Hey guys! I have discovered that Reyna's birthday is not canon! Good for me, and good for this story! Other than that, not a whole lot to say about this chapter, so I'll just get on with it!

Annabeth's POV

"Okay what about this?" Hazel asked, pulling out yet another outfit from her closet. I was lying on her bed, watching her toss random clothes around her room, and obsess over every single item individually.

"It looks great Hazel." I said half-heartedly, rolling my eyes.

"That's what you've said about every outfit Annabeth."

"And it's been true about every outfit."

"You're useless, Piper?" She turned to Piper, who was sitting on the ground, leaning against the bed.

"No...that's not it." She shook her head, frowning.

"Then what is it? We've been here for a half hour!" I complained, exasperated.

"What do you think of this one?" Hazel pulled a new top out of the closet, which looked markedly similar to the last one.

"Looks great." I replied sarcastically, looking down at my phone.

"Did I ask for your opinion Annabeth?"

"That's not right either." Piper said, before standing up and reaching deep into the back of the closet. "Almost." She looked at the cream, open knit jumper in her hand, before surveying the room. "Ah hah!" She grabbed a pair of denim mini shorts and some nude tights that had been flung onto Hazel's chair, then held them up against Hazel. "This is it! Wear this jumper on top off a white vest top, and these shorts with a pair of black, knee high boots and you're golden!"

"Oh my God how did you do that?" Hazel exclaimed, taking the clothes from Piper, "This is perfect!"

"I am a genius after all."

"You are...but there's a problem."

"Which is?"

"I don't own knee high boots."

"Don't worry about it - Annabeth you have some right? And you guys have the same shoe size?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah." I answered, looking up. "I'll go grab them." I rolled off the bed, and went to my room. I grabbed my boots from where they lived in the bottom of my wardrobe, and was about to walk back to Hazel's room, when my phone buzzed.

Seaweed Brain

Hey

Annabeth

Hi

Why's he texting me now? We're gonna see each other in a little while aren't we? Oh no, he's not texting me to cancel is he? Please don't let it be that.

Seaweed Brain

I just thought I'd check to see if you guys had enough food

Since, you know, we had to go to the store last week

Not that I didn't enjoy going to the store with you

But I just thought I'd double check

Annabeth

Don't worry about it

We've got enough

But thanks

Seaweed Brain

No problem

"Annabeth! Where are those boots?!" Piper yelled, making me remember what I was doing.

"Just coming!"

Annabeth

Sorry I've got to go

But I'll see you soon

Seaweed Brain

See you soon

I picked the boots back up from where I had dropped them on the floor, and walked back to Hazel's room. "Here they are!" I announced, chucking the boots in her general direction and flopping back onto the bed. I looked up at Hazel, who was hopping on one foot and trying to pull up a boot. Once she had successfully gotten both boots on, she struck a pose.

"What do you think?"

"You look great." I said, impressed.

"Annabeth!"

"No, I mean it, you look really, really, good." She beamed, and I turned to Piper. "Well? I'm sure you have an opinion."

"Once again, my expertise saves the day." She laughed, "You look gorgeous Hazel. Do you want me to braid your hair real quick? Or are you-" She was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hair down it is."

"I'll get it." I said, getting off the bed. "You do last minute prep with her." I told Piper, pointing to Hazel. I walked to the front door, opening it to see Frank. "How many times have I told you that you don't need to knock?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"Probably as many times as I've come over."

"And still you keep on knocking." I looked him up and down, surveying his body language. He was wringing his hands, clearly nervous. "So what are your intentions with my Hazel tonight?" I asked, trying to psyche him out.

"Um- I guess- I- We- She-" He stuttered, struggling to find a way to answer my question.

"Relax Frank, I'm joking." I laughed, putting a hand on his arm in an effort to calm him down. "She's really excited." I told him, which seemed to settle his nerves a bit. "And here she is." I said, turning around and stepping away from the door. In the two minutes I had been talking to Frank, Piper had managed to put mascara and lip gloss on Hazel, and some hoop earrings.

"Wow Hazel, you look..." Frank trailed off, in awe of the brunette.

"Um thanks. You do too." She smiled, walking over to the door. "Well, we should go." She said, awkwardly stepping past me.

"Have fun!" Piper called, as they walked out of the apartment.

"Have her home by ten!" I instructed, as I closed the door.

Percy's POV

"Are we the first ones here?" I asked, after walking into Annabeth's apartment.

"Yep." She replied, from where she was lying on the sofa and tapping away at her phone screen.

"So who's coming tonight?"

"Well us," She gestured around the room to her, Jason, Nico, Piper, and I, "Leo, and Thalia. Hazel and Frank will probably show up later too, after their date of course."

"How's their date going? Has Hazel told you anything?" Jason asked inquisitively, as I walked over to the sofa and pushed her legs off so I could sit down.

"Hey!" She protested, moving her legs onto my lap. "No she hasn't texted me yet, but I 'm sure they're currently in the movie theatre so I don't expect anything for another hour or so." She told him, going back to whatever she was doing on her phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked, curious as to what she was so interested in.

"What?"

