Chapter 10

Walking back from the garden, Piper had to keep Annabeth from bumping face first into one of those pillars. She had her thinking face on with her eyes several shades darker than the usual grey and she could literally see her brain running at a thousand miles per minute. This probably was the only time when she started acting like a total scatter brain.

However she even couldn't keep herself from thinking about what had happened about five minutes ago in the garden.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde guy whose name Piper assumed was Malcolm asked Annabeth his eyes wide and the same shade as the latter's did whenever she was shocked. He took Annabeth's necklace in her hand making her step back and observed it before dropping it. She couldn't help but see how similar their eyes' were- the same deep grey and how they had darkened over the past minute. His hair though was much lighter than Annabeth's.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked in a tone which might seem void of emotion to anyone but Piper could hear the confusion. She had her hand on her necklace now shielding it from both the boys' eyes.

Percy's expression mirrored her own confused one as both of the blonds stared at each other with the same eyes sizing each other up.

"Nothing. You just surprised me." Malcolm said looking like someone had shocked him with a taser. And with that he walked away with Percy behind him, leaving behind an extremely confused Annabeth

It took her a moment to realise that she had zoned out on Annabeth who now was talking to her. "…looking at my necklace like that. This has to come in the Top Three Strange Things that have happened this year."

"You know most people are surprised by these necklaces, for the lack of a better term." She told her. It was true, people tended to stare at the only pieces of jewellery the girls owned which was justified, though she had this gut feeling that told her that this blond guy wasn't just surprised by how beautiful the pendants were, partly because he just looked at Annabeth's necklace.

"Maybe..."

"I'll leave now. Got to go for some evening tea or stuff I've got to deliver." And with that piper left Annabeth going to the kitchen and picking up the plate of scones and chamomile tea (formal much?) for Jason and then heading to his bedroom.

She knocked twice before entering the room just to find Jason lying face on the bed with his back facing her. She slightly nudged his shoulder trying to wake him up but as luck would have it, he was a deep sleeper which meant light nudges weren't enough to wake him up. Seeing the guy wasn't going to be up anytime soon, she placed one hand on his back and started shaking him causing him groan muttering about how cruel she was being. They were pretty good friends despite the fact that they hadn't even known each other for a week.

He had blond hair which were much lighter than Annabeth and blue eyes that seemed to have liquid electricity running through them. He was more built than Percy with broader shoulders and a heavier frame while the former was more on the leaner side.

Jason, to her seemed like a more calm and toned down version of Annabeth when it came to all their nature. He was usually calm and seemed like a natural leader to her. Another thing about him was his properness, if that is a word. He was always prim and proper which might have been irritating for some but for him it was just downright cute.

She continued to shake him until he finally turned over and muttered in a dazed voice, "You look cute with that persistent look on face".

At that moment, she was more than certain that her face resembled a beetroot with brown braids. The fact that he was lying on the bed without a shirt with a goofy grin on his face wasn't helping in the least.

"Well, you seem to be in a good mood today." She said in a smug voice. These were the times when she thanked the gods for her convincing voice. Stuttering in front of him wasn't exactly high on the list of things she wanted to do. "Get up and have tea!"

"As you wish, Milady." He said his tone reflecting her smug one.

"How do you drink chamomile tea? I never liked it." She blurted out watching him take a sip from the white cup. He looked up, amusement clear in his eyes as he said, "What do you like then?"

"Hot chocolate."

He chuckled shaking his head in an adorable manner while raising an eyebrow, "You're such a kid."

At this statement, Piper crossed her arms over her chest. "Hot chocolate is not for kids. Chocolate is universal. And you sir are ruining your youth both due the lack of chocolate and induction of this horrible tea."

"Really? What did my poor tea due to you?" He said attempting to speak in a whiny voice and failing miserably at it. He was a horrible actor. "Come try it."

Now she was confused between scrunching her face in disgust at the thought of tasting tea or blushing because he wanted to share his tea cup with him, as elementary as it sounded. So, she decided not to do say anything witty or anything at all and take a step towards the boy in front of him holding out jis tea cup.

She sat down on his bed and took the cup from his hand taking a small sip from it keeping the cup back and frowning deeply.

"Absolutely horrible." She said scrunching up her face in disgust.

"I shared my tea with you and this is how you respond?" He whined.

