Originally posted on Wattpad: FangirlsOfOlympus (I have more chapters posted there as well)
(A/N: This is Annabeth's POV and takes place a bit before the 4th of July also here are some key things you should know: Calypso and Leo aren't a thing- I didn't feel like dealing with the whole fiasco and then adding Calypso into the equation. Piper left Camp Half-Blood and went to Camp Jupiter with Jason (along with Hazel and Frank). Will and Nico are kinda on a vacation around the world right now too so you won't be seeing much of them, but they will eventually come up. Also, Percy and Annabeth teach classes n stuff now bc they've graduated high school)
Saturday
My eyes fluttered slowly as I woke up. I looked over at the clock: 6:43 am. Yet another night of not enough sleep. Ever since Tartarus, I had the tendency to wake up in shorter hours, although these past few months have been better, thank gods.
I looked over to my right to find my boyfriend still drooling throughout his slumber. Chiron eventually gave up on throwing me out of Percy's cabin. I think he finally understood that I felt safe with Percy far more than anywhere else. Also knowing our previous... circumstances... he decided it was probably for the best.
I tried going back to sleep, but no matter what I did, I was not getting anymore sleep. I didn't want to wake Percy up, but I really wanted some company.
"Hey," I whispered, lightly shaking the son of Poseidon. He didn't budge.
"Hey!" I shook him harder. Not a single movement. I rolled my eyes and sat up more.
Grabbing both of his sides, I shook him with even more force and yelled, "Wake up!"
His eyes shot open right before he said a very confused, "What?!"
"Hi," I smiled.
Percy was still trying to recover from his sleep. His eyes hung low as he asked, "Why'd you wake me up?"
"I couldn't fall back asleep."
His eyebrows scrunched together. "You woke up too early, again?"
I nodded in reply. "I just really wanted some company. Plus I never wake you up so I figured you wouldn't be too annoyed," I teased.
He gave me a warm smile before throwing the sheets off of him (and me) and walked over to his dresser (not sure how he could get out of bed so easily). And gods, I know he doesn't even try but he looks so gorgeous. How'd I get lucky with that face and that body and just... Percy?
"What are you doing?" I asked, trying not to linger too much on those muscles. I know I've seen him shirtless thousands of times before but it still wasn't easy to ignore.
"We're going to the lake," he replied, digging through his drawers.
"We are?" I asked. "At 7 in the morning?"
He found a Camp shirt and threw it on. "Yep. We haven't been in a while."
"Well... I thought we could just sit here and talk for a bit." Although the lake does seem nice right now. I just don't wanna get out of bed and get dressed.
Percy groaned in annoyance.
I scoffed. "Excuse me?"
"Annabeth, pleeeeaaaasssse. You're the one that woke me up." Touché.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But I'm not getting in the water- My hair's already a mess." He just laughed and said, "Okay."
I got up out of bed and went over to the corner of his cabin where I kept all my stuff since I basically lived here now. It didn't take me long to find an orange Camp shirt and a pair of jean shorts.
One other reason why I highly prefer to stay in Percy's cabin: I can change my clothes without having to hide in the corner. Being in Tartarus meant we had to do things past our comfort, including exposing ourselves for various reasons I don't want to go over. So with that said, I comfortably took off my pajama tank top and began hooking my bra on right before throwing on my tshirt. I quickly changed into my shorts and joined Percy at the door.
Soon after a lot of walking (and laughing), we finally made it to the lake. I sat down at the end of the dock, letting my feet dip into the water. I felt the wind gracefully flowing through my hair, reminding me that I forgot to pull it up into a ponytail. I began reaching for my hair tie on my wrist right when Percy's hand stopped me.
"Don't. You look like a goddess right now."
I gave him a teasing look, almost laughing. Why does he always have to say the cheesiest things?
"I mean it!" He protested. "You always look like a goddess when the wind blows your hair like that."
