Soooo... I have a bit of a treat for you guys today.

Percabeth At Highschool and/or Mortal Has A Crush On Percy/Annabeth

I love these stories! Seriously, I do. But there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed, so buckle your seatbelts.

1. It's probably THE MOST cliched Percy Jackson fanfic out there. (Tell me if I'm wrong, please)

I don't have a problem with cliches, but like with Chaos stories, it makes it really hard to find good ones. There's so many that it takes me like an hour to find one that's well written and enjoyable. The other problem with cliches is that, again, they are SO PREDICTABLE. Watch.

Annabeth or Percy go to high school and have a group of mortal friends, two of which are dating and the other one that has a crush on Percy/Annabeth. For some reason, Percy/Annabeth decide to visit the other one and just join their school in the middle of the year. Apparently, that's legal, and they show up out of nowhere one day, surprising the other one. For simplicities sake, let's assume that Percy is visiting Annabeth. Percy transfers and her school, which makes her mortal friend who has a crush on her mad, and he vows to break them up. This person just happens to be the swim team captain, and Percy wants to try out. Then, Percy becomes swim team captain because he's just so amazing.

Then, Annabeth, Percy, and her mortal friend have Ancient Greek class together (What? That's a thing? Why is everyone so interested in Ancient Greek!?). Said mortal friend is convinced that Percy will totally bomb the class, only to be proven wrong again. This makes him really angry, and then the story could go in two main directions.

A: Mortal friend enlists the help of other mortals to make it look like Percy is cheating on Annabeth

B: Mortal friend finds out he's a minor demigod

Either one is very common. And I forgot to mention a few other details that seem to be in all of these stories.

-The group plays truth or dare at some point

-Mortal friend googles Percy Jackson and tries to convince Annabeth that he's a criminal

-There is always a mean girl with "make-up caked onto her face" that tries to hit on Percy

-Mortal best friend is delusional about Annabeth's "secret, undying, true love" for him and thinks Percy is a bad influence and/or part of a gang

Do you see what I mean?

2. Swim meets (credit to 8Ball3 for idea)

People! Swim meets are not dependent on one person! As a person who swam competitively for over six years, I'm always shaking my head at this. Percy could be the most amazing swimmer in the world (which he probably is) and his school might not win! There is a point system, last time I checked. First place in a single heat gets the most points, I can't remember how many that is. Second place gets less points, and so on! The winner is determined by adding the percentage of times dropped to the number of points that the team has. THERE ARE TONS OF EVENTS, ALL OF WHICH HAVE AT LEAST 3 OR 4 HEATS, USUALLY AROUND 8!

So, yes. Percy winning his events would definitely help his team. But if they don't do well, or the other team does better, then it doesn't matter. I know that a lot of writers don't know how a swim meets works, and I understand that. But having Percy win one race and then suddenly they the whole school wins? Uncool.

Speaking of, you don't just become captain if you have the fastest time. Sure, you should have the fastest time, but being a captain isn't just about that. A captain should be able to lead the team, as well as do well him/herself. I know Percy CAN lead really well, but I just thought I'd put it out there that it's not all about skill.

One last thing: why are swim meets such a big deal? In a lot of stories, the crowd swarms Percy and there's a bunch of cheering and there's like a big celebration thing. But I don't recall ever having anyone except my family come watch me. Maybe a few students that are bored? But no one that would get super excited if I won my heat. For one thing, the crowd sits in bleachers, and tries to avoid going near the wet, slippery deck. Like, maybe his teammates come up to congratulate him? Even so, they wouldn't know which team wins until later. It's not Percy's win the wins them the meet, so why would they feel the need to swarm and congratulate him? It doesn't make sense.

3. OCs

UGH. If you've read chapter four, you know how I feel about Original Characters. And don't get me wrong, they are ABSOLUTELY essential in this type of story. BUT STILL.

I didn't click on the story to read about how two characters I don't even know found love by being rejected by Percy and Annabeth. I just didn't.

Some OCs are done really well, with enough character building that I don't really mind them. But when they take over the whole plot, it makes me really mad.

4. Descriptions of characters

Okay. I know it's good to have a detailed description of what your character looks like. I get it. But when would any person in their right mind say something like,

"I have close-cropped blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, and I'm 5'9. Marie has hazel eyes and long, chocolate colored hair. Her boyfriend, Josh, has light brown hair and freckles across his nose. He has murky green eyes."

What? Do people actually describe themselves like that? Do they describe other people like that? NO. It always makes me cringe when I read something like this.

So, I mentioned earlier that I had a treat for you guys. I don't know if you'll consider it a treat, but I decided to write a sample chapter of an idea that I had for one of these stories. If enough people like it, I'll consider turning it into an actual fanfic.

