Hey guys! Look at that! I'm not dead! Life has been so busy recently! High school is crazy, now that it's summer I've finally gotten a break and time to write! So I started a new story instead of finishing the many I already started! Yay!

(I know, I'm annoyed with myself too.)

So I hope you enjoy this, it's a Percabeth fanfic as I haven't written many (read: I've written none) of those. I hope I can finish this before August is over. Then again, you know me so who knows when I'll be done.

Alright, I'm done talking (well, technically typing). Enjoy!

P.S. Story can also be found on Wattpad under my account AngelicaS4theWin.

She was late. She was so late.

"Morning, Dad!"

"Hmm?" Her father looked up from the paper as Annabeth zoomed into the kitchen, ready for school with her hair up in a messy blond bun, a load of books in her arms, and bundled up in a coat, hat, and scarf. "Oh, good morning sweetheart."

Annabeth knew that both she and her dad were what most considered workaholics so their daily interactions in the mornings and evenings were the only time they spent together—excluding weekends. Thus, she usually tried to have a conversation with him over breakfast before they left for school and work, respectively.

However, she had woken up a half-hour later than usual so all Annabeth had time for was a quick hug... that he half responded to, as he was once again immersed in his paper. Then she made a quick breakfast of a bagel with cream cheese and went over to the door to put on her shoes—the bagel precariously secured between her teeth.

She had barely taken a bite out of it before a loud car horn was heard from outside.

Her father sighed, eyes still stuck on the newspaper. "He's been doing that for the last 15 minutes, Annabeth."

"I know, I know." She bent over to stuff her books into her backpack, which had seen better days but it hadn't failed her yet so she counted her blessings, and made her way toward the front door. "I'm running a little late today." She unlocked the door and turned back to wave at her dad.

"See you later!" she yelled out through a mouthful of bagel.

He waved to her offhandedly, finally sparing a glance from his paper to shoot her a smile. "Have a good day at school."

The door all but slammed behind her in her rush as she ran down the steps then down the driveway, avoiding all ice patches on her way to the Prius that was waiting for her.

Annabeth opened the car door and said a frazzled hello to the boy at the wheel, "Hey! Sorry I'm late."

"Took you long enough," was the driver's grumbled reply. "What happened? Did you see a spider in the bathroom again and get held up by a short killing spree?"

"Haha, very funny Seaweed Brain," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "I was just up so late finishing my AP Lang essay that I missed my alarm."

Seaweed Brain (aka Percy) winced in sympathy as he put the car back in drive and started driving them to school, "Yikes, this is why I'm so glad that you didn't force me to take that class with you."

"Whatever," Annabeth groaned as she slumped down into her seat. "I have no idea how I'm going to get through the day. I'm exhausted."

Percy smiled, "Well, this might help."

Annabeth raised a curious eyebrow at that only to have Percy hand her a cup of coffee.

"Your favorite, a chai latte with a shot of espresso."

She sat up quickly and eagerly took the drink out of his hands. "Ah, yes. I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

Percy side-eyed her. "Right, because you're only my friend because of the coffee benefits."

Annabeth took a sip of her drink and nearly melted as the warm liquid warmed her up on that cold winter day. She smiled at him. "Of course. That and the daily drive to school."

Percy scoffed but couldn't hold back his own fond grin.

"Whatever, I thought you might need it with how much work you've been busy with lately. If you won't take care of yourself, someone will have to."

Annabeth wanted to ignore the warmth that bloomed in her chest, blaming it on the coffee, but she knew better.

Looks like it's starting early today.

Usually, she made it to lunch without a single skipped heartbeat or swarming butterflies in her stomach. With her late start, she didn't have the time to put up her usual walls before coming face to face with the bane of her love life (aka Percy).

Still, Annabeth was used to this by now and could handle her best friend's caring tendencies in a mature, unfrazzled fashion.

