The new and revised Chapter Two!

I hope it's better than the last one, which, now that I read it, seems utterly crappy. I have no idea how you guys liked it.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or any of its characters.

Chapter 2: Prom Proposals and Explanations

*Percy POV*

"What am I supposed to get her?" I complained. "Everything I point out, you find some fault with it!"

I knew I should never have brought Nico along. He was doing serious damage to my self-esteem, not to mention my patience.

Nico shrugged. "Dude, she's a girl. I'm pretty sure she won't like half the things you keep pointing out." "Well, what makes you such an expert on girls? You're 14. And you don't have a girlfriend. No experience."

Nico scowled. "I'll be 15 in another three months!"

I ignored him and turned to Grover. "What's wrong with this, G-man?" I dangled the bracelet in front of him. Grover shrugged. "It looks fine to me."

I groaned. "You said that for the last fifteen items I picked out, Grover."

"Well, they all look okay to me!" Grover defended himself. "How am I supposed to know anyway? I'm not Annabeth's boyfriend. You are. You choose."

"Well, you've been dating Juniper for three years!" I pointed out. "Shouldn't you know what girls like?"

"She's a dryad! Dryads don't wear bracelets!"

"Nice help you two are," I huffed. "I never should have asked you guys to come along."

"Oh, so now it's our fault?" Nico shot back. "Weren't you the one who was all like I-totally-need-help-because-I-am-so-idiotic-when-it-comes-to-girls-and-I-have-no-idea-what-to-get?"

"I did not say that," I started hotly when Grover interrupted us. "Will you please shut up? I'm getting a migraine and satyrs can't even get migraines!" (Hehe I totally just parroted this from the first book when Percy and Annabeth are arguing. Poor Grover, always getting stuck in the middle.)

Unfortunately, he said this just as two girls walked by. They shot us weird looks and then sped up as if we were the plague.

"Great job Grover," Nico said sarcastically. "Just let the whole world know you've got hooves, why don't you?"

Grover turned red and said nothing.

I sighed and started to walk off, the two of them still bickering behind me. It was at times like this that I really needed my mom. I sincerely regretted not listening to my mom when she had tried to give me the dating talk.

Thankfully, she hadn't given me the other talk. Yet.

I glanced idly at a shop window next to me and stopped. I deliberated for a minute. I had no idea if Annabeth would like it, but I decided to go with my intuition, which told me yes.

Hopefully it was right.

I walked into the store, the little bell above jangling. A woman sitting at the counter, around my mom's age, looked up and smiled. "Hello, dear. Looking for a present for your girlfriend?"

I was shocked. "How did you know?" I asked.

She chuckled. "Call it a sixth sense. So many young men like you come in here looking for presents for their girlfriends. Now, let me guess, you're probably looking for a necklace or a bracelet, aren't you?"

I nodded, amazed.

She looked thoughtful. "Now, I have a feeling that you're girlfriend isn't the very glitzy type."

"Yup. She likes simple things, but she cares more about the meaning behind it."

"Okay…" she pulled out a rack of lockets from the display counter. "Try this. They're lockets which can be personalized. If you like one, you can choose any photo you want and I can print it out and insert it in."

"Oh, thanks!" I said, as I looked through the selections. I was about to go on to the next rack when a silver locket caught my eye. It dangled on a long silver chain, and was heart-shaped.

"Can I have that one, please?" I asked.

"Of course." The lady, who I found out was named Elizabeth, carefully removed the locket from its case and placed it on the counter. I pulled out my phone, but it was at that moment that something fell out of my pocket and I picked it up.

It was a Polaroid of Annabeth and me on Valentine's Day a few days ago. I had thought it was lost, but it was actually here, in the pocket of my jeans.

Elizabeth carefully scanned and printed the photo out carefully before slotting it into the locket and handing it to me, smiling.

"Thank you so much," I said gratefully. "How much is it?"

She shook her head and winked. "Nothing at all. It's my pleasure to help such a nice couple. Hold on to her. You two are something special."

"I will," I promised. "Thank you."

She waved as I walked out of the shop.

I turned to find Nico and Grover frantically dashing in and out of random shops. "What the Hades are you guys doing?"

They stopped and turned. Nico spotted me standing a few metres away from them. "There he is. And here we thought he'd been kidnapped."

I snickered. "You seriously thought that?"

"Grover was thinking about calling 911," Nico snorted.

Grover turned red again. I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's go before we get in trouble for making prank calls."

Our senior "prom" was three weeks away; but as I had found out, Goode didn't do prom. It had a different ritual. The week before graduation, they would hold a ball for all the senior high-schoolers, the 17-18 year olds.

The ball would have a different theme every year, and this year's welfare committee was in charge of coming up with the theme and preparing for it. The ball was held at a different hotel every year.

There was already a huge buzz at school over who was asking who, and I wanted to ask Annabeth to come with me. I was hoping she would accept, but I had bought her the present just to try to "soften her up", in a way.

