vii. Annabeth

"Okay, so what's gonna be our backstory?" Annabeth asks after she took out a pen and paper from her bag. Percy sits across her, fiddling with the loose thread of his pillow.

"I don't know. Maybe one day you wake up and you realize that I'm an awesome person after all," he offers.

"That's impossible. They won't believe that."

"Me being an awesome person or you suddenly not hating me?"

She gives him her signature glare. "Both."

Leaning her head back, she thinks about how to convince everyone with the supposed authenticity of their relationship. Obviously, it's impossible not to arouse suspicion when you suddenly date your enemy. Most people would likely think that they're onto something beyond dating, which is what they're actually doing in the first place. Nevertheless, they still need to achieve everyone's acceptance, especially Percy's friends, if they want to be successful with this mission.

"How about we just stick with the truth?" she asks. Percy looks up curiously. "I think it would be more believable to tell something that actually happened, than making something out of the blue. Then we can just tweak it up a little bit."

"That's reasonable," he says in agreement. "Do you think the pool incident would be a nice starting point?"

"Well, how would you make a story around that?"

"For a start, we'll use the same facts. After swim practice, I stumble upon you drowning in the pool, and I came to save you. Then, probably you realize that I wasn't really a 'jerk' as you initially thought," he explains, using air quotes for the word 'jerk'.

Annabeth nods. That seems like a good plan. "After that realization, we both apologized for being rude to each other. And as part of the apology and for saving me, I treated you out for dinner," she adds.

"Then, we exchanged numbers and began secretly seeing each other until we agreed to go out officially," Percy finished. He glances at her. "Do you think that's enough?"

"I suppose so. It seems believable enough." She shrugs. "Not that I'd consider doing that in real life since you're not exactly the best person to be around."

"Gee, thanks for the support."

Annabeth tucks her notes in her bag and brings out a color-coded planner with matching sticky notes. The use of different colors makes it easier for her to organize her stuff, as time-consuming it may seem. "So, when can we start our swimming lessons?" she asks. "I can't do it next week since I still have to organize the Freshman Welcoming Party, but my schedule is free after that."

His eyebrows bunch up like a confused kid. "Are you okay with meeting every Wednesday and Friday after next week?"

"Yep. That's settled then," she confirms. "Did you read lesson outline for the next topic?"

"Uh yeah? I did," he admits with hesitation like he isn't sure whether he actually read it or not. "Although, I wasn't—"

Without a warning, she moves closer to stare at his eyes. She cuts him off with a soft smile, "I like how green your eyes are. It makes me want to lose myself in your gaze."

Annabeth waits for a moment for that to sink into Percy, and the blush that appears on his cheeks makes her grin wider. "Um, thanks?" he mumbles.

"That's flirting," she says, as she leans back to her personal space. "You didn't really read the outline, did you?"

"I did! But I wasn't able to finish it," he exclaims. His eyes meet hers. "How do you do it so effortlessly?"

"Well, it takes confidence to be able to do that without stuttering. And some flowery words to make it effective. Basically, it's just like giving a compliment but with extra frostings."

"Frostings?"

"Yeah. To make it more appealing," she says. "It worked for you, didn't it?"

He shrugs, but there are still faint traces of red on his cheeks.

"Anyway, there are several forms of flirting, but that's the easiest thing to learn," she says. She crosses her arms on her chest. "Try it on me. Flirt with me."

"Um, you're...nice?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. He clearly doesn't give the effort to do it. "C'mon. You're not trying."

His eyes squint like he's trying to find something to compliment. "Your hair looks nice today," he says at last.

Her expression doesn't change, but she supposes it is better than the last. "I guess that's better. Keep practicing that."

"Okay."

She brings up the latest scoresheet. "So, I gave you a score of 80 out of 100 today. There's still a lot of room for progress so you better step up your game."

"Yes, ma'am."

Piper

If there's something Piper is good at, it's sensing whether someone is lying or not. And as of now, her senses are flashing red flags around Percy.

Friendship-wise, she wants to believe him. She wants to agree and be happy that he's now finally found someone—even if it is in the shape of his old nemesis, Annabeth Chase. God knows how many times she's spotted him casting longing and sad glances to their fellow friend Rachel that in a way, it makes her ache for him too. All she wants for him is to be happy, and not constantly stuck in the friend zone.

