Wow. Double digits wooooooo!

I'm sorry I didn't update last week like I was going to, but I was on school camp. And then I got sick. On camp. In the cold. And wet. And...well, you get the idea. I was also focusing on my other story for a while. If you haven't already, you should check it out. It's more popular than this one.

I won't be writing very much this weekend because my brain has totally gone to much, but I will be back and at 'em before you know it!

This chapter is dedicated to Ellise (Guest). I totally love your reviews! You should totally grab yourself an account and we can chat about random stuff...I dunno. Just a thought.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson...Annabeth Chase does

CHAPTER 10

"That was delicious Sally," I said, finishing my pasta. If I could learn to cook half as good as this I'd be happy.

"Why thank you dear," she said as she picked up her dishes and took them into the kitchen.

I grabbed mine and Percy's empty plates and followed her. "Let me help you with that," I offered.

Sally smiled at me. "If only Percy would be this polite; he never does the dishes." She shook her head, and said, "But no, you and Percy should do something. The poor boy has been so lonely since Annabeth went back to San Francisco. I'm trying to convince her father to let her come and stay here for the school year, but I think it'll take longer than I thought."

"Does Percy know?" I asked her as I handed her a tea towel.

"Of course not," Sally said. "It's a surprise. Besides, I didn't want to get his hopes up."

I nodded. "So," I began, "do you know Annabeth well?"

Sally's eyes lit up and she smiled broadly. "Of course I do, dear. She almost lives here when she comes to New York," she gushed. "–and such a lovely girl. Very polite and very smart. With her help, Percy got an 'A-' on his history test. We were so proud."

I stood there and listened to Sally talk about Percy and Annabeth. After a while, I actually caught on to what she was saying. Before that, it was quite a blur.

"– two of the most oblivious people in the world; everyone knew they liked each other – except for each other of course – and everyone tried to get them together, I don't know how many times they tried to set them up. After their friends found out about that date-not-date-gone-wrong when they were fourteen, they knew that they liked each other. They always acted like an old married couple anyway. They would always stick up for each other and argue almost all the time, but they were never serious about it; they might not talk for a few days, but they always make up in the end.

"They are like polar opposites – Percy's father and Annabeth's mother hate each other, she's always organised and he's very, how do I say this," Sally paused. "Not. I guess polar opposites really do attract.

"I even began a wedding scrapbook for them…" Sally stopped abruptly. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that," she admitted.

"I won't tell anyone," I said. Then I sighed and smiled. "I honestly feel like I've known these two forever; all Percy ever talks about is Annabeth. He carries a picture of her in his pocket. I wish I could see her this weekend, but Mom and I are going to Florida to visit my grandparents."

"Such a shame. I'm sure Annabeth would love to meet you," Sally said. "Keep an eye out for her at Goode. You never know when she might turn up."

"Sure, Sally," I said as she looked at the clock.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed. "I've kept you here for ages. Go and do something before Percy takes you home."

Sally was right. It was already seven o'clock; I had to be home in an hour.

"Yeah, thanks Sally."

"Your mom is awesome," I said to Percy, who was in the living room. As I sat down on the couch next to him, he looked up from his workbook with his eyes wide.

"What did she do?" he asked. "She told you the rubber ducky story, didn't she? I knew I should have told her to – "

"Percy," I said, cutting him off from his rambling. "Your mom never told me about a rubber ducky, but I'm more than willing to listen…" I trailed off as I saw Percy's mortified expression.

"Well, this is embarrassing," he muttered, gesturing for me to sit next to him on the couch. "What was she talking about?"

"She told me about you and Annabeth," I said. "She really does sound wonderful. When does she get here? You said she was staying for the weekend."

Percy smiled widely. "Yeah, her flight comes in at twelve thirty I think. I'll go pick her up and bring her back here by one thirty and then we'll go and visit her mom." He wrinkled his nose and shivered.

