HII GUYS! I'm glad to be back! I honestly only have one word for why this update is late...finals. Although I'm happy school is almost out I'm not liking this at all, but really, does anyone?
OK that's enough about me. I present to you the 20th chapter of Layers.

P.S. I do not own the characters in this story, that title belongs to Rick Riordan. I just use them as my puppets. :)

Previously on Layers...

And then he pressed his lips to hers.

Fireworks.

Making out was fun, Annabeth had decided.

Of course this wasn't her first time kissing someone. There was Jason, and then that one kid from freshman year, but it felt like he was trying to eat her face so she doesn't count that time.

Being with Percy however, was just a different experience all together.

He was gentle, yet firm and demanding. A combination that made Annabeth weak in the knees. Honestly if she could just kiss this God for the rest of her life, she'd die happy.

Seriously his mouth was like heaven.

Like...nutella and penutbutter and...Percy.

What came second in the feel-goodometer, was when Annabeth would run out of breath and stop to take a break. Percy would just move to her neck. She was positive she had a hickey, but she didn't care, it felt too good, nothing makeup couldn't fix.

These were the thoughts going through Annabeth's head while her and Percy were on their 2nd hour of straight smooching.

They broke apart, their breathing labored. "Damn I love your lips, they should be patented."

She felt those said lips curl up into a smile against her cheek as he chuckled.

"Really, well they should do the same to your hair. Running my hands through it is about to become my new favorite pass time. Forget swimming."

Annabeth giggled as she curled into his side.

His kissed the crown of her head softly and sighed, "You know we have to talk about this eventually."

"I know, but we can do that later." She pouted.

"Your version of the later would be never." He chuckled.

"That's fine by me."

"Beth," he sighed, "Why are you so against talking?"

"Because," She hid her face in his chest, trying to ignore the butterflies in her belly from hearing his nickname for her. "Talking about it makes it real."

Percy was quiet for a minute, making Annabeth think he had dropped it.

"And you don't want this to be real?" He asked in a quiet voice, but she coukd hear the vulnerability in it.

She sat up and grabbed his face. Her insecurities were effecting him and she needed to get it together.

"I do. I do so much. It's just, when this becomes a real thing, which it kind of already is, I'm going to have to come to terms with all these feelings that I have and that I'm pretty sure it's too early for me to have." She sighed and dropped her head down on his shoulder. "But you're right. We need to talk. Honestly though, talking can't make this any more real than it already is. Putting a label on it won't change my feelings any."

"I agree. Although...I am pretty fond of labels." He nudged her.

Annabeth groaned and Percy let out a large laugh.

"Does the idea of being my girlfriend that unappealing? I mean I know my last one ended up liking girls, but I promise that wasn't my fault." He laughed.

Annabeth chuckled and hit his shoulder, "You know that's not true. I just...ifeellikeatrollop." She mumbled.

"I didn't hear that last bit, think you could say that again?" He teased.

"I said, I feel like a trollop."

Annabeth didn't expect Percy to explode into laughter.

"Did you laugh just say laugh 'trollop'?" He cackled.

Annabeth scowled at him.

"Yes, I did and I do! I just got out of a relationship with one guy and now less than a few days later I'm with another one!"

Percy's laughter calmed down when he saw she was serious.

"Baby," he placed his hands on both sides of her face and squished her cheeks. "It doesn't matter what people say or think. Their opinion is irrelevant. I'm not about to wait the required amount of time that's socially acceptable, before I can date you. No. I want you to be my girlfriend and I want to tell the world as soon as possible."

Annabeth just melted into a puddle of goo.

She kissed his lips softly, "Well, when you put it that way, then...so do I."

(...)

The next day, Friday, Percy came in the morning to take Annabeth to school. She was surprised to find him parked in front of her building.

She hopped into the passenger side and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, only for him to turn his head at the last second and press his lips to hers.

She giggled, "You know it's illegal to park here right?"

He turned the car on and pulled of the building entrance. "Yes, but I wanted to take my girlfriend to school, unfortunately I was hit with a roadblock when I realized that I didn't know which apartment you lived in."

"Okay two things: One, you do realize Goode is literally across the street from my house," she said as he pulled into the school parking lot. "And two, I'm very glad you didn't come up to my apartment today. My mother was in rare form, she was more irritable than usual like a grizzly. I don't want to subject you to that."

"Annabeth I have to meet her eventually," he sighed.

She ran her hand through his hair and scratched lightly like she knew he liked. "I know. But I would rather we waited for a little bit. You know how I was telling you I didn't want people to think I was a trollop?"

Percy chuckled lightly, "Yes, how could I forget?"

"Yeah well my mom would just skip to calling me a whore. Her only daughter, having two different boyfriends in a matter of days." She mocked in Athena's voice.

