AN: Welcome back to Ch. 3! It seems like you guys really enjoy the series so far, and that's awesome! I have my outline all done for the next 15 chapters at least, so we should be good for a bit. Right now, I don't have a hard ending, but I'm thinking after high school, I may split it into a College series, I'm not sure. I do know that this series is going to average around 15 chapters every year of High school, so it'll hit around 60 chapters total and around 240,000 words. Think you can stick around that long? I hope so! We're on this ride together my friends. Now, let's get started with the reviews!

OH ALSO, THERE IS MUSIC INTHIS CHAPTER, THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN OFTEN, JUST EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE! I WAS A CHOIR KID SO I'M MUSICALLY DRIVEN, SO IT'LL BE PRESENT A BIT, SORRY 'BOUT IT.

And without further ado, into Chapter 3.

PERCY

Me and Annabeth walked into choir laughing and joking around. I turned to look at the class and felt at home. There were guitars lining the walls, platinum records, and trophies all over. There was an all-white guitar in the front of the class on a stand. It looked pristine.

I picked it up and gave it a strum, sounding perfectly in tune. I examined it closer in my hands, and marveled at how intricate the design was, it was flawless. It had to have been waxed before, the strings looked fresh, no scratches or dents, just amazing.

"Percy, you've been marveling over that guitar for ages," Annabeth says, a small smile on her lips, "either play something, or put it down."

"Alright," I say about to put it down, but holding it a second longer, "I'll ask if I can play during class."

"Smart," Annabeth says, nodding, "Wouldn't want the teacher to think you were taking his job, now would we?"

"Eh, it'd be funny!"

"Seaweed Brain No," she says, face palming, but with a fraction of a smile playing on her lips.

I pull out my music binder, looking over some of the music the teacher assigned for the first semester and started sight reading through it.

Kids start trickling in with the teacher, and he begins class. "Welcome to Advanced choir," he said, saying cheerily, teeth remarkably white, "My name is Mr. Solace, but you can call me Apollo." Every said their "HI's" and went and sat down. I was surprised how many friends I already had in this class. I was sitting next to Thalia, Nico, Jason, Leo, and Annabeth. "Now, I want to ask if-" he started, but was interrupted by a certain red-head bursting in.

"Sorry I'm late!" Rachel said, pulling out a note, "I was talking to the art teacher."

"No problem, now go sit down Ms. Dare." Rachel looked around, then made eye contact with me. She turned red again – dang, she must really be sick – and came and sat next to all of us.

"As I was saying, does anyone know how to play any instruments?" Nico, Thalia and I raised our hands. A handful of others, but not many. "Who would be happy to perform a solo?" I kept my hand raised when everyone else's went down. My group was thoroughly confused except for maybe Thalia and Nico. "C'mon down!" Apollo said, motioning for me to come to the front of the class.

"I play guitar, got one I can borrow?" I say jokingly. He hands me a guitar. It wasn't as spectacular as the white one, but it did still look beautiful.

"Uh," I said, suddenly a bit nervous, "I don't know what to play."

"Play Shape of You!" a kid yelled from the back.

"That has like, 30 different instruments, not just guitar!" another voice said. Oooh, choir drama already! This'll be fun.

"I can do it," I say confidently, "Acoustic isn't too hard."

"Yea right!" yelled a deep voice from the back.

I looked at the teacher and he motioned for me to go ahead. I shrugged and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, I had a playful smirk on my face. I give a powerful strum and start playing. (AN: For a second, let's ignore that they are kids :P)

The club isn't the best place to find a lover
So the bar is where I go
Me and my friends at the table doing shots
Drinking fast and then we talk slow
Come over and start up a conversation with just me
And trust me I'll give it a chance now
Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox
And then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like

I look up, and there is a mixture of faces. Some girls look delighted, some guys look at me like I'm amazing, one guy actually looked like I was going to be his dinner, but I put that aside. I looked at my group and the faces were awesome. Jason and Leo were cheering me on, Rachel looked like she was burning up – someone get her to a doctor already! – Annabeth looked wide eyed, and had a slight tinge to her face, while Thalia and Nico looked supportive, while also making funny faces. I guess performing for them for so long makes them immune to my amazing voice.

