Won't bother you with a/n's anymore unless their important TT_TT

Chapter 10

Percy

I can't believe Annabeth.

One minute she's breaking my heart, the next she's making it beat louder than a drum.

Is this how it feels being in love?

Love.

That's a strong word, yet people throw it around like a beach ball.

What if she doesn't love me back? If she just likes me or something? I have no idea why I'm having these thoughts, but they just won't leave my head.

At lunch, I caught Luke staring at Annabeth.

Twice.

I started getting chills up my spine, scared Luke was thinking of something to do.

Something bad.

I noticed Calypso hovering around Luke, which didn't really help me with my nerves.

See, my brain was wired to think negative thoughts, so I kept my guard up. Annabeth would smile at me, and I'd forget what I was doing, until I heard Luke's gruff voice. I could tell Annabeth had heard him, too, because something flashed between her warm gaze. Something I couldn't make out.

A few days later, I had forgotten.

"Kelp Head are you listening?" Thalia snapped, annoyed. I turned my attention to her, irritated.

"Yes, Pinecone face. What is it?" I retorted, hearing Nico snicker at the nickname. She rolled her eyes and shoved his pizza in his face, shutting him up.

"As I was saying..." She frowned, tracing her finger through her ketchup before licking it off. I gagged at the smell of ketchup, it made me want to throw up. I didn't know why though.

She scowled at me and was about to speak when Annabeth sat down next to me, grinning like crazy. We were sorta going out, I guess, but I still felt a blush creep up on my face around her. Nico saw and made kissy faces at me, resulting in a face full of pizza again.

Thalia huffed, she loved to have attention sometimes, and hated when people interrupted crossed her arms and glared at us angrily.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her, "What is so important, Thalia?" I said sarcastically, grinning playfully at her.

She stuck her tongue out childishly, turning her attention to Annabeth.

"Did you ask him to go?" She demanded, resulting in a pink looking Annabeth.

"Well..." She trailed off, fumbling with her words.

Thalia groaned and leaned over the table "You're acting like I'm asking you to propose. It's just a party." My eyebrows shot up, what were they talking about?

Annabeth's eyes widened at the word propose and her face turned a darker shade of red. "Thalia!" She exclaimed, slapping her on the arm. Nico grumbled something about pepperones up his nose, and I couldn't help but chuckle at him.

Finally, the girls seemed to realize we were there, and turned to us. "What party?" I asked, gods I sounded like her dad.

Annabeth took sudden interest in her necklace, softly rubbing her thumb across it. "Y'know, just Drew's 16th birthday." She mumbled, refusing to look me in the eye.

I stared at her in surprise, "Drew?" I hope she didn't hear the sharpness in my voice. See, the first twenty minutes of my time here Drew had 'offered' herself to me, which creeped me out.

She stared at me warily, "Yes Drew, problem?" Her voice had a challenge in it, which I didn't understand at all.

"I didn't think you hung out with those kind of people." I instantly regretted my words, I sounded snotty, like someone who actually could talk about others that way, which was so not me.

She scowled at me, shocked at my words. "You mean the popular crowd? You think I'm a loser?" She demanded.

I rolled my eyes at her, then stopped. What the heck was I doing? Did I want her mad at me? She'd tear my throat out if I wasn't careful.

I decided to just drop the subject with a large smile and laugh, which made her even grumpier. I curled my arm around her waist, pulling her to me. She glared at me, but then gave in and laughed at me, rubbing ketchup on my nose.

I sat frozen, shocked. The smell made me cringe, and I pulled away from her. She looked at me, confused for a moment, and I smiled devilishly. I took a pack of mustard and rubbed it on her nose, failing to contain my laughter.

"Guys! We're gonna get in trouble!" Thalia hissed. Normally she didn't care, but she was on probation for her last three suspensions.

Annabeth just laughed at her, then stopped abruptly. I turned my attention to the hovering image of Drew. She wore a small pink jean jacket, blending into her pink floral tank top. She smiled sweetly down at me, but under it, all I saw was a demon with claws and fangs.

I shivered, trying hard not to be rude. Her face was covered in makeup. I'm not going to lie, she looked pretty stupid, having that skin tone stuff that wasn't even her skin color. Her face was a darker brown than the rest of her body, and it took all my willpower not to laugh.

Unfortunately, Nico wasn't very good at "self control." He burst out laughing, his mouth full of the lumpy powder they substituted for milk. It hit a burly girl in the back. She whipped around, madder than a bull. I gazed at Nico in pity, he had hit the worse person possible.

Clarisse La Rue, meanest girl alive. Luckily he did the smart thing:

He ran. Ran so fast I thought he had to pee. He was gone before she could get up, but she grumbled about pummeling him later.

Drew cleared her throat, and we all shifted our gazes back to her. "So, you guys are coming, right?" She smiled right at me, and I just wanted to disappear into my seat. Annabeth elbowed me, and I realized she was waiting for my answer.

