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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS.

CHAPTER THREE

BY: IRONCOW

Ms. Rollster dismissed the class five minutes ahead of the bell. I think she did that because she couldn't think of anything more to say. She insisted that communication was important in building a stronger bond between all of us. I found her methods odd, but went along with it. Grover sat to my left, while Annabeth sat to my right. Grover and I were planning on going out tonight. Now, the only problem was Annabeth. She kept on declining our offer.

"Aww. Come on, Annabeth. You should come with us. Besides, it's the first week of the school year, I doubt it if the teachers would give us homework already." Grover nodded in agreement with my plea.

"I don't know guys. I have to study in advance for Algebra and Biology. I heard that the lessons were pretty hard. Didn't you hear, Ms. Rollster?" Annabeth said.

"If you come with us, we'll accompany you to the architecture exhibit next month." Grover blurted out. I stared at him and he did the same, as if he couldn't believe that he said it himself.

"Do you promise?" I hesitated, but nodded anyway. "Okay, fine! I'll come with you." Annabeth said excitedly.

I hated architecture exhibits, not that I've ever seen one. I barely listened to our History teacher about the Renaissance era; except for the part where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got their names from, though. I didn't understand what Annabeth saw in it. Why was she so interested about it? It's just plain cement over bricks, with walls and windows, plus bricks. I'd rather sit down with Chiron and Dionysus, and play pinochle.

During lunch, we sat in the cafeteria and planned our agenda for our little venture for tonight. By "we," I meant Annabeth and I. Grover was busy munching down on his fourth enchilada. Whenever we ask him something, he would just nod and stare at us. The cafeteria was full of students. Across from our table, I could see that there was a squabble among the students. I think they were arguing about food. Which was better, smoothies or shakes?

"So, let's run through it, again. We'll meet at 6th street, around the corner at the pizza house at 5:30 after school. We buy tickets for the movie, eat dinner and then go home?" Annabeth finished and looked at me.

"Sounds good to me," I smiled. "Grover?"

I looked at Grover and saw his head on top of the table. He had his hand over his mouth. I thought he was just going to burp, but I thought wrong. He ran to the nearest trash bin and puked. The cafeteria went silent and they all looked at Grover with disgusted faces. I couldn't really blame them. It was really gross. I stood up and went to Grover and accompanied him to the clinic. He was bloated and he looked pale, at the same time.

After leaving Grover at the clinic, I went outside and found Annabeth. There was worry in her eyes. I walked to her and told her the verdict.

"My mom will pick up Grover. It's pretty bad. The nurse said that he has stomach flu, due to eating too many enchiladas. It would take him a day or two to recover." I said.

"Oh. I hope he recovers fast." She looked away from me. "Then I guess it's just the two of us for tonight."

I completely forgot about that! "I guess so." I looked down.

We stood there awkwardly, until the bell rang. We walked silently at the corridor, not bothering to say anything. I was nervous. She was nervous. The last time we tried to go out, it ended badly. Actually, our plans didn't even happen. I shuddered at the thought of the empousai, servants of Hecate.

"Listen, Percy. If you feel uncomfortable with tonight, it's okay. We could go out some other time with Grover. That is, if you want to…" She said as we walked inside our classroom.

I thought it was cute and smiled. She smiled back and nodded. "No. I feel fine. I feel great. Let's push through with our plans. Grover can come some other time." I smiled widely, assuring her that I was looking forward for tonight.

The rest of the day passed quickly, making me more and more nervous for tonight. Annabeth looked nervous as well, but kept a composed face. This was all Grover's fault. If he hadn't had too much food in his beardy mouth, he would be here with us, preparing for tonight. Now that we were down to our last subject, I felt my palms sweat.

"Percy, do you feel well? You look like you're going to pass out." Mr. Tard asked.

"I'm fine, sir." I replied.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth smile. I looked at her and furrowed my eyebrows. I tore a piece of paper from my notebook and got my pen. In the middle of uncapping it, I realized that I was holding Riptide. I panicked and put Riptide back into my pocket. I looked for another pen in my bag. After finding one, I started scribbling on the piece of paper.

Why are you smiling, Wise Girl? I wrote down.

I folded it neatly and put the folded paper on top of her armchair. She was paying attention to Mr. Tard's lesson. I didn't bother listening to him because his subject was History. Annabeth looked down on her table and smirked at me. She unfolded the paper and read it. She wrote something, and passed it back to me.

I could tell that you're nervous for tonight.

Aren't you? I started writing. Anyway, earlier this morning, when I was pretending to be Anxiel Manakeeshter, you told me that we had a lot to talk about. Would you care to shed some light? I passed the paper back to her.

She read it and wrote something down.

You'll know tonight, Seaweed Brain.

I turned to her and smiled.

FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER, PERCY AND ANNABETH PREPARES FOR THE NIGHT. :)

READ AND REVIEW, PLEASE? :)

-IRONCOW