"Aw, you do care." She teased him, ruffling his hair in place of doing something stupid like kissing his cheek.

"Hey!" Percy swatted her hand away. "Watch it! I'm driving here."

After a few minutes, they got to school. Percy pulled into the student-designated parking and barely a second after he parked, Annabeth was rushing out of the vehicle. She grabbed her book bag and speed walked to the building, Percy scrambling to follow her.

"Shit! We're so late! And I have that test in Organic Chemistry today!" Annabeth stressed as she ran up the steps to the nearest school entrance—the doors by the gym being her best bet.

"Annabeth! Wait up!" Percy called out to her as he started up the stairs.

Annabeth kept up her pace until she got in the building, she then slowed down to a brisk walk as she hurried up the stairs to her chemistry class. "Sorry, Perce! I'll see you at lunch!" she spoke quickly before disappearing up the stairs.

"Ugh, food. Finally." Annabeth groaned as she plopped down in her seat at their lunch table. She nearly face-planted directly into her packed sandwich but thankfully managed to hit the table instead.

Piper sympathetically patted her head from her seat on the blonde's left. "Tough morning?" she asked.

"Tough life," Annabeth mumbled from her head's current resting place on the lunch table.

Maybe I can just stay here, this table is oddly comfortable.

The day wasn't off to a great start. She was late to Organic Chemistry so she had much less time to take the test than everyone else. Apparently, she wasn't late enough to skip the test (her teacher had said such with a passive-aggressive tone when she had entered the room as if Annabeth had planned to arrive late to school for that very reason).

Then in AP Lang, she learned that the essay she had been working on about The Great Gatsby was actually due tomorrow. Instead, they had an in-class seminar today about the new book they had just started, Catcher in the Rye. Which, of course, she had prepared zero notes for as she was working on the essay. Thankfully, she had already read that book over the summer so she was able to get through.

And then, she had gone to Architectural Drafting which is usually her favorite class, except today they had to watch a very boring video about the Design Process and complete an open-notes test on it. The narrator spoke so fast Annabeth thought she was listening to Ancient Greek for a moment.

Sometimes, Annabeth really hated high school.

"Come on, Annie. It's time to rejoin the living," Thalia nudged her head from her right. Annabeth lifted her head just enough to glare at her friend, "Don't call me that." She then unceremoniously plopped her head back down on the table.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Annabeth squinted up to see Percy walk over to the table, a lopsided smile lighting up his face.

Thalia sighed, "Oh nothing, Annabeth here just had a tough morning so now she's trying to 'become one' with the lunch table."

Annabeth was debating if it was worth it to lift her head and scowl at her best friend, who was being so unsympathetic to her unfortunate situation, when she felt a hand on her head. She lifted her head to look up at the owner of said hand.

"Would you be willing to part with the table to eat some of my mom's famous blue cookies?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Is this a trap? This feels like a trap."

Percy grinned, "No trap, just free delicious food."

Annabeth eyed him suspiciously for a moment, hesitant to accept the hand which had moved off her head to offer a cookie, then she happily accepted the treat and lifted her head from the lunch table. "At least someone loves me."

Thalia snorted and Percy gave her a look, but Annabeth was too tired and too busy enjoying her cookie to care.

"Can you move over a seat, Thals?" Percy asked, putting his packed lunch and container of cookies on the table next to Annabeth.

Thalia raised an eyebrow, "Why?" She looked down at where Percy placed his food before continuing in a smug tone, "There's plenty of room on the other side of the table. Why must you take my seat next to Annabeth?"

"Because I was going to share my cookies with her," Percy deadpanned.

Annabeth hummed, "Can't argue with that logic."

"You can share them across the table," Thalia reasoned.

"Thals," Percy said with a look, he also seemed to be blushing, maybe he was hot?

