4:00 pm, Tuesday, November 8th, 2010

Percy and Annabeth walked through Central Park, hands intertwined. Percy was holding a picnic blanket, while Annabeth was holding a basket full of sandwiches, cookies, and some Cokes they had picked up at a corner store.

They were heading towards the lake, where they had planned to meet Grover Underwood and his girlfriend Juniper, for an after school picnic.

Annabeth spotted them first, dropping the basket to run over to them and tackle Grover in a hug. Percy, having taken the basket, jogged over, and set the blanket and basket on the floor. He then hugged Grover, and then Juniper.

They set the blanket out on the slightly frozen ground. After passing out the sandwiches, all of which were vegetarian, thanks to Piper, they started talking.

Grover was in the planning stages of starting a company focused around preserving the environment. He walked them through some of his plans for the company, and even asked Annabeth if she would be willing to help out if and when she had time.

Annabeth agreed but did tell Grover that her studies and architecture were her top priorities.

Juniper laughed. "Wouldn't expect anything less from you, Annabeth."

Percy smiled, "Yeah Miss Daughter of Athena over here would rather be nailed to a cross than fail school."

"That's not true." Annabeth protested. "I just want the teachers to think I actually care. In reality, I could care less about what the symbolism of blue curtains is. That's not to say Pauls a bad teacher, he's great, I just kinda, don't, you know, care."

Grover laughed. "Any AP classes?"

Percy grinned. "I'm taking AP chemistry-"

"-Not surprising," Juniper said.

"And Annabeth is in AP math."

"Even less surprising!" Grover said.

"And we're both taking AP Ancient History. It's one of the history courses at Goode." Annabeth said.

"How's the teacher deal with you two correcting them every five seconds?" Grover said, sipping at his coke.

"We're actually not in the same class. I'm in class A, with Jason, and Percy and Piper are in class B." Annabeth said.

"It was so funny when Piper came in. She wasn't there for the first class, because she was at a new student orientation-"

"-That was the most boring and useless hour and a half of my life."

"Thank you, Annabeth. Anyway, the teacher, who I hate, was like: 'Why are you in this class, I don't recognise you, get out'. And Piper sassed her so hard, I nearly died."

Grover laughed, but Juniper looked confused. "Why do you hate her?" she asked.

"We got into an argument on the first day. About a week after, the principal was like, I know she was being unfair, but I'm gonna have to give you a warning." Percy made a face.

"Wouldn't expect anything different. Get into any fights recently, Mr-I-Can-And-Will-Throw-Hands-With-Nancy-Bobofit-With-No-Regard-For-Any-And-All-Of-The-Consequences?" Grover asked.

Percy looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, I did."

"When?"

"Uh...yesterday," Percy said, laughing lightly, trying to cover his embarrassment.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I should have expected he would throw hands with someone the one day he goes to school alone. To be fair, the idiot was asking for it."

"Why were you alone?" Grover asked as he started to chew on his empty coke can.

"Annabeth had some stuff to do upon Olympus, Pipes is sick, and Jase had to go to California for a bit," Percy said.

"Nice, is she okay, and why?" Grover said.

"Yeah Pipers fine. She'll be back probably tomorrow, courtesy of the Apollo kids. Jason had to fill in the Praetor position for a few days because Frank went back to Canada for a few days. I think he's flying back tonight." Percy said.

"I think Paul and Sally are also flying back tonight, but I'll have to check. I need to ask them if they want to be picked up by us..." Annabeth said, trailing off a bit.

"How's Olympus?" Juniper asked.

"Gorgeous as always. Most of the major gods weren't there, some sort of multi-pantheon meeting." Annabeth said, snapping back into reality.

"So that's why dad was wearing a suit!" said Percy.

"What?" Grover asked.

Percy told them about how Poseidon and Amphitrite had shown up, treated him to Lunch, and lectured him for over an hour about attacking mortals. He didn't mention the counselling discussion, not wanting to tell one more person. He had called his mom and Paul and briefly touched on it. He had also briefly mentioned it to Annabeth while he told her what had happened.

Grover shook his head, smiling, "Only you would get the King and Queen of the Sea to come to your school because you beat the shit out of someone."

"What can I say, it's a talent," Percy said.

They all laughed.

"Hows camp?" Annabeth ventured, after a few minutes of comfortable silence. The group, who had all finished their food and drinks, was sprawled on the grass.

"The same as always," Juniper said. "The stolls keep on pranking the Demeter and Ares cabins and keep getting beat up because of it. But, Travis and Katie are still dating, by some miracle of Aphrodite."

"It's my theory that Katie just pretends to be mad, so Travis does it more," Annabeth said.

"Connors dating Lou Ellen, right?" Percy asked.

"Yup. I like to call it the unholy couple. The amount those two can do while Travis and Katie are too busy locking lips is astounding." Grover said.

Talking about camp made Percy and Annabeth ridiculously happy. Camp Half-Blood was their second home, the safest place in the world for them.

"You two should come back soon," Juniper said.

"Well, our winter break starts on the 15th of December, and ends on the 5th," Annabeth said. "I'm sure we could find some time to come over."

"That's a long winter break. That's what, three weeks. Actually it's not that long."

"Yancy had four weeks," Percy said.

"Well, that's because it was Yancy. They can afford to be out of school for almost a month. The kids there are rich enough anyway, they barely need education." Grover said.

Percy rolled his eyes, smiling all the same.

"Well, it's getting late," Annabeth said, checking her watch. "We should get back soon."

The group picked up their things, hugged, and bid their goodbyes. Percy grinned at Annabeth.

"What?" she said.

"Just thinking about how much I love you," Percy said.

Annabeth was quiet for a few minutes, but eventually, she replied. "I love you more," Annabeth said, as they exited the park.

"Not possible." Percy countered.

Annabeth shook her head, a large grin on her face. She pulled ahead of Percy on the sidewalk, losing herself in an idea.

Percy jogged back up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong?" he asked her quietly.

"Nothing," she said, trying to push her thoughts away. "Just had an idea."

"Can you tell me?"

"Maybe later," she said.

Percy smiled at her, and she smiled back.