I answered a few questions and had some chatting at the bottom of this chapter, so look for your username! :)

We had a plan to do a lesson at least three times a week, and since I loved the horses so much, we did it three days in a row. My second lesson was learning the ways of the horse—like how to make your horse sidestep or move their back legs and whatnot.

Percy was a good teacher. He was patient and kind, and if I failed (which happened quite a bit) he'd just help me get it right without complaints. By the third lesson, I was able to saddle Porkpie all by myself, and Percy nodded in approval as I did so, slipping Blackjack a sugar cube behind his back.

I was trying to learn how to trot comfortably. Thankfully I hadn't fallen, that would be embarrassing, but there were a few slip-ups that happened, making me have to hang on tight. Porkpie wasn't exactly the smoothest trotter out there. Percy watched me, ready to rush up if I have any problems. His cowboy hat shielded the bright color of his eyes as he looked at me, and I was thankful for that. I didn't need any more distractions.

I was in the midst of my fourth round of trotting when we saw a car pull up to the house. Percy frowned, squinting to try and see who had paid a visit. I glanced over once briefly—but long enough to see a lady step out of the car. She looked to have long brown hair, but she was too faraway to see much else. However, when I switched my eyes to Percy, I saw a smile light up his face.

"It's mom!" he said happily. "She must've gotten back from their trip early. Come on, let's go meet her!"

I slowed down Porkpie, hearing the clip-clops of his hooves become not as frequent. I readied myself to execute a dismount, but Percy wasn't waiting for that. He came up and held out his hands, motioning for me to hurry up. I took my feet out the stirrups, then slid myself sideways. Percy caught me, his hands at my waist. My shirt had drawn up slightly, and I could feel his warm fingertips brush my hip, sending a spike of electricity through my body. A blush creeped up onto my cheeks. It seemed I was blushing a lot around this boy. Percy quickly let me go once he saw.

"Uh, let's go," he said, turning to the gate of the round pen. He unlatched it, shoving it open and waiting for me as I grabbed Porkpie's rein and pulled him out. Porkpie was happy—he thought we were done. Whenever we finished, I would give him a good rub-down, brushing away the saddle marks on his back before placing a bucket of oats in front of his eager face. While I was doing this, Percy would finish a few other chores—feeding some horses hay, bringing some out to the paddock and vice versa, or giving a certain horse a medication for a sore leg or lame hoof; I liked to help him do this. Whatever time I could spend around the equestrians I took heartily.

Our footsteps made muffled thumps in the stable, sounding like four people were there instead of two and a horse. It smelled like horses and sweat and a hint of manure in here. It just smelled like a stable, and I didn't mind it. I secured Porkpie onto the rail, then followed Percy across the lawn to the house, the grass falling prey to our feet pressing it down.

We saw Poseidon talking to Percy's mom, smiling and laughing at some parts. It was cool that they were still friends—it had probably made the divorce easier for Percy. He really didn't seem that sour about it, though, and he appeared to like his stepdad.

The lady saw us as we approached, and Percy rushed up. There was a bone-crushing hug—the crushing being down by his mom. He grinned at her, greeting her warmly and she did the same, looking up at her tall son.

Then her eyes found me over Percy's shoulder. For a second, she frowned in confusion. Then recognition awoke in her eyes, and they widened to the size of a quarter.

"Oh. She's a celebrity," she said.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. She said it so simply, but with a shocked voice.

Percy smiled, stepping back to give his mom a clear view of me. She stared for a second, then a motherly grin grew on her face, stretching it wide.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but hello. I'm Sally Blofis, Percy's mother." She held out a hand, and I took it, her grip surprisingly strong.

"Annabeth Chase."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that," she said, winking. I smiled, an instant liking for this lady appearing in me.

I studied her, looking for any sign of Percy in her facial structures. Percy had gotten her deep dimples and the curve of her smile, but that was pretty much it; he just looked a lot like his dad.

