Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the characters, Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Sorry, I had to fix some minor mistakes and add a couple of details. Nothing major though, so you don't have to reread it!


"Can we talk?" She asked me nervously.

I looked around, at all the people watching us with rapt attention, and weighed my options. I could say no, and have everyone hate me, for it, or I could say yes, and have the guys all hate me for talking with someone wayy out of my league.

I bit my lip, either way you look at it I was so screwed. And with everyone staring at us, I probably couldn't run away either. Fuck.

I tugged my beanie lower, and sighed. Might as well go with the option where only half of the school's population hated me. "Um.. Yeah, okay, sure, if… If you want to…"

She looked relieved. I guess I was taking a while to answer…

She beamed at me. "Great! I just wanted to-"

I stood up abruptly. "Um actually, could we talk… anywhere but here?" I did not want anyone to know about the fight.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Sure? But… Why?"

"I'm just… not that comfortable with, or used to, everyone staring at us right now." I whispered.

She looked around, and seemed surprised. Did she… not notice everyone going quiet? Was she used to this by now? Wow.

"Oh! Yeah, of course! I just have to grab my stuff, if that's okay?" She pointed at her table, with all of the beautiful people. Oh gods… Did she expect me to accompany her to her table? Hell. To the. No.

"Great! Meet you on the roof in…" I looked at my watch. There was still 20 mins left till class. "… five minutes?"

She blinked. "The roof? But it's locked! How-"

I grabbed my stuff and ran off before she could finish. "Bye!"

-Line Break-

I looked at the smoke of my cigarette, and wondered how all of this could've been avoided. Maybe she wont show up? It's been four minutes. Once it reaches five, I am out of here, and I'll just… Change schools I guess. It'll be hard to convince my mom, but I'm pretty sure I could. Too bad about Grover though… I would kind of miss him. It felt like I finally made a friend. Maybe.

I heard someone go through the door.

"Sorry, sorry! My friends would not stop asking me questions, but I'm here! I escaped." She gasped out. "I made it, just in time."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Did she run? For me? Why? And why the hell did that make my stomach feel warm?

"Um.. That's okay? So… What did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to give you- Wait, are you smoking?"

I looked at my lit cigarette. "What gave it away?"

She rolled her eyes, but came closer nonetheless. "You do know that's bad for you, right?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Oh really? Silly me! And here I thought those horrifying pictures on the packets were what would happen to me if I didn't smoke."

"You don't always have to be so sarcastic you know."

"Trust me, I do."

"Ugh, you're such a Seaweed Brain!"

I blinked. "Excuse me? What?"

She was standing right in front of me by now. "You know, because I'm pretty sure your brain was replaced by seaweed during that fight!"

I looked at her weirdly. "Um… Okay? Is that… Is that why you wanted to talk to me? To insult me? Wow, now I'm really glad we didn't do this in the cafeteria."

She blushed. "No! That's not why… Ugh! It's your fault! You distracted me!"

I scratched the back of my head. "Um… I'm sorry?" Girls are so weird.

She shook her head, and took a deep breath. "I wanted to give you this."

I grabbed the paper bag she was holding out, and looked inside. It was my missing beanie and hoodie! That's where they went!

"Oh, thanks! But um… How'd you know they were mine?"

"Your name was written on the tags."

I frowned, and looked at the tags. Oh, yeah, I didn't even realize. "Well… Yeah, but not my full name. It only has Percy written on it."

"Yeah, but I kind of assumed that was short for Perseus, and you told me you go to our school so… I asked a couple of teachers if there was anyone named Perseus in their classes, and Mr. Blofis told me your name was Perseus Jackson and… Voilà."

"Wow, that is… Kind of creepy, not gonna lie." I admitted. New rule: Annabeth isn't allowed to say my full name. Ever. I kind of liked it, way too much.

She slapped me lightly on the arm.

I grinned.

"Kidding! I'm just kidding. Thank you, Annabeth. For washing and returning my clothes. And, going through all that trouble to... track me down?" Saying her name out loud felt weird.

I blinked, I could've sworn I saw her blush for a second there.

"So um… Is that all you wanted?" I asked after a minute of awkward silence.

