Hey there! Welcome back! Since summer is coming up and I finally have a charger for my laptop, I'm going to be posting more frequently. Sorry about last chapter, it wasn't my best. The voting is still going on so go vote (Ends June 1st). I ran out of things to put for my favorites so I'm going to put songs stuck in my head. Anyway, enjoy.

Stuck In My Head: All Around Me by Flyleaf

Should Annabeth Be A Musician?:

Yes- 5

No- 6

(I messed up on counting the vote's last chapter. These are the real number of votes.)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the PJO characters or any of the songs used in the story.

Chapter 7: Past and Present

Percy's POV:

I had the perfect idea for Annabeth and I date. A picnic. I know. "But Percy, isn't that too old fashioned?" Well, my friends. It is not. Picnicking is still very much in. I had told Annabeth to meet me at Central Park at 7:00. I grabbed a picnic basket from the shelf and went to go meet up with the guys who were hanging out in the seasonal section. Where held all the candy and toys. I turned into the aisle to see my friends, fighting each other with swim noodles. Nico was the referee while Leo and Beck fought each other. People who passed by just looked at them and shook their heads like we were crazy before continuing to go grocery shopping.

I laughed as Beck accidently hit Nico with the noodle and Nico grabbed the noodle from him and started hitting him repeatedly with it. I ran up to them and tried to calm them down. "Guys! Guys! Calm down! This is a store!" Nico stopped hitting him and looked at me with a crazy look in his eye. "But he hit me!"

"On accident!" Beck tried to defend himself. I put the basket down and took the noodle from Nico and Leo before putting them into their rightful place. Beck recovered from his beating from Nico and asked, "So, did you get the thing you wanted?" I nodded and picked up the basket from the ground and lifted it up to show them. It was a big basket, made out of brown wicker wood and had enough space to fit a small baby in it. Not that I would ever put a baby in it… Anyway, moving on.

"Ok, let's go guys." I motioned for them to follow me. I led them to the meat aisle. I picked up some white turkey and some cheese. In the corner of my eye, I spotted Nico and Leo pick up a stick of salami and started sparing with it. I chuckled at them and shook my head. Good thing, there wasn't that many people here. I continued picking out a bunch of things for the picnic. Annabeth once told me that her favorite fruit was watermelon so I got her some cut up pieces of watermelon. I looked over everything I got in the basket (I was too lazy to go get a shopping cart so I just used the picnic basket). Okay, turkey, check. Watermelon, check. Cheese, check. Ham, check. Bread, check. Mayonnaise, check. Strawberries dipped in chocolate, check. Jell-O, check. (I know. The food is weird but that's all I could think of).

I picked up the now heavy picnic basket and dragged it to the guys. "Okay. I got everything. Let's go." Leo and Nico put the salami away and followed Beck and I to the check-out aisle.

I asked my mom to make the sandwiches for me (What? I'm not good at making sandwiches!). I told my mom that I got with Annabeth, earlier this morning. She was excited for me and then she got serious and told me not to break her heart. I kept quiet. I still my secret to tell but I don't think I was going to tell her or Annabeth the secret anytime soon. I changed into a grey tank top with an unbuttoned red flannel shirt over it along with grey jeans and my red converse. I checked the clock by my bed. 6:45. I cursed and ran downstairs. The basket was resting on the dining table. My mom was nowhere to be found. I promised myself to thank my mom later. I grabbed the basket and headed out the door.

I had only 15 minutes to get to the park. I speed-walked the whole time. I got there just on time. I walked to the special spot that I had picked out for the picnic and put the basket on the ground. I sat down on the grass and waited for Annabeth to get here.

Annabeth's POV:

Honestly, Percy and I getting together was the best thing all week. A bunch of little things had been happening that seemed to make my week even worse than it was. Like for instance, I dropped coffee on myself. I forgot to pay for the electricity bill so my lights went out. Then my car broke down. Then, to top it all off, my mom told me not to come back to work until I stopped seeing Percy. So basically, I was fired. I rushed to get ready for the date Percy had asked me on. I didn't know if it was a casual date or a fancy date so I ended up just wearing a light blue sundress with my dark blue converse. Along with my charm bracelet and my diamond earrings. I grabbed my grey string purse and ran out of my apartment.

