I'm so so sorry I'm uploading so late! I've been really busy, and I'm working on three other stories... Anyway, it's really no excuse. But! I am updating now.
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Once school was out, Annabeth met up with Percy beside his car, as usual.
"Hey," she smiled at him as he walked up to his car. She was leaning against the trunk and stood up straight to meet him.
"Hey," Percy smiled back. "Are we still on for Sherlock? My house?"
Annabeth nodded, her eagerness shining through her smile as she walked over to the passenger side. "Definitely. Do you think Sally will have a snack ready for us, or should we pick up something?"
Percy shrugged, getting into the driver's seat. "Well, she usually does so I think we'll be fine."
The drive to Percy's house was short and filled with conversation. Now that Annabeth had told him about her secret admirer, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She wasn't as tense around him. Things were falling back into place like they were before she ever got the first letter.
When they were only 10 minutes away from Percy's, Annabeth plugged in her phone to the AUX cord.
"You better not start playing some girly pop music." Percy side-eyed her, a teasing lilt to his smile.
Annabeth scoffed, "As if I would ever do that." And then proceeded to play her broadway musical playlist; the familiar opening riff to the beginning of the Broadway hit musical Hamilton resounded throughout the car.
"Right, but a rap musical about historical figures of the American Revolutionary Era is much more mainstream," Percy said, the sarcasm in his voice was thick.
"One: Who said everything had to be mainstream? Two: Shut up, Percy. We both know you love Hamilton as much as I do."
Percy rolled his eyes, but Annabeth knew she was right as he smiled despite himself.
A few songs later and they were pulling up to Percy's house. Annabeth was snapping along to the prologue to West Side Story when Percy parked the car and turned off the engine.
Annabeth glared at him, "Rude." She started to unbuckle her seatbelt.
Percy shrugged innocently, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're just bitter because I cut off 'Waving Through a Window' in the middle of the chorus," Annabeth replied as she got out of the car.
"Hey! Whatever is sung in the car stays in the car!" Percy protested as he got out of the car.
"Whatever Perce." Annabeth shook her head trying to hide a small fond smile.
"Come on, I want to finish at least three episodes before I have to go and we both know I tend to get caught up in the show and lose track of time."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Percy walked up the driveway and unlocked the front door for them.
"And we have to finish our homework first," Annabeth said, walking through the opened door.
"Ugh, Annabeth. You take the fun out of everything." Percy pouted as he followed her, closing and locking the door behind him.
"I'm just being the responsible one. Someone has to be, right?" Annabeth smiled at him.
"Annabeth? Is that your voice I hear?" A voice called from further inside the house.
Annabeth turned to see a young, middle-aged woman walk around the corner, drying her hands on a dishrag.
Annabeth's smile widened. "Sally, it's nice to see you."
Percy's mother quickly came forward and hugged her. "It's good to see you too, honey. You rarely come around anymore! You should visit more often."
Annabeth hugged back, savoring the kind of motherly warmth only one of Sally's hugs could have.
"Sorry, school has been busy recently. The teachers are cramming to teach us everything before our midterms. Plus the studying itself has kept me fairly busy."
Sally pulled back from the hug, pushing back some of Annabeth's hair with a smile.
"Hey, just ignore me. It's not like I'm your only son or anything."
Sally and Annabeth rolled their eyes in unison before looking fondly to a grumbling Percy.
"Yes, yes, it's nice to see you too honey." Sally patted her son on the shoulder to placate him before walking away. "Do you two want a snack? I just started making sandwiches."
Percy was easily distracted from his pouting by the thought of food and followed his mom into the kitchen with Annabeth following behind him.
Sally was chopping up a tomato to put the slices on the four sandwiches she was making. Annabeth moved to the sink to wash her hands and help.
Sally smiled at her as she stepped aside to let Annabeth place slices of honeyed ham and turkey on the slices of bread laid out.
"Thank you, honey. At least someone helps around the kitchen." She leveled a look at her son, who just happened to be trying to sneak a cookie from the decorative bee's nest cookie jar kept on the top of the fridge.
Percy froze where he stood, arm outstretched above him with one cookie already in his mouth.
With his body outstretched, a small sliver of tan skin was visible just above his jeans.
Annabeth's eyes were drawn to it, her gaze lingering before she caught herself and looked away.
Come on, Annabeth. You're better than that.
Percy slowly lowered his arm, thankfully hiding that traitorous sliver of skin.
Although the memory of it still left a blush on Annabeth's cheeks.
Percy tried to smile innocently around his mouthful of chocolatey chip goodness. He quickly closed his mouth and chewed the cookie before swallowing. "Heh, Sorry Mom. I was hungry."
"You could have just waited for us to finish making the sandwiches." Annabeth pointed out.
"Yeah, but… cookies?"
The women shared a fond look before turning back to their sandwich assembly line. The sandwiches were made efficiently, Annabeth has been helping Sally make snacks for them since they were 10. The whole grain bread was layered with ham, turkey, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato. The sandwiches were cut into triangle halves.
Sally did the finishing touches, putting the two sandwiches on a floral tray and taking one for herself.
