Hey guys! I wrote a new update! Aren't ya proud of me? *you glare at me for not updating in forever* I'm sorry it's so late! Life is super hectic right now and I have… A lot going on in life right now. (Yay senior year!) You can blame my Lit. class for that little bit of introspection when Annabeth's considering her relationship with Percy. We've been studying how every scene adds some meaning to the story. I did some self-reflection and realized I wasn't really doing that in this story (at least not consistently).
Also, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed this story, favored it, or followed it! I read every one and they always bring a smile to my face. : ) I hope you enjoy this chapter!
~One Week Later~ (It's Thursday)
"So I heard you got another letter?"
Annabeth glanced up from her notebook to see Jason sitting down next to her in their shared AP Gov class. He had a smug look on his face. His mouth had spread in a wide, toothy grin and his eyes shone with barely contained humor at her current situation.
Leo must be rubbing off on him. There was once a time when Jason was the most collected one of their friend group, the voice of reason (excluding herself of course). Then he met Leo Valdez and it was all over.
Whatever. At least he wasn't bugging her about it as much as his sister. For Ms. I'd-rather-get-struck-by-lightning-than-sit-through-Twilight, she sure was interested in Annabeth's love life.
"You have to sign in at the front," she nodded towards an older man sitting in a swivel chair behind the teacher's desk. He sat there tapping at his phone and the anguished squawks of Angry Bird rang out, breaking up the idle chatter in the room while students lined up to sign the clipboard lying in front of him.
"We have a sub today."
After Jason signed in, he sat beside Annabeth, that same smug smile from before returning to his face, though more subdued. "You still haven't answered the question." He nudged her arm in a bid for her attention. "What did he say?"
Annabeth sighed and looked up from her notes. Apparently, Jason was going to be as persistent as Thalia. "How did you even find out? I just checked my locker."
"I have my sources." He smiled smugly.
"So Thalia blabbed."
"Yep!"
Annabeth sighed again, not feeling up to talking about her "secret admirer" as she would much rather finish the sub-work and get in some more studying for her Physics quiz next period. Still, she half-heartedly contributed to the conversation."When did you get so invested in my love life?"
"Eh, I'm bored." Jason shrugged. "Plus, this is the first time you've ever had someone vying for your affections."
Annabeth snorted at that, "No one's vying for my affections. It isn't a competition."
"Well, I'd say Percy has a pretty strong standing in the race."
Annabeth almost let out a laugh at that, but quickly restrained herself and focused more on the Cornell notes they were taking. "Very funny Jace. But I already told you. The likelihood of me and Percy ever getting together is slim." Despite her full belief in these words, she still felt a pang in her chest as she said them. "If he hasn't figured out my feelings for now, then he probably never will."
"If you say so," Jason shrugged, "but in my opinion, I don't think you should rule out Percy just yet." He picked up a textbook from the table next to theirs and pulled out his notebook.
"Whatever, let's just finish this up."
"Okay, okay! But can I at least see the letter?"
"If it'll get you to let me finish my work, fine." She took it out of her folder and handed it to him.
Dear Annabeth,
Hey, I feel like we haven't talked in forever, even though in these letters it's mostly just me ranting and trying to get you to like me. Not that I expect you to write back! Of course, you can if you want to… I'm getting a little sidetracked. Anyway! I hope you liked my last letter. I think I might start writing to you more often. Once a week feels like enough time for you to forget me, and I don't want that! So I was thinking about giving these to you every Tuesday and Thursday? We'll see.
I hope you're doing well. Last week was pretty hectic for me. Thank GOD midterms are over. In-class essays are the death of me. And Physics. Well, Physics is more like the bane of my existence. It's not that easy to do exams for either because of my dyslexia.
But I'm sure you aced all of your tests, as always.
Enough about me! Time for the "wooing" to commence.
I know I already said this in the last letter, but (on the topic of midterms) I truly admire how smart you are. It isn't even about how you get good grades. You're just… clever. Like how you nearly always figure out the killer in every horror movie or show (even Sherlock). Or that time you solved that really hard Physics problem that no one else could understand (and the answer turned out to be zero, which was kind of petty of the teacher, but whatever).
