Did things get better from here?

Uh, no.

Warning, disappointment ahead!

The gang meeting? Didn't happen.

It was postponed. Annabeth felt happy about it because now she doesn't need to share things about her family. Then, she felt guilty about feeling happy about it. They haven't seen her with them for days. They were probably worried too. Especially if what Luke said about Percy thrashing out was true.

Well... technically, that rooftop dinner part must have given them enough ideas to not be worried.

Also, they were now top 20. Officially. The notification about the eliminations came in late because of the security issue but they were done by next morning.

Okay, if anyone thought that was good news, clearly you don't know the author yet.

Because... Warning, disappointment ahead!... Clarisse, Tracy and Thalia - three of Annabeth's gangmates were eliminated next morning. So, they went from being a gang to being a pair real fast. Thankfully, Thalia had already enrolled in the activities of Camp Half Blood so she wasn't leaving just yet. Maybe if she did well in that, she could even go on to guards training if she wanted.

Annabeth wore a sandal colour crop top over her sports dress for breakfast. She was grateful that Percy hadn't mentioned anything to his parents yet. (Or at least told them to keep it in wraps until she is open about it.) For some reason, even after discovering the most heart-breaking thing in her life yet, she couldn't hide her smile whenever he made more-than-necessary but 'regular' conversation with her at the dining table.

It was weird how these heartbreaks worked with people who had pieces of your heart with them. Small, sweet things all of a sudden mattered more.

Warning, disappointment ahead: She couldn't help digging her fork into her breakfast when she noticed he was doing it with Rachel too.

Not now Annabeth, not now.

In one secret (okay, maybe not so secret) and selfish (definitely selfish) part of her mind, she was overjoyed. Obviously, Annabeth didn't want to feel any sadistic pleasure over the fact that Percy was sitting next to her even if Rachel was the one injured – which of course meant that's exactly what she felt. He didn't turn her down even once. Not even when she offered him breakfast suggestions (dam, the guy was so clueless that he even did it back) and casually put her hands over his arms in a not-just-a-friendly gesture.

Percy was the most oblivious guy at times.

Rachel rolled her eyes when Annabeth looked smugly at her.

This was revenge. Petty, yeah, but satisfying.

Piper interrupted. "By the way, do we have any raisins?"

Maria said. "Uh... I just ate the last one."

"I love raisins." Percy said.

Annabeth wanted to bite her lips and hold it in but she couldn't. She looked directly at Percy and asked, "What about a date, then?"

Piper choked on her juice. Zoe tapped Piper's head and glared at Annabeth.

"Not the same." He shook his head.

Wow Percy, real Seaweed Brain, aren't you?

After a while, when Annabeth tried again to make a cliché joke, Percy silently tapped her thighs below the table in a warning. Then, he whispered when people weren't paying attention. "That's enough for one day, isn't it?"

Oh well...

...

Whatever bubble/limbo/trance Annabeth was in during breakfast didn't last long enough for her to be happy. Before breakfast, Annabeth had successfully cornered Luke and asked him if they could talk after her morning class. He said yes of course but now Annabeth was regretting her decision. She knew he would be the best person to tell anything to. Percy needed to sympathize with her. He didn't really know what it felt like but Luke... Luke understood.

[Flashback]

The weirdest kind of fear creeped through her – like she subconsciously knew what was coming and wasn't ready for it.

Athena and Frederick stood stunned inside the room and someone – must be Percy or Jason – came in after Annabeth.

"What did you say?" She repeated.

She'd heard it loud and clear of course. Frederick saying: Annabeth is YOUR daughter too, Athena. Before you point hands, clean your own feet.

Athena recovered first. "Annabeth listen to me. What he is telling are lies-"

Frederick snorted in anger. "Which part? That you're her mother or that you cared about her?"

Athena tried to touch Annabeth but she flinched away. "What is he saying?"

Athena turned to Frederick. "I cared about her more than you ever did!"

"Oh yeah? Explain her why she doesn't call you mom, then?"

Percy put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder but she roughly shrugged him off too.

"I did more by being away than you ever tried by being with her!" Athena said.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

They started cross talking.

"Annabeth, hear me out. -" Said Frederick.

"No, lady, you listen to me-" Said Athena.

"Athena is your biological mother and she told me to not tell you."

"What good is it if she knew?" She turned to Annabeth. "I've given you way more important things in life than relationships."

Frederick spat. "Right. Money and a palace life isn't what she wanted."

Athena turned angry. "I mean GOALS AND AMBITION! Annabeth I've given you things people struggle with – a dream that reaches beyond the castle. And of course, you were trained like a warri-"

Frederick interrupted. "And you took her family away from her!"

"SHE LEFT. I never asked her to. You didn't make a family! Don't you accuse me of things YOU couldn't handle on- "

Annabeth ran.

...

Luke just stared at her as she completed her story. He put an arm around her shoulders and asked. "So, what happens now?"

