Disclamier: I don't own Percy Jackson, but Aria, Ashley, Amanda, and Courtney are all my characters. Ashley's POV 5 months ago Ok, I am literally the hottest b**** in Goode High. Excuse my language. But seriously. Most guys line up to get with me. They'd beat each other if I wanted them to. But I had my sites on one guy in particular, Percy Jackson. His stepdad, Paul, worked with my mom at this school so I've known Percy for awhile. He's kinda a goody-two-shoes, but I will totally take that, I mean come on he's hot! Right now I was walking into PE with my two bestie, Amanda and Courtney. Now, normally I hated physical activity but this was the only class I had with Percy. Sadly, I could never get a moment alone with him. You see, he has this annoying sister, Aria. She's super overprotective of Percy, so literally no girl can come within 10 feet of him without getting shut down by her. I've tried to be "friends" with her but she's like way to smart and she knows my game. I stood with my little group waiting for the class to start when my gorgeous, soon to be boyfriend, stalked into class. Of course he was with his monster of a sister. I smiled and brushed my tank top making sure I looked good. I turned to my friends. "So?" "So?" They asked in usion. "Idiots! How do I look?" I yelled. "Oh perfect!" Amanda commented "Totally!" Courtney added. I rolled my eyes. "Shut up." I looked back over to Percy. He just laughed at something Aria had said. I smirked, he was like an even hotter version of Zac Efron! "Do you really think your plan is going to work?" Courtney asked while twirling her hair in her fingers. I sighed. "Duh it will Court! I made it!" I took a deep breath and strutted over to my Percy. I looked down at myself. If it's not clear enough, my plan was to somehow get something Aria really cared about and somehow blame Percy so that would get them into a huge fight and then Percy is all mine! "Hey Percy." I said running my hand down his forearm. He immediately ripped his hand away. I loved it when guys play hard to get. "Uh… hi Ashley." He said while rubbing the back of his neck. "You look very handsome today, did you do something different with your hair?" I asked pushing his hair back. I looked deep into his beautiful sea-green eyes. I heard Aria scough from the left. "Uh not really, I mean I didn't shower if that's what you're asking." He said nervously. Aww! I make him nervous! "Hey Ashley don't you have to go take a selfie on the train tracks?" Aria cut in. I rolled my eyes. "Eat a light bulb." I answered. "Is that the best you can do?" She challenged, moving closer and closer to me. I noticed how her index finger was hovering over her ring on her middle finger. What was she gonna do kill me with her bad fashion choices? "Woah… easy." Percy said putting his arm in front of her. He pulled her in and whispered something into her ear. Aria sighed and took off her ring and gave it to her brother. He immediately stuffed it into his pocket. "How hard was that?" He teased. Aria punched him on the arm, a punch that seemed like it would hurt a lot, but my Percy was ripped so I guess it didn't hurt him that bad. "Be quite!" Aria mumbled, then stormed away. Percy sighed watching his sister walk away. Then he looked back at me with those giant eyes. "I should probably go get her. I'll...uh see you around." He flashed me with one of his million dollar smiles and turned to follow his sister. Before I stopped him. "Wait, can I get a hug?" I asked innocently. He hesitated but then shrugged and wrapped his large arms around my body. The fresh smell of the ocean filled the air. I sighed. Ahh Percy smelt so good! Sadly he pulled away and walked over to his sister. I watched as he tapped his sister on the shoulder. She turned and handed him her water bottle. He gladly took it from her and drank from it. I smirked and looked down. A small, gorgeous, ring with a foggy white diamond in the middle. Everything was going perfectly to plan. ~Line Break~ I slowly tapped my pencil against my note book. I looked over to the clock, "3:30," It read. I sighed. "Mom how much longer?" I asked exasperated. "I told you Ashley, I'm grading papers till 4:30." My mom answered not even looking up from the paper she was holding. My mom was the math teacher for Goode High, meaning when she had to grade papers I had to stay back with her. I shut my notebook and got up from the desk I was sitting at. "Where are you going?" she said, still not looking up. "Gonna go find a snack." I said. "Ok good, go do something." She