Title That I Haven't Thought Of Yet

Probably set after HoO, but before ToA. Percy and Annabeth are juniors in high school. Don't question it.

"My name is Hardin Mayers and for my 'All About Me paper i'll be telling you about the time me and my dad went fishing."

My teacher looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. She was not impressed.

"Mr. Mayers," she said, putting the paper down and leaning forward onto her desk. "I appreciate the effort, but this paper is one of the worst pieces I've ever read. If you want a passing grade in my class this year, you need to start taking this seriously. I'll cut you some slack since it's the second week of school, but you have been warned."

I nodded my head, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. I'd never been good at writing. I walked silently out of the classroom and into the hallway, where I came face-to-face with the prettiest girl I'd ever seen.

Well, maybe not, but this girl was really pretty. She stopped, startled, because we'd almost run into each other.

"Excuse me," she said, side-stepping so she could get by. Her blonde hair flew by my face. It smelled like apples.

I watched from the doorway as the girl walked up to my teacher's desk and cleared her throat. Ms. Hill looked up from where she was probably giving my paper an F, and asked, "Can I help you, Annabeth?" That was a nice name.

"I'm hoping you can," said Annabeth tightly. Her hand clenched almost imperceptibly on the strap of her backpack. "I turned in a paper last week, and received a lower grade than I expected. I'm wondering if you could explain what I did wrong."

Neither of them seemed to notice me standing there, so I just stayed still, hoping I could talk to Annabeth once she was finished. She seemed really nice. Plus, my mom told me to try and make friends.

After further discussing her grade, which wasn't super low, just an eighty-five, Annabeth thanked Ms. Hill and turned towards me to leave.

She stopped in surprise when she saw me standing there.

"Hey," she said, sounding a little confused. "do you... need something?" She asked, gesturing to Ms. Hill's desk. I blushed. "Um, no. I was actually wondering what your next class was?"

I meant to say it as a statement, but it came out as a question. I mentally facepalmed and almost turned around and walked away from sheer embarrassment.

Annabeth stood there for a moment, not saying anything, but then her face melted into a soft smile and she said, "I have a free period right now."

"Me too," I said, excited. "Do you want to go the library with me?"

"Sure, I'd love to." Then we walked off, hand-in-hand, and got married.

But then my alarm clock went off.

I groaned, rolling over to slam my hand on the button. The beeping stopped, but my ears were still ringing. I really had to fix the volume setting, or something.

I laid there and stared at the ceiling for a while, forcing myself to get out of bed after a few minutes. I glanced at my alarm clock to check the time, then debated taking a shower. I decided not to, changed, ate a quick breakfast, and walked out the door as I yelled goodbye to my mom and my little sister.

After walking for a few minutes, I crossed the street and waited at our usual bench for Annabeth.

It's true that I met her in Ms. Hill's classroom that day, but she couldn't go to the library with me. Even now, six weeks later, I don't know what happened. She just saw something out the window and ran. I thought it was because of me, and I was upset for the whole rest of the day, but she found me after school and apologized.

"There was something I had to take care of," she'd said. From that day on, we've been inseparable. We have so much in common! We're both juniors, we both love to read, we're both smart, and we're both athletic. Annabeth plays volleyball, and I swim. We're even reading the same book! Well, I'm only reading it because she's reading it, but same thing.

I've had a crush on her from the day I almost ran into her, and I think she feels the same way. She laughs at all my jokes and comes to all my swim meets, plus she's invited over to her house before. She wouldn't do that if she didn't like me, right?

I sat on 'our' bench and pulled out my phone, texting my mom that I'd made it. She was protective that way.

Annabeth walked up later than usual, with a bright look on her face.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked, smiling as I stood up and shifted my backpack.

"No reason," she shrugged. But she continued to smile, staring up at the sky like she was expecting something to fall from it.

We turned up the school walkway and joined the crowd of students going to their lockers. Albritton High School is really big, and very confusing sometimes. It's been six weeks since the beginning of the year, and I still get lost.

Elbowing our way to the right hallway, we joined up with our other friends, Bella and Zach. We'd met them in the library during one of our study sessions, and now we all hang out together. They were engaged in a very animated discussion about which school was better, Duke or UNC. Zach liked UNC, and Bella liked Duke.

"What kind of name is Tarheels, anyway? It just sounds stu- Oh, hey guys." Bella said as we pulled up to our lockers. They weren't side-by-side, but they were close enough that we could have a conversation.

"Hey," Annabeth said casually, spinning her combination lock.

Bella looked suspicious. "You're happy. Why are you happy? Are you sick?"

She put her hand on Annabeth's forehead and pretended to check for a fever. Annabeth slapped it away jokingly. "Don't, you'll catch the virus."