Percy gripped her hand, "Okay okay, we can wait to tell her, it's not that big of a deal. I just want you to know- Annabeth look at me," He grabbed her chin and pulled it gently towards him, "I want you to know that *I* don't think you're a trollop or a whore or what anyone could possibly say about you."

He sighed, "If...you don't want to tell anyone about us right now that's fine."

"No, I'm only worried about my mother. At school though? No you're mine. I don't want any of those hags trying to flirt with you anymore." She crossed her arms and huffed.

Percy just looked at her with a teasing smile, "You are so cute."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes and got out of the truck to grab her bag.

Percy came around to her side and entwined their fingers.

"You ready?" He asked as they walked closer to the school.

"Nope. But let's go."

Walking into school attached to Percy Jackson wasn't a big deal. Annabeth felt like she was just going to class with the RIGHT person this time.

However, the population of Goode High thought differently.

All they saw was the school's sweetheart and badboy, together.

Percy felt amazing walking down the hall with Annabeth's hand in his.

Annabeth however, felt like she was going to slap the hell out of the next girl that looked at Percy like he was a chew toy.

She leaned over and growled in his ear, "If one more girl looks at you, they're getting bitch slapped."

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist, "Same goes for the guys. But I'm relishing in the fact that I'm the one holding your hand...and they are not."

She just hummed and leaned up to kiss him. His lips were glorious and she was addicted.

She heard someone next to them gasp. She rolled her eyes thinking it was just a response to them kissing, but when Percy's body tensed next to her's she knew that wasn't the case.

She looked up to see him staring above her head. A unreadable expression on his face, but the tension in his jaw was clear as day.

She turned around to see everyone doing the same. She craned her neck and immediately wanted to roll her eyes at the sight.

Jason and Piper were walking down the hall, much like she and Percy had minutes ago. Except Jason didn't have the cocky smirk on his face like Percy had, he actually looked kind of constipated and Piper wasn't much better.

Annabeth was pretty sure they weren't expecting the audience.

She just sighed and turned around to see Percy looking at her with a cautious expression.

"What?" She asked confused.

"I'm not sure if a meltdown is about to happen or not." He said quietly.

"Me? Why would I have a meltdown?"

Percy just looked away and shrugged. "Well this is the first time you've seen them together since we caught them."

"And?"

"And...I figured you might be sad."

She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "Why would I be sad?" She asked and continued when she didn't get a response from him. "Do you think I still have feelings for him?"

"Don't you?" He shot back.

"Why would you date me if you thought I still have feelings for Jason?"

She asked in a harsh whisper, ignoring his question.

"Well I figured that you could learn to lo- like me more than him."

He stammered.

Annabeth felt her lips twitch at his slip up, but she figured that was another talk for another day.

"Percy. I don't have feelings for him anymore. You know that."

He narrowed his eyes, "You guys were still together when he cheated. It's not like you wanted to break up."

Annabeth took a deep breath just getting angrier and angrier. Jealous Percy was hot for about 2 seconds. Now, it's just really freaking annoying.

"Percy I think we need to have a talk."

His eyes widened comically.

"Not that!" She whispered as her heart picked up when she realized what he was assuming.

"I mean that we need to talk about us, like you wanted to before. Because obviously some of us need to get some things out." She glared at him pointedly. "And school is not the place to do it."

Percy managed to look sheepish for a second. "Yeah, you're right."

"I know I am," she said sassily. She grabbed her backpack and threw it on her shoulder. "Now. We are going to go to class and YOU are going to cool down so we can have a civilized conversation later." When she finished she turned around and headed for class.

She didn't make it far though.

Percy had scooped her up from behind and held her against the lockers. He grabbed her face and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. When they broke apart their breathing was slightly labored as they stared each other down.

"I didn't want you to leave angry with me. That was one thing my mom ingrained into my head from early on."

"I thought it was never go to bed angry?" She asked, dazed.

"Was that an invitation to go to bed with you? Because I can make that work." He said cheekily.

Annabeth blushed and nudged him away. "It's a good thing your cute."

He smiled and asked teasingly, "You think I'm cute?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him one last peck on the lips and then turned to head to class. "Goodbye, Percy."

She almost stopped short when she noticed everyone in the hallway was look at them. She flushed and hid her face behind her hair as she swiftly walked away from Percy's laughter.

(...)

To say that 1st period was awkward would be an understatement. Her and Piper were immediately paired up as partners for the upcoming project the teacher had assigned and while you think that would force conversation, Piper stayed silent and just fidgeted the whole time while Annabeth took charge.

"Serves her right," Annabeth thought. She immediately felt bad though.

And then she felt bad for feeling bad in the first place .

The whole situation with Piper was confusing.

She slid into the seat next to Percy with a large sigh.

He nudged her, "How'd it go?"

She shrugged, "It was awkward. We are partners for our new project and she didn't say anything the whole time. It was like she was giving me the silent treatment. Shouldn't I be the one giving her the silent treatment?"

