Annabeth was in fifth grade when she met Percy. He was new to their school, and Mr. Parker brought him up to the front and made him introduce himself and rattle off a few fun facts and such before escorting him to the desk directly behind Annabeth's. Halfway through the lesson, he poked her with his pencil.
"Can I help you?" She snapped. Annabeth hated distractions during class- she was nothing if not studious.
"I'm Percy. Nice to meet you too." He grinned.
"Yeah. I kind of gathered that after you introduced yourself to the whole class 20 minutes ago." Annabeth whipped back around in her seat and continued doing her worksheet.
"What's your name?" He chirped, clearly not taking the hint.
"Annabeth." she replied.
"Hmm. Weird name. I've never met anyone named Annabeth before."
"Your name is literally Percy. Yet you're saying I'm the one with the weird name?" She questioned incredulously.
"Annabeth and Percy, could we please quiet down?" They both turned back to the front, Annabeth's cheeks aflame, to see Mr. Parker chiding them- gently albeit- for chatting during his lesson.
She was irritated- how had this kid already managed to get her in trouble? It was going to be a long year.
/
Somewhere down the line, school ends, and Percy and Annabeth had become glued at the hip despite their rocky start. They start and finish middle school as a dynamic duo of sorts- where one is, the other isn't far. Sally Jackson became a mother figure to Annabeth- they went on trips together, had countless movie nights and sleepovers, and spent birthdays,
Christmases, and Thanksgivings together. Frederick, Annabeth's father, even left his work occasionally to tag along sometimes. Over the years, people came and went in Annabeth's life, but Percy remained constant.
Before she knew it, they were juniors in high school. Percy played football and she was on the cheerleading team and they were best friends, which is every kind of cliche. It was homecoming week, and there were countless festivities to be had. It was mid September, and Annabeth was wounded tightly, because as class president, there were a lot of things she was expected to do to make sure everything ran smoothly. It had been a rough week so far, with early morning conditioning and late nights of homework, and by the Thursday before the pep rally and football game, she felt as though she was half in the grave because of how exhausted she was.
The familiar ding of her alarm blared at 7 am. Fuck. She should've been awake 20 minutes ago. She hastily tried to smooth her bed head and threw on a ratty cheer t-shirt and track shorts before grabbing her bag and hustling out the door. She spotted Percy in his beat up Honda from her front door, all too chipper for how early it was. She climbed into his car and groaned.
"Fuck this. I'm tired. Can we please just skip?"
"Good morning sunshine! Good thing it was my turn to drive today, huh? We would've been so late if you drove! Anyways, I got you something!" He beamed at her and held out a coffee cup from Dunkin Donuts.
"You're the best, you know that?" She held out her hands gratefully and smiled. Percy, for all his shortcomings, was nothing if not kind. The fact that he woke up early to get her a coffee is objectively pretty sweet.
"I know this week has been rough for you, being little-miss-involved and all."
She rolled her eyes dramatically and bit back a smile.
"Yeah. It has." She gazed out the window.
/
"So, you and Percy, huh?"
"Shut the hell up, Piper."
Piper tried (and failed) to cover up a laugh to avoid getting yelled at by coach A for talking during warmups. "I'm just saying, people talk. And going to the dance with him is not going to help things if you really want people to believe you're just friends." She wasn't entirely wrong- it was kind of unspoken that Percy would be her date, seeing as both of them were single.
"I don't care what they believe. Drop it". Truth is, Annabeth didn't really know how to define her relationship with Percy. It was something in between best friends and something else- she didn't know exactly what. She preferred not to think about it any more than that. Things were perfect as they were, why question it?
Practice went on, and Piper's comment got to Annabeth a little more than she'd like to admit. Should she be thinking about her relationship with Percy more? Is it weird that-
Boom.
Before Annabeth could finish her thought, she toppled to the ground during her stunt. Awesome.
"Annabeth! Get your head out of your ass! The pep rally is tomorrow!" Coach B's shrill voice jolted her out of her haze.
"Sorry coach! Won't happen again!"
/
On the day of the pep rally, Annabeth was up extra early to get ready. She pulled on her uniform and grabbed her keys, waving a wordless goodbye to her stepmom.
"Have a good day, Annabeth!" She called after her
Despite her previously strained relationship with Susan, Annabeth felt warm at the motherly-ness of the interaction. Her parents' split had been hard on her, and she had only seen her mother a few times since they split up when she was 10. She had some misdirected anger at Susan for a while, but as she grew up, she began to see the situation for what it was-everything between her parents had nothing to do with Susan or her half brothers.
She pulled into the school parking lot and grabbed her backpack before heading into school.
/
"This day is dragging ass" Annabeth groaned.
"It's probably just because you're nervous to cheer at the pep rally and you're anticipating it," replied Percy in a matter of fact tone.
"Why would I be nervous? I don't care about the stupid pep rally anymore."
Annabeth might've been lying a little bit, because she was kind of nervous. She had been working really hard on perfecting her stunts in the homecoming cheers, because there is nothing more embarrassing than eating shit in front of your peers.
"Okay, sure. You're cool as a cucumber." Perch chuckled.
/
The pep rally came, and Annabeth felt pretty good about her performance- she didn't fall during her stunts, landed her tumbling, and managed to keep a bright smile on her face the whole time. She tried to ignore Percy beaming at her from the bleachers because for some reason seeing him caused an ungodly amount of heat in her cheeks.
