like she was in the book.

But Annabeth found herself fascinated and disgusted with the kissing scenes. It was fascinating because the people looked like they really enjoyed it, but Annabeth didn't think it should look so pretty. After all, kissing was basically swapping saliva.

What was it like to kiss a boy? Annabeth wondered. Did it make you fall in love with him? Was it really as nice as the movies and books say it was? Did you really make such loud sucking noises?

She'd have to ask Sally the next time Percy wasn't around.

"Sally, what's kissing like?" Annabeth asked while she and Sally were driving to pick Percy up from swim practice. "Is it nice?"

"Hmmm," Sally contemplated what to say while she parked the car at the front of the swimming pool building. This was one discussion she had yet to have with Percy. "It's very enjoyable if it's done with the right person."

"But how do you know you're kissing the right person?"

"Kissing is a way of showing your affection to people you love," Sally explained. "I kiss you and Percy on the cheek because I love you both. You kiss Mrs. O'Leary on the head because you love her. I bet your dad and Analise kiss each other all the time; you just don't know it. You kiss people you love because it's like telling them "I love you" without using words. Does that make sense?"

"So all the people in the movies," Annabeth said, mulling it over, "when they kiss the other actors, they love all of those other people enough to kiss them?"

"No, sweetie. It's a little bit different in movies. In movies, people pretend they're in love. That's what they get paid for."

"Did you like kissing Percy's dad?"

Sally smiled softly, "Yes. Very much so." Sally looked at Annabeth in her rearview mirror, "Annabeth, sweetie, I know you don't really understand this right now, but just promise me—promise me—that you grow older, you won't kiss anyone that you don't love."

"Okay," Annabeth agreed readily. She doubted that she would kiss anyone anyway.

Their conversation effectively ended when they saw Percy come out of the building and get in the car, and Annabeth knew this was one conversation she didn't want to have with Percy around.

Annabeth was sitting on the hammock underneath the shade of the trees' in Percy's backyard, trying to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (She made her dad pre-order the book in February for her birthday present.)

She was trying to read because Percy, who was also sitting in the hammock, wouldn't keep still. Every couple pages, he would rock the hammock by swinging his legs back and forth, and Annabeth would have to kick him to make him stop.

"Percy," Annabeth glared at him, "can't you just sit still and read?"

"No. Reading is boring," Percy complained.

"But you have to read that book for summer reading!"

"It's only the beginning of summer vacation, Annabeth," Percy rolled his eyes. "I still have a bunch of months."

Annabeth ignored him and went back to reading her book. Harry was just about to kiss Cho.

"C'mon, Annabeth. Let's go play at the park," Percy tugged at Annabeth's t-shirt.

"Hold on," she murmured distractedly. "Let me finish this chapter."

"Humph. Fine. You have until I count to ten."

Harry kissed Cho, but neither of them seemed to enjoy it.

"One."

Harry even made Cho cry.

"Two."

But why? Sally said that if two people loved each other, they would enjoy kissing. Harry loved Cho, and Cho liked Harry. Maybe they didn't like each other enough for it to be nice.

"Three."

Annabeth wished there was someone she could experiment on so she could know what kissing was really like.

"Four. Fi—"

"Percy." Annabeth suddenly looked up at him and slammed her book closed. "Want to try something with me?"

"What?" Percy answered cautiously. He had a feeling they weren't going to the park anytime soon.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Like, on the lips?" Percy crinkled his nose up in disgust.

"Yeah. Please? I just want to know what it feels like."

"I don't want to touch your spit!"

"You won't have to. You'll just have to touch my lips."

"Why do you even want to kiss?" Percy made a face. "It's not like I'm your boyfriend."

"Because I want to know what it feels like. It's an experiment."

Percy sighed. "Fine, then can we go to the park after?"

"Okay."

They stared at each other.

"Uh, so... now what do we do?" Percy asked.

"Well, we have to move closer so our lips can touch," Annabeth said reasonably.

Neither of them moved.

"Okay. Let's just get this over with," Percy said as he shifted closer to Annabeth.

"Kiss on the count of three?"

Percy nodded, "One." He took a deep breath, "Twothree."

Annabeth closed her eyes and puckered up her lips, making sure that she only touched Percy in the slightest bit. Percy, however, smashed his lips into hers. The kiss was not soft or warm. It was cold and hard and it hurt.

"Ow!" Annabeth cried as she backed away from Percy. "We are never doing that again. I don't see why people like kissing."

"Good. Can we go to the park now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"You what?" Silena managed to squeal out.

"I kissed Percy," Annabeth stated matter-of-factly, "It wasn't like it was a serious kiss or anything; I just wanted to know how it felt."

"So… what was it like?"

"Bad." She shook her head vehemently. "I'm never kissing anyone ever again."

"Maybe you were just doing it wrong," Silena replied doubtfully. "My sister says that she could make-out for hours. It can't be that bad if people want to do it for so long."

"Yeah, but I could spend hours playing with spiders. That doesn't mean I want to."

"If kissing wasn't as fun as it seemed, why would people do it?"

"I don't know," Annabeth shrugged. "To make babies?"

Silena gave Annabeth her oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look. "Do you feel pregnant?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Annabeth said defensively.

"I think you should wait until you're older, like twelve or thirteen, before you try to kiss Percy again."

Annabeth shrugged, "Can we just go back to playing soccer?" She passed the ball to Silena, regretting that she brought up her kiss with Percy in the first place.

A/N: Sorry this took so long; I went a little overboard editing. And I had some trouble uploading the chapter. Hope it was at least worth the wait… Heehee.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way affiliated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.