Hola everyone it's time for an update! So I don't have too much to say here just thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter (we need to get 20 reviews on a chapter though, we're almost there!) I enjoyed writing this update and I really hope you guys like it. Also, I'm thinking about starting a Q and A thing for those of you who review where I'll pick some of your questions and answer them each time I update, does that sound good to all of you? I'll probably start it in the next update. Ok, happy reading!
Disclaimer: Don't own
The moment the words came out of Mr. Brunner's mouth Annabeth wasn't sure if she should be glad she wasn't paired up with a complete stranger, or angry because she got paired up with Percy, who would probably do no work whatsoever on the project. Mr. Brunner continued by handing out the grading rubric for the assignment that was due Friday, making sure everyone got a copy before walking back to address the class.
"For the rest of class I expect you to be discussing ideas for the project with your partner. You won't have any more time in class other than today to work on it so you'll need to make arrangements with your partner outside of school. With that said, find your partner and start working." He moves to sit at his desk, looking down at some paperwork that needed to be filled out while the twenty something students each started getting up and walking over to their respective partners.
Piper gets up before her, giving her a comforting smile before heading over to the side of the room where Jason was. She reluctantly gets up from her own seat to walk towards the back of the room where she knew her partner was. As soon as she turns around she jumps ten feet in the air when she sees that Percy is right in front of her and when she says right in front of her, she means right in front of her.
"Shit! Don't do that!" She says, putting a hand to her chest to calm her racing heart. He stares at her for a moment, his eyebrows raised before he chuckles lightly from her reaction and takes a step back to increase the distance between them.
"Sorry, Princess. Just trying to get to my partner." He replies innocently, walking past her to sit at the desk that had previously been occupied by Piper. Once she got over her surprise she turned back around and sat at the desk she had just left, failing to notice that he had called her by the name she hated so much.
"Ok first let's establish something. I'm not going to do all the work on this project. I expect you to do your part too." She says once she's seated next to him, his feet kicked up on the desk. Her expression is firm, her arms crossed on her chest to show that she's serious.
"Course. What kind of person do you think I am?" He says lightly. She stares at him disbelievingly, not letting her serious expression abate.
"Don't tell me you haven't had someone else do your homework for you before because I know you have Jackson." There's a pause after she speaks as he just stares at her. Eventually he gives in.
"Alright, alright. I promise I'll help. So…what are we doing again?" He asks causing Annabeth to roll her eyes. She explains the assignment to him again in simple terms.
"So now we need to pick a God or Goddess to research." She says once she's done explaining everything for the second time.
"I personally think we should do Athena. She's the smartest Goddess being the Goddess of wisdom and not only that, she's also the Goddess of battle strategy. If we have to pick any God I say we pick her." She continues, getting a little lost in her thoughts.
"What?! No way! Sure Athena is cool and all but I think we should do Poseidon. He's the God of the seas, that dude is badass. He doesn't get enough credit in the myths. I mean think about it, he has control over water which makes up seventy percent of the Earth." Percy rebuttals, turning to face her. She's a little surprised that he knew that.
"I still think we should do Athena."
"Well I think we should do Poseidon."
"Athena"
"Poseidon"
"Athena"
"Poseidon"
"Athena"
"Poseidon"
"Ath- you know what? Why don't we just pick a different God to do? There's so many and it doesn't look like we're going to decide between Athena or Poseidon anytime soon. What about… Hestia?" Annabeth offers, looking to him for approval.
He sighs deeply. "Fine. Still think we should do Poseidon, but whatever."
His lips turn down in a frown and in that moment Annabeth sees him as a little kid who looks like they dropped their ice cream. For a second she feels bad because his facial expression is so adorably sad but she gets over it. She couldn't give in.
"Great, Hestia it is. Now since we took so long trying to decide who to pick we barely have any time in class to actually research. We need to figure out times to meet outside of class. How's today at my house after skating practice?" Annabeth offers, slightly annoyed that they had taken so long to pick a Greek God.
"Sure, I guess that works but I don't even know where you live." He shrugs.