"Still horrible."

He frowned at her before breaking a small part of his scone and dipping it in his tea laughing at Piper's surprised expression offering it to her who very hesitantly took it in her mouth before spitting it out in a very unladylike way, looking at him in a disapproving way and saying "Still horrible."

The Next Day

Today was certainly not a good day for Percy. It was one of those days when everything, every single friggin' thing started going wrong.

He hadn't slept thinking about Malcolm's behaviour the day before and about how baffled he seemed after meeting Annabeth. He had known the guy for about two hours but he could see the shock and worry that flashed through his face as he set his eyes on the necklace and the girl herself.

And when finally he slept, he was woken up by Chiron, his instructor for some morning classes. He wasn't sure about Chiron, but to him four in the morning wasn't the best time to practice combat or study equations or science. Nonetheless, he attended the class which to his immense pleasure was archery. What was the point of going in the woods to shoot targets with an arrow at four in the morning, he had no friggin' idea.

The class ended at seven in the morning and what seemed like an eternity of missing targets. Once he even shot an arrow that barely missed Clarisse which resulted in a heated wresting match which he was about to lose but fortunately Chiron saved his honour.

He went back to bed and had barely had an hour of sleep when he got a call from a Calypso who had called him to a party which he did NOT want to attend mostly because of the huge head ache he had, so he refused which resulted in a long rant from her. Then his mother asked him whether he could Tyson to the theatre that and he refused saying that he had plans for the night. It wasn't that he had anything against the little guy; it was just that he wasn't fond of the idea of taking a hyperactive nine year old to the theatre. So, he had to call Calypso to tell her that he was coming which resulted in another long rant from her, though this time it was happier.

xx-xx (After the Party)

Clutching his wounded arm, Percy climbed the impossibly long flight of stairs to his room thankful for the fact that no one was awake or else he knew he would be in deep trouble. Blood seeped out from the wound which extended from his bicep to a little lower than his elbow on his right hand. A few shards of glass were still buried in it; he could tell that much. And it ached an awfully lot. His headache was worse than ever and he knew he would wake up with a fever tomorrow. All. Because. Of. A. Party.

He knew he shouldn't have attended the moment he stepped in. he didn't know half the people and out of those he knew ninety nine percent were drunk. So when a guy who was very drunk kissed his very drunken girlfriend, he being the ADHD youth picked a fight with him which resulted in the guy wounding his arm with a beer bottle, a broken nose and jaw for the said guy and a single Calypso.

He had made it to the top of the staircase and was about to enter his room, the very thought of his bed making his eyes heavy when he was interrupted by quite a loud gasp.

Please don't let it be mom. He thought as he turned to come face to face with none other than Annabeth herself who stood there in a light blue cotton dress; her gray eyes wide and lips parted with blonde curls spilling over her shoulders reaching the small of her back.

"Are you okay?" She asked him following him in his room standing in front of him and he sat on the bed ready to pass out.

"That is one very silly question." He croaked. Injured or not injured. He was Percy Jackson and he a reputation to uphold, after all.

She sighed before going in the bathroom and coming out with a first aid kit and setting it in front of him as if she expected the bottle of antiseptic, needle, gauze and stitching thread to come out of the box and heal him like in one of those cartoons. She looked at his wound as if wondering whether to touch and examine it or not. She decided on No and went towards the telephone, most probably to call the doctor. He tried to at least position himself properly but it wasn't possible if he did it himself mostly due to the fact that his right arm was killing him. He looked at Annabeth imploringly but she just ignored him talking with the doctor urging him to come and turning her back to him. One thing he had noticed about her was that she didn't like to touch people. It was more than obvious now that he had observed her. He didn't know why, but that troubled him to some extent.

She groaned as more blood seeped out of the wound staining his bed sheet and comforter. He looked at Annabeth again to her looking at him with a poker face.

"A little help?" he asked her.

She nodded before she realised that to help him meant her supporting his weight and hoisting him up the bed all while grabbing his torso.

"Man up." She said though even she winced when he tried to.

"Says the one who is too afraid to come in physical contact with anyone." Apparently being sick removed his filter.

"I do not." She said looking ready to wound his other arm if necessary.

"Admit it. You're a coward."

"I'm not." Her glare was even more intimidating than Thalia's and that is saying something.

