Chapter Ten

Whoa! First double-digit chapter! Anyway, thanks for the 87 reviews, 82 followers, and 60 favorites! That's awesome, if you ask me. Kisses from where I live :-* Also, sorry for not updating that often, I just have so many projects and tests these days...Happy Reading~

Percy

I woke up. It was a bright, warm spring day outside. The weather was real nice, especially with the blue sky and warm-cool breeze.

But will I enjoy it?

Nope.

During the past three weeks, I bonded a lot with Annabeth. We got used to each others' presence and finally got over all the times we would have to kiss or make out in front of people. I started to like it whenever I sat with her at lunch during school. And when we went to the library together was when I started to sorta like-like her. We would always hang out with each other for the bet. But the fact that we wouldn't do all those things together...made me feel...different.

I frowned. Why am I even so bothered with this? It's not like we were dating for real in the first place.

I wonder what Annabeth's doing right now.

I wonder if she's also thinking about me or something.

I shake my head. Of course not. If she were to think about me, she would think of me as an idiot. Nothing romantic...right?

Oh, and the bet. The bet... How the heck am I supposed to get fifty dollars? If I asked my mom, she would wonder why, and Paul isn't too different either. Maybe I can ask my real dad, but we all know he would reply to me a few years later.

Should I just call off the bet. This month is over and May is only thirty-one days long. It won't short out the bet that much.

I sigh and call Nico.

"What?" He asks gruffly as soon as he picks up.

"Hi. What's the matter?"

He grumbles, "It's nothing."

"Nico, you can tell me. I'm one of your best friends."

"You sound like a girl, Jackson. Did Annabeth rub off on you?''

I swallow hard. "...Just tell me what's wrong."

"Fine. It's because Katie is ruining my life!"

I blinked and there was an awkward pause. "I thought you liked Thalia."

"No!" I could practically hear his eyes widen. "I mean, yeah, I like her but, no! Katie's not ruining my life that kind of way! I meant that she's an earth nut."

"So?"

"Well, her earth nuttiness keeps butting in! It's rubbed off on Travis and he keeps bugging me to recycle and take shorter showers. And the creepy part of that is because: how the hell did he even know I take long showers?!" His tone is whiny and desperate, which made me snort.

"Uh..."

"And then there's Grover. Yesterday, when we went to the mall, I was buying video games and Travis kept on nagging me to reduce my playing time because of the waste of electricity or something! And when I told him to piss off, Grover joined in and defended him! Can you believe that?"

"Why are you angry now?"

"It's because Travis invited me to play video games with his brother. Guess who was there? Katie. And as soon as I got there, she started saying stuff like, 'You can't do this! You can't do that. The earth's gonna die and it's all gonna be because of people like you!" And I got mad at her and started to yell back but then Travis got mad at me for yelling at his girlfriend and-"

"Whoa, dude. Calm down. You sound like you're gonna explode or something."

"Okay, okay. So, now I'm in my car and you just called me. Anyway, why'd you call?"

"Um...can we cancel the bet?"

"What bet?"

"You know, the Annabeth one..."

"Oh. Sure, you can cancel it. But you still need to pay me and all the guys fifty bucks."

"All the guys?" My eyes widened. I'm not good at math but I do know that fifty dollars for everyone would be a lot of money.

"Can't we just cancel the money too?"

"Nope."

"Dude, that's unfair! I don't remember you telling me that I had to pay everyone."

"That's because I didn't. Me and the guys-"

"The guys and I."

"Jeez, Annabeth must've really rubbed off on you. Anyway, we decided that everyone got fifty bucks because they were being babies and complaining that it wasn't fair that I only got paid. But why do you wanna cancel the bet? Did you guys break up or something?"

"No...um, bye." I said the lie quickly and before Nico had a response, I hung up on him.

So now I have to convince Annabeth to fake-date me again. But how? I don't want to seem like a jerk to her or something.

I'll just have to talk to her...somehow. But she probably won't even bother to listen.

Oh, well. Worth a shot.

Today was now Monday. I'll admit, I didn't finish my homework; I had twenty more problems in math, some vocabulary practice for English, a history review packet for the quiz we had today... But at least I finished my science project.

Since it was Monday, it also meant that I had to go and talk to Annabeth. Right now, I just got out of my car. I'm in the parking lot, scanning for a blonde head or at least a black, spiky one since Annabeth goes to school with her scary friend, Thalia.

I saw her, she was walking with Thalia by her side.

"Annabeth!" She turns around and I run to her.

"-Percy?" Her gray eyes widened. Thalia looks at me happily. "Ooh, I know where this is going," she singsongs. "I'll leave you two lovebirds be." Annabeth began to protest but it was too late, Thalia was already walking over to her other friends.

"Annabeth, we need to talk," my voice is a little out of breath because I just ran over to her.

She stares deeply into my eyes for a good ten seconds, but then breaks away her gaze. "I have nothing to say," her words are like venom and I am slightly taken back.

"Then please just listen," I say pleadingly. Realizing I sounded too desperate, I decide that I should tell her about the bet before the actual confession.

"No. Sorry, Percy, but I have to go." Her words aren't even the littlest bit apologetic. She turns around. Acting quickly, I grab her wrist.

"Percy," she snapped. "Let me go."

"Please," I beg her. "At least hear me out."

Annabeth sighs and seems to think this through. During the minute she was thinking, I -I know this is creepy- studied her. I never got the time to really just look at her, other than the time in the library. And this study time made me realize a lot of things about her. Some of her blonde curls seemed to reflect silver in the sunlight. She seemed to like to keep her hair in a ponytail in warmer weather. She only wore Converse or Vans. I snap out of the daze I was in when I was just looking at her when she turned around.