Annabeth had moved to New York a few months after the war, and she lived just a few streets away from me. This arrangement worked great for both of us, and Mom and Mrs Chase could constantly go shopping together, or try out new recipes.

They had become really close, constantly joking that they were getting used to being "in-laws." Which of course, made Annabeth blush like mad.

I wasn't much better.

I rang the doorbell to the Chase's apartment, hearing a ruckus from inside. Nico and Grover joined me soon, Grover nervously fixing his Rasta cap. Mrs Chase didn't know about him-yet-and I was sure he didn't want to give her a heart attack.

I heard a "COME IN!" from inside, and turned the knob. It was unlocked, so we walked in.

Mrs Chase was cooking in the kitchen when the three of us walked in. Matthew and Bobby were helping her. All three were covered in flour from head to toe, but they were laughing like they would burst.

"Hey look, Mom, it's Percy, Nico and Grover!" Matthew cried. The twins rushed over to us, and high-fived us.

"Can you teach us, Percy?" Matt pleaded.

Nico and I had been teaching the twins some basic swordplay. They were only ten, but they were pretty good. It had started out as a game, but then we decided it would be good for them to know some basic self-defence. They did live with a demigod, after all.

I was torn. I really wanted to see Annabeth; but I didn't want to hurt Matt's feelings.

"Sure, but I'll just see Annabeth first and be right back, okay?"

Bobby frowned. "Why?"

I had no idea what to say.

I didn't have to worry about it for long. Nico solved the problem for me.

"Guys, Percy has to see Annabeth because he'll suffer from Annabeth withdrawal if he doesn't see her. And then he has to do you-know-what with her."

Grover snickered as Mrs Chase laughed, shaking her head at Nico in a mock-scolding way.

Matt's eyes widened. "You mean…kiss her? EW!"

At this point, Grover was in near hysterics, and Matthew and Bobby were pretending to throw up. Mrs Chase was watching with an amused look on her face.

I, meanwhile, was chasing Nico across the room, my face flaming. Finally Nico just gave up and shielded himself with his hands as I smacked him on the head. Hard.

"Jerk," I muttered as I left the kitchen and headed down the hallway to Annabeth's room.

I knocked on the door. "Come in!" Annabeth answered.

The room was so totally Annabeth. It was a kind of organised clutter, and it reminded me so much of her.

Her clothes were all neatly hung up in her wardrobe. All her schoolbooks were stacked on her table, and on the floor. Her bed was made, and her bag sat by the door. But the centre of the room was covered with papers, and her silver laptop dominated the area.

Of course. She would be perfectly neat, except when it came to her architecture.

I made my way through the mess, and tried not to step on anything. That would probably make Annabeth mad with me- something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Annabeth looked up from her laptop as I sat down, and smiled. "Hi Percy. Why are you here? Is something wrong?" She obviously noticed that I was nervous.

I tried to sound upbeat.

"Must something be wrong for me to see my beautiful girlfriend?" I asked her teasingly. She laughed and hit me lightly on the arm, shutting down her laptop.

"Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere, Jackson."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Come on Wise Girl, I'm taking you out to lunch."

Annabeth turned to face me. "Really?" she asked. We normally went on picnics, but I occasionally took her out to lunch. "Yeah, you pick."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she looked at me, her head tilted, trying to figure out what I was up to. I tried to appear sincere. Finally she nodded.

"Ok, but I don't feel like anything fancy today. Let's just go to McDonald's." "Fine with me," I shrugged.

"I need to change," she said, turning to her wardrobe, and sorting through her clothes. I nodded and leaned against the door, trying to think how I was going to broach the topic of the ball.

Annabeth turned around and stared at me. "Percy, I need to change."

I was preoccupied. "Yeah, go ahead."

She looked at the floor. "Percy…I need to change. Change my clothes," she added meaningfully.

I got it then.

"Oh, right. I'll…I'll wait outside," I stammered and stumbled out of the room.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall. It wasn't without reason that Annabeth called me Seaweed Brain.

*Annabeth POV*

I knew I was blushing slightly, but ignored it and turned to pick out my outfit.

I tried to put it out of my mind and picked out a grey top with blue stripes, and blue jeans. I put on the owl earrings Percy had got me for Christmas.

Then I opened the door and headed downstairs to put the poor guy out of his misery.

He was playing with Matt and Bob. I paused for a minute, and smiled. They all looked adorable.

I walked down the stairs. "Come on, Seaweed Brain, let's go."

Then I realized Nico and Grover were there. "Hey guys! Grover, what are you doing here?"

"Juniper's visiting her family…and I figured I better stay out of the way."

I nodded sympathetically. Juniper's mom and sister were the biggest chatterboxes I had ever known. Who knew trees could be so loud?

I winced at the memory.

"Shall we go, then?" Percy turned to me. I nodded.