"Let's go in and have some lunch, shall we?" Poseidon said, clapping his hands together. "We'll explain a little in there."

We fell into line, me next to Percy behind Poseidon and Mrs. Blofis. Percy was watching his mom with a small smile on his face, and she would glance back and grin at him every once in a while. They were obviously close, and my mind instantly went to my mom and our relationship. But I shoved that away, not letting me think about it at the moment.

"I made sandwiches!" Poseidon said proudly, gesturing to a plate full of bread and meat and cheese when we had entered the house.

Mrs. Blofis rolled her eyes, muttering half-jokingly, "What else do you make?"

"A mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Percy offered, defending his dad as we all grabbed a sandwich.

"I thought his pasta wasn't too bad," I commented, finding a ham and swiss sandwich in the stack. Percy had instantly dove for the bluest of them all, and his mom shook her head with a smile overflowing with affection when she saw that.

"Well, that's only because mom made it before she left and he just had to unfreeze it. Otherwise it would've been pretty bad if he had made it," Percy said to me, grinning as Poseidon scoffed, indignant.

"I can still cook," he said.

"Right."

"Well, Percy can't cook to save his life."

Percy sent his eyes skyward, throwing a hand out and replying to his dad. "When would I have to cook to save my life anyways? It's not like if I was going to be in a car crash, I could whip up a burrito and live happily ever after."

Poseidon gave him a hard look, an eyebrow raised. He opened his mouth to reply, but Mrs. Blofis interrupted him. "How about we get to the explaining part of why there's a famous movie star in this kitchen."

Percy and Poseidon both looked at her, then glanced at me. Poseidon cleared his throat, then started to tell her all what had happened in the past month.

Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Blofis had been on a cruise for the last month and a half—which had been during the time when Poseidon and my mom scheduled this stay. So they didn't know anything about it. He told her why I was staying, and for how long, and Percy sat and ate sandwich after sandwich. That boy could eat. I had no idea how he stayed so slim and muscular. If I ate as much as him, I'd look like a giant loaf of bread within a week.

"So, yeah," Poseidon finished. He took a bite of his sandwich, then said, "Percy's giving her lessons."

Sally wrinkled up her nose in disgust at the crumbs Poseidon was spewing from his mouth. "Finish the food in your mouth first," she chastised, sounding like she was talking to a two-year-old.

Poseidon smiled goofily, saying, "Sorry." But he still wasn't done with his food, and he covered his mouth quickly as another crumb fell out. Sally just rolled her eyes. My mind had heard the word "lessons" and I remembered Porkpie sitting outside.

I turned to Percy, but he was following my train of thoughts already. "We better get back outside," the green-eyed boy said to his parents. "Porkpie needs to be unsaddled and I have a few chores to finish up."

Poseidon nodded. "Okay. Oh, and can you bring up the foals from the paddock, it's supposed to storm tomorrow or so, and it's best to get them in before then."

Percy bobbed his head, standing up. I stood too. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Blofis."

She shook her head. "Please, call me Sally. And it's nice to meet you too, Annabeth." She smiled warmly, and I returned it before following Percy out. As we were stepping outside, I heard Sally say to Poseidon, "It is supposed to storm. And pretty badly, if I recall." Percy shut the door, cutting off her words and we walked back up to the stable.

"You're mom's really sweet," I told Percy.

He smiled. "I know, she is. And she makes the best cookies in the world."

I held up a hand. "Wait—let me guess. Blue cookies?"

Percy made a show of being surprised. "How did you know?" I cast my eyes to the heaven, a smile creeping up onto my face. Porkpie was still standing quietly, but when we approached, he nickered in exasperation.

"Sorry, boy," I apologized as I went up to him. Percy disappeared inside the barn to do some chores, and I started untacking Porkpie. As I did so, my mind always returned to Percy and his parents. He was so close to both of them. I was close to my mom, but it was kind of business-close. We never did anything fun. Whenever we went somewhere, it was for my acting career—whether it be a photo shoot or auditioning for a movie. She was so focused on my career. I mean, that was nice, but she was too focused on it. She pushed me constantly, always making sure I was doing something, and sometimes I just needed a little break. But she didn't know me well enough to tell.