"I don't know." She turned to him. "I still have work from the architecture department."

"Even in-between Selection?"

She shrugged. "I asked for it."

"Take a break from it. The training is taking most of your time, right?"

"Yeah. I guess. It's just... Why didn't she ever tell me? I was with her for so long."

Luke shook his head. "You don't always know the reality of anyone, Annie. Even your closest friends."

Something about the way he said it felt like he was accusing Percy. At the same time, she got uncomfortable for another reason – What about Luke, then?

He sighed. "Who else knows?"

"Huh... yeah, Percy and Jason. They were with me."

"Well, at least your boyfriend was there."

"He is not my boyfriend."

"Exactly." Luke looked straight at Annabeth. "He is supposed to be."

After arguing pointlessly with Luke for a while, she went back to her room to change into her sports dress again. She didn't visit the architecture department. She didn't even attempt to see Malcom – gosh, he was actually her half-brother now - not that she had time to, the Camp Half Blood schedule was jam packed and she didn't have enough time to dwell in her insecurities.

They were divided into two major groups – Magic Monsters and Half Breeds – each with 10 girls. Annabeth was in Magic Monsters and they were further divided as Drakons and Hydras – each 5 girls. Annabeth was a Hydra. Fortunately, Piper was in the same team as her. Unfortunately, so was Rachel which meant that they were one person short and as if that wasn't disadvantageous enough, Maria was a Hydra too. Annabeth and Amber tried their best to make up for Rachel's absence and Piper was still learning. Maria was totally useless. That meant, of course, that they horribly lost almost every match: weight lifting, sprinting, drills, volleyball, rope climbing, wall climbing – you name it, they lost it.

And all this went on their records.

Annabeth had to hand it to Amber, for Drew's minion and a fashion freak, she did surprisingly well at sports. Drew – thank gods – wasn't in Magic Monsters. Not all stereotypes were true.

That also meant Drew could be on a date with Percy right now.

Annabeth pushed that thought away.

The Magic Monsters and Half Breeds had different schedules. Only drills, warm up and hand to hand combat happened together. Daedalus, Chiron, Coach Hedge, Tantalus and Lupa took turns with the girls for training. Annabeth grunted and shot the 7th arrow and final arrow. It hit a 10, exactly where she'd planned it to. Coach Hedge yelled something about no improvement but Chiron silently noted it down in his records.

She didn't need to explain it to him. Chiron was the one who suggested archery as one of her 'weaknesses'.

Piper said. "It's okay. This one was doomed to fail anyway."

Amber accused. "For someone who has done this for years, you horribly suck."

She laughed. "You think I suck? Watch Percy do it. He really sucks."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. You've practiced with him, haven't you?" She walked away.

"I actually did," she whispered to Piper.

Amber sighed. "You're really lucky, you know? Knowing the Prince like that."

Annabeth couldn't say anything to that. Surprisingly, Amber was one of those people who were nice when alone and spoiled when with Drew.

"I kind of feel bad complicating first love here." Amber chirruped up and put one arm over her. Annabeth wondered if Drew would approve.

They made small talk as they went back to the castle.

Unusually, Percy was standing next to the backdoors. He was talking with the Drakons (Readers, I mean the team Drakons here) when the Hydras approached them.

"- should don't you think?" Said Valentina.

"I don't make all the decisions here." Said Percy.

A few girls sighed.

Amber asked. "What's going on?"

Percy looked up and his eyes landed on Annabeth. He touched his nose like it was the most normal thing to do for a Prince.

"I have some things to discuss with people in the gardens today." He stretched the last part out and looked straight at Amber, "Everyone else should be there. I should get going and stop friends from arriving too early. Can't be the last one, you know? Prince and all. Would be nice if someone helped me with the other people in the castle."

The selected nodded as if there was nothing wrong with that but Annabeth got the message nice and clear. She looked at Piper. "I should get going. I want to take a bath. Now."

Piper nodded and Annabeth excused herself from the group before sprinting towards her room. Quickly, she changed into an orange cocktail dress (with an off shoulder neck and bow) that reached her knees. It didn't take her too long to find Frank – the man of the day.

Well, one of the men of the day.

Frank waved. "Hey! Wassup?"

She shrugged. "Fleet assemble Zeus's fist in twenty. We cancelled the last meet, remember?"

"Already? I thought Percy was busy with the breach and all."

"He says there is something unlucky with gang meets at night." She laughed. "Something always ends up happening."

They started walking to the gardens. He laughed too. "You two are good again, right?"

"You tell me. You saw us."

"About that. I really didn't mean to stare at you in that-" Frank blushed in embarrassment.

"It's okay. Don't sweat it. Have you found anything about the guard who attacked Rachel?"

Frank sighed. "Nothing. He disappeared like thin air. We are going to make Rachel see every guard today. I won't blame her if she couldn't identify him though. Only thing she noticed in the dark was that he was big, strong and had a deep voice. That's everyone I know. Even me."