"Give me your phone." She sticks her hand out towards him. He stares at her confused. His eyes travel back and forth between her outstretched hand and her face.
"Uh…why?"
"So I can put my number in and text you my address stupid." She replies, taking the cell phone from him and doing just that. She adds his own number into her cell phone as well before handing it back to him.
She knew that he could easily just follow her home after practice but the hockey team always took longer to change with all the equipment they had to wear, so she wouldn't have to wait for him if she just gave him her address. The bell rings right at that moment and she gathers all of her things into her backpack, choosing to carry her history book separately.
Not wanting to seem rude since technically they were acquaintances now, she spun back around towards the raven-haired boy who was getting up as well.
"I'll see you later at practice then I guess?" She asks, taking him by surprise.
He nods in response. "Yeah, see you later."
With that, Annabeth leaves her desk to go catch up with Piper who was laughing at something Jason had said. She raised her eyebrows at the scene, noticing her friend's rosy cheeks for the first time. Piper almost never blushed. When the brunette sees her, she says something to her partner which she assumes is some type of goodbye and picks up her backpack, walking towards her as they make their way into the hall.
"What the hell was that?" Annabeth asks, a teasing grin on her face.
"What was what?"
"Are we really going to pretend that you didn't just giggle at something Jason Grace told you?"
Her cheeks redden even more. "I- well I don't really know what it was. He was really nice and somehow we got off topic and started talking about random things. He was really funny and just- don't tell anyone though ok? Especially Thalia cause it's her brother for Gods sake. It could be nothing anyway."
Annabeth smiles. "I won't."
Piper glances thankfully at her and a beat passes before the curly-haired blonde speaks again.
"So…a hockey player huh?" She teases again.
"Shut up."
Practice had never been more boring than it was that Monday. They spent the entire time practicing forward and backward crossovers on the ice with the Tridents team. No one looked like they enjoyed practice and when it was finally time to go home, Annabeth had never seen so many expressions and sighs of relief. The only good thing that had resulted from the two hours of skating was the fact that both teams were now getting along fine. There was an occasional insult thrown every now and then but they seemed to be more playful and teasing than serious. Also, Annabeth got a kick out of teasing Piper about a certain blonde Tridents player whenever they skated near him.
Back to the present, Annabeth rubbed her hair with her towel, trying to get it to dry as fast as she could before grabbing a comb to brush through her long curls. She felt refreshed and free of the sweat and grime she'd had on her skin from practice. When she deemed her hair to be dry enough, the blonde-haired ice skater exited the bathroom to go to her room. She gets interrupted when the familiar sound of her doorbell is heard from the front of the house. Making her way down the stairs, she answers the door to find the one person she'd previously hated with a passion.
He looks up at her when the door opens, his famous annoying smirk present on his face. He stood with his hair tousled, a clean t-shirt and sweats with Adidas slides on his feet showing that he had changed from their practice before driving to her house right after.
"Hey partner. Ready to work on our project?"
At first she's surprised. If she was being completely honest, half of her thought that he wasn't going to show up at all, much less be early. She opens the door a bit wider so he can step in. He looks up and around in all directions at the place she called home, turning back to her a moment later.
"Pretty nice place Chase." He says once he's done looking around, again surprising her with his compliment.
"Thanks." There's a moment of awkward silence before she breaks it.
"Uh…my laptop is in my room so I guess we can work upstairs." She offers, gesturing for him to follow her up the wooden staircase to the second floor.
As soon as he steps foot into the room Percy thinks that the bedroom couldn't describe her better. In the back of the room next to one of the windows is her bed clad in a grey comforter and matching pillows with grey polka dots. Her desk is near the other window with a white spiny desk chair in front of it, a laptop and lamp on top of the desk. There's a door on the other wall which he assumes is her closet. Above all, he noticed how clean everything is. The bed was made, the desk almost completely clear and if the bookcase was in alphabetical order he wouldn't be surprised. He sees a few books that lie stacked up or opened to a page near her nightstand and windows but that's it.
"Sorry, it's messy. I didn't really have time to clean."