"You look like you're thinking deeply," I heard someone say. I turned, seeing Percy smiling at me, hands in his pockets.

"I am," I replied.

"What of?"

"Spaghetti."

He nodded solemnly. "A subject that reacquires a great depth of philosophical meditation."

I snorted, loudly and unladylike, making Percy grin lopsidedly. I was surprised he knew what half those words meant, but I didn't press it. My thoughts returned to what I had truly been thinking of.

I was quiet for just a moment longer, then I decided to tell him. "Just your mom. And my mom."

He dipped his head. "I bet you miss her."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." The truth was, it was nice not having to be bossed and steered around by her. She was so strict. I liked being here, where you really didn't have to do anything but take care of the horses.

Percy frowned in my peripheral vision. "You don't sound so . . . sure."

Sighing, I scratched Porkpie behind his ears, rubbing his back where the saddle had just been.

"We're just . . . not always on good terms. She's just concentrated on my acting career. Too much so. I mean," I hurried on, not wanting to speak too badly of my mother, "a lot of good comes out of that, I guess. I got to come here because she also wants me in that movie." Percy smiled, waiting for me to go on. "I don't know. I'm just jealous of the relationship you have with your mom. I wish my mom and I could be like that."

"Well, surely you and your mom are close," he said. "You probably spend a lot of time together."

I snorted. "Yeah, planning for another movie or reciting lines. She wants me to succeed in everything I do, and I want to impress her. Every time I get the part in a movie or say the lines right, I always look up to her proudly, hoping she'll give me some attention. But she just nods and carries on."

Realizing I was saying more than I had planned, I froze, biting my lip. I felt Percy's eyes on me, but I didn't meet them. He was just watching me thoughtfully.

"I guess that's what you get when you live in the world of fame and popularity. You can't have everything huh?" I said, smiling without humor. "At least I still spend time with my mom. You should see some of the other Hollywood families. I just wish . . . that my family would act more like afamily. I guess that might not make sense. Here I am, babbling about my family troubles to you and you probably are just wanting me to stop talking."

"No," he said softly. "You're fine. I'm not bothered by you talking. I'm just surprised that you're telling me all of this. I'm not complaining, though."

I frowned. "I am too. Gods, I've known you for not even a week, and I'm already telling you things that I've told to only a handful of people."

He grinned. "Well, I'm much obliged, Miss Chase."

Rolling my eyes with a smile, I replied, "Just don't go telling anybody my secrets."

He held out his hand, his pinky finger sticking out. I grinned, reaching out to grab it with my own.

"Pinky promise," he said softly, looking at me with those sea-green eyes that had captivated my interest from the very start.

He unclasped his finger, letting both our hands fall. It was strange, the thing between us. We had just met, and now we were acting like best friends.

"Now you have to tell me a secret," I said. "To make it even."

He smiled. "Well . . ." He glanced over his shoulder, lowering his voice to a whisper when he saw nobody around us. "I love food."

I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth, saying dramatically, "No way."

He nodded solemnly. "Way." Then he wiggled his eyebrows, pulling a giggle out of me.

"I'm starting to like you, Miss Movie Star."

I raised an eyebrow. "You didn't like me before?"

He shrugged. "I was expecting you to be . . . Well, to put it plainly, kind of haughty and mean. But I've found out you aren't that—rather the opposite. You're a good friend."

My mouth curved. "I'm happy to hear that, but I bet your girlfriend wouldn't be."

He waved a hand, the muscles in his should shifting. "Nah, she'll be fine. She's already jealous anyway."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because you're a beautiful girl who's really famous and you're staying at my house for the whole summer."

Why, hello there, Mr. Blush.

"But I told her you weren't going to be a threat to our relationship, no offense," he continued.

Well, goodbye blush and hello disappointment.