I wasn't too far from Central Park. So it only took me about 15 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, I got there at 7:05. 5 minutes late. I called Percy. He answered immediately. "Hey Annabeth. Um, where are you? Are you ok?" I smiled at his concern. "I'm fine Percy. I was just wondering where you were." I heard shuffling around. "Uh, hold on a second." I waited. Then the line went dead. I frowned. All of a sudden, a pair of hands wrapped around my waist. "Hey." Someone whispered in my ear. I already knew who it was. "Hello Percy." He kissed my neck. "You look beautiful." I gasped. He stiffened. "What's wrong?"

"No one's ever called me beautiful." Well, he has called me beautiful before but that was on text. I liked it better when he called me beautiful in real life. He smiled sadly. "I don't understand why. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." I turned around to face him. "Thank you." I kissed him. It wasn't heated or anything. It was a nice and sweet kiss. "Okay, let's go eat. Before someone steals the food." I laughed and let him drag me to where the basket was. He had the basket under the tree, providing enough shade from the sun. He sat down and gently pushed me down next to him. He kissed my hand and let go to get the food out of the basket. "A picnic?" I asked with a smile. He nodded and pulled out a plastic container. He opened it to reveal two sandwiches. He picked one up and handed me the container. "For my lady." He said in a fake British accent. I laughed and took it from him. "Why thank you, kind sir." He laughed at my horrible impression of a British accent. I took a bite out of the sandwich and discovered that it was a ham and turkey sandwich with cheese and mayonnaise. My favorite sandwich. I was thankful he knew my favorite sandwich.

Once we finished, he then pulled out the greatest gift to man-kind, watermelon. He must've seen my awestruck expression because he laughed. I smiled at him. He pulled out a fork and gave me the whole thing. "You don't want any?" He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not really a fan of watermelon." I let out an exaggerated gasp. "Who are you?!" I yelled. He laughed, soon I joined him. Once I finished laughing, I opened the small container of the watermelon and dug in. He took out a small container of Jell-O and ate that. I put the last watermelon piece on my fork and put it towards Percy's mouth. "Try it." I said with a little bit of watermelon in my mouth. He shook his head and pursed his lips, like a stubborn toddler. I pushed it against his mouth. "Try it." I pleaded him. He kept being stubborn. I suppressed a smile and continued to plead with him. "Please?" His eyes softened for a bit before going back to being stubborn. I hit him with my final weapon. "Try it. Or I won't kiss you for the rest of the date." His eyes widened and then he ate the watermelon in a blink of an eye. I laughed. Soon Percy finished and he smiled. "That wasn't as bad as I thought."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. He went back into the basket (Not literally). He then pulled out dessert. My favorite dessert, to be exact. Strawberries covered in chocolate. I put my hand on my stomach. "Jeez Percy, are you trying to stuff me?" I said with a smile. He chuckled and opened the container. He picked one up and fed it to me (Romantic, I know). I laughed at Percy for being cliché. I returned the gesture and fed him a strawberry. "Thanks." He said as he chewed his strawberry. I grinned at him and looked up at the sky. "Looks like it's going to rain." Percy intervened. It was true. Murky grey clouds formed up ahead. "Uh… should we get going?" I questioned. "Yeah we sho-"

Ding!

Percy looked at his phone. It dinged again.

Ding!

Then again and again and again.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

He looked at me, as if he was asking for permission to check his phone. I nodded. He grabbed his phone and scrolled through the many texts he got. "Who are they from?"

"The guys. They keep saying for me to call them." Thunder rumbled above. "Call them." He looked up at me like I was insane. "But, today is about you and me. Not the guys, you, and me." I nodded. "I know but they seem really eager to get your attention." His phone dinged five more times, proving my point. He sighed and put in the password for his phone. He called Nico and put it on speaker. "Wonder what's wrong." He muttered quietly. He scooted closer to me and held the phone in between us. After 2 rings, Nico answered. "Percy!"

"Hey Nico. Um, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, first I need to apologize. Sorry for disrupting your date but this is important. Like really important."

"Okay, is Annabeth there with you?" Percy nodded. But then he blushed when he realized that Nico couldn't see him and said, "Yeah." I smiled at him, trying to contain my laughter. Instead, I kissed him on the cheek. "Alright, that's good. Can you put me on speaker so I can say hi?"

"You're already on speaker."

"Oh, hey Annabeth."

"Hey Nico." I said. "Now, are you guys ready for the news?" Percy frowned. "What news?" He asked. "The news I'm about to give you. Are you ready?" Nico said in an excited voice. "Yes, now tell us."