"Enjoy your snack, I'll be in my study if you need me."
Percy quickly moved over to the table and grabbed one of the sandwiches, it was already halfway in his mouth when Annabeth raised an expectant eyebrow.
Percy paused and mirrored her lifted eyebrow, his eyes full of confusion.
Realizing Percy had no idea what she was waiting for, Annabeth spoke for him, "Your welcome Percy."
Percy was still confused before his eyes lit up in realization and he finally removed the sandwich from his mouth, "Thanks, Mom!"
"Your welcome sweetie!" She yelled back.
Annabeth shook her head at him and picked up half a sandwich herself. "Your manners always fly out the window when food is involved."
Percy shrugged, swallowing a bite of his sandwich, "What can I say? Food can be very distracting."
They finished their snack at the table and then moved to the living room where their Sherlock binge session would take place.
"Finally, time for TV." Percy immediately flopped onto the couch, expecting Annabeth to follow suit.
Instead, Annabeth walked over to her book bag, which was left by the door, and lugged it over.
"You know, just because we don't have school tomorrow doesn't mean we should push off homework until the last minute."
She sat down beside him on the couch, pulling out her laptop.
"We should finish at least one assignment first."
Percy groaned, "Ugh, why do you always have to be such a good student?"
He tried to push aside the laptop and plop his head down in her lap, but Annabeth, used to his antics, quickly batted his hands away before he could.
"You know, most people would rejoice in the gift of a professional development day on a Friday and just enjoy their three-day weekend."
"Well, good thing I'm not like most people," Annabeth smartly replied, already getting absorbed into her Physics lab report.
"No, no you're not."
Percy spoke so softly Annabeth just barely heard him, lifting her eyes from the Theory of Relativity to see Percy giving her a soft look.
Since she foiled his attempts to put his head in her lap, he was laying down with his head resting on the outside of her thigh. His midnight blue hair was getting on her keyboard as he tilted his head back.
He was looking up at her with his fond sea-green eyes, the end of his lips tilting up in a small smile.
Annabeth could feel a flush rise to her cheeks and quickly shoved him off.
"Get off of me! I'm trying to work here. Go work on your stuff."
Percy, not expecting to be swatted away, immediately fell off the couch to the floor in a heap of scrambling limbs.
Annabeth's embarrassment was easily forgotten as she tried and failed to stop a laugh at Percy's clumsiness.
Percy pouted from his place on the floor as she burst into laughter.
"Rude."
Annabeth eventually got ahold of herself, "Sorry, but your clumsiness can be very entertaining."
Percy grumbled, and grudgingly went over to the door to retrieve his book bag.
Annabeth thought back to that look he was giving her. He looked so… fond. Like he thought Annabeth being far from normal was somehow… charming?
No, I'm getting ahead of myself. He was probably lost in thought, thinking about the three day weekend or something.
Percy reentered the living room before Annabeth could think about it any longer.
He sat back on the floor in front of the coffee table and pulled out a few notebooks and a binder. He pushed some stray coupons and magazines out of the way before getting to work.
They worked on their homework for about 10 minutes before Percy got bored.
"So…" he trailed off, flipping a page of his notebook absentmindedly.
"How long do you think finishing your essay outline will take?"
"It's not an essay outline, it's a Physics lab."
"The same question applies."
Annabeth sighed, she knew that Percy would only keep bothering her until she agreed to watch the show.
"Can you manage to entertain yourself for 20 minutes?"
Percy thought about it, "Maybe 10."
Annabeth relented, "Alright. I'll try to be quick."
About 10 minutes later, Annabeth was trying valiantly to work on her lab report while Percy incessantly poked her knee.
"Percy, could you please stop." She was hoping he would have gotten wrapped up in his work and lost track of time so she could finish her work.
Clearly, she had set her hopes a little too high.
"But you said ten minutes!" Percy pouted up at her from his place on the floor.
Annabeth knew that somewhere deep down she loved this boy and would do anything for him.
But right now, she was using all of her willpower not to smother his face in a couch pillow.
"I know, I know, just give me five more minutes. I'm almost done." She pet his head placatingly, refusing to look down at him and fall prey to his world-renowned puppy dog eyes.
Five seconds later…
"Aaaannaaaabethhh…"
Lord, give me strength.
"Fine! I'm done." Annabeth angrily closed her laptop and moved her stuff to the table, grumbling about annoying teenage boys that never let her get anything done.
She plopped back down on the couch and grabbed the remote.
"Let's just watch the show, you big baby."
In true childish fashion, Percy beamed up at her and jumped up on the couch with a cheerful, "Yay!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes at him, more fondly than she would have liked, and signed in to Netflix.
A few minutes later, both teens were invested in the misadventures of a certain famous detective (or consulting detective as he calls himself) and his partner/best friend/love-interest/doctor.
They were in the middle of watching The Abominable Bride when Percy shifted beside me.
"So…"
"Hmm?"
Percy didn't respond so she glanced at him.
He was looking at the screen, his posture stiff. He fiddled with his favorite ballpoint pen that he was using early with his homework. He twirled the small piece of plastic between his fingers, his eyes were unfocused, looking unseeingly at the television.