"Yesterday, you said that her mom doesn't like you very much," I noted. "Why?"

"That," Percy said, "is a very good question. I suppose it's because she hates my father, the ongoing feud and that I'm, and I quote, 'An insolent little sea spawn that cannot do anything besides ogle at my daughter with moony eyes!'"

"You're joking, right?" I asked. Percy shook his head and sighed.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p'. "I've honestly lost count of the times she's tried to break us up."

"Well that's very friendly," I said. Please note the sarcasm.

"Eh," Percy shrugged, turning back to his music paper. "We've been through worse."

"Fair enough," I said as I picked up the television remote. After flicking through several stations, I settled on David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood.

"What is this?" Percy asked as he closed his workbook and turned his attention to the TV. He jerked a little when a lizard snapped up a fly with his tongue. I laughed.

"Attenborough," I answered.

Percy frowned. "Why?"

"There's nothing else on," I said. "Besides, I like this show."

"We have over forty channels! There must be something else on." With that, he took the remote from my hand and went through literally all the stations on the television. Eventually, he returned to Attenborough and said "No, you were right. There is nothing on."

I rolled my eyes and thought I told you so.

After about twenty minutes of silently watching, our ADHD got the better of us. Percy started tapping his foot on the floor, wringing his hands, and I was fingering a violin scale on my knee. I had my first orchestra rehearsal of the year on Thursday, and I didn't want to be out of practice.

After another thirty seconds, Percy let out a loud groan.

"I can't stand this!" he exclaimed. "It's too quiet and I'm not doing anything."

I smiled. "I've got an idea," I said like I was talking to a little kid. Mind you, Percy's not too much different that any pre-schooler that I've met. "Let's do something."

"What?"

"I dunno," I said, flipping my bangs out of my eyes. I really needed a haircut. "We could play a game, do stupid dances to eighty's disco music, or look at your baby pictures."

"No no no!" Percy gushed. I smirked at him.

"Well, unless you have anything better to do…"

Percy put on his thinking face. He smiled and said, "So, you said you were going to visit your grandparents this weekend?"

I laughed. "Only you Percy, only you."

He sat there looking at me for a while before I realised that he was waiting for me to start talking.

"Oh, well, on Saturday morning, mom and I are catching a flight to Florida." I saw Percy shudder. "Don't like planes huh?" He shook his head. "Me either. The last time I was on a plane was when mom and I moved from Washington to Idaho, and then from Idaho to here."

"Wow," Percy said. "You've moved a lot."

"Yeah," I said. "I had to find schools that would take me. I've really built up a reputation."

"Tell me about it," Percy said. "I was chased by the cops when I was twelve for supposedly kidnapping my mom and blowing up St. Louis Arch or something. Gabe made this speech on the news about how I was a trouble maker and a delinquent punk and everything. I got him back though."

"How?" I asked. This was getting interesting.

"See, he used to own an appliance store of some sort, and when I got interviewed in Los Angeles, I told the whole city, on camera, the number for his store saying that he'd reward everyone who called with a free gift of major value. Ahh, good times."

"You sir," I said, poking Percy in the shoulder, "are terrible." I laughed. "Well done though."

"It was fun while it lasted," he said. "Anyway, where are you going?"

"We're going back to Florida, where Mom grew up. She moved to New Jersey to go to college I was born there. We moved around quite a lot, so I only really get to see Nan and Pa when they visit and sometimes if Mom and I take a train. But that's only in the holidays; we don't really have much time on our hands. We didn't get to see them this summer because Mom couldn't get time off work, but we're free this weekend, so we're taking a plane."

Percy frowned. "I hate planes," he mumbled.

We laughed together and I traced the rips in my jeans. Just then, Sally walked in to the lounge room and coughed loudly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Gabby, you have to be home in fifteen minutes."

My eyes grew wide when she said this; Mom was going to kill me!

