Brett nervously straightened his shirt before knocking on the door. He still couldn't believe that he was actually at Annabeth's apartment. It was surreal. Maybe by the end of the afternoon, Annabeth would see what a great guy he was, and he could take her to the movies next Friday.

"Come in," a muffled voice called. It didn't sound like Annabeth, but maybe she had a brother? "It's unlocked!"

Brett turned the knob to find that, indeed, it was unlocked. He would have to talk to Annabeth about that. It wasn't safe to leave the door unlocked, especially in New York. Anyone could just walk in.

Brett was greeted with a strange sight when he walked in the door. The strangers that had picked Annabeth up yesterday were scattered around the living room, fast asleep. There were also a couple of people that Brett didn't recognize from yesterday, like the blond boy that was sleeping on the couch with his arms around the boy Brett remembered as Nico. The punk girl who had driven yesterday had crashed on the other side of the couch, and there was a girl with frizzy red hair and paint-splattered clothes curled up in the armchair. A large man on the floor was leaning against the couch with a dark-skinned girl's head in his lap, and a boy with curly brown hair and a goatee was sprawled out on the rug. Brett took a step further into the apartment and saw Leo, one of the boys from yesterday, next to a girl that Brett didn't recognize sleeping near the other end of the couch. The blond boy Brett had heard someone call Jason leaned against the loveseat, his arms wrapped around who Brett had guessed was his girlfriend, and laying on the loveseat was the boy that kissed Annabeth yesterday- Percy.

Brett wasn't sure what to do, he didn't see Annabeth, and he didn't want to wander through the apartment uninvited. But then Percy rolled over asking, "Who is it?"

Brett realized that it had been Percy's voice that he had heard. It concerned Brett that not only was Percy in Annabeth's apartment, but he was also allowing anyone to come in, not even knowing who they were beforehand.

Percy's eyes focused on Brett. "Oh hey. Brett, right? Annabeth's in the kitchen; it's right through there," he said, gesturing to a doorway.

Brett had meant to thank him, but instead, all that came out of his mouth was, "What are you doing here?"

He expected Percy to get mad; he certainly seemed like the type of person to get angry and defensive when questioned. Instead, he just laughed softly. "Oh, I live here. As for the others," he glanced over at the sleeping figures, "they seem to have spent the night."

Percy lived here? But this was Annabeth's apartment. There was no way they could be living together. Annabeth had never mentioned him before, so they couldn't have been dating for long. He'd have to ask Annabeth what Percy had meant. Brett turned to say something else to Percy, but he had already rolled over and fallen back to sleep.

"Hey, Brett. Sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Annabeth greeted as he entered the kitchen. "Would you like anything? We've got all sorts of drinks and Sally made some pancakes before she left."

He eyed the pancakes. They were blue. "That's okay, I already ate breakfast. I wouldn't mind a glass of water though."

Brett pulled out his books and sat at the table as Annabeth grabbed a glass of water. "Annabeth?"

She hummed in acknowledgment.

"Do you always leave your door unlocked?"

"Yeah, for the most part."

"That's really dangerous. Aren't you worried someone will break in?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Not really. Even if someone did break in, I'm sure we could handle it. We have some friends who need a place to crash sometimes and Sally wants to make sure everyone knows they are welcome so she keeps the door unlocked."

"Sally?" he questioned. Annabeth had never mentioned a stepmother, but then again, she never really talked much about herself at all. She almost never let any personal details slip, preferring to talk about her outside interests instead.

"She's Percy's mom," Annabeth said offhandedly as she moved to prepare herself a plate of the strange blue pancakes and a cup of tea.

"Oh." Brett tried to wrap his brain around what that meant. Did that mean Percy actually lived here after all? Where was Annabeth's family? Why was she staying here?"

"Yeah, it's a shame she had to go into work early today; I'm sure you would have loved to meet her. She's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. She was kind enough to let me stay here so I could go to school in New York."

"Why don't you just live with your family?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrow, giving him an almost incredulous look as she turned and sat down at the table across from him. "My dad lives in San Francisco," she said in a tone that implied the answer was obvious. Though Brett still didn't understand. If her family lived in California then why couldn't she just go to school there? Why did she have to attend school in New York?

"Oh," Brett said for the second time that morning. "He trusts you enough to let you live so far away?"

