Me: I'm back! After, uhh... 4 months! I know, I know. Too long. I've just been really busy.

Grover: Yeah, right. Busy. Ha. That's what you say all the time.

Me: And what are you doing here?

Grover: Well, Annabeth is going around with those new guys for the book tour. And Percy, well, he figured since he's supposed to be missing, he hid somewhere. So, that leaves me with you.

Me: Great...

Grover: Hey! What's that supposed to mean.

Me: Oh, nothing. Nothing. I mean, I'm looking forward to hanging out with you! I'm so excited, I'll go change for a minute and then we'll go party!

Grover: Awesome! Anyways... So, guys. We present you another chapter. It's kinda short though. Percy and Annabeth usually do the chapters, and since they're not here right now, this is all we can give you. Enjoy!

Sophomore 10: Period.

It was just another normal high school day. Well, at least supposedly it was. But when I woke up and figured... that I was on the wrong side of the bed, the day was suddenly not as normal as I initially thought it was going to be. It all started with...

"Will you marry me?"

Silence.

"I'd make a good husband, Jenny."

"Dad!" I shouted from the dining table. "Enough with Forrest Gump, please. If I hear anymore of that 'Mama always said' crap, I will most likely end up just like Forrest."

"Awesome?" he asked, shouting back. I could almost hear the grin he has plastered on his face. This was going far enough. I stood up and went to the living room, leaving my luscious bowl of cereal.

"No, dad. Stupid. If someone asks you about what you dream you're gonna be, you don't go 'Aren't-aren't I going to be me?'. No. You say something sensible like 'I want to be an architect and design the most amazing building in Manhattan'." He swiveled his head and looked at me from the couch. I stood there with my hands on my hips, and he stared at me like I just told him that fish could fly. Oh, wait. Some fishes can fly. Never mind.

"You know Annabeth, there's so much more to life than just being a successful professional. And you're still young! Go live life to the fullest. You can worry about things like accomplishing your dreams when you grow old." He smiled and turned back to watching Forrest Gump.

"Thanks, dad. Those are exactly the words of wisdom I need to live with." I went back to the dining table to finish my cereal. Sometimes I think I'm the parent here and my dad's the child. How more twisted can this world go.

Actually, Forrest Gump isn't that bad. I guess I'm just jealous of Forrest 'cause I don't get to say "Mama always said". No. All I could say is "Mama never said she loves me".

Ohh-kay. I think I'm getting overly emotional over something not exactly something to get overly emotional about. Oh right. It was that time... I mean, it's time to go to school.

It was just another routine day; wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, listen to teachers babble about things I already know, pretend to be interested, get annoyed by Percy, try my best not to kill him, etc. You know, normal everyday high school teenager stuff.

"Now, which is heavier, a hundred pounds of iron or a hundred pounds of cotton?" asked our science teacher, Ms. Vesta Burner. We were discussing the difference of weight and mass.

Answering her question was somewhat as easy as figuring out who's hotter, Jacob or Edward. 'Kay, so that just felt wrong for me. But still, you should know that statement is a double entendre. I mean, of course Jacob's hotter. Like way hotter. Because Edward's literally dead and cold-blooded, thus he has no body heat. Ugh, bad joke. But seriously though, Jacob's hotter. (Your loss, Bella.)

Anyway, the question was meant to be a trick question, but the whole class had it all figured out. Well, except for Percy, that is. For some reason, he just didn't quite fathom which was hotter. I mean heavier.

"How about… Annabeth?" Ms. Vesta called. I frowned. I am very much not in the mood to recite.

"They weigh the same, so neither of the two is heavier."

"Exactly. Like what we've been talking about earlier, weight is…" Ms. Vesta started, but Percy raised his hand, and she nodded at him. "Yes, Percy?"

"Shouldn't the iron be heavier than the cotton? I mean, this is iron and cotton we're talking about."

"They both weigh a hundred pounds, meaning they amount to the same weight, meaning none of them is heavier," I answered, a little cranky. "What's not to understand about that?"