His head snaps back to her and he stares at her like she'd just grown another head.
"Are you kidding me? If this is your definition of messy I don't even want to know what your reaction would be to my room. Actually, scratch that I do, it'd be hilarious." He teases. Despite her best efforts, she cracks a small smile toward the green-eyed boy before walking further into the room.
"Come on. Since I only have one chair we can just do it on the bed. My mother won't be home until later so we won't get interrupted"
She immediately realizes how wrong that whole thing sounded and her face turns a funny crimson color. Turning back to face him, her laptop now in hand, she sees that he's trying super hard not to laugh. He jokingly eyes her seductively and she quickly grabs one of the small throw pillows from her bed, chucking it at him with lightning quick speed. He ducks just in time to dodge the pillow, laughing when he stands back up.
"Pervert! You know what I meant!"
"Hey you said it Princess, not me!" He defends, walking over to the bed in the corner of the room, chuckling lightly. Her face still red with embarrassment, she quickly follows his lead by taking a seat on the bed across from him.
"So… Hestia. What do we know about her?" Annabeth asks while opening up a word document for them to list things in her attempt to change the subject.
He shrugs. "I don't know"
She rolls her eyes. "Well at least try Hockey Boy. Let's see, well I know she's the Goddess of the hearth and the home." The blonde states excitedly, quickly typing the information on her computer.
He sighs. "Um…Isn't her dad like that creepy time dude?"
"Creepy time dude? Who- do you mean Kronos?" She asks, ignoring his description of the Titan.
"Oh yeah, that's his name!" He replies, a look of recognition of his face. She huffs, this was going to be a long afternoon.
"I'm soooo bored." Percy mumbles from his position laid down on the bed. He hears the continuous clicking of her fingers on the keypad as the girl across from him continues to type up information for their project.
"I know. You've said that about ten times in the last two minutes. By the way, if you mess up my pillows you're fixing them." She responds, not looking away from the screen in front of her.
"How long have we been working?" He asks, sitting up a bit straighter so that he wasn't on the pillows.
"About 20 minutes."
"…"
"Well I say we take a break!" He suggests, hopping up and scaring her, his ADHD getting the better of him.
She shakes her head, going back to the keyboard. "We have to keep working. We've barely even started!"
"Oh come on, please? I'm dying here. I promise I won't bother you for the rest of the afternoon if we take a break!"
She freezes. It sounded almost too good to be true but if he actually did follow through with his promise they might be able to finally get something done on the project. She sighs in defeat.
"Alright fine. What do you suppose we do?" He grins in triumph, fist pumping the air. He starts on trying to think of an idea when his stomach growls rather loudly.
"You have any food?"
"Geez. Fruits, vegetables, protein shakes- do you have any kind of junk food Princess?" He asks, opening the fridge to see only healthy stuff.
She shrugs. "I don't eat junk food that much. Figure skater, remember? You shouldn't eat it either if you want to make it big in hockey."
He seems to ignore her, moving on to her pantry still in search for something good.
"Aha! I knew you had to have something!" He says happily, coming out from the pantry with a package of unopened Oreos in his hand. They must have been really deep inside the pantry because she doesn't remember ever seeing them. He opens it, offering one to her as he does so. She declines his offer.
"Oh come on, a little cookie isn't going to kill you." He states, holding it out to her once more while putting another one into his mouth. It did look really good. For the second time that day she finds herself giving in.
"Fine, but you have to microwave it first." Again, he looks at her like she's gone crazy.
"I'm sorry?" He asks confusedly.
"Oh don't tell me you've never tried a heated up Oreo. They're only the best things ever! I used to have them with my dad when I was a kid. We'd never tell my mom though because they're so unhealthy, it was just our little…secret." She says, trailing off at the end. She hadn't meant for all of that to come out and now that it had she couldn't take it back. Thinking of her dad brought several flashbacks into her mind and she couldn't stop them.