But I brushed that off quickly, mad at myself for being disappointed.

"None taken. Now, should we get the other horses in before the rain?"

He nodded. "Yeah, let's go." We dropped Porkpie off in his stall, pouring a bucket of oats into his feeding trough before heading out to the paddock.

As we walked, I tried to erase every thought about Percy other than just friends thoughts. Until now, I hadn't even really realized I might have been overstepping the "friends" line in my mind, and I retreated hastily, hoping to get back to safety. But obstacles arose, stopping me from retreating. Those obstacles came whenever Percy smiled lopsidedly at me, or when his green eyes latched onto mine with an intense gaze, or when he did something adorably stupid.

Stop, stop, stop, I chanted. He just said he didn't have any thoughts about any of that. Stop, stop, stop.

Percy directed me to a horse, one I recognized as Guido, and I approached it cautiously, holding out my lead rope. Percy was doing the same to another horse. When I got close enough to touch the painted animal, I stuck out a hand and pet him, hoping to soothe any of his fears.

"Hey, boy," I said softly, slipping the rope around his neck to hold him still. It had taken me a little while to learn how to buckle a lead rope, but I figured out with practice. Slipping the loop around the horse's nose, I pulled it up and brought the strap up around his neck, securing it on the other side. Stepping back in triumph, I bunched up the lead rope in my hand, turning to find Percy waiting for me leading a brown colt.

"Ready?"

I nodded, and together we started bringing the horses back to the stable. We walked in silence, my mind never straying from the conversation we just had, and also dying to know what he was thinking about. The air was pretty cold, the sun had disappeared behind puffy grey clouds. It looked like it was going to rain soon, but I knew it wasn't supposed to start until tomorrow.

We put the horses in the stable, and I asked, "Why do these horses need to go in here?"

"Well, Guido is healing from a lame foot, so we don't want him tromping around in the mud, and Curly, this foal here, isn't super healthy. He gets sick pretty easily. Besides, we're trying to wean him off his mother, so this is a good way to practice."

"The other horses will be fine?"

We hung the lead ropes up on a hook, then headed over to the staircase leading to the attic. I waited at the bottom while he climbed to the top.

"Yeah. If it's pretty much just rain, they'll be okay. Incoming," he warned. A second later, a block of hay fell through a cut out hope in the ceiling leading to the hay loft. I grabbed it, bringing it over to Guido's trough. He nickered in gratitude before burying his muzzle in the food. Percy had already dropped another down, and I took that as well, feeling the prickly straw poking my arms, and dumped it in Porkpie's feeding spot.

After we had fed all the horses in the stable, Percy came down from the top, wiping his hands off. When he saw me, he grinned, then approached. He reached out a hand when he was close and brushed it through my hair, tugging on my low messy bun. I frowned at first, but then I saw hay coming off into his hands.

"Are you sure you fed the horses that hay," he said, "or did you just stick it all in your hair?"

I glared at his amused smirk. "Ha, ha. You're hilarious."

His smirk grew into a smile, and he finished brushing most of the hay out. For a second longer, his hand stayed, cupped around the side of my head, entangled in my soft golden curls. Then he cleared his throat, retracting his hand quickly and shoving it in his pocket.

"Let's get back inside before mom leaves," he told me. I bobbed my head, and he and I started back towards the house.

Sally was just about to go back home, but she had waited for us. She gave Percy a tight hug, saying she'll be back soon to make him some cookies. To say he was happy would've been a total understatement.

Then she gave me a hug. I was surprised at first, but then I caved, wrapping my arms around her too. It was so foreign to me—a motherly hug. Gods know that never happened with my mom. It was always the quick hug—if we even embraced—that really was more instinctual and didn't have much feeling.

Sally leaned back. "It was good to meet you, Annabeth. And I hope to see you here often." She smiled warmly, and I smiled in return.

After waving to Poseidon, her son and me one last time, she exited, heading out the door to her car.

