One-shot for 25 July - 11 August
Prompt: Character A and B are enemies. They get stuck together in the elevator for hours.
Words: 2525
Cohort: 2
This one-shot is for the forum of Camp Jupiter. Link is in my profile.
Also I kind of modified the plot a little so they didn't actually end up in the elevator for hours. I kind of did this in a rush cause of stuff.
Percy groaned as he stared at his laptop screen which showed an empty document staring back at him. Grover was in the bed beside him, holding a pillow over his face.
"The homework isn't going to do itself, Percy. You can't will it into existence. Either do it or close that goddam bright laptop. I'm trying to sleep!"
Percy sighed, closed the lid and laid back on his bed. This was Half-Blood college. Percy had come here (with pressure from his mother of course) to major in the marine sciences, something that he was passionate about and could give him a stable career when he grew up.
Grover started snoring from the other side of the room. Percy smiled. Grover was his best friend and was the founder of the 'save the environment' club which had gathered a lot of members since its creation two years ago. As soon as they met for the first time on the first day of college, they formed a bond. Now, as Grover increased his institutional power within the campus, Percy raised his social, representing the college nationally through swimming to win the appreciation of others, and organizing social events to make many friends. Together, they were unstoppable. It was funny that back then, they would never think that they would be considered in the 'popular' group.
Percy closed his eyes and a smile pulled on his lips as he slowly fell asleep.
[line break]
"Wake up Percy, we have a lot to do today!"
Percy's hands instinctively went up as the blinds were suddenly opened, letting the sun shine down onto his eyelids.
"Grover! Stop it!"
"Sorry Perce," Grover chuckled, "Gotta wake you up."
"Okay, okay," Percy rolled over and slipped his feet into his shoes, "What's going on? What's happening today?"
"Tomorrow is the college carnival! We all need to get ready. For me, I need to organise some campaigning, advertising and sponsorship with my club. And you, lazy-head, need to plan everything for the blue team."
"What?" Percy's eyes widened, "I thought Luke was gonna do it. He is in charge of the blue team."
"Apparently he is sick. It's your responsibility now. Everyone views you as their leader," Grover quickly got dressed and headed for the door.
"Wait, Grover! Who is the leader of the red team?"
"I don't think you've met her. Her name is Annabeth, Annabeth Chase," Grover replied before walking out.
Percy stared at the door Grover just left through. Who is Annabeth Chase? Percy got up and went into the bathroom and splashed some water onto his face. Wake up, Percy. Wake up, Percy. You got a job to do now. He started brushing his teeth and tried to awaken his mind. Slowly, he realised what a big of a task he had to do in only one day. There had to be a display of the blue group's pride; that was just tradition. He had to find out the people that were participating and enter them into the system. He had to find a way to motivate his teammates and order a bunch of stuff. Oh shit, this was going to be a busy day.
Just then, a loud knock came from his door which startled Percy into dropping a plastic cup full of water. Fuck.
"Hello?" a female voice called out, "Is Percy Jackson here?"
"Coming!" Percy shouted and picked up the cup. He spat out all the toothpaste in his mouth and turned the tap off. Who the hell was at the door. Percy rushed to the door, he stubbed his toe on his bed and he cried out in pain. He bit his tongue and clutched his foot with one hand as he crashed into his bed. He swore under his breath and got up to stumbled to open the door, hissing in pain each time he put his injured foot down.
Percy opened the door and standing there was a blonde girl with grey eyes, casually just standing there.
"Hey," Percy said a little awkwardly.
"Hi, I'm Annabeth," Annabeth looked down at Percy's chest and her cheeks turned a little red, "I hope I'm not disturbing you or anything"
Percy then became painfully aware of how exposed his torso felt to the air. He looked down and sure enough, he forgot to put on a shirt in the daze he was in.
"Uh, gimme one second," Percy blushed as he went back to put on his shirt, "So why are you here, Annabeth?"
Annabeth leaned on the door frame, "I was just checking in with the leader of the blue team, you know. Get to know your enemies and all that. Sure didn't expect you to try to seduce me first thing."
"I wasn't trying to seduce you! I just haven't woken up properly and then stubbed my toe and forgot to put on a shirt," Percy retorted, now fully clothed (much to Annabeth's dismay).
"Sure sure. You better know that the red team is going to win," Annabeth said.