"Okay, well. Earlier today we got a call from Hard Rock and… you'll never guess. They gave us another gig!" A smile broke out on both of our faces. "Oh my gods! That's great! It took them too long!" Percy said loudly. "Yeah they said they lost our number when we gave it to them last time we were there. But they found it and now were doing another gig there!" I chuckled. Percy smiled widely at me. "That's cool. Anyway, we're going to go and continue our date. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I heard Leo in the back say, "Don't forget to 'get some' Percy!" We both blushed as they all laughed. "Shut up Leo." Percy said before he hung up. Percy looked over at me and grinned. Before I knew it, he tackled me and kissed me. "Mmm." I said into the kiss. He pulled away. "Sorry for attacking you," He pushed a strand of hair behind my hair as he moved his elbows to support him from falling. "I just needed to do that." I furrowed my eyebrows. Once he noticed my confusion he said, "Because you're the one who got us a gig in the first place. You're the one who's actually got us somewhere… And I really just wanted to kiss you." I smiled up at him. I put my hands in his hair and softly tugged at it. He closed his eyes and softly smiled. I grinned and leaned up to kiss him again.

After a while of Percy and I cuddling in the grass, thunder rumbled from above once again. "We should leave." Percy said. Lightning struck miles away and was followed by deafening thunder. I jumped as Percy wrapped his arms around me tighter. "Yeah, we really should get going." Percy let go of me, much to my dismay, and got up. He dusted off his pants and held out a hand to help me up. Once we gathered our food, he grabbed my hand and the basket. He looked disappointed that we had to leave. I looked up at the sky. It wasn't drizzling. At least not yet. Maybe we still have a little time…

"Why don't we walk around the park for a bit? You know and just talk." I suggested. His eyes lit up with happiness. "Yeah. That's sounds great." He intertwined our fingers as we walked around the park. (A/N: I don't live in New York, nor have I ever been to Central Park so I'm just going to describe the trees and people and stuff. P.S. I'm not good at describing stuff.)

The park was beautiful (A/N: I'm assuming). The tall trees were a healthy green and the grass was cut to the perfect length. Couples were leaving due to the fact that it was going to rain. Some people stayed though. We got to the bridge and rested against the edge. I breathed in the fresh air of grass and, strangely, hot dogs. It still smelled good. Percy put the basket down by his feet and leaned against the edge next to me. We were still holding hands. We stayed quiet, just enjoying each other's presence. I looked out at the river. It was a murky green yet it still managed to look pretty in the gloomy afternoon. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Percy said suddenly. I looked away from a fish I had spotted and looked at him. "Sure. What is it?"

He looked nervous. "I-It's been bugging me all day and I just needed to ask." He went silent. I frowned and looked at him with concern. "Percy, what's wrong?" I squeezed his hand. He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Percy?" He let out a sigh. "Please don't get mad. I could tell it was a hard subject for you to talk about but I just need- no wait. I want to know. You don't have to tell me."

"What is it Percy?" He took a deep breath. "What happened with your last relationship?" I bit my lip to try to keep from remembering the bad memories. "You don't have to tell me." He reminded. I shook my head and squeezed his hand. "N-No it's okay. I'll… I'll just tell you." I took a moment to get ready. Taking a deep breath, I said my story.

"It all started about 4 years ago. His name was Luke. We met in a bathroom. I mean not inside the bathroom, no. Luke and I went to the bathroom at the same time and we saw each other. Not exactly the best place to meet someone…" Percy smirked, "Well, we met in a bus, so I'm not really going to judge you about it." I suppressed a laugh from coming out. I continued the story. "Anyway, we dated for a while. 4 years to be exact." I paused for a moment and got ready to tell him about the bad part of the story. "He cheated on me." Percy clenched his jaw, as if the idea of someone hurting me made him angry. I dismissed it and continued with the story. "He had given me a key to his apartment so I was allowed to get into his apartment. Too bad I wasn't allowed that privilege on our 3rd year anniversary when I found him and… that girl."

*Flashback*

I decided to pay a visit to my boyfriend, Luke Castellan. Today was our 3 year anniversary. He and I were too busy to hang out today. That may sound sad to many people but we both had finals coming up and we needed to study. I was still in shock that Luke and I had been dating for 3 years. I thought today was the day. The day I said I love you to Luke. I opened the door to his apartment. I closed the door and put the key back into my pocket.

