Encounters

AN: Guys, I'm so so sorry I didn't update in forever, finals were absolutely brutal. I wish I could say it's going to get better, but they're not really. I have band camp all of this week, one week off, and then two weeks at a debate camp, which means that if I update early, it'll be next week-hopefully. Anyway, addressing reviews starting from first to last.

Javaxe1: You're welcome! And thanks, I really worked hard on it. Malcolm was not partying or in a fight club, although those guesses were great. I think you might figure out part of it this chapter though.

son of all: Aw thanks! That was one of my favorite parts to write too! There's going to be a bit more of that this chapter, so I hope you like it.

the apricot: Thanks a bunch! Here's your update

percabeth9: Thanks! Hopefully in the later chapters it'll get better.

Awesome TooAwesome: Here!

pipergrace983: I don't plan on it!

elleibarra: I'm not at liberty to answer your review as it might give away a plot point for later times, so I'm not going to say yes, but I'm also not going to say no because if I say either, it'll eliminate other possibilities. But... You're kind of on the right track. Kind of.

Knowlife90: Aw, thanks! I'm glad it did! But Malcolm hasn't been doing eiher though.

Frosted Rock: Thanks! I don't understand what you mean about the song, but I'm excited to write the lock in.

Zammy987: You're on the right track. Also, I've never had an uploading schedule, but I usually try to update every 2-3 weeks.

hiddeninthelibrary: Oh, if you like the enemies plot, you should definitley check out my other story Exceptions, it's already completed so you wouldn't need to wait for updates, and it's not exactly the same plot, but it does start with them hating each other.

Alright, that's about it, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Leggo.

Percy

You know those times when you go to a grocey store, or the mall, or any public location, and you see a little kid throwing a tantrum and just making a scene? And then their parents, try as they might, can't seem to calm the kid down, and it just gets worse and worse and worse? Once, when I was at the grocery store with my mom and we watched something like that occur, my mom had just looked at me, leaned over, and informed me that trying to care of a kid that was in the process of a tantrum might've been one of the hardest things to accomplish in this life time.

Now, I can honestly say that having to take care of one five year old having a tantrum is nothing compared to having to take care of a crowd of raging football players that have sunk to the level of a five year old. It was ridiculous. Our own captain, aka my best friend, had stormed off after we got the news that our lock-in tradition was being compromised so we could do team building exercises with the cheerleaders.

"It's just not okay! We've been doing this for years! What are we supposed to do next semester? I bet they're going to make us watch chick flicks and talk about weird things like periods and how big some guy's dick is." Charles Beckendorf, one of our line backers, stated as he let himself plop down on one of the benches in the locker room. I clamped my teeth down on my lip so hard I almost cried. I was sure if I didn't stop myself, I'd shout at everyone for being so absolutely childish about the entire situation.

"As long as the dick they're talking about isn't attached to a guy from the football team, I'm good to go." One of our other members retorted, and just when the shouts of protest had quieted down to no more than a small hum, they raised once again.

"We're going to have to deal with it you guys, there's nothing we can do." I spoke carefully, making sure to use words that wouldn't ultimately piss anyone off. Nevertheless, I got a couple wary looks from some members leaning against the locker room walls. Finally, after a couple moments of silence, Jason Grace spoke up.

"Guys, I don't think it's going to be that bad. Maybe we could actually accomplish something through this." Everyone's heads snapped up from the ground to stare at Jason. I was surprised that someone actually spoke up in a positive way instead of just bashing on the squad. However, the victory only lasted .5 seconds.

"What exactly will spending the night with a bunch of bitches accomplish? I mean we can't get in their pants, so really they're useless." Ethan Nakamura spoke from the back and all hell broke loose at that exact instance. Malcolm looked up from the ground and slammed Ethan into the lockers while Jason started yelling at the people who agreed with Ethan about how they should show some respect and grow up. In one second everyone was jumping each other, punching the first person they could find and accusing each other of being a traitor for supporting the cheerleaders. I myself, although trying to stay out of it, ended up getting hit various times in various places.

"Now you listen to me Nakamura," Malcolm started, and his voice was so deathly rugged and quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stilled as they turned their eyes to look at the captain.

