Chapter 3

Percy POV

I can't fucking stop thinking about Annabeth. It's like the moment we met is a video set on a loop in my mind. I was just riding my skateboard down the sidewalk (very slowly and cautiously of course) when out of nowhere comes this girl, flying around the corner. And next thing I know she's on top of me and I'm looking into these beautiful, stormy grey eyes, and her blonde curls are brushing across my face as she gets up and then suddenly I'm picking up her tampons, and now I can't stop thinking about her.

I feel like the fact that she (quite literally) came speeding into my life and knocked me off my feet is a metaphor for something, but considering the fact that I basically failed English, I really shouldn't start psychoanalyzing my life.

Right now I am sitting in my dad's temporary office in LA's Marine Biodiversity Center waiting for him to get out of some major conference. Typically, I wouldn't bother coming with him to this kind of thing because, man, it is boring AF here. But right now, my dad is giving a research pitch with a lot riding on its back and I think he needs the support, not to mention, I really want to know the outcome cause it'll kind of determine the rest of my summer.

Basically, my dad is some major marine biologist dude with a whole lot of research degrees and shit meaning that he pretty much just gets to do research about the ocean, record it, and get paid for it. Sounds pretty sweet if you ask me, but anyway, because my dad's job requires him to do a lot of different research projects, he gets to travel all over the world, which is why my mom has primary custody over me.

My mom and I live up in New York, and I absolutely love it there, except my mom just married this guy Paul, and I really think that they need some time to themselves which is why I agreed to spend the summer down here in LA with my dad when he asked me to come with him. Right now, he is in a meeting pitching his idea for some major environmental research project right along the coast of LA's beaches, and if the Los Angeles Marine Biodiversity Center decides to fund his research, then that means that I can stay with my dad here in LA for the rest of the summer while he continues his research, so I'm really hoping that this meeting goes well.

I have ADHD and get distracted very easily which is why I am currently spinning around in my dad's work chair and shooting rubberbands at the door trying and entertain myself while he's gone.

So basically, I have my ADHD to blame when my dad returns to his office and I accidentally hit him in the face with a rubber band when he opens the door.

I nearly fall out of the chair trying to stand up. "Dad! How'd it go?"

My dad's face lights up. "It went great Perce. They've decided to fund the whole thing and are even going to give me an extension if I end up needing it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "That is really great dad," I say as I begin to head for the door, ready to finally leave the confines of the office. I am a couple steps down the hallway when my dad calls after me.

"Hey Perce?"

I turn around. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you forgetting something? My office kind of looks like a rubber band bomb exploded."

I cringe. "Shoot sorry dad."

I quickly run back and scramble to pick up the rubber bands I left strewn across my dad's carpet, and once I am done, my dad and I make our way down to the parking garage and get in the car to head back to the resort.

As my dad starts the car, he looks over at me from the driver's seat. "Hey, so I was thinking that maybe tonight, you and I could go out to dinner at the resort to celebrate my new job?"

My face lights up. "Yeah totally," I say. "Can we go to Ambrosia?"

My dad smiles. "I don't see why not."

"Yes!" I shout and pump my fist.

Ambrosia is my favorite of the resort's restaurants. Even though it's pretty fancy and you have to dress up really nicely to go there, they have a dessert menu that is to die for and they make pasta that is almost godly it's so good.

"Dad, I've been meaning to ask, how long did Uncle Zeus say we have the room for?"

Zeus is my uncle on my dad's side and is a major businessman in the hotel industry. He owns Olympus Resort and has agreed to let my dad and me stay there free of charge while my dad is working in LA, but I was just wondering if that offer extends all the way till the end of summer now that my dad and I are going to be here for a while.

"I already worked it out with him," my dad says. "My brother says that we are welcome to stay as long as we would like.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Could this day get any better?

Once my dad and I arrive back at the resort, I ask him to drop me off at my cousins' room which is fairly close to the Colosseum and right next to my own room, which I am super happy about. Thalia and Jason are about a year apart and are Uncle Zeus's children which is why they also get to stay here at the resort for the whole summer. I honestly love them both so much, I mean, we've all been close our entire lives, I have no idea what I would do without them. We all have so much in common, all of us having grown up in New York and having had to deal with our dads being away all the time. I think that growing up with such similar lifestyles has only caused us to grow closer and closer over the years.

I walk up the pavement and knock hard on their door. I can hear Thalia's speaker blasting AC/DC from behind the door and can almost imagine Jason rolling his eyes at her taste in music.

Jason opens the door to let me in and seems ridiculously glad to have an excuse to turn down Thalia's music.

"Thals, Percy's here," Jason yells to the other room and Thalia walks into the room, soaking wet in her bathing suit.

"Hey Perce," Thalia says and grabs a towel off the rack by the door to dry herself off.

"Oh, did you go to the pool?" I ask her.

Thalia nods. "Went with Piper and some of the other girls. It was really nice out, you guys totally should've come."

"Couldn't've come even if I wanted to," I start. "My dad had that pitch today."

Jason sits down on the couch. "Oh how'd that go by the way?"

"Great," I tell him. "They accepted the offer which means I get to stay here with you guys for the rest of the summer."

"Oh wonderful," Thalia sarcastically jokes.

I laughingly push her on the couch and take a handful of chips from the bowl Jason is holding. It's almost four o'clock, and I am absolutely starving. I should probably grab something small to eat before I start getting ready for dinner. I walk over to the kitchen and pop some leftover chinese food that had been sitting on the counter into the microwave.

"Hey jason, do you by any chance have a tie that I could borrow tonight?" I ask him as I watch my chow mein spin around in the microwave. "I'm going out to dinner and I spilled hot sauce on mine."

Jason laughs and combs his light blonde hair out of the way of his glasses. "Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks man."

Thalia smirks. "Percy, I see you've been holding out on us. Who's the lucky lady?" She asks playfully.

I pull my food out of the microwave and sit down between her and Jason on the couch. "Jesus Thals, you're so nosy. I don't need the tie for a date, I'm just going out with my dad to celebrate him getting the job."

"Oh you're so much less exciting than I thought," Thalia says. "And my standards were pretty low. For once I thought you were actually acting on your interest in some girl rather than just ignoring your feelings like you usually do."

Against my will, a mental picture of Annabeth's grey eyes and the feeling of her blond curls brushing against my face pops into my mind, but I quickly push it away and take a bite of my food. Maybe I do suppress my feelings like Thals is saying I do, but it's always for a good reason. Tonight I have to focus on my dad. I quickly make a mental pact with myself to not think about Annabeth for the rest of the night.