After everyone settled back into their seats, Connor and Travis Stoll, fellow student council members, took the stage to reveal the winner of homecoming court. Annabeth took this time to scroll through her phone in secrecy and chat with her teammates, until the students hushed in preparation for the announcement of homecoming royalty.
"Our 2019 Goode High School homecoming queen is… drumroll please… Annabeth Chase!"
What. The. Hell.
Before she could even react, Piper was howling with laughter and helping her to her feet. Annabeth had never been more confused. Why did she just win homecoming queen? Who even voted for her?"
"And what's a Queen without a King. Probably sad and lonely! Anyways, our 2019 GHS homecoming King is… Percy Jackson!"
Annabeth heard their friends in the crowd roaring with cheers and laughter as Percy emerged from the crowd with a sheepish grin on his face, his cheeks tinged pink. He joined her on the stage and they exchanged a glance.
"This was definitely Jason," he muttered to her, but his smile didn't falter.
They bowed their heads to be crowned and smiled for the pictures- Annabeth had to laugh at how cheesy it was with her in her uniform and him in his jersey. Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the students dismissal for the day.
/
"Oh my GOD Annabeth! I can't believe you were so surprised to win! People have been talking about it since the ballots went out!" Piper was still laughing about the whole thing. She was floored by how surprised Percy and Annabeth were about the whole thing, and she revealed that Jason thought it would be funny to campaign for them behind their backs. Before she could respond, Piper continued "And don't even try to get mad and act like you're too cool for this homecoming stuff. We all know that you and Percy are gonna-"
"Ok Piper. I'm going to stop you right there. You guys all need to start minding your own business."
/
The following Saturday was the homecoming dance. As far as dates went, Annabeth was technically paired up with Percy, but they were going in a group with their friends. She spent the day getting ready at Piper's house with some other girls from the cheer team. She donned a form fitting long sleeved black dress with an open back. It's not something she would usually go for, but after she won homecoming Queen, Piper determined that the dress she was planning to wear was "too plain" and picked something out of her own closet to give to Annabeth. Annabeth resisted at first, until she pulled out a tie that matched the dress for Percy like she had been planning it all along.
Around 5, the rest of the group began to arrive at Pipers house for pictures and such. She sighed with relief when Percy walked through the door. She waved to him at the top of the stairs, but he just kind of stared at her for a second before waving back. She pretended not to see the rosy tint on his cheeks.
After she walked down the stairs, He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her in for a quick hug in greeting.
"You look nice, Beth," he murmured into her hair.
"Thanks. You're not too bad either. Not too good, though."
He rolled his eyes but bit back a smile.
The night was fun. Dinner, dancing, and sweating in the hot gymnasium with her friends. A semi- awkward encounter with Percy when they were presented as king and Queen, but fun nonetheless. But the real fun wouldn't start until the dance started to clear out around 10 pm- Piper, designated wild child, had decided that since her dad was out of town and her house was a mansion that she would not only be letting the group use her house for pictures, but would also be inviting a good chunk of the upperclassmen to a party at her house after the dance. Piper was the daughter of Tristan Mcclean, a remarkably successful director, who bought a quaint yet humongous mansion upstate- he was from the city, but did not want Piper to grow up there with all the private school snobs. Her house was gorgeous- intricate chandeliers adorning the ceilings and couches that looked like they cost more than a car. Annabeth was honestly nervous on her behalf- it's one thing to go to a party at someone else's house, but to have one at your own? That takes balls.
As the dance itself began to wind down, Percy linked his arm through Annabeth's. "Ready to get out of here?" He said. She nodded in reply.
/
At approximately 10:30, Annabeth and Percy arrived at Piper's house and were greeted by music blasting over the speaker and an already sizable crowd of drunk teenagers. To be honest, Annabeth was kind of tired and would've preferred to watch a movie with Percy and go to bed or something, but she knew how much her friends wanted her to stay out and enjoy the night.
Once Piper spotted them, she grabbed two red solo cups filled with god knows what and marched over, thrusting the cups into the hands of Percy and Annabeth before grabbing their free hands and raising them in the air.
"CHEERS TO OUR KING AND QUEEN!" Piper yelled, and a chorus of cheers followed. Annabeth chugged her drink.
/
Annabeth might have been a little tipsy. Ok, maybe more than a little. She didn't really drink that often, but it was a special occasion, so she figured there was no harm in knocking a few back. However, it became more than a few. And then Piper brought out the champagne- things were only downhill from there. Percy seemed to be pretty impaired himself, judging by the way he was dancing on the coffee table with her.
"Beth" he murmured in her ear over the music.
"Yeah?"
"Let's go outside."
He took her hand and started weaving through the crowds of people in Piper's living room. He pushed open the sliding glass door and waved to a group of kids they knew who were smoking on the patio. He led her over to Piper's large in-ground pool.
"It was too hot in there. I wanna swim." He was right- it was about 100 degrees inside Pipers house right now because of the amount of bodies.
"We don't have swimsuits though, Percy." She replied.
He didn't say anything and just smiled widely at her before grabbing her phone, tossing it off to the side, and picking her up like a sack of potatoes.
"No! Fuck you! No, Percy!"
*splash*
When she broke the surface, she saw Percy dripping wet and laughing like a madman as their friends began hopping in the pool behind them. She couldn't help but crack a smile as she saw Leo spraying a bottle of cheap champagne over them before jumping in the pool himself, bottle still in hand.