I couldn't help but smile. Sure he wasn't smooth with his compliments, but he somehow always knew exactly what to say to make my heart melt.
We shared a long moment of just gazing at each other while swinging our feet through the water. Everything was so peaceful; The way the sun rise was sparkling on the lake, the breeze through the trees, and the way Percy still held onto my hand. Bliss.
I leaned my head onto his shoulder and took a deep breath as I stared at the beautiful sun rise. "Thanks for dragging me out here," I said playfully, although I truly meant it.
"No problem, Wise Girl. We need to go to the lake more often."
"Yeah, we do. But it definitely doesn't beat the beach." I smiled just thinking about the sand and the waves.
"Nope," Percy agreed with a grin. "But then again, nothing beats the beach."
I couldn't agree more.
Percy joined me at the Athena table after grabbing his breakfast. (Camp also extended dining rules: You were only restricted to your cabin's table at dinner.) He had pancakes and waffles placed sloppily all over his plate, as usual.
"So Jason texted me like a minute ago that he, Piper, Frank, and Hazel, oh and Reyna, are about to board the plane so they'll be arriving here sometime tonight," Percy informed. (Another cool thing that's happened since last summer: The Hephaestus kids finally built some cell phones for us demigods to use.)
Speaking of Hephaestus kids, Leo came skipping over to join us among others. "Hey guys!" he said joyfully. "You got the text from Jason, right?" he asked Percy. Percy nodded.
I continued eating my cereal as the two boys caught up. Percy and Leo have definitely grown much closer than what they used to be. I only spoke in their conversation a little, until Leo approached me with a question.
"Hey, Annabeth, you know Emma, right?" Leo asked. Emma, daughter of Iris, was a new friend of mine.
"Yeah, why?"
"I was thinking... About asking her to the 4th of July fireworks. I was hoping maybe you could put in a good word for me," he replied with a wink at the end.
"Oh. Well that's not for another 16 days." To be precise.
"I know but... Just... Yesterday I met her at the rock climbing wall and just... Wow." He stares of into space, clearly reminiscing the moment.
"Wait, y'all just met yesterday?"
"Yeah... But Annabeth there was something! I could feel it!"
"Yeah and you 'felt something' with that girl at the mall last week."
Leo groaned in exasperation. "Annabeth, please. This was different!"
I rolled my eyes. "Okay. I'll see if I can slip something in. But you've got to talk to her before asking. Ya know, get to know her."
"Why wait?" Percy jumped in. "Just ask her right now!" I slapped his arm. "What?!" he exclaimed rubbing his arm.
"Girls like to actually know the guy first. And I would know. I'm a girl." The two boys just rolled their eyes and continued to talk about other stuff.
The two were soon laughing over something else completely different about what a Hephaestus kid named Brandon did this morning (something about a hammer, tripping over wire, and falling and landing on said hammer in a very... uncomfortable way...) when Chiron stood at the front of the pavilion to get everyone's attention. Silence trickled throughout the area.
"Good morning, campers!" he announced gleefully.
"Lord Dionysus and I have something very exciting to announce!" Chiron had his arm around Dionysus, I guess trying to portray that they did this as a team. But the look on Dionysus' face says much otherwise.
"This year, we will be starting..." he began, in a very dramatic tone. "The Demigod Trials!" He threw his arms up in exclamation as a huge banner rolled down from the ceiling.
Campers were cheering nonstop, and they didn't even know what it was. Heck, I had no clue what Chiron and (supposedly) Dionysus were trying to pull here- but that didn't stop me from staring at the forest green banner in awe. The way the gold accents were etched around the edges and created an outline of two swords crossing each other was just breathtaking. Every detail was vividly popping at my eyes. I wondered who spent all that time making it.
And just as if a gate was thrusted open, memories of Arachne came flooding into my head. All the beautiful tapestries, but one brooding, hideous, terrifying spider. I remember how it felt with her breathing down my neck as I tried furiously to outsmart her and take the statue in honor of my mother. Gods... I swear I felt the blood from my face rush down to my feet in this very moment. I stood up from my seat and swallowed a lump in my throat.