Girl, you know I want your love
Your love was handmade for somebody like me
Come on now, follow my lead
I may be crazy, don't mind me
Say, boy, let's not talk too much
Grab on my waist and put that body on me
Come on now, follow my lead
Come, come on now, follow my lead

I give a wink to a group of girls on the side of the room and hear them giggle. Thalia and Nico start laughing, Jason and Leo are still cheering me on, and Annabeth and Rachel, well, as still in a state of shock? I shrug it off and continue.

I'm in love with the shape of you
We push and pull like a magnet do
Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body
And last night you were in my room
And now my bedsheets smell like you
Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with your body
Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I
I'm in love with your body
Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I
I'm in love with your body
Oh—I—oh—I—oh—I—oh—I
I'm in love with your body
Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with the shape of you

I cut it short because I do want to get into class stuff, but give it one last strum, letting it resonate. When I finish, I hear the class applauding, and the teacher chuckling. My group is probably the loudest with Leo screaming "SIGN MY FOREHEAD PERCY!" and I can't help but to laugh. I had the guitar to Mr. Solace, and head back to my seat.

"Now that the show is over," he says with an excited smile, "let's get started!"

Class had continued without problem, except for the occasional giggling from the side of the class from a group of girls. Apparently if you can sing, girls think you're awesome. Thalia, Nico, Jason, Leo, Annabeth, Rachel and I were all leaving the class, talking about this, that, and the other. We walked to my locker and dropped everything inside, and we continued our way to the pool.

"So, you ready for this Perce?" Jason asked, holding his bag on one shoulder.

"Yea, I'll be fine!" I say confidently.

"Yea, Kelp Head'll do alright, dudes fast," Thalia added.

"Saying that he's fast is like saying a dog is hyper," Nico said sarcastically, "He isn't fast, he's a blur our there!"

"You guys are acting like he's the god of water," Annabeth says disbelieving, "I mean, how fast can he really be?"

"I haven't ever seen anyone beat him before," Nico says, thinking hard.

"Wait," Rachel says, stopping us, looking confused, "What is Percy fast at, and where are we going?" Everyone kind of gave her a look, as if questioning where she had been. Thalia and Nico traded glances, then back to Rachel.

"We're going to the pool to watch Seaweed Brain tryout," Annabeth said a little snippy. Rachels eyes widened, then smiled.

"Seaweed Brain?" Thalia asks with eyes raised, "Since when do you guys have nicknames for each other?"

"Uh," I said, not sure how to respond to that. I didn't want to let them know that Me and Annabeth had gotten in a fight in English.

"Since Lunch," Annabeth says, "We had sword fighting together, and I said he said I acted like a stupid Wise Girl, and I said he fought like he had a Seaweed Brain and they kinda stuck."

I looked at Annabeth and gave her a look of thanks. She just smiled, acting as if nothing had happened.

Thalia just shrugged and took the answer, thinking it was good enough, much like everyone else in the group.

"Twenty bucks says he beats everyone else by half a pools length," Rachel says confidently.

"That's stupid," Thalia says brashly, while everyone else's faces drop at her insult, "You've never even seen him swim, and you're willing to put that kind of money on him?" I look back at Rachel and she shrugs.

"Well, yea, you guys are confident in him, so I'll take my chances." Everyone else shrugs, and eventually, there is a little pot going on. We've reached about $100 about how much I'll win by. Rachel said half, Annabeth said a quarter, Leo and Jason both said a full pool length – these dudes know how to make a man feel good I swear – and Thalia said it'd be a photo finish. Nico didn't bet because he doesn't like to spend much of his money.

When we got to the pool, I dropped my pants, showing of my teal swim trunks, tied tightly around my waist. "Jackson!" I heard Coach Hedge yelling, "Get over here!"

"I'll be there in a sec!" I call back, turning back to my group who are sitting on the risers. I give them a giant smile, then take off my shirt, and ran to the poolside. I got this I thought to myself.