"Perce," I said. "We're leaving." I got up from the couch and picked up my bag. I walked up to Sally to say goodbye and she gave me a hug. When I looked back at Percy, I saw that he hadn't moved. "Percy, now!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" He scrambled about, straightened his papers and quickly kissed his mother goodbye, before grabbing his car keys from the kitchen bench.

"Bye Mom," Percy called.

"Hurry up Percy!" I yelled as I opened his apartment door. I grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the door and down the flight of stairs.

"Ow! Gabby that hurt!" I dragged him out of the apartment building and toward his car.

"That's kinda the idea Perce," I said as he unlocked the doors of his truck. He turned on the engine and after a couple of tries, he got it going. He turned out into the bustling traffic of New York and I cranked up the radio to some Linkin Park and leaned back in my seat. This is the life.

We sat in silence for a while, but the quietness was loudly interrupted by Percy's car groaning in a way that I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to. It hiccupped and creaked and Percy pulled over to the side of the road just in time for his car to start spewing a dark cloud of smoke.

"Oh crud," Percy said as the engine whirred and grinded to a halt.

"I take it that that wasn't supposed to happen," I sighed. I got out of the car and went around to the bonnet of the car, which was blackened with the smoke. I lifted it up and covered my face with my hands as I was greeted by a rush of hot air. I took a quick look at the engine and groaned. It was completely busted.

"Hey Perce," I called out. He stuck his head out of the window. "This car isn't going anywhere soon. You'll have to call your mom or something. A tow-truck would be good as well."

Percy groaned and opened his door muttering curses under his breath. "Can I use your phone?" he asked. "I kinda…well…um…left it at home?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"You mean you don't have one," I said flatly.

"Pretty much," he replied.

"I'll call Mom first and then you can call a tow truck or something," I said as I walked around to my side of the car and rummaged around in my bag for my phone. I called Mom and waited for her to pick up. It rang once, twice, thrice before she finally answered.

"Gabby? Where are you? It's getting late," Parents, I thought, so protective.

"I'm fine Mom," I said. "Apart from the fact that Percy and I are stranded without a working car in a New York ditch, everything's hunky dory."

"What?" Mom asked, starting to sound a little stressed out. "Backtrack a little bit. Where are you?"

"Uhhh, hang on a sec." I held my hand to the receiver end of the phone and yelled out to Percy "Yo Perce! Where are we?"

He looked around for a signpost and, when he couldn't see one, just shrugs and says, "Across the road from Starbucks."

Like that was going to help, I thought and shook my head. To Mom, I said, "We're across the road from that shoe store you like. The one with the matching belts or whatever."

"Oh," she breathed. "I'll come and pick the two of you up. I'll be there in five."

She hung up and I handed the phone to Percy. "Mom's coming to rescue us. She'll be here in a couple of minutes. Call a tow-truck or your mom or something."

Percy nodded and took the phone from my hand. I heard him have a small conversation with his mom, and then with the guy for the tow-truck. By the sound of it, there wouldn't be one available until tomorrow. Yay.

"Gab," Percy called. "Bad news. We're gonna have to leave the car here. I called Mom and she said that she'll call Paul to come and get me on his way home from that conference. I texted her your address. Cool?"

"Yeah," I looked at him and said, "Wow. My English teacher is coming to my house. Weird much?"

"Not as weird as him living with you," he retorted.

"Touché," I said.

I turned away and saw my mom's car turn around the corner. She stopped in front of us, rolled down the window and said, "Hey, do you kids need a ride?"

I know that Gabby totally overreacted, but what the hey.

Chapter 9 Poll results: Leo was the most popular! I was actually really surprised... O.o

This poll:

Who do you think has the least chance of survival in the Giant War?

a) Percy

b) Annabeth

c) Jason

d) Piper

e) Leo

f) Frank

g) Hazel

h) Nico

I don't want any of them to die :'( C'mon guys...you're gonna make it, you have to pull through!

Reviews would be wonderful!