Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from PJO.

Chapter Fourteen

Percy

Love is like playing the piano. First, you must learn to play by the rules. Then, you must forget the rules and play from your heart.

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"Jason Grace, I swear, if you don't get your knee out of my back, you won't have a leg anymore." Even though I can't see her, I can easily picture the menacing glare painted on Thalia's face as she threatens her brother.

"Sorry, Thals," Jason apologizes and I hear the complaints of everyone as he tries to shift his position unsuccessfully in the cramped car. I chuckle when I hear Thalia complain rather obnoxiously how terrible a seat the car floor makes.

It's Saturday and I'm driving us back home from Montauk, since no one else wanted to drive. Thalia had been beaten to the seats and kicked to the floor with Hazel, which she wasn't very happy about. Jason and Piper are getting all cozy in the back seat and Frank looks like a very pained third wheel. Juniper and Grover sit in the two middle seats, whispering and giggling over Hazel, who ignores them and works furiously on a drawing in her sketchbook, which she is hardly ever apart from.

Grover had offered to switch seats with Annabeth before we left, so she's in the passenger next to me instead of him. I watch her out of the corner of my eye while driving. She's writing notes in a notebook while trying to balance a beat up copy of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in her other hand. I watch her lips as she mouths the words to herself, thinking of how crazy it is that I still want to kiss them so badly even though I must have kissed them countless times these past few days.

"Hey," I say, clearing my throat. "What's that you're working on?"

Annabeth sighs. "A character analysis of Romeo and Juliet. And you should know, since you're in the same class," she teases, shooting me a dazzling grin.

I take one hand off of the wheel and rub the back of my neck, embarrassed. "Oh yeah. Paul made me do that when he first assigned it. That's the downside of having a teacher as your step dad."

Annabeth groans. "Oh, I know. My mom usually makes me do projects and essays right when they're assigned, even if there's still, like, a month before it's due. But lucky for me, I managed to hide this assignment from her so she wouldn't make me do it."

I feign shock. "Annabeth Chase disobeying her mom? What is this world coming to?"

"Oh, shut up."

I grin and poke her in the side, where I know she's ticklish. She laughs and throws her pencil at me.

"Please turn down the PDA, guys," Thalia complains loudly. "Honestly, you two are so gross. It's almost as bad as Jason and Piper."

"Hey!" Jason protests, but his sister just elbows him in the shin.

Annabeth and I both blush and go back to what we were doing before – me, driving and Annabeth, homework. Ten minutes pass by before she closes the book and puts her stuff away with a frustrated sigh.

"I hate Shakespeare," she says.

"That makes two of us," I agree.

"I mean, honestly, what's with all the 'thees' and 'thous'? And the metaphors and made-up words? Can't one of these characters give a straight answer?"

"You know, I never pictured you as one who would hate on famous literary works."

"Again, please shut up," Annabeth instructs, shooting me a glare.

I take my eyes off of the road and smile at her. Her glare melts into a blush, but she doesn't break eye contact. Probably for the sixteenth time this week, I begin to wonder how on earth I got here, driving home from Montauk with a girlfriend. What happened to the oath to myself that I would never fall in love?

"Percy," Annabeth says softly, amusement clear in her tone, "you might want to watch the road."

Now it's my turn to blush as I tear my eyes away from her and onto the road. She laughs quietly to herself and looks out the window, her chin resting in her hands. I study her out of the corner of my eye. My mind doesn't really want to completely ignore her. She's wearing a pair of dark blue jean shorts that cut short mid-thigh, a blue tank top, and an unbuttoned blue and green flannel shirt. Her hair's in a french braid, courtesy of Piper. I honestly don't think Annabeth knows any hairstyle other than a ponytail.

Everything about her drives me crazy. The small tattoo of an infinity sign just below her left ear begs me to touch it. Her sun-kissed legs ache to be looked at. The stray curls falling from her hairline screams at me to be brushed aside.

