Hey there! Chapter 24! I'm so bored so I'm just writing a bunch of fanfiction when I should be working on my story request. It goes up every Monday anyways, I have time.

HoO Storys: thank you for the…interesting…review.

JoeBob: I don't think Annabeth ever wanted to be a princess but then there's the population of American six-year-old girls I'm going by, or at least, the only six year old girls I knew. One stole my lunch box because it may or may not have had Disney princesses on it. Oh well, I got it back three weeks later. We'll have to see if Mark and Laura get together…well, actually, the answer to that is in this chapter!

Callum Runchman, in the fifth chapter, Percy says, 'it's not like I've bathed in the River Styx', meaning that he hasn't and is telling Annabeth that he can still be hurt. He is not saying that he has bathed in the River Styx, my timeline is not 'extremely inaccurate'.

Mark's POV:

"Come on, Mark." Laura smiled impishly, looking breathtaking. She'd become like every other popular girl in the school today, giggly and obsessed the the dance. I wasn't complaining, but still…why? Why did every single girl, including Amy, have to get so…excited…about a simple dance? Annabeth was the only exception, and she wasn't even going with anyone. Maybe it was that simple fact- she was free of attachments, and free of any possible relationships or pressure.

Laura was wearing a black dress, which was long, thank goodness, and was wearing one-inch heels. I wasn't sure how she was walking next to me as we joined Amy and Joey in the front of the school. Annabeth was there as well, wearing her beautiful gray dress and looking not at all like the fifth wheel of the night, and not seeming to care. She was faraway, I already knew she hated dances for some reason she hadn't told me, from a dance now a year ago.

Annabeth's phone beeped- apparently, she had a phone, just didn't often use it, which none of us really understood. Social media and all that. She just didn't seem to care about any of it.

"Hi- Percy, it's Valentine's Day. Shouldn't you be at your school's dance? With Rachel Elizabeth Dare?" I caught the hint of jealousy in her voice and Amy and Laura were watching her carefully, like they knew something we didn't. They always said we were thickheaded- the boys.

"Yes, I know you want to wish me a happy Valentine's day. Wait, what?" Annabeth's mouth was half-open. I'll be right there." She hung up, glancing back at us half-heartedly.

"Sorry, guys…I have to go." It was apologetic but her eyes were shining, and the four of us were staring at her like she was an alien creature from Mars- or better yet, Venus.

"What? Why?"

"Percy's here," she said with no trace of guilt. She wasn't lying, I studied her face, and it was really, really happy, and she hadn't seen Percy Jackson for weeks, about a month.

"We'll all go-" I started to say, but Annabeth shook her head, effectively cutting me off and smiling like she'd won the lottery. The Percy Jackson lottery.

"Sorry- he's taking me somewhere for Valentine's." the meaning of this was not lost on any of us, and Laura watched her and Amy smirked. Joey wiggled his eyebrows and I chuckled softly.

"Really? Percy Jackson is taking you somewhere for Valentine's Day? Does that not sound to you suspiciously like a date?" Annabeth shook her head, smiling like she knew something we didn't. Maybe she did- Annabeth was notorious at school for being smarter than literally everyone else.

"No, it'll be fine, guys, okay? Enjoy the dance. Happy Valentine's Day." She hadn't worn heels and so she took off running in her silvery dress, her owl earrings dangling from her ears and the necklace with the beads that she wore all day, every day, flashing in the lamplight as she jogged back to her house at 6:00 P.M. on February 14th.

"Annabeth!" Amy called after her, sounding worried. She didn't seem to hear.

"Seriously? I mean, I can't be mad that she wants to go on a date with Percy Jackson, but still, seriously?" Laura stopped talking and her mouth opened the slightest bit, she nudged Amy, who looked at something behind us, and frowned at her angrily and started muttering to her darkly and I caught some hints of what she was saying to Laura.

"What are you doing? You're going with him,"

"He said we-"

"Oh, listen to yourself, will you? He-" Amy hissed and we walked towards the dance. "But fine, then. Ditch him and go find Mr. Hot." Laura looked ashamed for some reason and I had a feeling they were talking about me- ditching me. She'd already found me anyways. I felt a small inkling of jealousy, but really. We were just friends. That's what I'd said. That's what she had confirmed. Even if Joey and Amy were a little skeptical. It was us, not them. Not everyone could start dating on a holiday like they had, four months ago. Luckily for them, the relationship was going well and they hadn't majorly fought yet, because that would probably ruin the whole friendship group of ours if they were always glaring daggers at each other while talking.

We moved into the gym, which was blasting old-fashioned love songs like, 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police and 'The One I Love' by R.E.M. Laura seemed happy. Joey and Amy disappeared to go dance in the crowd while we stared awkwardly.

"Do you, uh- want to dance?" I asked after a moment. She smiled but it was kind of tense. Going to the Valentine's Dance with a girl you may or may not have a slight crush on was more nerve-wracking than I'd thought it would've been. We were just friends, anyway. Just friends. That was it.

"Sure." The dancing was kind of awkward, but we made it work for a song. After that, we split up, Laura disappearing into the crowd and me hanging around with Amy's and Laura's purses and other girly stuff.

Annabeth's POV:

"Hi." I greeted Percy, a little breathless from running, glad I'd been wearing tennis shoes instead of the ridiculous heels almost all of the schools' female population had been wearing. I didn't even own any heels. I was probably the only one who didn't, but I didn't care at all.

