Chapter 10: Friday

Percy's POV

Annabeth didn't get mad at me, and she told me it wasn't my fault. But I still felt bad because Lexi had cried. I was hoping to be able to apologize when we got to school today, but I didn't see her anywhere. I felt bad as we headed to class.

"Cheer up, maybe she'll be okay when you have class with her. Or maybe she'll feel better at the foitball game if you still want to go." Annabeth said.

"I wouldn't worry about Lexi, she likes you so much that she'll get over it the next time she sees you." Jack told me.

When I saw Lexi in Math class, I gave her a hug and apologized.

"It's okay, it was my fault." She still seemed upset.

"Do you still want to go to the football game? I'm still going." I assured her.

"You don't have plans with Annabeth?" Lexi wondered.

"I invited her. Jack was planning on going with is too, remember?" I said.

"Whatever." She shrugged.

There was no weird stuff happening at school for the first time that week, so I just hoped we could get through the football game the same way. I decided to go see Chronos again, to get a lesson on how to use the pocket watches. Annabeth and I mailed ourselves in the same box as last time, and Jason and Grover were once again there to help carry us to Hermes for mailing. I guess Jason came back on the weekends to see Piper.

"Another clock from Zeus to Chronos?" Hermes sounded confused.

"Chronos has a thing with clocks, and he asked Zeus to keep the clocks coming." Jason lied.

"The old grandfather clocks are pretty cool." Grover added.

"Alright, give me the box then." Hermes grabbed our box.

We were once again on a conveyor belt and suddenly plopped onto the floor. I cut us out of the box with Riptide.

"I think that was more entertaining the second time." Chronos smiled.

"Can you please train us now?" I asked.

"I'd really appreciate it." Annabeth begged.

Chronos laughed and showed us some of what we needed to know.

"Thanks." Annabeth and I grinned.

"Of course." Chronos snapped his fingers and returned us to my apartment.

Annabeth and I got ready to go to the game. I gave Annabeth one of the jackets I bought at school, and I wore the other one. As we got to the game, I realized that there were a lot more people in the crowd than usual. It wasn't a special game aside from the fact that it was a home game, so I thought it was weird.

"Hey, I just thought of something. Football player Jordon with an O liked you, and so did the other Jordan with an A. You attract J names! Jackson, Jordon, Jordan..." I teased.

"Explain Luke." Annabeth countered.

"Does he have a middle name with a J in it?" I asked.

"No." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Pick another letter."

"N! We all have N's as the last letter of our names!" I exclaimed.

"Only in yours and Luke's last names. And the other two only have it in their first names. But I'll give you credit for it anyway." Annabeth smirked.

We found Jack and Lexi waiting for us with some seats saved.

"I hope we win this game. I'm sick of the other team beating us." Jack shouted over the crowd.

"But the swim team always wins." I reminded him. "So we still have our dignity."

"Always the positive one." Lexi rolled her eyes.

"I'm not into football anyway. Plus, it gets confusing because what we call football is actually called soccer in other countries and vice versa. America is so weird." Annabeth laughed.

"And you're just full of fun trivia." I poked her nose. "Thanks to your Statue of Liberty trivia, Clarisse thought I was a nerd until I explained to her that you constantly talk about it."

"Who's Clarisse?" Lexi asked.

"She used to bully Percy, then they became friends." Annabeth was vague.

We watched as our team just barely kept in the lead until half time. Then I saw something unusual. Mrs. O' Leary was chasing some hellhounds near the field, but no one seemed to notice.

"I thought Mrs. O' Leary was spending some time in the Underworld with Nico and the other hellhounds." Annabeth said.

"So did I." I ran down to her.

Annabeth followed and we reached Mrs. O' Leary as she was growling at the other hellhounds.

"Mrs. O' Leary." I said.

She turned and jumped on me, licking my face.

"Okay, okay, I get it." I pushed her off.

The other hellhounds were growling at Annabeth.

"Do you have the red ball?" I asked.

"No, Cerberus stole that." Annabeth reminded me.

They looked about ready to pounce. There was a red football sitting on one of the benches. I picked it up.

"Hey, look at the ball." I showed the hellhounds.

They immediately stopped and stared. I threw the ball and they ran after it, fighting each other for it.

"Run!" I yelled at Annabeth.

She immediately ran for the school, not wanting to risk the stands. The hellhounds suddenly lost interest in the ball and ran after Annabeth.

"Mrs. O' Leary, stop them from hurting Annabeth!" I yelled.

She immediately started growling and trailed after Annabeth.