"Well, how should I put it… If I simultaneously hit you in the head with one hundred pounds of iron and one hundred pounds of cotton, you tell me, which is heavier," he smiled with that cocky smile of his that drove me nuts every time. And in a bad way. Well, maybe sometimes in a good way, but mostly in a bad way.

Our classmates started snickering, and Percy shot me a look, challenging me. I rolled my eyes. Smartass.

Ms. Vesta sighed and she almost did a facepalm, but instead she rubbed her forehead with her palm, completely regretting that she called Percy. If if she finds him annoying just during in her class, I'd like to tell her to try being in my shoes when I get to be with the guy most of the day. Why did he have to be so obnoxious all the time. I know Percy wouldn't be Percy if he wasn't infuriating. But it would be nice if he didn't drive me mad even in class.

Before I could reply, Ms. Vesta called his attention. "Percy, could you refrain from provoking your classmates." Percy frowned and nodded. He looked at me one more time and stuck his tongue out. Of course I did the mature thing and stuck my tongue out right back at him.

"We're still just discussing weight with constant gravity the only force acting upon it," she continued. "Mass is another thing completely, especially when acted upon an external force. There are many properties that need to be considered. The tendency of an object…" I shut her out until the end of the class, since I already know what she was talking about.

I never really meant to be a "know-it-all". I just am. Like I even had a choice. It was hereditary, and I'm just genetically smart. It was what you get when two geniuses reproduce. Like the moment I was born, I was already tagged with "Brainiac. Make sure to make fun of her and make her life miserable.". It still had its upsides though, but the downsides definitely weren't worth it. I guess it was really more of a curse than a blessing.

I've always been treated as some kind of an outcast, and people would just come to me for what I could offer and not for who I am. They would just use me. And what's more depressing with that is that my mother is one of them. If it's someone I don't really know or pretty much care about, whatever. But my own mother, of all people! How more unlucky can I get. I mean, one of two people who's biologically programmed to love me, but even she can't stand being with me, so she just ups and leaves me and my dad.

Ignoring the fact that I got publicly humiliated so much more times this year than all of the other fifteen added together, so far this year is the highest point in my life. Yeah, that's just how sad my life is. I guess the only drawback is getting to be with my mother from time to time. Well, it's not exactly a drawback. It's in the middle of my imaginary positive-negative scale, somewhere along the lines of "getting my tongue cut off" and "falling facedown from a high-rise building". So it's actually not that bad.

"Okay, that's it for today," Ms. Vesta finally declared. "I'll dismiss you earlier. Make good use of it."

The bell sounded just as we finished packing our things. So, yeah. We were dismissed earlier alright. Like a minute earlier.

Percy and I slipped out of the room first to avoid the massive clash of students coming out of their rooms. The feeling of obscurity and being just another someone in the middle of a vast sea of faces isn't exactly nice. And not to mention bumping into shoulders here and there, getting stepped on the foot, and getting spilled with a strawberry smoothie. (Yes, that happens. And how someone had a strawberry smoothie while transferring classrooms, I have no idea.)

We have different classes next. Mine is an advanced class, Literature, while Percy's is Chemistry. Why he has two consecutive science classes, well don't ask me. Ask the teacher who failed him. Or better yet, ask Percy himself what he did to get a failing grade. On second thought, there's actually nothing to ask. The only answer to why he failed is because he's Percy.

"Annabeth!" Percy practically shouted in my ear which left it ringing so much, it actually gave me physical pain.

"What? God, what is wrong with you." I pushed him aside and he just laughed it off. If he keeps driving me insane, especially with the current state I'm in, I'll go violently crazy and he won't be laughing then.

"You were doing it again, you know."

"Doing what?"

"Doing that thing with your face," he said, circling his face with his finger. "You zone out then you wrinkle your nose and you stare at your feet and your eyes look like they're going a million miles an hour. Your eyebrows go furrowy, it's so weird it's actually kinda cute." He tried to enact each action as he described them to me.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm too weird to be in the company of… Wait… Did you just call me cute?"