Percy looks back towards the girl who was just smiling and laughing a moment ago while recalling a happy memory. Now she looked downright depressed and sad. He wondered if it had something to do with the mention of her father. She never talked about him so it had to be. He wanted to know what happened but knew better than to ask about it. He felt the urge to make her happy again but he didn't know why. Why was it bugging him so much that she was upset?
"Heated up Oreos it is!" He says, trying to lighten the mood again. It takes her a minute but eventually a small grin manages to form on her lips.
He pops a few of the black and white cookies into the microwave for a few seconds before taking them out. He spins back towards her and she takes one out of the bowl while he does the same. His eyes widen when he tastes the flavor of the hot Oreo and he can't stop himself from moaning in delight.
"Fuck, these are amazing! How come no one ever told me about this before?!" He shouts, taking another one from the bowl.
Annabeth laughs, admiring the boy in front of her who was acting like he'd just discovered the most valuable thing on Earth. They were standing side by side with the ceramic bowl between them. She takes note of the way his hair was swept messily to the side so it didn't get into his eyes. His green eyes shined with delight every time he took a bite of the Oreos and his infectious smile put a grin on her face as well. She understood why all of the girls at school were all over him, his good looks could make any girl swoon.
"Woah slow down Hockey Boy. I think that's enough Oreos. Lets get some fruit in you." She offers, taking the rest of the cookies and putting them back in the pantry before he could heat up any more. She grabs the container of cherries and grapes from her fridge and brings it out, much to his displeasure.
They sit at the two barstools in the kitchen as Annabeth eats the fruit from the bowl. Percy doesn't take any at first but when he realizes that he's still hungry and she wasn't going to let him have anymore junk food, he reluctantly takes a handful of cherries and starts eating them. When he sees the leftover stems he remembers something.
"Have you ever tried tying a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue?"
She looks over at him. "You mean the test to see if you're a good kisser?"
He smiles, so she did know what he was referring to. "Exactly. Now I don't mean to brag but I once tied a knot in 10 seconds flat."
"Oh please, it's not even that hard." She says, waving him off.
"Really? Well care to take part in a little friendly competition, Chase?"
"What are you proposing Jackson?" She replies, a spark of competitiveness shining in her grey orbs.
"Who can tie a knot with their tongue faster. If I win you have to let me eat more heated up Oreos."
"And if I win?" She asks, one eyebrow up in question.
"Well if you win, um… I'll do the rest of the project by myself." He offers, not seeing anything else to bet on.
"Really confident you're gonna win huh, Hockey Boy?" She says, shocked that he'd bet on something so big.
"Please, I could do this in my sleep." He bragged.
"You're on Jackson." The blonde agrees, eating a cherry before taking the stem in between her fingers.
"On the count of three. One…" He starts.
"Two" She adds, bringing the stem up closer to her lips.
"Three!" They both call in unison, placing the cherry stems into their mouths before beginning to tie a knot. The next few seconds are fierce, each of them working strategically to tie the tiny knot first. For someone walking in the scene it would be a funny sight to see.
"Done!"
"Done!"
"I got it first!" The male voice calls, the stem now in his hand with a small knot in it.
"No you didn't! I was first!" She defends, showing him her knot as well.
He crosses his arms as the two argue over the competition for the next few minutes. In the end Annabeth decides to settle it.
"Alright we both won! That means our bets cancel out." She decides.
He looks at her, muttering under his breath because he was angry he didn't get any more cookies. Annabeth rolls her eyes. She'd been doing that a lot lately whenever she was around him and she was sure she'd be doing it a lot more in the future.
And there we go! That's a wrap on chapter 10. There's progress in the Percabeth department! So what did you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Review and let me know. Like I said I'll most likely be starting a Q and A/response section in my author's notes for future chapters and I'll pick a few to respond to so hit that button! I'm super busy with school right now so I can't give you an exact time when the next chapter will be out but I spend every free second I have writing so I'll get it out as soon as I can! I love you guys!
PS: IF YOU GUYS HAVEN'T HAD A HEATED UP OREO YOU HAVEN'T LIVED! TRY THEM RIGHT NOW! THEY'RE AMAZING!
REVIEW, REVIEW AND REVIEW!
-M