She bit her lip, clenched her fists, and seemed to steel herself. Second new rule: No lip biting. Ever.

Oh gods, was she going to hit me? Jesus, I mean, I know my jokes aren't the best, but I didn't think it warranted a beating…

I felt her hands on my face, and I flinched. But instead of the slap or punch that I was expecting… it was her soft hands, cupping my face gently. My skin tingled at the contact.

I opened one eye, and saw her staring at my face intently.

I blinked. "Um, what are you… What are you doing?"

Her hands stroked my jaw gently, and a thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body. "I don't understand, where are your bruises? I saw you get hit."

Ohh, okay. She was looking for my wounds. Still weird, but I guess that makes some sense. Sort of.

"Oh, um… I heal quickly so… Yeah..." I stammered, feeling my face heat up for sure. It wasn't a total lie, my body was used to healing a lot after all. But weird or not, I wasn't used to being this close to a girl. It was kind of short-circuiting my brain. Possibly… Literally.

She frowned and bit her lip. "Am I.. am I hurting you?"

I gulped, because no. She was definitely not hurting me. Quite the opposite, really. "Um… No. It's uh… I like it."

She blushed, and smiled, the kind of smile that showed off her dimples, and I…

I kind of wanted to know what that smile tasted like. Desperately.

I blinked, wait what. I did not just think about kissing Annabeth. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Third new rule: Annabeth wasn't allowed to touch me, because holy shit. I'm pretty sure I'd die if she kept it up. But man, what a way to go.

And she really has to stop looking at me like that. For real. She was looking into my eyes, like… There was something in me worth seeing.

She frowned. "Why do you wear that beanie? You look so much better without it."

I felt my blush deepen. I really wasn't used to girls complimenting. Especially girls like Annabeth. "Um, well… I… I like it, that way. People leave me alone then."

"Why would you want to be left alone?"

"It's better that way."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

My first instinct was to shout 'No', and that scared the hell out of me. She can't do that. She can't just… come in to my life unexpectedly and completely turn it upside down. That's not fair. She shouldn't be allowed to fluster me the way she does. To look at me the way she does. To smile that way she does.

That's not fair. Because all that does is make me want her. And girls like her? They never end up with messed up guys like me. That's a fact of life. Which was exactly why I wanted to avoid her at all costs. Well, among other things.

She must've taken my silence as a yes, because she let go of my face, and I missed her hands almost immediately.

"Sorry…" She mumbled with a hurt look on her face.

I felt my heart clench at that. Godsdammit, that's not fair.

I cleared my throat. "No! It's okay, I just don't understand… Why? Why would you even want to be around me?"

She looked at me as if I was an idiot. I mean, I am, but some clarification would be nice.

"You're kidding right? Isn't it obvious?"

"…"

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain."

I frowned. "Um… I am?" Well, that's news to me.

"Yeah! You saved me, now I want to return the favor somehow."

"By… being my friend?"

She nodded her head excitedly.

I wanted to tell her that that made absolutely no sense at all, but the bell rang, and she ran off before I could.

"I'll see you around!" She yelled.

"Please don't!" I yelled back, but she was already gone. Shit.

What the hades just happened?!

-Line Break-

"Hey Percy, what did Annabeth want with you?" Grover asked me from the back of the classroom, the moment I entered the class.

I looked around, looks like our Algebra I teacher was late. Pretty much everyone was looking at me, interested at the answer.

"Yeah, what's your relationship with her?" Some random guy asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"Why would she want to talk to you?!"

I tugged my beanie lower. Gods, this was exactly why I wanted to stay away from Annabeth and her crew. I was currently panicking, trying to come up with a believable excuse.

"Oh you know… I uh… I just… helped her up after she fell down after school last week Friday, and she… Wanted to let me know she's… okay. Yep, that was it." Gods that was the worst excuse ever.

Everyone looked at me weirdly.

"Why did you guys talk in private then?" Connor asked, sitting beside Grover.

"Well, uh... when I helped her up, I… fell down too! I didn't really want to talk about that with everyone staring at us, cause you know… That's embarrassing."