Annabeth's POV

I ran like hell to get away from the hellhounds. No pun intended. I got inside of the boy's locker room, because there was an entrance on the outside that was unlocked for the game. I ran straight past the football players and coach, through the gym, and into the main part of the school. I decided that the detention classroom, which had no windows, would be a perfect place to hide. I shut the door behind me as I reached it. I panted and laid my back against the door. Then there was banging on the door, so I pulled out my drakon bone sword.

"Hey, Annabeth. Are you in there?" A familiar voice asked.

I put the drakon bone sword back in my pocket and opened the door. It was football player Jordon.

"What do you want?" I sighed in mild relief.

"I would ask why you ran through the boy's locker room, but Lexi asked me to do this." He suddenly pinned me against the wall with a kiss.

I tried to push him away, but he was already pinning my hands. Then he suddenly fell over. Percy was standing there with the hilt of his sword aimed at Jordon.

"Trying to make me jealous, are you?" He panted.

"Seriously?" I said.

"I was only trying to lighten the mood." He shrugged. "I got rid of the hellhounds. Mrs. O' Leary killed some, and I stabbed the others."

"I think Jordon just confirmed the evil mastermind." I said.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"He said Lexi told him to kiss me." I admitted.

"I started to suspect after I dropped her off yesterday, but she's mortal, so how does that work?" He looked confused.

"I'm not mortal, you idiot." Lexi walked in.

"Hey, only I can call him idiot." I glared at her.

"I'd rather not be called idiot at all." Percy said.

"I'm not mortal, I'm a demigod. A Daughter of Hecate." Lexi looked annoyed.

"At least we can explain the magic part now." Percy cocked his head.

"That's not the point! I've liked you since you started going here, and you never noticed me or my powers! Why can you notice her and not me?!" Lexi got angry.

"Because I met Annabeth first. Besides, shouldn't you know how clueless I am by now? And if you've ever read Olympus Weekly, you'd know that we've liked each other a long time, and we started dating a year ago. Why break us up now? We've been through Tartarus together, so do you really think we'd leave each other over some stupid pranks?" Percy ranted.

"I never fit in anywhere, with anyone, and when I finally do, he picks the blonde!" Lexi was enraged.

"For Gods' sakes, she's not just the blonde! She's smart, funny, nice, pretty, bad ass with weapons, and multiple other things! She's my first kiss, first girlfriend, and first time. Not to mention how many good and bad experiences we've shared. So I'm nit going to leave her just because you want me to. Besides, you're blonde too!" Percy countered. "You have one chance to still be my friend, but only if you stop trying to break us up. I'm never leaving her, and I can introduce you to people who you'd fit in with. Your cabin, my friend Hazel, even your mom if you don't already know her! Just leave Annabeth out of it. If you would've killed her, I would've gladly died with her!"

It made me fell happy to hear Percy say all those nice things about me. Lexi looked tired and confused.

"You know people like me?" Lexi asked.

"We finished making a cabin for children of Hecate a year ago, and my friend Hazel was trained to use the mist by your mom. I've even met your mom." Percy said.

"He's telling the truth." Hecate was suddenly standing next to me. "I'll even train you the way I did for Hazel. You have no idea how many Olympians favor Annabeth and Percy's relationship. Aphrodite even decided to stop purposely messing with their relationship."

"I'd even try to be friends with you if you stop trying to kill me and stop trying to get rid of me." I offered.

Lexi looked nervous. "I could try..."

We all sighed with relief.

"Oh, and Aphrodite told me to tell you that Jack is interested in you. Romantically." Hecate looked at Lexi.

"He is?" Lexi looked confused.

"He gets nervous about it, and he knows you like me, so he doesn't ask." Percy added.

"Maybe I'll talk to Jack." Lexi left the room.

"What do we do with Jordon?" Percy stared at Jordon.

"I can make him forget about Lexi asking him to kiss Annabeth, and that he actually did it." Hecate suggested. "Besides, half time's almost over."

"Please do it." I begged.

Hecate did something, then she snapped her fingers and started to look like the football coach. I think she was using the mist. Jordon woke up and groaned as he felt where Percy hit him.

"What are you doing boy! This is no time for napping! Get back out on that field!" Hecate acted like the coach.

Jordon immediately got up and ran for the field. Hecate snapped her fingers and looked lime herself again.

"Awesome." Percy grinned. "Can you show me how to do that?"

"I'll take it into consideration." Hecate said before she disappeared.

"Let's go back out and watch the football game. I want to feel at least slightly normal." I suggested.

So we went back out and watched the game finish. Our team narrowly won, and Lexi was holding Jack's hand through the rest of the game.