A/N: He he he... Sorry I disappeared on you guys there for a bit. If you follow my Tumblr, you'll know I had a terrible week, so I'm really sorry! I'm making it up to you though! Enjoy!


Annabeth stopped inches away from Luke's car and pressed herself up against the sun-baked door. The wig blocked out the light that tried to sneak in through her closed eyes and the darkness calmed her a bit. She caught her breath, panting as she realized what could have just happened.

That was close. Too close. If Percy had so much as got a good a glance at her face, it would have been Game Over - Fatality. Her heart refused to stop pounding in her throat, especially since she had sprinted half a mile back to the parking lot. She swallowed thickly and turned when she heard Luke.

"Hey!" He was jogging up after her, a little winded and concern etched in his forehead. "I know you love your homework and all but would it kill you to slow down?"

"I'm sorry… I just had to get out of there."

Luke relaxed to a walk and came to her. She could smell his spicy deodorant when he jutted his thumb over his shoulder. "We forgot your cinnamon roll back there."

"That's okay. I'm not hungry anymore."

"My Annie? Not hungry? You're someone else entirely," he grinned, nudging her with his elbow.

His Annie. She knew he was joking, but it still made her blush. The fact that he even paid attention to her, especially when he had so many girls his own age to care about, made her feel special. A spark of hope reignited in her belly.

"Did you know those guys or something? Were they giving you a hard time?"

Annabeth took a moment to figure out if it was safer to lie or tell the truth. But Luke broke the silence.

"An ex?"

"No," she said, relaxing her shoulders a bit. "It's nothing."

Luke didn't look convinced, like she was trying to avoid the situation, which she totally was. She decided it was better for him to believe exactly what he wanted to. He watched her carefully then circled around the front of his car.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get you home."

Annabeth nodded and took an extra moment to gather herself. With a deep breath, she sighed in the fresh air and squared off her shoulders. She was stronger than this. She was going to be okay.

Luke drove them down the street, past the coffee shop where she just barely spotted Percy and the others still inside. As if she was on a rollercoaster, her heart leapt for a moment.

Luke flipped on the radio while Annabeth stared at her knees and pulled at the hem of her skirt. She was in the getaway car and Luke was the unknowing accomplice. To be perfectly honest with herself, it was a little bit of a rush, like she had pulled off a heist.

Luke's car smelled nice, like new, as if it had rolled right out right out of the dealership. It was clean too - tons cleaner than Percy's. It helped that it probably had less than two thousand miles on it.

"Yeah," he explained when she noted, driving with one hand on the wheel and the other out the window. "Dad bought it for me, like he's trying to buy something else with it. My respect or whatever."

Annabeth smiled weakly. Though Luke liked to complain about his father being away all the time, he didn't mind taking advantage of the benefits.

"Helps with the girls too," he added with a wink. "One in particular."

Annabeth's stomach plunged into an ice bucket. Girlfriend. "Oh." Annabeth hid her disappointment by rummaging in her borrowed backpack and pulling out her phone.

Luke mistook that as approval. "You'd like her. I met her in my econ class."

Annabeth strained to simper and texted Piper that she was on the way. She didn't trust herself to say anything.

He glanced at her sideways. "So what about you? Any boys you got your eye on?"

Annabeth pursed her lips, and pushed them into a pout.

Luke chuckled, that belly laugh that she had grown to like so much. "So that's a yes?"

Annabeth squinted at him, playing along even though it hurt a lot more than she cared to admit. She dropped her phone into her lap and punched him in the arm.

"Ow," he half-laughed, half-whined.

"That's for being a jerk."

"Fair enough."


"Say hi to your dad for me," Luke said, when they hugged goodbye one final time as they stood in front of the gates of Herald.

The inside of his elbow was tugging on Annabeth's wig again, but he let go before it would fall. He held her at arm's length and squeezed her shoulders.

"I will," she assured, patting her headband back into place.

He smiled at her, warm and lovingly. It was only now she realized it was because he saw her more like a younger sister.

Of course he did.

"Go on. Don't let me keep you from your homework," he said, dropping his hands down to his sides.