I shock myself by reaching over and taking her hand in mine, moving it to sit between us. She smiles to herself when I squeeze it.

"Hey, Perce?" Grover asks from the backseat. I look in the rear view mirror at him and notice him glance at mine and Annabeth's intertwined hands. I almost begin to blush, but tell myself I shouldn't. Annabeth is my girlfriend now. I should be able to hold her hand in public.

"Yeah, man?" I ask. Annabeth glances back at him.

"Is there any way we can stop somewhere to eat?" he asks. "Even a gas station can work. I'm just hungry."

We pass by a sign telling us what attractions are available at the next exit. The symbol of an Exxon gas station is displayed on there. Talk about perfect timing.

"Okay," I tell him. "There's a gas station up here. We'll stop there. I need to fill up the car anyway."

I pull off the highway and onto the exit. The station is just off the highway, so I pull in quickly and find an open pump, stopping the car next to it. Unbuckling, I turn to Annabeth. "Are you going to ask everyone what they want?" she asks me. "Because that's going to be a lot of stuff."

I shake my head. "Nah. I'll just grabs some chips and drinks and call it good." I put my hand on the handle to open the car and hesitate. Turning back to Annabeth, I ask, "Do you want to go in with me?"

She smiles and nods. We turn to get out, but something pulls me back. "Um, Percy?" Annabeth asks, trying to contain a smile. "Could you maybe let go of my hand?"

I look down to see that our hands are still clasped together. I feel my face burning bright red and let go, mumbling an apology. She just laughs at me.

My hand still burns from the ghost of Annabeth's in it as I put the pump in the van. Holding Annabeth's hand for that long was fantastic. Being able to do it without getting a weird look from her was even more fantastic.

"Ready, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asks. She's leaning against the hood of the car, her arms crossed and a smirk playing on her lips. I walk to her and smirk back as I flick her ear, my fingers brushing against the tattoo that I wanted to touch so badly in the car. She smiles at me and plants a sweet kiss on my cheek and slips her fingers through mine. A ridiculous smile spreads across my lips and I can't get it off. I don't really want to.

The inside of the store is surprisingly busy. Many elderly people are surrounding the coffee machines for some reason. When I shoot Annabeth a questioning look, she points at another van parked up front, slightly larger than ours. They must be a group also.

Annabeth leads me over to the shelf overflowing with bags of chips. Her hand is firm in mine, like she's not planning on letting go anytime soon. I hope she doesn't.

"So," she says, staring at the shelf with calculating eyes, "how many bags are we getting?"

I shrug. "Well, we've got nine teenagers to feed, including us. So..." I trail off, unsure of what to say. The truth is, I don't know what my friends like. Favorite types of chips don't really come up in daily conversations. "Just grab whatever looks good."

I start grabbing random jumbo bags of Cheeto Puffs and BBQ chips and Cheddar Ruffles. Annabeth grabs white cheddar popcorn and kettle cooked Lays. In our valiant rush to get chips, I accidentally elbow Annabeth in the stomach, which causes her to laugh. I shoot her a suspicious look and say, "I didn't know you were ticklish, Wise Girl."

She smirks and elbows me back. Not long after, we're participating in an intense battle of elbowing each other. Annabeth laughs until she can't breathe and I'm content to just hearing her laughter.

One of the two clerks at the register – a man that looks to be in his mid-forties with a balding head and a potbelly – clears his throat and sends a you-and-your-girlfriend-need-to-calm-down-because-you're-in-a-public-place-with-people-watching-you-and-it's-disturbing-the-customers look towards me. I shoot him a look that he hopes looks like an apology and elbow Annabeth one last time before dragging her over to the drinks.

"That clerk was giving us the evil eye," I inform her, nodding my head at him. He's helping the last of the group of elderly people pay for their coffees. Annabeth glances at him and blushes.

