A/N: I'd like to thank some of the people who helped me out: AlEmily360, SapphireTrafficker, tigerlilycorinne, AshenMoon42, Lesbian101, Shiuanc2, and LadyHW.

Annabeth was starting to think this was a bad idea.

Arriving at her English classroom five minutes late, she pushed open the door to the lecture hall panting and dripping wet, having run all the way from her dorm room and across campus in the rain after forgetting to set an alarm. She was hot and sweating from her sprint, and she was sure her hair had frizzed out in an embarrassing poof. If Percy really was in this class, this wasn't exactly the impression she wanted to leave. The whole class looked at her and Professor Cavan grinned playfully.

"Annabeth, I'm so glad you could make it." Snickers followed from the back row. Annabeth shot a glare in the direction they came from, hoping she looked threatening enough. The snickers stopped. Looking like a drowned rat or not, Annabeth knew how to intimidate. She smiled meekly at Professor Cavan, who had her arms crossed and was looking smugly at Annabeth, and then did an awkward half nod before tripping up the stairs and to the first open seat she could find. She avoided looking at her neighbors until her flush calmed down.

"As I was saying, I am assigning the next assignment. You have to write a creative piece about…"

Annabeth zoned out and looked around the room, searching but trying not to look like it. She sat on the right side of the room, close to the main entrance. Professor Cavan paced before the class in front of two large blackboards, waving her hands as she spoke. Annabeth looked at some of the students around her. She recognised a few of them from other classes, but many of them were new faces. She knew that even though the class was a Gen Ed, Professor Cavan was not a very popular teacher. She tended to be a harsh grader and bitingly sarcastic, which usually rubbed people the wrong way, but Annabeth liked her.

"...And to make this a little bit more challenging, and for you all to get to know each other better," the professor wiggled her fingers at her audience. "Everyone is going to be working with a partner." Annabeth's head snapped forward. Fuck. She hated working with a partner. Partners argued with your ideas and undermined your knowledge. Partners left all of the work to you until the end of the project where they either stole the credit or threw you under the bus. Partners were bad.

Annabeth barely listened as Professor Cavan told everyone that their partners would be the people on their left if they were in an odd number row and right if they were in an even number row. She blinked in surprise as two people turned toward her, but focused on the person to her right. Which row am I in?

When she took in the sea-green eyes, the windswept black hair and Mediterranean complexion of the person beside her, familiar only because of how often she had imagined them in her mind, she practically had a heart attack.

"Percy?!" she squeaked.

"Yup, that's me," Percy said casually, but then narrowed his eyes at her. There was a brief spark of recognition before he continued "…uh, and you are… the park girl!" He grinned.

Annabeth couldn't believe it. The guy she had been desperately trying to find for two weeks was right here. Thank god I decided to take this class. She was itching to check her timer to see if it had changed, but she refrained.

"And your name was Anna... Anna… something." While he struggled to remember her name, Annabeth studied him a bit more. She hadn't really looked at him that hard when they had first met, having only taken in the most striking details. He had warm brown skin, sun-kissed, as if he spent a lot of time outside, with a sprinkle of freckles across his nose. There were little scars all over his arms, and a few visible from underneath the collar of his blue t-shirt. Funny, I think he was wearing blue last time too. His eyes were even greener than she remembered, which was strange because she had a habit of remembering things to be better than they actually were. They were rimmed with blue and shone grey, as if reflecting the cloudy skies outside, but they shone nonetheless.

"Annabeth! That's what it was. I remember because it was so pretty." He shot her a troublemaker smirk. She laughed awkwardly and glanced at the other person who had turned to her, a petite girl with dark brown skin and curly cinnamon hair sitting like a cloud on her shoulders. She was patiently waiting for Annabeth and Percy's conversation to be over and Annabeth realized that she was supposed to be her partner instead.

"Uh, Percy, I think that—" But before she could tell him that he turned the wrong way, the guy to his right tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dude, your other right."