"I've always been pretty independent," was all she said, but Brett felt like there was something more to the story than she was telling.

Annabeth started pulling papers out of her notebook. "We'd better get started on our project. Do you have any ideas?"

Before he could say anything they were interrupted by someone entering the kitchen. They brushed past with no acknowledgment of either Annabeth or himself.

"Good morning to you too, Thalia," Annabeth smiled into her tea. The driver from yesterday- Thalia- merely grunted in response. Annabeth continued, "Sally made a pot of coffee for you."

That seemed to get her attention. Thalia's eyes instantly honed in on the coffee pot, and she wasted no time pouring herself a cup. She raised the mug to her lips and took a long sip. "Ahhh, 'tis truly the nectar of the gods."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "That stuff really isn't good for you, you know."

"Oh no, what'll it do? Stunt my growth?" She said it as if there was some sort of joke behind the words, but if there was, Brett couldn't understand it.

Annabeth, on the other hand, seemed to understand the inside joke perfectly. She smirked as she took another sip of tea and rolled her eyes again. "Just take your coffee and go. Can't you see we're busy?" The words were harsh, but there was no real bite behind them. Annabeth sounded more amused than anything.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Thalia waved her off. "I know when I'm not wanted. I mean, I only get to see you maybe twice a year, but you still decide that schoolwork is more important than hanging out with me."

"Thalia, you've been here for three days and I've been with you almost the whole time. I can't just ignore my schoolwork if I want to get into a good college."

"Oh please," it was Thalia's turn to roll her eyes. "With your brain, you could get into any school you wanted. And besides, you already know you're going to NRU when you graduate."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I should give up trying."

"Awww," Thalia held her hand over her heart. "Look at you being all responsible. My little girl's all grown up."

Despite the fact that Thalia had said the words as a joke, Brett still got the feeling that there was a little bit of seriousness behind what she had said. That confused Brett. Thalia couldn't have been more than fifteen; Annabeth was definitely older than her. So why was Thalia calling Annabeth her little girl with any sort of sincerity?

"I've always been responsible, Thalia. Now get out of here."

Thalia filled her mug with more coffee and left the kitchen without another word. As she passed the table Annabeth hissed, "And don't you dare wake up the others. I don't want any sort of conflict until after I am done with this project."

Thalia smirked. "Now Annabeth, what gives you the idea that I would even think about causing trouble?"

Annabeth ignored the question. "Out."

With that, Thalia walked out of the kitchen, giving Annabeth a mock salute.

"Sorry about that," Annabeth sighed, turning back to Brett. "Did you say you had any ideas for the project?"

Instead of answering Brett asked, "NRU? I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"It's a small private school."

"What does the abbreviation stand for? Maybe I'll have to look into it. Then we could go there together."

Annabeth didn't seem too enthusiastic about that idea, but Brett was confident that he could change that once she started hanging out with him more. "New Rome University. It's pretty exclusive. Not many people get in."

"I'm one of the top students in school, I'm pretty sure I've got a good chance," Brett pressed.

"There's more to the qualifications than just grades," Annabeth sounded almost annoyed. "This has nothing to do with our project. Come on, the sooner we get started, the sooner we get finished."

Brett couldn't help but agree with that. When the project was finished he wanted to hang out with Annabeth some more. He was sure that it was only a matter of time before Annabeth realized just how great a guy he was, especially compared to her current boyfriend. Once he made her realize that he was so much better for her, it would only be a matter of time before she was his.

Brett jumped when the screaming started. He turned to Annabeth, expecting her to be worried or even scared, but instead, she just looked exasperated.

"You're dead, Pinecone Face!" someone shouted. There was the sound of shuffling and mumbling and Brett assumed that everyone else had been startled awake.

"Yeah?" he heard Thalia taunting. "I'd like to see you try, Death Breath."

Brett heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight and winced when the sound of shattering glass filled the air. There were more voices now. It seemed as though the others had either joined in or were trying to stop the fighting.

Annabeth just sighed. "Percy!" she called.

A moment later, Percy's head poked in through the doorway. "Yeah?"

"What's going on out there?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," Percy started but then paused. "You know? I'm actually not sure." He turned and called out, "Hey, Frank? What's going on?"

