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Of Corporate Scandals
Chapter 27. All We Have To Do
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"Ohmygod, it's that girl dating Percy Jackson."
"No, it's not. Annabeth Chase is like gorgeous."
"It is, I swear to god."
"It can't be."
Annabeth tensed as she heard the not so conspicuous whispers at her back. Her jaw clenched as she glared straight ahead. This was the hard part; pretending not to notice and not be bothered when everyone was looking at her. She muttered a curt thank you to the barista before grabbing her drink.
Just when she thought she was used to being somewhat of a minor society page celebrity, two idiots who don't know how to whisper ruined her morning. It had been three days since her and Percy's relationship became public. Luckily, after Poseidon had pulled some strings (excessive monetary persuasion), no other publications had run any new stories.
Unfortunately, it only took one; one tiny TV spot to blow everything up. One set of pictures from Miami to turn the office into an uproar. Annabeth crossed the street from the coffee shot, and stared at the looming height of the Open Seas tower.
Ignoring the stares from the receptionists was easy enough, but Lee the doorman wouldn't even meet her eye these days. And to think she had been his first friend at the office.
Annabeth took several deep breaths in the elevator, dreading as it climbed higher and higher to the twelfth floor.
Chatter died out as she stepped out of the elevator. It was almost comical how quickly conversation stopped as soon as she walked in. That was how she knew her coworkers were talking about her.
She held her head high as she strode to Percy's office, her heels painfully loud against the floor.
Percy looked up as she entered, giving her a tight smile.
"I know these requests are less than ideal, but measures must be taken — Percy, are you there?"
Percy cleared his throat, "Yes, Dad, sorry, that was just Annabeth walking in."
"Good morning, Mr. Jackson," she chimed in, sitting in the chair across from him.
"Ah, Annabeth, hello. Just in time to join the conversation. As I was telling Percy, I've made a few calls, and this whole ordeal will soon be behind us. There are just a few, er, requirements that need to be dealt with from your end."
"Oh?" Annabeth inquired, "Like what?" Percy's hand slid over the desk to Annabeth's. She lightly squeezed it.
"Ms. Chase, I understand that there have been a few, ah, incidents that have occured since your return from Miami."
Annabeth swallowed, "Yes, I know what you're referencing, sir."
When Annabeth had returned to her apartment building a few days earlier, the entire street had been swarmed with the press. After not being able to even enter the building and a brief call to Thalia, Annabeth had given up trying to go home and went back to Percy's apartment. Luckily, Thalia had Luke's place until the whole mess was sorted.
Fortunately, Annabeth had left her backpack at Percy's apartment. She was ecstatic to return to the normalcy of class. As an Ivy, Columbia's student population already consisted of foreign dignitaries and children of politicians, no one would give Annabeth a second glance.
While her classmates and professors surely wouldn't care, Annabeth's stomach dropped when she saw a group of photographs waiting outside the architecture building. Her lecture had excused her for the evening because of the disruption.
"I'm truly sorry about that. There are going to be consequences for whoever leaked your class schedule at Columbia." It sounded like Poseidon was pacing, the volume of his voice uneven. "We've come up with some temporary solutions. For the time being, we're going to ask you to move into Percy's penthouse as a security precaution. His building is more equipped for privacy."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, what he meant was Percy has a doorman and you have a front door that barely locks.
Percy jumped in, "And of course, we've already contacted your leasing office and taken care of your rent. Thalia's as well.
Annabeth shot a look at Percy, surprise flitting across her face, "Oh, I didn't—"
"As for your studies, Miss Chase. Dean Hestia and I went to school together, and we had a chat this morning. This kind of attention and disruption is not ideal for your academic career, nor your classmates. We discussed that it would be best if you took a hiatus for the remainder of the semester."
"Not to worry, Miss Chase. It's only temporary while things die down. All your professors have been notified, and this will have impact on your GPA."
"I—I," Annabeth stumbled, unable to form words, "I was supposed to graduate this semester."
Her graduate program was the reason she was in New York at all. Paying for Columbia was why she was even sitting in Percy's office. What was the point of this all?
"I know this is a lot to ask of you, Miss Chase. But Dean Hestia, and I believe this is the best course of action. There would be no way to even focus on your studies with the press hounding you as you walk from class to class. You will return as a full student as soon as we fix this.