Percy turned around and smiled in recognition and apology at the guy on his right. "Oh. Oh. Sorry, Leo. Uh, sorry Annabeth." He leaned over and nodded to the girl next to Annabeth. "Sorry." She rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

Annabeth turned to her partner. She noticed that she looked rather young—a freshman, maybe? She had all of the telltale factors that labeled her as an underclassman. She had the new binder and she was dressed nicely, like she was trying to make an effort, compared to Annabeth's thrown together ensemble of accidentally-ripped jeans and a long sleeve shirt from an old camp she used to go to. She looked slightly nervous, first-semester nerves, but like she was trying to hide it behind a brave facade.

Annabeth gave her a slight, tentative smile and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Annabeth."

"Hazel," the girl said shyly.

"Are you a freshman?" Annabeth asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Hazel's eyes widened in slight panic as she looked down at herself.

"No, no, no!" Yes. Annabeth shook her head. Hazel looked at her like she knew she wasn't telling the truth. "Well, a little," Annabeth conceded.

Hazel laughed. Annabeth grinned and glanced down at Hazel's forearm out of habit. To Annabeth's surprise, her timer was covered with a bandage. This wasn't necessarily uncommon; some people preferred to keep their timer covered if they had an unusual time, or if they just didn't want it to follow them wherever they went. Annabeth had considered doing that, but ultimately decided against it. It drew too many questions and everyone found out about her predicament anyway. Why prolong the inevitable?

She felt Hazel looking at her and so she pretended to look at her shirt. She doubted Hazel would appreciate her asking why her timer was wrapped up.

Finding a distraction in the familiar album cover she saw, Annabeth said, "I love your shirt!"

"Oh, thank you!" Hazel grinned, looking down at her shirt before looking back up. "Are you a fan?"

"Of course," Annabeth said, happy to see Hazel relax. "You too?"

Annabeth was starting to like her new partner, who was talking animatedly and had somehow transitioned from her favorite movies to her intended major. While she was disappointed at the missed chance to get closer to Percy, Annabeth was beginning to think that maybe Hazel wouldn't be such a bad partner. She smiled as the younger girl almost smacked someone who was coming up the aisle as she excitedly talked about her geology class. Yeah, Annabeth liked her.

:::

After class Annabeth planned to catch Percy as he was leaving, but she was barely packed when he was out the door. He either had a packed schedule and needed to get somewhere fast, or he just couldn't wait to get out of the classroom. By the jiggling of his knee throughout the whole of the class, she guessed it was the latter.

Hazel bid Annabeth goodbye as Annabeth hurried to stuff her folder into her too-full backpack. Percy's partner, whom Annabeth remembered as Leo, followed her out. Annabeth hefted the bag on one shoulder and hurried after Percy, stopping short of breaking out into a full run. She left the building, looking to see if she could spot him, but stopped when she heard the voices around the side of the building.

"Leo, seriously, stop," said a voice that was distinctly Hazel's.

"C'mon beignet, does this mean you care about me? Buy me flowers first," a male voice teased. Annabeth snuck a look around the corner. Leo was batting his eyes dramatically, smirking at Hazel. Annabeth wrinkled her nose. Beignet?

Leo, you know that I'm with Frank. You're being—you're not being you." Hazel turned away and started to walk away from Leo, but he grabbed her arm. Annabeth was just about ready to come out from around the corner and give him a piece of what she thought of harassment when he looked down at his feet sadly for a split second before coming up again with an impish grin on his face.

"Okay, okay," he said, putting his hands up in a defensive way once Hazel stopped walking away. "If you do wanna buy me flowers, I want a dozen red roses. Go big or go home, right?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "I'll let you go back to your lover boy. Just call me when you're single and ready to mingle." He started walking away backwards and shot finger guns at Hazel. She smiled sadly and returned it with a thumbs up. With that, Leo turned around and jogged off.

Annabeth came from around the corner. "He wasn't bothering you, was he?" she asked, startling Hazel. "You know you don't have to go along with it."

Hazel waved her off. "No, it's fine." she sighed.

"No, it really isn't. It's harassment. If he went any further I would have stepped in," Annabeth said. While she hadn't known exactly what was going on, she could tell that Hazel had been uncomfortable.

"There's no need, really. He's just—it's not serious. It's just Leo, he jokes around like that sometimes. I think he was just trying to distract me," Hazel explained. "We've been friends for a while. I was just checking in...something bad happened to him a little while ago and he still won't talk to me about it. That was Leo trying to diffuse the situation."

