In Annabeth's opinion, some things are just wrong.

Pineapple on pizza.

Pouring milk into your bowl before the cereal.

Percy and Rachel dating.

It isn't exactly dating, she guesses—in the few weeks since they met, they've gone out maybe three times—but it's enough to give Annabeth a strange sinking feeling in her chest. Rachel's a big proponent of PDA, and there's been a lot of hand-holding and knee-touching and cheek-kissing.

It doesn't make sense, but then, neither do Percy and Rachel. Together. Dating. Rachel likes art, and weird underground-indie-alternative-whatever bands, and studying ancient religions. Percy likes…

What does he like? Foster the People, she remembers, and Owl City. Nothing else comes to mind, no foods or subjects or colors. Is this really all she knows about Percy? Two bands that he likes?

Maybe Annabeth could get to know him better if she could make eye contact with him for more than two seconds at a time. According to Piper, he's actually cool.

Rachel certainly thinks so, she thinks, shaking her head a bit.

"Sorry you've been waiting. I totally heard you knock, but I was on a goddamned roll with some costume design and didn't want to waste it," Piper says, falling onto the couch rather ungracefully. Ever since they've started working on this video, she's been bursting with insane energy; it reminds Annabeth of how she was middle school, her eyes always wide, changing topics mid-sentence.

"I know where the key is," She responds, rolling her eyes.

"It really is a wonder you haven't killed me in my sleep yet."

"I told you, you're too damn cute to murder when you're unconscious."

Piper grins with a sigh. "You have no idea how reassuring that is to hear, Annie."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, because I'm about to ask for a favor that could put you in a very homicidal mood."

Annabeth laughs, and Piper keeps smiling. After a moment, though, it becomes clear that she's not joking. The laughter leaves her. "What is it?"

There's so much resignation in her voice that it's barely even a question.

"I need you to get your head majorly unstuck from your ass. When you're around Percy, at least."

Needless to say, this catches her off guard. "What?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory, dude," Piper shrugs. "I get it that he's kind of stupid in class sometimes but, like…Jackson's cool. Athena and Poseidon are supposed to get along at first, and the whole dynamic is off right now, seeing as you can't even look at him without glaring."

She wants to protest, but she can't—not really. Not without telling Piper about why she's so weird around Percy. When the two agreed to act like that night never happened, she decided not to tell anybody else, and she hasn't. She's been sitting on this god-awful secret for almost a month now.

And Annabeth kind of hates herself for it.

Just a bit. Because she has Luke, this great guy who she knows she doesn't deserve, and she cheated on him. She really wants to tell herself that it's more complicated than that, but it really isn't.

"You okay?" There's a joking tone to her voice, as usual, but there's a bit of confusion on the edges. "Is it really gonna be that hard for you to act like you don't despise him? Even just for the camera?"

"I don't despise him," She objects, feeling her face heat up. For the past couple of months, Annabeth blushes even more when she realizes that she's blushing. It's a goddamned vicious cycle.

Somewhere under the blushing, though she realizes that she doesn't hate Percy at all. None of this is his fault. He's been really nice about it, honestly; Annabeth bets he's not half as obsessed with the incident as she is.

"That's good," Piper says in a light tone. "Definitely good, because that wasn't the actual bad news."

"Are you trying to kill me?" She groans, giving a smile that's not too pained, given the circumstances.

"I added in a romantic backstory, so maybe I am."

"What?"

She cackles at her reaction. Annabeth doesn't feel much like laughing. "Added a romantic backstory. Between Poseidon and Athena. I wanted a reason for them to not like each other, and if we make it romantic, then it'll give Athena even more reason to be pissed when he bails on her to hook up with Medusa. Amp up the drama, you feel?"

"I fucking hate you, Piper McLean."

"It's not that bad. There's only gonna be one kiss."

Annabeth gapes at her.