Thalia rolled her eyes but moved nonetheless. "Fine. Whatever, loverboy. I get it, you want to sit next to your girlfriend—"

"She's not my—"

"—and who am I to fight true love?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, willing away the blush that tried to take over her cheeks from her friends' teasing. "Stop being so dramatic, Thalia." She grabbed another cookie from Percy as he sat down in Thalia's old seat.

"So, what happened this morning to make you so miserable?" Percy asked conversationally as he ate his PBJ sandwich.

Annabeth simply replied, "High School," and took another bite of her cookie.

"Well, at least you get a reprieve from the horror that is school with the wonderful gift of an hour-long lunch," Leo said optimistically beside Jason as he fiddled with some new contraption he made with straws and rubber bands. "Yeah! And we get to keep you company," said Hazel, while stealing a grape from her boyfriend Frank.

Annabeth smiled, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up guys, but I still have a lot of work left to do in the rest of my classes. Not to mention homework and my afterschool stuff."

Percy nudged her shoulder, "You should take a load off, come to our study session today. You missed the last two and we can help each other with our work. And you can afford to miss soccer practice for one day."

Annabeth bit her lip, "I don't know… I have a lot on my plate, I don't think I can spare the time—"

"Aw, come on Annabeth! We haven't spent time together in forever! And we'd be studying so you can still get work done!" Piper reasoned. When she turned on her puppy dog eyes, Annabeth knew she was fighting a losing battle.

"Ugh, fine," Annabeth begrudgingly agreed, "but someone better buy me my coffee."

Percy put an arm around her, "That's what I'm here for," he said jokingly with a smile.

As the topic of conversation changed, Annabeth caught Thalia's eye. She raised an eyebrow and nodded her head towards Percy's arm around her shoulder and the end of her lips lifted in a teasing smile.

Annabeth blushed and sent her a look that said, "Shut up!" before listening back into the conversation.

"You can't just keep on like this Annabeth. You like him, he likes you. I don't see the problem!"

They were throwing away their trash from lunch before going back to sit at the table when Thalia decided to start up her favorite argument, "Annabeth and Percy should be together and would be if Annabeth would finally 'woman up' and ask him out!"

"Thalia," Annabeth sighed, tossing her water bottle in the recycling bin, "you keep forgetting the main flaw in that plan, I'm not even sure if Percy likes me like that."

"Oh, come on, Annabeth! We both know that the boy is head-over-heels for you. Everyone knows that!"

"We don't know for sure! He's an overly affectionate person. You know how every time he tries being 'nice' and 'polite' he ends up flirting effortlessly with some poor girl." Just thinking about Percy's oblivious heartbreaker tendencies was revving her up. Annabeth could feel her heartbeat pick up as her voice rose and she spoke faster, gesticulating passionately as she let out her bottled-up agitation.

"So many girls have asked him out only for him to turn them down being none the wiser. He always believes—no, he's convinced that they were just being nice. If I even tried to ask him out, he'd think I was asking to hang out like normal! Heck, if I said 'I love you,' he'd say, 'Love you too, bro.' "

Thalia winced as the two started walking back to their table, and Annabeth felt a little embarrassed at her outburst. Avoiding the eyes around the cafeteria that were drawn in by her ranting, she bit her tongue and let the other girl speak. "Okay, I'll admit it. The boy's as oblivious as they come. But I know he likes you! He doesn't treat anyone else like he treats you. He practically worships the ground you walk on."

Annabeth raised a skeptical eyebrow, "That's a little dramatic, Thalia."

"Maybe, but he doesn't drive any of the rest of us to school every day and back without fail, even when he had a cold."

"That was one time, and I sent him back home immediately, of course."

"He doesn't buy the rest of us coffee whenever we need it, doesn't send us soup when we get sick."

"You know that's just the Sally Jackson in him, he couldn't help it if he tried."

"He doesn't share his cookies with just anyone either."

"He shares with you!"

"I have to snatch them from him."

"And, he definitely doesn't stare at any one of us as much as he does with you, especially not smiling like that," Thalia whispered in her ear before walking over to her seat as they arrived back at their table.