ANNABETH

I watched Percy take off his shirt and couldn't help but stare. His entire body was chiseled and muscular. His dark black hair complimented his tanned skin tone. I wasn't typically a girl to fawn over a guy for his looks, but I couldn't help it this time. Percy was hot.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a laughing Thalia and Nico. Jason, Leo, and Rachel looked a confused as I was. They were laughing for a straight minute. They stood up, wiping tears away, giving each other a high five.

"Uh," Rachel starts, eyebrow raised, "What's so funny?" Thalia and Nico trade glances, then smirk.

"Oh, you know," Nico says sarcastically, "Just enjoying the view." Thalia gives me a wink, and I get what they meant. I got caught red handed staring at their cousin, and I couldn't be more embarrassed. I flushed a bright red, but Rachel still looked a tad bit confused. Leo was too busy eating popcorn. Jason gave a quick smirk, then got a text on his phone.

"Hey, Rachel," I start, "how do you know Seaweed Brain?"

"Oh," she said, eyes looking as if they were reminiscing, "He and Thalia had helped me in the hall. My ex was being a T word."

"The T word?" Leo asked curiously with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Twat," both of us said at the same time. We looked at each other, and Rachel smiled. I gave her a small smile, still a little unsure about her.

"Ookay!" Leo said,

"Hey, do you guys mind if my … friend… Piper comes over to hang out with us?" he asks, getting a slight red tinge.

"Piper McLean?" I ask curiously.

"That's the one," he says, getting redder and redder.

"I'm alright with it, she's one of my friends actually," I say happily. I hadn't seen her this year, but I'm glad to be able to see her again.

"If Annie's cool with it, I'm cool with it," Thalia said, ignoring me glaring at her and her little nickname.

"Shhh," Nico quiets, "Percy, Luke and that blonde kid are about to go!" I raised my eyebrows about the comment about the blonde kid, but I wanted to see how well Percy would do.

I almost forget about Luke. I see Coach Hedge raise the starting gun… 3… 2… 1… Go! And they take off, Percy pushing off of the platform, diving a good 7 feet forward, making it a little farther than half the pool underwater. When he came back up, he was ahead of everyone else by at least a quarter of the pools length. Percy was flying – er – swimming insanely fast. No one had a chance. The distance he had kept growing and growing. They had hit 6 laps, when 7 other kids been left in the dust, leaving only Percy, Luke, and another blonde kid being able to make the top. Leo was cheering hard, Jason was crossing his fingers, Thalia was pumping her leg up and down nervously, Nico was whispering profanities about what he would do to Percy if he lost. Piper is here now, sitting next to Jason, watching as Jason points out his friend who she was supposed to be rooting for.

"GO PERCY!" Rachel yells, jumping up and down. She's cheering hardcore, screaming and yelling, and it makes something turn in my stomach, but I'm not sure why. Seeing this, I also stand up, and try and cheer even louder than Rachel.

"GO SEAWEED BRAIN! SWIM FASTER!" I start, waving my arms up and down. Thalia and Nico exchange glances again, giving me a sly look, but I'm too focused.

Percy is still in the lead, but Luke and Blondie are gaining ground. Blondie tires out, and slows down a bit, leaving Percy and Luke. They're on their last lap. Three fourths of the pool left… Half…. A quarter… PERCY WINS! Percy Beat Luke by a quarter of the pool left!

"YES!" I shout, excited for Percy, and my winnings from the bet.

Our group breaks out into cheers and applause. When Percy comes out of the pool, he runs up and hugs all of us, effectively getting us all wet. We're all talking about how great it was while he catches his breath.

"I think," he says, still in between breaths, "I am the fastest swimmer alive." We all laugh at his stupid joke and go to sit down on the bleachers. Percy Lays down, drying off remarkably fast and changing into his normal clothes. Luke comes up and shakes Percy's hand, wishing him a job well done.

"You were fast dude," Luke says with a smile, "Glad to have you on the team."

