Percy's POV

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

I woke up in a daze. It's hard to wake up normally when you've just had tortured nightmares. I dare you to wake up happily if you've just seen yourself kissing your best friend and then seeing her transform into a blood thirty monster. After a few unsuccessful attempts to go back to sleep, I decided to get up. I slowly slid out from under the sheets, wincing from the sudden cold hitting my body and dragged myself out of bed. After the pitiful excuse I call brushing my teeth, I trudged down to the kitchen.

"Mornin' Mom" I said grumpily as I saw my mom slipping on her shoes in a hurry.

"Hey, sweetie. I have to go; I'm going to be late for work. I'm sorry but I didn't have time to cook anything so just fix yourself something" said my mom hurriedly. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and left.

I walked lazily to counter to fix myself a bowl of Nesquik cereal (I live off that stuff). As I sat down to eat I started to realize how difficult it was going to be to talk to Rachel after last night's incident. I groaned just as the phone rang.

I already knew who it was before I even picked up. "Hey Rachel" I said halfheartedly.

"Hi Percy, umm…I was just wondering if you're mad at me for last night" she said rather quickly. Looks like she didn't waste any time bringing that up. This time I had to tell her that we were just friends or I'd end up hurting her even more. "I'm not mad Rachel; it's just that…well I want us to be just friends, nothing more." I sighed, finally managing to tell the truth.

"Oh" she mumbled, obviously surprised. "Okay Percy; I'm not going to force you to do something your not comfortable with. And hey I want to make it up to you, how would you like to go skating this afternoon?" She asked tenderly. "It wouldn't be a date or anything you know…just as friends" she added nervously.

"Sure why not?" I smiled.

"Great, meet me at Iceland arena in an hour. Bye" she chimed happily. I could tell she was smiling even over the phone. "Later" I replied. I was starting to think that everything was going to work out fine. Boy was I wrong.

An hour later, I walked up the front stairs of Iceland Arena where Rachel stood waiting for me. "Hey Percy, ready to go?" she asked. "Ready as ever" I replied enthusiastically.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the terrible smell. The arena smelled strongly of sweat and adrenaline both of which cause my stomach to do back flips. As soon as I followed Rachel into the rink, I knew this had been a bad idea. I slipped and did a face plant right onto the ice. I felt the blood rush to my face as I struggled to come to a sitting position. I sighed when I realized that Rachel had her back turned and missed my spectacular entrance. The first word that came to my mind when I saw Rachel skating was "Wow". She skated fast yet gracefully and boy was I jealous. After spitting out the last of the ice in my mouth I called her. Rachel looked at me on the ground and skated over to me looking concerned.

"Did I mention that I can't skate" I mumbled nervously. Then she burst into laughter and helped me up. "It's not funny" I said fake pouting. She grinned and said "well good thing I'm here to teach you. It's really not that hard". And for the next two hours Rachel Elizabeth Dare taught me how to skate. By the end of the two hours I felt like this hadn't been such a bad idea after all. Rachel turned out to be a brilliant teacher too, she even had enough patience to teach a guy like me (trust me when I say you need A LOT of patience to teach me). Turns out her efforts paid off and she'd actually taught me to skate decently. I wasn't the best, but I knew it was a start.

We walked off the ice cracking up at a joke I'd just made. "Percy" she exclaimed still laughing. "Want to go grab something to eat? My treat" she said kindly.

"Sounds like a plan" I smiled, happy that the tension between us had completely gone.

We sat down in a nearby Pizza Hut and ordered our food. As we waited for our food, we reflected on some memories of the labyrinth and had a few laughs. Our food soon arrived and both of us were so hungry that the conversation was drowned out by chewing noises. When I was done, I was full and content enough to wait patiently for Rachel to finish. We ended up talking for a few hours after eating and boy did time fly.

"Hey Rachel, thanks for understanding when I said we should just be friends" I said. I hesitated then added "I really appreciate it". Rachel just smiled as if she knew something I didn't and I got the feeling that she wasn't going to give up that easily. This wasn't going to be as simple as I thought.

After we left she asked me to walk her home and me being the gentleman I am, agreed. It was about 6 o'clock, wow I didn't realize how much time we had spent eating. As I started to walk her home I felt Rachel grab my hand. She looked at me with a glossy look in her eye. I abandoned common sense and decided that her hands were cold and she just wanted to warm them up. Besides, friends can hold each others hands right? She seemed happy that I hadn't let go of her hand. We walked the rest of the way holding hands in a comfortable silence.

When we reached her house and she turned around and said "Thanks Percy, you're a really good friend". I smiled and couldn't help but notice how beautiful her eyes looked in the setting sun. Ahh! Snap out of it. Your just friends remember?! "Umm…ya cya" I mumbled. I gulped as I walked away faster than necessary.

I reached home to find that my mom wasn't home yet. Phew. I forgot to write a note this time as well. I made a mental note to remember that next time. I slipped my jeans off and changed into something more comfortable. As I lay down lazily on the couch I started to think about my girl problems. After some thinking I decided that believing a girl was pretty wasn't the same as actually liking her. That meant I didn't like Rachel but somehow I knew that Annabeth was different. For the first time, I felt a stab of pain because of the way she ignored me the last time I saw her. What was happening to me? I had plenty of crushes before but never on my best friend. This seemed even stronger than a crush…was I…was I falling in love? NO! My mind screamed but as much I tried to fight it, I knew it was true. I was in love with…Annabeth Chase.

How do you guys like it? I tried to incorporate the advice I received from the reviews. I still need review guys! PLZ Review and help a new writer in need!