"Have fun in Greece."

He grinned. "I'll take a picture of the Parthenon for you."

The last she saw of him were the flaring red tail lights of his Corvette growling into the distance.


"How'd it go?" Piper asked once they had made it back to her room.

Annabeth pulled the wig from her head and scratched her fingers into her short hair. It had been as itchy as the Christmas sweater her grandmother used to make her wear every year.

Piper plopped down on the side of her bed at attention, eyes eager. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt that hung off one shoulder and pajama pants. What looked like a script was lying beside her. She had probably been memorizing her lines while Annabeth was out.

"It was -" Annabeth took a beat before saying, "fine."

"What happened with Percy?"

"He didn't recognized me."

Piper put a hand to her chest and sighed. "Thank God. I screamed so loud, Reyna - my RA - came running. I thought you said he was at swimming!"

"I thought he was too. Something must have happened."

"No kidding."

Annabeth smiled. "If it wasn't for your phone call, I probably wouldn't be here talking to you right now."

"And Luke didn't suspect a thing?"

"No. I'm clear on that end."

Annabeth ran her hand through her hair again, welcoming the coolness of the breeze from the open window against the back of her neck. She took a seat at Piper's desk and laid the wig on top of it.

"So is he your boyfriend or something?" Piper asked.

"Who, Luke? No - no…"

"From the way you talked about him, I just -"

"Yeah, no. It's not like that." At least not for him.

Her crush was only that, a crush - more like a crushing weight. She felt like a silly eleven year old girl again, and that made her red-faced with shame. Why she ever thought she had a chance, she'd never know.

"He dated my friend Thalia a while back," Annabeth continued. "But then the Great Breakup of 2012 hit and… well, let's just say I felt like the only child in the middle of a tug-o-war between divorced parents. All three of us used to be friends when I was in middle school. He's more like family now, I guess."

Piper watched her, chewing on the inside of her cheek with thought.

"Is it hard?" she asked.

"What?"

"Being… doing all of this, rather? Like, for me, I can come home every night and switch off. For you though… Don't you get tired? "

"Exhausted really. You help though."

Piper smiled. She got up and went to her desk and picked up the wig. "This looked good on you. You keep it."

"No, I couldn't possibly -"

"I'm serious. I'm no good as a blonde. Besides, you could use it more than I do."

"Thanks, Piper."

"Anytime. So! Since you're back so early, want to grab dinner or something?"

"I really should get going," Annabeth said as she stood and started unzipping the skirt. "But how about next week?"

"Maybe Jason and Percy can come along. Double date?"

Annabeth gave her a look.

"Well, fine then just a date plus two bros. Bro-in' out. Bromance. Broship."

Annabeth couldn't help but laugh.


Annabeth packed Piper's uniform into her duffle, standing in front of the mirror once again in her usual Bolt uniform. Andy Chase was back.

"Seriously," Piper said. "I can wash my own clothes. I'm not totally useless."

"I know you're not, but it's the least I could do, especially after you saved my butt. Besides I forgot to get you something at Hestia's. This my way of thanks."

Piper smiled and hugged her. "You have a safe walk home, alright?"

"Don't worry. I'm a guy now."

"Still," Piper said. "Text me when you're there."

Text… Annabeth pulled away. She put her hands to her pockets, then rummaged through her bag.

"Have you seen my phone?" she asked.

Piper looked around. "No. Did you have it when you came in?"

Annabeth went wide-eyed with realization. "Shit."


Luke drove down the road, the radio playing softly as he cruised up to a stop light. Idling, he waited for the green and glanced down when he noticed a glint of metal. On the floor of the passenger's side was Annabeth's phone.

He leaned over and picked it up. She had been so upset earlier for some reason, she must have dropped it and didn't notice.

The light turned and Luke took the car right instead of left toward the highway. He had to give Annabeth her phone back.

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up to the drive, parked, and hurried out. She was probably worried that she had lost it.

Luke buzzed the intercom button at the gate. A woman's voice answered.

"Yes?"

"I'm here to see Annabeth Chase. I have her phone."

There was a pause on the intercom. "I'm sorry. Who are you asking for?"