"Oops," she says and then shrugs. "I'm going to go get a coffee. Be right back." She shot off toward the coffee machine – now free of people – with three bags of chips trapped tight in one hand. Quickly, I grab a few bottles of Dr. Pepper and a few of waters. Then I grab a Coke for me before walking to the other side of the store towards Annabeth, my hands full of snacks.

"A little help here," I grunt, keeping my eyes trained on a bottle of water that is slowly sliding out of my arm. Annabeth sets down her drink on the little station for lids and straws and such and grabs the chips out of my hand so I can support the drinks.

"Thanks," I say and grin at her. Her face grows red and she looks down at her drink hiding a smile. I feel my stomach growing warm. I love making her blush.

"Seaweed Brain," she teases.

"Wise Girl," I retaliate.

We make our way to the register. Now that we're the only two left in the store (minus a middle-aged woman deciding between two different gossip magazines) the clerk who had gotten onto us had left to clean up the store a bit, leaving only the teenage guy at the register. He eyes our stuff as we approach.

"Spring break road trip?" he asks us. We nod. He starts scanning our items while he continues, "I wish I could go on a trip for spring break. But my mom made me stay home to work at this dump to pay her back for my phone."

"Not fun," I say, kind of weirded out that this guy is complaining to us – total strangers – about paying his mom back.

He seems to notice Annabeth for the first time; like, really notice her. He looks her up and down. "How old are you?" he asks her.

She stares him straight in the eye and says, "Seventeen."

He purses his lips and nods. "Cool. I'm eighteen. You're pretty, you know that? Like, really pretty, not the fake pretty that a lot of girls are. You're...genuine."

Annabeth fidgets and looks at me warily. I'm staring at the guy, trying not to laugh. What is wrong with him? He's so completely blatant and obvious, it's kind of hilarious. But he seems to be making Annabeth uncomfortable, so I slip my hand in hers.

The guy notices the movement and his eyes widen. "Whoa, man, sorry. I'm not, like, trying to steal your girl or anything. I just think that when I meet a pretty girl, I should tell her she's pretty. Make her day. Anyway, your total is $20.28."

Annabeth blinks at him, her face red. I fumble getting my wallet out of my pocket and hand him some bills. He takes them. "I'm Dustin, by the way. What are your names?"

"Percy," I say, gesturing to myself. "And this is Annabeth."

"Wow, you even have a pretty name."

Annabeth murmurs a thank you, all defiance she had at the beginning of this conversation gone. I decide I better get her out of there. I've got to get out of there myself before I burst out laughing. Dustin hands me my change and we say a hurried thank you, grab the paper bags filled with snacks, and race out the door.

Once we're safely away, I burst out laughing. "That," I gasp between breaths, "was awesome."

Annabeth glares at me. "No. That was weird. Why'd you tell him our names?"

"He seemed friendly. A little too friendly."

"He could be dangerous."

I laugh and wrap my arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, Wise Girl, you're right. He's probably some psycho stalker who had a camera hidden in his tie and is now going to follow us taking pictures to fulfill his insane obsession."

She slides away from me and punches me on the arm. "Stop it, Percy!" she complains. "He was creepy."

I roll my eyes. "Come on. He was probably just some random teenage kid who doesn't have a mind filter. Whatever he thinks he says. Sorry for making fun of you." I take a step towards her and kiss her forehead. "Besides," I add, "if he comes after you, don't worry. I'll protect you."

She grins. "Thanks." Then, she pulls away quickly. "Race you!" she cries and takes off from the sidewalk in front of the store to the car. I chuckle and take off after her, the bags swinging below me.

When I reach the car (Annabeth got there long before me; I'm not a runner), I open the door to put the food back there and laugh at the delighted screams and calls for dibs on the popcorn. I move to take the pump out of the van, very aware of Annabeth leaning against the hood again, her eyes trained on me.