/
Dripping wet and freezing cold, Annabeth dragged Percy inside and grabbed another drink before stumbling up the stairs into Piper's room and grabbing a change of clothes.
"You're such a dumbass, Percy." The smile on her face definitely softened the blow.
"You love me."
"You wish."
/
As the party died down, Percy and Annabeth hunted the hallways of Piper's house for an empty bed to sleep in. It was nearing 4 am and they were far too drunk to go home and risk waking their families.
"Aha! An open bed!" Percy opened the door to a guest room and raised his hand for a high five before Annabeth batted it away.
"You're a dork. You want a high-five? Really?"
"Well, we both know I want more than a high-five, but I don't wanna chance it."
Annabeth choked out a surprised laugh. He must've been pretty drunk. She shut the bedroom door behind them and they locked eyes, something foreign flashing across his face. The silence went on for a second longer than usual.
"Annabeth?"
"Yeah, Percy?"
"Tonight was really fun. I always have so much fun when I'm with you and I just wanted to tell you in the least weird way possible that-"
"Tell me what?" She looked at him with an amused but nervous look on her face. Her and Percy had been friends for the last six years and had spent countless days and nights together, but recently, there had been a shift between them. It was so subtle, she didn't know if she was imagining things, but she swore she caught him glancing at her out of the corner of her eye more often, and she found herself getting flustered when her friends would make fun of her for how much time they spent together.
He seemed like he had forgotten what he was meaning to say, but before she could react, she found herself stepping closer to him so their noses were almost touching.
He leaned in, wrapped an arm around her waist, and kissed her.
It felt like an explosion had just happened in her brain, because what was going on, and why did she like it? The kiss deepened, and Percy's hands began to slip under her loose T shirt she had changed into and woah, this was getting heavy. Warmth spread across her chest and she tightened her arms around his neck before he moved her backwards onto the bed. Their kiss deepened, and she wrapped her arms around Percy's neck. She might've been a little giggly.
Somewhere in between, they had fallen asleep with their bodies intertwined.
/
The morning sun glaring through the window and directly into Annabeth's eyes woke her up. The first thing she noticed was the pounding in her head. The second thing she noticed was the hand strewn across her waist. This startled her enough to whip her head around and breathe a sigh of relief to see it was just Percy.
Oh shit.
Memories of the night before came flooding through her brain. The dance, the pool, and the steamy make out that had occurred a mere few hours ago. With Percy, of all people. She weighed her options in her head. Run away and create a new identity in another country to avoid ever addressing the events of the night before, throw herself off the nearest roof and go from there, or stay in bed and try to play it cool. After much deliberation, she settled on the latter. After all, her and Percy had slept together in the same bed a bunch of times, and it wasn't ever weird. Maybe he wouldn't remember. Nevertheless, she felt him stirring next to her and he tightened his arm around her. She found herself drifting back to sleep.
When she woke up again, she sat up in bed, still feeling like she was going to puke, either from the hangover or her anxiety. Percy must've been awoken by her sudden movement, because he sighed and started to open his eyes.
"I feel like shit." He mumbled into his pillow.
"Yeah, join the club." She retorted, heart beating out of her chest.
"What time is it?"
"10:15."
"Fuck. We missed McDonald's breakfast" He groaned and sat up. "You look like hell." He said, seemingly surprised.
Annabeth scoffed, but felt relieved. Maybe he didn't remember. "You think you don't?".
He grabbed his phone and flipped the front camera on. "Why is there a temporary tattoo of a dolphin on my cheek?"
Annabeth laughed, noticing it for the first time. "You're asking the wrong person." She replied, before glancing at her wrist and seeing a matching one on hers. She held her wrist up and Percy grinned, and she tried to ignore the feeling in her chest.
"We had a good time, huh?"
"I guess so."
They eventually rose from bed and made their way to Piper's room, where everyone else who had spent the night had begun to rise, complaining of aches and pains and half-heartedly attempting to clean the mess of the night before. Her and Percy eventually made their way out to his car and laughed about the events of last night, not a word of their little encounter was uttered. She was in the clear. He dropped her off at her house and waved a casual goodbye.
"See you tomorrow, Beth!" He smiled.
She walked back into her house. Thankfully, her dad and Susan weren't home, so she had time to jump in the shower and clean herself up a bit. She paused for a second as she saw the soap run down her arms, taking the remains of the glittery dolphin tattoo with it and felt almost sad. She shoved the feeling down and turned the water off, attempting to forget about it all.
/
"Okay Piper. I'm going to tell you something, but I swear to God, if you say anything to anyone ever, I will seriously murder you and your entire family. This is serious."
After Annabeth had cleaned herself up, she went back over to Pipers house to help clean up before her dad came home. After they cleaned quite a bit of unsavory mess, they took a break and sat down on the couch to look at the pictures taken on a digital camera someone had left on the coffee table. After stumbling on a picture of Percy and Annabeth applying their temporary tattoos, Piper had made a comment about seeing them walk into the guest room last night and not come out. Annabeth was planning to take this to the grave, but it was eating her alive.
"About last night…." She started.
/
"You're fucking with me. It's a prank." Piper said in complete disbelief after Annabeth had finished recounting the events of the night prior.
"I wish I was."
"No way Annabeth. No fucking way."
"Yup. And I'm never ever gonna bring it up to him, and neither will you."
"Jeez. I knew he wanted to, but I didn't think he'd find the balls. How was it? Did you like it?" Piper said teasingly.
