Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: There is only one Uncle Rick in the world, and sadly, I am not him.

Percy woke up feeling uncomfortable. There was a crick in his back, and overall his neck hurt. He also woke up with a couple of other things. One being a text from Rachel, asking them if he could drop her off at a coffee shop in the afternoon.

It was only a couple days into their relationship, but it felt like she was making it up to be more. Maybe because they'd dated before, for a little while, but it was still weird.

Percy wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He didn't not, not like it, but he didn't particularly like it. Even so, he had told himself he would try. Three weeks, he had promised to himself, and then he could decide.

He stretched, and got out of bed, shaking his arms in the air. Thank god for high ceilings, Percy was a six foot tall guy, and if the ceilings were low, his home life would be shit.

The day passed by quickly, until Rachel hopped into his car, smiling at her phone when he picked her up from the school. "Hey." He said, and she looked over, smiling.

She put her hand on top of his, and Percy fought the urge to pull it away (what kind of jerk was he)? "Hey yourself," Rachel said. "The coffee shops just a couple blocks away, I can give you directions." She said.

Percy started up the car, and drove out of the parking lot. He looked back once at the school behind him, the one full of memories. He remembered scaling the hallways when he was late for classes like a ninja, and once, going to the roof of it with Annabeth. They had spent the entire time up there, just talking to each other. It was late at night when they went down- a teacher yelled at them, and told them they were in trouble.

They got detention the next day, but as they had said to each other, as long as they were together, everything would be fine.

Percy shook his head, smiling a bit at the memories, and then turned back to Rachel. "Are you meeting up with a friend or something?" He asked.

"Yeah, I met this girl yesterday, and we really hit it off. I haven't had many friends here," She looked meaningfully at Percy, "Non-male friends," she elaborated, "since I came here, so I thought it would be nice to try at least. I hadn't really thought about it, since I met her, at least."

Percy kept his eyes on the rode, and continued to drive. "That's nice." He said, "Well," He said, pulling up to the curb in front of the cafe, "Here we are. I hope you have fun."

Rachel leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. "Do I need to pick you up?" He asked. He'd be at the pool for the next hour.

"I'll text you Percy," she said, and waved him off, leaving the car. Percy looked out the window to the coffee shop, and goddamnit. Annabeth was there, smiling at her as they exchanged a tight hug. What the hell? When did that happen?

He supposed the other day, he saw them coming out of the cab together, and Rachel said something about exchanging numbers, but he never would have thought they would become friends that fast. Though, when thinking about it, they were similar. Annabeth's snarky would match Rachel's blatant humor.

Oh, how he missed Annabeth's snarky. She always had a comment to make, one's that would even make him giggle. Who giggled? Rachel, she cracked jokes, and they were funny, but they were never snarky. Never sarcastic. Percy loved sarcasm. He used to have stickers with sarcastic sayings all around his car, until he scraped them off a while back. It was when he started swim lessons.

Let's just say, some of the statements weren't exactly appropriate for children.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. Picking it up, he glanced down in surprise to see Thalia's name over it. That was weird. He had her number, but ever since… everything happened, they hadn't talked.

He pressed the "accept call" button, and put the phone to his ear. "Did you seriously make Annabeth fall in love all over again?" She asked. It wasn't angry, more demanding. Like she needed an answer.

But the part he focused on was the "Annabeth" and the "Love" part. That made no sense. She despised him. "What are you talking about Thalia?" He asked, glancing out the window again, to see Annabeth and Rachel happily chatting. He began to pull the car out of it's spot. Once he got on the main street, he grunted, adjusting the phone so both of his hands could fit on the wheel.

"Okay," Thalia said, "Maybe that was a weird way to start."

Percy nodded, "Sure was," he told her, smirking slightly to himself.

"Shut up," Thalia told him. "This isn't the time. What I'm saying, is that you need to stay away from Annabeth. I swear to god, ever since she got back here, every place she is, you're there. Like, don't you have a girlfriend or something to look after?"

Percy nodded, though Thalia couldn't see him. "Yeah I have a girlfriend," He said quickly. It was mostly a move of defense- his safety blanket. If he had a girlfriend, then that meant he couldn't still be interested in Annabeth, right? Hopefully, that would be a good excuse. It would stop him from looking like a jerk. Which he already was, but no matter to that.

"See, you should stay away from her." Thalia said fiercely, "Look, I love Annie. She's the greatest there is, okay? So don't ruin even more stuff for her. Because if you do Jackson, I swear to god, I'll rip your balls out."

Percy smiled incredulously. "Is that a threat?" He practically scoffed.

"I'm going to be cliche when I say this, but I don't care." Thalia told him. That was such a Thalia thing to say. "It's a promise."

He didn't know what to say, so he said what was on his mind. "Thalia," He said, "When I say this, don't take it as a joke. Don't take it as anything, okay? And please don't tell Annabeth." He cleared his throat. "I've been in love with Annabeth since we first met. My oblivious mind didn't know it at first, but at least that oblivious mind helped us get together, right? And then I never stopped loving her."

Thalia let out a noise- one he couldn't quite identify. It was a mixture between disbelief and anger.

"I'm trying to move on," He told her, "I promise. But it's hard, when everywhere I look I see her. Maybe I'll never move on. Rachel, my girlfriend, is helping me try." He said, "I'm trying. And don't call me a jerk for doing that- I am, but Rachel knows Annabeth, they're becoming friends. I'm not going to try to stop that."

"I bet it's hard to pretend to have feelings for someone else when you're in love with your ex." Thalia said. She almost sounded genuine in that. It was hard to tell with Thalia. "Look Jackson, I don't like you very much. Maybe I did at one point, but then you broke Annabeth's heart. That's not okay in my book. In fact, break her heart again, and I'll break you. Remember my threat from earlier?"

Percy pulled into his spot at the gym. "Yeah, I do. If I remember correctly, it was a promise." He got out of the car, and shifted his hands, so the phone was safe.

"Right, a promise." Thalia said, and then hesisted. "But you seem genuine. So I guess you have my blessing."

Percy bit his lip, confused. "What blessing?"

"If you want to go win her back," Thalia told him, "You can." She said. "And I won't tell Annabeth what you told me. I promise that too."

Percy smiled a bit. "Of course Thalia," He said, "Of course."

She hung up the phone, though it took Percy a couple seconds to realize it. And he thought about what she had said. Annabeth was, indeed, one of the best things that had happened to him. But he'd made a promise to himself. And although Rachel knew exactly what he was going through (and still stayed in a relationship with him, which he found odd), he would feel guilty if he broke that promise.

But then again, she had said he could end it, at any time. That she would be fine. Even so, the way that she looked at him sometimes, it made Percy doubt she would be okay.

He opened the door to the gym, and shoved his phone into his pocket. He could sort this out. He knew he could.

Hopefully.

What did you think of the chapter? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm really happy about how much support this is getting, thank you all so much!

Anyway, now that Thalia has "accepted" Percy, what do you think is going to happen in the next few chapters? Leave a review, I'd love to hear what you think!

TheLil'Lion