Somebody knocks on the door, and her head whips towards it anxiously. Piper just grins in a typical, evil, Piper-y way, and Annabeth truly does consider murdering the girl for a moment. She feels the need to complain before the happy couple enters, before she loses her chance to.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me. After all of these years of friendship, you're going to make me pretend to be in love with Idiot Jackson for the world to see! The injustice! The...the...this is stupid!" She doesn't mean to be quite so melodramatic when she started talking, but the situation was kind of dramatic.

Throw a book at a guy's head.

Make out with the guy.

Stop talking to the guy.

Agree to star in a video with the guy. As their ex-girlfriend.

Annabeth feels like she had the right to yell, just a little bit.

"What's stupid is that you're so freaked over this, Annie." Piper sighs, catching her off guard. Is Piper judging her? Acting like she's the immature one? When there's Idiot Jackson and paint-stained Rachel and their abomination of a relationship to worry about?

He agreed to act like it never happened, she has to remind herself. You are the immature one here. This is your fault, anyways.

Annabeth takes a deep breath as she hears Piper pull the door open.

"You need to listen to them. God, how am I even speaking to somebody that hasn't listened to Lush?" Rachel's voice is loud and clear right away.

Percy shrugs as they enter the living room, where Annabeth's sitting, trying not to give off too many 'I despise you' vibes. She almost rolls her eyes at the thought. (Vibes are more Rachel's speed.)

Rachel's her friend, but recently it seems like everything about her has gotten more…obnoxious. And it's not her fault. Just another thing for Annabeth to feel bad about.

"I'm not really into old music."

"You can yell at Percy for his questionable music taste later, Rach," Piper interrupts. "We need to tell him, and then we get can get started."

Casting a quick but obvious glance at the silent girl on the couch, Rachel raises her eyebrows. "You told Annie? She's actually okay with it?"

"I mean, she reacted like I told her he'd just pissed in her cornflakes, but-"

Annabeth decides she's tired of everybody speaking around her. "I'm fine with it."

"Fine with what?" Percy asks, still in the dark. She does her best to keep looking in his general direction, but it's really hard. Sun-blinding-her-eyes hard. Not that he's bad to look at. Some things are just wrong, and for now, looking at him is still one of those things.

"You're okay with kissing the girl who threw a book at your head once, right?"

Annabeth doesn't mean to, but she looks at him when Rachel says this. Their eyes lock, both expressions just barely panic-flavored, and she remembers how green his eyes are as her heart speeds up. The way she said it, so casually, like she doesn't know. Hasn't he told her?

"We can just—we can just act like nothing happened, then."

Too goddamned nice.

"Um…" He clears his throat awkwardly. "Why—why do you ask?"

Piper laughs again, and she doesn't know, Annabeth knows she doesn't know, but she feels like throwing another book. "God, why are you both so freaked out? It's not like we're asking you to make out. Just a kiss for the video."

"But…in the video, Poseidon and Athena aren't-"

"I know. I added it in." She cuts him off gleefully.

There's an awkward moment of silence. Rachel breaks it. "It's not like you guys are really cheating or anything, if that's your damage. Piper already cleared this with me, and Luke…"

The three girls exchange slightly uncomfortable looks.

"I didn't ask, but I'm sure he'll understand," Piper speaks up; it's a weak argument.

Nobody says anything, but Percy's still looking at her. Not conspicuously, but still, she can feel his gaze. Annabeth had always been better at feeling him than looking at him.

That came out wrong. Even though it's only in her head, Annabeth blushes.

She knows why he's staring at her. Percy's asking for permission.

Maybe it's because he's so nice. Maybe it's because she's tired of everybody thinking she's so unreasonable. Maybe it's because she is being unreasonable, just a bit.

Whatever it is, it gets Annabeth to swallow hard and nod ever-so-slightly. She manages another glance at him—practice makes perfect—and he looks even more caught off-guard than before as he opens his mouth to reply.

"Yeah. Okay, I'm good with it."

This is pretty short, yes, but so is February. I did give two chapters last month, and I've already started the next chapter. This one just needed to stand on its own, set the last few things in motion. (We're about to get into the real drama, folks.) Do you think Piper's romantic backstory is a good plan, or is it sure to end in disaster?