I like how you don't care what people think of you. You never go out of your way to dress up like a lot of girls. I like it even when you're that person and remind the teacher of an assignment due (because you spent hours on it and are not about to let that hard work go to waste).
I just like… you. And hopefully, these letters entertain you enough that you'll start to like me too.
With Love,
Your Secret Admirer
"So you know he's in our Physics class."
Annabeth jumped at the sudden remark after a solid minute or two of near silence, almost slipping out of the flimsy plastic chair before regaining her bearings.
The instigator of such a reaction let out a laugh that drew the attention of a few other students before they returned to idly scrolling their Twitter and Instagram feeds.
"My gods, Jason!" She shot him an annoyed glare as her heartbeat calmed itself. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
Jason, being the jerk that he is, just smiled cheerfully at her as the bored sub glanced up from their phone and asked them to "calm their hormones" and finish up the work.
Once his attention was off the two teens, Jason leaned over and whispered to her. "Sorry, but I don't know why you jumped. I was right here the whole time."
Annabeth glared up at him once more before she resumed her note-taking.
"You took so long to read it that I got immersed in my work. I didn't expect you to speak so loudly in my ear," she hissed in a whisper as she engrossed herself in James Madison's writing about how there should clearly be checks and balances in the federal government or else the President or Congress would run the country into ruin.
Jason rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, but my point still stands. He wrote about a Physics class he shared with you, so he must be in our class."
"Or he just happened to be passing by the class when I solved it," Annabeth mumbled distractedly.
Jason gave her a deadpan look. "You and I both know how unlikely that is."
"Then maybe he heard about it from someone else. It's not that big of a deal Jason."
Jason frowned, at her dismissive attitude. "I would have expected you to jump on the opportunity to find out who this guy is, but instead you seem reluctant to even consider it."
She glanced at him, "I just don't want to get my hopes up. Plus, I still like Percy, remember? I'd rather just let this play out how it plays out."
Jason shrugged, "Okay, fine, but I think you're just hiding how curious you are."
Annabeth grumbled in response. She hated to admit that Jason was right, she really was curious about who it could be. It was pretty hard to imagine yourself with a secret admirer, especially when you'd never even had a boyfriend before. She had always just been Annabeth, the athletic, know-it-all girl who beat the blonde stereotype and always doodled building blueprints instead of joining the other girls making Tik Tok videos or talking about whichever teen drama novel was in fashion. Now, it was like she was one of the girls in those teen dramas where the popular jock with a secret soft side professed her love to her on the football field.
Oh gods, what if the guy is one of those jocks?
She shook the thoughts out of her head.
Bad, Annabeth. Let's not worry so much about it.
Thankfully, Jason offered a good distraction from her endless musings.
"Alright, I guess I'll leave you to your work. Just hurry up and finish so we can play Uno."
A class period of taking notes and playing an intense game of Uno later…
Annabeth and Jason were walking to Physics together when they caught sight of Piper and Percy, who were both coming from English.
"Look, Percy!" Piper grinned as she strode over to them, pulling the lanky teen behind her. "It's our two favorite blond nerds." Once she was closer, she let go of Percy and slung her arm around Jason (which was an odd sight as he was at least 4 inches taller than her).
Percy smiled fondly at the pair before coming up to put his arm around Annabeth. "Hello, my second favorite blond nerd."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, more distracted by the title than the arm around her (for the moment). "Second?"
Percy's smile was teasing, as they walked to class together, his sea-green eyes twinkling with mischief and the hint of something else she couldn't recognize. "You know Jay's my number one!"
The two guys fist-bumped while the girls rolled their eyes.
"Ah, I see." Piper gave Percy a scheming smile. "Bromance before Romance right?" She winked at Annabeth.
"Exactly— wait!"
Piper and Jason laughed as Percy sputtered.
Before Annabeth could dwell on that response, they were entering their Physics class and broke apart to get to their seats.
Annabeth pretended that she didn't miss the warmth of the arm around her shoulders as she sat down and got out her notebook for the class.
A few minutes into the lesson, while the teacher was lecturing them about some material they had already learned yesterday, Annabeth found her mind straying back to what Jason had said.
What if he was right? Her secret admirer could be in this room right now, casually observing her from the sidelines. A faceless stranger in the crowd that she knew nothing about even though he seemed to have been studying her awhile now.