waved me off. I huffed and walked out the door. I walked out of my mom's classroom when I saw my Percy and Aria standing in front of Aria's open locker. I hid behind the corner. I peeked my head a little so I could see what was going on. "Percy how could you have lost it!" Aria yelled. I was shocked. I was appalled, they've never argued before. "I know Aria and I'm sorry." Percy apologized. "Seriously Percy you know what that ring is!" I looked down at my middle finger where Aria's ring was. Yes! My plan is working like a charm! "I know." Percy said regrettably looking down. Aria ran a hand through her hair and then changed to Greek. I groaned. Now I couldn't understand anything. ("Perseus you are so careless. What? Because you saved the world you think you can throw things around and loose Ice?") (AN: I forgot to mention that Aria's sword is named Ice but in Greek, kinda like Riptide) ("Saving the world has nothing to do with my carelessness!) Percy yelled back. ("Oh really? Cause you've been so careless you've forgot about your wish to the gods! The proud, selfless Percy Jackson, hero of olympus, denied immortality but totally doesn't notice that demigods are still coming into camp without a parent and staying in the Hermes cabin for like I don't know 9 months!") ("You know what Aria, you're just jealous that you have been training and fighting for the gods for most of you life and don't have much to show for it, whereas I have been fighting for them for about 5 years and I'm the god's favorite.) ("F*** you!") Aria said, her voice breaking and tears welled up in her eyes. I had no idea what Percy had just said to her nor did I know what Aria just answered with but I knew one thing. It hurt her, a lot. ("Face it! I will always be the hero, and you will just be the other child of Poseidon!") Percy said. Then time seemed to slow down. I watched as Aria's hand flew upward and made contact with Percy's face, making a loud slap! The noise echoed down the hall. Aria then grabbed her backpack from her locker, slammed it shut and walked away. Percy held his own to his cheek where Aria slapped him. He leaned his back against Aria's closed locker and slowly slid down to the floor. He took his hand off his cheek and wrapped his arms around his knees and brought them to his chest. He shut his eyes tight and rested his head against the locker. "I can't believe I just did that!" He whispered, his voice helpless. I looked at him. I started to feel guilty, but I pushed it down. This was my only time to be alone with Percy. I slowly inched towards him. "Hey." I said sitting down next to him. He opened his eyes and looked at me. His eyes were filled with tears. Wow I've never seen him cry before. "Oh... hi Ashley." He said wiping his tears away. "Did you see that?" He asked. "Oh yeah I did, but I didn't understand half of it. But I mean it seemed pretty harsh considering she slapped you." I gestured to the red mark on his cheek. He touched his cheek as if he just noticed that it was gonna bruise. "Honestly I didn't really feel the slap," He admitted. "What?! How the heck can you not feel that! She slapped you really hard!" "I dunno, what hurts more is the fact that she actually hit me." "Hey it's not your fault!" I put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Ashley, but it kinda is, I lost her ring… ya know the one I took from her durning PE." I looked down at the ring and slowly hid my fingers. "Really?" I pretended to be surprised. "Yeah… I swore I put it in my pocket and when I changed in the locker room it wasn't there." He sighed. "I really should get going home." He said standing up. "Wait, no… I mean, uh we never get time together maybe this would be a good time to you know hang?" I held his forearm. "What do you mean?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "I mean I really like you Percy. For one second maybe you can forget about this whole thing with your sister and we can go out right now?" I said confidently. "Seriously?" His face was filled with disgust and anger. I automatically knew I was in the wrong. "I just got into a huge fight with my sister, my best friend, and you're asking me out?" I nodded, but stayed silent. "Gods, get away from me." He ripped his arm away from my grasp, grabbed his backpack, and started walking away. "Percy wait!" I yelled getting up and chasing after him. "Leave me alone Ashley." "Percy please!" "Urg! Ashley why the hell are you so relentless. There are so many reasons why I wouldn't go out with you ever! 1. I just got into a huge fight with my sister and I don't want to see anyone other than her! 2. I have a girlfriend, someone I will not leave for anyone! So stay the f*** away from me!" "Come on Percy what does she have that I can't give you!" "You have no idea what I've been through with her. She has always been loyal to me and vise versa. She is my best friend and the love of my life. I have no idea why the hell she chose me because she can do so much better but I am so not mad that she chose me because she is the world to me. Always have been always will be!" He glared at me and then stormed off. I stood where I was. "Damn," I muttered to myself. 