"Are you checking me out, Wise Girl?" I tease, swiping the debit card my mom gave me before we left in the machine.

"In your dreams," she shoots back, laughter crystal clear in her voice.

I put the card back in my wallet and turn towards her, my infamous smirk on my lips. "You were totally checking me out," I persist. "Do you like what you see?"

"Mm," she says, scrunching up her eyes, as if in deep thought. "I don't know. But do you like what you see?"

I smile and put my hands on her arms. "Too much," I murmur and press my lips to hers.

She pulls away not even a second later, question written all over her face. The people in the car are making comments and disgusted comments about scarring them and telling us to get a room. I smirk as Annabeth fights a smile. "What are you doing, Seaweed Brain?"

I lean down again. "This is what new couples do, right?"

"What about everyone else? They're all watching."

I'm right up against her lips now. "Forget about them," I whisper and close the distance between our lips. This time, Annabeth obliges. Her arms snake around my waist and my hands skin over the skin on her arms that isn't covered by her shirt. The part of my brain that hasn't completely melted marvels at how soft her skin is. We ignore the voices from inside the car, ignore the sound of engines around us, ignore the heat of the day. We dissolve into out own little world.

Annabeth is the first to pull away. "We need to get going, Percy," she says in a soft voice, completely breathless. Our foreheads are pressed together as we catch our breath.

I don't want to get going. I want to stay here with Annabeth and kiss her all day long and completely forget about the world around us. But, as usual, she's right. We're already behind schedule. "Okay," I whisper, giving her one last kiss on the lips before pulling away and letting her get in the car.

The comments of how gross we were didn't stop the whole way home.

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When we got back to school, no one seemed to know about mine and Annabeth's relationship. No one gave me any weird looks when I walked through the halls that morning. No one said anything. I'm mostly surprised that none of the people on the trip let the whole school know beforehand that the Percabeth ship has sailed (that's what Silena started calling us the week after Annabeth came to school, and I found it incredibly annoying).

When I get to my locker, Annabeth is down at hers. I take the first few moments of her not noticing me to look at her. She's wearing a pair of dark skinny jean capris and a loose white v-neck, covered with a tan sweater and paired with white converse and her tan bag she always uses. Her hair's in a ponytail, as usual. I smile. I like how Annabeth doesn't change the way she dresses herself for school just because she has a boyfriend now. I know a lot of girls who've done that.

I grab my books and walk over to her. "Hey, Wise Girl."

She looks up at me and smiles. "Hey." Then she lowers her voice and whispers, "Have you told anyone about, um, us?"

I shake my head. "Nope. No one seems to know. It's weird."

"I kinda like it," Annabeth sighs. "I'm not being bombarded and questioned by girls who had their hearts set on you."

"You sound like you've been through this before," I say. "Like you've dated popular guys before."

I meant it as a casual comment, nothing of any importance, but Annabeth pales at my words. I remember the night I tried to kiss her and she pulled away, pale-faced then also. And the next day, when she told me she was scared. My brain starts whirring. It's like trying to put together the puzzle to see what the big picture is, but not having half the pieces.

She puts on a smile and her color returns just as quickly as it left. "I would say maybe we could keep it a secret, but I kind of want to be able to hold your hand and kiss you in public."

"I do to," I agree, smiling. I look down at her. "You want to tell them now?"

She gives me a sneaky look and nods. I pull her to me and kiss her, right there in Goode High School's hallway. It's not a heated kiss and we're only kissing to tell people something, but I enjoy it just as much as all our other kisses. Annabeth molds into me and I into her, like we were sculpted for each other.

I pull apart first and glance around us. No one's stopping and staring (honestly, who does that in real life?) but people are sneaking surprised glances at us as they pass. Some guy that walks by shoots me a thumbs-up.

"Well, looks like we're official," I say to Annabeth. "No turning back now."

"Darn it," Annabeth says sarcastically. "I was contemplating it."