"I'm going to the restroom," I blatantly informed Percy and Leo, turning away before anyone could respond.
All of Chiron's cheerful announcements were drowned out by the raspy voice of Arachne as I walked briskly to the Camp bathrooms. As soon as I entered, I slumped back against the door and breathed out. I focused on my breathing but that didn't stop tears from slipping out of my eyes. I can't believe this is happening. I thought I was over this whole mess... At least for the most part.
Annabeth Chase does not break down. Especially not in public. I concentrated hard on not letting anymore tears fall; I hated looking like I was crying- it shows weakness. I stood from the filthy bathroom floor and gathered myself. I looked in the mirror... I looked fine. Normal. A little shaken up maybe, but nothing too noticeable. As I was dabbing away wet patches on my cheeks with a paper towel, I heard knocking coming from the door- I should've expected it.
"Annabeth?" Percy called. "Are you okay?"
I sniffled one more time before answering. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just give me a sec."
"Okay."
Walking out the door, I saw Percy leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. As soon as he saw me, he practically raced over, even though I was only a couple feet away.
"Annabeth! What's wrong?" he asked worriedly. I should've known that he'd see right through me.
"Percy, it's fine," I reassured him.
"No, it's not," he argued. "Your face is pale, and your eyes look... I don't know... off." Okay, good, he couldn't see I was crying.
"And are those streaks of tears?!" he continued. Never mind.
"Percy, really, it's just-"
He took hold of my shoulders and looked straight in the eye. "Annabeth... please, just tell me what's wrong. I want to help."
I sighed. Of course I gave in. "It's just... That tapestry that fell from the ceiling in the dining pavilion? Well, Arachne had... a lot of tapestries," I explained in a quiet voice.
Percy looked at me with that pure sympathy he's always had. He moved his hands from my shoulders and pulled me in for a tight hug, holding the back of my head as I took in his comfort. He didn't say anything- He knew that there was nothing he could say to make it better.
Being in Percy's embrace was definitely the most relaxing thing to me. "Thank you," I mumbled into the crook of his neck after about a minute.
He pulled back and held my face in his hands. "You know I'd do anything, for my Wise Girl," he grinned at his last words, lightening up the mood. I mirrored the smile. His lips came in contact with my forehead before he grabbed my hand and started leading me towards the pavilion again.
"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked. I nodded.
I pinned the flyer to Percy's cork-board above his desk. It read:
The Demigod Trials
This week, we will be holding a series of challenges for all ages to compete!
Begins this coming Monday
Rules:
1. Teams of 3-5
2. Teams must be of consisted of different cabins
3. Absolutely no sabotage will be tolerated. See Chiron for in-depth details of "sabotage"
Schedule:
Monday: Pegasus Relay
Tuesday: Archery
Wednesday: Rock Climbing
Thursday: Sparring (weapon of any choice)
Friday: Capture the Flag
Hope to see you there!
I made sure to grab a flyer since I missed all of Chiron's announcements due to the... incident. Lunch had already passed and Percy was busy teaching his sword fighting class. I taught a Greek Language class, which didn't start for another twenty minutes.
I suddenly heard a knocking at my- Percy's- door. I walked over to open it only to reveal my friend Emma, daughter of Iris (the one Leo has the hots for). We started getting to know each other during both our morning jogs (we had the same route). She had caramel waves for hair, and her eyes were constantly changing color, much like Piper's. She was a pure sweetheart, but definitely a badass under everything.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Hi," I smiled back. "Come in."
She stepped inside and sat on the bed with her legs crossed; This isn't the first time we've hung out together. I definitely loved having another girl friend; Since Piper left, it was only me- Not to mention that Thalia could almost never visit.
"So what's up?" I asked.