2 months ago It's been 3 months since Percy's outburst. After that day I went to a party my friend was throwing and got mono. (A/N: I know this isn't possible but I couldn't think of something so please let's just live with it.) Not from anything gross, it was just from sharing a drink with my friend Sydney. I was stuck at home for 3 months, which sucked. I never gave Aria her ring back and I doubt neither her nor Percy knows I have it. Today was the day I was finally going back to school after being sick for so long. I was excited to see my friends and stuff again but most of all I was ready to try and win Percy back. I doubt he and his "girlfriend" were still together. "Hey girls!" I yelled as I walked into school and ran up to my group of friends. "Ash!" They both yelled. We hugged and then started catching up. "So, what's been happening since I was gone?" "Oh well Chris just came back from being suspended for 2 weeks and-" I cut Courtney off. "No! I mean Percy wise!" She gave a small "oh". "Well he and Aria are still on bad terms. They don't talk anymore they just kinda, "eye" each other."" She answered. I nodded and thought. Great! I walked into math which I conveniently had with Percy and Aria. I noticed Percy was sitting in the frontrow so I sat behind him. His head was up but he was just staring into space, no emotion on his face. I was about to tap him on the shoulder when the teacher came in. I sighed. Great there goes my chance for an 1 hour. I looked around the classroom but didn't see Aria anywhere. Where could she be? "Aria? Wonderful of you to finally join us?" Ms. Jacks said. I looked up to see Aria standing there, her black long hair wet. "Sorry Ms. Jacks, I got a little caught up in the pool." She answered looking for a place to sit. Unfortunately for her the only seat left was the one next to her brother. She sighed and sat in the chair. I noticed how Percy and Aria eyed each other. It was like a small glare and a small bit of hate before they both looked away in usion. Ms. Jacks sighed and then continued with class. "Alright, anyways we're going to have a pop quiz. So everyone put everything away but a pencil." Ms. Jacks walked around passing out the papers. I mentally groaned. Great back for like 20 minutes and I already had a test. I worked through the paper, and I noticed how I didn't know a single thing on this test. When I got closer to the end of it my pencil broke. I huffed and got up to sharpen my pencil. Aria's POV Ok I didn't mean to be late. I honestly hated my time in school because I had every single class with my brother. Ever since he lost my sword, the one I grew up with, the only sword I felt comfortable to fight with, everything has gone to crap. I mean seriously. I hate to admit it but Percy is my only real friend in this hell hole. I mean sure people are nice and all but they don't compare to him. This morning Paul had to get to school early so he dropped Percy and I off and ran into his classroom. Percy and I don't talk anymore, we kinda just glance at each other and then go our separate ways. But today, he didn't make eye contact with me at all. He just walked away, so I, in a huff, decided I wanted to go somewhere I won't have to worry about anyone. My final decision was the pool, I slowly crept into the indo pool and turned on the light. I started at the blue water. The water still, calm, how I wish I was right now. I took a deep breath and jumped in. I didn't know how long I spent in the water, but all I know is that I totally forgot I needed to be in class, so by the time I got there class had started. I groaned when I saw that only seat left was the one right next to Percy. I slowly walked over and took my seat. As we started the test I noticed Ashley was back. I sighed. I couldn't protect Percy from her anymore because we were "pissed" at each other, so unless we made up I couldn't do anything to help him stay