We said goodbye to Nico, Grover and the twins, who snickered like they had a secret. Then I noticed Percy fixing his gaze straight ahead, and I figured I was better off not knowing.

I could sense he was nervous.

I didn't push him, I figured it was because he wanted to ask me something, and I let him do it in his own time.

I didn't have to wait for long.

We were strolling through Central Park, after lunch, when he cleared his throat nervously.

"What is it Percy?" I asked. He looked into my eyes and I lost my breath.

He had no idea how gorgeous his eyes were. I nearly fainted by just looking at them.

"Annabeth?" he asked. "Will you go to the ball with me?"

Ball? What ball? I was confused for a minute before I realized that he was talking about the annual senior ball. Gods, it was only weeks away!

Percy took my lack of response as a refusal. "I mean, you don't have to come-"

I stopped him before he started rambling. "Percy, of course I'll go with you! I just forgot about the ball, that's why I didn't respond just now."

I gave him a quick kiss before pulling back.

"Seaweed Brain," I said playfully, smacking his arm, "did you really think I was going to say no?"

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned on him. "Well, you've said no before," he said quietly, and I heard the break in his voice.

I stopped, drawing away. That horrible time I had lied to him. How could he possibly think it was the truth?

I had to explain-tell him why I had done that. We had constantly skirted around the topic, but it was time to put it behind us. I sat down on the grass and wrapped my arms around my knees. He sat beside me.

"It's just that," I began, looking away from his sea-green gaze, "people have let me down before. Luke. My dad. The gods. I just-I can't handle it if it happens again, you know? I didn't want to be hurt again. I thought it was better if I stayed away from you-that way we both wouldn't be hurt. But Thalia made me realize you're not like that. You're different. And I know you won't let me down."

"I lied to you to preserve your feelings. I'm not good enough for you. I can never be, but-"

He stopped me by kissing me very gently, pulling me close to him and hugging me tightly.

"You silly, beautiful, insecure girl," he laughed softly, "how could you possibly think that? I love everything about you. I love how you're determined to reach your goals. I love how you stick up for the people you love. I love how you can kick-butt when you need to. I love your independence, you attitude, your personality. I love you, Annabeth Chase. And I always will."

Tears were softly rolling down my cheeks as I leaned my head on his shoulder. "I love you, Percy Jackson. I love how you would do anything to help the ones you love. I love how you always place everyone else before you. I love how you can be fierce when you need to. I love you so, so much."

That was all we needed to say.

We stayed there together for hours, simply enjoying each other's company, before Percy stood up.

"We should probably get going. I don't want your dad to think I kidnapped you or something. And I really don't want to know what Nico has been telling Matt and Bobby."

I giggled at that. "Come on, let's go."

He didn't let go of my hand as we walked together to my house. Just in front of my house he stopped, and pulled a little box out of his pocket. "Here, I got you this, just to try to "soften you up."

I tutted. "Why, how improper of you, Mr Jackson," I chided as I took the box. "I am shocked you would think that of me." Although I knew perfectly well I would have fallen for his trick.

I opened the box, and my hand flew to my mouth in astonishment. "Percy! When did you ever-how-what?" I was incoherent in my surprise.

He smiled before lifting the necklace and dangling it in front of me. It was a simple silver one, but at the bottom was a heart-shaped locket, which swung open.

On one side, there was a picture of Percy and I, taken on Valentine's Day a few months ago. I was laughing, leaning my head on Percy's chest as he wrapped his arms around me. He was kissing the top of my head.

A lump formed in my throat. What had I ever done to deserve him?

On the other side of the locket were the words: I gave you my heart. Keep it safe for me. On the front of the locket were inscribed the words: I love you.

It was perfect.

"Percy, this is amazing!" I said, handling it delicately. "How did you do this?"

"I found the locket in this shop, and asked the lady to insert the picture. The words were already inscribed."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Percy, I think you could buy a Mercedes with all the money you've spent on gifts for me."

He kissed the top of my head. "I don't mind. It's just a small price."

I smiled at him gratefully and gave the necklace to him, turning around. "Here, help me put it on."

I swept all my hair to the side as he fastened the necklace at my neck, and let it hang. I turned to him and hugged him tightly.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow for school. Is that okay?" he murmured into my hair.

"That would be perfect. See you tomorrow, Percy."

"See you tomorrow, Annabeth."

I pulled away and gave him a smile before turning to walk into my apartment building, already yearning for tomorrow to come.

I hope that was better than last time! I think it is…but you guys are the judges! Leave a review to tell me how much you liked it!

Yes, I did turn the prom into a ball, because that's just so much more fun, and I think I would be able to relate to it better-hence my writing would be better! I found this A-MAY-ZING dress for Annabeth, and I totally fell in love with it, so the next chapter should be up soon!

The main reason I changed it to a ball though, is so that it appears more likely for Nico and Jasmine to meet. After all, what are two 15-year olds doing at a prom?

Review and tell me your thoughts! Till next time!