"Eh," Percy says, "We don't know yet. With my luck, the coach is going to say I'm part fish and disqualify me." The two chuckled and gave each other your typical bro hug. Luke sits with us, pretty much joining the group. We sat and spoke for an extra 15 minutes, leaving just Thalia, Luke, Percy, Rachel and I. Nico had gone to talk to that other blonde kid, giving me a sneaking suspicion that something was afoot, but I wasn't sure what, Leo went home to go work on his shop class project, Jason and Piper both left, something about getting a bite to eat.

"So, after me and Luke's amazing tryouts," Percy said with a grin, "How about some food and a movie?"

"Oooh, I like that idea," Luke said with a grin.

"I'm in!" Rachel said cheerily, sitting oddly close to Percy. Thalia snorts, but hides it behind a fake sneeze.

"I'm down to go," Thalia says, shrugging, "I don't have much to do so it'll be nice to get out of the house."

"I'll go, but I'll need a ride," I say. My family was well off, but I didn't have my own car yet. Something about not needing one, at least, that one Susan said.

"I can give you a lift," Percy said, with a warm smile, "I just have to move some stuff to the back seat, but other than that, you're all clear." There was an emotion that flickered on Rachels face, but it came just as fast as it went, leaving only a trace amount of emotion on her face.

"Thanks Seaweed Brain," I say with a smile, slightly happy I could make Rachel even slightly jealous. I didn't hate her, but I didn't like how close she was to Percy. She acted like they were dating or something. God, I hope not, I'm not sure how that couple could work. Rachel seemed a little too hippie for Percy.

"So," Thalia started, sounding bored as ever, "What are we going to watch?" We all looked around and shrugged. No one had thought of a potential movie.

"How about everyone gives a genre?" Thalia said questioned, "Percy?"

"Horror!" he said with a devious grin.

"Luke?"

"Action."

"Rachel?"

"Comedy?"

"And I want to watch a chick flick," Thalia said, attempting to move on.

"What about me?" I asked, curious as to why I wasn't asked.

"We aren't watching a documentary, Annie," Thalia said with a slight smirk. I blushed and tried to cover up my tracks but it didn't work.

"I wasn't – I don't – I want – shut up, Thalia."

"Luke, Percy, play Rock Paper scissors, and come here Rach," Thalia said, "Whoever wins, we see what movie they want." Everyone shrugged, and got to it, playing for their lives. Well, for what they wanted to see, but close enough. Percy had beaten Luke, and Thalia had beaten Rachel.

"Oh I'm going to win," Thalia said confidently, "I've been playing you for years now, I know exactly how you play!" Percy just shrugged, with a confident smirk. He looked at me and gave a small wink. Somethings up, he has something.

Thalia threw Paper, expecting Percy to go with Rock, but he went with scissors. "That's alright, it's only one round!" she said confidently, yet giving out a nervous laugh. The next game all happened in slow motion. Thalia threw down scissors, expecting or Percy to rotate to Paper to counter Thalia's rock, but Percy out played her, throwing down a solid rock. Thalia let out a gasp and looked at Percy. Rachel, Luke, and I all cheered, not expecting Percy to win either. Apparently, it wasn't too hard to realize that Percy wasn't a next level scholar, so to see him outplay Thalia like this was insane. Nearly 5 seconds later, we all realized that we were cheering for a game of Rock Paper Scissors. We all stopped, looking embarrassed. Percy was having a laughing fit, making it all the more embarrassing.

"Oh man, that was good," he said after finishing laughing. Thalia was angry at this. He wiped a tear from his eye, then pulled his stuff from his locker, "Anyway, aside from you guys being silly, should we get going?"

"Yep," I said happily, "See you guys at the movies." Everyone waved except Thalia who was grumbling and separated, Rachel staying behind a fraction of a second longer than Thalia and Luke. Oh yea, she likes him.

"This way to my car!" Percy exclaimed excitedly.