Annabeth agreed. They made small talk as they walked over to Zeus's fist which was basically a pile of rocks, in the middle of the gardens, in the shape of a fist. King Zeus was fond of the place and so the name.

When they reached the place, a gunshot went off.

...

Making sure no Selected followed him was hard but finding Grover was harder. Percy spent at least 20 minutes looking over the outer gardens and finally found him at the stables.

"If you've got another girl to take on a ride, I'm not cleaning up after your mess!"

The guards tried not to laugh but Percy didn't really mind.

"No. I was just wondering if you saw anything suspicious here yesterday."

They started walking.

"Right. The attack..." He seemed to be thinking. "Nope. Nothing. Did you get food from the trucks though?" He asked.

Percy frowned. "What truck?"

"You didn't? The cheese enchiladas were awesome. All the trucks were." He bent down to carefully adjust a climber plant so it moved towards the poles. "Except that fish truck. People shouldn't eat living things. You should really make being vegan a law, Percy."

"What? Fish trucks?" He looked at the guards.

"Yes, your majesty. We have permission to get outside food." Said one guard.

"But unauthorized vehicles can't enter palace grounds."

"It was authorized. By you." He looked confused too.

Percy groaned.

Grover looked at him. "I don't get the problem. It was authorized."

"It is a fish food truck. There is no way I authorized it."

"I wish you showed half as much enthusiasm with other living-"

That's when they heard the gunshot...

The guards took defense positions around Percy and he felt bad for tricking them. On the other side of the creek, he could see that Annabeth had done her part. The instrumental to some popular pop song started playing around them and as if on cue, everybody hiding in their spots revealed themselves.

They tried shouting together and failed. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" (Which, in reality, came out like 'HAP-HA-PY-TH-BIRT-AY')

Percy smiled when Grover's jaw dropped and he looked around at everyone before looking back at Percy. Annabeth and Frank walked over using the bridge above the creek and reached them.

She clapped Frank on his back. "That's how we hit two birds in one go."

Percy grinned. "Happy birthday, man." He shook hands with Grover first, then Frank. It was both of their birthdays – June 5th.

He turned to the guards. "Sorry about that. It was supposed to be a surprise."

One of them grunted. "Next time. Tell us first."

Percy raised his eyebrows at his confidence but laughed. "Okay. Okay."

Connor Stoll interrupted. "THIS. IS. THE. BEST. THING. EVER!"

Travis seconded him. "Please let us do that again! No bullets but perfect sounding gun! How didn't we think of this?" He was holding the gun.

Percy saw Frank kissing Hazel in the middle of the celebration. Grover nudged Juniper to follow and she started to run around playfully. Percy suddenly got an idea and looked at Annabeth. Just when he started approaching her, Malcom put one arm around her and gave Percy a look like: Don't you even think about it.

Percy playfully scrunched his face and gave back a look like: Please? Just once?

Malcom grit his teeth and glared at him: Want to choke to death?

Okay, then. That will be a no.

Annabeth laughed at something Juniper did, completely oblivious to their exchange.

In no time, they ate cake and had soft drinks in their hands. Unfortunately, Percy had to leave so they decided to group in that night again and play games as a gang in Percy's room.

Percy's schedule wasn't tight but he had to spend the entire day with Rachel. He wasn't complaining of course, Rachel was good company, but he felt bad that he couldn't check up on Annabeth. Or well, spend time with any of the other girls.

He had told his mother that he will be spending equal time with everyone. He meant it.

Rachel had thick bandages wrapped around her thighs. She had reluctantly shown him the wound when Percy asked her to. The knife was big enough to cut through her flesh and so deep that if the angle was a little different, it could have touched her bones. Percy felt extremely guilty every time she winced while walking.

The Selected had trusted him and the royals by temporarily living in the palace. This was his fault and his responsibility.

They spent their 'date' trying to find who the attacker was.

Percy and Rachel walked around after their 'date'.

"Enough about me. Tell me about you. Who was your first crush?" Said Rachel.

Percy scratched his neck and smiled. Thankfully, they had reached his room. "Maybe another day."

The guard said. "Your majesty, um..." He looked at Rachel.

...

Okay. I think many of you may have this doubt so I'll clear it here. Percy and Annabeth are TWENTY TWO in this AU. It is already June 5th so they'll be turning 23 in few months.

Did I catch you there? Did you also think I was gonna do something terrible to Percy or Annabeth or someone with that gunshot?

Well, what if you weren't so off the radar with it? Schist wait... I just remembered, I was not supposed to give any spoilers.

Next time guys!

And thank you for all your comments! I cannot say this enough because it feels AMAZING to read them. I have the next few chapters ready for editing so I'll post them with a 24 to 48 hour gap each but by around chapter 30 (I guess), it will be on a weekly twice or so basis because guys, what can I say... school, am I right?