The sea-green oceans were murky as they turned to glance at her for a moment, before quickly turning back to the television.
"So, uh, about this 'secret admirer' guy… Do you have any idea who it is?"
I raised an eyebrow at this, "Uh, no. I haven't considered any possible suspects yet."
Percy nodded, "Oh, cool, cool…"
"What?" I asked, turning to face him. He was acting a little off… maybe he knows who it is?
"Did you have a hunch?"
"Pssh! What? Of course not— wait, I don't mean that in a rude way!" Yeah, he was definitely blushing now. He must know. "I was just wondering about… who it could be, you know?"
I nodded slowly, still confused by his behavior.
"Yeah, okay."
If he knows, why wouldn't he tell me?
Percy nodded again, it was more of an awkward jerk this time, "Yeah, right."
And then the conversation was over, they both turned back to the TV and finished watching one more episode of Sherlock before Annabeth decided to head home.
"Bye Sally, thanks for having me over."
Sally came forward to wrap her up in a warm hug. "Of course sweetie, you should come over again soon. We miss you here." She pulled back with a smile, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
Annabeth smiled back. "I'll try, they should lighten up the homework soon."
"Well, that's good to hear. Alright Percy, drive her home."
"Yeah, Mom. I'll be back soon." He gave her a side hug and then they both walked out the door to the Prius waiting in the driveway.
The drive was short, Annabeth didn't live that far away, so they just put on some music from the radio and enjoyed the short car ride.
A few minutes later, Percy pulled up to Annabeth's house.
"Alright then, see you tomorrow Seaweed Brain." She ruffled his hair before opening her door and stepping out of the car.
Percy smiled back at her, "See you later, wise girl. I hope the secret admirer thing works out."
Annabeth tried not to frown at that.
Wait, he wants me to date him?
She forced her smile to stay in place.
"Yeah… me too."
"Well, it isn't Percy."
Thalia raised an eyebrow at her, looking up from the exponential graph she was sketching.
They were working together in their shared PreCalc class. Their teacher was fond of having them work in groups so they had decided to get together and finish the mini project she had assigned them.
"Uh, am I supposed to know what that means?"
Annabeth looked up at her and sighed. "I told Percy about the secret admirer yesterday."
That caught Thalia's attention. Her lightning blue eyes grew wide and she leaned forward in her chair, lowering her voice to more of an urgent whisper.
"Wait, really? What did he say?"
"Well, he was considerate, he didn't seem that jealous or anything."
"Wait, you want him to be jealous?" Thalia leaned back, a smug smile growing on her face.
Annabeth flushed, "What, no! I mean… kinda? I don't want him to be jealous, but if he is then I know there might be a chance at him liking me. I don't know."
"Uh-huh, I see." Thalia's smile grew to a smirk. "So, he wasn't jealous. Did he act nervous or shifty?"
Annabeth frowned, "What do you mean?"
Thalia rolled her eyes, "I mean, did he seem suspicious like he was trying to keep a secret or something?"
Annabeth thought about it. Percy didn't seem like he was trying to lie or anything, but… he was acting odd when they were watching Sherlock.
"Well, he did ask if I had any idea who it was. I told him no, of course, but then when I asked him if he had any idea of who he could be, he started acting strangely. Rushing to refuse."
Thalia hummed, turning back to the equation they were supposed to be working on when the teacher came by to overlook their progress.
"I don't know, but I still think it could be him."
Annabeth shrugged, solving the equation for x algebraically on the graphing paper they were given. "Yeah well, I'm not so sure. When he dropped me off at my house yesterday he wished me luck with the secret admirer. He didn't seem to be that bothered by the prospect of me finding a boyfriend."
"Or, he could be the secret admirer and his statement had a double meaning."
Both girls turned to their other teammate. It was this sophomore guy that didn't talk much. All Annabeth knew about him was that he took Algebra 2 and Trig so he could be bummed up to PreCalc early.
He shifted under their gaze, "What? I wasn't eavesdropping, you guys are just loud."
Thalia shrugged, "He has a point."
Annabeth shot a look at her before turning back to the guy. "What's your name again?"
The guy lifted his gaze for a split second before hiding his eyes behind his dark fringe. "Nico."
"Okay then, Nico. What do you think I should do?"
"Well, if it were me, I'd just see how it pans out. Maybe mention the secret admirer a few more times around your crush and see how he reacts. He might start getting jealous or reveal himself to be the secret admirer. But you're not going to learn anything if you try to keep him out of the loop."
"..."
"What? You asked for my opinion."
Thalia's shock wore off first. She smiled at Nico and nodded at Annabeth. "Well, there you go. Nice plan Neeks."
Nico blushed as his face twisted into a scowl, "Don't call me that."
Annabeth smiled too, "She's right though. Thanks for your input."
"Yeah, whatever. Let's just finish this problem alright?"
The girls smiled at each other before focusing back on the exponential function.
Maybe, if I play my cards right, I could find out how Percy really feels about me.
Nico out here dropping some killer advice.
Until next time!
~PJOandHP4Life