Annabeth looked at Percy to see Thalia was right, he was smiling at her, with his special Annabeth smile. Maybe she was right about more than that. Maybe…

No, he's your best friend. You two have been together since first grade, 10 years ago. You've just developed a very close bond over the years. Yes, maybe you've seen him as more than a friend for nearly half that time, but that doesn't mean he has.

Despite herself, Annabeth's face still felt a little warm when she sat down next to Percy and he immediately put his arm back in its place around her shoulders.

Once lunch was over, Annabeth walked with Percy to her next class, Pre-Calc. They usually walked together because Percy had a class in the hallway beside hers. Then they would walk to one of the only two classes they shared, Latin.

Percy swung their hands between them as they walked through the busy hallway.

Annabeth noticed he'd been doing that a lot lately: holding her hand when they walked together and putting his arm around her shoulders like he did at lunch. Heck, one time he even walked up behind her while she was reading and put his arms around her then casually asking if it was interesting.

It wasn't unusual for Percy to be touchy-feely with his friends, he often put his arm around Hazel when he teased her for having a crush on Frank, or drop a kiss on Jason's cheek when the two kept up the long-running joke that the bromance the two shared was more of a romance.

But he's been acting more cuddly towards Annabeth recently, often vying for her attention.

It was admittedly cute, but also confusing. Did he want to be more than friends like Thalia said? Or was he just being Percy?

"So," Percy started, effectively interrupting Annabeth's train of thought. "What were you and Thalia bickering about at lunch?"

...And her train of thought was effectively back on course!

Annabeth snorted, and deflected the question, "I'd say you two were doing the bickering." "Eh," Percy shrugged, "nothing more than our usual cousin quarrel." He looked down at her, "But you looked a little frustrated when you got back to the table, your face was flushed and you didn't even fight for the last cookie like you usually do."

Huh, apparently he's not as clueless as I'd hoped.

Percy gave her a look of concern, "Are you feeling alright? Maybe you're sick, that'd explain the lack of appetite."

Annabeth internally rolled her eyes at him. Yet he manages to still be just clueless enough to not notice my crush on him, wonderful.

Percy, oblivious to Annabeth's internal struggle to resist the urge to strangle the cluelessness out of him, frowned down at her. "Is that what you argued with Thalia about? If you're feeling bad, you should go to the nurse. I can walk with you if you want."

"No, no, I'm fine Percy. Thalia and I were just talking about the usual annoying school stuff. I'm not sick."

Percy's frown didn't let up, "Are you sure? Here, let me check your temperature." Before she could repeat that she was fine and to stop worrying, he stepped in front of her, causing Annabeth to stumble to an abrupt stop, and placed the back of his hand on her forehead as he checked her temperature.

For what felt like the hundredth time today, Annabeth had to push down the heat rising to her cheeks as Percy peered down at her in concern, damn his height, it feels like he's always looking down on me.

"You do feel a little warm, are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse?" Percy asked, but he didn't remove his hand as he waited for an answer.

My face isn't warm because I'm sick you idiot. It's warm because you seem to have forgotten the concept of personal space.

"I'm fine, Percy," she batted his hand away scrunching up her nose as she tried to fight off her undue embarrassment at him coddling her. "Come on, let's get to class, the bell is about to ring."

Percy still seemed worried, but he sped up as he realized she was right and while they had more time after lunch to get to their classes, they still had to face the oncoming rush of students.

Just a second later, the bell rang and the halls started to fill with students that trickled out of the classrooms at a steady pace. The flow of teens was almost overwhelming, but the two managed to stick together until they got to Annabeth's class.

Percy let go of her hand, which he was holding as they had maneuvered their way through the sea of hormones, and said goodbye. "Good luck with your math project!" he smiled as he watched her enter the classroom from the doorway.

"And good luck with your World History test," Annabeth replied, lingering near the doorway.

