CHAPTER 3
Origins
JUNE 5, 2013
Wednesday
Four Years Earlier
It was a little hot.
Annabeth, and the rest of the honor students had been waiting for the late kid.
They were in the auditorium, and because the AC was busted, yes, it was a little hot. Annabeth had been sweating under her skin now for a whole 30 minutes. Just 30 minutes, no big deal, but with a busted AC, it felt like 9 hours. Sitting around the empty chairs with the rest of the students just wasn't fun, because since this is her first year at Goode High, she didn't know anyone besides her classmates.
Annabeth was proud. Really proud. She had been regarded with high honors from her entire batch of students, and no doubt, she was the first. With divorced parents and a stepfamily, she was determined to prove herself, that she wasn't weak. Being the 'black sheep' of the family was her motivation, and of course, dreaming of being an architect one day.
She was always first. Always.
She looked at the rest of the honor students. There were supposed to be 8 of them. Only 6 were present in the auditorium. The late (and probably missing) kid was second honor student of all of them, just below Annabeth. She thought maybe the kid wasn't so smart after all, because a smart kid who would be awarded with high honors and second in class wouldn't be late to for practice of the awarding ceremony.
And mind you, the awarding ceremony was a week away, at Friday, June 14th.
Annabeth was already bored enough and ready to get her bag and open a book to read, until the auditorium double-doors burst wide open with such force, and a small kid in blue was running towards their rehearsal teacher. He was running so fast that when he stopped in front of Mr. Crane sitting on the stage, he was catching his breath. It took him about a minute to catch his breath, and looked at Mr. Crane with pleading eyes.
"Sorry for being late, sir." the kid said.
Mr. Crane simply shot bad looks at him, until Mr. Crane just sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be late again, Mr. Jackson." Mr. Crane said with a sympathetic voice.
"Yes, sir, I promise. Sorry." the kid replied, and Mr. Crane nodded at shouted at the other honor students.
"Everyone, to the stage. It's time to practice. You first, Ms. Chase, then you Mr. Jackson and finally, Mr. Solace." Annabeth climbed on to the stage, and saw the same kid again, finally noticing his black hair and the other kid's blond hair. Annabeth assumed they were the Top 3, with the black-haired kid being the second and the blond kid being the third.
For reasons unknown, she was staring at the kid; last named Jackson, she had heard from Mr. Crane, and was taking in his look. He had unruly, messy black hair and rectangular glasses. He had a regular body, albeit being a little thin. Annabeth felt a little chill standing beside him, and he was at least 3-4 inches shorter than her. Annabeth kept her composure, trying to look cool. It had always been her weakness, her friend Rachel pointed out: she was attracted to boys with glasses.
Of course, it was just that. An attraction, not even a crush. She knew it didn't rest on appearances, and it all relied on how a person acted inside their hearts, her mother taught her that much, but darn, she couldn't stop staring at him, and keeping her composure hoping she looked cool in front of him was a very, very little attempt at trying to impress the kid.
"You're late again, but you're lucky Mr. Crane is rehearsing us today. If it was Mrs. Dodds, gurrrgh!" the blond kid whispered beside the Jackson kid.
"I know, Will. I think I just got lucky today." Jackson said. Annabeth was keeping quiet while Mr. Crane worked on them music until the Jackson kid bumped her at the side. "Oops, sorry." He looked at her.
He had the coolest, beautiful sea-green eyes Annabeth had ever seen, and Annabeth would be lying if her heart didn't jump a bit when he looked and bumped at her.
"It's okay." she replied. Annabeth wanted him to acknowledge her presence so she introduced herself. "Annabeth Chase."
"Percy Jackson." he replied, or rather, Percy replied, and he just smiled and didn't look at her again with another word.
It didn't take long after the practice that Annabeth remembered she was classmates with him in some of her classes, and Annabeth slapped her head of how stupid she was she didn't even realize she was seeing Percy everyday.
SCHOOL YEAR 2013-2014, Goode High
It wasn't long before Annabeth Chase's attraction to Perseus Jackson (she recently found out that was his real name) turned into a crush, maybe even a little bit of an obsession.