"Luke? Are you here?" I called out. I heard a couple of thumps and the sound of a door open. I walked towards Luke's room. I turned into the hallway that led to Luke's room. I saw Luke shutting the door to his room. He was shirtless with only jeans on and his hair was messed up a bit. He must've been sleeping. I looked over his appearance. He's so cute, I thought. "Hey! How's it going, babe?" He walked over to me and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Hey. Happy anniversary." I gave him a hug. "Happy anniversary. Hey, why don't I go get dressed and we could go out to a nice fancy restaurant?" I smiled up at him. "Yeah, that sounds fantastic right-" I was interrupted by a very loud thump. As if a large book fell of a bookshelf. As far as I know, Luke doesn't have a bookshelf in his room. "What was that?" Luke got in my way when I tried to pass him. "That was nothing. Why don't you wait in the living room while I get dressed?" I was about to say something when there was yet another thump but this time it was followed by a curse. Someone was in there. I didn't wait for Luke to explain, I just pushed pass him and opened the door. "Annabeth wait!" Too late.

I gasped. "Who the f**k are you?!" I yelled at the half-naked woman near Luke's bed. Luke ran into the room and tried to cover the woman. "Uh, Annabeth. I can explain." I was fuming. He was cheating on me! On our anniversary! I crossed my arms as the woman had the nerve to hug Luke from behind, as if that would hold me back from beating the living sh-

"Annabeth. Please. Say something" I had realized that Luke was explaining to me what was going on. Doesn't matter. I saw what I saw. "How could you?" were the first words out of my mouth. Tears were brimming in my eyes. Luke told the woman to get out. I glared at her as she walked pass me. I turned my attention back to Luke. He tried to walk up to me but I just backed up. "Please Annabeth." I shook my head and looked at the ground. "Why?" Luke walked up to me. This time I let him. No matter how much I tried to hate him, I was still head over heels for him. He cupped my cheek. "I'm so sorry baby. Please, will you find it in your heart to forgive me?" I let the tears fall. He bit his lip as he watched me cry. I had enough. I pushed his hand off my cheek and walked out of the room.

"No please Annabeth!" I kept walking but I was soon stopped when he pulled me back by putting his arm around my waist. "Please Annabeth." I squirmed and tried to get out of his arms. But I just found myself melting in his arms instead. He held me close to him and kissed my cheek. "Please… I love you Annabeth. Please don't leave me." I gasped as he said those three words I had been longing to hear.

*End Flashback*

"I forgave him. Probably the biggest mistake of my life. He apparently told her that he had broken up with me, when he obviously didn't, and she found out. She found out my name and where I lived. She… She beat me up. She even gave me scar because of her ring." I pointed to the heart shaped scar. "I broke with him after that… I just can't believe he did that to me." I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Percy looked shocked then he looked sad. He pulled me close. I broke down in tears. I always hated recalling that moment. "Shh. It's okay. I'm here and I don't plan on cheating on you nor do I plan on leaving you. Please Annabeth. Don't cry. You know it hurts me to see you cry. I love you, Annabeth, please don't cry." Percy comforted.

After a while of me crying on Percy, I finally settled down. Percy was still holding me as I sniffed. "Are you okay?" I nodded slowly. He pulled back a little and looked down at me.

Percy's POV:

I really hated seeing Annabeth crying. But I hated this 'Luke' guy even more. How in Hades' could he do such a thing? I mean my secret is bad but I'm not physically hurting Annabeth. He just let that woman beat up Annabeth. I have to admit the heart scar looked awesome. But the story behind it was horrible. I kissed Annabeth's nose, which emitted a small smile. People passed by us, still rushing out of the park. The clouds were getting closer and the thunder was happening more frequently but it wasn't drizzling yet. "Excuse me?" I heard someone say. Annabeth and I looked behind me to see an elderly couple dressed in close from the 50's. Annabeth sniffed and smiled at them. "Uh, hi." She said, softly pushing off of me. Annabeth straightened her clothes as did I. "Hi. Do you mind if you take a picture of us by the fountain real quick, before it rains?" The woman's skin resembled of milk chocolate with cinnamon colored hair and golden eyes. The man was Chinese and had a buzz cut hairdo. I shook my head at the odd couple and took the camera from the couple. They walked over to the fountain, which was in the middle of the roundabout and next to the river. They posed as I took the picture.