"The football team may have a thing against the cheerleaders. But under no circumstances, will I allow any person on this damn team to start being vulgar in regards to them. My sister is part of that 'bunch of bitches', and I can assure you she'd never let you in her pants even if she could fuck around with you. I don't ever want to hear anyone say anything about the cheerleaders in that way, and if I catch anyone doing it, I swear to the lord above I will personally give you what you deserve, and I won't give a fuck about the consequences. Don't you dare talk about a group associated with my sister in that way, Nakamura, or you won't be able to reproduce in the future." And then he turned around, grabbed his sports bag, and marched out of the room.

Ethan, however, didn't even move a muscle. No one did. They just stood there, shocked, or pissed, or some combination of the two.

There were rare times that Malcolm cursed in abundancy- unlike his sister who cussed at any given time. Usually, it was when he was either really passionate about something, or really really pissed. Now, I've known Malcolm for years, and I can honestly say that the only other time I'd ever seen Malcolm that mad was one time when he was ranting to me about Helen hurting Annabeth. I knew he cared deeply about his sister- although his display in his bedroom last night when she asked where he'd gone was crude- and I knew he'd do anything to make sure she was treated right, so I knew that he was really angry right now, and so I did the only thing someone should do when their closest friend storms out of a room in a furious manner. I went after him.

I took me a couple seconds to react and grab my bags so I could follow him, but when I did, I fled from the room in the quickest possible manner. As soon as I was out of the room, I stopped in my tracks, hearing Malcolm talking to someone around the corner.

"I can't keep doing this." He started, and I leaned against the outer brick wall of the locker room. Malcolm had been really distant lately, always going out at night, and always making up some phony excuses as to why he couldn't hang out. I didn't know what was up with him, but I was starting to suspect it wasn't just that he needed some alone time. I snapped out of my thoughts as a feminine voice responded to him.

"Why?" It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd heard it before.

"I feel so horribly guilty. I feel like I've committed a crime or something. I can't keep lying, and all this secrecy is starting to tear me apart from people. "

"And you don't think I feel worse? Everyone's been on my back, asking me where I've been and what's been wrong with me, do you seriously think you're the only one being negatively impacted by this... this thing that we've got going on?"

"I don't know how much longer I can keep up all these lies. You know I'm not a good liar, one day someone's gonna ask me where I've been, and why I've been missing, and I'm going to crack and bare my soul."

"And one day, I'm going to get tired of feeling bad for wanting this and I'm going to crack, Malcolm. Am I not worth it to you? Is this not enough? Because if you're just using me like you do with every girl you date, I swear I'll snap you in half, I don't care if you're my-"

"I love you." There was a long pause from the female voice and I shut my eyes as I tried to hold in my shock. Malcolm, the player, the one who was known for being with girls just for physical pleasure, was in love? "God, I love you more than you can comprehend, and I'm not saying it's bad that I do. I don't regret loving you at all. You're such a blessing to me, and no I'm not using you, I wouldn't even think about it considering you'd kill me. But, I also feel like loving you is a risky thing because of who you are and what roles we play in each others lives. What we have isn't stable, you and I both know that. But if it's the only way I can get you, then it's stable enough for me. I care so much about you, you're nothing like any other girl I could ever meet. You didn't instantly fall for my charms, you hated me right from the start. You hated me more than you could ever hate anyone else in the world, and that made me want to get you to like me just so I could screw around like I do with everyone else. But obviously, that plan didn't end up too well because look where I've been for the past couple months. By your side. You're 've got me hooked, and I don't plan on letting go anytime soon. But you know we can't hide what we have forever. We have to come clean, and soon. Okay?"

"I love you too." Was the only response, and though I'm sure there was some agreement involved, I couldn't tell as I couldn't see what was happening, just hear it.

I let out a breath and shifted my bag. So he had a secret girlfriend, or at least that's what I'd gotten out of the conversation. I didn't want him to think I was listening, so I pulled myself together and yelled his name. There was a moment of silence, and then shuffling feet. I rounded the corner after I thought it'd been enough time for whoever it was to run off and hide.