Bella laughed, turning back to her own open locker and shoving some books inside it. "No, seriously. Why are you so smiley?"

Annabeth shrugged off her backpack. "Can't I just be in a good mood?"

Bella crossed her arms. Annabeth narrowed her eyes. The two proceeded to stare each other down as Zach and I exchanged looks of exasperation.

Finally, Bella broke the stare with a blink, and cursed. Annabeth sniffed haughtily and turned to continue hanging her backpack in her locker.

"Fine! You win. But you have to tell me later." Bella said desperately.

"Okay, sure." Annabeth replied.

Zach and I looked at each other again. Girls were so confusing.

Time skip

At lunch, Annabeth invited all of us over to her house for dinner.

"Helen made way too much lasagna, and we need help eating it all."

I nodded; I didn't think my mom would mind.

"Sure," said Bella, which was quickly echoed by Zach.

After we all finished eating, we went out to the stone courtyard area in the front of the school. It was a big circle, with benches and picnic tables all around it. Sidewalks branched off of it at regular intervals, but most students just walked on the grass. The four of us sat down at an empty picnic table. Annabeth pulled out her computer, probably to get a head start on homework, so I did the same. Zach brought out his phone to check his Instagram, and Bella got out one of her art projects. We had fifteen minutes of lunch left when we heard shouting voices.

"Get out of my way!"

Annabeth's head snapped up as she turned to look for whomever had interrupted her studying.

"I'm sorry, let me just-"

"MOVE!" There was a sound like someone being shoved, and Annabeth stood from her seat. The whole scene was playing out a few tables away, where a senior was picking on a freshman. It was a pretty common occurrence, but I was never in a position to do anything about it. Looking at Annabeth's clenched fists next to me, I decided that this time, I would. Then she would know I was brave, and strong.

I stood from the bench and stalked over to the big senior. Annabeth was right behind me. Bella called, "Wait, Hardin! Stop! Annabeth!"

"Hey!" I yelled, trying to make myself sound tough and confident.

The dude looked over at me in disbelief, then anger. He straightened from where he was in the process of yelling at the poor ninth grader, and turned towards me, crossing his big arms. I stopped when I was about four feet away from him.

"Go pick on someone your own size!" I exclaimed, seeing Annabeth sigh out of the corner of my eye. Did I do something wrong? This is always what they say in movies.

The bully snickered, and I suddenly felt way less tough and confident.

He stalked towards me, and I mentally prepared myself to get beat up, but Annabeth stepped in front of me.

"Leave him alone." she said coolly. The senior stopped short, hesitating at hitting a girl, and that was all Annabeth needed.

As fast as I could blink, she'd kicked him in the stomach so hard, he doubled over with a groan.

If possible, I fell even more in love with her right then.

But the guy's big friends were starting to realize what had happened, and there were a lot more of them than there were of us.

We were surrounded, six to two, and my heart was pounding so loudly that I was afraid they'd hear it. Annabeth looked ready to take them all on, but she didn't have to.

At that moment, a voice yelled, "Stop!"

No one seemed to have spoken, and everyone in the area looked around, confused. Then, a boy fell from the sky.

Well, he didn't really fall. He was falling, but it was like he wasn't even worried a little bit about breaking every bone in his body.

He landed with an enormous thud on a picnic table, and I was amazed that it didn't splinter under his weight. He had jet-black hair, and he was really tan, like he spent his extra time running around at the beach. He somehow stuck the landing onto the table, dropping to a crouch before straightening and jumping off.

The bullies gaped at him.

"How'd you-" one of them started.

"Tree." said the boy, who looked about my and Annabeth's age. Behind me, I heard Bella and Zach run up.

The boy pointed to an overhanging branch in a nearby tree.

"Anyways," the boy said, like he didn't just drop from a good thirty feet. "I heard you were about to beat up my girlfriend." His voice turned sharp, and I barely registered what he was saying.

He laughed. "Well, try, anyway. She could probably take you all with her hands tied behind her back and her eyes closed. But still." His eyes narrowed. "I'd leave if I were you."

The senior boys hightailed it for the main building, followed by the one that Annabeth had kicked.

I sighed with relief, but I was disappointed that my plan hadn't worked. Annabeth ran over to the black-haired boy, who was casually dusting off his jeans. I followed her, and heard Bella and Zach doing the same.

"Miss me, Wise Girl?" the other boy said. Who was he talking about?

"Seaweed Brain..." Annabeth muttered, and hugged him. What was going on?

I stepped forward angrily, about to pull Annabeth away from the total stranger who was probably trespassing, but then she pulled away.

I couldn't believe what she did next.

SHE KISSED HIM.

What do you think? Tell me in a review, I'd really appreciate it!

Peace out,

LadyHW