When 8th grade began, she found out more and more about him as time went on.
She found out him and Thalia, her best friend, were cousins. She found out that Mr. Blofis was his stepfather. She found out that, like her, he was smart, loved reading books, and was actually kind of a dork. Dorkiness is another thing that Annabeth is attracted too. She found out lots of things about him, mostly from Thalia.
Observing him (shut up, it's not stalking) revealed even more. He and his friends liked games, video games to be exact, and they spent hours on it during weekends, but it impressed her how Percy manages to balance his schoolwork and studying that he is second-top in the class after her. One of the many things she liked about him. He was really smart.
She noticed that he was extremely nice too, and so nice that younger students warmed up to him immediately when he talked to them or helped them with something. To them, he was like a guardian angel, just saving the day occasionally. She rarely saw that in people.
During her classes with him, she'd sometimes stare at him for a large amount of seconds, minutes and sometimes hours, and he'd always never notice her since he was at the front row and she was at the back. Annabeth's amazing doodling and drawing skills one day led to her drawing an immensely perfect replica of his face, and he was sitting, just smiling.
That notebook with his drawing turned into a JOURNAL (not Diary! she thinks), and she wrote there from time to time about Percy, because she felt it was the only way to express her feelings.
She'd never tell anyone she liked Percy Jackson.
Besides, Percy was handsome, cute, caring and liked to have fun. She was ugly, prickly, resenting and liked to study. He probably thought of her as a freaking nerd.
He was way out of her league.
SCHOOL YEAR 2014-2015, Goode High
Annabeth was angry.
Not really angry, but maybe... what's the term? Oh yes, Jealous.
Her best friends still don't know about her secret crush on Percy Jackson, but she heard one day from Piper that Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Percy Jackson became lab partners. After that, the two just hit it off, and they became close friends.
Annabeth would only be mildly jealous, if the girl who was close to him wasn't her ex-best friend and mortal enemy since third grade. Annabeth still wonders why they became enemies though. They were best friends, probably the closest back at their elementary school, but one incident involving a pie in the face and some humiliation led to the two girls fighting, and becoming rivals since.
It doesn't even help Annabeth that Percy was now the same height as she was, and growing a little muscle, becoming hotter. "It was probably because of those summer swimming classes he takes." Thalia would say, and that made him even all the more gorgeous.
Percy's grades were better than ever, but he was still number two compared to Annabeth. Still, the fact that he managed that spot earned him a lot of respect from her, even if the whole school viewed him as a nerd, geek or whatever.
He joined some contests and decathlons at school, and while all her best friends supported him, partly because Thalia's his cousin, Annabeth was always there, too. He was amazing at all of them, and she can't even fathom how such a perfect human being like that exists to go to school in Goode High, of all the places. It's what fangirls would feel if their favorite boy band went to school at their school. He probably never noticed she was there, but she always was.
Annabeth noticed some of her best friends talked behind her back. Needless to say, she confronted them about it one day at lunch and then they come out with it.
"You got a crush on Percy Jackson, don't you?" Silena asks.
It was inevitable. Whenever Percy wasn't looking, she was always staring at him, and keeps on asking questions about him to her friends, all the time. They noticed, and of course, knew. She admitted to liking him since last year, and it was then that they decided they were going to do something about it.
None of what they did ever worked.
SCHOOL YEAR 2015-2016, Goode High
Percy Jackson had begun talking to her.
It wasn't talking, per se, maybe it was small talk. The common kind, like "What's today's homework? I didn't hear." or "Can I borrow your pen?" or "Do you have today's study notes?"
And the worst part of all of it, she doesn't say a word back.
Partly because whenever he touches her shoulder, or any part of her skin, she gets a bit frizzy and butterflies in her stomach build up, and then the butterflies render her speech useless, unable to speak. She sometimes doesn't even face him so that he doesn't she that she is literally getting red just because of the fact that PERCY freaking JACKSON is talking to HER.
At the end of each of those encounters, she spends the entire hour mentally beating herself up for not uttering a single word.
The year was better, and frankly, it still bothers her that Rachel Dare is best friends with him, and he even has a fucking nickname for her, "Red".