"Whom are you kidding?" she stayed silent so he continued on with his malicious rant despite the small voice inside his telling him to stop. "Is little miss Annabeth too scared that I'll hurt her."

After he said that, he could just watch as he came up to him and grabbed his torso and gently hoisted him up the bed before looking him in the eye.

"Don't speak about things you have no idea about, Mr. Jackson." She told him saying his last name with a strong sense of bitterness and an undertone of hurt as if she would start tearing up any second.

"Um-I..I…ac-actually" He stuttered not sure of what to say seeing that indeed the girl had a lone tear running down her face.

She didn't say anything and instead picked up the first aid kid and gestured for him to hold out his arm. She took some antiseptic and cotton and cleaned his wound with it making him wince; not bothering about how it turned the light blue fabric of her skirt red. She then went on and took out a pair of tweezers and removed a couple of shards impaled in his arm. Hearing the telephone ring she got up and attended it speaking for half a minute before setting it back down and walking towards the door.

"The doctor is here." She said in a small voice probably embarrassed about how she had shown weakness in front of him.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking straight and never meant to say all that shit. I know I was wrong. Forgive me?" He blurted out making her face him. She didn't say anything but he could have sworn he say a ghost of a smile play on her lips before she left.

xx-xx

Annabeth was back in a minute with Dr. Fletcher and there she was standing at the back of the room while he stitched his wound. Her blonde curls were now up in a messy bun and the dress she wore was now half red. She looked at him with utmost concentration despite the tired look in her eyes.

Thankfully, no one else knew about his condition or else he would have been in trouble.

"I've stitched it up and removed the glass. You'll have to get the stitches removed in about a week or two considering how fast it heals up. Also, you have fever with quite a high temperature though it is nothing serious. All you need now is rest." The doctor told him. He was pretty young for a doctor being in his late twenties and had dirty blond hair and warm brown eyes. He gave Annabeth a small piece of paper with the name of some medicines, he guessed, before leaving.

And that was all he saw before he passed out from sheer exhaustion.

xx-xx

He woke up again around three in the night to a pounding skull and his whole left side aching. That is when he felt something cool on his forehead instantly making him calm down and the heaviness subside. He reluctantly opened his eyes taking some time to adjust to the soft yellow light that his night lamp provided just to see a mass of blonde curls in front of him.

He looked at Annabeth just to see that she had removed the washcloth from his forehead and was soaking it in the small mug of water she had, before placing it on his forehead again and taking out thermometer oblivious to the fact that he was awake now. He pretended to close his eyes and peaked as she turned to face him standing in front of him contemplating how to take his temperature.

She then kneeled besides his bed and gently placed a hand on his cheek trying to get the thermometer in his mouth without waking him up. He could feel how stiff her hand was on her cheek as if she would bolt away even at his slightest movement. He couldn't understand why her whole form was so tense; it wasn't that he was going to hurt her. He wasn't that type of guy. Maybe he had scared her the first day they met or had tried his hand at flirting with her best friend, but the seriously harming her: No Friggin' Way.

She finally succeeding with a bit of assistance from his side, though she didn't have to know it considering the fact that she would think of him as an (even bigger) creep with pretending to be asleep while awake thing he was doing.

After around half a minute she took it out of his mouth and sighed before placing the thermometer on his bedside table, dropping it (you can't expect a person to be wide awake at three in the morning or night, take your pick) and placing it back again. He heard her yawn and chose that moment to take a peek at her. She looked dead tired and ready to pass out. Her hair was in a really messy bun with half her hair falling out and framing her face. She had changed out of her blue dress and was now wearing a white dress. She went into the bathroom and came back with a mug of cold water (he knew it was cold because the washcloths were soaked in it and it made him shiver) and started with the washcloths again.

He passed out again and the next time he woke up, he was feeling much better. His head didn't hurt that much and the only pain he felt was mild throbbing in his arm. He didn't think he had a fever but wanting to make sure placed his hand on the bedside just to find the thermometer on the floor. It was around five in the morning and the sun wasn't fully up yet.

He smiled remembering last night. The girl had no liability towards him but what she did yesterday surprised him and made him a lot more intrigued about her. He looked forward and smiled wider. There she was, blonde hair falling in a curtain over his face, eyes closed and expression peaceful curled up on his couch. Asleep.