"What? That's so lame!" A random guy yelled out.

"Yeah!"

All around me people voiced their disagreements. They were probably hoping for some juicy gossip or something. Although I could tell all the guys were relieved.

I scratched the back of my head and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I know."

"That makes sense."

"Can't believe I thought for a second she'd like him."

"Lol, true."

Everyone seemed satisfied with my answer, and went back to ignoring me. Well, almost everyone. Grover and Connor were staring at me like I had two heads. I guess they saw through my, admittedly crappy, lie.

I wanted to sit by them, but on my way towards them I felt someone grab my arm, pretty much forcing me to sit down beside them.

"What the hell is your…?" I started to say, until I saw who it was. Piper. Sure… Sure… Why not? Why the hell not? As if this day couldn't get any weirder, this had to happen.

She grinned at me, with a predatory look in her eyes, and I'm not afraid to admit that in that I moment I lowkey feared for my own life.

"Percy, right?"

I gulped, and tugged on my beanie. "Um… Yeah. What.. What can I do for you?" I stammered.

She was playing with her hair while she scanned me from top to bottom. Ookay?

"Wouldn't have pegged you as Annabeth's type, buuut she is full of surprises." She muttered to herself.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, what?"

She shook her head, and held out a well-manicured hand. "How rude of me! Hi, I'm Piper, Annabeth's friend."

I looked at her weirdly, but shook her hand nonetheless. Mostly because I was afraid of what she'd do to me if I didn't.

"Yeah, I know. Everyone does."

"Right, I didn't want to assume. You know what they say, when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me." She said with a grin.

I snorted and grinned before I could stop myself. That was exactly the kind of dumb jokes I loved both making and hearing. But that didn't mean I wanted her to know that. Maybe she didn't hear me?

Never mind, I saw her grin turn into a victorious smirk. She definitely heard me snort. Dammit.

"Glad you liked that! Nice to know you've got a sense of humor. People usually groan whenever they hear one of my jokes."

"Geez, why does that not surprise me?" I commented sarcastically, before I could stop myself. Oh my gods, what is wrong with my filter today?!

She lifted one of her eyebrows at that. "Well, well, well! I like you! You've got some sass in your ass."

"Oh my gods, you did not just say that." I said in disbelief. What is with this girl?

"Some junk in your trunk!"

"Oh my gods, stop." I pleaded.

She wiggled her eyebrows. "What if I don't want to?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Ookay, I am definitely changing seats now."

Before I could do exactly that, the teacher showed up. Oooof course she did.

"Mr. Jackson, is there a problem?" Ms. Alecto asked me loudly, with a glare. Oh yeah, here's the 411 on Ms. Alecto, she absolutely hated my guts… and everything else about me actually. I have no idea why she hates me, but she does. Which sucks. A lot.

I felt my face heat up, and shook my head. "No, uhh… ma'm."

All around me people were snickering.

"Then: Sit. Down." She commanded me. "Unless you want me to give you detention."

I breathed out of my nose, and sat down.

"Man, she really hates you!" Piper whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, for summing that up."

"Heh, sum… Nice."

I looked at her weirdly.

"You know, sum the noun meaning the result of adding numbers, like in math that we have right now?" She explained. "And then you have the verb to sum up? Do you get it?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh.. my gods."

She grinned. "You got it! Yes! It probably would've taken Jason longer to get that. He's smart and hot, but when it comes play on words…" She shook her head, looking disappointed. "But you'll like him, he's really nice."

I furrowed my eyebrows, and looked at her weirdly. "What? Why…? Why do you say that like I'm going to meet him any time soon?"

Now she was looking at me weirdly. "Because you are? Him, and everyone else. You know, Leo, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Silena, Luke… I'm probably forgetting a couple of names, but yeah. Everyone."

I tugged on my beanie. "Uhh, no I'm not. Why… Why would you think that?"

"Because you're with Annabeth now, silly!" She said with an amused smile.

"What?!" I said, a little too loudly.

"Mr. Jackson, do you have a problem with what I'm teaching?" Ms. Alecto asked me with a glare.