But more importantly, she wants him safe and happy, and not at the mercy of his old enemy. Piper doesn't know for sure, but she feels that there is something fishy in the relationship between Percy and Annabeth. Although they are trying to be open with their relationship, something still feels off. And she wants to figure out what.

"Hey, guys! In here," she stage-whispers, beckoning in the empty classroom behind her.

Jason, Leo, Grover, and Rachel enters after her, and she closes the door stealthily like a spy. You can't blame her for wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to be one.

"So, no one saw you come in here?" she asks. Everybody shakes their head. "That's great."

"Why the emergency meeting, Beauty Queen?" Leo asks.

"First of all, don't call me Beauty Queen. And second, we need to talk about Percy's love life."

"Well, that's interesting," Jason quips. He looks around them for a second, then his eyes widen. "Oh, that's why Percy's not here."

Piper raises her eyebrow at the amused look in Jason's face, then turns serious immediately. "Anyway, didn't you notice something strange with Percy earlier?"

"You mean, aside from suddenly having a girlfriend that he didn't tell us before?" Grover asks incredulously.

"Yeah, Percy and Annabeth's interaction certainly looked forced," Rachel says. "I confronted him about it earlier, but he denied that it was fake."

"Do you think he's lying?" Jason asks. Grover gasps suddenly. "Oh no! What if Annabeth's holding him hostage, and she makes him lie to us about it?"

"You certainly have a wide imagination, Grover," Piper deadpans. She turns to everyone. "Anyway, if Percy and Annabeth are really hiding something from us, we need to catch them red-handed."

"And how would we do that? I'm up if it involves seducing Annabeth," Leo says with a wink. "You know, girls can't get enough of me."

Piper rolls her eyes. "No, the plan doesn't involve seduction, but we need them to slip up from their act if they are indeed faking it."

"We need to probe them about their relationship until they slip up," Rachel suggests. "I'm thinking some of us would have to go on a double date with them."

"Yeah! In that way, we can see if they really are being serious or are just faking it," Grover adds. "So, who's going to pretend to be a couple?"

"They must be compatible with each other," Jason suggests. For a second, Piper sees his gaze drift to her, but that might just be her imagination.

"I'm thinking you and Piper," Rachel suggests with a shrug. "You two seem like the most compatible couple for me."

The suggestion makes Piper's cheeks flush for no reason at all. "That's not true! I can be compatible with Leo or Grover."

Leo smirks at her. "I like how you want to be my pretend girlfriend Mclean, but I think you and Jason are fit for the job."

"How about you Grover?"

"I'm in with Rachel and Leo's suggestion," Grover says. "Besides, fake dating Jason couldn't be too bad, right?"

Jason blushes to the tips of his hair. It's adorable, Piper thinks. No, wait, her mind backtracks. He's a dork. It's adorkable.

"Okay," Piper agrees. "Are you okay with it, Jason?"

"Uh, um, yeah. Sure."

"Cool."

"Cool."

Annabeth

It feels weird to be fake dating your enemy. Much more a boy she used to crush on.

Okay. There. She said it. For all that deeply buried anger and feelings of resentment, it might be impossible that there once existed a universe where she used to like Percy Jackson. Used to. The use of past tense is very important.

But before their feud, it might not be that hard to believe considering they've hung out with each other for five years. From the first time they met when they 7 on that muddy playground up to the time when they were 12 and things began to get awry, they've been practically attached to the hip. Since they were neighbors and classmates at the local school, most of their free time was spent around each other—joking, playing, and basically being a kid. He'd never left her even if he found out that girls have cooties (which is so not true), and the first round of acne began to show up on her face.

It might just be the influence of Taylor Swift's 'You Belong with Me' and other songs that were popular then, but she started to see her best friend as a boy, and a cute one at that (although she supposes, in a scrawny kind of way).

Anyway, she's way past that crush, and any feelings she has for him are now transformed into anger and bitterness.

For the first time, she actually sits beside Percy in their mythology class. Interestingly, few of their classmates are surprised. "You ready for later?" she asks.