She surveyed the class, trying to pick out anyone that looked remotely interested in her. She met eyes with Charles Beckendorf and he nodded to her, but she could rule him out as he and Silena Beauregard were all but married at this point. So she moved on to Mitchell (she couldn't remember his last name), but he was far too shy to write her a love letter. Then to Lee Fletcher, he kinda resented her ever since she won against him in basketball, then to Will Solace, everyone knew he had a thing for that emo kid (I think his name was Nico?) from her Pre-Calc class, and then to Butch Walker, he seemed a little too rowdy for her taste. Eventually, she had looked over every guy in the room, but none of them looked like anyone that was harboring a crush on her. At least, not at the magnitude of writing love letters in her honor.
Before turning her attention back to the teacher, who was now explaining the problems they would work on in class that day, Annabeth glanced at Percy. He was nibbling at the end of his pen, a nasty habit that she had tried to get him out of for 4 years now, and drumming his fingers in an upbeat tune on his desk.
He glanced back at her and smiled as he sheepishly took the pen out of his mouth then looked back at the teacher.
Then a new thought came to her.
What if this secret admirer knew about her crush on Percy? Everyone in their friend group teased her about how obvious she was, relentlessly. Maybe they had picked up on it and watched on with jealousy as she lost herself in Percy's swirling sea-green eyes.
It might even be the reason why they started writing to her in the first place, to win her over before.
Then Annabeth couldn't help but feel pity for the poor guy. She knew what it was like to have a crush on somebody that always remained out of reach. She knew what it was like to pine over someone helplessly, while others flirted with them, left and right; to lose yourself in their gaze, not because of how pretty the pools of color were, but because of the limitless emotions brewing just beneath the surface; to lose all sense of time when you engaged in a lively rant about something they didn't love as nearly as much as you did but listened anyway because it brought a smile to your face; to lose yourself in the comforting weight of their arm around you, offering warmth without question when you grew weary from the toils of the endless day-to-day. Annabeth knew what it was like to watch on from afar...
Expecting nothing, given everything, and yet constantly wishing for more.
She glanced back at Percy.
I can empathize with that. Still, I can't just stop myself from liking him. I tried, but it just doesn't work like that.
Piper nudged her shoulder, "Hey, are you good? You've been staring off at that friction force formula for some time now."
Annabeth blinked as she tuned back into reality, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about how much homework I have to finish today."
Piper nodded in silent agreement in that kind of way that all students do when the topic of their workload was being discussed. "True dat. And speaking of work, what did you get for the coefficient of kinetic friction for box A? I got 0.2 but I know that can't be right."
As Annabeth looked at Piper's work and pointed out the mistake she had made when calculating the normal force, she couldn't help but keep the thought of her secret admirer in the back of her head as the time inched along.
By the end of the class period, Annabeth had solved so many physics problems that velocity and acceleration formulas were swirling around in her head. She let out a deep sigh of relief and slumped down in her chair once the class period was over.
She really should have gotten caught up pondering over this secret admirer business. Regardless of how she felt for Percy, they just weren't together like that. And sure, this secret admirer guy seemed really sweet and all, but she had to focus on school right now, especially with the end of the first semester speeding towards her.
I should just focus on school right now. Besides, other than this secret admirer, I don't exactly have anyone lining up to date me anyway.
"Hey wise girl, it's time to go to our lockers. School's over."
Annabeth looked up from her notes to see Percy standing over her at her desk, his backpack already slung over one shoulder and an expectant eyebrow gracing his face.
She blinked at him, trying to catch up with what he said before she gave a quick glance around and noticed that most of the other students were long gone. As soon as that bell rang, they scrambled out of the room like there was free pizza out there—and yes, that did happen once when the cheerleaders did a fundraiser in her freshman year, she had nearly gotten crushed by the stampede.
Now, the only ones left in the classroom, other than Percy and herself, were two guys Annabeth couldn't remember the names of plus Jason, Piper, and Thalia who were standing by the door as they were apparently waiting on them.
"Oh, wow, I didn't even notice." Annabeth laughed softly at her own obliviousness to the world around her.
Percy shrugged, "Eh, it's nearly midterms. I think all of our brains are pretty scrambled right now." He nudged her foot, "But come on. We've got to get to our lockers." His lips quirked up in a playful smile. "Don't want to get caught up in the sea of hormones out there."
