The Hidden Hero

It was eight, and as always, Perseus Jackson was late at school. Sometimes, it was just he wasn't ready, other times, he just did it on purpose.

At Camp Half-Blood, he may be a hero but here, at school, he was what people considered a 'looser'. Why? Because he had refused to sit with the 'popular' on his first day of school, and because once he had been erased from everybody's memory while he was gone for eight months, refused to take his hood off.

He had few friends, who didn't know him that well and that had never seen his real face. Only one, a beautiful, athletic and smart girl, Annabeth Chase. She often got asked why she stayed with the boy but either she didn't answer, either she said they didn't know him.

There were rumors that he was so ugly he kept it up to hide his horrid face. Other said he was so fat he tried to cover it up with a baggy hoodie, Always the same, a grey one. He barely talked, didn't get good grades except in biology and in Greek.

Like every break, the couple was sitting on a bench, when David, the school's most popular boy came and walked towards them.

"Hey Annabeth! Want to go see a movie with me tonight."Without even waiting for an answer, he continued. "Of course, you do! See you after school. My parents aren't home." he suggested.

Annabeth had a look of pure disgust painted on her face. "Of course not! I have a boyfriend; he's sitting next to me! Can't you see him."

"What? That thing? You would rather go out with this ugly freak rather than me." He gestured to his body, which was quit muscled, his eyes opened in surprise. Nowhere in his head had he considered she would refuse.

"You will regret this, slut" he spat. Percy immediately got up and pushed himself against David. "Don't you dare insult Annabeth. Never. You can insult me all you want but never, never do that to her." he threatened, as the sky turned darker.

"What will you do. Call your mom." he mocked the demigod. He didn't see Percy's fist until it hit him very powerfully on his jaw.

By lunch time, everyone in school had heard about the fight and people began to stare at Percy even more than before. The whole sky was grey, as if it was ready to rain. Percy stormed darkly into the cafeteria, Annabeth running to catch up on him. He took his lunch as sat without a word on the table where his girlfriend's friend, who had come to accept him, were.

There was an awkward silence, until Mary, one of Annabeth's friend decided bravely to engage the conversation. "So, Percy, heard about the little, umm, fight? Is it true?" She started. Percy growled and didn't answer. Annabeth sighed, still not used to 'mortal school Percy', so different to 'leader of demigod camp Percy.'

"He did." She hit Percy in the rib cage, making him stand straighter. She had tried to convince him to be more friendly for a while now and had managed to make him promise he would the night before, saying she would not kiss him or do anything affectionate with him for a whole month if he refused.

"I did." He murmured, not knowing what to say else. Annabeth smiled slightly: that was for sure the longest thing he had said except correcting people on his name. She rested her head in the crook of his neck, whispering something in his ear for only him to hear.

The sky seemed to brighten a little and he got up, helping his girlfriend do the same. She was the only person he touched or was gentle with. They left to room and wandered around the school until they found a small corridor where they always went when they wanted some privacy. Annabeth pushed the hood off Percy's hand and placed a delicate kiss on his lips, teasing him.

He cupped his face and pressed his lips to his girlfriend's with much more passion, as their lips started to play with one another. They broke the kiss and started panting hard. Percy smiled the lopsided grin he reserved just for her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so proud of you." She whispered.

"Because I said two words?" He joked bitterly.

"Yes. We progress step by step." She assures, resting her head on his hard chest.

His demigod senses were woken up by the noise of someone coming in their direction. He stepped back and quickly covered his head with his hood.

After school, they went home. Annabeth had moved with him at his parents' house. Sally trusted them and let them sleep together. They climbed the stairs to the apartment and opened the door carefully. Sally came out of the kitchen where she was cooking a batch of cookies.

"How was your day?" She inquired.

"Same old, same old." Percy answered as he and Annabeth went to his room. Sally grew all about how he was at school.

Annabeth opened the door, revealing Percy's room which was much less messy now that Annabeth shared it. She had redesigned it and now, the walls were grey and the accessories the same color as Percy's eyes. She had added some storage and the whole room felt very much like them both.