From his spot at the table, Brett could see the muscular man turn away from where he was trying to pull apart two of the others. "I'm pretty sure Thalia pushed Nico off the couch and, by extension, Will. Now Nico and Thaila are going at it; they broke that ugly vase that Sally's friend got for her."

Percy lifted his hand to the sky. "Thank the gods! I hate that vase. Mom does too but she refuses to admit it."

"Yeah, anyway," Frank continued, "that woke up the rest of us. Will and Jason are trying to break up Thalia and Nico, and Hazel is trying to save Leo from the barrage of angry environmentalists."

"What did Leo do?" Percy asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I was busy trying to pull Nico off of Thalia but I think he said something about big businesses and climate change so now Piper, Calypso, Grover, and Rachel are going after him."

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "One morning of peace, is that too much to ask for?" she muttered to herself. Brett wondered, not for the first time, why Annabeth was friends with these people. They were dangerous and violent and nothing like Annabeth. She was smart and responsible, these were a bunch of hooligans. She was sensible and mature, these people acted like children. Annabeth would be much better off without them.

Percy walked over and planted a chaste kiss on Annabeth's cheek. Brett's blood boiled at the sight. "Don't worry about it; I'll deal with it. You just stay here and finish your project."

Annabeth's shoulders slumped as she let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Seaweed Brain. You're the best."

"I know," Percy smirked as he exited the kitchen. How dare he manipulate Annabeth like that? Couldn't she see that he was just acting? It was only a matter of time before Percy turned on her and showed her his true colors.

Brett heard more shouting- now Percy's voice had joined the throng. He couldn't exactly make out the words that were said, but it didn't take long for the shouting and fighting to die down. Now he could hear Percy's words over the quiet grumbling of the others. "Come on, move it! Annabeth has sentenced all of us to room arrest until she's done with her project."

More grumbling.

"I've got snacks and Mario Kart in my room," Percy added. Brett heard the rush of feet and the sound of people pushing each other out of the way in order to be the first to reach Percy's room.

"Out of my way, Sparky. I'm gonna kick your ass at Rainbow Road!"

"As if! I could beat you with one hand tied behind my back."

Percy stuck his head back into the kitchen as the voices faded. "Everything's under control!" he said cheerily. "I'll try to keep the fighting to a minimum."

"Just don't let Piper and Leo play against each other. You remember the last time?" Annabeth shuttered.

Percy's eyes widened. "I thought we were never going to speak of that again."

The voices from down the hall were getting louder, and Percy took that as his cue to leave, which Brett was more than relieved about. He didn't like Percy, didn't trust him. He knew that Percy wasn't good for Annabeth, he just had to get Annabeth to see it.

Annabeth and he finished their project fairly quickly after that, the only distractions being the occasional shout heard from down the hall.

"Okay, I think that's everything," Annabeth finally announced. "We should be ready to present on Monday."

"Awesome," It was time to subtly drop hints about how good they were together. If he just planted a seed of doubt in Annabeth's mind about her relationship with Percy she would come running to Brett in no time. "You know?" he said, "we work really well together."

"Yeah, I suppose we do," Annabeth stated distractedly, busy shuffling papers and making sure they didn't forget anything.

"I mean it," He got up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Think about it, we work great together. We're both smart, we have the same interests-"

Annabeth interrupted him, her voice accusatory. "Are you hitting on me?"

Brett spluttered. "What? No!"

"You are!" Annabeth shoved his hand off her shoulder. "I can't believe you! You do realize my boyfriend is literally right down the hall, right?"

"Oh come on!" Brett threw his hands in the air. "You can't be serious about him! He's trouble. I know every girl goes through a 'bad-boy phase' but I'm serious, Annabeth. You can get hurt if you stick around him. It's best if you break it off now before it's too late."

Annabeth took a furious step toward him, causing Brett to take a step back. "First off, don't you dare insult Percy again, or assume that you know what's best for me! Percy is not a bad guy, and he sure as Hades would never hurt me." Annabeth's voice shook with controlled rage. "And second, I can take care of myself. I certainly don't need you to look after me!"

This was not going well. Obviously, Annabeth was too wrapped up in it all to see the situation as it really was. "Annabeth-"

She held up her hand to stop him. "I think you should go."

"But-"

"Now, Brett." Annabeth herded him to the door despite his protests. Her voice was cold as she closed the door. "I'll see you on Monday."