away from that freak. Great, now I'm going to have to watch Ashley flirt with him for the rest of the year. Once I finished my test I bent down to get my Greek Myths book out. I know, a demigod reading a Greeks Myth book, but hey, once camp starts up again Annabeth and I were assigned to teach the campers about their parents and the old greek myths so I'm just making sure I know everything and I don't teach the wrong things. As I was reading about Hercules, (gag!) something flashed in my eye, like a ray of light shining through the window except it was to sharp and blinding to be from the natural sun. I looked up to see Ashley sharpening her pencil, but something on her middle finger was making that ray of light. I squinted to see what it was. It was a ring, but not just any ring my ring! I growled and stood up walking over to the little b****.
Ashley's POV "That's my ring!" A voice yelled from behind me. I turned and saw Aria standing behind me, her fists clenched together, her eyes flared with anger. "What?" I asked stupidly. "On your middle finger! That's my ring!" She yelled. By now the entire class was watching us. I snuck a quick glance at Percy. He was staring intently at us. Curiosity written all over his face. "Aria, Ashley! You're disrupting the class! Sit down now!" Ms. Jacks scolded. I tried to walk past Aria stepped in front of me. "Give me my ring now!" Aria glared at me, her small hand reached out. "N-no! Finder's keepers!" I yelled back. My eyes darted to Percy. He was still staring at us. I thought I was being slick but when my eyes met with Aria's I noticed how she followed my gaze. Soon her face changed from anger to realization. "Y-you took it from Percy's pocket! You somehow made contact with him and took it!" She yelled. "Aria, Ashley go back to your seats." Ms. Jacks warned. "No not until she gives me my damn ring back!" Aria demanded. "Where is it?" Ms. Jacks questioned. "Middle finger!" "What? This finger?" I said sticking up my middle finger in her face. Aria growled and muttered. "Screw it!" Aria grabbed my finger and bent it backwards. Pain surged from my finger to the rest of my body. She kept bending and bending until I finally screamed for mercy. "Ok ok take it! Please just let go!" I screamed. "Ariana Jackson!" Ms. Jacks yelled standing up and coming to my aid. My vision blurred through the pain of my finger and the tears in my eyes. I watched as Aria finally let go of my finger and ripped off her ring from my small red finger, and put it on her own. "I-I can't believe you just did that!" Ms. Jacks yelled frazzled trying to help me. "To the principal's office now!" Aria just stared, not saying a word. She nodded and walked out of the classroom. I used my good hand to wipe the tears away. My vision cleared and looked at the classroom. Everyone's eyes were on me, but I wasn't looking for them. My eyes darted towards the seat Percy sat in, but he wasn't there. I knew right away where he was going. "Ms. Jacks, I need to go to the nurse." She nodded and hurried me out the door. I held my finger. I inspected it, not broken, just red and very swollen. At most it was terribly sprained. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I held my finger again and ran towards the office. I looked into principal's office but no one was in there. "Um excuse me," I said to the secretary. She looked up from her computer and stared back at me with bored eyes. "Has anyone entered in here recently like maybe 5 seconds ago?" "No, not since you." She snapped. I rolled my eyes and stormed out of the office. Where the heck could they be? I had to think for a second. If there is one thing I knew about the Jackson was they were very rebellious so Aria wouldn't have actually gone to the office. She would go somewhere where she can think, and knowing Percy he would have gone too to be there for her. Then I had an idea. I ran to the front door and sprinted for the indoor pool. I slowly opened the door and quickly looked in. I saw Aria and Percy sitting at the edge of the pool, their legs dipped into the water. Neither of them saying a word. I stepped inside and held the door as it closed so it didn't make a noise. I quietly crept to the bleachers and took a seat far enough where they most likely couldn't see me but also close enough where I could still hear them. They both stayed silent for exactly 5 more minutes. "I'm sorry I blamed you Percy." Aria said putting a hand on his knee. "No don't-" Percy said but to be cut off by Aria. "No Percy, I shouldn't have overreacted like