"Honestly, it wasn't bad. But it's definitely never happening again." Annabeth was sure of this.
"If you say so."
/
October came, and life went on as normal. Percy and Annabeth still carpooled to school, studied together, ate dinner with Sally, and all the other things they had been doing prior to the.. incident. It started to weigh less heavily on Annabeth's mind- after all, they were drunken, horned up teenagers at a party, there was no need to make it into something it wasn't. However, as much as she tried to ignore it, she couldn't deny that certain moments still had an underlying bit of tension that she couldn't quite place. She found her relationship with Percy to become somehow more codependent than it already was.
On a chilly Friday night in October, Annabeth stood on the sidelines of their crosstown rivalry football game. She smiled as she performed her cheers, despite the chills that had taken over her body- a cheerleading uniform is not really a weather appropriate uniform for a fall night in upstate New York. She caught a glimpse of Percy on the sidelines, number 16 emblazoned on his jersey, listening to his coach intently before jogging onto the field- but not before turning around to wave to her. She waved back and smiled, feeling a rosiness that had become a bit too familiar creep up in her cheeks.
"Are you blushing?" Said Hazel, another girl on the team that Annabeth was close with.
"No! Why would I be blushing? It's just cold out." She said rather defensively.
"Jeez. It was just a question." Hazel shrugged and continued. "Anyways, should we see if any of the boys want to grab some food after the game?" It was a sort of tradition that a few girls on the cheer team and some boys on the football team- mutual friends of her and Percy's- grab a bite to eat after home games.
"Yeah. I think Piper texted earlier, but we can make sure we're still on."
/
The game was a success- unsurprisingly, Goode had smoked its rivals- not that they were very tough competition. The rivalry was sort of pointless considering the losing record of the other school year after year. Percy and Annabeth, along with Hazel, Piper, and some other girls from the cheer team and some of their friends on the football team met up at Esperanza's, a local diner that was luckily owned by her friend Leo's mom. As they all made their way to the corner booth, Annabeth turned to Percy, who seemed to be absorbed into his phone. "Good game today, Perce. Did you see Sally in the stands? It was so cute how she was cheering for you!"
"Yeah. Thanks." he replied without glancing up at her.
She frowned. This was kind of odd- Percy never usually seemed this disinterested in what she had to say. She brushed it off and went back to talking to the group.
After they had wrapped up their meals, Annabeth had asked Percy to ride with her back home, but he had muttered something about needing to talk to Frank or something. Weird.
/
The following Saturday, Percy and Annabeth had made a plan to do some homework together and watch some Halloween movies to get into the fall spirit. She showed up at his house around noon and let herself in, making her way into the kitchen. She was greeted with the scent of brownies in the oven.
"Hi sweetheart! How are you? I figured you would be coming so I made you guys some treats!" Sally Jackson smiled brightly at her. They talked for a few minutes about last night's game before Sally pulled the brownies out of the oven and headed off to meet a friend. Annabeth headed up the stairs to Percy's room to find him still asleep, to no surprise of her own.
She crawled onto the bed and started poking him. "Morning sleepyhead. Or should I say afternoon? Anyways, get up!"
He groaned. "Errghhhh."
"Percy, you've been sleeping for at least 11 hours. This can't be good for your health. Get up."
Begrudgingly, he sat up in bed and chatted with Annabeth before grabbing a change of clothes and heading to the bathroom. She grabbed her backpack and started working on her calculus homework while Percy showered. He reappeared a few minutes later and plopped down next to her on the bed.
"You were acting kind of weird last night." The words left her mouth on accident.
Percy looked a little caught off guard. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, you just didn't really talk that much. You're never quiet, so I was just wondering if something was up."
"No. Nothing was up. I was just tired." He was rather nonchalant.
"Okay. Just checking. You could tell me if something was up."
He didn't respond, but wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a light squeeze.
/
The following week, Percy and Annabeth were at her house studying, when her phone buzzed. She looked up at the screen and was shocked to see a familiar name pop up on screen. Luke Castellan.
Luke was 2 years older than Annabeth and they had dated for about 9 months during her sophomore year. They had had a rather messy breakup the previous April, when she had caught wind of him hooking up with another girl in his grade and confronted him about it. After he finally confessed, she was a complete mess. Luke was her first real boyfriend, her first everything, and while their relationship was far from perfect, she couldn't believe how he betrayed her so easily. They hadn't talked since he graduated that May, aside from a happy birthday text he had sent her. She opened her phone to read the text.
hey annabeth! im gonna be home from school in like a month for thanksgiving would u wanna grab lunch or smth?
She just stared at the screen. The expression on her face must've caught Percy's attention because he glanced at her face, and then his eyes widened when he saw her phone. He was quiet for a few beats, before opening his mouth. "Don't respond. Just leave it."
She looked back at him and tried to collect her thoughts before saying "It's just lunch, Percy."
"Wait, what? You're actually thinking about going?" His face turned shocked.
"I never said that! I'm just saying that I'm not just gonna leave him on read completely. It's an innocent question."
"Annabeth, what are you thinking? Aren't you supposed to be smart? After everything that happened, I can't fathom what he could possibly need to see you for." Percy's voice had a slight edge to it, and his cheeks had started to redden.
"Percy, I can make my own decisions. It's not really your business what I choose to do. I never said I wanted to see him." The level of intensity in her voice started to rise.
"It's not my business? You're my best friend! Annabeth, he did you so wrong. Please tell me you haven't forgotten about how that breakup made you feel."