"Sorry to disappoint."

She sighs dramatically and disentangles herself from me and turns back to her locker. I look inside it to find it completely organized. I wouldn't expect any less from Annabeth Chase. A few pictures are on the door, many of her and Silena, a few with her and Thalia and Piper (those three had grown progressively closer over the months), and there's one with me. It was taken on the night of the Winter Ball. Annabeth is in her light purple – excuse me, lavender, according to Piper – dress and I'm in my suit. The picture was a selfie we took on Annabeth's phone at Anna's Diner. I remember that night perfectly. Annabeth and I had ditched the dance halfway through it and went to the diner to hang out instead of stand around in that stifling hot gym packed with high schoolers. That explains why my jacket is off and Annabeth's hair is out of it's pins, tumbling loosely down her back.

Annabeth notices me looking at the picture. She brushes her fingers over it. "That was an awesome night," she says dreamily. "Do you remember that?"

I'm about to answer when someone storms up to Annabeth's locker and slams it close, Annabeth has to shoot her hand back in order to avoid having her fingers smashed. She turns to glare at the seething girl next to her.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" she practically screams at Annabeth, completely ignoring my presence.

"Hi, Silena," Annabeth sighs. "Thanks for almost breaking all my fingers."

"Excuse me?" Silena snaps. "We have more pressing matters to discuss, like how you're dating Percy Jackson."

Annabeth ignores her and brings her phone out of her pocket and puts it in her bag.

"Hey, Silena," I greet her, waving my hand so she knows I'm here.

She ignores me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Percy and I are dating," Annabeth says nonchalantly. "There. I told you. Can we move on now, please?"

"We are not done discussing this," Silena argues. "We'll continue this conversation in Calc. Let's go." She grabs Annabeth's arm and starts dragging her away.

"Wait!" I call to Silena and both girls stop. I plant a kiss on Annabeth's forehead and while doing so, undo her ponytail. Her blonde curls fall listlessly down her back. "There," I say in satisfaction, running my hand through her hair and pulling some curls forward to fall over her shoulders. "I like it like that."

Silena's nearly screaming and gushing, but I keep my attention on Annabeth. She slowly smiles. "I do too."

I don't have my first three classes of the day with Annabeth, so we only see each other between classes. We get curious glances from students when they see our linked hands. I pretend not to notice the whispers about me during class. I don't know how much attention Annabeth's getting, but I'm getting a lot more than usual.

Fourth hour comes around way to slowly for me. I meet Annabeth by our lockers as the final bell rings. "Wise Girl," I greet her, smiling at the nickname.

"Seaweed Brain," she says, smiling brightly at me. I tuck a curl behind her ear and plant a kiss on her lips, my hands running through her wild and free hair. She sighs contentedly against my lips.

"I love kissing you," she says drunkenly, wrapping her arms around me and resting her forehead on my shoulder.

"I would love kissing myself also," I say sarcastically and she snorts. I lower my head and bury my face in her hair. She giggles.

We stay like that for a minute, saying nothing and not moving, just hugging each other. I think back to the pain I experienced for longing to be in this exact position with her but not being able to. It feels like a dream when I kiss Annabeth, or hold her like I'm doing now, or even hold hands. I wasn't able to do that before, and now that I can, it doesn't seem real. It feels like I'm just watching myself do all these things with her.

Annabeth pulls away smiling and slips her hand in mine. "What do you want to do?" she asks as we walk, our hands swinging back and forth between us.

"Hang out with you," I reply.

She rolls her eyes. "There goes my plan of ditching you to go hang out with Grover and Thalia."

I scrunch my eyebrows. "Where are Thalia and Grover?" I ask, realizing they had never talked to me about our free period.

Annabeth sighs. "I talked to Thalia in Chemistry, and she said her and Grover would go to the library or something and so that we could have our..oh, what did she say? Oh, yeah. Our 'couples' bonding time'."