Once they walked back, they looked at the photo. The elderly woman cooed. "Look Frank. Just like the one we took 70 years ago." My eyes widened, so did Annabeth's. "I'm sorry for asking but what do you mean '70 years ago'?" Frank looked up. "What Hazel means is that, well, 70 years ago, she and I went here for our first date. We took this picture at this exact same spot as we did today." He took out a Polaroid picture out of his wife's purse and gave it to me. The picture looked old and worn out but was still intact. On the picture was the same couple except 50 years younger. The picture was black and white. They stood in the same pose. The younger Hazel was leaning against Frank as she went on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek. Whilst Frank had his arms crossed and was smiling at the camera.

"Would you like for us to take a picture of you guys? So you can try the tradition?" I looked up from the picture and blushed. I don't really think Annabeth and I are going to be together in 70 years after I tell her… my secret. But I didn't want to say no to the couple so we took the picture anyway. I gave him my phone and walked with Annabeth to the fountain. Thunder rumbled above us as I put my arm around her waist and pulled her close. She put her hand on my chest and looked up at me. I looked at her. I cupped her cheek and kissed her. For a moment, I didn't feel anything around us. Just me and her. I heard the camera click. I didn't pull away for a couple seconds. Once we stopped kissing, we held hands and walked over to the elderly couple that was cooing over us. Frank held out my phone. "Thank you." Annabeth and I said. "You're welcome. And you guys are so cute together!" Hazel commented. I smiled and put an arm around Annabeth's shoulders. "Thanks. I am pretty cute." I said smugly. Annabeth scoffed with a smile and softly hit my stomach. "Well, we better get going. You know before it starts raining." Annabeth advised. The elderly couple nodded. "Wait, we never got your names." Hazel said. "She's Annabeth and I'm Percy. Nice to meet you." Hazel smiled as Frank was staring at her lovingly.

"It was nice to meet you guys too. Hopefully, you remember to take the picture in 70 years." She said, getting ready to leave. "I'll put it in my calendar." I joked. We laughed. "Bye guys." Hazel and Frank said before leaving. I kissed Annabeth's cheek, grabbed the picnic basket and walked out of the park. Soon after we got out of the park, it started raining, hard. Annabeth squealed as the rain pelted our skin. She stole the basket from my hands and put above her head to block out the rain. Why didn't I think of that?! I was about to ask her to share with me but she ran off squealing. "Hey! Annabeth!" I yelled. "Oh geez!" I said as the rain came down impossibly harder. I couldn't see where Annabeth went. I ran in the direction I saw her go. "Annabeth?!" I called out. Thunder rumbled yet again and lightning struck a few miles away. "Annabeth!" I called out. I was getting worried. The rain was blinding me from seeing. I stopped and tried to look around for her. By now I was soaked and extremely worried. I started hyperventilating. "Anna-"

I was pulled into the indent of the building that was behind me. "Whoa!" I stumbled and ran into the wall. The ledge above me was covering the rain from getting to me. I looked at the culprit that pulled me into the indent. A wave of relief came over me. "Oh my gods, Annabeth. Don't do that! You just scared the crap out of me!" I hugged her. The picnic basket was off to the side. Poor leftovers. They were probably soaked in rain water. "Sorry but I had to get out of the rain." She said.

"Yeah but you could've ran with me." Annabeth laughed. "Well, it's not my fault you're slow." I shook my head and smiled at her. I looked out in the rain. Cars were rushing to get home and pretty much no one walking out here. "I think we're going to be stuck here for a while." I leaned against the wall and sighed deeply. "Yeah." Annabeth replied while leaning next to me. We were silent for a while, listening to the rain hit the ground. I looked at Annabeth. She had her eyes closed. As if she was resting. Her hair was wet but she still looked beautiful. Her sundress was soaked. Suddenly, I felt bad. She was probably freezing. She shivered. I frowned with concern. I got off the wall and hugged her. Sure my clothes were cold too but I knew that it would still make her warm. She hugged me back without opening her eyes.

"Thank you." She muttered. I picked up her chin. She opened her eyes just a centimeter. I didn't waste time to kiss her.

And it was pretty much the best 'underwater' kiss of all time.

The end.

Just kidding. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this… VERY long chapter. I hope this made up for the time I made you guys wait for a week longer than usual. The poll ends on Monday so get you votes in PRONTO. Next chapter will be the Demigods gig! And just a warning. Things are going to go down in a couple of chapters.

Bye!

R&R