Annabeth smiled back at him, putting her notebook and pencils away, "Hah, like that'd be an issue for you, Neptune. I thought the seas were your element."
"I prefer Poseidon, but I acknowledge your compliment of my swimming abilities and godlike good looks," he winked and Annabeth snorted. "Still, even I would not brave those waters."
"Aw, is the Seaweed Brain afraid to be trampled down by his adoring fans? There are so many teenage girls out there that would love to be your Amphitrite, you know," Annabeth replied, standing up and heading towards the door.
"Yeah, right. I doubt th—wait, do I detect a note of jealousy in your tone?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, adept at ignoring the fluttering of her heart at the teasing twinkle in Percy's eyes.
"Yeah, no."
Percy's lips stretched into a charmingly crooked smile, as he put his arm around Annabeth's shoulders. "Aw, don't worry, wise girl. I've always got room for you in my heart." He clutched at his chest and Annabeth was both overcome with the need to kiss that smug look off his face and kick him in the shin.
Thalia stuck her tongue out at them as they got to the door. "Ew, keep the flirting to a minimum please."
Percy leveled an unimpressed look at his cousin. "Thalia, we were literally just talking."
"And I literally just threw up in my mouth. Now, come on, I think the cheerleaders are selling pizza in the hallway again."
Annabeth's eyebrows rose while she heard Percy scoff in the background. "Really? I'm surprised you're still here waiting on us instead of shoving the freshman out the way for food."
"Well, I would be doing exactly that except they bumped the price up to 5 bucks and I don't have any cash on me." Thalia sighed as they all walked out of the classroom. She gave the cheerleaders a forlorn look as they passed them. "If only I weren't dirt poor…"
Jason raised an eyebrow at her dramatics, "Thalia, our dad is literally a millionaire."
"Sure, but do you see me begging him for money, heck no."
Just before Annabeth could remark that Thalia already had a bank account full of cash from her somewhat negligent, workaholic father, someone bumped into her from behind and made her stumble.
Quickly regaining her footing as Percy dropped his arm, Annabeth turned around to see who bumped into her.
One of the guys she had seen lingering in the Physics classroom they just left was standing there, looking like he also just righted himself after bumping into her. He gave her an apologetic look, "Sorry! I must have tripped over something." He growled out the last part, sending a glare behind him to the other guy Annabeth had seen with him earlier. The guy smiled at them and gave his friend a thumbs up which made him whip back around to face Annabeth, a light blush rising on his cheeks.
Oookay?
Annabeth shrugged, "Uh, it's cool," and she went to turn around but then the guy latched onto her arm.
"Wait!"
Both of them looked down at his hand on Annabeth's arm in surprise before the guy quickly snatched it back.
"Sorry! Again! I just, uh… I wanted to give you this."
He thrust out his other hand which held a crumpled slip of paper.
Annabeth looked down at it in confusion.
"Um… thanks?" Her voice lilted up in confusion as she hesitantly accepted the paper, cautious of the guy jumping back from her touch by the way he was avoiding eye contact at all costs.
They stood there awkwardly as he took his hand back and shuffled his feet. It looked like he had something more to say but was having an inner debate with himself.
What is going on?
Finally, the guy met her eyes for a quick second before turning around and speeding back from whence he stumbled.
"Um! Okay, bye!"
The friend face-palmed and sent an apologetic look over at Annabeth before grabbing the guy's arm and tugging him away down the hall.
…
"Uh… What just happened?"
Annabeth nearly jumped in surprise as Piper piped up. She nearly forgot her friends were standing behind her throughout that… interesting experience.
They moved out of the way of the foot traffic, they didn't want to be those people in high school, then looked back at the two guys as they walked away.
"Do you know that guy?" Percy asked, putting his arm back around Annabeth's shoulders. He looked after the guy with a frown replacing his usual mischievous grin.
Annabeth shook her head, "Don't think so. I think he has Physics with us though."
She looked down at the crumpled up slip of paper in her hands, and her curiosity won over her confusion as she flattened it out to read the string of numbers hastily written down with a small note underneath:
Call me sometime?
… Plus a heart?