"Excuse me, love birds, but other people need to get to class, you know," Leo grumbled as he tried to get past Percy into the classroom.

Piper followed behind him and swatted his arm, "Stop it, Leo. I think they're cute."

Annabeth glared at her trying to silently ask her friends to shut up. "Pipes, for the millionth time, we're not dating."

Both Piper and Leo gave her a bland look, "Riiiight."

Percy just chuckled and with one last wave to Annabeth, he left for his class and the three friends sat down in their usual seats beside each other.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and the teacher told them to split up into their groups for their project. "You have the entire class period to work on this," he said. "It's due Wednesday so I expect all of you to use your time wisely." And with a meaningful look to the class, his eyes lingering on a few of the more excitable and easily distracted students (see: Leo), he left them to their work.

Immediately Piper scooted her chair closer to Annabeth's. "So, you and Percy seem to be attached at the hip lately. Is operation Percabeth finally underway?" She said that last part with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

Annabeth scoffed, "Come on, Piper. You know it's never going to happen. At this rate, I'm starting to doubt Percy will ever notice I like him."

Piper waved her hand in dismissal, "Yes, yes. We all know Percy is as thick as a brick. But that shouldn't stop you from asking him out!"

Annabeth sighed in exasperation. She knew her friends just wanted to see her happy, but their badgering was getting a little aggravating. Not to mention that it acted as a constant reminder that she and Percy were not a couple, no matter how cuddly he seemed.

"Forget it, Piper. Let's just work on the project."

Piper shrugged, "Alright, but I'm just saying, I think you two could be an awfully cute couple if one of you would just take a leap of faith and ask the other out."

Thankfully, Piper left it at that, and they continued to work on their math project until the end of the period with no more talk of Percy and Annabeth's relationship.

After the last class of the day, Annabeth walked to her locker before going to the parking lot and waiting for Percy to give her a ride home, as usual.

When she got to her locker, what looked like a slip of paper was stuck hanging out of the slits in the locker.

Annabeth frowned, confused. Did a teacher have a paper for me and left it here? Wait no, that's silly. They could have just sent a student to give it to me, or called me to their room, or even sent it in an email. It must be something else?

Annabeth walked up to the locker and upon closer inspection, she realized that it was an envelope.

Her confusion growing, she took the envelope out of the slit and turned it over to see it was addressed to her. Her name was written on it in fancy cursive that she didn't recognize from any of her teachers.

Annabeth

Annabeth's curiosity peaked, she opened the envelope to see a typed letter inside.

As she still had some time left before Percy would be done packing his stuff, she decided to read it.

Dear Annabeth,

I know you are probably confused by this letter. You might even be confused enough to stop at your locker and start to read it just to quench your curiosity. You're probably tilting your head in that cute puppy dog way of yours wondering how I know all of this. And now you're probably scrunching up your nose like a bunny rabbit at my frankness.

You can rest assured, I'm not some creepy stalker that plans to kidnap you and keep you in my basement. Wow, that was creepy. Forget I said that. Please. I swear I'm not this awkward usually. I'm just really nervous… I can't believe I'm writing all of this down. Whatever, I'm most likely going to chicken out and not give this to you anyway.

Okay! Back on topic! What I'm trying to say here is, I like you. And I know that you're probably even more confused now because "What the heck? Who is this random person (I'm a guy by the way) that's professing their interest in me in this weird love letter?"

Well, I can't reveal my identity to you as the whole purpose of the love letter is to be anonymous, that's also why this is typed and not handwritten. Also, my handwriting is terrible, and I want to have a nice first impression.

Well, that's not completely true, we've already met. I just don't want you to immediately throw this away because of my horrendous handwriting. Not that I think you would be that mean! You're probably one of the nicest people I know!

You are! Don't you raise that doubtful eyebrow at me!

I'm getting off-topic again, aren't I? Sorry.

