Side note: Chiron was underlined in red in the text editor and the top suggestion for it was Charon LOL
The underlined text is taken directly from The Lightning Thief. :) I don't own PJO! Updated June 2020.

Chapter 2: Annabeth

Annabeth was there when Percy carried Grover to the Big House on his first night at Camp Half-Blood. Both were drenched from the rain outside the camp and smelled like monster. Percy was covered in yellow monster dust while Grover's back was coated in mud.

"He's the one, he must be," she said, strong hope for a quest bubbling up in her for the first time in years. She'd felt imprisoned in her home ever since Luke came back from his first quest and questing became off-limits.

"Silence, Annabeth. He's still conscious, bring him inside," Chiron ordered.

Annabeth situated the boy in the infirmary bed and fetched the pudding version of ambrosia and some nectar from the cabinet. Chiron dismissed her for the night and told her to come back in the morning so she could watch him while Chiron taught his archery class.

The next morning, Annabeth was on the second round of feeding the boy (Percy, Chiron told her) whose dark hair was plastered to his forehead and she was laughing at the ambrosia all over his face (definitely not her fault, he just had to be unconscious), when she noticed his eyes open suddenly. His eyes were a brilliant, rich green and when they met hers, she hated herself for getting lost in them momentarily. When he had carried Grover that night, it had been too dark to make out his features. She knew she had very little time to ask him questions (she emneeded/em answers) before he would fall back asleep.

"What will happen at the summer solstice?" she asked Percy. Come on, she thought, you must know something, when he looked at her confused and blinking blankly.

"What?" Percy replied, dazed. She looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was there. Spill it! She internally demanded.

"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I'm sawry," he said, already falling back asleep. "I don'…"

Annabeth groaned in frustration, and at the knock on the door quickly filled his mouth with ambrosia. Annoying Yankee, she thought.

0~0~0

After two days of taking care of Percy, Chiron informed Annabeth that Grover would take over. The next time Annabeth saw Percy was when he finally woke up, on the third day. She stood and listened to Chiron talking with Percy and was surprised to not hear the distinct New York accent she swore she heard the previous days, while he was awake and while he was asleep. She shook her head, thinking he had just been super incoherent and slurred his words instead. He still looked uncertain on his feet but he had a firm determination in his eyes to walk on his own, which Annabeth admired. To make up for internally acknowledging she admired someone she had just seen drool while sleeping, Annabeth said the only thing she could think of. "You drool when you sleep."

Annabeth quickly got over her thoughts on Percy when Chiron asked her to take over Percy's tour and Percy succeeded in embarrassing himself, and by extension, her, in every way possible. Annabeth was slightly glad he didn't have an accent after all, because that would just be more fuel for the camp bullies to collect when witnessing embarrassment parade that was known as Percy Jackson. After annoying her with his whiny questions and after the toilet incident with Clarisse, she was thoroughly fed up with Percy, but at least Annabeth now had a plan for Capture the Flag.

Annabeth and Percy were talking about the gods (gods, when will he finally understand this stuff?) when Percy asked how to get to Olympus. Annabeth decided he wasn't a pureblood New Yorker after that question. "You are a New Yorker, right?" and he responded, "Oh, sure," still looking confused.

0~0~0

After Percy returned from Olympus, Annabeth quenched the overwhelming feeling of relief of seeing him alive, and a stray thought wondered how he had managed to get to Olympus if he wasn't a true New Yorker like he made it seem. Annabeth didn't get the chance to ask him about his accent until Percy woke up from Luke's attempted murder and Chiron left for Olympus. Annabeth no longer felt like talking about things that made her blood boil in anger.

"So, are you a true New Yorker or not?" she asked, to start things out. Percy looked at her, offended.

"Of course I am! What did you think I was?"

Annabeth dodged the question. "But do you have an accent?"

Percy's expression faltered before answering, just a microsecond, long enough for Annabeth to catch it. "Why would you think that?"

"I just thought I heard one when you talked in your sleep, both at the beginning of summer and this time."

Percy looked self-conscious, which Annabeth had only seen a few times. It was strange, because no matter how much he embarrassed himself, he never looked self-conscious, only oblivious that he was making a fool of himself.

"Yeah, I do," he finally said. A few moments passed in silence.

"Then why do you hide it? Lots of people have more embarrassing things than an accent, and you sure like to embarrass yourself in everything else you do."

Percy chuckled at that comment and Annabeth smiled.

"I dunno, I just promised myself that I would hide my accent after Yancy—I didn't want to give kids more reasons to isolate me. And even here, I'm still separated from everyone by my godly parent. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I've been claimed, and everyone still includes me in stuff, but I'm still alone. I still stick out, even here, even with everyone else also having ADHD and dyslexia," he said quickly, like it had been bottled up for a while. His eyes widened after realizing how much he had said. Percy's green eyes met Annabeth's gray nervously. "Please don't tell anyone. Only Grover and Chiron have heard my accent."

Annabeth stared at him and recognized how hard it must have been to reveal this. It didn't seem that big of a deal to Annabeth, but when she thought about it, she realized she knew everything about Percy: from Smelly Gabe to his habit of drooling in his sleep, and him about her: the trouble with her father and her dream of being an architect. They knew everything about each other, except Annabeth didn't know about his accent. Annabeth felt honored that he thought her such a close friend he would admit this to her. Looking back, Annabeth didn't deal with regular school for that long before she ran away. She was in first grade when she left the school system, and then when she got to camp, everyone was the same as her and she was immediately welcomed into the Athena cabin with open arms. She may have felt suffocated and trapped in camp for five years, but Percy didn't have it easy either. He had to deal with Gabe, who, she had a sneaking suspicion, was more than just rude to him and Sally, and he was a son of the Big Three, which meant more monsters and more weird things happening in his childhood. He was kicked out of every school he ever attended, and having ADHD and dyslexia around perfectly normal kids that got kicked out much less than him couldn't have helped Percy blend in.

Annabeth snapped out of her reverie. "Of course I won't tell, Seaweed Brain. We're friends."

He smiled, clearly relieved, and an understanding passed between them. They stood side by side at the railing and looked out at Thalia's pine tree./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just one more thing," she said, interrupting the silence. "I don't think you have any reason to be embarrassed about it. You shouldn't have to hide who you really are, even though an accent is only what you sound like and not your personality. You should find someone you trust, someone who you can talk regularly to; maybe one day you can drop your act."

Percy held her gaze, thinking about her words.

"Well, I give no promises on permanently 'dropping my act,' but if we are alone," he paused, "I will talk to you regularly. Stawting now." They smiled at each other, Annabeth not hiding her excitement that she would hear Percy's accent from now on.

Annabeth then changed the subject, not wanting to make Percy more uncomfortable than she already had, asking what he would do for the school year. He told her about Chiron wanting him to stay, but he wanted to live with is mom for the year in the city. Annabeth was only half paying attention to what he was saying, as she was so caught up in the cadence of his genuine voice and the way he pronounced some of his vowels and r's. He was definitely a born and raised New Yorker, Annabeth decided.

Percy and Annabeth said their goodbyes for the summer, and as Annabeth touched Thalia's tree for the last time for a while, she looked back at her best friend (who was so much like Thalia), standing on the porch, wondering if he had any other secrets she might one day learn.

So that was Annabeth's first chapter! I'm trying to keep the chapters in sequential order.

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