He wasn't wrong. Annabeth had never felt so betrayed as she did when she found out that Luke cheated. She showed up at Percy's at midnight on a Tuesday and cried for hours. But she had no plans of getting back together with him and she thought that was pretty clear- so why was Percy so heated?
"Percy. There's really no reason to get all worked up about what I choose to do with my life, and you don't have to call me dumb. If you don't wanna hear about my life, then I won't tell you." Her voice became slightly raised, but she didn't care. How was Percy going to insult her intelligence? She had stood by his side through countless questionable decisions, always been there to tell him to follow his heart even when it was stupid, and he wouldn't even let her get more than a few words out about Luke right now.
"You can't be serious right now. I thought you were better than this." He shook his head and looked away.
"Excuse me? Why are you being such a dick right now?"
"I'm being a dick? Annabeth, I'm trying to look out for you! Why won't you let me!" His tone was now matching hers.
"You're not looking out for me! You're looking out for you! You never liked Luke, and I'm not saying that it's completely unwarranted, but he's not evil! You don't know him like I do!" She realized that she sounded a bit delusional, but it was true. Percy and Luke had gotten on great until Annabeth and him got together. After that, Percy became hypercritical of Luke, and was always the first to call him out.
"How could you say that, Annabeth? Obviously I'm not gonna like the guy who cheated on my best friend!"
"You know that's not what I'm talking about, Percy. It's been since way before then." She lowered her voice like it was a secret. "Sometimes, I think you just disagree with me for the hell of it. Especially as of late."
His green eyes were dark. "I think I need some space, Annabeth." Before she could respond, he was grabbing his stuff and heading out the door, shutting it forcefully behind him.
Annabeth sat still. Her and Percy never argued like this. Before she could help it, tears started to prickle at the corners of her eyes.
/
"It's because he has a crush on you, dipshit!" Piper exclaimed after hearing the latest on Percy and Annabeth's argument.
"No, Piper, it's because he hates Luke."
"Oh really? Why do you think that is?"
Annabeth was silent. She thought back to the night at Piper's party, to homecoming, to the last couple of months. Of course, what Piper had said was not something she had thought of before, it was just weird to hear someone else acknowledge Percy's motives in a serious way.
"Piper, can we just drop it?"
/
The week dragged on, and Annabeth and Percy still hadn't spoken. She was hurt and mad about the things that he said to her and needed to take some time away from him. But Friday night came, and it felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest when he looked past her like she didn't exist as he walked onto the football field for the game. For the rest of the night, the lump in her throat grew larger, and she found herself going straight home after the game.
/
The next day was October 31st, or as most know it, Halloween. Another friend of Annabeth's named Rachel was throwing a party for the occasion, and as much as Annabeth had no desire to attend, she was forced by Piper into a half hearted schoolgirl outfit that was something Annabeth likely wouldn't have picked for herself. She wore a short plaid skirt, with an open white button up revealing a rather low cut black cropped top. Piper herself was dressed as some sort of playboy bunny- she had begged Annabeth to do the same, but that's where she drew the line. Somehow, she found herself on the steps outside the front door of Rachel's house at 10 pm on Halloween night .
Piper clinked her booze-filled water bottle against Annabeth's before entering the party filled with rambunctious teenagers and loud music blaring over the speakers. They made their way around the room, greeting friends from school and laughing and chatting. Still, Annabeth felt empty without Percy by her side. As she moved through crowds of people to get to the kitchen, greeting her classmates along the way, she spotted a familiar mop of black hair. As she took a closer look, she spotted him making out with a blonde girl Annabeth hadn't seen before. She must've been from another school. She tasted blood in her mouth and heat began to rise in her cheeks. Her heart rate picked up. Her and Percy still hadn't talked, and it weirded her out to see him with this random girl. As if he sensed her, Percy turned around and locked eyes with her from across the room, with something akin to sorrow flashing across his face. She spun back on her heel and walked away. Seeing him with another girl hurt in a way she wasn't expecting- obviously he was allowed to do as he pleased, but it stung extra badly knowing that they weren't even on speaking terms after the blow up they had over Luke. She needed air, to leave the stupid party, to go home and sulk about their weird falling out some more.
She kept walking until she was down the street from Rachel's, letting out a sob that had been trapped in her chest. The hot tears flowing down her cheeks surprised her, as if she hadn't felt them coming. She sat down on the curb with her knees pulled to her chest, picking it up when she heard footsteps approaching. She frantically wiped the remnants of smudged makeup off her face and looked up.
"Annabeth?"
"Percy?"
"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be getting back to Rachel's?"
"Why do you care?" Annabeth found herself snapping at him.
He was silent for a few beats before opening his mouth. "I know you remember that night after homecoming."
The air left Annabeth's lungs and she could feel her ears burning. She tried to think about what to say next, but the only thing she could choke out was "Yeah."
"Okay." Percy replied, as if he hadn't thought of what he would say after that. It was silent for a few moments, before he opened his mouth again. "It's been weird since then."
She looked up at him standing over her. "I know."
"Yeah."
"Well, is that all?" Her voice was sharp.
He stayed quiet for a moment before sitting beside her. "No, Annabeth. That's not all. I'm sorry for being a bad friend the other day. I shouldn't have snapped at you about the Luke stuff. You are capable of making your own choices and I should've respected that. And I'm sorry about the homecoming stuff. I shouldn't have done that and I don't want you to think I'm weird or be uncomfortable or-"
"I get it. It's okay, Percy. The homecoming stuff didn't make me uncomfortable, we were just drunk or whatever. I forgive you for what you said. I wasn't seriously planning on seeing Luke again, anyways. And let's just put the other stuff behind us."