I laugh. "That is something Thalia would say."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "But enough about Thalia. What do you want to do?"

"Starbucks?" I ask hopefully. "We can take my car."

She smiles. "Sounds fantastic."

I stop walking and pull her to me, kissing her again. When we pull apart, I surprise her by picking her up and swinging her onto my back. Then I race down the hall toward the front doors, with Annabeth shrieking on my back.

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We made it to English class, just as the last bell rang, signaling the start of class. Paul just glances at us when we burst into the classroom, taking in our joined hands and strangled gasps. He chuckles and shakes his head, then tells us to have a seat.

Of course, Annabeth holding my hand wouldn't really surprise him since he already knew about us. I told both him and my mom once I got home Saturday night, unable to contain my happiness. He had patted me on the back and congratulated me for stepping up and telling her how I feel. I didn't tell him that I didn't really tell Annabeth how I felt, I just kissed her. He didn't need to know that.

I take a seat next to Frank at the back table and Annabeth sits down next to me. Immediately, she takes her lit book out of her bag, along with her character analysis she was working on in the car. I pull my own out, trying to smooth down the edges of the paper that had been wrinkled in my backpack. Annabeth notices and smirks, dusting an invisible speck of dust off of her perfect, non-wrinkled paper. I stick my tongue out at her.

After Paul collects the papers, he starts talking about our next unit: Greek mythology. "You'll be paired up in partners for a project you'll work on for the next month." People start whispering, asking if so-and-so wanted to be their partner and whatnot, but Paul continued. "I will be choosing your partners, of course." Groans echo across the classroom. "I know, I know, I'm such a horrible teacher and how could I do this to you, yada yada yada. My apologies.

"For this project, you will choose a god or goddess, Olympian or minor god, and put together a presentation. It will include everything: their powers, their symbol, if they had any famous children, what they're most known for. Every scrap of information you can find. Remember: this is a joint assignment. Both of you have to put forth effort." Paul picked up a piece of paper from his desk and began to rattle off names. People cheer and groan as they find out who their partners are. I keep my fingers crossed underneath the table that I'll get a good partner. Then, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."

"Yes!" I celebrate. Annabeth looks up from her laptop, where she had been madly typing notes, and gave him a weird look.

"What?" she asks, confused.

"We're partners!" I say, smiling at her. She shrugs and turns back to her laptop, saving the notes, and acting like she can't even begin to find the need to celebrate like I had.

"Hey, Wise Girl," I say, sliding an arm around her, "why aren't you excited? You've got your boyfriend as your partner for a big project. Which means," I lower my voice and finish seductively, "you get to spend more time with me."

She laughs and when she looks at me, her eyes are twinkling. "I am excited," she says. "I just didn't want to jump up and down in my chair like you did."

It's my turn to laugh. Faintly, I hear Paul announce that we'll have the rest of the class period to decide which god we're going to do and write down some basic facts we already know. I turn to Annabeth. "So, do you know anything about Greek mythology?"

She shrugs. "A little. I mean, I know the main gods and goddesses." She notices me looking at her in awe (seriously, who knows anything about Greek myths?) and she adds, "My mom used to be really into it for some reason. So I know some things."

"Cool," I say. "Any awesome gods or goddesses you want to do the presentation over?"

Annabeth thinks for a moment. "Well, Athena's pretty cool," she says finally. "She's the goddess of wisdom."

I make a disgusted face. Really? She wants to do our project on the wisdom goddess? "No way," I argue. "I veto that. Isn't there, I don't know, some sort of water god? That would be fun to do. Since I'm a swimmer and all."

"Well," Annabeth says slowly, "there's Poseidon. He's the god of the sea and the brother of the king of the gods."

I nod. "Let's do him. He sounds awesome."

Annabeth bites her lips. "I really think we should do Athena. I already know a lot about her. She was my mom's favorite goddess."