"Malcolm, you okay? That was a pretty big blow up back there." He squeezed the bridge between his nose and let out a breath.

"I mean, you know how I get when people talk trash about my sister. He basically implied he wanted in her pants."

"Who wanted in my pants?" We both looked up to find a blonde, perky looking cheerleader strolling up to Malcolm. Annabeth, although admittably looking nice, looked nothing like herself in her cheer uniform. The type of personality that she had- at least what I knew of her personality- clashed endlessly with the vivacious, peppy attitude a cheerleader should have, and so her look was off. From the little I knew of her, I knew that she wasn't into revealing outfits, too much makeup, or excessively girly items, like bows and glitter. Of course, right now, she had all of those things on her body. I watched quietly as she wrapped her arms around the back of Malcolm's neck and hugged him.

"Ethan Nakamura, this-"

"Ass from the football team. You're always ranting about him." Annabeth finished for him. Malcolm let out a breath and rolled his eyes at her.

"How've you been, Chase?" He asked her after he picked up his bag.

"Been better, how about you, Chase?" She retorted with a small smile, and I just knew that she was overjoyed that Malcolm was actually taking time to talk to her instead of being missing with his secret girlfriend that Annabeth had no idea existed.

"Kinda shitty, but hey, it's over now. Listen, can I ask you for a huge huge huge favor, Beth?" She raised an eyebrow at him and pulled back from their hug.

"Depends on what it is." She replied as lightning flickered in the sky and storm clouds gathered up ahead.

"A couple football players and I are going out to Wing Stop to celebrate our first win, do you think you could drive Percy home?" Now I knew for a fact that no one was going out to Wing Stop with him tonight, so obviously this was a new lie for him to go spend time with the stranger- which was what I'd decided to call the person. Her eyebrows came together and she looked from me to Malcolm.

"Why isn't he going with you then, if it's a football thing?"

"Oh, I don't feel like it anyway. I'm beat, really I am." I answered nonchalantly because even though I knew Annabeth would hate me if she found out I was covering for Malcolm, Malcolm didn't really know I was covering anyway, and so it compensated for itself. Annabeth let out a breath and pretended to examine her nails.

"Well, as long as he doesn't pee in the car, I'll take the him off your hands." She aquiesced mockingly, holding her hand out for the keys and then placing a quick kiss on his cheek, signaling for me to follow her to the car. I gave Malcolm a pat on the back and followed the bobbing blonde ponytail.

"Why are you walking so fast?" She turned around and walked backwards, her white cheer shoes scuffing against the gravel.

"Why are you walking so slow, loser?" She asked with a ridiculous grin on her face as she proceeded to do a back flip, and then a cart wheel, and then a weird hand stand move.

"Um, are you feeling all right? You seem kinda peppier than usual."

"I couldn't be better." She replied as we reached the car, and I stopped in front of her to give her a look.

"Is there something going on? You haven't yelled at or insulted me yet." She raised her chin up so she could remotely try to reach my height and I chuckled.

"You're right, I haven't. Thanks for reminding me you stupid, egotistical, arrogant, ass of a guy." She said, and even though what she was saying would sound horrible to most, I knew she was only joking by the way her eyes were crinkling on the sides. She turned suddenly, unlocking the car and jumping into the driver's seat as I rounded the car and buckled up.

"So what's going on? Did you get asked out by some guy or something?" She laughed wholeheartedly as we pulled out of the parking lot.

"Funny, you think I'm the type of girl that involves herself in petty high school relationships. Let me tell you that I've never had a high school relationship, and I don't plan on having one either. I'm a lone wolf." She leaned back in her seat as we reached a stop light. I was kind of surprised by her revelation.

"So you've never kissed a guy, or had a relationship, or anything?"

"Relationship, no. Kissed a guy? Yup. I've kissed several, don't really have to be in a relationship to kiss someone." I raised an eyebrow at her as she pressed on the gas and then paused. She was under no commitment... She only flung around.

"Oh my god. You... You're just like Malcolm! You're a player! Who would've thought Miss Annabeth Chase would've been a player."