But the worst part was she didn't make a single move on Percy, and Percy just knows her as the Top 1 of the entire school, but it stops at that. He probably liked Rachel Dare more than anyone, anyway.
Thalia's advice about Percy was that he was the shy-type, and not the one to make the first move, and that she must be the one to do it. She doesn't want to. Because what if it backfires and Percy doesn't even want to talk to her at all, and it would be weird for her to randomly want to be friends with him when they've ignored each other for almost two years.
It was annoying her a lot.
And yes, emotionally and mentally, Percy Jackson was getting better. He was nicer, smarter and funnier. Sometimes she'd catch glimpses of his magnificent smile and laughter with his friends, and how she thinks it was so cute for him to do that especially when half the time his glasses fall off. She didn't like it when he was nice and funny to Rachel, though.
And yes, Percy Jackson was now an inch taller than her, and more muscular than ever.
SCHOOL YEAR 2016-2017, Goode High
Dating was probably the worst thing about High School. And by worst thing, it was because she was the only one in her best friends who didn't have a boyfriend.
Piper was now with Jason Grace, Thalia's brother who she's had an eye on since forever. Silena was dating Charlie Beckendorf, a big guy who worked part-time as the school mechanic, and Thalia herself wasn't dating anyone, but she was close at sealing the deal with Luke Castellan, the football captain who constantly flirted with Thalia every minute he saw her.
But no, Annabeth Chase was still Top 1, and still pining over Percy Jackson, who still doesn't know she exists. (That was wrong, he knew, but Annabeth felt it like that).
It was starting to get irritating whenever she saw him with Rachel at the hallway, laughing at some private joke, then she goes with him after class, riding at his bike. It was always like that, seeing Percy ride his small bicycle while Annabeth was riding Thalia's car every time, but it started to get annoying whenever she rode behind Percy and had the audacity to put her arms around him and giggle and shit.
Sometimes Annabeth has good dreams, like it was her riding with Percy and his bike, and maybe sometimes Annabeth has even better dreams, like bashing Rachel's head with a gigantic refrigerator. But Annabeth was simple, she dreamt of things.
And it's not like she doesn't fantasize about Percy...well... that's what she says to other people anyway.
(But give her a break, she was a teenager, it was the hormones)
She'd heard from Silena, who was friends with Clarisse, the SC President, that the junior-senior prom was at June.
So maybe, just maybe, she'll finally ask Percy out for that.
"And you have to do it as early as possible, because maybe that redheaded rat will do it first." Piper reminded her.
Perseus Jackson and Rachel Elizabeth Dare at prom.
That's a fear of hers worse than those gigantic spiders in The Desolation of Smaug.
But everything remained the same between her and Percy. Small talk, ignorance, and slapping herself mentally because of it. Nothing changed.
Nothing yet, until that one glorious day.
APRIL 28, 2017
Friday
Four Days Earlier
"I've got information that will help you move towards the future." was the sentence Piper uttered to her when they ate during lunch.
"Um, what?" Annabeth replied, confused.
"I don't know, 'Beth. Jason told me to tell you these words, and said that we should all expect something from his YouTube channel and Facebook sometime in the next days." Piper said offhandedly, and proceeded to eat her cheesy pancake lunch.
Ever since yesterday, Jason Grace scared her.
It wasn't that she didn't like the guy, but yesterday when they were playing Battleship, the dude was inside their slumber party, and Piper forgot to lock her journal (not diary!) after Piper read it. She was worried that Jason might have told his cousin; who happened to be the guy she was hopelessly in love with, and kept her distance.
But Piper kept comforting her. Jason didn't open her journal.
But she was intrigued by the words Jason sent to her, and it almost sent her chills. Piper and Jason were a force to be reckoned with, and she was scared of what will happen in the next few days.
MAY 1, 2017
Monday
Yesterday
She couldn't contain it, and for the first time ever, like an actual teenage girl, Annabeth Chase squealed.
Because Jason's video had showed her that Percy Jackson, Percy freakin' cute glasses, green eyes, and black haired Jackson was IN LOVE WITH HER since 8th grade! She actually squealed at her pillow and did even a little dance in her pajamas, even jumping up and down because damn! The guy who she'd been pining on and been having a crush on harbored the same feelings for her!