"You like to drive I take it?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Love it," he said with a giant smile, "It helps me clear my head sometimes… That, and my ride is totally awesome." We walked for a few minutes, strolling up to find Dark Blue Jeep with a surfboard laying across the top. Down the hood, there was a big trident decal. It looked as if it had been to the beach many times over, but still appeared to be clean. When I got inside, I was shocked. The seats were a dark black leather with blue stitching. The steering wheel was black and gold, and instead of a typical stereo, there was a screen. It looked like a GPS, but also looked a little more high tech than that. I sat down and got comfortable. I took a deep breath in, taking in the smell of sea breeze. For such a cool car, it felt homey.

"As much as I hate using my dad's money," he started, a giant grin plastered on his face, "I gotta say, it does get some cool things."

"Cool?" I ask in disbelief, "This thing is amazing!"

"Well, buckle up, and let's go!" he said excitedly. He started the car and started messing with his GPS screen, showing directions to the theater. He plugged in his phone, playing some Bruno Mars in the background.

"Trying to set the mood, Jackson?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Nah, he just has some good songs," he replied, smile wide.

We chatted about aimless stuff on the way to the theater, but my curiosity got the best of me. I had to know about Rachel.

"So," I start, trying not to sound prying, "What's up with you and Rachel?"

"She's cool," he said nonchalantly, "I helped stop Ethan from messing with her, and now she's a friend."

"Just a friend?" I ask cautiously because Rachel didn't act like just a friend.

"I mean," Percy said with a slightly confused face on, "Yea, what else would she be?"

"Percy, are you really this oblivious?"

"I thought it was your nickname that was Wise Girl."

I stared at him with a shocked look. There was no way he didn't pick up on Rachel. He took a quick peek at me and shrugged.

"Percy, she was blushing the entire time you were swimming, or when you were around her."

"She could have been sick," he tried, but I shook my head.

"She sat really close to you."

"She thinks we are good friends?"

We were at a red light now, stopped, and I was just looking at him. I was a mixture of confused, happy, frustrated, and tired. He had a face of slight confused, but just happiness. It wasn't until now that I saw the color of his eyes. They were a striking green-blue color, bright and powerful, emotions radiating through them. It was at this moment that I realized something that I didn't want to.

I had realized why Rachel had set off alarms. I liked Percy Jackson. I liked his lopsided grin, his sea green eyes, the way he carries himself, the way he defends his friends, I liked him. I immediately blushed and turned away. Through the side of my eye, I saw his emotions change ever so slightly. His smile faltered a bit, turning into a half frown.

The light turned green, and we drove the rest of the way in silence, but a comfortable silence. There was no pressure to talk. When we got to the theater, we saw Rachel talking with Thalia and Luke, except she had changed. She was wearing a black skirt with a jean jacket on, with black and white converse on.

"What's up guys!" Percy called out, waving at them. Everyone waved, and Rachel gave a giant grin. Upon closer inspection, she was also wearing makeup.

Luke leaned over and whispered into Thalia's ear, and Thalia laughed aloud. "Deal!" she said a little loudly, then shook Luke's hand. I shrugged the idea away for the moment, and we went to go buy tickets. We decided to watch a classic, Nightmare on Elm Street, and went in. Mid movie, me and Rachel both got scared, and leaned into Percy – I DID IT ON ACCIDENT – and made eye contact. We both glared and leaned away. Neither of us moved for the rest of the movie. Besides that incident, it was good. Percy drove me home and stopped in front of my house.

"Goodnight Wise Girl, thanks for coming with us tonight."

"Night Seaweed Brain," I said with a small smile, "And anytime, just let me know when you want to hang out, a vice versa."

"Will do," he said with a chuckle.

"Bye," I said, one last smile on my lips, "Drive safe."

Percy waved and drove off. I sat in front of my door and took a deep breath. I didn't hate my home, but I didn't have the best relationship with my step mom. I walked into my house quietly and got ready for bed. I looked at the time and it was nearing midnight. I sighed, laying down, plugging my phone in, and placed it on my night stand. I closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep, my last thought being of a pair of sea green eyes.

AN: Yo! We back! Sorry for it being a little longer than usual, college decided to slam me against the wall and drag me across it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and be prepared for some drama in the next coming chapters. Truths will be revealed, stories will be told, and families will be destroyed. See you then! :D

-Rocke