Percy opened his mouth to respond, but the question was obviously rhetorical because Annabeth just kept on talking.

"And then I was thinking some not very not nice thoughts about her and then I would feel bad immediately after because she doesn't deserve that... does she?"

Percy didn't answer for a second wondering if she was just thinking to herself. He took his cue to speak when she looked up at him with a questioning look on her face.

"I think that his is her fault to an extent, Annabeth. It was her duty as a friend to not betray you or your trust and she did. I think she feels guilty, not entitled. Maybe that's why she didn't speak to you today."

Annabeth chewed on her lip while she though that over.

Percy grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with her's. "Think of it this way. If the roles were switch and you had feelings for me while I was still dating Caly, would you continue behind her back?"

She found herself immediately shaking her head. "No. I'd like to think that I'd tell you to chose. Me or her, not both."

"Okay," he sighed, "Okay, but what if I told you I wasn't going to break up with her?"

"Then...I would get out of that situation."

"So don't you think Piper should have tried to do the same?" He asked quietly.

She sighed heavily and layed her head on his shoulder. "I just want to give her the benefit of the doubt."

He rubbed his hands up and down her arm. "Even if you do find her at fault, you can still forgive her." He paused, "I wouldn't, but to each their own." He chuckled.

"You forgave Calypso." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that's different."

"I don't see how." She said getting slightly irritated.

"It is. Calypso had been my girlfriend. She lied to me and now she's been demoted to just 'friend'." He said confidently.

Annbeth stared at him for a second. "So if I lie to you I just get demoted to your friend?"

Percy looked down and hesitated before his voice went to a whisper, "No. You're different Annabeth."

"Different how?" She furrowed her brows.

"I didn't want you to freak out so I didn't say anything, but...Annabeth we haven't even been dating 24 hours yet and I already feel a thousand times more for you than I ever did with Calypso. That's another reason that it was easy to forgive her, because in the grand scheme of things... we didn't feel that strongly about each other."

He sighs and runs a hand down his face. "If we were to break up it would be painful, putting it mildly. And I don't know what kind of friendship we could have after that."

Annabeth was quiet for a moment. "I think I could understand that. I mean, I'm incredibly pissed at Jason, because he threw our friendship and relationship in my face. But... I could forgive him eventually. You, you're different. My feelings are different."

Percy smiles at her softly, "Wow. Who knew we would be sharing our deep feelings during Mr. Brunner's class."

Annabeth chuckled and intertwined her fingers with his. "If you would have told me at the beginning of school that we would be together, and actually lo-like each other." She shook her head, "I would have told them they were crazy."

Percy raised his eyebrow in acknowledgment of her slip up.

Annabeth just blushed and avoided his gaze.

"I heard that."

She pulled away from him.

"I know."

Percy scooted over noticing her change of mood.

"Hey now, what just happened? Why did you get all quiet."

"Because I don't wanna talk about that right now." She said sighing.

"What? Love?" He asked confused.

"Yes love! It's too soon for...this."

She said waving her hands around.

"We just got together Percy!"

Percy stared at Annabeth for what felt like hours to her.

He finally sighed. "Annabeth you brought it up, not me. Why are you freaking out about this? Isn't that what we want eventually?"

"Yes, but not right now." She whispered.

Percy sat up and pulled Annabeth to his chest.

"I don't want to freak you out, but I'm not going to lie to you either." He took a deep breath. "It's going to be very easy to fall in love with you Annabeth Chase."

He felt her gasp against him.

"Now it might not happen tomorrow or next week, but it's going to happen. So...I'm just giving you a heads up."

Annabeth felt a smile crawling across her face. "You Percy Jackson, are the only person who would warn somebody ahead of time about falling in love with them."

He shrugged, "I want you to be prepared."

Annabeth turned around and kissed Percy sweetly on the lips.

"Well Perce. I don't know if it will happen tomorrow or next week, but it's going to be very easy to fall in love with you too."

(...)

Percy and Annabeth walking into Sally's bookstore for the first time as a couple. Their hands were locked and their stomachs were full of butterflies.

Annabeth wasn't that worried about telling Sally about their relationship, she just didn't want her to think badly of her.

Percy however was excited, he would finally get to rub it in his mom's face that he had finally gotten Annabeth.

Sally came around the corner after hearing the bell on the door chime. She came to a stop when she saw her son and Annabeth.

"Hey guys! I don't have much work for you to do today so-."

She stopped talking when she saw Percy and Annabeth's linked fingers.

Her smile was even wider than Percy's, her eyes were almost closed.

"Finally, Percy! I was wondering when you were going to grow some balls and ask her out!"

Ah Sally, you got to love her.
Please review guys I would like to know how you felt about this chapter.

QUESTION: How do you feel about Piper and Jason at this point?

~ TUTU