She felt like she was the luckiest girl on the planet, or maybe that the gods themselves listened to her prayers, because this was a freakin' miracle.
She found it odd that he thinks he doesn't have a chance with her though. Puh-lease. If there's anybody who doesn't have a chance it hers. Percy looked like a cute puppy combined with a greek god. She looked like a dumpster combined with a computer.
Eventually she shouted too loud "Take that, RACHEL!" that her father shouted from the hall "Keep it down, Annabeth!" that she realizes she was being too happy. She grabbed her journal immediately and scribbled something, and was smiling like a big idiot, because no one would take away her happiness right now. Not even a meteor crashing and destroying Earth.
She'd made a plan.
First thing in the morning tomorrow, she was going to talk to him before class and ask him to be her prom date.
MAY 2, 2017
Tuesday
Today, early in the morning
Annabeth was ready to shoot the fucking annoying redheaded face of Rachel Dare right now.
She'd been talking with her friends, as she arrived early at school, on how to approach Percy. The plan was to wait for Percy at the entrance and tell him to talk behind the school quad, and ask him as her date for prom. The plan was supposed to be brilliant, and Annabeth spent the entire time wondering whether to say "Hi!" or "Hello!" or something along those lines.
But when they were going to the entrance hall, Rachel Elizabeth Dare was already there with Percy Jackson, talking.
Thalia motioned all of them to stop, and to make for Plan B, and talk to him after class instead. Annabeth was ready to tear a new one, and kept shooting daggers at Rachel's back, because this woman was deliberately stealing her guy. Annabeth could even hear snippets of their conversation.
"Messing with ya. You know you love me." Rachel says.
""Well, if I didn't, I might have punched you, y'know." Percy says back, with a smile.
The nerve of her. She must've planned this, Annabeth thought. And before she could enter the classroom, Rachel stared back at her with a glare, and smirked. Was that supposed to say she won? No. No way. Percy admitted to liking Annabeth Chase, not Rachel Dare, so she was fine.
"Let them go, Annabeth. You'll have your chance later." Silena said as they dragged her into the classroom, with all eyes still focused on a certain redhead with a black-haired boy.
MAY 2, 2017
Tuesday
Present Day, evening
"Fuck!"
Annabeth was believing today was probably the best day of her life. Percy stutters conversing with her, which is a good sign that he really liked her. She was finally his prom date, and probably his new best friend too. Maybe not the best day if Rachel didn't ruin certain things but it was a good day indeed.
A good day.
Until her fears were confirmed with Jason's new video, hosted by none other than Piper herself, and contained her oh-so-secret journal.
Now everyone knew, too. She was crazed for Percy Jackson.
The "Annabeth Chase-Jackson" part was a joke inserted by Thalia, but she found it a bit endearing she herself decided to keep it. But putting it in a journal made it even worse.
Percy's confession made it seem like he was a guy with hopeless crush on a girl. Annabeth's revelation made it look like that she was a crazed, obsessed stalker of Percy. Percy, by far, was lucky. He confessed through shouting. They found out through her "Stalker-Diary" labeled by Leo Valdez in one of the comments of the video.
She was screwed. Painfully and immensely screwed. If Percy thought of her earlier as a girl who returned his feelings, he probably thought right now that she was a crazy, Percy-obsessed stalker who wanted nothing more than to force him to love her and seduce him.
There goes Annabeth Chase-Jackson, she thought.
A/N:
Sorry for another cliffhanger! But anyways, yeah. Annabeth-centric chapter. Did y'all like it? Please, please, please...
REVIEW!
And yes, I upload faster with more reviews, notice how Chapter 2 was thrown out 5 days earlier because of it.
Constructive criticism is welcome, and suggestions are, too.
Next chapter, earliest is sunday next week, May 21 and earliest is probably tomorrow, May 15, depending on the reviews.
CHAPTER 4
Welcome to the Madhouse
Percy and Annabeth assess their feelings for each other as they talk, and they try to go through a day in Goode High, where they are the stuff of laughs, ships, and other stuff. It's a madhouse.
Stay tuned!