"You wish," Percy said, "Did you come here to do anything other than to say that?"
"Why can't I come along to say hi?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
Percy looked at her, trying to figure out if she was lying or not but just found her cold grey eyes staring back at him, "Okay, I'll see you around."
Annabeth smiled and walked away, "Be careful out there, Percy. Us red team has a little surprise for you."
Percy watched her leave and smiled a bit. Wait why was he smiling? He slapped himself and quickly got ready for the day. He didn't have time to waste.
[line break]
"So Grover, you're gonna sponsor us and we are gonna wear a patch with your club's symbol on it? Cool," Percy stood up and shook hands with Grover, sealing the deal.
"Yup, you can use that money to buy the items you need for tomorrow," Grover looked down at his laptop and typed a few things in, "This day is going by pretty smoothly isn't it"
"Oh, Grover," Percy groaned, looking around the borrowed classroom they were in, "You just jinxed us."
"It's going to be fine Percy. We've received some of the documentation Luke had and now you just have to order a few thongs online. It's 2 pm. Don't stress."
"Yeah ok ok. This job is just new to me and all. I'll go outside and take a quick breather," Percy walked to the door but as soon as he opened it, a cloud of red power was blown all over him and his clothes.
"Surprise!" a student dressed in a red teeshirt that said: 'Team Red' shouted before running off down the corridor to what seemed like the grinning form of Annabeth.
Percy stood there while, still trying to process what just happened and looked at Grover who was equally in shock, sitting up rigidly from his chair. Percy turned back to the figures who hard now disappeared around the corner and smiled evilly, "Oh it's so on."
The rest of the day was a nightmare for any students who happened to be in the crossfire of the red and blue team. Several pranks were conducted by both teams and by nightfall, everyone was tired of the whole thing. Percy and Annabeth eventually got in trouble with the headmaster, Chiron.
"I shouldn't have to explain this to you," Chiron sighed from his wheelchair, "You are old enough to be responsible now. Hell, you are young adults now. I get you are opposing teams in the carnival but this is unacceptable. Go off now and remember, act civilised or you will I will have to punish you and I don't want to do that. We aren't in high school anymore."
Percy looked down at the floor, "Sorry Chiron, I may have gone a little too far there."
"Thank you, Percy, I hope this will never happen again," Chiron motioned for them to get out before pulling out a book on the history of Greece.
Annabeth mumbled something under her breath and followed Percy out. Since the headmaster's office was on the top floor of the building, they needed to take the elevator down cause who was bothered to walk down five flights of stairs.
Percy stepped into the elevator, "Come on Mr I-didn't-mean-to-dye-all-his-food-red."
Annabeth stepped into the elevator, "Well I'm sorry, if I remember correctly, you were the one who dyed our food blue!"
"Blue food is the best food," Percy smiled and Annabeth just looked at him in confusion. The doors closed and they could feel themselves being lowered, "Besides, you pushed one of my teammates into the fountain."
"That was Piper, thank you very much. And you were the one that poured cold water on me from the second-story window when I was walking past. How did you even know I was there?"
Percy opened his mouth to reply but suddenly, the elevator stopped with a jolt and the lights turned off, leaving the two in darkness. Annabeth screamed, fumbling around while Percy covered his ears with his hands and tried not to panic.
"What the hell is happening Jackson! I swear if this is another one of your pranks," Annabeth pulled out her phone and shone the flashlight at Percy who had an equally terrified face.
Annabeth breathed in deeply and sighed. The lift had suddenly stopped and the lights turned off. Maybe it was a power outage or something but one thing was for sure. They were stuck.
"Percy! What are we going to do!"
Percy quickly pulled out his own phone and dialled Grover, "Hey, G-man."
"Percy! The power went out. Everyone is panicking. Where are you! Come back. I'm scared of the dark."
Percy rolled his eyes at the last statement. So there was a power outage and now they were going to be stuck in the elevator for god knows how long, "Hey, I can't come back now. I'm kinda stuck."
"What? Oh gods please help me," Grover's voice became slightly more high pitched, "Are you trapped in the elevator?"
"Yeah," Percy replied and looked at Annabeth who was staring back, "Annabeth is also here."
"Okay, I called some people who will get you guys out of there. Stay safe," Grover hung up.