"Uhm, yeah, kind of. Not girly-girl cute, but you know, the-look-you-have-on-your-face-is-so-freakishly-weird-it-makes-me-stare-at-you-and-the-more-I-stare-at-your-face-it's-actually-kinda-cute kind of cute." I wasn't too sure, but I think a blush crept to his face. Or it was probably just me hoping he did blush since I wasn't exactly looking directly at his face. And why was I even hoping for that? You know what, whatever.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Uhm, yes? I still did call you cute, right? So that must mean it was," he replied, arching an eyebrow.

"You do know that 'cute' is mostly used to describe puppies and not humans," I pointed out.

"Well, I'm using it to describe you. Isn't that supposed to make you feel special, since it's not mostly used to describe humans." He was grinning from ear to ear. Oh, yeah. He was loving this alright. Making me eat my own words.

"Well, for your information, cute puppies are more likely to grow into ferocious dogs. And if you keep calling me cute, I'll do something more ferocious to you than biting you and giving you rabies." I actually growled like a dog (something is very wrong with me), and I'm assuming I was able to pull it off since Percy didn't laugh at me.

"Fine. Look, I was just trying to tell you that you... You know..." He murmured something and looked away.

"What?" I looked at him expectantly. He sighed and turned to look back at me.

"I was trying to tell you that you're pretty." We stayed like that for a few seconds, just staring eye to eye. I felt my heart beating against my chest so hard and fast, it was starting to actually hurt.

"Oh. Ohh-kay? Thanks, I guess." It was my turn to look away 'cause I felt my cheeks heating up. What was I being embarrassed about. I mean, this was just Percy. And he was just complimenting me, right? Not like there was anything more to it... Right?

"Ayt. So, I'll see you later," he said, looking away.

"Uhh, yeah, sure, whatever." Nice. Very smooth, Annabeth. He stared at me with a weirded-out look, raising an eyebrow yet again. Thankfully, he marched off before I blabbered even more. You just got to hate teenage hormones.

Just as I was about to enter the classroom, someone grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. "What the-"

"Where's Percy?" It was just Nico. But he was acting extremely un-Nico-ish. And he looked seriously alarmed like there was actually something he cared about for once.

"Uh, are you okay?" I asked, removing his hands from my shoulders and looking down. I could still feel the hormones surging through my veins and my cheeks were heating up again. Was it weird that I was expecting it to be Percy turning me around and kissing me? Why do I feel disappointed? And why do I keep asking you?

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm good," he rambled. Well, aside from being all sweaty, his trembling hands, and twitching eyes, he was fine alright.

"Are you sure?" I narrowed my eyes. "You look like you're about to have a seizure."

"Oh. Ha-ha. That's a good one," he laughed nervously. "Look, I just really need to know where Percy is. Like right now." If there wasn't something wrong, then I'm a brunette.

"You two have Chemistry together next, right?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Oh. Right. Right," he said, scratching his head like the thought hasn't crossed his mind. "Well, thanks. I gotta go." And off he went, sprinting to his class. I wondered what could be wrong to get Nico all freaked out. Before I could think anything more about it, the bell rang.

As I went into the room, my eyes instantly darted to the two empty chairs in the middle. One was mine. The other was Thalia's. She was never late.

Throughout the duration of the class, my thoughts darted from one thing to another. First, I wondered what made me want to kiss Percy. I mean, sure, it was that time of the month for me... Oh right. I bet that's the reason. Yeah, definitely that. Totally. And nothing more.

Then I got worried as I thought more about what's going on with Nico and Thalia. Nico was freaking out, and he was looking for Percy to maybe inform him about whatever was wrong. Thalia's not in class, and for as long as I've known her, I'm sure she'll never skip class except for a really good reason. It was probably a thing that involved their family or something. And somehow, it felt like I was about to be a part of some twisted form of real-life Family Feud.

I really hoped I was wrong. Too bad I wasn't. I just can't catch a break.

Grover: Like I told you, it's short. Anyway, where is he... He said it will only take him a minute. Hmm... R&R? I'll just go look for him. Oh, and we'll try our best to update sooner, and with more plot.