Thanks for all the support and reviews guys! Thanks to SeaweedBrain-WiseGirl22, DaughterOfPoseidonxD, GleekPJOFreak, Damon-salvatore-lover15, Names, MushuThePowerful, AlwaysLightThroughTheDarkness, klydo, jahfreenalam, summergirl881, C-Nuggets N.L, candy0304, BlueCottonCandy839, buzzlessbee, iluvfantasy, sarlovesoccer, and Riley Coyote for reviewing! And hooray for spring break so I can write more :) Poll results are Heroes: 5 Friends or Love: 5 Rules of Attraction: 2. For those that do want Rules of Attraction, I'm sorry but your vote won't count unless it's in the poll :/. But I am going to write these stories but course I can't do it all at once. For those that want Heroes of Olympus or who simply love my writing, do you want me to put a prequel to Heroes before or after writing Heroes of Olympus? I'll put up a poll soon so you guys can vote. And by the way, I don't live in Manhattan (unfortunately) and I have no clue how the streets work in there so Percy's address is in the book but maybe not necessarily in Lower Manhattan. I don't know I have no clue.
Wow, that's a pretty long author's note. I'll shut up now so you can read :)
Annabeth
"So 12x plus 9 equals 33. What does x equal?" I asked Bobby and Matthew. I just came back from school and I'm helping them with their homework.
"Um, 2?" guessed Bobby.
"Yep. Great job," I congratulated him. He gave me a small smile and continued with the math.
"So if 5x minus 12 equals-"
A knock on the dorr interupted me. Out of habit, I tucked my pencil behind my ear and started walking from the dining table to the front door. I opened the door to find a familiar person in his leather jacket and a playful smirk on his tanned face.
"Hey, Wise Girl."
I rolled my eyes which gave him a teasing smile on his face.
"Don't you ever quit talking in Greek when not in school?" I asked.
"Nah, it's fun to see people all confused when I'm talking to them in Greek," he replied casually, trying to brush his way past me into the penthouse.
"Whoa, wait a minute, why are you even here?" I asked, blocking his way. "Usually, my mom doesn't like it if I invite anyone in."
"Is she even home?" I shook my head. "I'm here so we can work on our project. Now may I pass?"
"Alright fine," I sighed, moving to let him pass. "Just don't touch anything unless I say it's okay."
He entered the apartment and set his backpack down by the door, speechless at the size. When he heard the door closed, Matthew turned his attention from his homework to Percy.
"Hey, Annabeth, did you break up with Luke yet?" he asked curiously.
"No," I answered, puzzled. "Why?"
"Oh. I was just going to ask if he's your boyfriend. Never mind."
I don't know who was blushing more, me or Percy.
"He's just a friend," I told him, still blushing against my will. "My classmate at school."
"Hey, kiddo," greeted Percy.
"Hi. Hey, could either one of you help me?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he looked at the next math problem.
Before I could go help him, Percy was already ahead of me. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Matthew. Did the guy even get higher than a 65 in math last year?
"Okay, so what are you havin' trouble with?"
"Well, I think the problem says 12x divided by 3 plus 2 equals 4. I'm not sure though because when I try to solve it, the numbers just seem to shuffle up."
'You have dyslexia?"
"Yeah."
"Me too."
I can't help myself for being a bit shocked; I always knew that Percy performed bad at most subjects, but I didn't know it was from having dyslexia. Just like my brothers.
"Actually, I have dyslexia and ADHD, so it's hard for me to concentrate in class," he admitted. "But I had a few of my friends tutor me and I'm okay now."
"Oh. We have Annabeth to tutor us," Bobby mentioned. I felt my cheeks heat up a little as the attention shifted to me.
"Yeah, you're lucky to have a sister to help you," he said, looking intensely at me which made me blush a little more. Looking away, he resumed to help Bobby and Matthew with the rest of his math homework. For a guy with ADHD and dyslexia, he was pretty good at tutoring Bobby. He even managed to explain the problems in such a way that Bobby was able to understand. He's so much more different from Katie and Luke, I thought. They treated Bobby and Matthew as if they're invalids. Percy understand what it feels like.
"So you get it now, right?" Percy asked him.
"Yep," Bobby assured, giving him a big smile. Percy chuckled and ruffled his hair. When I'd do it, he'd normally get annoyed, but he didn't mind when Percy did it.
"Okay, so let's go," Percy said, looking at me.
"Wait, where? Aren't we going to study here?" I asked. He must've enjoyed my bewildered expression because he gave me a small smile.
"We're gonna study somewhere else."
Percy
Last night, I figured that to win this bet, I'd have to break down the wall between Annabeth and me. I needed her to trust me. I knew it'd be difficult, seeing that I'd have to give her a glimpse of my life to see hers. From what I've seen at her place, she wasn't the typical rich, smart, snooty girl I guess she'd be. Once she knows how my life is, she'll know I'm not some typical bad boy. I'm way more complicated than that.
We were riding into Lower Manhattan. A few people stared at us, but after they caught a glimpse of my bandanna, they turned away in fear. I parked in front of my building on One hundred and fourth and First. Annabeth's arm released me and we both got off Blackjack.
"My apartment's that one," I said, pointing to the fire escape with the few flowers my mom planted in the summer.
"That white flower is pretty," she observed, pointing out the only flower that didn't look half dead.