"I am not a player. But a kiss here and there never hurt anyone. Besides, all the kisses I've experienced were because of dares, spin the bottle, or seven minutes in heaven. See, a lot of people think I have time to be fooling around and having sex with everyone, but everyone forgets I'm married to my computer and video games." She replied as we pulled up outside my house. The rain above finally released and soon it started pouring. Luckily we were able to make it inside before the storm really got bad. I shut the door behind me and let out a breath, dropping my bag on the ground without a care.

"Hm. Mom, I'm home!" And then there was shuffling errupting from the kitchen. Mom appeared with a baking apron on and flour spots on her face.

"Hey PJ, how'd the game go?" She asked before her eyes set on Annabeth and her face twisted in confusion. "Who's this?" She asked at the same time Annabeth whispered, "PJ?"

"Mom, this is Annabeth, Annabeth, Mom. She's-"

"You look like one of Percy's friends." My Mom cut in, "You guys are so alike, it's crazy. His name's-"

"Malcolm. Yep, that's my older brother." Annabeth finished off with a flustered smile. I tried to keep it together, but I just wanted to break out laughing. It was the first time I'd seen that one get her panties in a knot. Mom's face flooded with recognition and she instantly wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh, I've been dying to meet you! Malcolm's told me a lot about you, about how studious you are, and how hard you work on your gymnastics, and how you can kick some serious ass when it comes to video games." Annabeth's eyes widened at my mom's cursing, and I instantly knew they'd get along great. "Oh, there's no way I'm letting you leave now, there's a flood warning, and I just made cookies! Make yourself at home." And just like that, Annabeth was trapped at our house.

"These things are absolutely amazing." Annabeth mumbled a while later as she ate one of the many cookies my mom had made. We were sitting on my bed watching Criminal Minds and eating to our hearts content.

"Ah, another Chase bows down to the cooking of the Jacksons." I answered, smirking. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a napkin from the plate of cookies in front of her.

"Your mom is so nice. I love her."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, my mom's the best woman in the world, but that's not what I wanna talk about. What I wanna know is, what's got you so happy, honestly?" I watched quietly as she pulled the bow out of her hair and then let her hair tumble around her shoulders.

"So, you know Drew? The head cheerleader?" I nodded as she fiddled with the top of her cheer uniform. "Well, she's getting impeached as the captain, and honestly, I could not be happier. Do you have one of Malcolm's old shirts here? I know he spends a lot of time over here, maybe he left some clothes?" I gave her a loud, dramatic sigh and stood up, signaling for her to follow me.

"Why couldn't you be happier?" I asked in regards to her confession about the head cheerleader as we walked to my closet.

"Because she's a bitch. I've been wanting to boot her off as captain for the past two years, so of course I'm ecstatic. You play assasin's creed?" She asked, grabbing a game from my wardrobe. She shrugged and set the game back down. "It's a decent game, not the best, but I'm sure I could still kick your ass at it." She stated with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at her confidence and shuffled through my closet, looking for an article of clothing belonging to Malcolm.

"Uh, I have some shorts of his, but that's about it. You wanna borrow a shirt of mine?" She made a guttural noise and groaned.

"If I have to because I don't plan on staying in this uniform overnight." I smirked at her and threw her a shirt without looking."Okay, don't look, but continue talking."

"What the fuck, you're changing here?"

"Uh, yeah, it's quick and easy." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I glanced around my room as she changed and quickly turned around as soon as she gave me an okay. She stared down at the shirt like it was a foreign object.

"Problem?"

"Um. Your football shirt?" I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. It'd become abundantly clear that Annabeth let this feud between the cheerleaders and the football players control and define every move she made.

"Annabeth, it's a shirt. Wear it. Unless you plan on walking around my house in a bra?" Her face fell and she glared at me.

"You know, we were almost getting along for a second there." She joked, and I rolled my eyes at her. "But about Drew, we have this horrible back story and I honestly can't dislike someone as much as I dislike her. She is a horrible, horrible person, and I'm so happy she has no power over us now. It's the best feeling in the.. What the fuck happened to your face?" I paused, wondering what she was talking about, but before I could react, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the hall bathroom. I stared at my face in shock, analyzing the bruises around my jawline and near my eyes.