"Hey, Wise Girl." It had been a few weeks since we last saw each other in person, and Iris Messages weren't as good as real in person contact. "Want to go to New York?" I furrowed my eyebrows, but wasn't surprised when Mrs. O'Leary, Percy's hellhound, barked from the shadows and Percy raised an eyebrow winningly.

"You know it." I tried to ignore Amy's and Laura's words and the voice in my own mind that kept telling me it was Valentine's Day and that was a romantic day and Percy wasn't at Goode's dance with Rachel, he was in San Francisco with me. I knew Rachel had her eye on him as well, no girl was stupid enough to not be interested in him. "Where exactly-"

I'd never be used to shadow travel- the jerk in your gut and the feeling of melting into the shadows. Mrs. O'Leary was, after all, a creature of the night. She was used to it, and Percy had only just done it earlier before he called me. I hadn't used shadow travel as much. We reappeared in front of Goode High. I remembered it from last August- when I'd been so ready to go to the movies with Percy- which wasn't a date- and then he'd jumped out the building's window and ran into me and I'd been happy- and then Rachel Elizabeth Dare ran out after him and- bye bye movies. Bye bye good mood. I took him straight to camp and left for Grover's trial to comfort Juniper and talk to Clarisse.

"Why are we here?" I asked him. He looked a little nervous but we walked inside.

"I thought we could go to my school's dance." I widened my eyes. That was…well, it was nice to know that I would be there to watch him interacting with Rachel Elizabeth Dare on Valentine's Day. As his…date. She'd have to back off then.

"Okay." I said. He smiled, a little nervously, but then, he was taking his best friend to a dance.

Goode's dance was pretty much the same- the same music with the bass so loud and deep that it thumped in your chest, the same suspicious punch and girls in heels so high and dresses so short it was ridiculous, the same couples pressed up against the walls right next to other couples so that it was really kind of gross. More than kind of. Really gross.

"So," he said. "are you and the others enemies now?" I laughed. I could see a bunch of jealous girls zeroing in on me but I wasn't afraid. I was fighting a war in August it was Valentine's Day and I was going to enjoy myself thoroughly.

"No, we made up. Speaking of friends and enemies…isn't that Rachel?" She was alone, her vibrant red frizzy curls straightened and tamed like I had done myself, her green eyes scanning the crowd. She smiled when she saw me, but it wasn't malevolent or jealous. It was an actual smile, and I was surprised.

"Yeah," Percy said, not really getting it. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason," I said, trying to make it seem like I really didn't care if I walked in on them in the gym with Rachel's tongue down Percy's throat or something like that. He was a fifteen-year-old male with testosterone. How could I not think that would happen?

"I believe, Miss Chase," Percy said, eyes twinkling playfully, "I owe you a dance." I laughed.

"You paid me back earlier," I said, referring to when he'd said almost the same thing at the Winter Solstice after Artemis and my rescue a full year ago.

"Do I really need an excuse to dance with you?" He whined, and I tried to ignore that I liked that part.

"I guess not," I said after a moment of consideration, laughing as he escorted me to the floor, unconscious of the eyes of the girls watching me and Percy dancing happily, but very, very aware of Rachel's eyes on me as well.

Mark's POV:

Where was Laura? I hadn't found her after she'd slipped away, and I tugged on Amy's sleeve. "Have you seen Laura?" she paused after a moment, and then started to say something wordlessly.

"She's, uh, she's over there, Mark. Just- how about I go over there first?" she hurried away before I could say anything else, and I looked at Joey, who looked just as confused as I was, and shrugged. Amy came back looking a little afraid. "I don't think you should go-" I'd already walked away and she stared after me silently.

I searched for Laura for a while, turning Amy's words over in my head. She wasn't anywhere in sight, though I did see a lot of other blond, blue-eyed girls over on the wall with equally blond, blue-eyed boys. Joey and Amy had probably had a lengthy amount of time over on that wall doing the same thing.

I found her on the opposite wall, though she wasn't with a blond, blue-eyed guy. In fact, she was with a black haired, brown-eyed guy instead. I turned away quickly, but I couldn't not see it, even though I really, really wanted to.

My date to the dance is kissing some guy. My date to the dance is kissing some guy. My date, who I think I have a crush on, is kissing some guy on the wall over there. Laura, who I asked to go the Valentine's Dance, who I think I have a crush on, is pressed up against that wall with some guy's tongue down her throat.

I hurried away before they could see me, or I could see anything else. I moved back over to Joey and Amy, a little queasily.

"You saw them?" Amy asked. I nodded. She seemed apologetic but I didn't see why. It wasn't her who had gotten Laura to kiss that guy over there.

Speaking of Laura, she reappeared fifteen minutes later, when the dance was over.

"Hey guys!" she said breathily. "This is Jack!" they were holding hands. He was holding her hand…vice versa. Their lips were more than a little swollen. I could just see Mr. and Mrs. Hansen's faces.

"Hi guys." Annabeth seemed happy. She narrowed her eyes at Jack. "What's that?" she didn't like him at all. What's that? Not who's that. What's that.

"This is Jack!" Laura said brightly, oblivious to me, looking like a kicked puppy. "He's my new boyfriend."

I choked.

This was like the easiest chapter to write in a while. So I'm going to write some more! Well, I guess Mark isn't going to be able to date Laura any time soon- she's got 'Jack' now. Oh, what a shame.

Stay safe and healthy!