"Weird way to 'diffuse'," Annabeth said.

Hazel huffed out a laugh. "Yeah," she said, shrugging.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked, and then cursed herself as soon as the words left her mouth. That was a pretty nosy question. It's none of my business. She was about to take back her question when Hazel began explaining.

"There was a girl. Calypso. Leo really loved her, but she died a few years ago. It was a bit of a shock."

"But wouldn't he know she was going to die? Didn't her timer say so?" Annabeth inquired. Hazel looked at her, offended.

"People will still fall in love, no matter what their timer says; and just because you know something's coming, doesn't make it hurt any less." She frowned at Annabeth. "Besides, she was born with a blank timer."

Annabeth stood silent, considering. A blank timer? She thought those were only possible with babies who died directly after the timer was put in, right after they were born. But if someone could live for years with a timer anomaly like that, then that meant that timers made more mistakes than Annabeth had initially believed. She wanted to ask Hazel more about Calypso and her blank timer, but Hazel didn't look like she wanted to talk about it anymore. She was still frowning, as if remembering something unpleasant.

"If he loves her, then why does he flirt with you?" Annabeth settled on, but this question was hardly better than the ones she didn't ask.

Hazel thought for a second. "Maybe because he knows it won't go anywhere."

Annabeth pondered that for a moment while Hazel shifted from one foot to the other. "Sorry, do you need to go?" Annabeth said, realizing Hazel was waiting for her to say something.

"Yeah, sorry," Hazel said, putting her thumbs under the straps of her backpack and pulling them away from her chest. "I've got another class in ten minutes and it's all the way across campus."

"Oh, then you should go. That's at least fifteen minutes," Annabeth said, stepping away from Hazel to head in the direction of her own class. "And that's on a good day."

Hazel grinned. "Then I'll run. It was nice to meet you!" She waved at Annabeth before turning around and speed-walking away.

Annabeth waved at her back and watched her leave before looking at her watch. She realized she actually didn't have class, not for another hour, which was plenty of time to… Percy. She'd forgotten about trying to find him, but by now it was definitely too late. Instead, she started walking towards the west quad, which usually housed food trucks on weekdays. Maybe today there'd be gyros.

:::

Annabeth sighed and plopped on her dorm room bed. Even though she liked her roommate, she regretted not finding an apartment before the summer started, and she had already put down her school housing deposit. Coming back to a dorm room for the third year in a row was not ideal. I really need to get my own apartment, or maybe I can ask to move in with Pi—oh yeah. Annabeth groaned. Why was life so...so...exasperating? She buried her head in her comforter and breathed in. And breathed out.

"Long day?"

Annabeth flinched. She didn't know anyone was in here. She looked across the room and relaxed when she saw it was just her roommate. Silena was painting her nails a soft pink over the railing of her bed. She tucked back her long, flowing black hair and looked at Annabeth expectantly. Annabeth realized she should probably respond.

"You have no idea," she said, and Silena chuckled.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"You'd be surprised." Annabeth sat up and leaned against the wall, letting her feet hang off the side of her bed. She tried not to disturb any of the pictures she had tacked up on her wall as she watched Silena paint her nails. It was somewhat relaxing. She considered saying something, but decided against it. Silena was really good at giving advice, but Annabeth didn't feel like talking about what happened today: with Percy and Hazel and Leo, and his confusing Calypso. Really, Annabeth just wanted to rest, or to relax with someone.

She felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She leaned over and brought it out, reading the text alert on her screen

Luke- Hey babe, want to go get coffee?

It was her boyfriend, Luke. She hated when he called her babe. It sounded stupid and almost… possessive? But whatever. It was a compromise she was willing to make.

Luke- ?

Luke was a bit impatient, so she wasn't surprised when she got the second text less than a minute later. She responded quickly.

Annabeth- Sure, that sounds great

No more than a few seconds later, her reply came in.

Luke- See you in 5? Same place as usual

Annabeth- Sure

Annabeth got up from the bed and stretched. This might be just the break she was looking for, some time to relax with her boyfriend. She combed through her hair with her fingers, but then just opted to put it in a messy bun. She plugged her earbuds in and put them in her ears and turned up the volume of the music, then put her phone in her back pocket. She waved to Silena, who raised one freshly-painted hand in acknowledgment, then walked out the door, closing it behind her.