"On your phone."

"Oh nothing."

"Well you're obviously doing something."

"Nope. Nothing at all.."

"Then what's so interesting about nothing?"

"I find a lot of things interesting about nothing. For instance, how can people be doing nothing when they're always doing something? Even doing nothing is doing something, because the something that you are doing is nothing, therefore, you are doing something and can never be doing nothing, even when you are doing nothing."

"While I'm very keen to discuss the philosophy of nothing with you, you seem to be deflecting the question."

"And you seem to be very interested in what I find so interesting. Why are you so interested Percy? Why do you want to know what I'm doing so much?"

"Well I'm interested in what you find interesting because you seem to be trying to hide whatever interesting thing you're doing from me which just makes it even more interesting." What is she trying to hide from me?

"Would you two shut up? You're just repeating the same words over and over again." Nico groaned, throwing himself onto a beanbag.

"Is someone grumpy because his boyfriend isn't here?" Piper teased, taking a sip from the can she had in her hand.

"Piss off." He told her, chucking a pillow at her head.

"You didn't deny it." She laughed, tossing the pillow back at him. The door opened and Thalia walked in. "Hey Thalia!"

"Hi Piper."

"You're just in time."

"For what?" She asked, sitting down on a beanbag.

"We need to talk about Reyna's birthday."

"What about Reyna's birthday? She said she didn't want to do anything."

"Yes well she always says that, but we always do something anyway." Piper explained, setting her empty can of the table and coming over to where we were all sitting.

"So what are your plans for this year Pipes?" Jason asked, walking over to Piper and putting an arm around her.

"Well, there's a new karaoke bar open near Grand Central Station, so I thought we could rent it on Saturday night. I know her birthday's actually on Sunday, but I figured if we're all going to be hungover, it's better if it's Sunday morning rather than Monday morning."

"That's great Piper, but none of us are twenty one." Nico said, ever the nepotist.

"We aren't, but Silena is, and we all have fake ID's to show the bartender. We can split the cost between us, give the money to Silena, she'll book it for us, and bam! We have a bar."

"Bam indeed." Thalia laughed, grabbing a bowl of popcorn from the coffee table and popping a piece in her mouth. "Is this going to be a surprise party or what?"

"Yes it is. You're going to take her out for a date, when she protests and says she doesn't want to do anything, tell her you're just going to a bar, and then when you get there we'll all jump out and yell surprise!"

"Okay, so who's coming?"

"Well all of us, everyone else who usually comes to movie night, Rachel, Connor, Travis and Katie, Dakota, Gwen, Octavian-"

"Hold up, Octavian!" Thalia interrupted, holding up her hands to silence Piper.

"Yeah Octavian, why?"

"Reyna hates Octavian."

"I thought they were friends, she said they had classes together with Dakota and Gwen."

"No, Octavian's a prick."

"Okay, no Octavian then. Anyway, I'll just make a group chat and text everyone the time and place, and you just need to get her there Thalia."

"Sound like a plan."

"What's a plan?" Leo asked, walking through the door.

"We were just planning Reyna's birthday party." Jason explained, as Leo sat down.

"Awesome, what are we doing?"

"Karaoke bar."

"Great! You'll all get to hear my beautiful singing skills!"

"I'm beginning to rethink this idea." Piper said, bringing a hand to her face.

"Nah it's a good idea - Reyna will love it." Thalia assured her, "A night of drinking and watching your friends embarrass themselves? What's not to love?"

"Yep, it's the perfect party for Reyna." Annabeth agreed, still looking at her phone.

"Okay seriously, what are you looking at?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"I'm looking at nothing."

"We are not starting this again."

"Fine by me."

"Then just tell me what you're looking at."

"Nothing!" She insisted, without looking up. "Hey!" She yelled, as Jason grabbed the phone out of her hands.

"She's on Instagram. She's looking at someone called Kelli Emposa's account."

"Give me that back!" Annabeth snatched the phone from Jason, smacking him in the arm.

"Wait...Kelli? Isn't that the name of the girl who- oh." Piper realised something, and sat on the coffee table across from the sofa. "Why on earth are you looking at her account?"

"I was bored, and then I was curious."

"About what?"

"A while ago I found out they were dating, so I thought I'd just, check." She shrugged avoiding Piper's eyes.

"Well are they still dating?"

"No."

"And does this information help you in any way at all? Is knowing this going to change anything?"

"No, of course not."

"Then stop looking at Kelli's account."

"Who's Kelli?" I asked, very confused about what this conversation is about.

"No one you know." Annabeth answered abruptly, removing her feet from my lap and sitting up properly. "We're all here now, shall we play Truth or Dare?"

Annabeth's POV

After a very long and...interesting game of Truth or Dare, (that involved Leo doing a stripper dance) we had finally started to watch Aquaman. We were half an hour in when Hazel and Frank got back.

"Hey guys!" Hazel said when she came in, hand in hand with Frank.

"Hi Hazel, how was the date?" I asked, pausing the film.

"It was-"

"Girls! Hazel's room, now!" Piper interrupted her, standing up.