"Fine. But make it quick."

I nodded and awkwardly let go of her wrist. "Um, well...I kinda lied on Saturday. Like, it's a long story so I'm gonna make it short: you're gonna be my fake-girlfriend. I'm really sorry about that. But here's the catch-"

"What?" Her grey eyes flash a sign of disbelief. People are also staring. "We have to fake-date again-"

"Sh..." I quickly put my finger on her lips. Annabeth glares at me but lowers her voice. "We have to fake-date again?" She hissed. "How come?"

I was gonna say, 'But here's the catch- you aren't my fake-girlfriend. You're now my real girlfriend', but you've interrupted me. It's a good thing though. That meant I don't have to go through the humiliation of getting rejected in front of all these people, since you clearly don't even want to fake-date me.

"The bet's on again," I grit my teeth. "It was always on."

Annabeth frowned. "If it was always on, why'd you lie to me?" She seemed a little hurt.

I got tired of trying to not hurt her feelings, but since she keeps on interrupting me when I try to actually confess to her, I'm getting a little pissed. So, I'm giving up. I'm just gonna tell her straight out without sugarcoating my words. "It's nothing. It's too stupid for you to want to know."

Annabeth is taken back. "Excuse me? For your information, I like knowing things."

"Is that because you're a know-it-all? Is that why you keep cutting me off when I try to say anything?" I felt bad as soon as I said it but not as bad as she did.

"What?" her voice is barely above a whisper. Tears began to fill her eyes a little.

Thalia jumps in. "Whoa, guys...I've been watching this..." she turns to Annabeth, whose tears were beginning to trickle down her cheek. Thalia shoots me a look that was made of pure venom.

"Annabeth...I'm..." I reach out to her but Thalia smacks my hand away.

"F*** off, Jackson!" Thalia snarls at me. "You hurt her! She's crying." She leads Annabeth away from me.

People start to mutter to each other. They glance at me nervously. I catch what one girl said, "So Percabeth's over now, huh?"

Annabeth

(A/N: This is Annabeth's perspective, starting from the part where Percy studies her)

Percy is gripping my wrist. People are staring at the scene we were creating. I caught a glimpse of Thalia. She gave me a huge smile and two happy thumbs-ups. She mouthed the words, Turn around!

I sigh. Do I really have to turn around? I mean, especially from Saturday. Percy had no idea how much his happiness cut through me like a knife. And guess what? The wounds are still open and bleeding.

But Thalia seems so happy about this. It must be a good omen, right? The thumbs-up should encourage me to turn around and talk to Percy.

I slowly turn around. "Fine. But make it quick."

Percy lets go of my wrist. "Um, well...I kinda lied on Saturday. Like, it's a long story so I'm gonna make it short: you're gonna be my fake-girlfriend. I'm really sorry about that. But here's the catch-"

"What?" I don't even want to hear what catch there is. It's probably something selfish. "We have to fake-date-"

Before I could say the word 'again', Percy slammed his index finger onto my lips. I mentally roll my eyes (in the annoyed kind of way) and hissed, "We have to fake-date again? How come?"

He stares deeply into my eyes, as if he was in a daze. After about ten seconds, his green eyes flash -probably anger- and he clenches his teeth. "The bet's on again. It was always on."

I'll admit, I was a little hurt by this since I don't like being lied to. I frown and say, "If it was always on, why'd you lie to me?"

"It's nothing. It's too stupid for you to want to know." His words sounded harsh.

I didn't care if the reason was stupid! I just wanted to know why he would lie to me! "Excuse me? For your information, I like knowing things," I reply bitterly.

"Is that because you're a know-it-all? Is that why you keep cutting me off when I try to say anything?" His words cut through me and the previous wounds are deeper, along with new ones added.

"What?" I wasn't feeling that great from the start. I saw how happy he was on Saturday and that didn't make me feel the best. Then he insults me. I'm feeling multiple feelings: hurt, anger, sadness, and regret. I was hurt because of how happy he was, I was angry because he was being mean, I was sad because I'm in love with him and he doesn't seem to return his feelings to me. And the regret was because I actually agreed to fake-date. I could feel hot tears layer my eyes, making things blurry.

Thalia interrupts this little dispute we've been having. I don't concentrate on what's going on, until I hear Thalia shout at Percy some rude words.

My cheek is slightly wet. I was crying.

And now I feel like a baby and a drama queen.

It was lunch. As soon as I walked into the cafeteria, Percy comes to me.

"Annabeth-"

"What did I tell you this morning, Jackson?" Thalia snaps at him. She gives him an icy stare but he doesn't seem fazed. "Annabeth. I need to talk to you. Seriously," there seems to be desperation in his voice.

"Well, she doesn't want to hear it. Right, Annie?" Thalia says.

There was a lump in my throat. I look at Thalia, who was giving me a concerned glance. Then I turned to Percy, who was staring at me desperately.

I nod. "Right." The word was thick and slurred because of the sobs I was trying to keep back.

"Annabeth, please-"

"She doesn't want to hear it!"

By now, the whole cafeteria was quiet and staring at us. My ears turn red a little from the attention I was getting so I quickly walk to my seat.

Silena immediately embraces me. "Isn't love terrible? You, poor thing," she murmured into my ear.

I guess it was.

Quick question: Do you like Frazel, Lazel, or Leyna better? And sorry that this chapter pretty much sucked. Anyway, thanks for reading!