"Um, there was a fight in the locker room, I guess-"

"Just shush, I'll fix it." She cut off, pulling out the first aid kit from the bottom of the cabinet under the sink. She opened it up and brought out a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol. "Okay, ready?" She asked, as she dabbed some of the liquid onto the cotton ball. I nodded quietly and stiffened as she dabbed my bruises with the cotton, rubbing up against some especially hard spots on my face.

I snapped out of my thoughts as she ran a thumb over one of the now forming bruises. She looked so concentrated in her work, she wasn't even noticing I was staring straight at her. "You got smacked hard, Jackson." She looked up at me, and I could just tell she was trying to resist a smile. And then she said something that surprised me. "You do have nice eyes, you know." Without another word, she grabbed something from the first aid kit and turned away. I blinked quietly and watched as she cautiously spread aloe on my face with her fingers, noting that once again, she was too concentrated on the task in hand to notice me.

"Thanks, I guess." She backed up and frowned at me, biting her lip thoughtfully and tugging on a strand of hair.

"You must be a bigger idiot than I thought. Were you biting your lip?" She asked as she grabbed some toilet paper and dampened it with water. I groaned and grumbled a yes her way because I had been biting my lip back at the locker room. She nodded like she knew it all along and motioned for me to come forward. I smiled as she attempted to stand on her tip toes to dab my bottom lip with the toilet paper. She had an iron grip on my chin, so hard I could feel skin tearing off.

"You need to stop this habit of yours Jackson, you'll ruin that pretty little mouth of yours." She warned with a small, smug smile.

"Don't act like you weren't biting your lip two minutes ago, Blondie." I replied as she stopped dabbing my mouth and rolled her eyes my way, subtly examining her work on my face.

"Hm. Instead of looking like you got hit with a truck, you only look like you got hit with a bike. That means I did good." She joked as she packed up the kit and shoved it under the sink. She stared at me expectantly. "You gonna open the door now? Or do you plan on staying here all night?' She asked sarcastically.

"Well, staying here all night wouldn't be all that bad." I shot back, rushing to the medicine cabinet and pulling out facial wipes. I turned to her and set the wipes down by the sink as she looked up at me, confused as to what my intentions were. "You cleaned up my face, I clean up yours. Come on." She sighed and jumped up on the counter of the bathroom sink, crossing her legs over each other as I pulled out a wipe and started dabbing at her eyelids.

"I didn't even know you knew about makeup wipes, much less how to use them."

"Well, back when I was around six, my mom was hunting around for jobs whenever we were at a really rough spot in our lives. She got a job as a waitress, and so she would come home really late most nights, and she'd be too tired to wipe off her makeup, so whenever she fell asleep on the couch and had forgotten to take off her makeup, I'd wipe it off for her. If she was awake, though, I'd just help her take it off. Needless to say, I have experience with these little facial wipes."

She stayed quiet as I scrubbed the number 17- Malcom's jersey number- off of her cheek, then moved to remove the lipstick on her mouth.

"That's actually a pretty sweet thing to do." She commented lightly, trying not to move her mouth too much as I wiped off the corners and then stared at her now completely natural face. The dull light from the bathroom light above illuminated her face, making her gray eyes stand out against her tan face. I took into account how pink her lips were, how her still-damp hair was hanging loosely past her shoulders, and how her freckles gave her a sense of innocence even though she was far from it. She really was beautiful, inside and out. I mean, obviously she cared, otherwise she wouldn't have wasted her time trying to patch me up. I finished wiping off her makeup and threw the wipe away.

"Thanks." I replied, helping her down, and then we both retreated back to my room without hitting each other.

"Okay, that's not fair!" I quietly yelled at Annabeth after she'd beat me, once again, at the newest version of Call of Duty. It was around two in the morning now, and we'd been playing this game for maybe more than three hours. She wanted to stop playing a while ago, but I insisted we keep playing just so I could possibly have a chance at beating her. Well, after several hours, I found that it was impossible to beat the pretty little she devil.