that… and everything I said I didn't mean it, I am so happy for all of your success in life and I want you to know that I am terribly sorry and I feel really–" I watched as Percy grabbed his twin sister and pulled her into a long deep hug. It wasn't a romantic hug but more a of sweet and kind sibling hug that I wished I could have experienced sometime in my life. When they finally pulled apart, Percy was smirking. "I bet I can stay under longer than you." "Oh you're so on!" Aria stood up and pencil dived into the water, splashing Percy and in turn soaking him from head to toe. When the water calmed Percy was smiling like the Chesire Cat. Shaking his head, he dived in after his sister. I then got up out of my seat and walked over to the gym door. I took one last look at the water and sighed. As I was walking back to class, I realized something. I realized that I can never get with Percy, not because he has another girlfriend and not because he's not my type but because he will always have Aria there to protect him from me. And I also realized I can never get in between Percy and Aria no matter how hard I tried. They have something that no other siblings or friends have. They have a connection, a bond, something stronger than any metal on earth. I realized, I needed to stop screwing with this family, for good. 1 month ago I had stopped messing with the Jacksons. I decided fully that they weren't people to mess with. I moved on from my crush on Percy, and actually managed to get a boyfriend. He's sweet, kind, funny, and basically everything Percy was, except ya know… he actually loves me. I changed my ways, I was no longer expecting of every guy and stopped screwing up people's lives. I was a changed person. Today was the last day of school before summer. I was super excited, Courtney, Amanda, Jake (A/N: Yeah… Yeah! She got with that one guy from my first chapter! The one that hit on Aria!) and I were all going to California for a summer holiday trip. We were going to meet Jake's aunt back in LA and hang out there for the rest of the summer! AH! Jake doesn't go to my school so school basically sucked. Courtney and Amanda both decided to ditch today but because I'm living a new life (and because my mom's a teacher) I didn't. Plus it's a half day, so I felt there was really no reason to skip out. At this moment, school had just ended and everyone was going crazy in the halls. I was walking down the hall when I passed Aria. She was putting some books into her backpack. I stared at her for a while. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a navy blue tank top, and a black vest. I took a deep breath and strolled over to her. As I walked, my breathing shortened, a nervous pit grew in my stomach. I haven't talked to this girl since the whole "episode" so I wasn't sure if there was still some sort of grudge. Fortunately, I pushed it down and continued walking. "Hi." I greeted, Aria turned her head with a smile but when she saw it was me, her face turned to confusion and caution. "Hi… Ashley?" "Um… how are you?" I said awkwardly. "Look Ashley, I don't know your game here but please save it," She snapped. She then threw her bag over her shoulder, slammed her locker, and started walking away. Until I grabbed her wrist. "Aria wait. Please just hear me out." Aria looked backwards towards the front doors of the building and then back at me. "Fine." She sighed. I let go of her wrist and started. "Look, I'm really sorry for everything I did to you and Percy. I regret it and I fully understand if you hate me but I just really want to clear things up before the school year ends." She gave a small sigh, and then smirked at me. "Thanks… I guess. I heard you started a "new" lifestyle." I nodded. "Your right." She turned her head again towards the doors. "How about, we just forget everything that happened and just start over?" I let go of her wrist and she stuck it out towards me. I gratefully shook it. Our deal was made. We then walked together towards the doors together. "So, where's Percy?" I asked. She gave me a weird look. "Oh not for that reason!" "Mhm… anyways he's gone to camp already, he decided since it was a half day and last day of school, that he was ditch. Plus his girlfriend is at camp right now and he desperately needed to see her." I smiled, before my "change" if I heard that I would have been jealous to the max, but I've moved on and I was happy that Percy was happy. "But because your a good person, you came anyways." She laughed. I was surprised, I never truly thought that we