"Well, I want to do Poseidon," I say, a little firmly. "I'm sure we can find a ton on him."

Annabeth purses her lips. "Athena's way better. She was born straight out of Zeus's head, literally a product of his thoughts. And that's how all of her children were born. Tell me that's not cool."

I thought it was pretty cool, but I wasn't about to admit that to Annabeth. "It doesn't matter whether that's cool or not. Poseidon is the best."

"How can you say that?" Annabeth snaps. "You don't know anything about him!"

"I know that he's the god of water, and that's pretty fantastic in my book."

"Well, your book is wrong, Seaweed Brain." It's the first time she's used her nickname for me as an insult and I'm shocked. "He's the god of the seas, not water everywhere. And we're doing Athena."

"No. We're doing Poseidon."

"Athena."

"Poseidon."

"Athena."

"Poseidon."

"Athena."

"Are we really going to have our first fight over something as stupid as which god to do a project over?"

Annabeth opens her mouth to reply – probably some sassy, sarcastic comment – but she closes it and sighs. "No," she says. "We're not. Let's just do a different god."

"Is there a god of love?" I ask. "Because that would be funny, since we're...you know..." A blush creeps up on my cheeks.

"Dating?" Annabeth finishes for me, smiling. "You're thinking of Aphrodite. She's the goddess of love and beauty."

"Huh. I always thought that you were the goddess of beauty."

Annabeth's face goes blood red and she slaps me on the arm. "Shut up, Percy."

"Ouch."

We spend the rest of the class writing down (or typing?) information about Aphrodite on Annabeth's laptop. I tried to make more comments about Annabeth, but every single one ended with me getting either slapped or punched in the arm. I didn't stop though. I meant every single thing I said, and Annabeth deserved to be told them.

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My swim coach doesn't believe in set times for practice to end. Some days, it could end at four, others at six. Even in off-season practices, you never know when practice is going to end. The people on the team who couldn't drive would have to either walk home or hitch a ride with the older team members in order to get home. But still, the coach wouldn't set a time.

"Faster, faster, faster!" Coach Murray screams at me as I make my last lap around the pool. It's six in the evening and we can go home as soon as everyone does two laps around the pool. Three for the seniors.

I normally wouldn't mind practice running late, but I promised Annabeth after English today that she could come over tonight so we could procrastinate doing our project. Even though I can't see her – my face is kind of underwater – I can feel her presence and her eyes watching me. It makes me push harder. I finish the lap fifteen seconds later, ending our practice.

I climb out of the pool and look at Annabeth. She's sitting on the bleachers with her bag next to her. The other guys' girlfriends all left, with the exception of a couple. Annabeth sits alone though with a book in her lap, though she's not reading it. She's looking at me.

I wink at her. She rolls her eyes.

"Alright, boys, good practice," Coach Murray says as I turn my attention to him. "Peyton, work on your stroke some more. It's getting lazy. Beckendorf, work on your breathing. Don't hold it as long. And Percy," he turns towards me, "is that your girlfriend?" He nods towards Annabeth, who is dutifully reading her book and I nod. "She's cute," he finishes and the whole teams laughs and slaps me on the back. I smile, trying not to show just how uncomfortable Coach's comment made me feel.

We put our hands in and I take us out, since I'm the captain. Everyone heads towards the locker room, but I head towards Annabeth. "How did I do?" I ask her. "Amazing, right?"

"Eh," she teases. "I've seen better."

"Ha ha. You're so funny."

"Just kidding. You did great."

"Thank you," I say and she looks me up and down. "Checking me out again?" I accuse playfully. "I know I'm inhumanly attractive, but really, Annabeth, this is getting out of hand."

She shakes her head. "I was just thinking about how you need to put some clothes on."

I look down at myself. I'm in blue swim trunks and soaking wet. "Really? I was going to go home like this."

"You better not, since I'm coming over to your house."