"How is it not fair?" She asked through muffled laughs as the screen turned a dark red. I huffed and set my controller down.

"You practically live in video game world, you've devoted most of your life to perfecting video games, how can I compete with that?" She smiled and shoved her hair up in a bun.

"Well, it's obvious you've also spent time trying to learn how to play games, don't act like this is your first time playing any of them."

"But I'm clearly not as good as you!" She pursed her lips and held a hand up to her chin.

"Well, that's not my problem." And then she errupted in laughter again. Without waiting for her to be ready, I started a new game and started running towards her, aiming my gun at her character. "Hey! That's not fair, you cheated!"

"Well so did you!"

"What? How?"

"By being so skilled at this stupid game!" I ripped the remote away from her and threw it across the room as she curled into a ball on my bed and died of laughter.

"You are such a sore loser!" She whimpered through strained laughter as I paused the game and tried to suppress a smile. This felt so natural, so uncoordinated and spontaneous, that it just shocked me. She met my eyes, staring into the depths of my soul until she ripped them away, sat up, and held her hand out to me with a determined look on her face. I grabbed her hand and started the sequence for the thumb war game that we were set to have.

"You know, you're just like Mal. Maybe we can be secret friends. I need someone to fill Malcolm's spot for me anyway, since he's always gone and everything." She muttered the last part distastefully, but her words had caught me so off guard, I stopped trying to beat her and just gave up. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly and looked down. She was obviously upset about Malcolm not being able to spend time with her. He always had somewhere to be (of course now I knew why he was always missing).

"I'm sure he cares about you. Maybe he's just trying to figure some stuff out right now, and he just doesn't know how to handle everything." She scowled as she helped herself up from the bed and walked around my room to look around.

"What stuff would he have to figure out? He tells me everything, if there was something he needed to deal with, I would know about it. I just don't get what's wrong with him." She muttered, fiddling with something on my wardrobe. I jumped up and padded over to her, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, everything's going to figure itself out, alright? I'm sure everything will be okay. You never know how someone could be feeling. He could be feeling horrible, or going through a hard time, or anything. I know that him ignoring you isn't the way to handle any situation he's going through, but right now you just need to trust him. You might be surprised." Her head shot up and she glared at me.

"And what do you know about anything? This is my brother we're talking about, I think I would know him more than you." I jumped at her sudden outburst and crossed my arms over my chest.

"If you've forgotten, he's also my best friend. I think I'd at least know a little about him."

"Exactly. A little. While I've been living with him for my entire life, so I would know a lot. You don't have to tell me how to handle my brother." She snapped as she covered herself in the blankets on my bed and leaned against the headboard. I huffed and shook my head, standing by my wardrobe for what seemed like forever.

"Alright. I'm gonna go, I was planning on sleeping in the living room anyway, Mom said you were taking my room."

"Wait. Percy." I turned around before I could take a step towards the door and met her cold eyes. She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry." And that's all it took for me to come back. It was obvious she was hurting, even if she refused to admit it for reasons not known to me. I sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"It's fine. I get it. But you have to believe he's not going to leave you. He still cares, you know that right?"

"I'm just not used to him leaving me in the dark. It's weird, and I'm worried about him." She said through a yawn.

"Maybe he just needs his space. This will figure itself out, I promise." She looked up at me with her eyes scrunched together, covered her mouth as she yawned again, and set her head on my shoulder.

"You know, maybe you're not that bad." She admitted, pausing and then opening her mouth to say something else. "But you better not tell anyone about this, otherwise we both die." And then she shut her eyes, and I smiled because I realized her last sentence was a threat. I looked down at her sleeping figure, admiring the way she looked so completely relaxed, and trying to ignore the small, almost unnoticeable thrump in my chest as I tucked a stray curl behind her ear and reminded myself exactly who's sister was lying next to me.

AN: So? What do you guys think? Drop me a review because I update faster when I get more reviews! Also, let me know your favorite quote or part from this chapter, and keep guessing about the Malcolm situation. Also, check out Falling for Grace if you haven't already( the sequel to exceptions). Alright, review for me please! Till next time- ShyGal