"No," Annabeth said as she came out of the bathroom. Thalia was trying to find Annabeth a dress to wear for the party. The so called dress was skimpy and only just covered Annabeth's ass. It had a dipping neckline which showed too much cleavage for Annabeth's liking.

The dress would have been a perfect fit on Thalia. The dark haired girl was at least three inches shorter than Annabeth, with a curvier body and a smaller frame. Even with her small appearance, Thalia still managed to look intimidating. With her dark punk make up, she gave off a do-not-mess-with-me vibe.

"Come on, Annie!" Thalia protested. "You look good."

"No, I look like a stripper." Annabeth said. She stepped into the bathroom again so she could change into her regular clothes, but Thalia pulled her back.

"At least wear this underneath." Thalia handed Annabeth a pair of black netted pantyhose.

"Like that's going to make my outfit look less skimpy." Annabeth said.

"Just wear it," Thalia said. "Oh! And you can wear this on top. Here." She handed Annabeth a leather jacket.

Annabeth sighed. "Fine."

The party was pretty wild when Annabeth and Thalia got there. Almost everyone seemed to have some amount of alcohol in their system. Annabeth started to feel self conscious ever since she stepped inside the building. The party was being held in one of the boys' dorm buildings. Drunken college kids were dancing, yelling, running around or making out in some corner.

"Do you want to get a drink?" Thalia yelled over the music. Annabeth shook her head. Thalia shrugged and walked off to get herself a drink. Annabeth had found it a bit odd that Thalia didn't go against Annabeth and get her a drink. She hugged her jacket (Or Thalia's) around her. She pushed past some teenagers dancing, trying to find someplace she can sit down and hide herself from the drunken kids around her.

In all honesty, Annabeth had never been to a party before. It gave her too much social anxiety. When she walked by a bunch of guys, they wolf whistled at her and one of them even grabbed her ass. She felt her face go red. She was too angry to be embarrassed. On impulse, she grabbed the guy's wrist and judo-flipped him. He landed with a thud on the floor and his buddies immediately came to rescue. They didn't seem to notice Annabeth so she quickly slipped away from that area. Nobody seemed to notice that she had just judo-flipped some guy, so she tried to forget about what just happened.

"Annabeth?" A voice yelled from behind her. She turned around to come face to face with Percy Jackson.

"Hey." She said.

"Let's go somewhere else." He said. Annabeth nodded. Percy took her by the elbow and led her away from the crowd and the loud music.

Even as Percy was dragging her away from the dancing college students, she felt anxious. The dress rode up most of the time and she kept having to pull it down. Occasionally, she would find some guy staring at her legs or her butt. Annabeth had never really been confident about her body. She found it a bit odd that guys were staring at her. She had never really gotten much attention from the opposite sex before. As flattering as it was, Annabeth still found it uncomfortable.

Percy led her out of the party area into a small balcony. The music was a little softer now and it didn't hurt Annabeth's eardrums as much. A gentle breeze blew in the balcony. Annabeth could tell how late it was, it was probably almost midnight. Her eyelids started to droop a little. She had wanted to go to bed when Thalia had annoyed the crap out of her and made her get dressed.

"I thought you wouldn't show up," Percy said.

"I can't not show up. Thalia wouldn't let me stay back," Annabeth said.

He chuckled. "Yeah. Thalia has her stubborn ways."

A silence fell between them. It wasn't awkward, but more of a companionable silence. Annabeth gazed outside to the sleepless city of New York. Even during the dark hours of the night, the city never seemed to be silent and calm. It was so much more different from her hometown in Virginia.

Over all the buzzing, Annabeth heard a slow song start to play from inside. She didn't recognise the song but she liked it. She closed her eyes and listened; trying to concentrate on the music and nothing else. Not the fact that she was just assaulted a few minutes ago or that she was in a party- one of the things she hated.

"May I have this dance?" Percy suddenly asked. He held out a hand to her so that she could take her. Her cheeks reddened slightly. It was not that she hadn't danced with a guy before but she barely knew Percy and she just felt it would be too . . . intimate. She let herself take his hand anyway.

They started to sway slightly to the music. She tried really hard not to step on his toes. She felt really anxious, and tried not to make eye contact as she focused on the music.

His fingers cupped around her chin to tilt her head up. She had no choice but to look right into his eyes. They were deep gorgeous orbs that held the entire ocean. She had to stop herself from swooning a little.

He grinned. "Hey."

"Hey." She grinned back.

All of a sudden a drunken Thalia burst in through the balcony door.

"Heyyyy Annieee!" She slurred. Her unfocused eyes shifted to Percy and she smirked. "Were you two about to kisss?"

Annabeth's eyes widened. "What? No!" She pushed herself away from Percy. She didn't make eye contact with him; instead she focused her gaze on Thalia. She glared at the drunken girl.

"Don't deny it Annieee!" Thalia put her arm on Annabeth's shoulders. "You two were making goo-goo eyes at each other just a few seconds ago!"

Annabeth groaned. She checked her watch and decided that it was better to take Thalia back to her dorm then. She turned to Percy.

"I really need to take Thalia back. I'll see you later, Percy." Before he could reply, Annabeth dragged a protesting Thalia out of the party. It felt good to be out of a noisy atmosphere with the stench of alcohol in the air.

"You soooo like him!" Thalia yelled when they got out of the party.

"Shut up Thalia." Annabeth groaned. She somehow managed Thalia from not talking about Percy for the rest of the way to their dorm. But, that didn't stop her from yelling out random things and getting strange looks and glares from the passersby. When they finally got to their room, Annabeth made Thalia sit down and got some water for her.

"No!" Thalia refused when Annabeth handed her the glass of water. "Give me more vodka."

"Thalia, you need to sober up." Annabeth insisted. "Drink"

There was a sudden knock on the door. Annabeth went to go and get it. It turned out to be Percy. At the sight of him, Annabeth turned a bit red; remembering what happened at the party.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him. The hallways were a bit dark and she hoped that he could not see the blush on her cheeks.

"You guys left all of a sudden. And it also looks like you might need some help." Percy's gaze shifted to Thalia who was sitting on her bed and puking what was left in her gut out on the floor.

"Ew." Annabeth cringed.

The both of them had cleaned up and sort of gotten rid of the smell of Thalia's puke. During the time they were cleaning up, Thalia passed out on her bed. When they were done, Percy said that he needed to go back to his dorm.

"Thanks, Percy." Annabeth smiled at him, leading him out to the door. "It's been a crazy night."

Percy smiled at her. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah."

After he left Annabeth immediately changed into her jammies and crashed into her bed.

~o0o~

I've been really busy lately so, I haven't exactly been able to update. I hope you guys like this chapter. I will be updating next week.

Please review! :)