"Ah hah, seems like you've got yourself another secret admirer," Piper smirked from beside Jason as they both moved closer to curiously peer down at the note.
"See?" Thalia gestured at the paper, raising her eyebrows at Annabeth, "I told you there are plenty of guys at this school fawning over you. I'm honestly surprised he had the guts to give you his number." She paused as she reconsidered the early scene, "Well, sure, he was shaking like a leaf in a storm, but at least he still did something." Then, strangely enough, Thalia gave Percy a pointed look.
"Unlike a certain someone who can't even ask out their best fr—"
"Thalia!" Percy hissed at her, which wasn't out of the usual, except the look on his face was less sibling annoyance but closer to actual anger, and a trace of… fear?
Annabeth frowned at them both, before turning her inquisitive stare to Thalia, hoping for some further explanation.
"What do you mean Thalia?
There was another awkward pause, and this time, it was Jason that broke the silence.
"Well, uh, Pipes and I are just gonna go to our lockers now… " he trailed off as the couple slowly backed away from the group.
Percy's eyes snapped to Jason and a look of offense flashed across his face.
He opened his mouth to speak but now Piper was quickly walking down the hall, tugging Jason along as they practically fled the scene.
"Sorry, Perce! But I have dance practice today and Jason's my ride so we really need to get our things. Bye!" She waved at them, flashing one last smile before she turned the corner and the two were gone.
Annabeth just decided to ignore that strange exit and turned back to Thalia.
"Thalia? What—no, who were you talking about?" Annabeth was starting to feel a little anxious now, was Thalia talking about Percy? Or was she trying to out Annabeth's crush? No, she wouldn't do that. But then why did Percy react like that anyway?
Thalia glanced at Percy for a millisecond but was cut off before she could answer.
"Nico!" Percy burst out, gaining some strange looks from the other students in the hallway. "You know that kinda goth sophomore? She was talking about his crush on Will Solace, the Red Cross club guy."
Annabeth pursed her lips. "Um, okay, then?" She gave Percy a suspicious once-over. He was acting very odd, even for him.
Percy fidgeted beside her, clicking his pen once again as he met her eyes. He looked so very uncomfortable that she decided to let it go and ask Thalia about it later.
"Anyway," Annabeth started walking again, and the other two followed. "I have to get to my locker." She paused to squeeze Percy's arm in an effort to comfort him. "So, I'll see you at the parking lot, yeah?"
Percy nodded and turned to go back the other way toward his locker, waving bye to the two girls with a tight-lipped smile.
"Well, that was weird," Annabeth said as soon as Percy was out of earshot.
"Eh not really, I knew that guy had a crush on you since the start of the school year."
"No, I meant Per—wait, what? I didn't know that. Why didn't I know that?"
Thalia put her arm around her shoulder, shaking her lightly. "Because my dear Annie, you are completely oblivious to guys fawning over you."
"No one is fawning over me, Thalia."
"That slip of paper begs to differ, plus there are like five guys ogling you right now as we speak."
Annabeth was almost tempted to look around to see if Thalia was telling the truth, but fought the urge as they both approached her locker. "Stop exaggerating."
"Whatever you say, Beth." Thalia shrugged, lifting her arm and standing beside Annabeth as she put in her combination.
Annabeth gave her an annoyed side-eye, "Will you ever just call me by my full first name?"
"No, 'cause I know you secretly love my nicknames—but back to what I was saying; I think you really need to pay more attention to those that are paying you"—she poked Annabeth's arm—"their attention. Who knows? Any one of them could be your secret admirer."
Annabeth greatly doubted that. Besides, it's not like her secret admirer would try to stick out, that was the reason they went for anonymity with the love letters.
Unless…
After grabbing her Orgo notebook, she closed the locker and reached back into her pocket to take out the slip of paper.
Maybe, he's getting tired of the anonymous notes?
She carefully inspected the writing.
"Actually, Thalia… I think I have an idea on how to find out who my secret admirer is."
What could Annabeth be planning?
Also, Percy... you aren't fooling anyone. (Except for Annabeth, but she's blinded by her own insecurities).
Alright, guys! That's it for now. I've been in a writing mood lately so I'll do my best to crank out another chapter over my winter break (which starts in about a week).
If I don't upload anything before then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
~PJOandHP4life