"I think so." He turns to her. "Do you think we should have pet names?"

Pet names sound like a bit of a stretch. She doesn't really understand why people prefer to be called babe, sweetie, and other cutesy stuff which sound like overripe fruit. "Nah. I don't do pet names. Besides, it seems a little awkward to do that."

"Sure."

Annabeth turns back to her desk and picks up her book. Time shouldn't be wasted doing idle things when she can opt to spend it on productive activities.

"Hey, Annabeth?" she hears him ask, and her gaze shifts from the book to him. "Yeah?"

"You should wear your hair down more," Percy says. He grins at her, much like the boy she used to hang out with. "It makes you look like a princess."

She remembers hearing that same phrase ages ago when a little kid of ebony hair runs up to her on the swings and tugs at her curls.

"Let go of my hair!" she tells at the boy.

The said boy, with green eyes alight with mischief, grins at her toothily. "You look like a princess."

Against her will, her lips turn up into a smile. "Well done. You've earned yourself some brownie points," she says.

"Great!" He smirks at her. "Looks like you're not too hard to please."

"Oh, I'm hard to please, alright." Like a kid who opened her gifts early, she beams at him. "Seems like you've got yourself a challenge, Jackson."

"Huh, good thing I like challenges then."

Once the lunch bell rings, Annabeth is already walking down the hallways. Her last class before lunch ended early, so she's got quite a brief free period. Good thing when she finally reached the cafeteria, Percy is the only one around yet on the table.

"Remember the plan?" she asks once she's finally seated beside him. She lays her hand palms up on her thighs. "Don't forget to hold my hand."

Percy still looks a little uncomfortable, but he manages to hold her hand without flinching. "Yeah, I remember."

"Why is your hand so clammy?" she complains. She's not really fond of holding hands; that sort of thing just makes it difficult to move around knowing that you only have one hand that is free to use. Percy's sweaty hands don't really make it better.

He frowns at her. "I don't know. Better get used to it."

Just then, the rest of Percy's friends arrive at the table. Grover greets them first, "Hey!"

Piper smiles apologetically at her. "Sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. We're just really shocked by the news. It's not like every day Percy suddenly gets a new girlfriend. Much more someone he used to fight with."

"It's fine. I understand your point," Annabeth says. She looks at Percy for a small smile and lightly squeezes his hand. "We're just glad that you accepted it."

Rachel looks at them skeptically, like she's nowhere near accepting it.

"Anyway," Piper clasps her hands, "Welcome to our little friendship circle. I'm Piper."

"I'm Jason," the blonde boy with glasses says as he extends his hand to her. "Grover," says a boy with the goatee.

"Hot Leo at your service," a scrawny boy with dark unruly curls exclaims with a wink.

"Hey," Rachel mutters under her breath.

"Now that we're all acquainted, I hope you don't mind us asking but how did you two get together?" Piper asks.

"Actually, it started in the pool. I was closing the pool when I saw her flailing on the water, and I just dived in after her. There was no question of whether we're friends or not," Percy says.

"And I realized that we aren't all that much different and that he doesn't suck so bad as I used to believe. We sort of had a long talk after that," Annabeth adds. "And a dinner, then we exchanged numbers. We decided to keep it low since we're not entirely sure where this will go."

"Up until we agreed to be official," Percy finishes with a small smile.

Grover, Jason and Leo nod like they're now agreeing with the story. Rachel just sort of raises her brows in the story, like she's not sure whether to believe it or not. Piper just smirks, like she's up to something really interesting. Or trouble.

"Great! How would you like to go on a double date with Jason and I this Saturday?" she asks.

A/N: Sorry for the late update! My writing time got held up since I binged watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and I'm still caught in the cuteness that is Jake and Amy. Anyway, sorry for this crappy chapter, I didn't really liked how this turned out.

Also, my classes start next week, so this might be the last regular update for now. I will try to write if I have the free time, or if I really get motivated to write the chapter.

I'd also like to thank Mehria, Alexxx100, and audengraham for reviewing last chapter. Your thoughts mean so much to me.

Lastly, don't forget to review!