She closed the door and turned towards Percy, her eyes twinkling in a mischievous way he knew all too well. "Percy. Take off your hoodie." She ordered. He looked up at her, confused.

"What?" He stammered.

"Your hoodie Percy. Take it off." He nodded and did as he was told. Underneath the hoodie was a thin blue V-neck T-shirt, which hugged his abs perfectly.

Annabeth swallowed, not detaching her eyes from his muscles. He smirked. "Like what you see?" He teased. Annabeth's cheeks turned pick.

"Oh, do shut up." She attempted to swat him, but he took her wrist and punched her to him, his lips crashing to hers. Her hands grabbed his hair as he enlaced his arms around her waist, his hand moving and pushing her T-shirt fabric up.

Annabeth and Percy both sat in Greek class, across from one another as Annabeth sat next to one of her close friends from school. They were both distracted, and Percy would often stare at Annabeth's perfect blond hair, how her curls floated when she moved...

Their teacher noticed it and was very happy to find Annabeth, who was always so attentive, not concentrating. "Ms. Chase. Stand up please. As I see you have been paying very close attention to this class, can you please read this text and develop on it please. In Greek of course."

Annabeth then proceeded I'm ready the text and analyzing it in Ancient Greek. She even added a little insult at the end. Percy started to laugh uncontrollably at the back of the class, even more when the teacher and everyone looked at him confused as they had not understood it.

"M. Jackson. As you find this so funny. Please, let us listen to a little conversation between you and Ms. Chase here." For sure Percy Jackson could not speak Greek.

"Of course," he mumbled, getting up. Then in Ancient Greek, he started. "Did you see her face." he laughed.

Annabeth's eyes twinkled as she answered. "Right. She looksso confused now. I think she doesn't understand."

"I must say, Wise Girl, you're getting better at insulting people."

"Am I? They're staring at us really strangely, maybe we should stop."

"Okay" he continued, "love you."

"Love you too." She smiled.

A few weeks later, at eight fifteen, the door to the classroom opened and a hooded figure came in. He didn't say hello, or that he was sorry for being late. He just walked and sat in the darkest corner of the class, next to Annabeth. The teacher, Mr. Blofis didn't say a thing. Few to no people knew that Paul Blofis was in fact Percy's stepfather.

After English was over, they both headed to P.E. Percy just kept his jumper, so people couldn't see him or his scars. That would be difficult to explain.

Soon, all the students were waiting in the room for their coach. The man arrived and started to talk.

"Today we will be starting a new sport. Fencing. We have some professionals coming here to teach you. Please show them respect. You know what will happen if you don't"

The punishment in question was two hundred push-ups. Even the most athletic people of the class could only reach a hundred and, because they didn't complete it, they would get detention.

A guy, who told them his name was Jason stepped forward and asked if there was volunteer. He was quite tall, with closely cropped blond hair and electric blue eyes. Then to everyone's surprise, Percy raised his hand and was chosen. He was not recognized by Jason.

"Your name, please?" Jason asked Percy, looking at him strangely. Percy didn't answer, smirking beneath his hood.

"That's two hundred push-ups for you." The coach warned. Percy nodded and everyone started to laugh at him, thinking he would not even make it to five. "For now, David go."Coach's said. David stood up, pushing his chest forward. Jason tried to explain some basic techniques.

Percy did not stop; in fact, he was the first student ever to finish the two hundred. Even the coach stopped everything he was doing to stare at him. He stood up, without even breaking a sweat, even under his hoodie.

Jason was looking at the guy, very interested. He disarmed David and told him to sit down and ask Percy if he still wanted to fight. They started sparring and the blond was very surprised as he had not expected the hooded person in front of him to know anything about sword fighting.

However, during the fight, his hood came down and everybody in the room except Annabeth was surprised to see a handsome looking boy, with jet black hair and ocean eyes. Taken by surprise, Jason let his guard down for long enough for Percy to disarm him.