"Ah, yes." I clap my hands together, drops of water flying onto Annabeth. "That was the plan, wasn't it. Let me just go get dressed." Annabeth nods and starts to put away her book, expecting me to walk off. When I don't, she looks up at me with curious gray eyes. She opens her mouth to speak but is cut off when I pick her up and smash her up against my soaking wet self. She shrieks, but it's muffled against my chest.

"Percy Jackson!" I manage to make out. "Let me go, or so help me, I will kill you!"

By now, we're the last two people in the room. Her cries for blood echo throughout the room. I get an idea. "Let me go, Percy!" she cries again, this time more clearer. She's managed to get her face away from my bare chest.

"Okay." I throw her into the pool.

She comes up spluttering. Her blonde curls are sopping wet and pasted to her face. Her gray eyes are almost black with anger. For a second, I am scared for my life.

"I'm going to kill you, Jackson," she growls, treading water.

"No, you won't" I sing. "You like me too much."

"Try me."

In response, I jump into the pool and surface right next to her. "Hey."

She glares at me. "I cannot believe you. I don't know what the rules are here in New York, but back in California, you don't just throw someone into a pool while they're-."

I put a hand over her mouth. "Listen, Annabeth. No one's here. It's just you and me. Why don't we have fun and break the rules a bit? No one's going to know."

She rolls her eyes. "Seaweed Brain," she says before splashing me with water and swimming away. "Try and catch me!"

I narrow my eyes at her retreating form and grin mischievously. "You're on." I swim after her, catching up quickly. I wrap and arm around her waist and pull her towards me. Her body floats towards mine until she collides against me. "Never challenge the captain of the swim team to a race," I whisper in her ear. "I'll always catch you."

She lifts her face up towards mine. "What if I want you to?" she whispers.

We're so close. I could close this distance between our lips so easily.

"Have you ever opened your eyes underwater?" I ask instead. "Like, without goggles?"

Annabeth shakes her head.

I start pulling her farther into the pool, towards the deepest end. "Come on," I say. "Try it."

"Will it hurt?" she asks in a timid voice.

I shake my head. "Only if you keep them open for too long. Ready?" She nods and I pull us under.

Her eyes are closed at first. I nudge her and she slowly opens them. She gazes around imploringly under she looks at me. Her gaze stays there. My arms are still around her, enveloping her, holding her against me. Our legs are tangled together. Her hair floats around her head like a golden halo, making her look like an angel. I wouldn't be surprised if she was one.

Before I know it, I crush my lips to hers, which were eagerly waiting. Her arms tighten around my neck and her fingers slide up into my hair. Her lips taste like chlorine and move against mine like there's no tomorrow. My mind is wiped of everything in it other than Annabeth. Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. I can feel the material of her shirt against my torso. Her shirt has come up only slightly, and the two inches of skin press against my bare stomach, sending electricity through me. Her bare legs tangle even mire with mine and everywhere our skin touches, it's like fire. Right there, underwater, in Goode High's pool, I decide that there can't ever be enough of this, of Annabeth. And I think I might love her more fiercely than I realized. And I think she might love me back.

Annabeth pulls away after a while and starts swimming towards the surface. I follow. We break and gasp for air, still holding on to each other. "Wow," Annabeth breathes.

"Wow," I agree. And that's all we say. That's all that needs to be said.

At least, that's all that needs to be said until Coach Murray comes back in, looking for his forgotten phone and finds the both of us staring at each other likes goofs in the middle of the pool. This is going to be fun to explain.

And that's their first day back to school! That was so much fun to write! And really fluffy. Really fluffy. Oh well. This chapter is dedicated to AnnabethDiAngelo. Your review literally made my day. I wrote this all in one day because of you. I am so happy that you love this story so much! And don't worry. I promise I won't discontinue. I swear it on the Rive Styx. *thunder rumbles in the distance*

Please review! That would be fantastic! Thank you!

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 (NIV)