When she left the building, the humid promise of a coming storm made her wish she had remembered to bring an umbrella. She squinted at the sky, praying that she wouldn't be caught in the rain, and proceeded to walk down the street towards her destination. She was meeting Luke at a small café - one they usually frequented since Luke favored its 'unpretentious atmosphere'.

Annabeth checked the time on her phone and quickened her pace; her steps in time with the music on her phone. Soon enough, she could see a familiar head of blond hair sitting at the window of the café. She opened the door and walked in.

"Hey," she greeted as she neared the table. Luke turned around and smiled, the scar on his face standing out in the café's golden lights.

"Hey!" He handed her a to-go cup, which she took gratefully. Annabeth smiled at his excitement to see her. She really did love Luke. She took a seat on the chair across from him, taking a sip from her cup. She tried not to wince at the taste of coffee, instead of the tea she had been expecting. "How's it going? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Luke, it's only been three weeks," she laughed. "How was your trip?" Luke had taken a trip to France to document the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. When he had left, she had been so scared that he would be caught up in an attack, but she knew it was his dream. He had always wanted to be a reporter, to have the chance to show what was really going on in the world. No lies, no hiding. In that way, they were similar.

"My trip was great." He said. "It was really jarring assisting with interviewing victims and witnesses, really the experience of a lifetime. I'm glad my internship let me help cover it." He always got so excited about his internship, just seeing him like this filled her with joy. "But enough about me, how about you? What's been going on in your life?"

Annabeth smiled slightly and tucked her hair behind her ear. She glanced at her wrist. Now would be the perfect time to tell him about Percy and her mysterious time change, but she was afraid. She was afraid that he would ridicule her like Piper had, or even worse, break up with her. The timers were what had brought them together in the first place. They both had low times, off by only a few days. She looked up at him and decided to go for the easy answer. She covered her wrist self consciously and cleared her throat.

"U-um, nothing much." She stumbled over her words. It had always been hard lying to Luke, especially knowing how much he hated liars. He quirked his eyebrow.

"Annabeth… you're not telling me something," he accused. Dammit. He knew her too well.

"I, uh, I had a fight with Piper," she said, not remembering if she had already told him about it.

If she had, he didn't remember. "Oh?" he said, settling back into his chair.

Annabeth realized her mistake when she saw that he wanted to know why. Shit. Back to square one—she couldn't tell him why without telling him about Percy. She tried to think of something to say that would get him to leave it alone. "Yeah, just, something about Jason and I—you know how she gets, it was you know, her time of the month and—"

"Jesus, Annabeth." Luke interrupted, wrinkling his nose at her. Annabeth mentally fist-pumped—it had worked. "We're in public, you can't talk about that… stuff... here. Gross." Annabeth thought his comments were a little rude, but she ignored her discomfort. What was it someone once said? Love despite someone's flaws, not because? Or was it the other way around?

"Ok, well, just like… make up with her. It doesn't sound like it was that big of a deal," Luke was saying. You have no idea how big of a deal it was, Annabeth thought, but she didn't say it out loud.

"I will," she said instead. "I'll probably just wait until after her—"

"Yeah, yeah," Luke interrupted, grimacing. "Do you mind if we, I don't know, change the subject?"

Annabeth paused then smiled, relieved that she didn't have to keep lying to him. "Sure thing."

:::

Annabeth stood in front of the door, waiting for her courage to come back from wherever it had hidden itself. She had been standing there for the past ten minutes, deciding whether or not she should knock. The wetness on her shoulders from the rain outside had already started drying up. This is what Luke had recommended, she reminded herself, and Luke was usually right in the end.

She took a deep breath in, but before she could let it out, the door swung open. The person on the other side had choppy, unkempt braids, and looked like she hadn't slept properly for the past week. She still looked better than Annabeth, as always. Annabeth felt both comforted and anxious as her friend stood before her.

"Piper," she breathed.

A/N: For anyone confused: This story is a re-upload of sorts. I deleted and edited/rewrote the original story and am not reuploading the new version. I tried to keep the integrity of the original work, but there have been some major changes. The story is complete, and my upload schedule is Mondays and Fridays. Follow to be reminded of updates.