Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter!

The next Percy walked into school feeling refreshed in a way he hadn't in a while. He had gotten a good night's sleep, and made a plan on how to deal with the problem with Drew.

He knew he liked Annabeth. He knew that he liked her more than a friend. So why not ask her to the party? Sure, he had never seen her at parties before, and yeah, she may say no, but it would one, enhance their friendship, adding in the possibility it could becoming something more, and two, give him a reason to say 'no' to Drew. And that wasn't easy.

He breathed a deep breath in, and then remembered something. Annabeth's story, it updated today, which meant that she was probably busy. He remembered from last week she went to the art room during her free period, and that she worked in the library frequently, so he wouldn't be able to catch her as easily.

Maybe he could meet her somewhere after school?

That seemed like a good plan. And today, he could just try to avoid Drew. He didn't have to go to swim practice today, since it was a Tuesday, which meant he could just leave the school, talk to Annabeth, and go straight home.

With a deep breath, he got up just as the bell rang, and raced to his locker as to put away his stuff. Then, immediately after, he got to his class in record time. Busying himself with looking of the notes from yesterday's lecture, he highlighted the concepts he didn't understand, and could ask the teacher about. Might as well be a good student while he could, right?

As the class started, Percy's mind didn't wander as it usually did. He tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, no matter how hard that was. Percy's mom had suspicious that he may have had ADHD and dyslexia, but they never got it checked out, they couldn't afford it, and never had enough time.

He lifted up his pencil, and started to write down some notes. With his bad handwriting, probably weren't entirely legible, but at least they were there. The teacher then passed out a worksheet, and explained what they should be doing it.

Percy looked down at the worksheet, and then, suddenly, something clicked. He looked up at the board to be sure, and yes, sure enough, the word "Pop Quiz" was written, loud and clear.

He creased the paper nervously, and wrote his name on the top of it. Looking down at the questions, he assessed he could probably complete the first couple without trouble, but the rest, he was on his own, with no help.

He scrawled messily the answers to the problems slowly but surely above, working through each one as best he could. When he arrived to the questions he had no clue how to answer, he stopped, and took a deep breath.

Thirty minutes later, class was over, and he was sure he'd bombed. Luckily gym was next. That was an easy class for him.

In Gym, they were playing dodgeball, the classic cliche gym game. When you were doing it in high school though, it didn't exactly have the same ring to it. Dodgeball was a middle school thing.

The day went by normally, not too fast or too slow, and because Annabeth wasn't sitting in her usual seat during lunch, Percy sat down with his other friends.

"Well, well, well." One of the guys said, "Looks like you finally decided to show up."

"What do you mean "show up?" I've just been sitting at another table. That doesn't make sense man,"

"Don't get defensive Percy." Another added on. "We were just wondering where you've been?"

He heard Jason laugh. "Guys, lay off of him. He's allowed to sit with however he wants to sit."

"Yeah man, It's a free country, do whatever you wanna do." Leo piped up. "We don't care man, your absence leaves more ladies for us."

Percy laughed at that. Leo always knew how to brighten the situation up. And so, Lunch went by as it had been before he'd started talking to Annabeth. It was nice talking to these guys, sure, they could be idiots sometimes, but they were his friends. Most of them, anyway.

By the time school had ended, Percy had almost forgotten about the whole Drew- Annabeth thing. Almost.

He found her after school, sitting on the same bench she had sat on friday while waiting for her mom, and went over to talk to her.

"Hey." He said, sitting down next to her. "I haven't seen you all day."

"I've been busy," Annabeth said. "Working with the book and stuff. I'll be posting later today."

"Cool," Percy's eyes brightened. "I'm excited. It's going to be awesome, I can tell already."

"Thanks Percy." Annabeth looked down and smiled.

"And-" Here was the hard part. "I was wondering if you would maybe…" He stuttered. "Like to come to Drew's party with me?" He cringed at his words. "As a date, you know, I just- if you don't want to, that's totally fine but-"

Annabeth put her hand over his. "I- I've never been to a party before… I… what would I do?"

Percy felt his stomach drop a bit. Had he been reading her wrong this entire time? "You- you could hangout with me, I could drive you there if you wanted-"

Annabeth was quiet- they both were- for a while. "I-I guess. Yeah- sure. I'll go… You don't need to drive me though… just text me the address." She was quiet again, seeming to have an internal debate in her mind. "I guess that would be good for me, to get out more." She laughed nervously. "Okay."

Percy smiled, but a part of him felt guilty. He should have known this was something Annabeth didn't usually do. Never did, if he was being totally honest.

"Are you sure?" He asked, almost a whisper, "I don't want to discomfort you…"

Annabeth took a deep breath, so much that Percy could hear it clearly from where he was sitting. "I-I can't make any promises I won't bail out last minute, but I can… I can try. Could you give me a ride back though?"

Percy nodded, and felt the part of his stomach that had dropped settle a bit. It was clear she was wary of this, but also wanted to try it out. Percy admired that, and also admired the fact that she told him she might back down.

"As a date right?" Annabeth clarified, another blush slowly forming across her cheeks. "That's what you said?"

A similar blush appeared on Percy's cheeks too. "Yeah. I- Yeah. As a date." I really like you. He thought, but decided against saying.

And then, she smiled, and so did he.

Thanks so much for reading, and for all the support! What do you think Annabeth will do? Go to the party, or stay at home?