"That's moonlace. Gift from Calypso, a Hunter," I told her, remembering Calypso's kind face as she helped heal my wounds after a Half-Blood knife fight with the Hydras. "She's nice, but nothing more than as a friend."
She nodded slowly, her eyes turning misty with thought as she observed the building. It was pretty small compared to hers which had like hundreds of floors while mine had at least twenty. I wonder what am I to her. A friend? An enemy? Some guy she's just hanging with just 'cause I'm her Greek partner?
"Shouldn't we go inside? It's getting cold," she spoke up, her eyes stormy and focused.
"Sure," I agreed, leading her into the building.
Once I lead her into the apartment, she took her time observing the place. Against the wall was a bookshelf partly filled with a couple of cookbooks, some english textbooks, and two pictures.
"Who's this?" she asked curiously, pointing out the picture with a tall man with black hair and blue-green eyes. I swallowed nervously.
"That's my dad," I choked out, turning away from her so she couldn't see how much it hurt me. "Gods, there was so much blood. I was only six when we lost him. A drug deal."
Silence. I couldn't look at her but I've seen her a bunch of times and I knew how she'd look. Her eyes would be stormy while she thought about what to say next. I could hear the soft swishing of her hair being pushed behind her ear.
"You two look alike," she finally said, her tone showing how nervous she was. Least I managed to chip off a piece off that ice-cold wall of hers.
"Yeah. I get that all the time," I said, still turning away from her. An awkward silence fell upon us for a long time until she was the one to break it.
"Um, we should work on the project."
"Yeah."
I led her to the small dining table and she began taking out books. It was when she took out the Iliad when I said something.
"If you were given the chance to do somethin' over, what would it be?"
She stopped reaching into her bag and looked at me with wary stormy grey clouds.
"Why? What would you do? Bring your dad back?"
"Well, maybe. But I can't help thinkin' what it'd be like if things were different. What if he were alive? People say he was a good man. A good man with shitty luck. Maybe if he were alive, I'd be a different person," I said, suddenly inches away from her breathtaking eyes. I must've leaned in closer without meanin' to. They were misty again, a sign that she was really thinking about it.
"Do you want to kiss me, Percy Jackson? Because I know the look on a guy's face when he wants to and you have that look."
"Wise Girl, I always think about kissin' you," I admitted. Her tongue began to tease me as it flicked over her inviting lips. "If I wasn't a gang member, would you hesitate kissin' me?"
"Maybe, maybe not," she answered, unsure of another answer to give. "But what if it means something?"
"It won't."
"Promise?"
"Yes," I promised, wondering since when was I the one makin' promises I can't keep.
I didn't think she'd believe me until I saw her eyes close and she was leaning in. The second our lips touched I knew I was always going to remember this kiss. I kept kissing her softly and gently while cupping her cheek, feeling her smooth skin against my rough fingers. My tongue lightly brushes against her lips, begging for her mouth to open. A satisfied sigh escapes her mouth as if she's content with this kiss and soon, her tongue met mine. Our mouths and tongues danced in a hot, slow rhythm. The dance didn't seem to end even as the front door opened.
Too soon, Annabeth pulled away quickly, flipping to a random page in the Iliad and I caught a glimpse of Nico standing bug-eyed, my mom with her eyebrows raised, and someone hiding behind Nico.
"Nico, go to your room and take Jason with you too. Perseus, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she said, her face unreadable which somewhat was a good sign since when I usually bring girls here, her face is skeptical and practically saying "You better not do anything stupid".
"I'm Annabeth, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth introduced herself, shyly stretching out her hand. Surprisingly, she took her hand and shook it.
"You seem like a good girl. I hope you keep him out of trouble. And call me Sally."
"Yes, ma'am, I mean, Sally."
"Percy, when you're done taking Annabeth home, I want you to meet your new adoptive brother Jason."
"'Kay, Mom."
After that weirdly good intro, I led Annabeth out of the building.
"She seemed friendly," she admitted.
"Are you kiddin'? All the other girls she met, she sent most of them runnin' to Hades," I pointed out hoping she'd laugh, but she wasn't looking at me.
"That kiss meant something," she said quietly.
"Why does it matter?"
"I have a boyfriend."
"So? What's the big deal about him anyway?" I demanded, my voice raising as it did when I'm angry. Right now I'm angry and frustrated. Frustrated that she kept hiding away, that she has a dickhead of a boyfriend, that this was turning out to be more than just winning a bet. "He treats you like some prize."
"You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
She spun around, her storm clouds darkening. I liked that the guarded expression she had disappeared. I really wanted, no needed, to break down that wall of hers.
"Luke and I may not have been the perfect couple, but so many girls wanted him and out of all of them, he chose me. And he's a great guy, mind you, a guy that any girl would be proud dating. If I break up with him for stupid reasons, it'll hurt my pride."
"Is your pride really worth that much to you?"
She brought her face up to mine really closely and I got a look at her eyes. They looked tough and fierce at first but when I looked again, I could see innocence, sadness, and a girl wishing to be set free from her life.
"Yes. Yes it does."
A bit short I'll admit but I'll work on making the next one longer and better! I'm super excited for Annabeth's POV of the next chapter and yes 2 more chapters till Luke and Annabeth's breakup! not much Percabeth in the next chapter but possibly some in the breakup chapter :) keep reviewing everyone!