Annabeth stared hard at Percy. He met her eyes, but said nothing. Annabeth pulled the phone closer to her, "Well how do we fix this then. What's the plan if I'm going to quit school."
"My team has hired a PR specialist to meet with you two. She's scheduled to arrive any minute now."
"A PR specialist?"
"I have a 10 o'clock that I need to prepare for. She's the best in the business, I think she'll have very valuable advice."
"Alright…Thanks, Dad. Bye," Percy hung up the phone, sighing. He looked at Annabeth, who sat arms crossed and jaw clenched, "You alright?"
Annabeth shrugged, "I can't believe he'd go over my head and speak to Dean Hestia about this."
"I know, my father, he's—he's a lot, but I believe he has our best intentions in mind."
"I was so close—I am so close to graduating. Columbia is the reason I'm here!"
Percy got up, crossing to her side. "It's not forever," he took her hand, "and hey, we're roomies now."
"I basically live there anyway," she grumbled.
"Yeah, the only difference is that you won't have to get up at the ass crack of dawn anymore to change before work now."
"Mr. Jackson?" one of the new interns poked their head into the office, "Your 10 o'clock is in the conference room."
"Thank you, we'll be right over."
Annabeth and Percy made their way through the office to the conference rooms, trying their best to ignore the stares of the other employees. Percy held the door open for Annabeth as they entered the room.
Beautiful, auburn-haired, bombshell Aphrodite Love sat at the head of the conference table. She looked up at them with her dazzling smile, "Ah, just the two I've been dying to speak with."
Annabeth looked at the woman with disbelief, suddenly remembering all the times she had watched her judge celebrities on TV. Before the woman had ruined Annabeth's life by flinging her relationship into the spotlight, Aphrodite Love and Celebrity Look Out! had been her and Thalia's Friday night engagement along with Chinese take-out. Now the woman sat in front of her in the flesh.
"Percy...correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not the person who created this mess in the first place?"
Aphrodite laughed, her forehead unmoving, "Then who better to fix the problem? Now, Percy and Annabeth, I suggest you sit down, we have much to discuss."
They sat across from her on the far edge of the conference table. Annabeth took note of the piles of documents and photo spreads laid out on the table.
"You're the PR specialist?"
Aphrodite breezed away like he didn't speak, "Your father hired the best, and the best is exactly what he will get."
"Not to be rude," Annabeth cut in, though her tone did not convey it, "but why are you here? You're the one who exposed us."
Aphrodite laughed like she was on a late night show about to tell a relatable anecdote, "Because this is my job, Annabeth. Don't take this the wrong way, but I couldn't care less about you two personally. The scandal behind your relationship meant views for my show. Now my job is to fix up your image.
"Why should we trust you?" Annabeth pressed.
Aphrodite gazed at her, cooly, "Like it or not, Miss Chase, I created you. I made you a story. My show makes and breaks careers. You should trust me because I'm your only shot at making this go away." She examined her cuticles, waving at Percy, "Also your daddy bought out all the ad spots which means I'm for sure getting another season. Now are you ready to get to work?"
Annabeth and Percy were silent.
"Magnificent," Aphrodite clasped her hands together and stared the couple down, "As your new, PR specialist, I will make this big mess go away as long as you do exactly as I say."
"Alright?" Percy said, waiting for her to continue.
"What's the plan?"
Aphrodite folded her hands, "All you have to do is stay together."
They both stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
"That's it? That's our PR strategy? Don't break up?"
"Do you know why celebrity relationships are always in the news cycle, Miss Chase? Why everyone always has a say about who's dating who?"
"Because people are vapid and don't have lives?"
Aphrodite's eyes gleamed, "Because they're trainwrecks. It's almost as if they're promised a disaster. The same way people can't look away from a car accident, people can't wait to see a relationship crash and burn."
"Lovely," Annabeth said dryly.
"The only thing that got more press coverage than Apollo Sun's wedding was his divorce."
"What are you getting at?"
"Stay together. Be a happy couple. The public will care about happily ever after for about five more seconds. Especially if my show airs out all your vanilla, happy relationship details. Soon, there will be nothing to talk about."
"Vanilla?" Percy protested.
"Be so vanilla. Be exclusive. And happy. And in love," Aphrodite beamed.
"That's all?" Annabeth said.
"That's all you have to do. Can you do that?"
"Of course we can."