I shook my head profusely, and gave her two thumbs up. "No uh.. ma'am. Keep doing what you're doing. It's good stuff."

She pushed up her glasses. "One more disruption from you, and it'll be detention for a week. Are we clear?"

I nodded my head. "Yes… ma'am."

She hmphed, and went back to talking about equations or something… I don't know, the moment they started teaching math with letters was the moment I realized I sucked at math almost as much as I sucked at English.

"I am not with Annabeth!" I whispered to Piper, the second Ms. Alecto took her eyes off me.

She rolled her eyes. "Not like that. Not yet, anyways. I mean, now that you have an in with Annabeth, you've got an in with the rest of us!"

"Who the hell made up that rule?! And what do you mean not yet? That's not going to happen. Ever."

She shrugged it off. "Whatever you say dude. It's just the way things go. Besides, if you hang out with Annabeth, you're going to be hanging out with all of us anyways."

I wanted to retort, and tell her that there was no way, no way in hell, that I was going to be hanging out with them any time soon, but before I could the bell rang and she stood up.

"We'll talk more later. See you around!" She told me, and walked away.

"No, we won't! Please leave me alone!" I said in return, but she was already gone. Fuck. How do they keep doing that?

"Everything okay Perce?" Connor asked me.

I wanted to run my hands through my hair in frustration, but I couldn't because of my stupid beanie. Gods, stupid school. Stupid day.

I sighed. "I don't… I don't get girls." I admitted to him and Grover.

Connor snorted. "Welcome to the club dude."

"We gotta go, we'll be late for History." Grover reminded us.

"Oh shit, Mr. Brunner's gonna have my head if I'm late again." Connor exclaimed. "Come on dude, let's go."

"All right, all right, let me just get my stuff." I told him. And then I realized, I haven't written a damn thing during the class. Oh my gods, now I'm screwed for Algebra I too.

-Line Break-

I was hanging out with Travis, Connor and Grover in the classroom during recess, when the weirdest thing happened.

Leo stopped in front of me and started analyzing my face, with Piper behind him, sending me an apologetic look. I tugged my beanie lower.

"What… What is happening right now?" I asked out loud, mostly to Piper.

"He doesn't seem like much. Definitely not like Annabeth's usual type." Leo noted. He scanned my body from top to bottom, in an eerily similar manner to Piper earlier. "Then again, Annabeth is full of surprises."

"That's what I said!" Piper exclaimed happily. They both high-fived.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Oh.. My gods. I'm not… Me and Annabeth aren't… We're just… What do you people want from me?"

Leo blinked, and hit his own head. "Where are my manners? The name's Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme, and the Super-sized McShizzle. Nice to meet you, you must be Annabeth's…?"

He looked at me expectantly, and I realized everyone else was too.

"This is the part, where you tell me what you are to Annabeth." Leo whispered.

"Why?"

"Come on dude, can you just… Just… okay?"

I sighed. "Classmate?" I suggested.

He blinked, and turned towards Piper. "Huh, is that what they call it nowadays? Classmates?"

She shrugged. "Don't look at me! I know just as much as you do! As far as I can tell they're still figuring stuff out."

"OH!" Leo exclaimed. "Okay, I see."

I frowned. "You see what? There's literally nothing to see."

He winked at me and smirked. "Don't worry dude, I totally understand."

"Understand what? There's nothing to understand!"

He just nodded his head, and kept on smirking. I could tell he didn't believe me, it was very obvious. "Uh-huh, suuure dude, sure. I got ya."

I turned towards Grover, Travis and Connor and said, "Can you guys please help me out? Tell them there's nothing going on between me and Annabeth?"

"Geez, I wish I could Perce." Travis said with a smirk, and eyes that said that this was payback for lunch. The bastard.

"Yeah, so do I, but I just can't." Connor added with an identical smirk. Gods, those two are the worse friends ever.

"Guys!" I exclaimed. "Grover, you'll set the record straight, right?"

Grover shook his head, looking regretful, but I saw him smirk. "I want to Percy, I really do, but I just can't lie."

"Bullshit! You lied about being on the track team earlier!"

"No, I didn't tell you about being on the track team. There's a difference there."