"Er..uhm, ya. Can't wait." I faked enthusiasm, and Drew bought it. She walked away, leaving guys drooling in her wake. I didn't understand some guys, they must've not seen her face.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to hug me, but didn't. I scrunched up my eyebrows at her, "You owe me." I teased, poking her in the side. She yelped and slapped me away.

"You don't have to go." She mumbled, but by the tone of her voice, I knew she really did want to go.

"No, no. I'll go." I pulled her toward me and whispered into her ear. She blushed and Mrs. A came over, practically prying us apart. She went on and on about PDA and then stared at Annabeth with a look, as if she were her mother.

Yet that wasn't possible, because Annabeth's mom had died when she were young.

Mrs. A stomped off, still not happy, and I rose my eyebrows at her. I stared at Annabeth quizzically, as in what the heck just happened?

She shrugged her shoulders, just as confused as I was. Thalia told us bye just after the bell rung. Annabeth frantically picked her tray up, but I took it from her.

"I'll put it up, you go." I promised. She smiled softly at me then kissed me on the cheek, to my surprise. She jumped up in a haste and ran off. I watched her and chuckled softly, dumping our trays.

I pushed past the cafeteria doors and instantly heard voices talking in rushed, hushed tones. As if they were in an argument.

"They have to be there. Do you understand? Ugh, I shouldn't have left you with this, you are such an idiot!" I heard what seemed to be a male quietly scold to the other. I thought about walking around the bend and see who they were, but I wanted to hear their argument more.

"Hey! They're coming, ok? Geez, when did you turn 50?" I heard a female shoot back. I felt chills roll up my spine, because I knew who she was.

Drew.

"Whatever, you don't understand. I'll teach this kid where he lies here. Thinking he can take her from me." I instantly understood who it was, which made this 100x worse.

Luke and Drew were talking about something really bad.

Something they were going to do to Annabeth and me.

I began backing up slowly, feeling numb. I turned and ran, not to soon. Right after I turned a sharp turn, I heard them whispering about someone hearing them, then heard their footsteps. I hurried to Gym, putting full force into my running.

I wasn't really a good runner, but I was something else in the water. But that didn't help right now, to my luck.

Right when I burst into the boys locker room, I didn't even hesitate to change. I still felt a little paranoid, trying to act as if I just hadn't heard their conversation and had been in the locker room the whole time. Some guys gave me weird looks, but I ignored them all.

Inconveniently, Annabeth wasn't in my gym class, but she was in my gym block.

See, our school is overpacked which means we have about five to seven classes in one gym "block" but separated into classes.

My gym teacher was Mr. Mars, the meanest teacher in probably all of the school. See, he hates my guts because when we were playing Volleyball I spiked it and accidentally gave his pet, Clarissa, a concussion. Ever since then he's been trying to give me the hardest things in gym, but I don't really mind, because they aren't that hard.

Annabeth's gym teacher is Mrs. Heart. Every boy in the school thinks she's hot-but don't tell Annabeth I said this or she'd kill me-and says that she has a thing going on with Mr. Mars. But you didn't hear this from me.

I scanned the large gym for Annabeth, and I finally found her. I wove myself around the other bodies of kids and ended up crashing into Annabeth.

"Annabeth, I have to-" I started but interrupted by Drew.

"Hey Annie! C'mon!" She giggled, taking her by the arm and basically dragging her away. I tried to make my way to intercept them, but Nico distracted me.

"Yo, cuz~ I heard you were invited to Drew's party." He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I snorted in disgust.

"I'm only going for Annabeth." I promised.

His eyes widened a little at my response "Oh, no...I didn't mean..Dude, dirty!" He slapped me playfully, having that crazy grin on his face. I rolled my eyes at him, but couldn't help to grin back.

"That's not what I meant...what I meant was...maybe..." He stuttered, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"You wanna come?" I guessed, making it easier for him.

He sighed in relief, "Well, since you're asking, sure." He slapped me on the back.

"Ya, make sure to wear something pretty." I laughed, causing him to crack up.

"Whatever." He panted after we had finished laughing like a couple of goofballs. Thats the thing with me and Nico, we tend to get distracted with our own little worlds.

"Listen up!" Mr. Mars yelled, I could see a vein popping in his neck, straining his voice. "We're playing baseball today, no complaining!" He growled, challenging someone to speak out.

Annabeth rose her hand, her eyes calculating. Mr. Mars looked over to her in irritation, "What!" He hollered as if he were an officer.

"Will we be playing Softball or Baseball? And if so, will we be separated into teams, or by class, or...?" She trailed off, thinking more. I could see a million questions reeling through her head, basically seeing the wheels turning. I couldn't help to smirk, that was so Annabeth.

"How about you be quiet and listen." Mr. Mars sneered.

"She has a good point, really. What will we be playing with, a soft or baseball?" I spoke up, surprised by myself. I almost regretted it, then I remembered I was doing it for Annabeth. Everyone around me instantly scurried away, leaving me in my own personal circle.