"Well I wanted to ask you something... You know Leo right?"
Oh shoot, I thought. "Yeah, why?"
"Well... Ugh I really hate admitting this... But yesterday we started talking at the rock climbing wall... And I think... I think there might've been something between us."
A girl actually... likes Leo back?! My mouth involuntarily gaped open.
"What?" she asked worried with her eyes wide.
I tried stifling my laugh- I didn't do too well. "I'm sorry it's just- This morning... Leo said the same thing about you. Well besides the part that he hated to admit it."
She gasped. "Really?! Oh gods, that's so relieving," she said slumping back in relief. "I'm still kinda disappointed in myself for feeling something towards him, though."
I laughed. "Don't be. He's not as bad as many people are lead to believe." There. Good word put in. Emma smiled warmly.
"Well I guess I don't have to ask you to talk to him for me or anything anymore," she teased.
Soon we were catching up and talking about all sorts of stuff before realizing I was late to my class. Shoot.
I had to cut Emma off mid-sentence. "I'm so sorry, but I'm late for my class!" She nodded understandably and raced after the door right behind me.
Dinner was really boring (as usual), since none of my siblings and I are actually good friends.
I went back to Cabin 3 after dinner and began working some more on an Olympus project I started not too long ago on my new laptop. It was starting to get late and I was wondering where Percy was, and where our friends from Camp Jupiter were too.
And as if on cue, Percy walked through the door.
"Hey," he said casually, with his usual mischievous grin that always got me.
I raised my eyebrow. "Where were you?"
"Did some late night sparring with that Ares kid Jonathon. He thought he could beat me," he gloated. Percy just loved being a show off when it came to his sword skills.
I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the 20th time today. "So I'm guessing you won?"
His grin stretched even wider. Yep.
"I'm gonna go take a shower." He began walking to his dresser to grab clothes for after his shower and I couldn't explain it but... I just wanted to get up and kiss him. Even while he's all sweaty.
So I got up and turned around to find Percy rummaging through his stuff. I walked over to him.
"Hm?" He asked, probably wondering if I needed to steal a hoodie or something.
"I was just thinking about it... And I realized that we haven't had much time together lately."
Percy scrunched his bushy eyebrows together. "What do you mean? We just went to the lake this morning and we go to bed together every night."
"I know, but..." I stepped closer to him and started running my hands up his sides, looking up at him.
"Oh..." He finally caught on.
I reached up and connected my lips to his. He instantly kissed me back with just as much passion. I felt his hands grab hold around my waist as he pulled me even closer. One of my hands ran through his hair while the other held his face as he continued to deepen our kiss.
Soon our kiss got hotter and messier with our mouths and tongues sloppily connecting, as Percy started pushing us away from his dresser. My shirt was ripped off and thrown to who knows where, revealing my scarlet lacy bra. Percy finally pushed us up against his desk and lifted me up and onto it, never breaking our kiss. Gods this felt so good.
Soon his shirt was off too, and his hands were constantly racing all over my body, igniting every part of my skin. His lips glided their way from mine, and latched onto my neck. My hands were still running through his jet black hair. He knew just where to go to drive me insane, and it didn't help that his hands were tracing my thighs. Percy sucked harder on the spot and a longing moan escaped my lips. He moved all over my neck, leaving me sitting there like a groaning mess.
"Oh my-... fuck..." I breathed out as his lips soon started trailing downwards to my chest.
Before Percy and I could do anything about it, the door swung up revealing our friends shouting, "We're here!" All smiles until they saw just what Percy and I were doing. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed to see my friends- I could say the same for Percy, judging by the face he made when he whipped his head around in confusion.
Leo came up from the back of the crowd and gulped. "I told them to knock..."
A/N: Hey! I know that this chapter was kinda all over the place but usually my first chapters are that way just to get my stories off the ground. Some promising chapters are soon to come! Also, please feel free to tell me all of your thoughts on the story!