could be friends. Ever. "I guess so, but my friend is coming to pick me up right now to take me to camp." We pushed the doors opened together and walked out. Immediately, the rase of sun filled our eyes, the New York summer heat hit us across the face. "Oh there's my ride." Aria interrupted. She pointed to a silver convertible Camaro. There, leaning against the hood of the car was a very handsome blonde boy. He was in a simple gray v-neck with dark blue jeans. He was reading a book which gave him a somewhat nerdy vibe but at the same time he was very muscular like he lifted weights every single day. "Ooo! Who's that?" I asked teasingly. She smirked and gave a dreamy sigh. "That's my boyfriend, Malcolm." I nudged her raising my eyebrows, hinting for more details. "Well, we've been together for almost 2 years, we met at camp, and yeah." "Aw that's cute!" Malcolm looked up from the book he was reading and noticed us. A large smile grew on his face, and he raised his hand to wave. Aria grinned and waved back. "I better go." She started away, but turned around. "Have a nice summer." She said with a smile. I waved at her and watched her run to her boyfriend's outstretched arms. The shared a tender kiss before they pulled apart. Malcolm walked to the passenger's seat and opened the door for his girlfriend. Once she was safely in the car he walked to the driver's seat and closed the door behind him. Slowly the car started to inch away. The car gave a loud roar and then drove off. I grinned, I was ready for summer. Present Summer was over, I had a great summer. I had a great time in Cali, I even got a tan! Sadly it ended too quickly and I was back in school for my Senior year of high school. I wasn't too upset about it, I had a plan to breeze through this year. It had been a week into school and I hadn't seen either of the Jacksons, but I just assumed that they were both still at their little camp. That is, until today. I was walking down the hall, to my math class when I saw Aria Jackson taking books from Percy's locker. I studied her. She honestly looked horrible. She was dressed in black yoga pants and a gray zip up hoodie that looked way too big for her. Her dark wavy hair was in a very messy bun with multiple fly-aways. But the one thing that stood out the most was her eyes. Her eyes red and puffy. Her under eyes were dark as if she hasn't had any sleep for weeks. Her sea-green orbs were no longer filled with happiness and playfulness like they once were, now they were filled with heartache and despair. "Hey, what happened to you?" I asked rushing over to her. Aria turned her head and narrowed her eyes. "Nothing." She snapped. I was taken aback. I thought we were friends. "That's obviously a lie." She ignored me and continued shoving Percy's books into her backpack. "Hey, Aria talk to me." I said grabbing her wrist, like I did so many months ago. She ripped her arm away from me grasp and looked me dead in the eyes. "Leave. Me. Alone!" She spat. "Ok!" I said putting my hands up in surrender. "I will, but first you need to tell me what's wrong." She looked around as if making sure no one would hear her. When her eyes met mine again, they were welting up with tears. "Something happened over summer ok?" I nodded understandingly. "Ok, I get it. So are you not staying for the year?" I gestured to her backpacked filled with books and other things from her brother's locker. She nodded without saying a word. "What about Percy?" She flinched when I said her brother's name. "N-no he's not." Her voice broke. She set the backpack on the ground and finished stuffing everything in it. She then proceeded to zip it up and putting it on her shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry for being rude, but I just can't with any of this right now." She started walking away and I had to speed walk to pace with her. "Hey, come on. Slow down. I want to help." She turned to me, looking me in the eye. "Thank you for being a great friend to me, but there's just somethings you can't understand ok? So please don't try." I was hurt. Truly hurt. She continued walking, but I stopped her once more to ask her one last question. "Aria. Where's Percy?" When she turned back again. My heart nearly broke. Her eyes were full of sadness as if someone had just ripped her away from everything she truly cared about in this world. "I don't know." Was the last words I ever heard Ariana Jackson say. I never saw her nor Percy again, and all I was left with was the thought of the two people who changed my life, forever.