A/N: Got inspired to write this one after listening to the song Summer Nights by Rascal Flatts. Just seemed like an interesting environment to put some demigods in, so much so that it's going to be a two-parter :P

Brayden

"Finally!" my friend Ian shouted, practically diving out the door of my car and onto the pavement.

Sighing contentedly in agreement with his proclamation, I turned off the engine and stepped out of the car as well, stretching and looking over the venue in front of us. "This is gonna be good" I said, grinning.

We were overlooking a sandy beach that had a big bonfire going, as well as a truck with speakers in the back playing music. A few kids in our grade had rented the beach out for the night and were hosting a big party for all of us seniors who had graduated, and anyone else who the senior class brought along.

Probably one of the biggest buzzes was the fact that Percy Jackson had said he would come when invited, and anyone at Goode who was familiar with Percy Jackson knew he had always turned down invitations to pretty much anything. Supposedly he'd been convinced to go by Angie, who he'd started talking to more often a few months into the year.

Ian shook me out of my thoughts, literally, "Come on dude, it's time to party, I see beer and girls in bikinis!" he ran off towards the fire, laughing manically and no doubt scaring off any girl he wanted to flirt with in the process.

I headed over to the fire to find some of our other friends, and eventually Ian settled down enough to take a seat by the fire, handing me a bottle of beer. I wasn't a big fan of alcohol, but it helped settle me down from the anticipation jitters, or whatever.

Ian had been right though, there was a lot of beer around, and lots of girls in their swimsuits, or short shorts and t-shirts. Most guys had shirts and their swimshorts, like I did.

"Aren't you glad this is a beach party?" I asked, smirking at Ian. He nodded, stamping his foot along with the music.

After a while, I got up and took a walk around the beach, until I reached the makeshift bar that had been set up, someone had brought a tall table and some bar stools, and the people hosting the party must have been rich, because they'd put a bunch of coolers with alcohol and other drinks behind it and gotten someone to serve them.

There was a girl sitting at the bar on one of the stools wearing torn jean shorts and a big t-shirt that hung loosely over her, only covering one shoulder. She was extremely attractive, but I was more so confused because I didn't recognize her at all, and I was pretty familiar with our grade.

I sat beside her cautiously, "Hey there."

She glanced over at me with continuously changing eyes, "Uh, hi." Well, not very social huh?

"So do you go to Goode? I don't recognize you" I supplied, trying to at least have a conversation out of this, I'd started talking, it'd be embarrassing to get turned down for even a simple conversation with someone.

"No, I came here with a few other friends, one of them just graduated from Goode, the rest of us don't" she said, I went to say something else, but she turned to face me with an intense, not so kind stare, "Look, if you're going to try and flirt with me, try someone else, I'm taken." My eyes widened, "I wasn't going to flirt, you just seemed like you could use someone to talk to." Luckily I was being truthful, because I got the feeling this girl would know if I lied. As if deciding that I was indeed honest, she sighed, "I'm just waiting for my boyfriend to come back, Percy wanted to show him something." Her eyes widened marginally as if she'd made a mistake, and I coughed a little, "You're friends with Percy Jackson?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow now, "Is that a problem?" I shook my head, "No, just surprised, he doesn't talk to many people at Goode, so it's always been assumed he was a loner or something." I leaned against the bar a little, "Never did make sense though, the guy is hilarious in class, so there was no way I could believe he had no friends."

The girl laughed now, "Well, you're accurate in that assumption, he goes to a camp on most breaks and during the summer, he's probably the most popular person there. It's where he met me and the other people that came here with him." she smiled, a friendly smile that made you forget how hostile she had been a minute ago when she thought you were flirting with her. "Piper, by the way." She added.

I smiled back, "Brayden."

"Who are his other friends then?" I asked, looking about the crowd on the beach curiously.

"Well, the short Latino with curly hair who wears suspenders for no reason heading straight for us is Leo." She said, and I took notice of said person as they grinned widely, with arms open wide.

"Hey beauty queen! Who's your friend?" he asked, sliding onto the stool on the other side of Piper, who rolled her eyes.

"This is Brayden. Brayden, this is Leo Valdez, my best friend, and an idiot." I laughed and shook his hand, as he pretended to be insulted, "I won't take insults of that sort, Piper"

Piper cocked her head to the side, looking at Leo, "Have you been drinking?" Leo snorted, "Not a chance, I'm a lot of things but even I know that I'm way too ADHD to handle alcohol without a horrible result. It'd be even worse than letting Percy or the Stolls drink"

Piper snickered, glancing out at the fire, "Percy is drinking, Leo."

Seemingly affronted with a crisis, Leo popped out of his seat as if his chair had been on fire. "What? Why can he drink and not me!" he sounded like a child complaining, and the sight was entertaining.

Rolling her eyes, Piper pointed somewhere, "Annabeth won't let him get out of hand. You don't have a babysitter to keep you in check like he does."

I looked over where she was pointing to see Percy, who had a white shirt with green and blue swim shorts on. He was holding a beer in one hand with the other around a stunning blonde, the two were laughing and standing at the fire, talking with a few people, one of which I noticed was Angie.

"Babysitter my toolbox! They'll probably end up smooching as the tide washes over them."

I guessed that the blonde was Annabeth, and that she was dating Percy, which meant that Percy had a girlfriend he'd kept secret from Goode. Every new thing relating to him seemed to make him more mysterious and confusing, tonight.