"I'm going to go get changed," I told Percy and his dad. They nodded, and I trudged over to the stairs, stepping up quickly and disappearing in my room. I knew what I had to do to get rid of all these weird thoughts about Percy. I just needed to be reminded about how good-looking my crush is, and all those feelings for another person should vanish.

Jumping onto my bed, I grabbed my iPhone and quickly clicked on photos. I had gotten a picture with Luke at an award ceremony. We had been the ones to win the Best Actor and Actress of the year. Most people said we should be together, that we'd be the perfect match. I didn't argue with that.

I found the picture, me in a long red dress and my hair swept into an elegant bun. My smile was big as I stood next to a man who had his arm around me. I remembered my elation and giddiness just then—partially from winning the award and partially because Luke had his arm around me, which was the dream of almost every girl in America.

I brought my eyes to Luke's face, ready to dismiss and thoughts of Percy. He was in an expensive tux, holding his trophy at his side. Luke was extremely handsome. He was basically perfect, and I wouldn't disagree. Even the thin scar from an accident on set that ran from his mouth to his face didn't mar his looks. Instead it made him seem even hotter. He had blue eyes and a charming smile could take your heart in an instant.

But then my mind did something infuriating. It started comparing.

It began with the smile. Luke's was straight and showed a row of pearly white teeth. Just looking at his smile made you want him. But Percy's smile . . . his lopsided grin made your knees go weak, lightened up your day, and made the butterflies start dancing a jig in your stomach. It wasn't perfect, but the imperfections just made it better.

The eyes. Luke had crisp blue ones that were constantly searching for something, and they could stay concentrated for long. His gaze was shallow yet calculating, as if trying to figure out if you'd be a threat to his position, though sometimes glazed over like he was bore. But Percy's sea-green ones stayed focused on you intently, never taking his gaze off of you when you talked. They lit up when he saw something he loved, like his mom or Blackjack or even good, putting a brightness into his orbs that made me lose my breath.

I didn't even know when I realized that happened to me.

But stop, I told myself.

Oh, just look at Percy, the other part of me whispered persuasively. He's amazing.

So is Luke. And No, I can't think like that. I'm staying focused on my career, plus Percy just said nothing's happening.

Stupid other part of me had to contradict. Do you really think he meant that?

I sighed loudly, falling back onto my pillows. I heard Percy's loud laughter drift up through the crack under my door. It floated to me, contagious. Soon I was smiling for no apparent reason.

Oh, I'm such an idiot.

I chucked my phone across the room, aiming for a pillow in the corner and making it. Rolling into my side, I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to forget about everything.

But no, my mind just had to conjure up a picture of a lopsided smile and sea-green eyes.

I tried to tell myself that this would just be a week fling or something. Soon I'll go back to Luke. Besides, he has a girlfriend who he seems to want to stay with. I don't want to cause troubles for that, no matter how much of a witch his girlfriend. Might be. Well, I wasn't thinking witch. Something that rhymed with that.

So I just had to lay low, and any weird, uncalled for feelings would fade, and everything would go back to normal.

But at the same time, I wasn't so sure.

Well, this could be an interesting summer.

Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews! You are all awesome!

Q&A

Christmascookies26: Thank you so much, you were the first reviewer! You're amazing, I hope you know that. Plus, thanks for the nice comments about my writing ability! :)

rocketgod123: Yeah, I'm trying to get the other characters in there, don't worry. :)

MeganAnnabethJackson: Yeah, my sisters and I all ride horses, and we have four. So when I was trying to think of a new story, I thought I should maybe do the subject around horses since I know quite a bit about them already. :)

Valdusanihilate: Yes, Rachel is a female dog. Agreed. ;)

Skyline: I actually do not have any set days for updates. I just update at random, whenever I have a new chapter ready. :)

Guest: This is to the guest who noticed I mentioned Divergent in the first chapter… Ily2. You so far have been the only one to notice that and tell me XD I was wondering if most people had just blown it off! :)

Thanks for the reviews again, I love you all! :)