I closed my eyes in exasperation. Make that the three worse friends ever. Today has got to be one of the longest days of my life, and it isn't over yet.

Leo put his arm around. "Don't worry about it man, I got your back! I'm all about my friends' happiness! Which is why you should come to my party this Friday!" He looked at Grover and the Stoll twins and added, "You guys too! Bring whoever you like!"

"For real?" Travis asked excitedly.

"Hellz to the yeah player!" Leo exclaimed. "The more the merrier. You guys get to have a good time, and my homegirl Annabeth gets to sort shit out with this guy!"

He squeezed my shoulders when he said 'this guy'.

"That's actually a great idea!" Piper complimented him.

Leo winked at her. "When will you learn, Beauty Queen, that all my ideas are great?"

She snorted. "You've literally had one great idea in your life, and this was it."

He pouted, and shook his head. "Do you see how she treats me? You're such a mean girl dude, you might as well just wear pink on Wednesdays."

Before they could start bickering like kids, I cleared my throat and said, "What do you mean with sort shit out? There's no shit to sort out!"

He chuckled. "Props to you man, very consistent! You, would make an impressive liar. Or method actor. Eh, same difference. I'll see you at my party, all right?"

He finally took his arm off of me, after clapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh! You should give me your number, you know, so I can text you the deets to my party." Leo proposed. "The deets to my peets. Wait, that came out wrong… You know what I mean."

I was reluctant to give him my phone number, but I could see how excited Grover and the Stoll twins were for this party. I sighed, and gave him my number. Whatever, I'll just send them the details later and… Not go with them.

He saved it on his phone and grinned at me. "Excellent! I'll send you the deets later! Man, this party's gonna be so awesome!"

Piper high-fived him, and smirked at me. "I'll make sure of it. I got your number now too btw. So thank you, for that."

I frowned. "That was just meant for Leo though."

"Oops, sorry not sorry." She said with a shrug. She didn't look that apologetic if I'm being honest. "Too late now. Looking forward to seeing you this Friday. Byeee Percy!"

And then they left.

"Oh my gods." Grover exclaimed.

I sighed. "I know."

"I can't believe it…" Travis said with wide eyes.

"I know! They're insane!" I said in disbelief.

Connor shook his head. "It's not that. Dude, we just got invited to Leo Valdez' party! First party of the year, and we were actually invited!"

I looked at them incredulously. "We're not… We don't actually have to go to that, right?"

"Are you insane? We're definitely going!" Travis told me. He looked at me as if I was insane for even considering the idea of not going. "All of us."

Now I looked at him as if he was insane. "No. Nuh-uh. There's no way, no way in hell, that I'm going to that party." And I meant it. My peaceful year was seeming more and more like a dream at this point, but that didn't mean I'd stop trying to make it a reality.

"Aw come on, you gotta come!" Connor implored.

I shook my head. "I don't care! I'm not going, and that's final."

"But Percy, it's gonna be fun!" Grover told me. "And we never get invited to these things!"

"Pleaseeee?" Conner pleaded.

"Why don't you just go without me?" I tried.

"Cause he invited you specifically!" Grover reminded me.

"Yeah, they're all going to expect you!" Connor added.

"Well, for sure Piper and Leo." Travis clarified. "Although... The rest of their crew will probably know shortly."

Lovely.

"Yeah, and you saw them, they're insane! I don't want to deal with them any more than I have to." I retorted.

"Come on! Pleaseeee?" Connor implored.

"We're not going to stop bothering you until you say yes you know." Travis warned me.

I saw the hope in their eyes and sighed. "Ugh.. Fine. Fine. Whatever. Whatever, I guess my opinion doesn't matter."

Travis and Connor high-fived, while Grover threw a fist in the air. Wow, were these guys always this dramatic?

"We're going to a party!" Connor whooped.

I really have to get better friends.

Oh gods, I've got a bad feeling about this. This was such a bad idea. Such a bad idea.

I saw a black cat outside the window.

Yep.

Definitely a bad idea.


MapleRose150: Yooo, thanks so much! I was lowkey wondering whether I should give up, so I really appreciate it :D