"But Pi-" Thalia tried, but Piper ignored her and walked away instead.

"Guess we're going to Hazel's room then." I said, getting up. Hazel and Thalia followed me, Thalia complaining as she did so. I walked into the room and flopped onto Hazel's bed, resuming the same position I was in earlier. "So Hazel, spill."

"It was a really good date." She looked over the moon, like she might explode with joy any time soon.

"And... What happened?" Piper asked, gesturing for Hazel to continue.

"Well, we went to the cinema, and we got popcorn, and then we went into the theatre. We were late, so the trailers had already started, and we had to find our seats in the dark. Then, about half way through the film, he put his hand on the arm of the chair in between us, and feeling brave, I put my hand in his, and I leaned against him, and it was so nice, and I loved it. After the film, I was hungry, so we went to the McDonald's next to the cinema and got some fries. And then we came back here." Throughout the whole description of the night she didn't stop smiling, and she very nearly started to jump up and down.

"Is that it?" Piper asked, eyebrows raised.

"What do you mean 'is that it'?"

"I mean, was there a goodnight kiss or what?"

"Maybe..." She laughed, "Yes, outside the door, before we came in. It was soft, and sweet, and amazing, and everything I ever hoped it would be."

"Awe I'm so happy for you Hazel." I said, because I was. Happy, and slightly jealous. If only I could get up the courage to tell Percy how I feel, then maybe I could have a perfect date too. "So are we done? The boys will be getting worried."

"Yeah we're done." Piper confirmed, leaving the room.

"But I just got comfy!" Thalia complained, pulling herself up from the spot she had taken up on the floor.

"Come on." I took her hand and pulled her up the last few centimetres, before walking out into the living room.

I sat back down in my seat next to Percy on the sofa. There had been a weird tension between us since the Kelli thing before Truth or Dare, it was uncomfortable. I've told him about Luke, and I told him what he did, but I don't exactly want to tell Percy, of all people, that I was stalking the Instagram page of the girl my ex cheated on me with. I don't even know why I did it. I was just bored, and then for some reason Luke came into my mind, and then Kelli did, then I thought about how I found out they were dating a couple months ago, and I just wanted to check if they still were. But I don't know why I wanted to check. Why do I still care? I don't want to care. But for some stupid reason I still do. God it's been over a year since we broke up, I shouldn't still think about him, I shouldn't still care, I shouldn't still want to know what he's doing. I just...hate it.

Anyone like Annabeth's inner monologue? It was basically pulled from my own life and experiences, because I have thought all of those thoughts before and they suck. (Minus the cheating thing, just the 'why do I still care?' shit.) Anyway, I hope you liked the chappie, sorry it took three days to post, I was just struggling with it, then I was busy, then I was struggling again. I promise I am trying to get back to posting once a day, hopefully I will manage to tomorrow! Thanks for reading, please review, and see you next time!

Replies to Reviews:

SuperPotatoMan: Thank you! I'm so happy that you like it so much!

Sportzer: I hope you managed to read the chapter! I'm glad you love it!

NoAccount: No Hazel most certainly would not be pleased, I'm happy you like the duet idea!

tacotorben: Yeah she was definitely having a breakdown. I'm glad you like the story.

LeobadboyValdez0: Thank you! Hope you liked the chapter.

KotlcFAN: No I haven't read it, I'll be sure to check it out.

MaddieJackson: Sorry! Can't tell you.

Banana: I'm glad it was there!

DaughterofBlueFood: Well the timing had to be then just to annoy everyone who reads this.

Pbeth4eva: Thank you and it's now!

Lara Gomes: Sorry, no kisses yet, but they're coming!

MANation: Well, since I didn't write that, lets just assume it was while they were playing the Game of Life, and it was nice and fun and awkward. I was definitely trying to make Hazel as 'Hazel' as possible, so I'm glad you think I did a good job of it. I think this chapter just answered the karaoke question for you. Thanks for all the song suggestions, I will try to use them, and if not, thanks for giving me a new playlist! Sorry there was no incognito stalking, but there might be one day! (Or maybe Grover will just pop up tomorrow morning to see if he's going to win the bet along with Piper and Frank.)

Guest: Yep, we're very close.

ya6789: Not every chapter, but I do include songs quite a bit. (Or whenever I'm struggling with a chapter, And need something else to throw in there.)

Pandas Are Squishy: Yep, I'm a tease, but maybe the teasing will come to an end soon. ;-)

epic95101: I'm so happy that it made your day!

SeaMaster: Well maybe you're right about that, or maybe Piper has lost ten bucks.

AthenaRavenclaw: Thank you! Hope you liked the chapter!

Guest: Maybe they will soon... ;-)

know it all: Don't worry, I know. I've changed the names on purpose, Zeus is called Zack in this.

IvyAntionette: Don't worry about it! I'm happy you like the song and my writing! I do actually write some of my own songs, but it was easier to just use other songs for this instead.

GryffindorAthena: Yes I have.

Krutarth: Thank you! Hope you liked the chapter!

FartManstink: Thank you - I'm glad you like it!

Kaden Flores: Well, there are more in store, an in the next chapter!