He gave a small smile. "Wanna get out of here? Get food or something?"
"Yeah. I do."
They walked together in a comfortable silence to his car. After they had buckled in and begun driving to the local Taco Bell, he glanced over at her.
"You know, Beth, I really hate fighting with you."
"I can't say I enjoy fighting with you either, Percy."
"I'm glad we're cool again."
"Me too. Now gas it, I'm ravenous." She smiled and he gave her a chuckle in response.
/
The fall days started creeping into winter, and before Annabeth knew it, it was mid November, the week of the first round of playoffs for the football players. On that frigid Friday morning, Annabeth pulled on her red and white cheer uniform and tied her hair up into a ponytail. The day was filled with anticipation- there was a good chance of the GHS team having a shot at the state championship this year, and the next few games would be important in solidifying their spot in the final round. Come nightfall, Annabeth and her teammates were freezing their asses off on the sidelines while cheering for the players. To be honest, Annabeth didn't really enjoy the football part of cheer as much as she did competitions, as it was not fun to be freezing for 3 hours in the world's tiniest skirt and still be expected to smile and look pretty. She turned towards the field and cheered as she watched Percy run the ball, but shortly thereafter, the crowd hushed as he was tackled to the ground by a player of the opposing team. This was pretty normal- it's tackle football, after all. She waited expectantly for him to get up after the ref blew his whistle. But he didn't. And then he still didn't after another 10 seconds. The athletic trainer jogged onto the field and Annabeth felt a wave of panic rise in her chest- football players are always getting nasty injuries, and she had heard too many stories of teen boys having their backs broken or getting brain injuries from the heavy impacts of the sport. Against her better judgment, she sped-walked onto the field, ignoring her coach calling after. She pushed through the sea of coaches and trainers hovering around him and winced once she got a look at his arm- judging by the unnatural angle it was at, it was definitely broken, probably in more than one place.
"Percy! Oh my God, your arm!" She couldn't help the words tumbling out of her mouth.
"Erghhhh. Fuck. Owwww. Shit. Fuck."
"Oh, Percy!" She knelt beside him, trying not to get in the way of the trainer assessing his injuries. She brushed his hair out of the way and wiped the single tear sliding down his face from the pain. All she could really do was sit there and try to comfort him until the ambulance came and loaded him onto a stretcher.
She found herself getting teary as they rolled him away- she worried about the extent of his injuries, and Sally was in the city for a work trip this weekend. She wordlessly ran inside the locker room and grabbed her car keys, not bothering to ask her coach for permission to leave. She drove to the local hospital, not before stopping by his house to grab him a change of clothes. Her phone rang.
"Hello? Sally?"
"Annabeth! Thank God! The school just called me and told me what happened. I rearranged some things and I'm coming back tomorrow morning, but I'm worried sick about Percy. Will you please keep me posted on everything and keep an eye on him? I feel so guilty, but it's 10 pm and I'm five hours away!" The panic in Sally's voice was evident.
"It's okay, Sally. Of course I will look after him. I'm headed to the hospital right now. I'll text you everything that happens and I'll stay with him tonight."
She basically sprinted into the room they told her he was in, but slowed her pace in effort to keep quiet when she spotted him fast asleep on the sterile white bed. A nurse followed her into the room.
"Are you here to see Mr. Jackson?" She questioned.
"Yeah. His mom is out of town and I need to know if he's okay." Annabeth didn't mean to snap, but the stress of the situation made her tone sharper than she intended.
"Yes, he is fine. Unfortunately, the break in his arm is pretty severe, and he will need to follow up with the orthopedic department. He's got a moderate concussion, so he's going to need to be kept out of school for a few days and may be tired or cranky. I'll let the doctor know you're here and he can tell you more." The nurse handed her a bag holding Percy's cut- through Jersey and football pads.
Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief before sitting at the foot of the bed. Percy shifted and she watched his eyes peel open.
"Beth? Shit. That hurts." He murmured sleepily.
"It's okay. You just got hurt playing football. Your arm is broken and you have a concussion, but you're gonna be okay. Sally can't make it back until tomorrow, but I'll stay with you tonight."
Percy looked like he was wrestling through emotions. He was quiet for a second before reaching for her hand, remaining wordless.
After the doctor had returned and given them both a full run down, they were sent on their way. She squeezed Percy's good hand tight, and the ride back to his house remained quiet in the dark of night. She grabbed his keys to unlock the front door and led him inside.
"I fucked up, Beth. I definitely screwed the team." She could hear the guilt in his voice. Percy hated letting people down, and never would want to be the reason for a loss.
"Don't worry about that right now, Perce. The team still won, but that's not what's important right now. You just need to focus on recovering and figure out the other stuff later." He gave her a half smile in response.
It was nearly 2 am and they were both exhausted, collapsing into his bed. She felt sleep threatening to overtake her, but could tell Percy was still awake, so she turned over to face him.
"What's wrong, Percy?"
"Everything hurts." At that moment, he sounded like a sad little kid. Hearing him sound so small and hurt made her heart shrivel up in her chest. Percy was always trying to be brave. She went downstairs to grab an ice pack for his head and climbed back into bed, inching close enough to rub his back until he fell asleep.