"Annabeth Chase. She's a senior."

The sound of paper shuffling and the woman sighing was all he heard on the other side. "I'm sorry, sir. But I have no one here by that name."

"Can you check again?"

"Sir..."

"She just walked in! She's blonde, about five-nine, wearing a headband."

"I think you must be confused."

Luke furrowed his brow. Maybe Annabeth was attending under another name - her mother's maiden name? But that would be ridiculous. That woman had left only a month after Annabeth was born.

"Am I going to have to call security?" the woman on the intercom said.

"No, thank you," he said, curtly.

He stepped away from the intercom and looked at Annabeth's phone. Her cityscape lock screen was very tempting to hack into. He could call her contacts, maybe find out where she was. He swiped the screen and found the keypad. He tried a series of easy codes like four ones, four zeroes, and one-two-three-four - no luck. Of course, Annabeth was too clever for something like that.

He was about to try again when he saw the front door to the main dorm open. Two people were deep in conversation.

"He'll probably mail it to you. It's too late to ask him for it now."

"I can't believe I lost it…"

One of them he recognized was Piper, who had stopped mid-step and grabbed the hand of the one standing next to her, that one being… He did a double-take.

"Annie?" he asked, though he couldn't believe it.

Annabeth was frozen on the other side of the gate, shock strewn across her face. Why she was wearing the uniform of the all-boys academy, why she had cut her hair, why she couldn't be found in the school records - it made heat burn on the back of his neck.


Luke wasn't saying anything, and that freaked Annabeth out. He had been quiet the whole way as they walked together back to Bolt, checked into the campus, and even as he stood in the middle of Annabeth's room. His eyes scanned everything - over her bed, to Percy's desk, into the shared bathroom. She could feel the air around them, tense and heavy, and Annabeth struggled to find words of her own.

"Please, say something," she whimpered.

More silence. He took a long time, standing a still as a statue. She could practically see his thoughts turning over and over in his head, folding in on themselves as he tried to comprehend just what he was seeing. There was bewilderment there and confusion, but mostly something else that hurt.

"What do you want me to say?" He glared at her over his shoulder, his hands balled into fists as his sides. "How could you do something like this?"

"I'm just - I wanted to -"

"Wanted to what? Lie?"

"I'm not lying, I'm just… hiding the truth."

Luke spun to face her. "Do you have any idea how unbelievably stupid this is? This isn't a game, Annabeth. This is dangerous."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I do, but that's my problem! I trusted you to not lie to me."

Annabeth went red and looked away. "Maybe that's exactly why I hid it from you because I knew you'd act like this!"

Luke stood straighter. "Is that what you think of me?"

"Am I wrong?"

He shook his head, like he was trying to clear it and walked to her desk. He picked up one of her books and flipped through a few pages. He dropped it back down, letting it smack flat on the table, and sighed.

"Why?" he pleaded. "What are you trying to prove?"

"Everything! I want to prove to myself that I can do this, that I can be the best!"

Luke rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "And you couldn't do it as yourself?"

"Herald just isn't as focused! Their program isn't what I needed. Bolt's program is."

"So you're going to keep this up forever?"

Annabeth didn't know. All she did know was that she wanted to achieve her dream, as Andy or Annabeth. "How many famous architects can you name that are women?"

"Annabeth…"

"They aren't taken as seriously. Niemeyer, Graves, Wright, Tange, Soleri, Burnham… All men!"

"You sound insane."

It was Annabeth's turn to get angry. "You don't think I can do it?"

"No! I think you can, and that's what makes me so angry!"

"Then let me stay!"

"What do you think would happen to you if these guys found out you're a girl? Do you think they'd laugh and let it go?"

"They're not like that!"

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm also careful. I'm safe."

"People are cruel and single-minded and…" Luke softened a touch. "You lied on your transcripts. You lied on your legal documents. You could go to jail, Annabeth. This is serious."

Tears burned on the back of her eyes, but she blinked and refused to let them fall. She knew what was coming next.

"I'm taking you home," he said, with finality.

"Please, Luke -"

"Before this gets out of control, you're leaving. Tonight."