Percy looked to Annabeth, "What do we do now?"
Annabeth shrugged, "I guess we just wait."
The pair sat down on opposite sides of the elevator, basking in the silence between them. They both went onto their phones, trying to fight the boredom that their ADHD was amplifying. Percy was the first one to break the silence, "Hey Annabeth."
Annabeth looked up from her phone, a little pissed, "What."
Percy sighed, "Nothing. I'm just bored and have ADHD."
"Hey, same. It's hard but you can learn to calm your mind. Maybe it's easier for me because I'm smart and you're not and all," Annabeth smirked.
"Hey! I study as well, smartypants," Percy retorted.
"What, you do the marine sciences? Do you even know what a fish is?" Annabeth joked.
"For your information, yes, I do know what a fish is. I like studying the ocean."
"Do you do any other subjects? The other sciences?"
"Nope, came here to study marine sciences. What, you want me to do more? What subjects do you do?" Percy said.
"I study history, architecture, engineering, economics, applied math and liberal arts," Annabeth said.
"Woah, smartypants." Percy looked a bit surprised, "Never knew you could do so many."
"Never knew you could do so less," Annabeth shot back. "Seaweed brain," she mumbled under her breath.
"Wise girl," Percy grumbled back.
They both sat there in silence for a while before Percy broke it again, "So, how was your day?"
"Percy, you are so bad at making small talk," Annabeth groaned.
"I'm sorry, I've never really talked to well... women," Percy shrugged.
"What?"
"You know, I've not really had any relations with the opposite gender."
Annabeth looked surprised, "Wait so you don't have a girlfriend?"
"No, why would you think that?"
Annabeth's cheeks reddened a bit but luckily, it was dark enough so that Percy wouldn't notice, "I don't know, you're popular, you're a cool guy and well... attractive"
Percy looked at Annabeth as if he was trying to think of something and Annabeth looked away.
"I mean sure. You know me, I'm a hot guy," Percy ran his hands through his hair and grinned.
"Stop that!" Annabeth said and tried to slap Percy's arm only for it to land softly on his. Percy raised his eyebrows and Annabeth quickly withdrew, clutching her hand as if it was hurt and looked away.
"You okay?" Percy asked and shuffled closer to Annabeth, smiling devilishly.
Annabeth's breath hitched as Percy placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him. She stared
right into his sea-green eyes which twinkled in the dim light produced by their phones. Annabeth thought
for a moment. It seemed so quick. They only met today but it was like they were made for each other. The
more Annabeth looked into Percy's eyes, the more she wanted to be hugged by him. Annabeth's breathing
became shallow, it was now or never.
Annabeth moved in and kissed Percy on the lips quickly before pulling away. Percy was shocked. The moment
he felt Annabeth's lips press on his, he felt a shiver run through his entire body and a pleasurable feeling explode within him. His heart fluttered and he was left shocked, staring at Annabeth who was smiling lightly and blushing a bit. Suddenly, the lights turned on.
Before any of them could speak, the elevator jolted suddenly and fell into a free fall. A scream left Annabeth's mouth and she clutched onto Percy for dear life. The elevator then stopped with a loud thunk and Percy fell on top of Annabeth, his ears ringing and adrenaline running through his blood. The doors automatically opened and there was Grover, staring.
"Uh, I think the electricity got fixed. Are you guys okay? I came here to search for you but..." Grover trailed off.
Percy quickly got off of Annabeth and stood up, "Shut up Grover, we nearly died but we're fine. I don't want one word out of your mouth about what you saw."
Grover nodded vigorously and turned to Annabeth, "Hey, you're Annabeth, right? Aren't you the one who put red streamers on our window?"
Annabeth smiled, still slightly shaken from nearly dying in an elevator, but still tried to maintain an innocent face, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Grover looked sceptically at her and reached out to shake her hand, "I'm Grover Underwood, it's nice to see Percy have a girlfriend at last."
Both Percy and Annabeth blushed madly and punched Grover in the shoulder.
"Hey, I was just messing around," Grover protested, "Anyways, we have to go now. It's nearly curfew."
Annabeth nodded, "Percy, good luck on the carnival tomorrow. I'll see you around I guess."
She smiled at Percy and walked away, leaving Percy with Grover, standing outside the elevator door.
"Huh," Percy said simply.
Thanks for reading.