He slowly walked over to me, a sneer plastered onto his face. "Jackson, eh? Sticking up for your little girlfriend, I presume. Ha." He laughed, which I've never seen before, and it is quite terrifying, if I might add.

I felt a blush creep up my neck to my face from his comment and heard some snickers in the crowd.

"Now, Now. Let's not pester the boy, he was only asking a question. I think it's sweet how he stuck up for her." Mrs. Heart smiled at me, interest sparkled into her eyes. I regretted being born at that instant.

Mrs. Heart is a gym teacher and counselor, but she prefers to deal with relationships and bug her way into them.

Mr. Mars grunted, turning away from me and going back to Mrs. Heart's side. I let out a sigh of relief I didn't know I had been holding. I felt someone staring at me and saw Luke, a scowl plastered onto his face.

When he saw me looking at him, he smiled coldly. I had the instinct to turn away, but forced myself to glare back at him. I wouldn't back away from him, ever. Even if it was something as stupid as a staring contest.

Luke turned to face forward and we began the normal routine, jumping jacks, stretching, push ups, etc.

After we had ran the complex, we huddled together, waiting to be placed into our groups.

I finally got to talk to Annabeth quietly. "Hey Annabeth, about Drew's party...I don't think it'd be a good ideal to-"

"Annabeth c'mon, Mr. Mars said we could be on the same team!" I cringed at Drew's high pitched voice, she was really starting to get on my nerves.

Annabeth's eyes sparkled overjoyed. "Ok." She smiled so happily I felt my heart beating faster each second. Then she looked back to me, "Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked, I knew she was anticipating to go off with Drew.

"Uh..nothing." I muttered, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. She rose her eyebrows at me but dismissed it and waved goodbye before walking off. I stared after her, a bad feeling setting into the pit of my stomach.

Turned out it was class vs. class. We had 3 baseball fields so it worked out perfectly. Unfortunately, We were against Mrs. Hearts class meaning Annabeth in my case.

If you haven't realized it yet, Annabeth is competitive.

Extremely competitive.

I cursed mentally about it, hoping not to be fully humiliated by Annabeth.

"C'mon, Perce." Rachel snapped me out of my trance, rolling her eyes at me. I looked away sheepishly and jogged over to the team, hearing Rachel mutter something like "boys".

I shrugged it off and walked behind the fence to wait my turn to go. After a while, the score was 6-0 (only because Annabeth's team hadn't gone yet) with one out. I started kicking the fence out of boredom until someone thrusted the bat into my hands.

"You're up, Jackson." Malcolm grunted, as if he'd been trying to get my attention.

I nodded in response and went up to the base, gripping the bat tightly. I tried not to look at Annabeth's smirking face and concentrate, but it kept popping into my head.

Andrew drew his arm back, ready to launch the ball. I kept my eyes on the ball, pretty much glaring at it. When he threw it I heard a loud crack! as the bat connected with the ball. I was staring after it in awe then heard yells behind me.

"What are you doing! Go Percy!" The whole class screamed at me, acting like apes in a cage, rattling the fence.

I flushed in embarrassment and ran full force to first base, where Annabeth was. We locked gazes for a moment before her eyes darted off, looking for the ball.

I stepped onto the base with a smug expression on my face. She glared at me in annoyance. Did I mention how competitive she was?

"Hey Annie." I purred just to annoy her. She rolled her eyes at me and place her hands on her knees as Grover went to bat, waiting for the ball.

"You are so going to get it for that remark." She growled, a smile playing on her lips. I winked at her, which surprised her causing her to blush. I began laughing, then stopped at her evil glare and tried to smother it with a cough.

I heard a small grunt and Grover ran to first base, meaning it was my time to dash to second; I ran eyes not leaving the base as if it could move. I was only a foot away when I felt something hard hit me right in the temple with a loud noise.

I couldn't really feel anything but surprise, wondering what had hit me. I couldn't move my arms to stop my fall as I crumpled to the ground I heard a surprised gasp and lots of footsteps, as if everyone was running at the same time.

Annabeth appeared over me, her eyes wide with fear. I didn't understand why she was looking at me that way, what was wrong? Then it hit me full force, the pain didn't hurt too bad luckily. I grimaced and felt my temple, my head throbbing with pain.

"Oh gods Percy, are you ok? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you!" Annabeth said frantically, demanding someone to get the nurse.

I didn't understand why she was acting like that. It wasn't like I was dying or whatever.

"Anniebeth, I'm fine." I grinned at her, getting a confused look from her. I noticed some of my classmates hovering behind her, and Mrs. Heart was standing on my other side, I think Mr. Mars had gone to get the nurse.

"Percy, no you're no-" Annabeth started, only to be cut off by darkness engulfing me.

Sorry for taking so long guys!

I had some...issues..(painful ones e.e)

I hurt my elbow Dx

Review for a Percy~ :P