/
The remainder of fall soon turned into winter. The trees slowly became barren, and light snowfall dusted the ground some stayed steady- Percy's arm was healing up nicely, and although he wasn't cleared to play the rest of the season, he still cheered on the sidelines for the team- and Annabeth. The pressure of finals looming ahead was weighing on everyone, but they all still made time for each other nonetheless. Exams slipped by, and on the afternoon December 17th, the final bell rang out, signaling that winter break had commenced. As Annabeth sat in her literature class, a chorus of cheers escaped from the class as students were celebrating the end of the semester and the grueling weeks of studying for finals. Annabeth met her friends at Piper's locker.
"Annabeth! You're here! I'll keep it brief. Tonight. My house. 7. We're all gonna make Christmas cookies and watch movies!" Piper chirped excitedly.
"Wow. Someone's excited. I'll be there, Pipes." Annabeth smiled.
Percy chimed in next to her. "Wanna ride together?"
"You know it. Don't be late picking me up!"
/
At approximately 6:50, Percy pulled into her driveway and she jogged out to meet him, arms crossed tightly to shield her from the cold. Even wearing a hoodie under her winter jacket, the chill of December in upstate New York was unforgiving. She opened the passenger seat to be greeted by Frank Ocean blasting through the speakers. Throughout the brief drive to Piper's abode, they chatted and laughed and planned what they would do over the 3 week Christmas break. Annabeth wanted to go to the city for a night or two and ice skate. Percy wanted to sleep for the next 21 consecutive days.
"You're here!" Piper chorused as they entered through the French doors leading to the foyer. The living room looked incredibly beautiful- there was a 12 foot Christmas tree adorned with tinsel in the corner, and a fire was roaring in the marble fireplace. Most of all, Annabeth loved the sight of seeing their friends so joyful- school was out, Christmas was in just a week, and life was good. Piper had invited over some close friends- herself, Percy, Leo, Jason, a couple other boys from the football team, Grover, a friend who was home from college in Vermont, Thalia, and some friends from cheer. Annabeth made her way to the large sectional, greeting friends with hugs and catching up. She popped in the kitchen and was surprised to see Tristan baking cookies- not that it was particularly weird, but he didn't strike her as the baking type. However, he was the type of dad who would do anything to make his daughter happy, even if it meant being covered in flour and letting rowdy kids come to his house every day.
"Annabeth! I haven't seen enough of you around lately! How are you!" He exclaimed upon seeing her.
"I'm good! Just been busy with school and cheer- and of course, keeping Piper on the straight and narrow." They both laughed. It was well known within the community that Piper was a wild child. She was kind, beautiful, and talented, but could definitely be a bit of a trouble maker. She was always well intended though- on Annabeth's 14th birthday, Piper's freshman year self thought it would be a good idea to steal a bottle of her dad's fancy wine and host a sleepover so they could get drunk for the first time. It ended with Rachel passed out in the bathroom and needless to say, they were discovered and reprimanded, although Tristan later admitted that it was hilarious, just not at the time. Piper was also the one who taught Annabeth what a blowjob was in 7th grade (not that she even knew at the time). Annabeth's friendship with Piper stretched all the way back to sixth grade, when they were in the same tumbling class at a local cheerleading gym. From then on, Piper gained a permanent spot in Annabeth's heart. She was someone you could say anything to, and she wouldn't judge no matter what. She was kind and understanding to a fault, and Annabeth loved that about her.
She chatted with Tristan for a few minutes before heading back to the living room to join the others, plopping down on the couch next to Percy to watch Home Alone, although no one was really watching the movie. Her chest felt warm as she laughed and joked with her friends and watched Percy and Leo wrestle each other for custody of the remote.
"Cookies are ready, kids!" Tristan called from the kitchen. They all rushed towards the kitchen, the scent of gingerbread filling the air. On the island lay probably a dozen bags of frosting, featuring every color of the rainbow.
"I'm gonna make a gingerbread Annabeth," declared Percy, grabbing for the yellow icing.
"Okay, then I'll make a gingerbread Percy!" She laughed.
They got to work, and after about 20 minutes, her cookie was perfected.
"Percy, look! Not to toot my own horn, but I did a great job." She shoved her cookie in his face so he could really soak it all in. Her gingerbread version of Percy turned out awfully cute- she used the icing to create a little football jersey on the cookie, donning number 16. "Now show me yours!"
Percy looked a little sheepish as he pushed his plate towards Annabeth. She couldn't help but burst out laughing. The cookie looked like a 4 year old had done it. The eyes and mouth were unproportional and gingerbread Annabeth looked like she was wearing a potato sack. Percy laughed with her.
"I don't have the coordination that you have! Stop laughing!" He forced out through his own breathless laughter.
She snapped a picture of it to put on her story, still bellowing with laughter.
As the night drew to a close, Percy and Annabeth said their goodbyes and left. Fresh snow fell as they walked down the street to where his car was parked, and they were messing around, throwing snowballs and sliding around the slick sidewalk.
As Annabeth started to open the passenger seat door, a cold, hard, lump hit the middle of her forehead.
"You fucker!" She yelled, chasing after an already sprinting away Percy, not even bothering to brush the snow off her face. She tackled him into the snow, and threw a snowball at his head. They laughed and laughed until they couldn't breathe before she laid next to him in the snow, blissfully ignoring the chill of the snow on her neck. They laid, still giggling before Percy rose to his feet and outstretched a hand to her. Fresh snow still fell around them, and the way it coated Piper's beautiful neighborhood was reminiscent of a Christmas card. She accepted his hand and stood up, faces only inches away once she rose to her feet. But she didn't move back, and neither did he. They just looked at each other, smiling for a moment, noses pink from the cold, before he cupped her cheek and kissed her.