So, yeah. I like you. Like-like I mean. I sound like a third grader don't I? I just wanted to try to tell you. And I want to woo you. So I decided to write you love letters every week, every Thursday, to try to win you over. I hope you overlook my awkward rambling and give me a chance.

Well, this letter got out of hand, I promise the next one will be shorter.

Until next time!

With Love,

Your Secret Admirer

Annabeth stared at the letter in shock. I have a secret admirer?

Before she could think about it any further she got a text from Percy.

Seaweed Brain: Hey, where are you? I'm not usually in the parking lot before you. Are you okay?

Annabeth looked at the time on her phone and to her surprise, it was almost 3:30 PM. She usually got out to the parking lot by 3:15 PM as school let out at 3 o'clock. She quickly typed out:

Annabeth: Sorry! I'll be there soon. I got held up at my locker.

With that, she pocketed her phone, quickly put her things away, and grabbed her stuff for homework. She shrugged on her coat, shut her locker, and rushed outside to the parking lot.

The wind had picked up outside and kept blowing her hair in her face. She had taken it out of a messy bun a while ago so her hair was a little all over the place. She paused to pull on her beanie and hood before continuing at her fast pace to the parking lot.

The sky was cloudy, but thankfully, there was no sign of rain or snow. It was just cold.

The student parking lot was half full by now. A few afterschool clubs were held today so many students were staying after.

Annabeth caught sight of Percy in his usual spot, sitting inside his car. His eyes were searching the lot, most likely looking for her.

She waved to him when she was close enough and he waved back, unlocking the car as she walked up to the passenger side.

"Hey," Percy said with a smile watching her pull the door closed as she settled into her seat.

Annabeth forewent greetings as she took off her bag. "It's so cold out there! My hands are freezing off and I was only out there for under 5 minutes!"

Percy chuckled, "Well, we do live in New York," he said, starting the car and preparing to back out of his parking space.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I love the city, don't get me wrong, but I do miss the California winters."

Percy snorted, "What winters?"

"Exactly," Annabeth replied, rubbing her hands together to warm them.

Percy laughed at that as he turned onto the main road.

After a short while, they reached a stoplight.

"So…" Percy started. Annabeth turned to look at him, he was watching the road, fingers drumming against the steering wheel. "Hmm?" she prompted him to continue.

"What took you so long to get to the parking lot? I can't remember the last time you were late, excluding whenever you stay after. You're usually teasing me for always taking so long."

Annabeth wondered if she should tell him about the note. He was her best friend after all.

But then again, he was her crush.

How would he react? Would he support me having a relationship with another guy? Or will he fight for me? Or what if... what if he won't even care? What if he just congratulates me and brushes it off? I… I don't think I could stand that…

Annabeth shook her head, she was overthinking this. Besides, he would figure it out eventually if the mystery guy kept his promise to write her a new letter each week.

"I, uh, I was held up by my teacher so I was late to my locker, and then I had some trouble getting it to open," she lied.

Annabeth was confused with herself. Why had she lied? Percy would find out about the guy anyway. It didn't make sense…

Annabeth could feel Percy's eyes on her. She tried to ignore it but his eyes didn't move. She had to meet his eyes. If she shied away he would know she was lying and bug her until she finally told him the truth. And then he'd probably question her about why she lied in the first place. No, she would maintain eye contact and remain calm.

Annabeth faked a confused look, turning to look at Percy. She tilted her head and frowned, "What is it?"

Percy was staring at her with an unreadable expression. Multiple emotions swirled in his sea-green eyes. She could identify surprise, confusion, and… was that hurt?

"Percy?"

Percy shook his head, "Huh?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when she was interrupted by a car horn from behind them.

Percy turned back to face the road, "Oh! The light turned," and he moved forward.

Annabeth frowned. That was weird.

She decided to think about it later. She had more pressing matters to deal with.

Annabeth had a secret admirer.

And done!

~PJOandHP4Life