i. Percy

Okay. So here's the thing. Percy has been crushing on his best friend, Rachel for months now. A year even.

His friends know about it. Their friends know about it. Everyone knows about it. Except for her, apparently.

He's spent countless hours pining after her, wishing that for just one moment, she'll wake up from the fog surrounding her head and see that Percy Jackson likes her.

Not as a friend, but like, like like.

You get the point.

"Hey." A fries flies out of nowhere and hits Percy right in the middle of his eyes. Or more appropriately, the middle of his glasses. Jason looks unperturbed with his glare as he picks up another fry. "Stop mooning over her."

"I'm not mooning over her." Percy picks up the fry that unfortunately hit him in the face and eats it. It's still clean anyway. "I'm just observing."

"Observing, my ass."

Another person hovers and sits beside Jason. Grover looks pretty casual with his crunches today, and an enchilada hangs from his mouth.

"Grover, please tell him that I'm not mooning over Rachel," Percy says.

Grover looks unapologetic and shrugs casually. "Sorry Perce, but you really are mooning over her."

"It's not mooning! It's just admiring."

"Sounds pretty the same to me."

Percy lets out a defeated huff as he outstretches his arms on the table. He casts a longing glance on Rachel's direction, hoping that she'll look back. But she never does.

"I'm never going to get over her, am I?" he mutters to himself.

"Why don't you just ask her out, Percy? And see what happens from there," Jason suggests, much like his all previous suggestions when Percy gets into moping phase like this.

To be fair, Percy has thought about it. Constantly thought about it in fact. He has once envisioned himself being cool and collected as he tries to sweep Rachel off her feet and into his arms. He'll stand by her locker and calmly ask her out for a dinner in their favorite place together. Then, she'll beam brightly at him, saying that this was something she's been waiting for all day long. And of course, the resounding yes.

Thinking about what to do and what to say is easy. Putting them into action, not so much.

See, Percy has always had difficulty in believing in himself. Although his mom's reassurances are more than enough to supply the confidence level of the world, Percy still can't help feeling that dread that he'll never be enough. He'll never be smart enough in school, he'll never be fast enough in swimming, he'll never be good enough for his mom—all these thoughts are what diminishes Percy's confidence to almost a zero. Add to the fact that he never had any experience when it comes to dating and girls (aside from that quick peck from his neighbor in a truth or dare game back in middle school), these severely reduced his chance in scoring a date with a girl, and a pretty one at that.

So, Percy sulks quietly and internally admits defeat that he'll forever pin after his crush and remain in the friend zone for as long as he's smitten with Rachel.

"If I ask her out," Percy begins, still staring as the light hits Rachel's hair, making it seem like her hair's on fire, "I'm just gonna get turned down."

"That's right. You'll have no chance with her because you're a loser," a new voice says. Percy doesn't even need to turn his head to see that there's a sneer on her otherwise annoyingly pretty face.

Annabeth Chase.

One of Goode High's popular IT girl. The smart and beautiful student that's part of almost all academic clubs, and still manages to participate in track. And maintain a near perfect GPA. That one girl every high school girl in Goode aspires to be, and for high school boys to date.

Also, Percy's old friend turned rival in his mythology class.

"Yeah, yeah." He turns around and smirks at her—the kind that he knows sends her blood boiling. "Tell that to my 100."

Her face contorts to a grimace, and her grey eyes dull for a moment. "You just got lucky."

"Two times in a row? My, my, you must be getting rusty, Chase." And because Percy can't help it, he adds, "When are you going to chase me?"

Annabeth doesn't look delighted by his play of her last name, but she smiles sweetly at him, the force of it almost strong enough to knock his breath over. "Listen here, Jackson. The only thing getting rusty here is your lackluster flirting skills. How can you score a girl when you can't even manage to put yourself together?"

Percy flushes but tries to hide his reaction from her. God, he doesn't need Annabeth tormenting him about his crush. "Who says something about scoring a girl?"

"Don't make me laugh, Jackson."

"Well, if you haven't heard, I'm not a clown."

"Beats me. I thought you were going to school to be laughed at by everyone."

"At least I'm not the one eating dust from all the chasing you're doing after me."

"Hardy har har," Annabeth says as she rolls her eyes at him. "Just because I'm being generous, let me give you a tip."

"Oh, what a generous day is it for Miss Chase," he mutters sarcastically.

Annabeth points on Rachel's direction. "I know you like her."

Percy chuckles, amused. "Oh, really? I didn't know."

"You may act indifferent all you want, pretending like you don't care, but the honest truth is, you'll never get her, with you being the loser you are." Annabeth grins, wickedly. "And unless you step up your game, you'll forever be watching on the sides, pining after the girl whom you know will never like you back. And I'll love to see that happen."

With that, she struts off, leaving him glaring after her in annoyance.

He almost forgets that he's eating with Jason and Grover, because he's so absorbed with their heated argument until—

"Dude," Jason says.

"Dudeee," Grover repeats after him. "Were you just bantering with Annabeth Chase?"

Percy shrugs indifferently. He prefers the word argument, but he'll still accept banter.

Jason stares at him, wide-eyed, his blue eyes unblinking. "You mean the Annabeth Chase?"

"Yes," Percy answers, his brows scrunching into a frown. "I honestly don't see what's the great deal about—"

"Oh my God, she's so hot," Jason mutters, looking at the direction where Annabeth has taken off. He turns back to face Percy, "And she talked to you for more than 10 seconds!"

Grover nods his head so fast Percy thinks he might get a concussion. "Consider yourself lucky, Perce."

"Didn't you hear that she just insulted me in front of you, guys?"

Both of his friends pat him on the back, trying to act sympathetic. "You know, we love you Perce for who you are. We love your clumsiness and an unhealthy obsession with all things blue."

"Even though you suck sometimes, we still like you to hang out with us," Grover adds.

"But Annabeth is right. You do need to step up your flirting game." Jason picks up another fry and points it at himself. "If I were a girl, I wouldn't consider dating you."

"That's very comforting," Percy comments, straight-faced. "But if you're a girl, I wouldn't even consider asking you out, thank you very much."

"Whatever. At least consider what she said about your non-existent flirting skills."

A wide grin splits Percy's face. He turns back to Jason and Grover, who are both looking at him weirdly.

"I think I have a plan."

A/N: Okay so I know I mentioned that I will write something along the lines of royalty with a dash of selection au, but I just got really hyped by this idea. And I also realized that I haven't had a fake dating au yet so here it is. [Title inspired by 'Oops' by Little Mix]

I'm sorry about being inactive for so long (although I doubt anyone is missing me). Anyway, this is the first chapter which I know is kind of short, but this will increase in length as we go on with the story. (hopefully!).

Please review if you want to see more! Also follow me on tumblr if you want to see some fanart and talk to me: thisisawesomeness1825