The kiss was warm and cozy and sweet- unlike the lustful make out that occurred months earlier. It was slow and languid. It felt like coming home. He pulled away first and wore a shocked expression, like he couldn't believe he kissed her. She brushed a snowflake off his cheek.
Percy cleared his throat. "We should get going. I wouldn't want you to miss your curfew."
"Yeah. You're right." She replied.
The ride home was quiet. Not exactly awkward, but not exactly not awkward. They didn't talk about the kiss. As he pulled into her driveway, she surprised herself by kissing him on the cheek before saying a quick goodbye and jogging to her front door. She tried to be quiet- it was near midnight and she knew the house was asleep. She shut the door behind her and slid down the back, sitting with her legs outstretched in front of her. Her cheeks were flush, either from the cold or her own nerves. Percy had kissed her and she liked it. Like, she really liked it.
As she drifted to sleep that night, visions of her and Percy in the snow were etched in her mind.
/
The next morning, Annabeth awoke to the sounds of Bobby and Matthew horsing around down the hall. She checked her phone, reading the time as 10:08, far later than she usually slept. She checked her texts, seeing one from Percy. It was a dumb meme about the Kardashians, which was admittedly a guilty pleasure of Annabeth's- one that had begun to rub off on Percy as well. She breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't have to talk about last night- at least not right now. She responded with a few emojis and set her phone down, curling up in bed for just a couple more minutes.
/
The holidays passed quickly as ever, with Annabeth and her family taking a short trip to Pennsylvania to visit her grandparents and celebrate. She had hung out with Percy most days of the break, never speaking of the kiss, but she didn't miss his brief but frequent glances at her lips when he thought she wouldn't notice. She noticed how he sat a little closer to her, his brief touches becoming more frequent, and sometimes he would take hold of her hand when they were out and about. She had come to a realization- she had a crush on him. A big, fat one at that. She had probably had a little crush for a while, but over the past few weeks, it had developed into something she couldn't shake. She thought about him constantly- when she woke up, as she drifted to sleep, and every moment in between. She started to find herself double checking her appearance in the mirror before she saw him, putting on a little mascara and lip gloss for something as simple as a movie night with him and his mom. Not like it really mattered- Percy had known her since she was 10, through her awkwards middle school years, her first relationship, her first heartbreak, and everything in between. He had seen her bedhead and under eye bags probably hundreds of times. It didn't matter how she looked in front of him. However, she found herself increasingly aware of how she looked and what she said around him, like she was nervous of his judgment.
/
On New Year's Eve, Annabeth sat in front of Piper's vanity and touched up her makeup. They were getting ready to go out to another one of Rachel Dare's notoriously extravagant parties. Annabeth donned a pair of Piper's black pleather pants and a black crop top with silver fringes- also Piper's. Piper looked gorgeous as ever in a short black skirt and gold sequined top- as Piper said, NYE is the one day a year where everyone must wear something sparkly. Annabeth fiddled with her earrings, sipping on the mixed drink Piper had made for her, trying not to wince at the taste. After they were ready, they piled into Nico's cramped sedan filled with their other friends- he was their designated driver, not a huge partygoer himself. Annabeth found herself scrunched between Hazel and Percy, and feeling his leg against hers made her feel warm.
Rachel's party was exactly how Annabeth expected- loud, drunken teenagers everywhere, rap music blasting, streamers and balloons amuck. She danced the night away with her friends, laughing and hollering at Percy's lack of coordination and Jason's inability to stay on beat. At 11:52, Percy grabbed her by the hand.
"Come with me, I wanna tell you something." He sounded serious and almost perplexed.
"Okay. Yeah. What's up?"
He didn't respond to her until they had climbed the stairs and entered onto the giant balcony overlooking Rachel's backyard.
11:54
He drew a breath in. "I wanna talk to you about something, and I wasn't gonna do it right now, but I need to just get it off my chest. Promise you won't hate me."
Her brows furrowed. "Obviously I could never hate you, Percy. I would've ditched you years ago." He cracked a smile, still looking a bit unnerved.
11:55
"You know you're my best friend, Beth. I would be totally fucked if I didn't have you. And I've- um- I've been thinking about some stuff lately and-"
11:56
"I'm sorry- I don't want you to feel weird- it's okay if you do-" Annabeth hadn't seen Percy so frazzled in a while.
"It's okay, seaweed brain, just spit it out."
11:57
"I like you. Like more than a friend. In- in a crush way, I guess. And I've felt this way for a while. Before we kissed last week, before homecoming, before we started junior year-"
11:58
"And I tried to ignore it but I can't ignore it anymore. You're so smart and funny and pretty and you just get me, and I wanna be with you all the time. And I feel like stuff has changed between us recently, like I just feel like I'm crazy when I'm with you because I like you so much-"
11:59
Annabeth couldn't suppress her smile any longer. She grabbed his hands in hers. "I was wondering when you'd finally come around."
12:00
She leaned in and kissed him, but she couldn't hold back her smile for very long. He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close. Fireworks were exploding around the neighborhood, pots and pans heard clanging together down the street, cheers and whoops echoed outside Rachel's house and into the night. It was perfect.
